Integration of customers spontaneous comments with overall assessment of hospitality services

ABSTRACT

This article shows the integration of the Critical Incident Analysis Technique (CIT) with the Penalty-reward Contrast Analysis (PRCA) to identify the nonlinear relationship of spontaneous customer comments (positive and negative) with their objective assessment of hospitality services. The results indicate that the analyzed comments, classified in nineteen categories, may explain 60% of the variation of the overall evaluation, and 50% if classified as the general dimensions of SERVQUAL model. We demonstrate that customers’ evaluations are related to what they comment spontaneously but in a nonlinear context. This integration of CIT and PRCA concepts can help managers use customer feedback to identify what influences the overall perception of the service, taking better strategic and managerial decisions.

KEYWORDS:

• Service quality
• hospitality industry
• TripAdvisor
• critical incidents technique
• penalty-reward contrast analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development - CNPq under Grant Research Productivity PQ-2015 Process 309114/2015-2, and the Coordination of Superior Level Staff Improvement, Brazil – CAPES.