Meeting planners' intention of using the Internet and desired lodging Web site content attributes

The findings of a recent meetings industry study indicated that Web usage to gather information has become progressively more important among meeting planners. However, a review of related literature revealed no studies focusing on the current information content of lodging web sites and meeting planners' expectations in terms of information sought.; Using Ajzen's (1991) the Theory of Planned Behavior and Hoffman and Novak's model (1994), this study aimed to determine what variables are related to a meeting planner's intent to use and current use of the Internet to plan group meetings. Additionally, this study proposes an exploratory qualitative approach to studying lodging web sites from the perspective of meeting planners' needs. Total samples of 235 planners were gathered via an on-line survey. Results may assist hotels in identifying areas for improvement in web sites related services for meeting planning. Practical implications on web-based information content analysis and meeting planners' expectations on lodging web sites are presented for both practitioners and researchers.