The importance of the online travel search environment is well documented. In this context, trademarks play an instrumental role in resolving customer confusion in the search environment. An important element of the online search environment is the organic search output that is typically displayed on the left side of the search results screen on major search engines. This study evaluated the organic search listing performance in a U.S.-based search context of hotel trademarks (websites) on three search engines (Google, Yahoo! and MSN [later Bing]) across four countries (United States, United Kingdom, China, and India) over two separate time periods (years 2007 and 2009) for three tiers of lodging operation (economy, midscale, and upscale). Findings indicate that there are significant differences across countries, across lodging tiers and over time periods. The study draws attention for hoteliers to focus on website optimization and trademark control in the online information space.
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