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Hotel Managers' Complaint Handling Behavior on Social Media Platforms : An Inductive Qualitative Analysis
Type
conference paper
Date Issued
2011-10-21
Author(s)
Abstract (De)
Failures in the hotel's service performance lead to dissatisfaction of the customers. Dissatisfaction increases if organizations don't handle customer complaints in an appropriate way resulting in negative impacts of outcome variables such as negative word-of-mouth (WOM). There is evidence, that the more dissatisfied customers are the more likely they engage in negative WOM activities. Thus, effective service recovery strategies are of great importance in order to correct service failures and to secure the success of organizations.
Social media platforms allow consumers to engage in WOM activities about an organization online. Thus, these platforms not only serve as a channel for distributing information from the suppliers' side but are also used to change experiences between travelers. Actually, social media is one of the most important sources for planning a vacation; customers trust their e-fellow's opinion; and online user reviews have significant impact on consumer considerations and online bookings. Therefore, hotel managers are forced to continuously monitor social media platforms. However, there is not enough research attempting if and how enterprises respond to negative eWOM. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate reactions of hotel managers to online complaints.
In our study hotel managers in German speaking countries (Austria, Germany, and Switzerland) are confronted with a scenario of a possible negative entry (i.e. one travel blog posting and one review on a hotel rating platform) concerning their hotel. Then, they are asked to react to the scenario in terms of intended actions to be taken after detecting these negative comments online. A qualitative content analysis of the answers resulted in 8 categories of complaint handling on social media platforms. The hotel managers intend to either i) ignore the negative positng, ii) get in contact with the complainant, iii) place a statement on the platform, iv) delete the posting v) enhance customer reviews, vi) investigate the reason for the complaint internally, vi) assume that the review is a fake, vii) take legal steps. Detailed results on each category are given and implications for hotel managers as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.
Social media platforms allow consumers to engage in WOM activities about an organization online. Thus, these platforms not only serve as a channel for distributing information from the suppliers' side but are also used to change experiences between travelers. Actually, social media is one of the most important sources for planning a vacation; customers trust their e-fellow's opinion; and online user reviews have significant impact on consumer considerations and online bookings. Therefore, hotel managers are forced to continuously monitor social media platforms. However, there is not enough research attempting if and how enterprises respond to negative eWOM. Therefore, the aim of this study is to investigate reactions of hotel managers to online complaints.
In our study hotel managers in German speaking countries (Austria, Germany, and Switzerland) are confronted with a scenario of a possible negative entry (i.e. one travel blog posting and one review on a hotel rating platform) concerning their hotel. Then, they are asked to react to the scenario in terms of intended actions to be taken after detecting these negative comments online. A qualitative content analysis of the answers resulted in 8 categories of complaint handling on social media platforms. The hotel managers intend to either i) ignore the negative positng, ii) get in contact with the complainant, iii) place a statement on the platform, iv) delete the posting v) enhance customer reviews, vi) investigate the reason for the complaint internally, vi) assume that the review is a fake, vii) take legal steps. Detailed results on each category are given and implications for hotel managers as well as suggestions for future research are discussed.
Language
German
Keywords
Social Media
Hospitality
Complaint Management
HSG Classification
contribution to practical use / society
Refereed
No
Start page
10
Event Title
Conference on Social Media in Hospitality and Tourism 2011
Event Location
Verona, Italy
Event Date
21.-22.11.2011
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Eprints ID
207141