An empirical investigation of corporate identity communication on Hong Kong hotels’ websites

Abstract

Corporate websites offer hotels ample space and opportunity to express their identities to their stakeholders, but for lack of empirical research in this area, it is yet to be known the extent to which hotels utilize this platform for corporate identity (CI) communication. Aiming to fill this void, this study analyzed the website contents of 123 hotels in Hong Kong to determine the extent to which the hotels utilize their own websites to transmit information about their identities. The results indicated that CI elements relating to corporate design such as logo and slogan were commonly communicated by all the sampled hotels. However, CI information relating to corporate structure, strategy, culture, and behavior was communicated by less than 60% of the hotels. In addition, the findings demonstrated a relationship between CI communication and the type of hotel operation, with chain-affiliated hotels communicating more CI-related information than independent hotels. From a practical standpoint, these findings can be used to enrich the information contents of hotels’ websites so that the benefits of CI communication can be realized.