The difference of causes of dissatisfaction between two and five star hotel guests: a customer review analysis from TripAdvisor

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Bachelor thesis

University of Amsterdam

Faculty of Economics and Business

Management in the digital age

The difference of causes of dissatisfaction between two and five

star hotel guests: a customer review analysis from TripAdvisor

Jacqueline Jansje Helena Köhne

11863102

June 22, 2020

Dr. D.M. Dekker

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Statement of Originality

This document is written by Student Jacqueline Köhne who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document.

I declare that the text and the work presented in this document are original and that no

sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it.

The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of completion of the work, not for the contents.

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Abstract

There is little known about the drivers of dissatisfaction among different types of hotels while for hotels it is very important to get more insights in the basic needs of their customers. When customers are dissatisfied, they are sharing negative e-WOM which is very harmful for hotels’ reputations and their profits. To get further inside in the cause of

dissatisfaction, there is drawn on the Kano model. The star ranking of a hotel can be a base of the expectations of the hotel guests. More specifically, through the theory there can be expected that the basic requirements of two and five star hotel differ from each other. In this research, there is aimed to investigate with a sample of 122 customer reviews of 15 hotels from TripAdvisor if the drivers of dissatisfaction are different for two star hotels and five star hotels. The basic requirements of guests of two and five star hotels almost did not differ from each other, suggesting that guests have basic needs for a hotel regardless of the hotel star ranking.

Introduction

Imagine going to Paris where you have never been before. You can ask friends or family about hotels in Paris but you will probably also read online. Online reviews became an important source of information for customers who are searching for a hotel. They enable people to get a sense of the quality and service of hotels without experiencing it themselves (Xie, Chen & Wu, 2016). Studies show that customers’ decisions are influenced by reading reviews (Chevalier & Mayzlin, 2006; Kościółek, 2017; Sparks & Browning, 2011). A study in the United States shows that 76% of the people trust reviews as much as recommendations by family and friends (Murphy, 2019).

Through the rise of customers’ confidence in online reviews, the reputation of hotels has become highly dependent on these customers’ reviews (Fernandes & Fernandes, 2018). Therefore, it is really important for the hotel industry to monitor the reviews and get an insight into the positive and negative experiences of customers (Kim, Kim & Heo, 2019; Fernandes & Fernandes, 2018). Negative and positive reviews have various different impacts on travelers’ perception about a hotel. The number of consumer reviews has a positive relationship with the sales (Chen, Wu & Yoon, 2004). According to Anderson, the negative effects of dissatisfaction are more influential than the positive effects of satisfaction (1998). Negative reviews have a negative influence on the attitude of consumers towards the product a (Lee, Park & Han, 2008). In addition, negative reviews also restrict the ability of hotels to

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increase their prices (Öğüt & Taş, 2012). In short, negative reviews have more impact on hotels than positive ones and have a bad influence on the reputations of hotels.

The nature of customer reviews are in emotion (Westbrook, 1987). The positive or negative feelings after visiting a hotel lead customers to share their experiences, for example in the form of a review (Westbrook, 1987). In order to better understand the nature of the feelings of the customers, the Kano model is used. The must-be attributes in the Kano model, also called the basic factors, are the minimum requirements the customers have (Dominici & Palumbo, 2013). When these requirements are not met, the customer feels dissatisfied. A hotel must meet the must-be requirements of the customer in order to prevent customers from being dissatisfied.

However, what customers see as a must-be requirement depends on the expectations of the customer. The expectations of customers are different for hotels in different star categories (Dolnicar, 2002). Dolnicar pointed out that business travelers in one- or two star-hotel communicate about their fundamental expectations if they are asked what they expect from the hotel (2002). These one- or two star-hotel guests expect for example a shower or a comfortable bed, while these things seem to be clear in the hotels with higher star ratings (Dolnicar, 2002). Business guests in five star hotels expect things like good service, availability of internet, and a pleasant atmosphere (Dolnicar, 2002).

Previous research focused mainly on what the influence of online reviews is on sales. It shows that positive reviews have a positive effect on sales (Chevalier & Mayzlin, 2006). Many studies have investigated what the causes of (dis)satisfaction in hotels in general are. Factors that cause dissatisfaction in hotels are for example the cleanliness, the room, unfriendly staff, too expensive or a bad location (Dolnicar, 2002). Earlier research of Dolnicar (2002) states that there are differences in expectations of potential two and five hotel guests if they are asked what they expect from the hotel.

It is important for hotels to understand the causes of customers’ complaints in order to improve the service quality, customer satisfaction and increase their revenues. For hotels it is very important to minimize customer dissatisfaction because gaining new customers is more difficult than holding existing customers (Kim, Kim & Heo, 2019). Next to that, the cost of holding existing customers is only one fifth of retaining new ones (Xu & Li, 2016). It is interesting to study the differences between the two types of hotels because the outcome of the study can form a guideline for the hotels of where to invest in, in order to prevent negative reviews and create satisfaction among the customers. As stated before, negative

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reviews are bad for hotels reputations so the reason of these negative reviews need to be better understood. For these reasons, this research is practically relevant.

No research to date has used customer reviews to analyze the difference of the causes of dissatisfaction between two and five star hotels. Customer reviews are important to

investigate further because these written reviews describe the experiences of the customers (Xu & Li, 2016). Customer reviews reflect customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction in a very detailed manner (Xu & Li, 2016). Furthermore, the rapid changing technology has made consumer reviews a very important source of information for choosing a hotel (Liu et al., 2013). Inside the Kano model, the aspects of delight are already investigated further by Magnini et al. (2011). With a customer review analysis, this research gives more

understanding to the delight part of the Kano model (Magnini et al., 2011). Theoretically there is known that there are must-be requirements but what these requirements exactly are for hotels is still unknown. The academical relevance of this research consists of the fact that this research is trying to fill this gap in the literature. The objective of this research is to use customer reviews to get further insight in the must-be requirements of customers’ of two-star and five-star hotels in Amsterdam. The determinants of consumer dissatisfaction between two and five star hotels will be compared.

The first chapter will be a literature review, in which the current state of the research in the field of customer dissatisfaction in the hotel industry will be discussed. In the second chapter, the method of this research will be explained. This research will do a content analysis on 122 reviews from two and five star hotels in Amsterdam. This research is inductive and the concept of open coding is used. In the third chapter, the results of this research will be discussed. The last chapter is the discussion where this research will be compared to earlier research and will be connected to the literature and in which a conclusion will be drawn.

Literature review

In this chapter, the current state of the literature on this topic will be discussed. Firstly, the Kano model will be explained in order to better understand the nature of

dissatisfaction. Secondly, electronic word-of-mouth and the negative impact of this on hotels will be explained. Thirdly, the influence of the expectations of the customers on their feelings will be explained. Furthermore, hotel star rakings are described in order to learn about the origin of customers’ expectations.

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Kano model

According to the expectation-disconfirmation model, customers satisfaction and dissatisfaction are measured based on the comparison of someone’s expectations with the actual perceptions of the event (Oliver, 1977). Customers feel satisfied when the actual perceptions are exceeding their expectations. When the actual perceptions are worse than their expectations, customers feel dissatisfied (Oliver, 1977).

The Kano model, proposed by Noriaki Kano in 1984, can be used for measuring and balancing the level of customer satisfaction. This emerges from the difference between perceived and expected quality (Dominici & Palumbo, 2013). In contrast to the traditional customer satisfaction model, Kano showed that not all attributes have a linear relationship with customer satisfaction (Gregory & Parsa, 2013).

According to the Kano model, product and service attributes can be classified into three primary categories: Must-be, one-dimensional and attractive attributes (Kano, 1984). The must-be attributes, also called the basic factors, are the minimum requirements the customers have (Dominici & Palumbo, 2013). These attributes are the attributes a provider must have in order to compete in the marketplace (Gregory & Palsa, 2013). When these requirements are not met, the customer feels dissatisfied. Customers take these requirements for granted, that means that if these requirements are fulfilled it will not increase customer satisfaction (Sauerwein et. Al, 1996). The one-dimensional attributes are those for which higher fulfillment leads to higher customer satisfaction. There is a linear relationship between fulfillment and customer satisfaction. The one-dimensional attributes are connected to the demands of the customer, these attributes are the keys to customer satisfaction (Dominici & Palumbo, 2013; Gregory & Pasla, 2013). The attractive attributes are not expected by the customer. Fulfilling these attributes will lead to great customer satisfaction but not fulfilling them will not lead to dissatisfaction (Sauerwein et. Al, 1996). Attractive attributes, also referred to as “surprised that causes delight” or “excitement needs” are unexpected attributes that can make the difference between the provider and its competitors (Gregory & Pasla, 2013). Magnini et al. (2011) already give more inside in the attractive attributes with his research. According to this research, the overall determinants of customer delight are customer service, cleanliness, location of the hotel, value, facility, size of the guestroom, décor of the guestroom, renovation or newness, food, amenities and quietness of the hotel (Magnini et al., 2011).

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In short, the reason why customers feel dissatisfied, is because their must-be requirements are not met. Fulfilling the must-be requirements will prevent customers from sharing negative word-of-mouth, which can be harmful for hotels.

Impact of negative online reviews on hotels

Rapid changing technologies have changed the way that consumers are selecting hotels. Originally, people were asking friends and family to hear recommendations about hotels, also called word-of-mouth marketing. Nowadays word-of-mouth is also playing a big role in the hotel industry, but it has shifted to electronic word-of-mouth (e-WOM) (Tsao et. al, 2015). This e-WOM in the hotel industry are primary in the form of customer reviews on websites like TripAdvisor. Many people read reviews in order to get extra information, and some may even follow the advice given by people who already visited the hotels (Liu et al., 2013). This freely accessible information helps potential customers to make better informed decisions. Customers who are dissatisfied can spread negative e-WOM , this is a way to express their unhappiness (Kim, Kim & Heo, 2019). Anderson found that customer who are extremely dissatisfied provide more WOM than customers who are extremely satisfied (1998). Furthermore, the negative effects of negative WOM have more weight than the positive effects of positive WOM (Anderson, 1998). Negative information has a bigger influence on purchase decision than positive information because negative information is easier to perceive for customers (Tsao et. al, 2015).

Several studies pointed out that satisfied guests are more likely to return to the same hotel, and that dissatisfied customers will not return to the same hotel (Tsao et al., 2015; Kim, Kim & Heo, 2019; Lee, Park & Han, 2008). The cost of retaining new customers is five times more than holding existing customers (Kim, Kim & Heo, 2019). Failing to satisfy or causing dissatisfaction among customers can be costly because the customers will choose for a different hotel in the future (Kim, Kim & Heo, 2019). Hotel managers must therefore be aware of which requirements make guests dissatisfied in order to invest in the right tangible and intangible aspects. The customers’ expectations are determining if a guest feel

dissatisfied, satisfied or delighted.

Expectations of customers and hotel star rankings

On TripAdvisor there are 8,6 million accommodations, restaurants, experiences, airlines and cruises (NL Media Center, 2019). Only a small part of the information on TripAdvisor is on hotels. The hotels on TripAdvisor are categorized on hotel class star ratings, which are provided by third-party partners (NL Media Center, 2019). Giata is the provider for all star ratings in the EU. Giata only stores the information about all hotels. The

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company who is deciding how many stars a hotel get, is the company Hotelsterren

(Hotelsterren, w.d.). To get hotel stars, hotels are required to pay a fee (Tarlavski & Velden, 2017). Hotelsterren follows the European star classification regulations for hotel, that was introduced on January 1st, 2017 (Tarlavski & Velden, 2017).

The hotel star rating strongly influences the degree of customer satisfaction or dissatisfaction because the customers’ expectations of the hospitality services and room amenities are linked to hotel classes (Kim, Kim, & Heo, 2019; Knutson et. al, 1998). The expectations of the future hotel guests depends on the star ranking of the hotel (Dolnicar, 2002). The star raking of a hotel is therefor the base of customers’ expectations. In order to better understand the differences between what people expect from specific hotel classes, the star ratings and their requirements will be explained.

According to the rules for star ratings , hotels with one star must have a shower or bathtub and a toilet. These hotels needs to have daily cleaning service, towels and soap or body wash at the wash basin. Next to that, they must have a reception service, a publicity available telephone, extended breakfast and beverages available. The criteria that a two- star hotel must meet, include a breakfast buffet, payment with card, internet access, linen shelves, reading light and the offer of sanitary products. In a three- star hotel, the reception needs a lounge suite, luggage services, be opened 14 for hours and accessible by phone for 24 hours. The rooms needs to have beverages, a telephone, a hairdryer, dressing mirror, an additional pillow and an additional blanket on demand. Hotels with four stars needs to have a reception which needs to be open for 16 hours, a hotel bar, an option for breakfast room service, a minibar or 16 hour beverages room service, a bath robe and slippers on demand and

cosmetic products on large scale in the bathroom. Additional requirements of five star hotels are that the reception needs to be opened for 24 hours per day, they need a valet parking service, a concierge, spacious reception hall, personalized greeting for each guest, room service 24 hours per day available, safe in the room, ironing service and a turndown service in the evening (“Excerpt of the Criteria: Hotelstars Union”, w.d.).

Things that customers expect from a specific hotel, can thus depend on the specific star rating they get (Kim, Kim & Heo, 2019) The class of the hotel therefore a significant factor in customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction (Dolnicar, 2002). Dolnicar found that not getting value for money is a common complaint in higher hotel categories (2002). This research also pointed out that hotel guests staying in lower categories hotels are more concerned about fundamental aspects of the hotel, whereas guests of higher ranked hotels value more intangible aspects (Dolnicar, 2002). Bad quality is only mentioned by five star

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hotels guests and these customers are also more disappointed and expect more about the service and personnel than lower ranked hotel customers (Dolnicar, 2002; Kim, Kim & Heo, 2019). On the other hand, problems with the cleanliness of the hotel and the noise are

mentioned more by guests staying in low star hotels (Dolnicar, 2002; Xu & Li, 2016). According to the research of Xu and Li (2016), WIFI is the largest determinant of customer dissatisfaction among full service hotels. Furthermore, unfriendly and unhelpful staff, parking issues and bathroom led to customer dissatisfaction in full-service hotels. Customers staying in budget hotels tends to be more dissatisfied with the hotel management when hotels are too concerned with cost (Xu & Li, 2016).

In sum, if the must-be requirements of a customer are not met, the customer will be dissatisfied. If customers feel dissatisfied after the visit of the hotel, this can have various negative implications for the hotel mainly because of negative e-WOM. These must-be requirements will depend on customers’ expectations of a hotel which will be based on the star ranking. According to the theory, potential customers of five star hotels are more likely to have a higher expectation of the service, the intangible aspects, of the hotel whereas the guests of two star hotels are more likely to expect only the more basic tangible aspects. This research will provide more inside in the must-be requirements of two star and five star hotel guests.

Method

Data collection

The aim of this research is to further explore the causes customers’ dissatisfaction in different types of hotels in Amsterdam. A dataset is acquired from the website

TripAdvisor.com. TripAdvisor is an online consumer review website with more than 150 million reviews and opinions covering more than 810,000 hotels, bed-and breakfasts, and specialty lodging in the world (Xie, Chen & Wu, 2015). Furthermore, TripAdvisor is the most widely used review platform in the hotel industry (Fernandes & Fernandes, 2018). TripAdvisor is chosen to analyze guest reviews firstly 10 different hotels in Amsterdam. Of the 10 hotels, 5 will be one- or two-star hotels and 5 will be five-star hotels. The 10 hotels in the sample include two-star hotels (50%) and five-star hotels (50%). There is chosen to compare the extremes because then it is most likely to see real differences between the categories.

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Amsterdam is a big city with a lot of tourism, mostly due to its freedom and liberalism. Amsterdam is in the top 10 European cities regarding overnight hotels stays by international visitors (Amsterdam & Partners, 2019). This means that in our sample the review writers will be from different countries, which eliminates the differences between preferences of visitors of different countries. Initially, there where 100 reviews analyzed, 50 of two star hotels and 50 of five star hotels. After this, the concept of data saturation is applied. There is one hotel to the database with 5 customer reviews and these were coded to check if there were new complaint categories. This is done 4 times until the data categories were saturated. As Fusch and Ness (2015, p. 1408) stated “Data saturation is reached when there is enough information to replicate the study (O’Reilly & Parker, 2012; Walker, 2012), when the ability to obtain additional new information has been attained (Guest et al., 2006), and when further coding is no longer feasible (Guest et al., 2006)” The gathering of new data was finished because no new information was discovered during the data analysis. In total, 122 reviews were acquired from TripAdvisor during two weeks from April 30, 2020 till May 13, 2020. The reviews were automatically sorted in chronological order, this is also the way the reviews were gathered from TripAdvisor. The newest reviews of the hotels were collected and analyzed. One exception on this, is that the reviews which were written in times of the corona crisis are not included in this research. The reason for this, is that this are extreme situations in which hotels act very differently in terms of given full returns of money when the trip in cancelled. This are not part of the normal policies of hotels are therefor this would not be generalizable.

Research method

Customer reviews consists of textual data. In this research, there is chosen for a traditional approach, the content analysis. All reviews were manually coded and recorded. Only the reviews which are really about the hotel are present in the dataset, this means meaningless reviews will be deleted. This research is inductive, which means that the

categories are going to be developed during the content analysis. The major categories which are developed during the analysis are: customer care, room, bathroom, cleanliness, food, service, value for money, sleep quality and facilities.

On TripAdvisor, the travelers ratings are divided into 5 categories: excellent, very good, average, poor and terrible. There is chosen to only analyze reviews from the categories poor and terrible. These categories of reviews are most likely to contain negative statements, causes of dissatisfaction. The reviews with at least one negative point are part of our dataset. Multiple negative points per review are possible. Next to that, only the reviews which are

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written in English are used for this research. Translating reviews can go wrong or the interpretation of the review can be misunderstood.

Analysis

After all data is gathered, the outcomes of the reviews were processed in SPSS. With the help of a chi-squared test, there was checked if there are significant differences in the major categories between two star and five star hotels . Furthermore, multiple independent sample t-tests is conducted compare the means of the independent groups two star hotels and five star hotels in order to determine if the found differences are significantly different.

Results

Based on the analysis of 122 customer reviews, 61 reviews (50%) about 2 star hotels and 61 reviews (50%) about 5 star hotels, there were 9 major categories of complaints identified (Appendix 1). These 9 categories are customer care, room, bathroom, cleanliness, food, service, value for money, sleep quality and facilities. In total, there were 440

complaints, 231 complaints (52.5%) in the 2 star hotels reviews and 209 complaints (47.5%) in the reviews about 5 star hotels. This means that on average there were 3.6 complaints per review. In Table 2, there is shown an overview of the overall determinants of customer dissatisfaction in the dataset. Across the entire dataset, the most frequent source of customer dissatisfaction was customer care (26.4%), followed by the room (19.7%). The third most frequent factor were the complaints about the service (13.4%).

Table 2. Factors of dissatisfaction by hotel star category (percentage of total complaints)

Major categories 2 star hotels (N=231) 5 star hotels (N=209 ) Total (N=440) Customer care 22.9% 30.1% 26.4% Room 18.1% 21.5% 19.8% Service 15.2% 11.5% 13.4% Sleep quality 12.1% 11% 11.6% Cleanliness 11.7% 6.2% 9.1%

Value for money 5.2% 8.1% 6.6%

Bathroom 6.9% 6.7% 6.8%

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Drivers of customer dissatisfaction: two star hotels versus five star hotels

According to the Chi-square test, the hotel class did not differed on the distribution of major complaint categories (χ2 _{(8, N = 18) = 1,726, p = .9880). This means that the various}

major categories were not mentioned to a different extent among the guests of the two types of hotels.

For both hotels, the most complaints were about the category customer care. Guests of 5 star hotels complaint more often about customer care (30.1%) than 2 star hotel guests (22.9%). Inside the category customer care, the common issues were: customer care reception, customer care help, staff quality and staff quantity (Table 3). Guests of 2 star hotels complaint more about the staff quality (37.7%) than guests of 5 star hotels (27.0%). On the other hand, staff quantity problems are mentioned more in the reviews of 5 star hotel guests. An independent samples t-test was conducted to compare the common issues of customer care: reception, help, staff quality and staff quality in two star and five star hotels. In the independent samples t-test, to compare how often there was complained about

reception, there was not a significant difference in the scores for two star hotels (M = .26, SD = .44) and five star hotels (M = .41, SD = .49) conditions; t(75) = -1.36, p = .177. In the independent samples t-test about customer care help, there was not a significant difference in the scores for two star hotels (M = .57, SD = .50) and five star hotels (M = .64, SD = .48) conditions; t(75) = -.552, p = .582. Furthermore, the independent samples t-test about staff quantity also did not give a significant difference in the scores for two star hotels (M = .05,

SD = .22) and five star hotels (M = .18, SD = .39) conditions; t(75)= -1.74, p = .09. The last

common issue of customer care, staff quality, did also not give a significant differences in the scores for two star hotels (M = .55, SD = .50) and five star hotels (M = .41, SD =.49)

conditions; t(75) = 1.25; p = .217.

Table 3. Common issues customer care complaints

Major category Common issues

2 star hotels N= 53

5 star hotels N=63 Customer care Reception 18.9% 22.2%

Help 39.6% 39.6% Staff quality 37.7% 27.0% Staff quantity 3.8% 11.1%

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After customer care, the most complaints where about the category room, 42 complaints (18.2%) for 2 star hotels and 45 complaints (21.5%) for 5 star hotels. This category is divided in complaints about the size of the room, décor of the room, bedding, damaged furniture, lighting of the room and the window size/view. An independent samples t-test was conducted to compare the number of common complaints about the room. Within the complaints about the room, there are more complaints about the size of the room given by two star hotel guests (31%) than by five star hotel guests (13.3%). There was a significant difference in the independent samples t-test in room size complaints for two star (M = .45, SD = .51) and five star hotels (M = .21 , SD = .41) conditions; t(60) = 2.11, p = .04. Furthermore, there were more complaints about the bedding by two star hotel guests (21.4%) than by five star hotel guests (11.1%). There was not a significant difference in the scores for two stars hotels (M = .30, SD = .47) and five stars hotels (M = .17, SD = .38) in the independent sample t-test about bedding, conditions; t(60) = 1.19, p = .24).

On the other hand, five star hotel guests complained more about the décor of the room and about the window view/size than two star hotel guests (Table 4). In the independent samples t-test about the décor of the room, there was no significant difference in the scores for two star hotels (M =.27, SD = .45) and five star hotels (M = .41, SD = .50) conditions; t(60) = -1.17, p = .25. The guests of five stars seemed to be really disappointed by not having a good view. They said for example: “I requested a nice view from the reception desk. However, when I got to the room, which ground floor, I was shocked that I had a street view with a large van parked at my widow.” There was also no significant difference in window size/view complaints for two stars hotels (M = .15 , SD = .36 ) and five stars hotels (M = .38 ,

SD = .62 ) conditions; t(60)= -1.79, p = .08. However, this difference is very close to

significant. In the complaints about the lighting and about damaged furniture there are no big differences between five star and two star hotel guests (Table 4). In the independent samples t-test about the damaged furniture, there was not a significant difference in the scores for two stars hotels (M = .09, SD = .29) and five stars hotel (M = .17, SD = .38) conditions; t(60) = -.95, p = .35. Next to that, in the independent samples t-test which was about the lighting in the room, the was also not a significant difference in the scores for two star hotels (M = .12,

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Another aspect where two star hotel guests complained more about, is about the cleanliness of the room and bathroom (Table 2). On the other hand, five star hotel guests complained more about that they did not get value for their money. The differences between these two groups were overall not significant according to the Chi-Square test (χ2 _{(8, N = 18)}

= 1.726, p = .9880). The other major categories do not have major differences (Table 2), but inside these categories there are some differences between the common issues. In the

category sleep quality, in five star hotels there was never complained about bed bugs or mice, but in the two star hotels this was a common complaint (Appendix 1). Hotel guests of two star hotels said for example in their reviews: “After night 2 several of us woke up with bites and found several LIVE bugs” and “The most horrible thing was the bed bugs. We all got plenty bites all over our body, which were still itching for days after we left.”

In the major category service, some differences are found between the major complaints of two and five star hotel guests (Table 5). Guests staying in a 2 star hotel complained about the stairs and not having an elevator in the building. They said for

example: “ It's an really old building which is now converted into a hotel (more like a lodge to me). Their stairs are really thin, narrow and small which make it hard for one to go up.” These complaints almost not mentioned by guests of five star hotels. To check if this difference was statistically significant, an independent samples t-test was conducted to compare the number of common complaints inside the category service in two and five star hotels. There was a significant difference in the independent samples t-test about the

complaints about the stairs between two star (M = .44, SD = .51) and five star hotels (M = .04 , SD = .21) conditions; t(46) = 3.49, p = .001. There was also a significant difference in the

Table 4. Differences between complaints about hotel rooms of 2 star and

5 star hotel guests

Major category Common issues 2 star hotels N= 42 5 star hotels N=45 Room Size 31%* 13.30%* Décor 21.40% 26.70% Bedding 21.40% 11.10% Furniture damaged 7.10% 11.10% Lighting 9.50% 11.10% Window view/size 9.50% 26.70%

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independent samples t-test about the complaints about not having an elevator between two star (M = .32, SD = .48) and five star hotels (M = .00 , SD = .00) conditions; t(46) = 3.22, p = .00.

In the five star hotels, there is complained more about a mistake of the housekeeping service (20.8%) then in two star hotels (5.7%). Next to that, they complained about the room service, an empty minibar, spa and gym, and the elevator while the two star hotel guests have never complained about this. However, these differences are not significant (Table 5).

Table 5. Differences within the category service

Major category Common complaints

2 star hotels N=35

5 star hotels N=24 Service Room service 0% 8.3%

Lack of room service 5.7% 0% Mistake housekeeping 5.7% 20.8% Lack of housekeeping 5.7% 12.5% Spa/gym 0% 8.3% Elevator 0% 8.3% No elevator 22.9%* 0%* Double charged 5.7% 20.8% Empty minibar 0% 8.3% No minibar 5.7% 0% WIFI 2,9% 4.2% Stairs 34.3%* 4.2%* Theft 5.7% 4.2% Locker broken 5.7% 0%

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Discussion and conclusions

This study aims to examine whether there are differences between the causes of dissatisfaction among guests of two star and five star hotels in Amsterdam. The results showed no significant differences inside the major categories of complaints between two star and five star hotel guests. Inside the major categories, some significant differences are found. Guests of two star hotels complained significantly more about not having an elevator and about having steep or unhandy stairs in the hotels than five star hotel guests. Furthermore, two star hotel guests complained significantly more about the size of the guestroom. In the two star hotels there are more complaints about having bed bugs or mice in the hotel while this was not mentioned in five star hotels. Complaints about the window view and size are more mentioned by five star hotels guests but this difference was not statistically significant. Overall, the determinants of dissatisfaction for two and five star hotels are more or less the same. Customer care, such as reception problems, not getting the help needed, low staff quality and low staff quantity posed the major issue. The second ranked issue of guests was the room, which included a small room size, issues with the décor of the room, an

uncomfortable bed, damaged furniture, problems with the lighting and a bad window view or a small window. All these issues caused for dissatisfaction among the hotel guests. These issues are the must-be requirements of a hotels’ facilities and services. Not fulfilling them will cause dissatisfaction, but if these requirements are fulfilled it will not increase customer satisfaction (Sauerwein et al., 1996).

The findings of this research point to a number of new and potentially important findings for future research and managerial decisions. Some of these findings can be coupled to the existing literature. According to the rules for the star ratings, hotels from one star must have daily cleaning service (“Excerpt of the Criteria: Hotelstars Union”, w.d.). This could explain why there are no statistical differences found in the must-be requirement cleanliness. Every hotel must be clean, no matter which hotel star ranking it has. Earlier research stated that problems with the cleanliness can cause dissatisfaction among hotel guests, but that these problems are worse by guests who stay in low star hotels (Dolnicar, 2002). This contradicts the findings of this research which indicates that there are no differences in the amount of complaints about the cleanliness of the hotel. The reason that there are no complaints on two star hotels’ room service is because they do not provide their guests with this service. Only hotels with 4 or 5 stars are expected to have room service (“Excerpt of the Criteria: Hotelstars Union”, w.d.).

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This study found that two star hotel guests complain more about the stairs and not having an elevator in the hotel than five star hotel guests. An explanation for this, is that only hotels from three stars have luggage services (“Excerpt of the Criteria: Hotelstars Union”, w.d.). The guests of two star hotels have to lift their luggage upstairs themselves. Five star hotel do not run into this problem because the staff is lifting their luggage.

Another finding that is not in line previous research is that customers of both hotel categories complain equally much about customer care. Previous research suggested that five star hotel guests expect more from the service and personnel than lower ranked hotel

customers (Dolnicar, 2002; Kim, Kim & Heo, 2019). Another point at which this study is not in line with earlier research is that guests of low star hotels did not complain more about the noise in the room (Dolnicar, 2002). The research of Dolnicar (2002) had another

methodology and took place in Australia which could have caused the differences. This study adds to the existing literature that must-be requirements or also

determinants of dissatisfaction among two and five star hotels guests are almost the same. According to this research, the overall determinants of dissatisfaction rated from high to low mentioned by two and five hotel guests are customer care, room, service, sleep quality, cleanliness, value for money, bathroom and facilities. This contradicts earlier findings which stated that two star hotels expect the more tangible aspects while five star hotels expect the more intangible aspects ((Dolnicar, 2002; Xu & Li, 2016).

This research can be compared to the research of Magnini et al. (2011). Magnini et. al. (2011) found in their research the overall determinants of customer delight: customer service, cleanliness, location of the hotel, value, facility, size of the guestroom, décor of the guestroom, renovation or newness, food, amenities and quietness of the hotel. According to the Kano model, the must-be requirements and the attractive attributes are two different lines so there is expected that these two categories of requirements would be completely different. However, customer care is in both studies the most important factor for both customer

dissatisfaction and customer delight. Furthermore, the size of the room is an important aspect in as well as the must-be attributes and the attractive attributes. In this research, there were relative little complaints about the food and location of the hotel which is line with the model of Kano which suggests that the attributes of delight must be different from the attributes of dissatisfaction. Something that also stands out is that noise is a determinant for

dissatisfaction. This means that customers expect a hotel to be quiet. On the other hand, according to Magnini et al. (2011) quietness can cause a customer to feel delighted. These finding thus contradicts each other because on the one hand customers expect a quiet hotel, it

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is a basic requirement, but on the other hand customers are surprised by quietness and therefore feel delighted. With these findings, there is shown that there is some overlap in the different sorts of requirements of the Kano model. The overlap in the requirements can be an interesting topic for future research.

Limitations

The sample size was 122 reviews so this can influence the generalizability of the research. Furthermore, the reviews were from 15 hotels in Amsterdam, which is a small sample that could again influence the generalizability. Another limitation is that the data is collected and coded by one person with a time constraint, there was no second reader so there was only one view on the data. This research was inductive which means that a rational analysis was needed to interpret the consumer reviews.

In addition, the sample was not drawn completely random. The hotels which were on the front page of TripAdvisor with more than 15 negative reviews were chosen. Next to that, the reviews were picked in a chronological order and thus not random. The reason for not picking the reviews chronological is that there can be trends in the outcomes. Customers preferences changes over time and therefore there is chosen to analyze the latest consumer reviews. There is decided to not include the negative reviews which are due to the

coronavirus, because this are different and extreme times which are not normal

circumstances. Nonetheless the results of this research are valid for answering the question if the must-be requirements for 2-star hotels are different then for 5-star hotels.

Recommendations

Further research is needed to increase the generalizability of this research. The same research can be done on a larger scale, with more hotels. Next to that, the research could be extended to regions outside Amsterdam to improve the generalizability and to analyze for inter-regional differences. It can be interesting to see if the must-be requirements of hotels differ in other countries or cities. Also, future research could be performed on hotels with other star rankings. According to this research, there is a base of must-be requirements for hotels which is not dependent on the hotel star ranking. These are the requirements a hotel must always met in order to please the customers. The question is now, what makes a five star hotel than different from a two star hotel if the base is actually the same? The expectation is that the one-dimensional attributes and the attractive attributes of five star and two star hotels must differ more than the must-be requirements. Hotel guests are willing to spend more money on a five star hotel than on a two star hotel, but they do not have very different must-be requirements for both hotels. The differences between the two hotels are probably in

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the one-dimensional and attractive attributes. Future research can look into the differences of the one-dimensional and attractive attributes between two and five star hotels.

A recommendation for hotel managers is to focus on the overall must-be requirements of hotels. Improving on these requirements is an opportunity to turn angry dissatisfied

customers into the more loyal customers. Preventing customers from switching from hotel can decrease the overall costs because retaining new customers is five times more costly than holding existing ones (Kim, Kim & Heo, 2019). The most important must-be requirement is customer care. Customers are often dissatisfied if the customer care is not according to their expectations. Staffs’ help is valued as most important inside this category followed by staff quality. For managers, it is thus important to implement a good training and hiring program in order to prepare the staff for all possible questions and problems. Hiring high quality staff is also important to prevent the customers from being dissatisfied. Managers must give a lot of attention to the room. The small size of two star hotels is a common complaint among the guests. Hotel managers can take this in consideration when there are making new plans. This is of course a trade-off, two star hotels can provide less rooms when they need to be bigger and can therefore earn less money. On the other hand, providing bigger rooms makes customers less dissatisfied and this decreases negative e-WOM which is good for their

reputations. Small rooms is a part of two star hotels revenue model, so making bigger room is not always possible. A solution for this is to make the room look bigger through choosing the right design for the room. Another point to discuss here, is that if all other facilities are good, customer may value the size of the room less.

The outcomes of this study indicate that there needs to take place different hotel actions in order to reduce customer dissatisfaction, with customer care as top priority. For lower star hotel it might not be possible to focus on all requirements, but this list with the basic needs can serve as guidelines in order to alleviate dissatisfaction among hotel guests.

In short, the must-be requirements of two and five star hotels do not differ much from each other. A small room size of the, the stairs, and not having an elevator are more common complaint among two star hotel guests. Giving attention to customer care and the room of a hotel are the most important aspects in order to reduce customer dissatisfaction and negative e-WOM. If hotels are focusing on these aspects, it will be helpful for their reputations.

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Appendices

Appendix 1. Overview of all customer complaints and the categories of complaints in two star and five star hotels

Guest complaint Common issues

2 stars N= 231

5 stars N=209

Customer care Reception 10 14

Help 21 25 Staff quality 20 17 Staff quantity 2 7 Food Quality 7 5 Price 1 0 Room Size 13 6 Décor 9 12 Bedding 9 5 Furniture damaged 3 5 Lighting 4 5 Window view/size 4 12 Bathroom Size 4 3 Décor 3 3 Damaged 3 6 Lighting 2 1 Toiletries missing 4 1 Cleanliness Room 23 10 Bathroom 4 3

Sleep quality Noise 8 12

Temperature 10 11

Bed bugs/mice 10 0

Value for money No value for money 12 17

Service Room service 0 2

Lack of room service 2 0 Mistake housekeeping 2 5 Lack of housekeeping 2 3 Spa/gym 0 2 Elevator 0 2 No elevator 8 0 Double charged 2 5 Empty minibar 0 2 No minibar 2 0 WIFI 1 1 Stairs 12 1 Theft 2 1 Locker broken 2 0 Facilities Building 3 1 Dated hotel 7 4