Selecting Bloggers for Hotels via an Innovative Mixed MCDM Model

Abstract

The global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak had a great impact on the tourism industry. Numerous hotels have ceased operations. Because of the increasing influence of blogs, various industries have adopted blogs as a publicity and marketing strategy. Companies utilize consumers’ trust and loyalty toward bloggers to effectively contact them. Hence, bloggers play a crucial role in the hotel industry. No past study has researched blogger selection by hotel managers. In this study, an innovative mixed multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model including importance-performance analysis (IPA), analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and technique for order preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) is established to assist hotel managers in selecting bloggers. We firstly collect the selection criteria via interviews with hotel managers and a review of literature on blogger selection. Messages with stick are understood, remembered, and have an enduring influence on opinions and behavior. Hence, we also introduce the concept of stick to the selection criteria. Based on IPA and the literature review, a hierarchical structure for blogger selection is constructed. Then, AHP and TOPSIS are integrated to assist the case company managers to select suitable bloggers.