The impact of COVID-19 on hotel customer satisfaction: evidence from Beijing and Shanghai in China
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management
ISSN: 0959-6119
Article publication date: 18 November 2021
Issue publication date: 3 January 2022
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to provide better service to hotel customers during the COVID-19 era. Specifically, this study focuses on understanding the changes in hotel customer satisfaction during the epidemic and formulating effective marketing strategies to satisfy and attract guests.
Design/methodology/approach
As the first victim of the COVID-19 virus, China’s hotel industry has been profoundly affected and customer satisfaction and needs have also changed. Taking 105,635 hotel reviews obtained from Tripadvisor.com in Beijing and Shanghai as samples, this study explores the changes in consumer satisfaction by using text-mining methods.
Findings
The results suggest that there are significant differences in overall ratings, spatial distribution and ratings of different traveller types before and after the epidemic. Generally, customers have higher “tolerance” and are more inclined to give higher ratings and pay more attention to hotel prevention and control measures to reduce health risks after the COVID-19.
Research limitations/implications
This paper proves the changes in customer satisfaction before and after the COVID-19 at the theoretical level and reveals the changes in customer attention through the topic model and provides a basis for guiding hotel managers to reduce the impact of the COVID-19 crisis.
Practical implications
Empirical findings would provide useful insights into tourism management and improve hotel service quality during the COVID-19 epidemic era.
Originality/value
This research explores the hotel customer satisfaction in the field of hotel management before COVID-19 and after COVID-19, by using text mining to analyse mandarin online reviews. The results of this study will suggest that the hotel industry should continuously adjust its products and services based on the effective information obtained from customer reviews, so as to realize the activation and revitalization of the hotel industry in the epidemic era.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
This research work was partly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grants No. 72101197 and No. 71988101, and by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities under Grant No. SK2021007.
Citation
Sun, S., Jiang, F., Feng, G., Wang, S. and Zhang, C. (2022), "The impact of COVID-19 on hotel customer satisfaction: evidence from Beijing and Shanghai in China", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 34 No. 1, pp. 382-406. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-03-2021-0356
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited