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Customer-centered philosophies are a prioritization in many contemporary business practices and strategies. Managers have realized its importance to achieve customer satisfaction and higher perceived service quality. The concept of understanding the customer through complaints essentially is, a great feedback management tool. Thus, the aim of this research paper is to understand what makes customers write a complaint in online forums such as TripAdvisor, and how managers respond to this accordingly. This research paper takes a qualitative approach, applying content analysis to negative hotel reviews, along with a manager´s response retrieved from TripAdvisor.com. The outcome provides a guidance tool to management, as to what service element to improve and how to respond to a customer complaint sufficiently.

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The Author wrote this research paper in accordance with her degree in Business Administration in Tourism and Hospitality Management. She graduated in spring 2013, and now works in the Online Travel sector.

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