The effect of technological developments in the hospitality industry on customer satisfaction

In this study, it is aimed to investigate the relationship between technological equipment offered to customers in accommodation establishments and customer satisfaction. A total of 401 people, 179 men and 222 women, who traveled for touristy purposes and preferred accommodation businesses, participated in the research. 'Hotel Technological Material Adequacy Scale' and 'Hotel General Satisfaction Scale' were used in the data collection process of the research. In the data analysis process, Mann Whitney U test, Kruskal Wallis H test and Pearson Correlation Analysis were used in SPSS 22.0 program. At the end of the study, when examined which pages and applications the participants used in the process of choosing an accommodation business, it was determined that hotel websites and online travel agency websites were in the first place. It was determined that the participants found the technological equipment offered to them in the accommodation establishments sufficient, on the other hand, their general satisfaction level was low. When examined according to demographic variables, it was determined that the level of finding the technological equipment of the participants sufficient differs significantly according to the variables of income status, accommodation in a five-star hotel in the last 12 months, and frequency of accommodation in a five-star hotel in the last 12 months (p<0.05), on the contrary, it did not show significant difference according to the variables of gender and age group (p>0.05). It was determined that the general satisfaction levels of the participants showed significant differences according to the income status variable (p<0.05), whereas the general satisfaction level did not show significant difference according to the variables of gender, age group, accommodation in a five-star hotel in the last 12 months and the number of accommodation (p>0.05). When the relationship between the variables was examined, it was found that there was a negative significant relationship between the level of finding the technological equipment sufficient and general satisfaction (p<0.05). It is thought that the reason for this result is that the technological equipment in the accommodation establishments does not supply with the customer expectations adequately.