The voice of tourists with mobility disabilities: insights from online customer complaint websites

Purpose – While the topical areas of service failure and complaints have been systematically investigated for the general traveling public, service failure issues for disabled tourists have been widely ignored. This exploratory study attempts to provide some insights into this phenomenon by analyzing disabled travelers' complaints reported through online customer complaint websites. Design/methodology/approach – A total of 316 customer complaints were collected and analyzed utilizing a modified procedure of the Critical Incident Technique (CIT). Differences in service failure dimensions in industry sector and recovery type were investigated through the correspondence analysis. Findings – Critical incidents of disabled travelers were classified into three dimensions of service failures including service delivery failure, unfulfilled special requests, and unsolicited employee conduct. Significant relationships in service failure dimensions were identified in the industry sectors and types of recovery. Research limitations/implications – The limitations of this study are unidentifiable demographic information and lack of necessary details, since this study is based on textual data collected from online complaint/review websites. For further research, more inclusive quantitative data could provide a more complete picture. Practical implications – The findings of this study could represent a valuable step toward assessing the current status of service failure provided by hospitality and tourism industry, and thus provide useful insights for practitioners to more effectively serve this market segment. Originality/value – This study serves as exploratory research and contributes to a better understanding of the tourism experience of individuals with disabilities.