Perceived risks in online hotel services acquisition: Determinant factors of reduction strategies and their relation with consumer´s demographical characteristics

Abstract

The purpose of this article was to identify which factors determine the adoption of strategies to reduce perceived risk in the purchase of hotel services online, checking whether there is any relation between those relievers and demographical characteristics. A factor analysis was conducted after application of a structured questionnaire with consumers who have a habit of traveling and booking hotels through the internet. The results showed that the factors that characterize the strategies used by consumers as a means of reducing risk in the virtual environment are: users and partners own experience, regulation guarantees and certainty and higher price. That is, it can be considered that these factors are relevant and tend to be used by consumers as a way to reduce risks when purchasing a hotel service online. On the other hand, it was found that demographic characteristics show no relationship with consumers´ perception of risk. With these results, the question that remains is whether the companies in this field of activity develop actions aligned with these factors in order to enable consumers to reduce their risk perceptions while buying these services on websites.