PhD. Research (1998-2002) Nassar M. (2002), An evaluation of the Web as a strategic marketing tool for the
Egyptian hotel sector, PhD thesis, University of Wales: UK.
This section is devoted to report on a five-year research effort to evaluate the Web as a strategic marketing tool for small hotels during my work as a doctoral candidate at the University of Wales Institute Cardiff, Wales - UK.
An analysis of the literature on web marketing of hotel websites reveals the potential of the Web to enable small hotels to compete with international chain hotels in the global marketplace. However, the literature also emphasizes the importance of branding in determining consumer choice.
Thus the Web presents an inherent dilemma for small hotels unless they effectively utilize the unique characteristics of the Web to positively enhance their images in the mind of customer, i.e. to build their brands. However, little attention has been paid to how a website can be used to build a hotel brand – an issue which is critically important to the survival of small hotels and the focus of this thesis.
This constructionist study adopts a phenomenological perspective to evolve a model for the evaluation of small hotels websites in terms of their brand-building capacity and identifies 28 consumer-relevant features grouped into a pyramid of six considerations (accessibility; information; credibility; e-commerce; immediacy; customer relationship). Each feature is codified in terms of good, satisfactory and sub-optimal performance into an EXCEL spreadsheet set up to produce a radar plot for visual presentation of the results. From this, areas of weakness in website design can be determined and remedial action prioritized.
Nassar M. (1999) An evaluation of the World Wide Web as a strategic marketing tool in the hotel sector. A case study of Egypt, Concord, 9, (2), 7-13.
Nassar M. (2000) Branding in the marketing of hospitality products: A typology of
hotel web sites Concord, 9 (3).
Nassar M., Morssi M., and Hewidi M. (2003) Web-based training (WBT): A powerful
tool to enhance cognitive training programs in hotels: Case study of the Egyptian hotel sector
Nassar, M., Jones, E., and Morgan, N. (2003). The Web as a Strategic Marketing Tool for Independent Tourism and Hospitality Businesses: Branding and the Battle on the Search Engines. In: M. Ranga, ed. Tourism and Hospitality in the 21st Century, New Delhi: Discovery Publishing House, pp 377-399.
Nassar M. (1999) An evaluation of the World Wide Web as a strategic marketing
tool in the hotel sector', Post Graduates Research conference, University of Wales
Institute Cardiff, Cardiff- Wales, 4 December 1999.
Nassar M. (2000) Branding in the marketing of hospitality products: A typology of
hotel web sites, Post Graduates Research conference, University of Wales Institute
Cardiff, Cardiff- Wales, March 2000.
Nassar M., Jones E., and Morgan N. (2002) Branding in the marketing of hospitality
products on the Web, Tourism Research 2002, Proceedings of an International
Interdisciplinary Conference in Wales, University of Wales Institute Cardiff, Cardiff
4th -7th September 2002.
Nassar M., Jones E., and Morgan N. (2002) Business Motivations: Branding
Hospitality Products on the Web, Proceedings of an International conference on
Small firms in the Tourism and Hospitality Sectors, Leeds Metropolitan University,
Leeds 12th- 13th September 2002.
In preparation for submission to a peer-reviewed journal
Functional Benchmarking as a Learning Vehicle to Improve Service Quality
in the Egyptian Small Hotels
Tourism, Technology and the Consumer. An Exploratory Study of the UK consumer
Perceptions of the Internet'.
Nassar. M (2010) An Industry Case Study of the Impacts of Web Marketing on the Business of Low cost Carriers in the GCC Countries.
تكنولوجيا نظم المعلومات وتطبيقاتها، الإسكندرية. (2003) . منصار مبادئ تنظيم وإدارة الأعمال، كلية السياحة والفنادق، جامعة الإسكندرية. (2004) . منصار التسويق الفندقي، كلية السياحة والفنادق، جامعة الإسكندرية. (2005) . منصار إدارة المكاتب الأمامية، الإسكندرية. (2005) . أفتحي . منصار
