What is it about?
This study asks whether online visitor reviews can do more than measure satisfaction. Using 262 TripAdvisor reviews of a five-star hotel in Uludağ, Türkiye, it explores how visitor comments can act as signals that help a business identify service problems and inform possible adjustments. The findings suggest that staff behaviour, hygiene and food, facilities, ski and leisure services, and complaint handling are connected in visitors’ accounts, meaning that experiences in one area may shape how the overall stay is perceived. Drawing on organisational cybernetics (the study of how organisations use feedback to maintain stability and adapt), the study proposes the Cybernetic Service Regulation Model. The research examines a single hotel and does not directly observe how managers respond to reviews. Therefore, the model offers a theoretical explanation of feedback-based service regulation rather than proof of cause and effect.
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Why is it important?
Tourism organisations often use visitor reviews to measure satisfaction, but these reviews may also provide signals about service problems and opportunities for adaptation. This study introduces the Cybernetic Service Regulation Model, offering a new way to understand how visitor feedback can inform organisational learning and adaptive decision-making in winter tourism, a sector shaped by changing snow conditions and shifting visitor expectations. Based on 262 TripAdvisor reviews of a five-star hotel in Uludağ, Türkiye, the research suggests that different aspects of the visitor experience, from staff behaviour and food quality to facilities and complaint handling, are interconnected in visitors’ accounts. By viewing feedback as part of a wider regulatory process rather than simply a satisfaction score, the model provides a framework for understanding how tourism organisations might respond to changing visitor needs.
Perspectives
To a hotel, a visitor review can be far more than a star rating; it can be part of the nervous system through which the organisation senses signals and potentially responds to change. While writing this paper, I wanted to move beyond conventional complaint management and explore winter tourism organisations as systems capable of learning and adaptation. Snow conditions can change overnight, as can visitor expectations. This led me to explore how feedback can help a hotel recognise emerging issues and adapt to a changing environment, a question that ultimately inspired the development of the Cybernetic Service Regulation Model.
Nursaç Uyğun
Istanbul Universitesi
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Cybernetic service regulation in winter tourism systems: an empirical analysis, Kybernetes, October 2026, Emerald,
DOI: 10.1108/k-05-2025-1122.
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