Online response management: Hotelier perspectives from a global South African tourism hub

Abstract

The aim of the study was to understand how hotels in Cape Town manage their online reputation when responding to guests' online reviews and how online response management systems are used for this purpose. This exploratory study is based on qualitative data about seven 4-star accommodation establishments located within Cape Town Central City. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, the data were collected during online interviews and by email. The results indicate that the hotels were aware of how negative and positive online reviews could impact the hotel's reputation and were able to use ORM systems to monitor and respond to online reviews in order to maintain good reputation. The authors also propose extending the existing review response framework by the inclusion of positive response actions