Investigation of E-Complaints of Hotel Guests Towards 4 and 5-Star Kayseri City Hotels

In recent decades Kayseri has emerged as a prominent destination for winter, nature, and cultural tourism, attracting visitors to its natural and cultural resources, and gastronomic offerings. The increase in tourist numbers has also led to a corresponding expansion in the accommodation sector, accompanied by a significant rise in hotel room numbers and available bed capacity. Despite this increase, academic studies examining the quality of accommodation services in the province or addressing customer perceptions of these services are relatively limited. This exploratory study aims to analyze e-complaints regarding 4 and 5-star city hotels in Kayseri, identify the most prevalent issues articulated by guests in these complaints, and categorize and assess them. For this purpose, the researchers first identified 497 negative reviews for seven different city hotels in Kayseri on the TripAdvisor website between August and December 2023. Then these reviews were subjected to content analysis. The content analysis findings revealed that guests were mostly unhappy with "rooms and housekeeping department services", “staff attitudes and performance", "food and beverage department services" and “physical characteristics and atmosphere” of hotels.