Research Note
The Branded Hotel as an Element of Destination
Branding
Elizabeth Abiola-Oke
Department of Transport and Tourism Studies, Redeemer’s University, Nigeria
jacobe@run.edu.ng
The purpose of this article was to examine the effect of the availability of hotel brands
in a destination on the promotion of the destination. Data for this study were col-
lected through online questionnaires from a diverse population. The respondents
were reached via a social medium (LinkedIn, on which the author has an account)
and membership in different tourism-related and non-tourism related groups. The
tourism-related groups are made up of both professionals in the field and non-
professionals. The data were analysed using descriptive analysis (tables, cross tab-
ulation, and Spearman ranked correlation) with spss. It was discovered that hotel
brands have little impact on the choice of destination to visit in comparison to other
elements of a destination, such as attraction, transportation, and other supporting
services. Therefore, a hotel brand cannot be used as the sole element of destination
branding as it has little or no effect on branding a destination.
Keywords: hotel branding, destination branding, destination marketing, destination
promotion
https://doi.org/10.26493/2335-4194.12.83-96
Introduction
Accommodation in the forms of hotels, hostels, and
other types are essential parts of a destination, and
they create the feeling of welcome and a lasting im-
pression on the tourists when they visit (Cooper, 2012).
Anyone travelling to visit a destination away from
their usual place of residence for any purpose requires
accommodation. While some might have friends and
family at the destination, some may not, but they both
need a place to stay, especially when staying for more
than a day. This contributes to the experience of the
tourists at the destination, which is paramount for the
promotion of the destination (Cooper, 2012). In addi-
tion, according to Ismail (2011), factors such as brand
name, price, advertising, word of mouth, and expe-
rience determine the type of experience a customer
would have on a product or services and also deter-
mines their loyalty. Hence, the importance of accom-
modation facilities at the destination.
Regarding how the brand of hotel in a destina-
tion determines the choice of a gaming destination,
Dioko and So (2012) determined that the brand of
hotel does not determine the choice of destination;
they recommended a further study on the topic. Their
study was limited to one destination (Macao); there-
fore, they said that a conclusive statement could be
made on the topic and that tomake a generalised state-
ment, visitors to other destinations have to be sur-
veyed. While accommodation providers are not the
only service providers that make up the destination
brand, from the perspective of the researcher, they are
themajor service provider without which destinations
cannot be complete. According to Pike (2005); Mor-
gan, Pritchard, and Piggott (2003), and Pritchard and
Morgan (2001), destination branding is complex, as
there are still many destinations yet to be studied in
applying branding to the marketing principles of des-
tinations (Dioko & So, 2012).
Academica Turistica, Year 12, No. 1, June 2019 | 83
Elizabeth Abiola-Oke The Branded Hotel as an Element of Destination Branding
The following are the objectives of the research:
1. To know if the brands of hotels in the destination
influence the choice of destination.
2. To examine the influence of hotel brand informa-
tion on the promotion of tourism destinations.
Research Hypotheses
1. Accommodation facilities, in terms of their brand
as a key element of a destination, have no effect on
the inspiration for a choice of destination.
2. There is no significant relationship between loy-
alty to a hotel brand with the inspiration for the
choice of a destination.
Hotel Branding
According to Medlik and Ingram (2000), hotels play
essential roles in most countries by providing facili-
ties for business transactions, formeetings and confer-
ences, and for recreation and entertainment. As iden-
tified by Medlik and Ingram (2000), the hotel is both
for accommodation and for the transaction of busi-
ness. This is the aspect of the use of space, especially
the lobbies and the lounges for purposes of meetings
and business transactions. The hotel business as a ser-
vice business operates to provide accommodation and
other needs of the people during their stay (Bhatia,
2006). The mode of operation and revenue generation
can be analysed from the way the business is struc-
tured, i.e., its organisational structure. The structure
of any hotel would be based on its size, such as luxury
hotel, economy/budget hotel, boutique hotels, lifestyle
hotel (Freund de Klumbis, 2002); all of these also en-
hance the branding of a hotel based on the type of ser-
vice it promises to deliver.
This is because the hospitality industry has grown
over the years from the traditional hospitality service
to a more comprehensive service – diverse in its op-
eration (Berger & Chiafor Jr., 2007). The industry in-
cludes accommodation, catering, and places for social-
ising (Nailon, 1982). Due to the change in the needs
of people and for the enhancement of competition
among operators, there is a need for the uniqueness
of the organisations in the industry, and this is the
essence of branding and other distinguishing concepts
of marketing (Forsgren & Franchetti, 2004). Branding
is one of the concepts of differentiation (Dioko & So,
2012) used by marketers in the industry.
Hotels have always been identified by their names,
which shows that they held the common features of a
product brand – the name (Connell, 1992). According
to Olsen, Chung, Graf, Lee, and Madanoglu (2004),
to capitalise on brand identification and differentia-
tion in the face of competition, and to facilitate growth
strategies, marketing executives have employed brand
value, brand premium, brand equity, brand awareness,
and brand image to enhance competition, from the as-
pect ofmanagement contracts and approaches tomeet
corporate goals. This affirms that branding is far more
than merely having a name.
Destination Branding
Branding as a marketing concept also applies to des-
tinations (Hankinson, 2005) because the products of
tourism are also homogenous and there is a need for
the identification of a unique factor for differentiation.
Branding has gone beyond merely having a logo, sign,
symbol, term, design, or combination of these (Blain,
2001). It has to do with the delivery of service to com-
plement the name of the organisation and what they
have to offer. According to Veríssimo, Tiago, Tiago,
and Jardim (2017), destination branding is becoming a
powerful marketing; this further emphasises the need
for brand management.
BrandManagement
Brand management is used in the construction of
brandmeaning, value, quality, personality and identity
(Iglesias & Bonet, 2012). According to Jevons, Gabbot,
and De Chernatony (2005), brand meaning is influ-
enced by the high level of influences, of which some
can be controlled and some cannot but can be viewed
and observed. It is essential, therefore, that the own-
ers of brands ensure that high-quality service aligned
with vision is delivered with a genuine commitment
to the satisfaction of their customers (Blackett, 2004).
Brand Identity
Brand identity is the tangible aspect of the brand that
can be seen and felt, ensures recognition, allows for
84 | Academica Turistica, Year 12, No. 1, June 2019
Elizabeth Abiola-Oke The Branded Hotel as an Element of Destination Branding
differentiation, andmakes the brand accessible (Alina,
2009). Brand identity, according to Kapferer (2008),
is the internal construct of the product based on the
view of the organisation in terms of what they want
the brand to be. This requires stability and consistency
to ensure that the brand is what it is intended for it to
be (Da Silveira, Lages, & Simoes, 2013). Brand iden-
tity can help the organisation in navigating and adapt-
ing to market changes (Da Silveira et al., 2013). In the
opinion of Da Silveira et al. (2013), brand identity is
not merely created by the organisation alone: it is es-
sential to understand that the consumers also create
the identity of the brand and this helps in the creation
of value.
Just as the brand is an asset to the organisation, so
too is the brand an investment for the consumers, and
there has to be value gained that would be worth the
investmentmade. Therefore, the argument of Kapferer
(2008), asserting that brand identity emanates from
the organisation and requires stability, can be said to
be insufficient to explain brand identity as we are now
in a global world with a dynamic environment. Con-
sequently, for the survival of any brand, the identity
should bemade to suit the environmental condition as
it changes. When the perspective of the consumers is
viewed in the creation of an identity for the brand and
the dynamism of the environment is also considered,
the creation of brand identity will not be just from
the internal perspective alone, and this would create
a proper identity for the brand that will suit both the
organisation and the consumers.
Brand Value
According to Aaker (1991), brand value is the aware-
ness of the brand, its quality perception and the overall
satisfaction the customers derives frommaking use of
the brand. Chu andKeh (2006) pointed out that brand
value is significant at two levels: the micro (consumer)
andmacro (firm) levels, each with different effects. On
the consumer level, it positively affects the behavioural
outcomes, including the intention to purchase (Cobb-
Walgren, Ruble, & Donthu, 1995), while at the firm
level, it affects the perception of investors and the fi-
nancial analysts, which subsequently determines the
stock prices (Simon & Sullivan, 1993).
Brand Experience
Brand experience is the feel of the brand that the
consumers have when they make use of the brand.
This is an essential part of brand management, and it
can lead to brand loyalty, depending on whether the
experience is positive or negative (Iglesias, Singh, &
Batista-Foguet, 2011). Brand experience is the impres-
sion taken away by the consumer (Carbone&Haeckel,
1994) as a result of making use of the brand or having
an encounter with it (Klaus & Maklan, 2007). Good
customer experience is essential to any business, and
having a brand requires more from the brand owner.
This is because it is assumed that any branded prod-
uct is a promise of quality, and anything short of this
is questionable.
Brand Equity
Brand plays a vital role in the promotion of a business,
company or organisation, and to the customers as well.
This is highlighted by Keller and Lehmann (2006) to
being composed of three primary roles: the customer
market, the product market, and the financial market.
In the case of the consumer market, brands make it
easy for the identification of products by the simpli-
fication of choice, the promise of quality to a partic-
ular level, and the reduction of risk and/or engender-
ing trust. It plays a marketing role by ensuring effec-
tive marketing efforts; for the financial role, brands
are assets (intangible) in a financial sense (Keller &
Lehmann, 2006). All value of these roles are the brand
equity (Aaker, 1991). In the words of Randall (2000),
brand equity is the value of the brand to both the con-
sumers and the organisation that owns the brand. Ac-
cording toMorgan et al. (2003), themakeup (dna) of a
destination is expected to reflect the value of the brand
and its unique propositions in the eyes of the customer.
Brand Image
The brand management components discussed above
constitute an image for a brand; it us vital for any busi-
ness to manage its brand appropriately. The prior per-
ception of a brand image is created by the properman-
agement of the brand, but the image created for the
brand after the consumers’ use of the brand is equally
significant. This is because it is seen as an essential
Academica Turistica, Year 12, No. 1, June 2019 | 85
Elizabeth Abiola-Oke The Branded Hotel as an Element of Destination Branding
tool with the ability to influence the perception of the
customer of a good or service offered, thereby having
an impact on customer behaviour (Zeithaml & Bitner,
1996).
Furthermore, image also influences the loyalty of
customers to an organisation, their enthusiasm, and
satisfaction depending on the type of image created in
the minds of the customers (Kandampully & Suhar-
tanto, 2000; Binkowska, 2005). Branding is used to
gain the loyalty of customers, but the image created
in the mind of the people as regards the brand can ei-
ther ensure loyalty or not; this is where brandmanage-
ment becomes important, as emphasised earlier. This
is because branding is a form of promise made by the
organisation to provide the service or products at a
certain standard, distinct from others (Kotler & Gert-
ner, 2004). The concept of brand image is the exami-
nation of the overall information held by a consumer
of a product/service brand including the brand quality
and value (Ashton & Scott, 2011). Branding, however,
allows for differentiation in the marketplace and the
creation of the image of the organisation in the mind
of the people by creating value (Johnson & Scholes,
2001).
According to Aaker (1991; 1996) and Keller (1998),
the achievement of successful brand management is
dependent on the enhancement of brand value or eq-
uity. Brand equity, according to Aaker (1991), is the
value of a brand as a valuable company asset, to the
consumer and the company. The value of a brand to
the consumer is identified in the image created of
such a brand in the mind of a consumer. Accord-
ing to Qu, Kim, and Im (2011), the image of a prod-
uct/destination/service mediates between the brand
associations, cognitive, affective, and unique image
components and the future behaviour of buyers.
Destination Marketing
Pike (2008) defined a destination as a geographical
space accommodating the existence of a cluster of
tourism resources and being less of a political bound-
ary. Furthermore, on the definition of a destination,
Leiper (1995) defined a tourist destination as a place
where people choose to visit for the purpose of having
an experience of certain features of the destination,
and Buhalis (2000) said it can also be viewed as a per-
petual conceptwhich can be interpreted by the tourists
subjectively based on their experience, purpose of
visit, cultural background, and psychographic and de-
mographic characteristics (Periera, Correia, & Schutz,
2012). Destinations are representations of the tourism
industry as they are the place where the tourism ac-
tivities occur and where the service providers of the
industry are located to meet the needs of the tourists.
Marketing a destination, also known as place mar-
keting, is a distinct task (Ashworth, 1993) and re-
quires more complex managerial activities than the
product does in its branding (Karavatsis & Ashworth,
2005). Of all the products of tourism, the destina-
tion is one of the most difficult to manage and mar-
ket (Fyall & Leask, 2006) yet also the most important
(Cooper, 2012). Destination marketing, according to
Elbe, Hallen, and Axelsson (2009) is the deliberate
strategically developed activities carried out in order
to attract visitors to a destination. Due to the complex-
ity of the nature of the destination, its marketing, as
suggested by Helfert, Ritter, andWalter (2002), should
be a relational approach. Even with the complexity of
marketing destinations, Fyall and Garrod (2005) sug-
gests that for destination marketing to be successful,
it is necessary that the customers be engaged in the
marketing activities and provide information about
the experience they demand.
In line with the above, Dioko and So (2012) are of
the opinion that for a relatively unknown destination,
the entrance of international branded hotels enhances
its marketing and the image of the places where new
concepts of leisure and entertainments are introduced,
and these are integrated with the core of accommoda-
tion services. This is also applicable to established and
well-branded destinations. Furthermore, their find-
ings confirmed this in the case of the Macao gaming
centre. However, this can be seen as limited as as it was
only tested on one particular gaming destination.
According to Cooper (2012), to effectively market
a destination, branding of the destination is expedient
for unique identification and differentiation among
other destinations. This is also supported by Morgan,
Pritchard, and Pride (2004), who consider destina-
tion branding to bea potent marketing tool, in con-
86 | Academica Turistica, Year 12, No. 1, June 2019
Elizabeth Abiola-Oke The Branded Hotel as an Element of Destination Branding
trast to some researchers who find destination brand-
ing to be a complex concept. Therefore, Cai (2002)
defined destination branding as a selection of consis-
tent element mix of a destination used to identify and
distinguish the destination among other destinations,
while Gilmore (2002) sees destination branding as a
re-positioning concept, and Curtis (2001) sees desti-
nation branding as the reconstruction of the destina-
tion (Park & Petric, 2006).
The complexity of destination branding due to the
nature of the destination and what is involved requires
proper management: hence, the role of Destination
MarketingOrganisations (dmos) as solely responsible
for the marketing of the destination (Elbe et al., 2009).
Part of the responsibilities of the dmo in promoting
the destination is the branding of the destination. Al-
though the destination is made up of individual ser-
vice providers and other stakeholders, the dmos are
responsible for the promotion of the destination to
tourists, known as destination marketing.
Destination Promotion
The survival of any business is dependent on meet-
ing the needs of the people/customers as the needs
and desires of the people are changing now due to
their changing lifestyles and other environmental fac-
tors (Shoemaker & Shaw, 2008). Branding is believed
to help create an image in the minds of the guest, and
that helps in the promotion of a hotel. It has also been
proven by research that branding adds value to hotels
than the usual contributors (O’Neill & Xiao, 2006).
The choice of a destination according to Kotler and
Gertner (2004) begins with the collection of informa-
tion before visiting the place and the ability to make
sense of the information collected on the destination.
Information about accommodation facilities available
at the destination is one type of information that a
tourist would seek before deciding, which can create
an image of the destination in the mind of the tourist.
Due to internationalisation, hotels of different brands
can be found in different locations/destinations, which
often attracts or has the potential to attract visitors.
This, therefore, indicates the possibility of the two in-
dustries complementing each other.
In promoting tourism destinations, the various
tourism enterprises have a role to play in creating an
image of the destination. Aside from this fact on the
promotion of a destination, customer experience is
of utmost importance. No tourism enterprise can be
without patronage from tourists and, for there to be
patronage, the environment in which the organisation
is located is of utmost importance. dmos are charged
with the responsibility of making a difference in the
context of the growth of destination choices (Wahab
& Cooper, 2001; Stamboulis & Skayannis, 2003; Pike,
2004).
Research Methodology
In carrying out this study, a survey research design
was utilised. According to (MacDonald & Headlam,
n.d.), the survey research method is commonly used
in collecting primary data, involvesmeasurement pro-
cedures involving asking respondents questions, and
they are flexible tools used in gathering both qualita-
tive and quantitative data. Therefore, for this research,
both quantitative and qualitative data was collected,
thereby reflecting mixed method research. According
to Creswell (2003), the mixedmethod is the process of
the collection of both qualitative and quantitative data.
It can also be seen as the combination of both numeric
and narrative data in research (Aaron, 2011).
In collecting both the quantitative and qualitative
data, as recommended by Bhattacherjee (2012), a com-
bination of techniques is required, such as question-
naires, interviews, observation etc; alternatively, in
the case of highly structured survey questionnaires,
both qualitative and quantitative data can only be
achieved by designing the questionnaire by using both
closed-ended and open-ended questions. This has
been adopted in carrying out this study. Therefore,
the subjects of this are diverse and have in one time
or the other visited different destinations. Because the
questionnaire was uploaded online, there is no spec-
ified sample frame for the research, and the sample
frame for an online questionnaire survey is based on
convenience (Veal, 2011).
An online questionnaire was designed to collect
both quantitative and qualitative data for the study, us-
ing Google Forms; the link to it was sent to respon-
dents via LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. As indi-
Academica Turistica, Year 12, No. 1, June 2019 | 87
Elizabeth Abiola-Oke The Branded Hotel as an Element of Destination Branding
cated earlier, Dioko and So (2012) carried out simi-
lar research on a destination. Hence, this study ap-
proached it from the perspective of obtaining respon-
dents from diverse countries who had visited differ-
ent destinations. Twenty-three questions were asked
in the questionnaire using multiple choice questions
and ranking questions for the closed-ended questions,
and providing an avenue for the people to explain the
choice of their answer to some of the closed-ended
questions using the open-ended questions (Matthews
& Ross, 2010).
The questionnaire was divided into four sections.
The first segment asked questions on the demographic
characteristics of the respondent. This is to enable the
researcher to develop an idea of the respondent, espe-
cially regarding their occupation and economic status.
The second segment asked questions about the travel
experience of the respondents to determine how of-
ten they travel and their opinions on the destinations
they have visited. The third segment was based on the
tourism destination features that influence the deci-
sions of the respondents in their choice during their
search on the destination to visit. This is in line with
the opinion of Gartner (1993), who says that the image
of a destination from the perspective of the tourists is
influenced by the information they have on the desti-
nation.
In this segment of the questionnaire, five questions
were asked; three of the five questions were ranking
questions. Options were given, and the respondents
were asked to rank them according to their opinion.
The fourth segment asked questions on the hotel and
destination choice of the respondents. In this segment,
a question on the influence of hotel branding on the
choice of destinationwas asked, regardingwhat would
happen if the hotel brand to which they are loyal were
unable to provide themwith accommodation for them
due to being fully booked. Options were provided for
them to choose the action they would take.
Analysis
The data collected, both quantitative and qualitative,
were analysed in the same manner. The data were
analysed using both descriptive and inferential anal-
ysis with the aid of the Statistical Package for So-
cial Sciences (spss). Descriptive analysis was used in
analysing the frequency of responses and the profile of
respondents. The inferential analysis was carried out
using the Pearson Correlation co-efficient. According
to Asuero, Sayago, and González (2006), the correla-
tion coefficient is themeasure of the degree of associa-
tion between two variables. For this study, the Pearson
Product-moment correlation was used to test for a lin-
ear relationship.
Findings
A total of 99 responses were collated due to the time
constraints. The responses were analysed, and the fol-
lowing are the results of the findings.
Descriptive Analysis
A total of 99 respondents responded to the online
questionnaire. Table 1 gives an overview of the de-
mography of the respondents. Of the 99 respondents
to the questionnaire, 39 were male, and 60 were fe-
males. The age of the respondents also varies, cutting
across almost all age groups: 18–25 years constituted
33.3, 26–33 years made up 33.3, 34–41 years con-
stituted 13.1, 42–49 years made up 5.1, 50–57 years
made up 6.1, while above 57 years were 9.1 of the
respondents.
Regarding marital status, 55.6 of the respondents
are singles, while 34.3 aremarried. The remaining are
divorced, widowed and in relationships, constituting a
total of 9, but one of the respondents did not fill in
their marital status. Regarding the economic status of
the respondents, the majority were in full-time paid
work (40.4, 13.1 worked part-time, 30.3 are stu-
dents (in full-time education), and the remaining are
retired, unemployed and entrepreneurs making up a
total of 16.2.
As stated in the methodology section, the research
was targeted towards a diverse population from dif-
ferent countries around the world who have also vis-
ited different places around the world. Hence, Table
2 shows the diversity in the nationality of the par-
ticipant, spanning almost all countries in the world.
These people were contacted through the use of social
media.
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Elizabeth Abiola-Oke The Branded Hotel as an Element of Destination Branding
Table 1 Respondents’ Demography ()
Travel in the last
 months
Yes 
No 
Gender Male 
Female 
Age Range – 
– 
– 
– 
– 
 and above 
Marital Status Single 
Married 
Divorced 
Widow/widower 
Other 
Missing value 
Economic Status In full-time paid work 
In part-time paid work 
In full-the education 
Retired 
Unemployed 
Others – entrepreneur 
Nationality African 
Asians 
Europeans 
Americans 
Australians 
No. of travel times
within  months
– times 
– times 
Above  times 
To identify the type of accommodation the respon-
dents make use of when they visit a destination, a
question was asked on this and the responses indi-
cated that 58.6 of the respondents make use of ho-
tels, 14.1makes use of hostels, 14.1 stays with family
and friends, while 13.1 makes use of guest houses at
the destination, as shown in Table 3. Following iden-
tification of the most used type of accommodation,
Table 2 Nationality of Participants
Nationality () () () ()
Middle East  . . .
American  . . .
Australian (perm. resident)  . . .
Brazilian  . . .
British  . . .
Cameroonian  . . .
Canadian  . . .
Chinese  . . .
Croatian  . . .
Danish  . . .
Dominican  . . .
Dutch  . . .
Egyptian  . . .
Finnish  . . .
French  . . .
German  . . .
Ghanaian  . . .
Greek  . . .
Indian  . . .
Indonesian  . . .
Iranian  . . .
Italian  . . .
Jamaican  . . .
Latvian  . . .
Malaysian  . . .
Nigerian  . . .
Polish  . . .
Portuguese  . . .
Serbian  . . .
South African  . . .
Spanish  . . .
Ugandan  . . .
Total  . .
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) frequency, (2)
percent, (3) valid percent, (4) cumulative percent.
a question was asked regarding the decision the re-
spondents would make should their choice of ho-
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Elizabeth Abiola-Oke The Branded Hotel as an Element of Destination Branding
Table 3 Types of Accommodation Frequently Used
Type of accommodation () () () ()
Hostel  . . .
Guest house  . . .
Hotels  . . .
Stay with family and friends  . . .
Total  . .
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) frequency, (2)
percent, (3) valid percent, (4) cumulative percent.
Table 4 Non-Availability of Preferred Hotel
Solution () () () ()
Look for another accommo-
dation within the destina-
tion
 . . .
Postpone the trip till when I
can book for the accommo-
dation at the destination
 . . .
Cancel the trip and search
for another destination with
the same hotel brand
 . . .
Cancel the trip and look for
another destination
 . . .
Total  . .
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) frequency, (2)
percent, (3) valid percent, (4) cumulative percent.
tel/accommodation not be available for the date they
intend to visit the destination: 83.8 indicated they
would look for other accommodation within the des-
tination, 8.1 said they would postpone the trip until
they could get their preferred hotel, 3.0 indicated
they would cancel the trip and search for another des-
tination with the same brand of hotel, while 5.1 indi-
cated they would cancel the trip and look for another
destination. This, therefore, shows that a total of 16.2
of the respondents are more loyal to the hotel brand.
This is shown in Table 4.
Following the above question on a decision about
the preferred hotel, a question on what inspires the
choice of a destination was expedient was asked; 71.7
of respondants indicated that the attractions at the des-
tination inspire them the most, 14.1 indicated that
Table 5 Inspiration for Choice of Destination
Nationality () () () ()
Attractions at the destination  . . .
Accessibility  . . .
Accommodation  . . .
Others  . . .
Total  . .
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) frequency, (2)
percent, (3) valid percent, (4) cumulative percent.
Table 6 Choice of Destination Inspiration
and Non-Availability of Preferred Hotel
Inspiration for
choice of destination
Decision when hotel preference
is not available
() () () () ()
Attract. at the dest.     
Accessibility     
Accommodation     
Others     
Total     
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) look for another
accommodationwithin the destination, (2) postpone the trip
till when I can book for the accommodation at the destina-
tion, (3) cancel the trip and search for another destination
with the same hotel brand, (4) cancel the trip and look for
another destination, (5) total.
Table 7 Chi-Square Tests
Item () () ()
Pearson Chi-Square .  .
Likelihood ratio .  .
Linear-by-linear association .  .
No. of valid cases 
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) value, (2) de-
grees of freedom, (3) asymptotic significance (2-sided).
accessibility to and within the destination is their in-
spiration, while just 6.1 indicated the accommoda-
tion facility available at the destination. The remaining
8.1 indicated some other factors, such as cost, famil-
iar people at the destination and culture of the desti-
nation, as indicated in Table 5.
90 | Academica Turistica, Year 12, No. 1, June 2019
Elizabeth Abiola-Oke The Branded Hotel as an Element of Destination Branding
Table 8 Spearman’s Ranked Correlation Analysis of Elements of Destination Branding and Inspiration
for Choice of Destination
Element (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7) (8)
(1) Key attractions (a) 1.000 0.195 0.273** 0.301** 0.264** 0.306** 0.368**
(b) – 0.054 0.006 0.002 0.008 0.002 0.000
(c) 99 99 99 99 99 99 99
(2) Accommodation facilities (a) 0.195 1.000 0.572** 0.679** 0.076 0.416** 0.056
(b) 0.054 – 0.000 0.000 0.455 0.000 0.585
(c) 99 99 99 99 99 99 99
(3) Infrastructure (a) 0.273** 0.572** 1.000 0.663** 0.203* 0.478** 0.144
(b) 0.006 0.000 – 0.000 0.044 0.000 0.156
(c) 99 99 99 99 99 99 99
(4) Services and facilities (a) 0.301** 0.679** 0.663** 1.000 0.225* 0.608** 0.152
(b) 0.002 0.000 0.000 – 0.025 0.000 0.132
(c) 99 99 99 99 99 99 99
(5) Emotional appeal (a) 0.264** 0.076 0.203* 0.225* 1.000 0.315** 0.400**
(b) 0.008 0.455 0.044 0.025 – 0.001 0.000
(c) 99 99 99 99 99 99 99
(6) Peace and Safety (a) 0.306** 0.416** 0.478** 0.608** 0.315** 1.000 0.250*
(b) 0.002 0.000 0.000 0.000 0.001 – 0.013
(c) 99 99 99 99 99 99 99
(7) Scenic and Adventure (a) 0.368** 0.056 0.144 0.152 0.400** 0.250* 1.000
(b) 0.000 0.585 0.156 0.132 0.000 0.013 –
(c) 99 99 99 99 99 99 99
(8) Inspiration for choice of destination (a) –0.227* 0.055 –0.062 0.035 0.119 –0.023 –0.054
(b) 0.024 0.586 0.541 0.733 0.240 0.821 0.597
(c) 99 99 99 99 99 99 99
Notes Row headings are as follows: (a) correlation coefficient, (b) significance (2-tailed), (c) N.
Cross Tabulations and Correlation Analysis
In continuation of the descriptive analysis, cross tab-
ulation was used in analysis of both the decision the
respondents will make when their preferred hotel is
not available and the inspiration for their choice of ho-
tel. Table 6 is a cross-tabulation of the two variables
showing a summary of the relationship between them.
From the table, it can be summarised that those who
will look for other accommodation within the same
destination aremore interested in the attraction rather
than the accommodation, and they constitute the ma-
jority in the cross tabulation.
To test the hypothesis, Spearman Rank Correla-
tion analysis was used. The hypothesis for this re-
search states that accommodation facilities in terms
of its brand as a key element of destination have no
effect on the inspiration for a choice of destination.
According to the analysis of data presented in Table
8, the relationship between accommodation facilities
as an element of destination branding and the inspi-
ration for a choice of destination is a weak relation-
ship with r = 0.055 and p = 0.586; therefore, the null
hypothesis is accepted, which means that there is no
significant relationship between accommodation fa-
Academica Turistica, Year 12, No. 1, June 2019 | 91
Elizabeth Abiola-Oke The Branded Hotel as an Element of Destination Branding
Table 9 Correlation of Destination Brand and Hotel
Brand
Item (1) (2)
(1) Inspiration for choice
of destination
(a) 1.000 0.020
(b) – 0.843
(c) 99 99
(2) Decision when hotel
preference is not available
(a) 0.020 1.000
(b) 0.843 –
(c) 99 99
Notes Row headings are as follows: (a) correlation coeffi-
cient, (b) significance (2-tailed), (c) N.
cilities as a brand element for a destination and being
an inspiration for the choice of destination to visit.
Regarding other elements of destination branding and
inspiration to travel, it is indicated in Table 6 that the
emotional appeal of the destination to the tourists is
more related to why people choose a destination with
r = 0.119 but it is not significant as p = 0.240. From the
analysis on the table, it can then be concluded that no
individual element of destination branding can solely
enhance the branding of a destination nor influence
the decision of the choice of a destination, hence, all
elements are important.
In a test of loyalty to hotel brand or destination
brand, Spearman Rank Correlation analysis was used.
The hypothesis states that there is no significant rela-
tionship between the loyalty to a hotel brand with the
inspiration for the choice of a destination. The report
of the analysis supports the research hypothesis that
there is no statistically significant relationship between
the two, as presented in Table 9 where r = 0.020 and p
= 0.843.
Discussion
As identified in the literature review, the marketing of
a destination, also known as ‘place marketing’ is more
complex than the marketing of other organisations,
such as the hotels or transport service providers (Kar-
avatsis & Ashworth, 2005). Therefore, Echtner and
Ritchie (2003) indicated that, for the successful pro-
motion of the destination in the targeted markets, the
destination must be differentiated from its competi-
tion. As a way of differentiating one destination from
its competition, the availability of a branded hotel at
the destination was assumed to be a differentiating
factor (Dioko & So, 2012), but from the finding, the
availability of branded hotel does not influence their
choice of destination. To some of the respondents, the
availability of branded hotels in a destination indicates
the quality of the destination, and it gives assurance of
value, safety, quality service, assurance of comfortabil-
ity, whichmakes it a significant part of thewhole travel
experience. Therefore, the availability of branded ho-
tels can be seen as an added advantage in the promo-
tion of the destination, which can also create an im-
age of the destination as supported by Gilmore (2002),
who sees destination branding as a re-positioning con-
cept, and Curtis (2001), who sees destination branding
as the reconstruction of the destination (Park & Petric,
2006).
From the research findings, it was discovered that
all the elements of destination branding are essential to
the tourists and the enhancement of the brand of a des-
tination (see Table 10) as supported by Cai (2002) who
defined destination branding as a selection of a con-
sistent element mix of a destination used to identify
and distinguish the destination among other destina-
tions. Therefore, according to Miličević, Mihalič, and
Ivan (2016), in branding a destination, the managers
of the destinations are expected to define their target
group (i.e., to whom to communicate the destination
brand). For some groups, the availability of branded
hotels might not be a important element they seek in
the brand of a destination, while to some it might be.
It was noted that some people find the availability of
branded hotels to be an assurance of the quality of the
destination brand. Hence, the fact of a hotel brand as
an element of destination branding cannot be totally
neglected in the branding of a destination, according
to Miličević et al. (2016).
Furthermore, in the test of loyalty to either the des-
tination brand or hotel brand, it was discovered that
the respondents are more loyal to the destination than
the brand of hotel; this also indicates that the brand of
the hotel cannot be considered to be a major branding
element for a destination. According to Veríssimo et
al. (2017), there are two dimensions to be considered
in evaluating brand loyalty: emotional and rational di-
92 | Academica Turistica, Year 12, No. 1, June 2019
Elizabeth Abiola-Oke The Branded Hotel as an Element of Destination Branding
Table 10 Elements of Destination Branding
Elements (1) (2) (3) (4) (5) (6) (7)
N valid 99 99 99 99 99 99 99
N missing 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Mean 4.38 3.72 3.55 3.83 4.14 4.26 4.16
Median 5.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.00 5.00 4.00
Mode 5 5 3 4 5 5 5
Standard deviation 0.955 1.116 1.013 0.969 1.010 0.985 0.900
Variance 0.912 1.246 1.026 0.940 1.021 0.971 0.810
Range 4 4 4 4 4 4 4
Sum 434 368 351 379 410 422 412
Notes Column headings are as follows: (1) key attractions, (2) accommodation facilities, (3) infrastructure, (4) services and
facilities, (5) emotional appeal, (6) peace and safety, (7) scenic and adventure.
mensions. These have been embedded in the questions
on the decisions the respondents will make when their
preferred brand of hotel is not available at the desti-
nation of interest, and also in the question on the in-
spiration of choice of destination to visit. Therefore,
these variables are applicable as a test of loyalty to ei-
ther the destination brand or hotel brand. The result
of the finding can be said to be justified as this can be
linked to brand equity as supported by Aaker (1996)
who stated that loyalty is a core aspect of brand equity
because it is able to reduce vulnerability of a destina-
tion to competitor’s actions.
Conclusion
The study was carried out to identify the role of ho-
tel brand on the branding of a destination, but the
findings demonstrated that a branded hotel or accom-
modation facility available at the destination does not
solely enhance the branding of a destination; rather,
a combination of some elements does, as identified in
Table 8. This, therefore, further supports the findings
of Pike and Page (2014), who said the most compre-
hensive definition of destination branding has been
that proposed by Blain, Levy, and Ritchie (2005), in
collaboration with Berthon, Hulbert, and Pitt’s (1999)
model of the functions of a brand from the buyer and
supplier’s perspectives, which is given as: ‘the set of
marketing activities (1) that support the creation of a
name, symbol, logo, word mark or other graphic that
readily identifies and differentiates a destination; that
(2) consistently convey the expectation of a memo-
rable travel experience; (3) serve to consolidate and re-
inforce the emotional connection between the visitor
and the destination; and (4) reduce consumer search
costs and perceived risk.’
All of these activities collectively serve to create a
destination image that positively influences consumer
destination choice. In line with this, the research find-
ings also show that tourists are more loyal to the des-
tination brand than the hotel brand.
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