The Effects of Language Errors in Service Recovery Communication on Customers’ Hotel Perceptions and Booking Intentions

Abstract

ABSTRACT Research in the field of marketing and crisis communication has shown that language errors negatively affect consumers’ image of a company and their buying intentions. We extended this line of research to the hospitality industry. Using a between-subjects design, we tested whether language errors in a hotel response to a negative online guest review affect customers’ perceptions of the hotel and their booking intentions in two service recovery contexts: a customer complaint regarding a service failure and a customer complaint which the hotel could not be held responsible for. The results show that language errors negatively influence customers’ perceptions of the hotel’s expertise, its reputation, and its trustworthiness and affect their booking intentions, irrespective of the type of complaint. Therefore, hotels should pay significant attention to avoid language errors in their online service recovery communication.