Improving a travel recommender service by segmentation and personalization
Lars Kops · 2013
Recommender systems are increasingly deployed in e-commerce, helping the customer to overcome the information overload on the internet. So far recommender services for specific cities are not widely adopted and commercially applied in the travel industry, although it is a promising market. The aim of this study is to improve the existing service features of a specific recommender service offered in Berlin called George. Moreover, the goal is to gain marketing knowledge through identifying coherent user segments in order to find new service improvements. A customer-focused approach framework called GIST serves as a guideline to identify the different customer segments and needs. In order to understand and enhance user experience and interaction, a segmentation of users is made. Different wishes of users and service gaps in terms of content design and usability of the service are identified and practical recommendations are made.