Zoekresultaten

Service quality or customer experience: what drives cultural heritage satisfaction and loyalty?

Capturing the guest experience in hotels phase one

The goal for the coming years is to get insight in the guest experience in hotels. What is guest experience? How to measure guest experience? What is the relation between guest experience and guest loyalty? And finally, what tangible elements in the physical environment of hotels and the contact with hotel employees may improve the experience of hotel guests? And in what way should these elements be changed? This paper describes the first and second step towards this goal: a theoretical background of guest experience and the development of the Guest Experience Scan for NH Hoteles. This Guest Experience Scan is a quantitative instrument trying to measure guests’ affective evaluation of the physical environment of the hotel and the contact with the hotel employees.

Customers’ perceptions and responses to hotels’ Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) orientation: the case of Bethlehem hotels, Palestine.

This study investigates customers’ perceptions of the notion of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and how such perceptions influence their consumption behavioural intentions and outcomes in the hospitality industry in Bethlehem, Palestine. The research study adopted a qualitative methodology using semi-structured interviews with fifteen tourists who stayed in Bethlehem hotels. This study reveals that customers view the different dimensions of CSR in their right and stand-alone constructs. Paradoxically, our study suggests that customer’s willingness to pay and loyalty were not influenced by understanding such a distinction as responsibilities. This study further reveals that the interaction between customers’ perceptions of CSR and contextual and situational factors such as trust, transparency and service quality can determine customer behavioural responses to the hotels’ CSR orientation. The study offers recommendations on practical measures that can be undertaken to influence and enhance customers’ responses to hotels’ CSR agenda. The paper finally ends by identifying the study’s limitations and avenues for further research.

Capturing the guest experience in hotels phase two

Given that it is essential for hotels to understand how guests experience hospitality, hotel managers need more concrete and tangible insights into this issue to improve their service. Quantitative research on experience of the physical environment and employee contact has shown that the comfort of hotel rooms and an inviting ambience are the factors that most influence guest loyalty. This exploratory paper employs verbal and visual association methods to translate comfortable and inviting into tangible sensory characteristics. Results show association of comfortable with lingering, sitting, resting, natural colours, rounded-off rectangles, and multiple layers. By contrast, inviting is associated with common (meeting) areas such as corridors, white, grey, transparency, and colourful accessories. Visual dataproved suitable for identifying tangible (sensory) characteristics, and delivering concrete recommendations for improving invitingness and comfort.

Service Integrated Relationships (SIR): a strategic process framework for managing the customer as a resource

During a service interaction, a customer should be viewed as having three distinct capacities: as a client, as a connection and as a resource. In each of these respective capacities, service (S) processes, relationship (R) processes and loyalty (L) processes create value for both customers and organizations. Satisfactory service is the minimum requirement for relationship processes to be effective and for the connection capacity to be activated. Likewise, high relationship quality is a minimal condition for loyalty processes to be effective and for the resource capacity to be activated. After presenting the measurable and actionable dimensions of relationship quality, I explain the difference between service processes and relationship processes. According to the service integrated relationships (SIR) framework, when relationship processes are integrated with existing service processes: (a) relationship quality improves; (b) loyal customer behaviours are evoked; and (c) service satisfaction improves. I conclude by discussing implications of the SIR framework for organizational systems and service employees.

Festival beleving : de waarde van publieksevenementen.

Waarom gaan mensen naar festivals? Hoe beleven ze een festival? Waarom komen ze wel of niet terug? Hoe kunnen festivalorganisatoren de motivatie en beleving van bezoekers effectief beïnvloeden? Wat betekenen sociale media voor de festivalbeleving? Antwoorden op deze vragen helpen festivalorganisatoren een uniek festival aan te bieden en effectiever resultaten te behalen en overtuigender te rapporteren naar subsidieverstrekkers en sponsors. Het Crossmedialab, onderdeel van het Kenniscentrum Communicatie & Journalistiek van de Hogeschool Utrecht, heeft onderzoek uitgevoerd naar festivalbeleving. Dit cahier geeft een overzicht van onder zochte theorieën en bevat een integraal overzicht van factoren die van invloed zijn op de festivalbeleving. Nieuwe inzichten en het uniek ontwikkelde model van festivalbeleving biedt onderzoekers, eventprofessionals en vakdocenten kansen voor verder onderzoek en praktische toepassing.