Published online: 13 Aug 2009.

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Journal of Quality Assurance In Hospitality & Tourism, 10:175 193, 2009 Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 1528-008X print / 1528-0098 online DOI: 10.1080/15280080902988154 Analyzing the Quality of E-mail Responses of Leading Hotels of the World to Customer Enquiries ROB LAW School of Hotel and Tourism Management, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong TERESA KUA The Empire Hotel Hong Kong, Hong Kong This study explores the quality of responses to information queries regarding accommodation sent via e-mail to leading international luxury hotels using a mystery guest approach. The English e- mail messages also included questions about other services and facilities offered by the hotels. The main objectives of the research were i) to evaluate the extent to which the Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) use e-mail to communicate with potential customers, and ii) to investigate the responsiveness and quality of e- mail responses to queries among these hotels. The overall results reveal less than satisfactory e-mail responsiveness and quality, with some hotels having insufficient knowledge of e-mail customer service. The implementation of e-mail customer service policies and high-quality standard e-mail procedures is thus needed to improve the competitive advantages and customer relationship management of hotels. KEYWORDS e-mail response, leading hotels, customer enquiry Received 21 November 2008; revised 16 April 2009; accepted 25 April 2009 Address correspondence to Rob Law, PhD, School of Hotel and Tourism Management, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hung Hom, Kowloon, Hong Kong. E-mail: hmroblaw@ polyu.edu.hk 175

176 R. Law & T. Kua INTRODUCTION Accessing information about a particular hotel is an important part of the customer booking experience, and such information is crucial to the communication process, especially for e-mail enquiries. E-mail messaging has thus become critical to the daily business activities of hotels, and any downtime of this service may be problematic and could lead to major losses of corporate productivity and profitability. Moreover, hotels may miss the opportunity to increase sales and improve customer relationships if they fail to respond efficiently and adequately to e-mail enquiries. Hotel operators spend thousands of dollars promoting the quality of their services and products, yet although such advertising generates room reservation enquiries, these enquiries will not be converted into confirmed reservations if potential customers are not professionally served (Murphy, Schegg, Olaru, & Frey, 2003). The cost of such missed opportunities goes far beyond the economic value of the specific enquiry, and hotels may be unsuccessful if they fail to capitalize on e-mail. Schegg, Murphy, and Leuenberger (2003) investigated the e-mail responses of international luxury hotels and found that exploring electronic customer service is a challenge. In their study, e-mail enquiries were sent to 300 hotel chains in Europe. The poor quality of the responses from many hotels led the authors to suggest that the improvement of e-mail customer service is urgently required. The researchers thus called for future research endeavors from academics in this area. Murphy, Schegg, and Olaru (2006b, p. 743) further commented that a growing body of research investigates hospitality Internet use, but usually focuses on websites rather than the most popular Internet application, e-mail. A survey of electronic retailers in Europe found that 65% of companies did not respond to e-mails within their minimum standard response time of 24 hours (Hoda, 2007). Customers expect quality from Internet self-service technologies, but Barnes and Cumby (2002) argued that automating quality is difficult. Despite the existence of massive relationship marketing and customer service programs, many hotels face declining customer satisfaction even though the Internet provides promising electronic service tools such as e- mail (Karimi, Somers, & Gupta, 2001). Politely and promptly answering e- mails is a simple yet valuable form of one-to-one interaction that influences customer assessments of service quality. However, past studies have found evidence of poor e-mail customer service in the hospitality industry (Gherissi, Schegg, & Murphy, 2002; Pechlaner, Riezner, Matzler, & Osti, 2002). One of the possible causes is that hoteliers are not generating a better return on their Internet investment by focusing on basic procedures and employee training to effectively manage e-mail enquiries. In addition, e-mail enquiries may not receive the same attention as telephone calls or postal or personal communications in efforts to improve customer retention and

Analyzing the Quality of E-mail Responses 177 value. Understanding what constitutes an appropriate response to an e-mail enquiry is thus essential, because failure to do so will lead to poor customer relationships and potential loss of competitive advantage. In addition to understanding the importance of e-mail, hoteliers should carefully monitor the quality and responsiveness of their replies to e-mail enquiries, as e-mail is such a prevalent means of communication. Successful implementation of e-mail surely benefits hotel organizations. This study examines the quality of the e-mail responses of international luxury hotels to customer enquiries, and to investigate how well these hotels use e-mail to interact with potential customers. Specifically, this study aims to i) identify customer expectations of e-mail replies to room reservation queries, and ii) investigate the responsiveness and quality of e-mails responding to such customer queries. This study contributes to the better comprehension and evaluation of the content of hotel e-mail responses to potential customer enquiries by measuring the response rate and richness of information provided by analyzing the quality of e-mail replies. It investigates current practices regarding the use of e-mail as a business communication tool in international luxury hotels, and provides useful information that should help hotels improve their e-mail customer service and the quality of their online service. LITERATURE REVIEW Electronic Mail E-mail is currently one of the most popular services and a frequently used tool for electronic communication on the Internet. E-mail involves the electronic transmission of digital messages over the Internet. Messages can take the form of letters, notes, or documents, or in some cases files, images, or software, and can be sent to any other user on the Internet. The best characteristics of e-mail are that it can be accessed almost anywhere people go, and that it allows users to personalize their messages to friends, business partners, and customers. E-mail has both similarities to and differences from conventional postal services. Messages are posted electronically to individuals at specific addresses, much like conventional mail, and the address denotes the computer that the individual employs as a mail server. When a message is delivered, the user can read it like a postal letter and save or discard it accordingly (Alverno, 2007). In the hospitality industry, according to the empirical findings of van Grimbergen and van der Pijl (2001), the effects of e-mail on organizations are not entirely positive. It is thus vital that organizations be aware of both the positive and negative effects of e-mail to obtain the most out of this tool in

178 R. Law & T. Kua terms of effective and efficient communication. E-mail messages are often characterized by informal communication, which can have disadvantages. E- mail is a direct medium, and employees sometimes do not think carefully about the way in which they formulate sentences. In addition to functional problems, legal problems can arise. Some e-mail messages contain illegal content, such as discriminatory comments. van Grimbergen and van der Pijl (2001) concluded that the use of e-mail in hospitality and tourism is increasing, and that the industry seems to be one of the areas in which e-mail plays a more formal role. Indeed, transactions among parties in hospitality and tourism value chains are often agreed upon and confirmed through e- mail. E-mail appears to be a promising electronic customer service tool for the hospitality industry that provides a mechanism for low-cost communication. Its speed and simplicity allow hoteliers to test multiple messages, and to change offers or segmentation to improve results (Marinova, Murphy, & Massey, 2002). E-mail is effective in acquiring and retaining customers, and is also strategically important for the hotel industry because it serves as a vehicle for relationship marketing and customer communications. It provides a unique opportunity for personalized and intimate interactions with guests, and thus enhances customer relationship management (Murphy, Schegg, & Olaru, 2006a). Previous Studies of Hotel E-mail Responses Strauss and Hill (2001) argued that e-mail communication has become an important part of a firm s customer service function. E-mail differs from traditional communication methods such as telephone calls, postal letters, and personal contact between consumers and firms. Based on the findings from 130 complaint e-mails sent to companies to investigate e-mail responses and customer reactions, Strauss and Hill (2001) concluded that responding quickly, addressing the question, and closing with an employee s name were simple ways to boost customer satisfaction. Other suggestions for a proper e-mail response include a friendly answer and personalized salutation, and politely closing with the sender s full name, contact details, and position. According to Murphy et al. (2003) and Schegg et al. (2003), companies should establish and train staff about e-mail policies, and anticipate e-mail questions through an FAQ section on their websites. Pechlaner et al. (2002) empirically tested response behavior to Internet requirements and analyzed the role of hotel size and category in such behavior. In particular, the response rate, response time, and quality of information in e-mail answers were measured. In the study, mystery guests sent e-mails to a randomly selected sample of 606 three-star and four-star hotels asking about room availability and for information on cultural events and guided hiking tours. The results revealed a fairly fast response rate

Analyzing the Quality of E-mail Responses 179 among the hotels, with more than 50% replying on the same day. However, the quality of the answers was poor. Almost 40% of the hotels did not answer any of the additional questions asked by the mystery guests, and only 38% provided all of the information requested. Nguyen, Murphy, and Olaru (2003) stated that poor replies to customer e-mails or failure to follow basic business communication principles in a reply suggest poor infusion of e-mail technology within an organization. In line with organizational diffusion research, studies using e-mail responses to reflect Internet adoption have found that larger organizations provide better e-mail responses that are more polite, personal, prompt, professional, and promotional than those provided by smaller organizations (Murphy & Gomes, 2003; Murphy & Tan, 2003; Nguyen et al., 2003; Schegg et al., 2003). Murphy and Tan (2003) tested the response rate and response quality of travel agents in Singapore, and found that agencies handled e-mail requests poorly. However, despite these findings, few Internet adoption models include e-mail responses. In their study, Schegg et al. (2003) sent out e-mail enquiries to 461 luxury hotels and analyzed the responsiveness and quality of their e-mail replies. The overall response rate was 75%. However, almost half of the respondents failed to identify themselves. Although 86% of the hotels addressed the potential customer in a personalized way, only 55% included detailed contact information, and just 38% seized the opportunity to market their hotels by adding relevant information. The researchers suggested that hoteliers should focus on customer relationship management to improve their online communication. Matzler, Pechlaner, Abfalter, and Wolf (2005) carried out a study to empirically test the response behavior of 1,733 Austrian hotels to e-mail information requests from customers using a mystery guest approach. Overall, the results clearly showed that the responses were unsatisfactory. Approximately 20% of the hotels did not respond to an electronic information request, more than 25% took more than 2 days to answer, and only 33% answered all questions. The researchers concluded that hotels that do not respond adequately to e-mail enquiries miss an opportunity to attract additional guests, which puts them at a serious competitive disadvantage. Lastly, Murphy, Schegg, and Olaru (2006b) extended data from a study of 491 luxury chain hotels using the mystery guest approach. In their study, potential hotel guests sent e-mail enquiries about room availability that also solicited other information. Twenty-four response variables were measured in the four SERVQUAL-P dimensions of tangibles, responsiveness, personalization, and reliability. The results revealed that the hotels were weak in the customer-focused dimensions of personalization and, to a lesser extent, reliability. The seemingly routine dimension of providing tangibles achieved the best scores.

180 R. Law & T. Kua METHODOLOGY In this research, the total population of 433 international luxury hotels on the Leading Hotels of the World (LHW) list of members was selected for analysis. The LHW are internationally recognized luxury hotels in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Asia and the Pacific, and North America that uphold rigorous standards of quality (Romanella, 2007). For nearly 80 years, the LHW designation has symbolized the ultimate luxury in hospitality. The LHW list comprises 242 member hotels with 100 or more rooms (LHW > 100 rooms). The Leading Small Hotels of the World list has 191 member hotels with fewer than 100 guest rooms (LHW, 100 rooms). The data collection process resulted in e-mail responses from the 433 luxury hotels. The e-mail addresses of the hotels were obtained from their websites through the Yahoo and Google search engines. Secondary data were obtained from various sources, including online research, academic and periodical reviews, and published articles to gain a comprehensive understanding of e-mail and related topics. Data Collection Using convenience sampling, 60 guests at a five-star hotel in a major travel destination in Asia were personally interviewed in the hotel s executive club lounge at the end of October 2007. The in-depth interviews used an openended questionnaire that asked respondents views on what the major dimensions are when they communicate with hotels using e-mails. More importantly, respondents were requested to provide the variables in each of the dimensions. A letter of consent was sent to the Front Office Manager, and permission was obtained before the interviews were conducted. During the interviews, examples from related prior studies were provided upon request. The recorded views of the respondents were grouped by the authors based on the ground theory and using key terms identification. Results led to the categorization of eight e-mail responsiveness variables and twelve e-mail quality variables (Table 1). The results of the in-depth interviews showed that the respondents expected to receive an e-mail response to an initial enquiry within 24 hours, and felt that a message thanking them for their e-mail enquiry was imperative. From the point of view of hotel guests, information requests via e-mail allow them to pose customized questions at any time. If a hotel employee is not available to reply to an e-mail, then an auto-response message acknowledging receipt of the e-mail is advisable. The respondents mentioned that they frequently made enquiries about special room rates, privileges, room amenities, airport to hotel transportation, and entertainment when making a room reservation via e-mail, and thus these attributes were used as the e-mail responsiveness variables in this research.

Analyzing the Quality of E-mail Responses 181 TABLE 1 E-mail Responsiveness and Quality Variables Responsiveness Variables Auto response Room rate Congratulations Amenities Privileges Entertainment Transportation Appreciation Quality Variables Subject line Greetings Personalized salutation Airport distance Provisional reservation Flight Information Credit card Preferences Contact information Future communication E-mail marketing Follow-up Description Did the hotel send an automatic e-mail response? Did the hotel offer a special room rate? Did the hotel recognize the opportunity to congratulate the potential guest on his or her special occasion? Did the hotel offer exclusive room amenities? Did the hotel provide privileges to further attract customers? Did the hotel offer any of its respective facilities for entertainment purposes or were any suggestions regarding entertainment made by the hotel s concierge department? Did the hotel offer transportation to increase hotel revenue? or Did the hotel provide important information on how to reach it? Did the hotel thank the sender for his or her enquiry and interest in the hotel? Did the hotel provide an interesting subject line, including the hotel s name, to attract customers to open the e-mail? E.g., See you soon at Hotel ABC in City DEF! You re welcome at ABC Hotel, City DEF! Did the hotel initially greet the customer with the hotel s name? Did the hotel use the customer s last name or full name with Dear plus Mr. or Ms.? Did the hotel show initiative and provide useful information about how to reach it? Did the hotel hold a room or provide a reservation number upon first contact and keep the room until a certain release date? Did the hotel ask for (or provide information on) flight details? Did the hotel ask for credit card details to guarantee the reservation? Did the hotel ask for the customer s room preferences, e.g., smoking or non-smoking room? Did the hotel provide a satisfactory e-mail signature response that included the hotel s name, the name and position, e-mail address, direct business number, and fax number of the contact person, and the hotel s website address? Did the hotel encourage the customer to write at any time in the future to build the relationship? Did the hotel provide relevant information on the hotel, such as additional promotional activities or hotel facilities? Did the hotel send a follow-up message to keep in touch with the customer and follow up after the first reply to update the reservation status? Regarding e-mail quality, the majority of the respondents indicated that it is desirable for hotels to promote their latest products and services through e-mail marketing, and that e-mail attachments can serve this purpose. In addition, interesting subject lines can attract potential customers to open an e-mail, and introductory greetings that include the hotel name and a personalized salutation using Dear and addressing a customer as Mr. or Ms. are a must to show politeness. Provisional reservations with the option

182 R. Law & T. Kua of asking for customer credit card and flight information details serve to show sincerity and eagerness in welcoming potential guests. Most importantly, encouraging the customer to give information on room preferences enables the hotel to provide a better quality service that identifies the customer, and can provide useful information for storage in a customer database for a customer s subsequent visits. Detailed contact information about the hotel, including the hotel s name, postal address, and website address and the name and position, direct telephone number, direct fax number, and e-mail address of the responding employee should also be given in the e-mail for the customer s future reference and further e-mail enquiries. Finally, the respondents concluded that encouragement of future communication is a way to show concern and build a long-term customer relationship. After e-mail responses have been sent, follow-up e-mails can help increase future sales and directly influence customer buying decisions. When a potential hotel guest has sent out an e-mail enquiry, a complete answer and a high-quality e-mail response are expected. The data on what constitutes such a response collected from the interviews were analyzed to form the essential e-mail enquiry variables. The evaluated criteria were then developed to measure e-mail responses in terms of politeness, responsiveness, and quality. The response rate was also measured by the percentage of hotels responding in a given number of days. Mystery guest and mystery or silent shopper programs, which are types of participant observation, are regarded as good tools for evaluating and improving customer service quality (Erstad, 1998). A key element in the information exchange between customers and hoteliers is the information given about the core service of room provision. This study used a mystery guest approach, in which a fictitious customer sent two different e-mail enquiries at different times to the e-mail address of a hotel reservation department. The first message was a polite enquiry that was sent at the end of November 2007, and the second was an impolite enquiry asking for similar information that was sent in mid-december 2007. All of the e-mail enquiries were made in English and were sent out on the same day to put the hotels on the same level. Polite and impolite messages were sent to compare the differences in response rates to the two types of messages. In the polite message, a request was made for information about room availability and special room rates for a honeymoon suite at the end of December 2007. Information about room amenities, entertainment, and airport to hotel transportation was also requested. To differentiate between the two messages, the impolite message asked about a suite for a silver wedding anniversary. To ensure similar experimental conditions and to reduce bias, each e-mail enquiry was sent using the blind carbon copy function and from the same computer. To allow the researchers to send multiple e-mails simultaneously, six new e-mail accounts were registered on two of the world s most popular e-mail servers, Yahoo.com and Hotmail.com

Analyzing the Quality of E-mail Responses 183 (Microsoft, 2007; Yahoo, 2007). E-mails that failed to arrive, for example, because a server was down, were re-sent on the same day. A content analysis of the e-mail replies was conducted by the authors based on the information collected on the e-mail response rate and the responsiveness and quality variables after the elimination of the hotels that did not respond. The variables were carefully analyzed and examined based on these data. The next section presents the empirical findings using descriptive statistics. FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION Analysis of Response Rate As of April 2008, 360 LHW hotels with more than 100 rooms and 301 LHW hotels with fewer than 100 rooms had responded. As expected, the e-mail response rate to the polite messages was slightly better (51.4%) than the response rate to the impolite messages (48.6%). The response rate for the LHW > 100 room hotels was 74.4% and that for the LHW, 100 room hotels was 78.8% (Table 2). In total, 38.2% of the LHW > 100 room hotels and 54.7% of the LHW, 100 room hotels sent e-mail replies within 24 hours, and the majority of the hotels responded on the first 2 days (65.6%). The last reply was received on the seventh day for the LHW, 100 room hotels and on the sixth day for the LHW > 100 room hotels. Performance of the Leading Hotels of the World (> 100 rooms) Analysis of E-mail Responsiveness (LHW > 100 Room Hotels) Table 3 shows that the LHW > 100 room hotels usually did not use automatic responses to e-mail enquiries (9.4%). The majority of them answered the room rate e-mail (98.9%) and thanked the potential guest for his/her enquiry (90.6%). In addition, 52.5% of the hotels provided information on amenities TABLE 2 Performance of the LHW (> 100 &, 100 Rooms) by E-mail Response Rate Hotel No response 1 Day 2 Days 3 Days 4 Days 5 Days 6 Days 7 Days Total LWH >100 124 185 99 37 19 18 2 0 484 % within 25.6% 38.2% 20.5% 7.6% 3.9% 3.7%.4%.0% 100% hotel type LWH,100 81 209 40 35 9 5 2 1 382 % within hotel type 21.2% 54.7% 10.5% 9.2% 2.1% 1.3%.5%.3% 100%

TABLE 3 Performance of the LHW (> 100 rooms) in E-mail Responsiveness (N 5 360) Responsiveness Variables Automatic Response Room Rate Congratulations Amenities Privileges Entertainment Transportation Appreciation Total Average % Europe 14.9% 99.0% 44.6% 46.7% 35.9% 31.3% 42.1% 92.8% 50.9% Middle East 0% 87.5% 0% 62.5% 37.5% 12.5% 62.5% 100% 45.3% Africa 0% 100% 5.3% 78.9% 47.4% 21.1% 78.9% 100% 53.9% Asia Pacific 0% 100% 23.9% 50.0% 60.9% 50.0% 87.0% 91.3% 57.9% North America 6.3% 100% 34.4% 65.6% 53.1% 35.9% 71.9% 90.6% 57.2% Central and South 6.3% 100% 6.3% 25.0% 12.5% 6.3% 25.0% 75.0% 32.0% America Caribbean 0% 100% 0% 100% 50.0% 0% 0% 100.0% 43.7% Total % within LHW >100rooms 9.4% 98.9% 33.9% 52.5% 31.7% 31.7% 54.7% 90.6% 50.4% 184 R. Law & T. Kua

Analyzing the Quality of E-mail Responses 185 and 54.7% gave information on transportation. In terms of the other quality variables, however, the results were poor for information given about privileges and entertainment (31.7%) and congratulations (33.9%). Across the regions, the Asia-Pacific region (57.9%) and North America (57.2%) ranked highest in terms of total average responsiveness to e-mail enquiries. The overall hotel average of 50.4% is considered to be low. Analysis of E-mail Quality (LHW > 100 Room Hotels) Table 4 shows that the LHW > 100 room hotels generally provided good contact information (87.2%), encouraged potential customers to engage in future communication (87.2%), and used a personalized salutation (81.7%). However, the results were poor for using a subject line (11.9%), holding a reservation (12.8%), and soliciting information about preferences (23.6%). The Asia-Pacific region (52.5%) again ranked the highest among the regions in terms of the e-mail quality variables, followed by North America (46.2%). However, the overall hotel average (36.5%) is considered unsatisfactory. Performance of the Leading Small Hotels of the World (, 100 Rooms) Analysis of E-mail Responsiveness (LHW, 100 Room Hotels) Table 5 shows that the majority of the Leading Small Hotels of the World responded to room rate enquiries (98.0%) and thanked potential customers for their enquiries (86.0%). However, the results for the other responsiveness variables were poor, in particular for information given about entertainment (27.9%), amenities (39.2%), privileges (39.9%), and airport to hotel transportation (38.5%). In addition, 8.3% of the hotels sent automatic response e-mails, and only 12.3% congratulated the customers on their special occasion. North America ranked top in overall responsiveness (62.5%), followed by the Asia-Pacific region (47.7%). The total average score of 43.7% for responsiveness is not satisfactory. Analysis of E-mail Quality (LHW, 100 Rooms) Table 6 shows that the LHW, 100 room hotels generally responded well in terms of personalized salutations (86.7%) and encouraging customers to engage in future communication (91.7%). Of the hotels, 65.8% provided complete contact details, and 51.8% sent e-mail attachments promoting new products and services. The results for the other quality variables, however, were poor, with the hotels lacking initiative in enquiring about credit card details (21.9%), room preferences (21.6%), and flight details (18.9%). The results for subject line (5%), follow-up (7%), provisional reservation (10%),

TABLE 4 Performance of LHW (> 100 Rooms) in Quality of E-mail Responses (N 5 360) Quality Variables Subject Line Greetings Personalized Salutation Airport Distance Provisional Reservation Flight Information Credit Card Preferences Contact Information Future Communication E-mail Marketing Europe 11.8% 6.2% 91.8% 13.3% 10.3% 13.8% 17.4% 16.9% 88.7% 90.8% 32.8% 9.7% 33.6% Middle East 0% 62.5% 75.0% 12.5% 0% 0% 12.5% 12.5% 87.5% 62.5% 50.0% 12.5% 32.3% Africa 0% 26.3% 47.4% 0% 0% 0% 5.3% 5.3% 68.4% 47.4% 21.1% 5.3% 18.8% Asia Pacific 13.0% 56.5% 69.6% 19.6% 21.7% 52.2% 60.9% 50.0% 91.3% 95.7% 78.3% 21.7% 52.5% North America 21.9% 40.0% 84.4% 42.2% 23.4% 34.4% 31.3% 37.5% 87.5% 90.6% 51.6% 9.4% 46.2% Central and South America 0% 12.5% 25.0% 12.5% 6.3% 6.3% 12.5% 12.5% 75.0% 75.0% 12.5% 6.3% 21.3% Caribbean 0% 0% 100% 50.0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 100% 100% 50.0% 0% 33.3% Total % within LHW > 100 rooms 11.9% 24.2% 81.7% 12.5% 12.8% 20.6% 24.2% 23.6% 87.2% 87.2% 41.4% 10.8% 36.5% TABLE 5 Performance of the LHW (, 100 Rooms) in E-mail Responsiveness (N 5 301) Hotel Automatic Response Room Rate Followup Total Average Congratulations Amenities Privileges Entertainment Transportation Appreciation Total Average Europe 11.5% 97.8% 7.7% 23.6% 28.0% 20.3% 28.0% 89.6% 38.3% Middle East 0% 100% 0% 66.7% 66.7% 0% 66.7% 66.7% 45.8% Africa 0% 100.0% 0% 66.7% 33.3% 0% 66.7% 100% 45.8% Asia Pacific 0% 92.9% 17.9% 53.6% 53.6% 35.7% 50.0% 78.6% 47.7% North America 4.2% 100% 29.2% 79.2% 75.0% 50.0% 70.8% 91.7% 62.5% Central and South 0% 100% 9.1% 18.2% 36.4% 9.1% 9.1% 54.5% 29.5% America Caribbean 10.0% 100% 15.0% 60.0% 40.0% 60.0% 40.0% 70.0% 49.3% Total % within LHW, 100 rooms 8.3% 98.0% 12.3% 39.2% 39.9% 27.9% 38.5% 86.0% 43.7% 186 R. Law & T. Kua

TABLE 6 Performance of the LHW (, 100 Rooms) in Quality of E-mail Responses (N 5 301) Quality Variables Subject Line Greetings Personalized Salutation Airport Distance Provisional Reservation Flight Information Credit Card Preferences Contact Information Future Communication E-mail Marketing Follow- Up Total Average % Europe 4.9% 11.0% 89.0% 13.2% 8.2% 13.2% 22.5% 19.8% 54.9% 93.4% 48.9% 7.7% 32.2% Middle East 0% 0% 66.7% 33.3% 0% 0% 0% 33.3% 100% 100% 100% 33.3% 38.8% Africa 0% 0% 66.7% 33.3% 0% 0% 33.3% 33.3% 100% 100% 100% 0% 38.8% Asia Pacific 14.3% 14.3% 89.3% 53.6% 25.0% 42.9% 28.6% 32.1% 78.6% 85.7% 71.4% 3.6% 45.0% North America 10.4% 35.4% 91.7% 35.4% 12.5% 33.3% 25.0% 29.2% 83.3% 91.7% 52.1% 4.2% 31.8% Central and 0% 9.1% 72.7% 9.1% 0% 9.1% 9.1% 0% 72.7% 72.7% 18.2% 0% 22.7% South America Caribbean 0% 20.0% 70.0% 10.0% 10.0% 20.0% 10.0% 10.0% 80.0% 90.0% 40.0% 10.0% 30.8% Total % within LHW,100 rooms 5.0% 15.3% 86.7% 20.9% 10.0% 18.9% 21.9% 21.6% 65.8% 91.7% 51.8% 7.0% 34.7% Analyzing the Quality of E-mail Responses 187

188 R. Law & T. Kua greetings (15.3%), and airport distance (20.9%) were also poor. The Asia- Pacific region ranked top (45.0%) among the regions. The overall average of 34.7% is considered poor. Discussion of the Findings The effective handling of e-mail information enquiries is considered essential in online service quality management. From the customer s point of view, it is crucial to be able to send an enquiry to an e-mail address at any time as some information requests cannot be answered by online booking systems. The findings show that 76.3% of the hotels replied to the e-mail enquiries and 45.5% responded within 24 hours. This response rate is slightly higher than the 74% found among Swiss hotels (Murphy et al., 2003) and much higher than the 45% response rate among Tunisian hotels (Gherissi et al., 2002), but lower than the 83.8% response rate among four-star hotels in three Alpine regions (Pechlaner et al., 2002). In general, the hotels tried to answer the questions asked in the e-mails, but some did not provide quality replies in some areas. For instance, a personalized salutation using Dear and the potential customer s full name or last name is better than using simply Mr. or Ms. ; some of the hotels used Dear with the first name only, and others used Hello or Hi with the enquirer s name. Many hotels provided contact information without indicating the responding employee s position or the hotel s fax number or website address. Some hotels replied that their concierge department would e-mail the sender as soon as possible regarding entertainment enquiries. However, some of the concierge employees did not respond, and others asked again what kind of entertainment the sender sought. This causes delays and, if the sender receives a more efficient response from another hotel, could lead to the loss of a potential customer. Our findings revealed that some hotels did not provide the requested information efficiently, and that some even responded unprofessionally. The majority of the hotels did not use an automated response system. The drawback of an automatic response is that it has an impersonal feeling, but an automatic response with a pre-written message acknowledging the sender s e-mail can, and should, be sent promptly. However, only a small percentage of the hotels in Europe, North America, and Central and South America used this as one of their e-mail practices. In addition, the subject line of an e-mail serves as a link for the reader, but only a small portion of the hotels in the Asia-Pacific region, North America, and Europe actually used it. Each e-mail query gives a hotel a unique marketing and cross-selling opportunity. E-mail can create revenue opportunities from past, present, and future customers, and as such serves as a powerful marketing channel through which hotels can send information about the best deals and latest promotions and services. Although such practices increase revenue

Analyzing the Quality of E-mail Responses 189 opportunities, the findings show that they were rarely used. Hotels in Hong Kong (87.5%) and Macau (88.9%) were far better at sending e-mail responses that included their latest promotions and provided updated news of refurbishments being carried out to enhance facilities. Hotels in the Asia- Pacific region in general had the highest rate of e-mail marketing among the LHW hotels. Some of the hotels seemed to avoid attachments, perhaps because they felt that they would have taken too long to download and were unnecessary for simple enquiries. Among the large LHW hotels, 57% in the Asia-Pacific region and North America showed good responsiveness, which was the best figure among the regions, whereas Central and South America had the weakest results. The Asia-Pacific region also had the highest average score in responding to e- mails with quality replies (52.5%). Among the small LHW in North America, the average e-mail responsiveness rate was 62.5%, which compared well with the other regions. The overall average of 45% for hotels in the Asia- Pacific region that responded with quality replies was not good, but was still the highest among the regions. Central and South America showed the poorest results, but this may be due to the weak English proficiency or uneven technological development in this part of the world. Although Europe is a mature and well developed travel destination, the empirical findings show that the European hotels did not perform well, and apparently focus on aspects other than e-mail or e-service. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Conclusions In the Internet era, e-mail allows hoteliers to directly communicate with customers and engage in a strong, personalized, and mutually beneficial interactive relationship with them. However, the results of this study indicate that e-mail management remains a challenge for the world s leading hotels. E-mail provides the hotel industry with the ability to communicate easily, globally, and quickly with customers and business partners. This exploratory research, however, reveals that hotels do not include e-mail customer service as part of their Internet strategy. Managers and staff members need to appreciate that e-mail is as important as, if not more important than, faxes, telephone calls, and letters. The senior management of hotels should thus establish policies and train employees in such e-service policies to create a more positive attitude toward the Internet, and should make responding to e-mail enquiries a higher priority in their business strategy. E-mail standard templates are helpful in enhancing basic business communication, but this can also be achieved by answering questions efficiently, identifying the sender, and personalizing messages. Receiving an e-mail enquiry is

190 R. Law & T. Kua considered a touch point, a moment of interaction that is the first step in establishing a relationship with and engaging a potential hotel guest. Hotel managers should treat such enquiries as potential sales leads, provide adequate responses, and attempt to cross-sell products. E-mail programs are relatively inexpensive and simple to support. Hotel service operations management issues related to managing online customer service contacts thus merit urgent attention, and hotels should take advantage of the full range of possibilities provided by the Internet to gain a competitive advantage and convert online enquiries into sales. Implications E-mail is often characterized as simply the writing of text messages, but given its higher degree of interactivity and faster response time, it is not easy for hotels to perfect e-mail functionality as one of their business tools with which to communicate with customers in an effective and efficient manner. This study highlights the current poor e-mail services among international luxury hotels that use e-mail as a business communication tool, and provides useful information that will help hotels improve their e-mail customer service and online service quality. In this study, a hotel reply did not necessarily mean that potential guests received accurate answers to their enquiries. In addition, e-mail information was handled differently depending on the location and size of the hotel. The negative findings in this study suggest that the entire luxury hotel industry is affected by general issues such as a lack of internal procedures and training to anticipate e-mail enquiries. The poor results for the e-mail responsiveness and quality variables suggest that hotels urgently need to develop measures to improve e-mail customer service. Implementing basic e-mail policies and standard online service operating procedures would enable them to gain an immediate competitive advantage. Recommendations The remarkable growth of the Internet and its increasing importance as a reservation tool has created both opportunities and challenges in the hotel and tourism industry. Advances in communications and information technology are altering the way that customers interface with service providers, and are likely to influence customer perceptions of the service experience (Boyer, Hallowell, & Roth, 2002; Oliveira, Roth, & Gilland, 2002). Online and offline enquiries have been, and will be, a major source of hotel revenue, which means that hoteliers must understand the urgent need for efficient e-mail management. Incoming e-mail from customers creates potential opportunities to cross-sell and up-sell. In addition, e-mail can be

Analyzing the Quality of E-mail Responses 191 used to encourage further communication to help the hotel learn more about customer needs. Hotels should therefore employ new strategies to ensure that they are sending proper e-mail responses to take full advantage of the functions of e-mail and utilize the Internet to its fullest potential. Limitations and Future Research Because of the limited sample size of hotels and short time span, the findings of this study cannot be generalized to the hotel industry at large. In addition, it is unknown how non-english e-mails are handled. Future studies could address these limitations. Moreover, close attention to the concept of e-mail management and online e-mail customer service is crucial, as this study did not examine the degree of completeness for the obtained information. Additional research is needed to empirically examine the importance and effects of e-mail personalization and customization on customer buying behavior. Further research is also needed to explore, and better understand, why hotel employees respond in an unprofessional way or they do not respond at all to e-mail enquiries. Future research could also include more hotels in different categories and consider additional e-mail response variables or to further refine the variables included in this exploratory study. For instance, it is possible that some overlaps might exist between variables in the responsiveness and quality dimensions. Future studies can also investigate the feasibility of incorporating responsiveness as one of the quality dimensions in the context of e-mail services. As the implementation of customer service in hotel organizations occurs over time, longitudinal studies of international hotels would help to determine the success rate of e- service implementation. REFERENCES Alverno (2007). What is email? Accessed November 1, 2007, from http://depts. alverno.edu/cil/mod2/whatisemail.html. Barnes, J.G., & Cumby, J.A. (2002). Establishing customer relationships on the Internet requires more than technology. Australian Marketing Journal, 10(1), 34 46. Boyer, K.K., Hallowell, R., & Roth, A.V. (2002). E-Services: Operating strategy a case study and a method for analyzing operational benefits. Journal of Operations Management, 20(2), 175 188. Erstad, M. (1998). Mystery shopping programmes and human resources management. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 10(1), 34 38. Gherissi, T.L., Schegg, R., & Murphy, J. (2002). The state of electronic customer service in the Tunisian hotel industry. Proceedings of the 7 th International

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