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Management Responses on Third-Party Review Websites: A Focus on Emotions and Service Recovery

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Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2017

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Abstract

Tourists use dominantly social media spaces to review their experiences, and in particular, voice complaints. Managers have to embrace tourists’ enthusiasm for technology and provide accommodative responses. However, research only started recently to investigate management responses based on their communicative skills and acts of service recovery in online spheres. This study analyses 443 reviews and management responses in the third-party review platform TripAdvisor. Through content analysis, six basic emotions and the acts of service recovery were analysed. The study shows that management responses include a high percentage of positive emotions. However, during acts of service recovery, the study demonstrates the use of negative emotions by service providers. The study shows there is room for improvement when addressing failures in online spheres. Managers are warrant to design appropriate responses in order to prevent double deviation effects and a negative online image.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Department of Tourism and Service Management, MODUL University Vienna, Vienna, Austria

    Astrid Dickinger & Lidija Lalicic

Authors
  1. Astrid Dickinger
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  2. Lidija Lalicic
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Lidija Lalicic .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Tourism, HES-SO Valais-Wallis, Sierre, Valais, Switzerland

    Roland Schegg

  2. School of Hospitality and Tourism Management, University of Surrey, Guildford, United Kingdom

    Brigitte Stangl

Appendix

Appendix

Examples of management responses:

Procedural justice—“1” rated review, ‘4 star hotel’: “Dear xxxx, Thank you for selecting xxxx during your recent stay in xxxx We take all reviews seriously and appreciate your feedback highlighting our forte and the areas for improvement. Regrettably, you have left the hotel dissatisfied with the feeling that you have not been served up to the standards you would expect of the xxxx We sincerely hope that you will consider a return visit to the hotel and to give us the opportunity to meet your expectations at xxxx”.

Distributive justice—“2” rated review, ‘5 star hotel’: “I am very distressed to read this review. We take pride in the fact that our storage system is very secure and very responsible. If you would like you can send an email to guestservices@xxxx.com with a list of items and I will personally look into this situation myself”.

Interactional justice—‘2’ rated review, ‘3 star hotel’: “Dear xxxx, thank you for taking the time, to write such a comprehensive review, I truly appreciate it, and have discussed your comments with the team, you can be assured that we will be improving our concierge service. Once again thank you for your review and we look forward to welcoming you back to xxxx very shortly, regards xxxx”.

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Dickinger, A., Lalicic, L. (2017). Management Responses on Third-Party Review Websites: A Focus on Emotions and Service Recovery. In: Schegg, R., Stangl, B. (eds) Information and Communication Technologies in Tourism 2017. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-51168-9_38

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