DOI: 10.5176/2251-3426_THoR16.14
Authors: Nunthapirat, D.
Abstract: There is increasing number of consumers who consult online reviews before making online travel arrangements or booking a hotel. It is not only hotel themselves that provide hotel information to customers; now the customers are the people who share hotel brand information (Ye et al., 2009). Online reviews influence on how customers decide where to stay and eat. When booking a hotel online, customers can find reviews not only in online travel agent website such as TripAdvisor, but also can find comments on all the hotel directory and booking sites. It can be claimed that online reviews play a major role in booking decisions by customers, and it is necessary to know how recently hospitality managers respond to reviews, particularly those with complaints and the consequent behaviour after customers perceived online reviews. This paper addresses this research question by discussing how managers address those reviews especially in the hospitality industry. The semi-structured interview had been conducted with fifteen marketing managers in Thailand and thematic analysis is used to analyse the data. The findings suggest the model and strategies for handling online reviews. They are 1) dealing with electronic word-of-mouth 2) key person to deal with online review and 3) be transparent in handling online review.
Keywords: hotel; electronic word-of-mouth, online review; hotel manager; marketing; hotel; TripAdvisor
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