The Impact of Service Recovery Strategies on Customer Behavior in Accommodation Businesses

Abstract

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of service recovery strategies implemented by businesses in response to service failures encountered by hotel customers on customer satisfaction, as well as the effect of this satisfaction on social shopping intention and revisit intention.
Design/methodology/approach – Convenience, stratified, and judgmental sampling methods were adopted in the study. A total of 971 questionnaires were collected through face-to-face surveys with German (329) and Russian (642) customers between July 17 and October 31, 2024, from 25 hotels in Alanya. The data obtained were analyzed using the partial least squares (PLS) method, which is a type of structural equation modeling (SEM) approach, through the SmartPLS 4 software.
Finding - The results revealed that customer satisfaction and social shopping intention did not significantly differ based on service failure types. Among the service recovery strategies, timeliness, credibility, apology, redress, attentiveness, and facilitation were found to have a positive and significant effect on customer satisfaction. Moreover, customer satisfaction was found to positively and significantly influence both social shopping intention and revisit intention.
Discussion - Based on research findings, it is important for hotel businesses to prioritize service recovery strategies in order to enhance customer satisfaction. Moreover, considering that customer satisfaction positively influences revisit intention and social shopping intention, practices that enhance satisfaction should be developed and operational processes should be improved accordingly.