Full metadata record
| DC Field | Value | Language |
|---|---|---|
| dc.contributor | School of Hotel and Tourism Management | en_US |
| dc.creator | Kua, Maria Teresa Barsebal | - |
| dc.identifier.uri | https://theses.lib.polyu.edu.hk/handle/200/6537 | - |
| dc.language | English | en_US |
| dc.publisher | Hong Kong Polytechnic University | - |
| dc.rights | All rights reserved | en_US |
| dc.title | An exploratory investigation of luxury hotels' e-mail responses towards customer enquiries | en_US |
| dcterms.abstract | This research explored the state of electronic information queries via e-mail sent to a sample of 722 leading international luxury hotels by e-mailing an accommodation enquiry using a mystery guest methodology approach. In addition to accommodation enquiries, the English e-mail message also included questions concerning other services and recommendations offered by the hotel. The main objectives of this research are twofold: Firstly, the study is to evaluate the extent of luxury hotels using e-mail for communication with potential customers. Secondly, the study is to investigate and compare China hotels and The Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) by analyzing e-mail responsiveness and quality of responses to an e-mail query. In particular, response rate, response time and information quality of answers were studied. Two empirical studies were undertaken. First, five-star hotel in-house business travelers were personally interviewed with the aim of obtaining and developing e-mail responsiveness and quality variables. Second, e-mail enquiry messages was sent to luxury hotels using polite and impolite e-mail messages asking for the room availability and other information. The outcome of the study is highly important with the regards to the Internet's increasing significance. The study revealed that e-mail responses of luxury hotels in China outperformed LHW large and small hotel properties. Furthermore, the overall results revealed poor e-mail responsiveness and quality for many hotels due to inefficient knowledge of e-mail management. This study illustrates that the implementation of e-mail customer service policies and high quality of e-mail standard procedures would improve hotels' competitive advantage and customer relationship management. This research also develops a suggested e-mail model in replying to customer queries that will facilitate the improvement of hotel e-mail customer services. | en_US |
| dcterms.extent | xi, 174 leaves : ill. ; 30 cm. | en_US |
| dcterms.isPartOf | PolyU Electronic Theses | en_US |
| dcterms.issued | 2008 | en_US |
| dcterms.educationalLevel | All Master | en_US |
| dcterms.educationalLevel | M.Sc. | en_US |
| dcterms.LCSH | Hotels -- Customer services. | en_US |
| dcterms.LCSH | Customer services -- Technological innovations. | en_US |
| dcterms.LCSH | Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations | en_US |
| dcterms.accessRights | restricted access | en_US |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| b24580466.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 10.51 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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