Hotel photo gallery and Malaysian travelers: Preliminary findings

Hotel photo gallery provides an opportunity for travelers to see interior room and facilities provided in the hotel. However, photo quality uploaded by hotel guests may not meet the professional photo quality, which in turn could impact user experience of potential travelers. Thus, this study investigates how Malaysian travelers perceive the importance of photo gallery and their emotional responses toward different types of photo. A low fidelity prototype of the photo gallery tablet application was developed. Fourteen Malaysian participants took part in this preliminary study. Results of eye-tracking data and cued retrospective think aloud showed that Malaysian participants gave positive emotion responses in less than 1 minute and half of the participants fixated on both professional photo and traveler photo. Professional photo had more influence on participants' attitude toward the hotel and perceived room quality compared to traveler photo. Participants also agreed that photo gallery is important for them.