From customer satisfaction to customer delight Creating a new standard of service for the hotel industry

    Authors

    E. N. Torres;S. Kline

    Comments

    Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Int. J. Contemp. Hosp. Manag.

    Keywords

    Hospitality management; Hotels; Customer satisfaction; Customer delight; Hotel operations; Content analysis; RECOVERY; FAILURE; LOYALTY; Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism; Management

    Abstract

    Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to provide a typology of customer delight in the hotel industry. By doing so, it identifies patterns by which hotels delight their guests. The paper explores the Tones and Kline model in light of the data and proposes an addition to the model. Design/methodology/approach - Content analysis is utilized to analyze letters of customer feedback provided by several hotels. A codebook was created, letters were coded by two raters and inter-rater reliability was calculated. Findings - The most frequently mentioned codes included: taking care of the guest's needs, exceptional friendliness, professionalism of staff, employees going outside of the call of duty and problem-solving skills. Based on this information the authors propose the following delight types: fulfillment delight, charismatic delight, professional delight, comparative delight, problem resolution delight. It was also found that the culture of an organization has an impact on the type of delight that is most prevalent. Practical implications - The research conducted helps hotel operators to identify the behaviors and actions that lead their guests to be delighted. By knowing this information, appropriate steps can be taken in the selection and development of staff that will lead towards greater customer engagement. Originality/value - In the hospitality literature, much information exists on what to do to correct negative service experiences. However, a relatively smaller number of articles highlight how to create great service experiences for the guests. This article provides a theoretically sound and practically useful framework to delight hotel guests in the hotel industry.

    Journal Title

    International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

    Volume

    25

    Issue/Number

    5

    Publication Date

    1-1-2013

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    642

    Last Page

    659

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000321800600002

    ISSN

    0959-6119

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