The Incorporation of Consumer Experience into the Branding Process: An Investigation of Name‐Brand Hotels

Given the growing number of hotel brands, improving consumer experience has become an increasingly important area of interest to industry practitioners. The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between hotel guests' brand experience, knowledge and loyalty to name‐brand hotels. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling with the incorporation of a second‐order factor analysis were employed to achieve the research goals. The findings indicate that brand experience was represented as a holistic concept with sensory, affective, behavioral and intellectual aspects. While brand experience influences brand loyalty, its impact is partially mediated by brand knowledge. This is a pioneer study that combines consumer experience with branding in the hospitality industry and offers practical suggestions to facilitate hotel managers in their development of effective branding strategies. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Service quality and customer satisfaction of a UAE-based airline: An empirical investigation

This paper investigates the linkages among service quality, service provider image, customer expectations, perceived value, customer satisfaction and brand loyalty in a Dubai-based airline. Initially, the determinants of service quality were identified utilizing the SERVQUAL framework with some modification. Service quality was then used as an antecedent to measure customer satisfaction, a condition which can bring about brand loyalty. In a research initiative using a quantitative approach, data from 253 questionnaires was analyzed. Using structure equation modeling, the data analysis suggests that service quality, perceived value, and brand image have a positive significant impact on customer satisfaction, which can in turn lead to brand loyalty. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed.     

TripAdvisor and hotel consumer brand loyalty

Electronic Word-of-Mouth and Consumer Generated Media (CGM) have become important aspects of the hospitality and tourism marketing mix. This research looked at hotel reviews on the CGM review-site TripAdvisor to determine the influence loyalty to a hotel brand has upon postings. From the literature, one would expect brand loyalty to have a positive impact upon a poster's reviews. The findings, however, do not support this relationship. Brand loyalists were found to be neither more or less generous, nor volatile, than were other posters. Implications of these findings are discussed.     

Exploring relationships between customer-based brand equity and its drivers and consequences in the hotel context. An impact-asymmetry assessment

The development of customer-based brand equity plays a critical role in tourism. This paper attempts to study which variables contribute to brand equity creation and to examine whether brand loyalty can be considered as a consequence of brand equity in the hotel context. In addition, it seeks to provide more detailed insights into possible asymmetric effects among customer-based brand equity and its drivers and consequences. Four constructs are found to influence significantly brand equity: two perceptual (image and perceived quality) and two relational variables (trust and affective commitment). Additionally, both behavioural and attitudinal components of loyalty are confirmed as brand equity outcomes. The impact-asymmetry analysis reveals that perceived quality does not play a significant role in explaining brand equity, while awareness and trust emerge to have a significant negatively asymmetric impact. The paper is novel as the proposed model includes two new variables that are deemed critical to hospitality research, that is, trust and affective commitment. The relationship structure of the model is new to the literature as loyalty is conceptualized as a consequence of brand equity, thus confirming theoretical assumptions with limited empirical evidence. Finally, it is the first study that examines asymmetric impacts of customer-based brand equity drivers.     

An investigation of service quality,customer satisfaction and loyalty in China's airline market

Customer loyalty is a source of competitive advantage and an important intangible asset to any organisations, but empirical evidence from China's airline market regarding the determinants of passenger satisfaction and loyalty is lacking. This paper investigates the service quality of four major airlines in China's domestic market and explores the links between their service quality and customer satisfaction, as well as the conditions under which airlines can retain existing passengers. In line with previous studies, service quality variables are significant factors influencing customer satisfaction levels. However, satisfactory service was not found to result in higher customer loyalty among business travellers. In comparison to Hainan Airlines, passengers who travelled with Air China, China Southern and China Eastern were more likely to switch to an alternate carrier, indicating lower levels of brand loyalty. In addition, the frequent flyer programs (FFPs) have been largely a failure for the four major airlines in terms of increasing customer loyalty, as revealed in this study. It is necessary to draw distinctions between business and leisure travellers when studying the determinants of customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Ticket pricing had a positive and significant effect on passengers' overall satisfaction and in turn strengthened customer loyalty among leisure travellers, but achieved no impact on the satisfaction and loyalty of business passengers. Some demographic variables such as gender, income and education are statistically significant for one group of passengers but not for another in the probit models estimated. It is suggested that different marketing strategies may be used to target different market segments to improve customer loyalty.     

Visitors’ brand loyalty to a historical and cultural theme park: a case study of Hangzhou Songcheng,China

Conducting research on the factors affecting brand loyalty to theme parks is an important method for enhancing brand loyalty among tourists. This paper takes the Hangzhou Songcheng historical and cultural theme park as a case study. Hypotheses are proposed and structural equation model is constructed based on tourist perception theory. Findings show that theme park brand satisfaction is related to brand loyalty through brand attachment and historical and cultural performance. The quality of facilities and attractions has no significant correlation with perceived value and brand satisfaction. The service quality of attendants also has no significant correlation with tourist perceived value.     

Towards an accessible hotel: a case study of Scandic

This paper focuses on the issue of hotel accessibility and offers a case study of Scandic. Drawing on a qualitative-cum-quantitative methodology, it argues for a holistic approach to the idea of an accessible hotel. Specifically, it is based on semi-structured interviews and a questionnaire survey conducted among elderly and disabled guests. Accordingly, it underscores not only the importance of a corporate social responsibility (CSR)-centred organizational culture and employee extra-role behaviours, but also of customer satisfaction, loyalty and trust. This paper proposes an original and evidence-based conceptualization of hotel accessibility and offers several practical recommendations intending to turn hotels into truly accessible facilities.     

An integrative model of destination brand equity and tourist satisfaction

This paper develops an integrative model that includes the dimensions of destination brand equity (i.e. awareness, image, quality and loyalty), as well as a key behavioural variable that is tourist satisfaction. In particular, our paper aims to contribute to the literature: (1) by examining the relationships between the dimensions of destination brand equity, which is not a deeply investigated issue so far; and (2) by adding tourist satisfaction, a key concept in loyalty formation, to the variables usually considered in destination brand equity models. The model was tested in two samples, national and international tourists visiting a destination in Spain, in order to also explore the role of the geographical and cultural distance between tourist and destination. Our results from a multi-group analysis indicate: (1) a robust link between “quality-satisfaction-loyalty” in both samples of tourists; (2) a chain of effects among awareness, image (separately considering the cognitive and affective dimensions) and perceived quality, although with the presence of some significant difference between both samples of tourists; and (3) a positive influence of cognitive image on affective image in both cases.     

The impact of service quality and price on passengers' loyalty towards low-cost airlines: The Southeast Asia perspective

The objective of this study is to examine the impact of service quality by adopting AIRQUAL model and price on passengers' loyalty through the linkage of passengers' satisfaction toward low-cost airlines from the perspective of Southeast Asia. With 200 questionnaires analyzed, the results suggest that service quality and price have a positive significant impact on passenger satisfaction, and as a result lead to passengers’ loyalty. Besides, the findings of this research also confirm the mediating role of customer satisfaction between service quality and loyalty, price and loyalty separately, which implies that customer satisfaction is a vital factor for an LCCs to survive in such a highly competitive aviation market.     

Driving holistic innovation to heighten hotel customer loyalty

Innovative offerings facilitate hotels to expand the segment of loyal customers, who display stronger re-patronage intention and recommendation willingness. Innovation performance is essential for enhancing hotel management performance. According to the holistic innovation paradigm, successful innovation should be holistic in nature and comprise novel, utilitarian and experiential value dimensions. Empirical findings also attest to the conduciveness of holistic innovation to heightening customer loyalty. However, the antecedents and outcome of holistic innovation are still unclear in the hotel context. The current study validates a theoretical framework via surveys administered on the chief executive officers and customers of 112 five-star hotels. As the research result suggests, ambidextrous innovation orientation and value co-creation capabilities are primary drivers of holistic innovation. In turn, the three value dimensions of holistic innovation relate positively to customer loyalty with variant effect sizes. The research result contributes to hotel management both academically and practically.     

Impact of corporate social responsibility on brand trust and brand loyalty: Case of Uber

The purpose of this research is to investigate the structural relationship between Uber corporate social responsibility (CSR), brand trust, and brand loyalty. Stakeholder theory is the theoretical foundation of the study. The CSR subdimensions of eco-friendliness, quarantine, user privacy, user safety, and driver well-being are used. Amazon Mechanical Turk was employed for data collection. The number of observations is 405. A structural equation model was implemented to test the research hypotheses. This study demonstrated the accountability of stakeholder theory for Uber brand management by showing a significant link between quarantine, user privacy, user safety, driver well-being, brand trust, and brand loyalty. This study contributes to the literature by validating the explanatory power of stakeholder theory in the case of Uber brand management.     

Does service recovery affect satisfaction and customer loyalty? An empirical study of airline services

This paper investigates the relationships among service recovery, recovery satisfaction, overall customer satisfaction, and customer loyalty in airline services. The perception of justice in service recovery is specifically examined. A survey of airline passengers who have experienced service failure and recovery is analyzed using structural equation models. It is found that both interactional and procedural justice have a significant effect on recovery satisfaction. Overall satisfaction mediates the relationship between recovery satisfaction and loyalty.     

Customer satisfaction and loyalty to Alpine ski resorts: the moderating effect of lifestyle,spending and customers' skiing skills

Customer satisfaction and loyalty are key drivers of performance. However, there is increasing evidence that good attribute performance and high overall satisfaction do not always automatically lead to higher loyalty. In this paper, we put forward a study on customer satisfaction and loyalty to Alpine ski resorts. We analyse the moderating effects of three important factors in the attribute performance–overall satisfaction–loyalty relationship: lifestyle, consumer spending and customers' skiing skills in a sample of 6172 skiers. The results show that all studied variables have a moderating effect. The findings have implications on both theory and practice. Copyright © 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Long-run causality between customer satisfaction and financial performance: the case of Marriott

Prior research that examines the relationship between customer satisfaction and financial performance (FP) in the hotel sector assumes that changes in customer satisfaction lead to changes in the FP of hotels. This research note aims to bridge the gap by looking into the possibility that FP of hotels may lead to increase in customer satisfaction with the annual data of Marriott from 1995 to 2016. To study the existence of long-run interactions between customer satisfaction and FP with firm size that is proxied by number of employees as the control variable under small sample size condition, the presence of cointegration among these variables with different appropriate dependent variable is investigated with the bounds testing approach. The obtained results suggest that there is a positive long-run causality from FP to customer satisfaction, and customer satisfaction has no effect on FP in the long-run. This study also finds that firm size has no impact on customer satisfaction. Explanation on each of these findings is provided in the conclusion. The selected sample and availability of data limit the generalisability of the findings of this study. Different hotel brands, measurements and analysis techniques will further the understanding in this field.     

Domestic midscale chain hotel brands' effectiveness in research and development: An exploratory study

While many midscale chain hotel brands in China's domestic market have developed rapidly since 2010, it is still unclear how a new midscale chain hotel brand can be most effectively researched and developed. Drawing from resource-advantage theory, this study aimed to understand the effectiveness of six key attributes of new domestic midscale chain hotel brands and map them onto a research and development (R&D) competitive position matrix. The results show that the actual R&D process lasts beyond the opening of the first hotel of the new brand and requires a further 2-year maturation period. This study contributes to the literature by creating a maturation system that could play a key role in the effectiveness of the R&D underlying a chain hotel's brand development. It also provides a compelling tool for monitoring the effectiveness of domestic midscale chain hotel brands' R&D.     

The moderating roles of risk and efficiency on the relationship between logistics performance and customer loyalty in e-commerce

Using data from online customer ratings, we explore how the relationships between logistics performance and customer loyalty are affected by risk characteristics of products and efficiencies of the websites. Risk is defined in terms of price and ambiguity of products. Efficiency is interpreted as the ability of the websites to achieve good ratings in terms of operational factors (such as satisfaction of customers with product specifications, refunds/returns, prices, management accessibility, etc.) and also achieve good ratings in terms of customer loyalty. Our results show that efficiency, but not risk, is a significant moderator of the impact of logistics performance on customer loyalty.     

Customer satisfaction and loyalty in supply chain: the role of communication

Communication between buyers and sellers is central to the supply chain philosophy. Further, the trend toward more detailed customer demands has made it even more important for firms to solicit input and feedback from their customers in order to better tailor their offerings to customer needs. Previous research suggests a strong linkage between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. Highly satisfied customers are more loyal than less satisfied customers. Thus, it was hypothesized that firms proactively seeking information from customers should realize a “pay off” in terms of more satisfied and, subsequently, more loyal customers. A survey of buyers in the personal products industry was used to examine three methods of listening to customers. Frequency of vendor meetings with customers, formalized contact through the solicitation of feedback and/or conducting surveys, and personal visits by senior vendor managers were found to be related to customer satisfaction as well as customer loyalty.     

SOCO's impact on service outcomes of tour guides: the moderating effect of customers’ shopping orientation

This research examines the effects of both sales-oriented and customer-oriented service strategies of tour guides on service outcomes: rapport, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and willingness to tip. This research also investigates how customers’ shopping orientation moderates the above relationships. A convenience sampling was conducted and 370 valid questionnaires were obtained. The data were analysed using structural equation modelling. The findings are as follows: (1) customer-oriented strategy of tour guides has a significantly positive impact on the service outcomes; (2) selling-oriented strategy of tour guides has a significantly negative impact on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty; and (3) shopping orientation of tour members moderates the relationships between selling orientation and service outcomes. Thus, if tour guides can provide service for customers in a suitable way, they will then improve the customers’ perception of services. These findings provide practical information for travel agencies and tour guides.     

Role of components of destination competitiveness in the relationship between customer-based brand equity and destination loyalty

Previous research suggests that an increase in customer-based brand equity (CBBE) can lead to greater competitiveness of the brand by influencing consumer behaviour through the greater possibility of brand selection, increased brand loyalty, reduced price sensitivity, and a willingness to pay more for the brand. However, there are also studies that suggest that certain destination competitiveness attributes can be the antecedents of a destination's CBBE. This study argues that the construct of destination competitiveness can be classified into the components of: (1) “functional attributes” being the antecedent of CBBE and (2) “abstract attributes” that are actually influenced by CBBE. A Delphi survey was conducted to assist in the classification of competitiveness attributes into the component of either functional or abstract attributes. Subsequent tests using structural equation modeling and bootstrapping confirm the mediating effect of CBBE in the relationship between the functional and abstract attributes, and its indirect effect on destination loyalty.     

Integrating Muslim Customer Perceived Value,Satisfaction, Loyalty and Retention in the Tourism Industry: An empirical study

In recent years, customer value has been the favorable theme for numerous tourism studies and reports. However, although Muslims make up one of the largest tourist markets in the world, perceived value of tourism offering oriented toward this market has not been clearly defined. Furthermore, there is a lack of systematic empirical evidence regarding the effects of Muslim Customer Perceived Value (MCPV) on consumer satisfaction, customer loyalty and customer retention. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to identify the MCPV dimensions, to examine the interrelationships between MCPV, customer satisfaction, customer loyalty and Muslim customer retention, and to develop and test a conceptual model of the consequences of MCPV in the tourism industry. Moreover, 13 hypotheses were developed and tested using a sample of 221 Muslim tourists. Exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis were used to test the validity of the measures, while the structural equation modeling has been used in hypotheses testing. The strength of the relationship between the constructs indicates that features of the suggested MCPV model are crucial to achieving Muslim customer retention in the tourism industry. Findings also suggest that the availability of the suggested Islamic attributes value, along with conventional value dimensions, could satisfy Muslim tourists when they buy a tourism package. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.