Revisiting Employee - Guest Interactions in Hotels: An Analysis of Critical Incidents

The study was conducted to find out the positive and/or negative effects that hotel employees may have upon hotel guests’ experiences during their stay. Using the critical incident technique (CIT), data were obtained from 105 guests (a total of 174 incidents) staying in two different 5-star hotels that have similar characteristics in terms of type, price, ownership and concept in Bodrum, Turkey. The incidents were primarily categorized as positive and negative and afterward the incidents from two categories were compared to each other in terms of three main process of hotel accommodation as check-in, accommodation and check-out. Despite the fact that most hotels currently place emphasis on employee-guest interactions –under the concept of service quality or customer satisfaction-, the findings revealed that there were still a number of negative incidents that caused customer dissatisfaction and managerial implications were needed in hotels to minimize negative incidents and maximize the positive ones.