Customer satisfaction with tangible and intangible services of ryokans and hotels in the Japanese lodging industry

抄録

In satisfaction surveys in the Japanese lodging industry commonly evaluate items such as guest rooms, facilities and equipment, meals, and staff service. However, the Japanese lodging industry also includes ryokan, unique to Japanese traditional custom, each of which targets a different guest who have characteristic preferences and purposes for their stay. Guests value different amenities in hotels and ryokans, it has been difficult to distinguish between ryokans and hotels in the assessment of guest satisfaction. In this study, ryokan and hotel facilities were selected with established reputations and analyzed customers’ high and low word-of-mouth analysis. Specifically, Kagaya, Hachimanya, and Suimeikan were selected for the top three most popular ryokans and The Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Hilton, and ANA InterContinental Hotel for the top three hotels and conducted content analysis and co-occurrence network analysis on the total of 600 reviews ,100 for each facility, compared the characteristics and factors of guest satisfaction and dissatisfaction, and clarified the differences between each category. The results, organized by tangible and intangible services, revealed that guests of ryokans were satisfied with amenities such as a wide variety of breakfast and dinner options, hot spring or large baths, and guests of hotel were satisfied with club lounges and afternoon tea, while dissatisfaction was found with deteriorated rooms and facilities, insufficient cleaning, and inadequate staffing. This study suggested ryokan and hotels to take care of the basics of the lodging business, such as cleanliness and thorough cleaning, even if the rooms and facilities are old, staff competence without making mistakes, and providing guests opportunities to enjoy cocktails and afternoon tea in public spaces such as own lounge or club in hotels or hot spring baths in Japanese ryokan.