A move analysis of hotel-related sponsored content

This study investigated the rhetorical structure and typicality of moves in hotel-related sponsored articles with the intent to provide useful insights and fill the gap in the existing literature regarding genre and move research on sponsored content in tourism and hospitality. The collected data consisted of 67 articles taken from Travel + Leisure Southeast Asia, Hong Kong and Macau, a renowned US online travel magazine website, to address two primary objectives – 1) to identify moves and steps utilized in these sponsored articles and 2) to examine the typicality of these moves. All the samples were coded and analyzed by using the analytical framework adapted from previous studies (Bhatia, 2004; Chaidet & Pupipat, 2021; Sawetsiri, 2017; Tisapramotkul, 2023) and the software ATLAST.ti was employed to streamline the analysis process. The findings reveal eight moves and six steps. An unexpected discovery is that the moves and steps used in these articles were found to closely resemble those in travel advertorials. Additionally, a newly identified step, “Ensuring the satisfaction and quality of the destination or service” was also found. Apart from the headline and subheadline used to attract readers’ attention, other key components frequently used in hotel-related sponsored articles to influence readers and achieve their objectives include detailed descriptions of the destination and service, reasons to choose the destination and services, and the businesses’ contact information. On the other hand, elements such as targeting specific audience groups, offering incentives, employing pressure approaches and introducing the destination and service are less commonly emphasized. These findings could be beneficial for researchers, ESP learners, practitioners, and novice writers in comprehending how move and step are constructed to achieve their goals and integrating the move-step knowledge to improve their persuasive writing skills and promotional tasks.