Five-Star Treatment? E-Mail Customer Service by International Luxury Hotels

This research used a typical e-mail query to investigate customer service by 491 properties from 13 international hotel chains. These five-star hotels had difficulty providing prompt, accurate, and timely e-mail responses to their customers. The results suggest significant differences in e-mail customer service, based on hotel location and the size of the hotel chain. The poor responsiveness and quality by many hotels illustrate that better e-mail policies and training would give hotels an immediate competitive advantage via improved e-mail customer service. The article closes with practical suggestions to improve e-mail customer service and future research avenues for academics.

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