This conceptual paper examines tourist complaint silence in AI-enabled service ecosystems. It asks how digital platforms and automated recovery systems may suppress, delay, or redirect complaint voice beyond the tourism-specific constraints identified in the original Tourist Complaint Constraints framework.
e paper distinguishes voluntary, constrained, and platform-mediated silence. It extends complaint behavior beyond a simple complaint/non-complaint dichotomy and treats silence as a potentially structural outcome of digitally mediated recovery rather than evidence of satisfaction or indifference.
A conceptual synthesis integrates established consumer complaint behavior, the Tourist Complaint Constraints framework, service recovery research, and recent literature on digital platforms and AI-enabled service systems.
The analysis proposes a voice-silence continuum across interconnected channels and distinguishes technical accessibility from effective accessibility of complaint voice. Platform-mediated silence may involve delayed response, passive disengagement, or redirection of dissatisfaction toward reviews, social media, or alternative platforms.
The paper reframes complaint silence as a heterogeneous phenomenon and advances organizational silence versus ecosystem-level silence as an additional distinction. It also identifies platform transparency, escalation opportunities, algorithmic trust, justice perceptions, and complaint efficacy as priorities for future empirical testing.
A quiet complaint channel should not automatically be interpreted as satisfied customers. Hospitality managers should examine whether digital recovery systems create hidden barriers to voice and provide transparent complaint pathways, meaningful escalation options, and human intervention when automated recovery is insufficient.