Customer service in tourism

This posts again links to the broad theme of the impact of technology on travel and tourism (Study unit 1:  Forces impacting on tourism - 1.6: Technology). It also relates to customers' needs and the risks that tourists perceive/experience.  See, for instance,  customers' six basic needs (under 3.5 Customer expectations), namely friendliness, understanding and empathy, fairness, control, options and alternative and information). If there are monopolies in the tourism industry that impact on prices, tourists' need for fairness may be violated, as well as their need for control. 

The post also relates to some of the risks that tourists experience/perceive, for instance, financial risk (when they have to pay higher prices because of monopolies or a lack of transparency and time risk, for instance, wasting one's time in trying to have your problems resolved through travel operators). See the explanation of the six types of risk that tourists often face under 5.3.2:   High IeveIs of insecurity Iinked to intangibility.

If tourists' experience of risk is reduced when they notice the TripAdvisor logo on the premises of tourism enterprises, it may serve as a risk-reducing strategy for these enterprises. Tourists make use of a number of risk-reducing strategies, such as planning their own trips or being loyal to certain service providers. Although the post indicates that TripAdvisor also has its limitations, tourists may feel comforted by the fact that other tourists have reviewed the particular enterprise (and they can do so too).
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