Do customers care about types of hotel service recovery efforts?

Purpose Focusing on hotel managers’ service recovery efforts to service failures, this study aims to explore effects of different types of service recovery strategies on customers’ trust, satisfaction and behavioral intentions in the context of consumer-generated media. Design/methodology/approach This study conducted a 2 × 2 × 2 between-subjects experimental design to examine effects of hotels’ sincere apology, compensation and existing relationship with customers on customers’ subsequent psychological behavior. An online self-administered survey was used to recruit participants who posted their experiences with a hotel on consumer-generated review sites. Findings Results of this study identified that when managers incorporated authenticity and compensation components, customers were more likely to show a higher level of trust, satisfaction and behavioral intentions. Research limitations/implications Derived from the justice theory and the relationship investment theory, this study identified the main effects of three treatments and their interaction effects on customers’ subsequent behaviors. Practical implications Results of this study suggested that service recovery communication processes, in particular, authenticity and compensation, be an integral part of the service recovery strategies in the social media context. Originality/value This paper investigated the importance of hotel managers’ service recovery communication strategies in the social media context.