Child-Friendly Hospitality as a Service Ecosystem: Insights from Online Family Vacation Narratives

The aim of this research is to reveal the components of child-friendly hotel experience by analyzing the holiday experiences of families staying in child-friendly hotels through online reviews. Adopting a qualitative case study design, the research draws upon the theoretical lens of the service ecosystem approach, which conceptualizes value as co-created through the dynamic interactions among multiple actors including guests, children, hotel staff, and the physical environment. In the study, user-generated online reviews on the TripAdvisor platform in 2023 and 2024 were collected. As a result of the content analysis, it was determined that the experiences of guests staying in child-friendly hotels consist of five main dimensions defined as “quality of service,”“activities for children,”“food variety and quality,”“comfort and cleanliness of rooms,” and “safety and accessibility.” These findings demonstrate how family vacation experiences are not shaped solely by isolated service elements, but rather emerge from interconnected and context-dependent value processes. The findings of this study contribute to the development of strategic recommendations to improve the service quality of child-friendly hotels and ensure families’ vacation satisfaction.