The effect of word of mouth marketing in the selection of tourist hotels: An application in Trabzon province

Word of mouth marketing has become a frequently used concept in the marketing literature especially in recent years. Today, word of mouth marketing is one of the most important activities that affect the preferences of consumers. Word of mouth marketing is the activity of sharing these experiences with other current and potential consumers from the moment consumers experience a product or service. In this direction, word of mouth marketing can have significant effects on consumers' touristic hotel preferences. Because the positive or negative experiences of the consumers can affect the opinions of other consumers in selecting a touristic hotel. When the marketing literature is examined, it is seen that the studies on the relationship between the tourist hotel preferences of consumers and word of mouth marketing are limited. This study aims to determine the effect of word of mouth marketing on consumers' choice of touristic hotels. In this context, a questionnaire was applied to 460 consumers living in Trabzon. Since the field study coincided with the Covid-19 outbreak, the data were collected online. The data were analyzed with SPSS 23.0 package program. Normality test, reliability, frequency, correlation and regression analysis were used to analyze the data. According to the results of the research, a significant, positive and high level relationship was found between word of mouth marketing and tourist hotel selection. In addition, it was determined that there is a significant and positive relationship between the frequency of getting advice and gender and tourist hotel selection. These results reveal that consumers are affected by positive and negative comments about touristic hotels. According to the multiple regression analysis results, it was determined that word of mouth marketing and the frequency of consumers' recommendation has a positive effect on the hotel preference of consumers. According to these results, consumers should be provided with high-quality service in the touristic hotel selection, consumers should be informed carefully, accurately and quickly in this process.