Analysis of Online Customer Complaint Behavior in Vietnam’s Hotel Industry

Abstract

Vietnam’s hospitality industry has developed significantly over the past 20 years. Therefore, it is very important to investigate customers’ complaints based on their experience in Vietnamese hotels. This study aimed to examine online complaining behavior focusing on five hotel attributes (Service, Value, Room, Sleep Quality, and Cleanliness) to discover any behavioral pattern differences displayed by (i) Vietnamese and non-Vietnamese guests and (ii) guests experiencing different classes of hotels. A total of 1357 samples, which were representative of guests from 70 countries among five continents coming from 467 hotels in six famous tourist cities, were selected for data analysis. Then, descriptive statistics, t-test, and one-way analysis of variance were conducted to identify whether there was a difference in the behavioral pattern. Service and Value complaints were more evident in Vietnamese customers, while non-Vietnamese customers were more inclined to complain about Room. Furthermore, guests were more likely to complain about hotels in the economy class with respect to Service, Cleanliness, Room, and Sleep Quality attributes than those in the upscale class and luxury class. The research findings can aid hotel managers in making targeted proactive retention actions by categorizing regular customers into groups and also being able to meet the expectations of customers from different cultures and hotel classes. Moreover, they expand insights into the online complaining behaviors of tourists providing valuable practical information for the hotel industry and extending hospitality literature in Vietnam.