Changing Foreign Customers’ Evaluations İn The Hotel Industry Amid The Covid 19 Pandemic: An Investigation On Online Customers’ Reviews
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21325/jotags.2024.1453Keywords:
Online customer reviews, COVID-19 Pandemic, TripAdvisor, Hotel industry, Customer satisfactionAbstract
Customer satisfaction theories suggest that epidemics and pandemics might have an impact on customers' evaluation of hospitality services. The aim of this study is to investigate changing patterns of foreign customers in Sapanca hotels during the COVID-19 outbreak through online customers’ reviews. Sapanca region is a popular destination in tourism in terms of both location and hotel diversity. Customers’ evaluations were taken from TripAdvisor web site, findings were revealed by thematic analysis method and the MAXQDA 24 qualitative analysis program was used in the study. In order to analyze change, foreign customers’ evaluations in 2019 and in 2023 have been taken into account and to detect pre-pandemic and post-pandemic situation. According to findings, new themes have emerged after the pandemic phase and identified ten most discussed topics after pandemic. The study also found that main sources of dissatisfaction have changed. Findings of this study will help hotel managers understand the new trends that have changed after the pandemic.
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