Customer Acceptance of Self-Service Technology in Five-Star Hotels in Egypt

Abstract

Self-service technology (SST) is continuously improving to make a wide range of services easier, quicker, and more suitable. The current study aims mainly to explore customers' acceptance and intention to use SST in five-star hotels in Egypt based on its ease of use and usefulness. Therefore, the current research highlighted four issues of SST, namely; technology acceptance (perceived usefulness and ease of use), technology readiness (innovativeness, optimism, discomfort, and insecurity), technology characteristics (responsiveness and smartness), and customers' intention to use SST. Five main hypotheses were developed consequently. A survey form was completed by 940 hotel customers; they were selected randomly from five-star hotels in five regions. The findings revealed that customer acceptance of SST in hotels was significantly correlated with technology readiness and technology characteristics. In addition, there was a significant correlation between customers' acceptance of SST and their intention to use it. The research presents a comprehensive insight into SST practises in five-star hotels in Egypt. Furthermore, many implementations are provided that help hotel managers and decision-makers understand what motivates customers to accept SST.