FROM GOOGLE ANALYTICS TO DIGITAL MARKETING OPTIMIZATION IN HOTEL INDUSTRY: PROPOSAL OF FRAMEWORK AND EMPIRICAL EVALUATION OF HOTEL INDUSTRY IN CROATIA, BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA AND SERBIA

Digital analytics is crucial in the process of benchmarking business performance and predicting future trends in the hotel industry. It requires that hotel management knows new technologies and techniques and methods of digital analytics. The first aim of this paper is to shed light on the role and importance of digital analytics in the hotel industry and to propose a framework for the development of a digital analytics dashboard for a hotel website. This framework suggests a set of KPIs and metrics that should facilitate strategic and tactical marketing decisions in the hotel business. The second objective of the paper is to examine the level of application of digital analytics (Google Analytics) in the hotel industry of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia. Through the empirical research using the content analysis method on a sample of 1006 hotel websites, the author investigates differences between countries, but also differences between hotel groups according to their categorization, and examine the significance of these differences. Results confirm a significant and very strong association between the hotel location (country) and the use of Google Analytics on the hotel website. However, a significant and moderate association between the hotel categorization and use of Google Analytics has been confirmed only in Croatia, but not in other countries. In the conclusion, the author interprets the research findings, points out the limitations of the research, and provides recommendations for future research.