This paper investigates service quality, customer satisfaction, and loyalty in Airbnb accommodation. A self‐administered questionnaire was distributed to a nonprobability sample of 202 international tourists in Phuket, Thailand, which is one of the top tourist destinations worldwide. The results verify that a positive relationship among service quality, customer satisfaction, and loyalty exists and that satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between service quality and loyalty. Furthermore, the paper suggests key steps managers could take to enhance customer experience in a way that would benefit the lodging industry and the destinations.

Purpose-This study investigates customers' perceptions of the service quality facets of Airbnb accommodation using social exchange theory as a suitable conceptual framework to explain aspects of interactivity between guests and hosts.Design/methodology/approach-A self-administered questionnaire consisting of 25 accommodation-specific service quality attributes, structured according to Akbaba's (2006) measurement scale and based on the service quality hierarchical conceptualization described by Brady and Cronin (2001) and Cronin and Taylor (1992), was distributed to Airbnb international guests visiting Phuket, Thailand. The sample was chosen through a two-stage sampling process and the PLS-SEM technique was used for data analysis. Findings-The results showed that convenience and assurance are critical contributors to the measurement of service quality in remote Airbnb lodgings. The findings further revealed that Airbnb guests are mainly interested in lodgings which have access to certain tourist sights, and in 2 easily accessible information and efficient resolution of problems during their stay. We also found that guests greatly value the convenience and flexibility offered by Airbnb, and that they particularly appreciate the warm hospitality provided by the hosts. Finally, Airbnb guests have very low expectations of the amenities and services available at the lodgings.Research limitations/implications-Airbnb is one of the most well-known examples of hospitality in the sharing economy and results cannot be generalized to similar accommodation providers in sharing economies. Despite the appropriateness of using the measurement tool provided by Akbaba (2006), it is only one option among others for measuring service quality.Practical implications-The current study can assist hosts in gaining better knowledge of guests' decision making processes and in designing effective marketing strategies by focusing on guests' requirements in terms of service quality. The effective use of competitive strengths and the prioritization of business resources would potentially enhance guests' positive experiences at the accommodation and at the destination.Originality/value-Limited numbers of studies have focused on the sharing economy and hospitality and in particular on Airbnb and this is the first study with a focus on service quality issues in terms of Airbnb accommodation.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to design organization message content strategies and analyse their information diffusion on the microblogging website, Twitter.Design/methodology/approachUsing data from 29 brands and 9392 tweets, message strategies on twitter are classified into four strategies. Using content analysis all the tweets are classified into informational strategy, transformational strategy, interactional strategy and promotional strategy. Additionally, the information diffusion for the developed message strategies was explored. Furthermore, message content features such as text readability features, language features, Twitter-specific features, vividness features on information diffusion are analysed across message strategies. Additionally, the interaction between message strategies and message features was carried out.FindingsFinding reveals that informational strategies were the dominant message strategy on Twitter. The influence of text readability features language features, Twitter-specific features, vividness features that influenced information diffusion varied across four message strategies.Originality/valueThis study offers a completely novel way for effectively analysing information diffusion for branded tweets on Twitter and can show a path to both researchers and practitioners for the development of successful social media marketing strategies.

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