Abstract:
Increasingly consumers use electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) generated by other users before choosing the hosting option for their next trip. Knowing this, some Internet sales channels offer companies the opportunity to respond to guest reviews, which is a must for online reputation management. In view of this, this research aimed to analyze how the hosting companies of different star ratings (self-rating) have been managing the answers to the negative eWOM published in the website Booking.com. The qualitative study was based on the analysis of 251 responses to negative comments, published by 51 hosting companies located in the city of Natal (RN). Some categories of analysis were previously defined based on previous studies (Lee & Song, 2010; Sparks, So, & Bradley, 2016; Li, Cui, & Peng, 2017). The research brought theoretical contributions from the emergence of new subcategories of analysis, as well as practical recommendations to managers, allowing to know how companies have been managing the responses to negative eWOM. Overall, the discussions raised may help hosting organizations drive a more targeted response strategy, bringing benefits to better online reputation management for these companies.
Keywords:
Response Management; Negative eWOM; Natal
Thumbnail
Fonte: Elaboração própria (2019)