Saqib Ghias, Muhammad Shahzeb Khan, Muhammad Azeem Qureshi, Muhammad Irshad Buledi, Ahsan Ahmed Jaleel

Abstract: This study presents the perspectives of the travel industry stakeholders, namely travellers, potential tourists, hospitality businesses, and travel agents. There is little literature available that covers the perspectives of all these stakeholders. The study tries to understand the preference of travellers, problems faced by them, the response of hospitality businesses on reviews posted by travellers, and the viewpoint of travel agents. A purposive sampling technique was used to select respondents for semi-structured interviews. A total of seven semi-structured interviews were conducted online to understand better the perspectives on the study topic. Thematic analysis was applied to the interview data and several themes related to each stakeholder emerged. The main themes include online presence, travellers’ preference, hospitality businesses’ response, and social media interaction. Travellers usually expect neat and clean rooms, washrooms, comfortable beds, and food. They expect services in accordance to the fee they pay. Hospitality businesses have dedicated staff to respond to every comment they receive. More positive reviews increase the chances of guest inflow and vice versa. There are no websites in Pakistan to review the travel agents’ services, however, they are reviewed mostly on social media pages. These travel agents provide a one-stop solution to their guests and have to be very vigilant in addressing any inconvenience voiced by their customers. This research provides insights to all the stakeholders involved in the industry and gives valuable pointers to improve their services.

Keywords: Online reviews, traveller’s preference, hospitality companies, travel agent reviews, service improvement of hotels