Abstract

In the increasingly competitive global hospitality industry, hotel websites play a pivotal role in attracting and engaging international clients. However, few studies have deconstructed move structures and corresponding rhetorical strategies of hotel websites in general, and across inner, outer, and expanding English circles, in particular. Hence, using a hybrid coding approach, we developed a seven-move model to investigate the written promotional content of 24 hotel websites in six countries from the expanding, outer, and inner circles of English (four hotels each). The framework comprised ‘grabbing attention’, ‘establishing the hotel’s reputation’, ‘detailing offerings and services’, ‘highlighting testimonials and endorsements’, ‘soliciting readers’ immediate response’, ‘fostering communication and collaboration’, and ‘referencing external materials’ moves in order. Each move required strategies that collectively fulfilled the persuasive functions of promotional texts. Core promotional strategies, such as ‘detailing attractions’, ‘describing offerings’, ‘presenting special offers’, ‘prompting action’, and ‘providing contact information’, were shared across all circles. Other strategies showed clear context-dependent variations. The results can yield insights into standard discourse practices in the hotel industry and facilitate producing persuasively structured content for global business communication. ESP stakeholders can also use the present framework as a resource for genre-specific teaching and writing.