Guest satisfaction and dissatisfaction with hotels in Vrnjačka Banja: The situation analysis during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The development of domestic tourism is marked as one of the positive changes caused by the COVID-19 virus pandemic. The always popular spa destinations in Serbia are becoming more and more visited. Accordingly, it is necessary to determine which factors lead to the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of domestic guests in hotels. This paper will examine the satisfaction and dissatisfaction of hotel guests who shared their experiences through reviews on the Booking.com platform. The sample consisted of hotel guests in Vrnjačka Banja, because this destination stands out as the most visited during the coronary virus pandemic in Serbia. During August 2021, a total of 533 reviews of domestic tourists were collected, and the analysis of the obtained data was performed with the help of the SPSS 20 social science package and the RapidMiner data mining software. The analysis of the results revealed that a total of 8 factors affected the satisfaction of hotel guests during the corona virus pandemic, while a total of 5 factors influenced the dissatisfaction. The obtained results will help hotel managers in creating adequate strategies to improve those factors that are a source of dissatisfaction of guests such as the service provided, room equipment or additional facilities.