SELF-SERVICE TECHNOLOGIES (SST) INFLUENCING GUEST SATISFACTION IN HOTEL INDUSTRY A CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK

In order to facilitate efficient and effective service delivery, hotels are introducing self-service technologies (SSTs) at an increasing pace. Self-service technology (SST) can be defined as technological interface that allow consumers to produce a service which is independent of direct service employee involvement (Ong, 2010). The evolution of reservation systems, the internet, the smartphone and other technologies now provide significant convenience and savings in term of time, money and energy to hotel guests. Nowadays, with all kinds of technologies at one’s fingertips, it makes a lot of sense to do without human contact. For example, hotel reservation has largely changed whereby the guests need not to walk-in or make the phone call to do reservation for the hotel room. They only need to make the reservation as convenience as using online hotel booking system where the reservation are fast and easy without spelling and billing errors. As technology innovations continue to transform every industry and job role inthe today’s world, the service industry is certainly no exception. The latest trend in the hospitality industry is about embracing technology while retaining the one-on-one interactions. The requirement here is to enhance the guest experience with the help of technology, which has a direct impact on hotel’s revenue (Ming & Wai, 2013). Moreover, hospitality industry currently increasing relying on technology and more hotels are now in search of the best combination of technology and human touch to increase guest satisfaction levels. Emerging hotel technology trends are automating and simplifying many tasks for makes day-to-day operation become easier and enhance guest experience, thus hoteliers cannot deny the importance of hotel’s technology.

کلیدواژه ها:

self-service technologies (sst) ، guest satisfaction ، hotel industry.