How The Hotel Industry Can Navigate an Active Online Landscape
Date
2023-06-06
Authors
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
International Journal of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism
Abstract
The emergence of online reviews located on platforms and social networks has presented opportunities and challenges for the hotel industry. Navigating this space to find trends and patterns in an array of reviews proves to be a tall task for the staff in charge of sorting through reviews, but one that businesses have put a lot of emphasis on, especially in a vocal online landscape that can submit descriptive reviews that can skew negative, misleading, or spread false information. There are different pieces in understanding the effects of the rising online landscape: the importance given to these reviews (Nwaogu et al., 2014), the expectations the consumer has in mind (Browning, 2013), deciphering the actual criticism from fallacies, the response from the online platforms toward inaccurate information, and the actions hotels are taking to improve service quality to craft a better experience for customers in the future (Browning, 2013). The industry is in the midst of an evolving industry with the rise of technology and increased expectations after the COVID-19 pandemic. There are many avenues, including AI, that hotels can take to politely address negative reviews, such as responding to the review directly, implementing strategies and improvements that will indirectly foster a more positive word of mouth online, or working these online platforms to find ways to uncover reviews that contain misleading or false information. Regardless, it is vital that the hotel address these issues that make staying there more appealing, instead of undermining them.
Description
This article was originally published in International Journal of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism. The version of record is available at: https://ojs.stockton.edu/index.php/light/article/view/78. Copyright (c) 2023 Shruti Meenakshi, Sheryl Kline
Keywords
online reviews, hotel, reputation, service quality
Citation
Meenakshi, Shruti, and Sheryl Kline. “How The Hotel Industry Can Navigate an Active Online Landscape.” International Journal of Gaming, Hospitality and Tourism 3, no. 1 (June 6, 2023). https://ojs.stockton.edu/index.php/light/article/view/78.