Analysis of digital applications in luxury hotel operations in terms of customer satisfaction: Evaluation of executive opinions

This research aims to determine the effect of digital technologies used by luxury hotel businesses on customer satisfaction, the possible advantages and potential obstacles of these applications to hotel businesses, and the perception level of middle and senior managers. Although there are examples of digital technologies being applied in the hotels of the world's major touristic destinations, it is known that digital technologies are used at the entry level in a limited number of hotels in our country. For this reason, it is important for the accommodation sector to reveal the benefits of these technological applications, which are preferred at a limited level, for the accommodation sector. The study prepared in this context was carried out according to qualitative research methods in terms of both data collection process and data analysis. Case analysis technique, one of the qualitative research methods, was used in the research. In this context, 15 face-to-face semi-structured interviews were conducted, working in middle and senior management positions in hotels with Leader Quality Assurance (LQA) standards in Turkey. Content analysis method was used in the evaluation of the data collected within the scope of the research. As a result of the research, digital reservation and payment systems, customer satisfaction systems, inter-departmental coordination systems, virtual reality systems, security and comfort systems, and fault detection systems are the prominent digital applications in the sector, and the participants stated that digitalization in terms of speed, convenience, coordination and were identified as quality. In addition, it has been determined that with digital transformation, the diversity of services has increased, services have started to be offered faster and with higher quality, and digital transformation has increased the coordination between units, and this situation has brought customer loyalty. Keywords: Digitization, Tourism, Customer Satisfaction