Online reputation management in Tourism

About the project

The main objective of the project is to create a syllabus and teaching materials for a new course that will enable to teach the topic of online reputation management (ORM) systematically, based on real data and experience. The overall strategy of the project is to develop a sustainable training product for the enhancement of the skills and competencies for future managers and tourism workers.

The main outcome of the ORM project will be a syllabus of a new course with highly important and demanded knowledge. The outcomes will include syllabus, presentations, textual support for teachers, case studies, best practices (e-books), and experimental online module.

The target groups are:

students of tourism and hospitality programs;
teachers of hospitality and hotel management, tourism/online marketing;
managers and practitioners.

Besides these three main target groups, there are other subjects potentially involved in the project – tourism managers as consultants, national associations as partners for dissemination, student communities interested in the theme etc.

The consortium of universities is a unique mixture of know-how in several areas needed for the successful realization of the project. In the project, there are involved universities with good knowledge and specialization in the field of reputation management, hospitality, destination management, tourism marketing and modern and traditional research methods. All the universities see the topic as an important part of the students’ skills and knowledge and are ready to implement this topic into their study programs. This mixture of specializations will encourage the knowledge transfer and support information sharing in the project team.

This project is carried out transnationally:

Creating the course on the participating universities in different countries will enhance the mobility of the students and teachers

Travel and tourism is an international phenomenon and the platforms are mostly designed for global use

Tourism is about learning new cultures, differences and communication styles. The experience from abroad is highly valuable for the students and future managers in tourism

The significance of the online reviews and ratings for tourism and hospitality enterprises differentiate in different countries

Tourism and hospitality customers are from abroad as well, and the result of global research will help to get generalizable and representative results.

International Conference “Online Reputation Management in Tourism and Hospitality”

Welcome to the first edition of the International Conference “Online Reputation Management in Tourism and Hospitality.” The conference is organized by the Erasmus+ project partners from 4 European countries – Italy, Finland, Slovakia and Czech Republic. This conference will be hosted by the Università degli Studi di Firenze in its premises in Florence on the 13th and 14th April 2023.

The conference Chairs are Cristiano Ciappei (University of Florence), Monica Faraoni (University of Florence), Claudio Becagli (University of Florence), Riccardo Rialti (University of Milan), Zuzana Kvitkova (VSE Prague), Tomas Makovnik (Matej Bel University) and Natalia Kushcheva (Xamk).

The mission of the conference is to advance knowledge on the role of Information and communication technologies (ICT) and digital technologies in online reputation management (ORM) in the tourism industry. The annual conference brings together leading researchers to discuss and debate all aspects of tourism, covering both its theoretical development and applied uses. It aims to collect papers focusing on the impact of ORM on tourism. Papers (empirical, theoretical, conceptual and case studies) are welcomed; likewise, any perspective, either consumer-based or organizational, is relevant.

The link to the conference: https://www.ormtourism.unifi.it Both days are performed in hybrid mode, and it will be necessary to register following the form found on the website.

Project events

INTERNATIONAL BARCAMP

BarCamp “Digital experience of an online customer in tourism and hospitality” was organized by the South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences (Finland) in cooperation with the Prague University of Economics and Business (Czech Republic) on March 8th, 2022.

This event was organized in the framework of the Erasmus+ project “Online Reputation Management”. It will increase cooperation and knowledge flow between the universities, raise the cooperation between the academic and business sector. Program (pdf)

Program

10.30 – 10.35 Greeting from the Prague University of Economics and Business, Czech Republic
Zuzana Kvítková, PhD, Project Manager, Department of Tourism, Faculty of International Relations

10.35-10.40 Greeting from the South-Eastern Finland University of Applied Sciences (Finland)
Natalia Kushcheva, PhD, Project Manager, Department of Tourism, Hospitality and Youth Work

10.40-11.00 VR Communications and social media (VR – Finnish Railways) Panu Mäenpää, Director, Media Relations and Company Culture & Iida Säyniö, Service Supervisor

11.00-11.20 Restaurant of the future Renata Lukášová, Culinary Art, Customer Service Manager

11.20-11.40 Online customer journey in Innovo Travels Eveliina Sahiluoto, XAMK student

12.00-12.10 Break

12.10-12.30 How architecture and interior design shape social media in tourism Katerina Tihlarikova (Co-founder of ID Brand, Identity Designers)

12.30- 12.50 Impact of the Influencer Marketing and e-WOM in Digital Marketing of the Destination: case of VisitKotkaHamina – DMO of Kotka, Hamina and Loviisa Region Viktoria Shishkova, Tourism Marketing Specialist

12.50-13.10 Opening a hotel in digital era – challenges in reputation management Otakar John (General Manager, Stages Hotel) – an interview

13.10-13.30 New consumer habits with the rise of click and collect in the catering industry Nine Euvrard & Marine Lalande, XAMK exchange students

Research on the online reputation of destinations and DMO’s in Finland

The International Academy of Technology, Education and Development (IATED) is an organization dedicated to the promotion of international education and university cooperation in the field of Technology and Science. INTED2022 Publication provides an overview of the current situation of education around the globe. All accepted contributions will be included in the IATED Digital Library to form part of the database of innovative projects in Education and Technology. This publication will be submitted for evaluation for its inclusion in Web of Science (Conference Proceedings Citation Index) as it has been annually done since 2010.

This conference is held at international level. Every year, INTED has had over 700 participants from more than 80 different countries.

XAMK project manager Mrs. Natalia Kushcheva participated in the INTED-2022 conference online. She presented the article Monitoring Online Reputation Of Tourist Destinations In Finland (pdf)

Presentation: Natalia Kushcheva_07_03_2022 (pdf)

Certificate of participation.

E-learning module

E-micro course “International consumers’ motivational drivers for eWOM” is a 1 cr part of the “International marketing” course.

The period of piloting e-micro course was 01.04-30.04.2022.

Teaching materials are prepared by Zuzana Kvítková (Prague, Czech Republic), Kristína Medeková, Kristína Pompurová, Andrej Malachovský, Tomáš Makovník, Ľubica Šebová, Radka Marčeková, Ivana Šimočková (all from Banská Bystrica, Slovakia), Tiia-Mari Eilola and Natalia Kushcheva (both from Mikkeli, Finland).

All partners participated in the e-learning module, presented case studies from their countries, which were accompanied by few discussion questions:

Original Sokos hotel Vaakuna (Mikkeli, Finland)
Online Reviews of Tourism Destinations on the Social Network Facebook (Banská Bystrica, Slovakia)
Fake reviews and fake accounts (Prague, Czech Republic)

Besides material given in case studies, e-module contains few links to Internet resources, which make the process of learning more interesting and memorable for students.

This experimental e-learning module is one of the most important outputs of the ORM project. It goes in line with the latest trends and suits the needs of distant and international students. XAMK is experienced in online teaching and creation of the module is inspiring and brings a new experience to the partner consortium.

The presentation of the results of studying the e-learning module “International consumers’ motivational drivers for eWOM” was presented on the project meeting in Mikkeli in June 1-3, 2022.

Online Reputation Management in Destination and Hospitality

The joint project e-publication Online Reputation Management in Destination and Hospitality: What We Know, What We Need to Know was published by Emerald Publishing on February 9, 2023. All project partners participated in this book.

Natalia Kushcheva and Tiia-Mari Eilola from Xamk, wrote an article “Relevance of Social Media Management in Online Reputation Building in Tourism and Hospitality: Case of Finland”.

Article in an online magazine

Xamk READ is an online magazine about Xamk’s research, development and innovation work (RDI), which is published four times a year. An article was written (in Finnish) for the magazine within the framework of the project. The article describes the project and its goals in general.

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