Designing and validating a model of customer delight in the hotel industry: mixed methods research

Abstract

The traditional goal of satisfaction has not worked to ensure customer loyalty, and moving towards customer delight is essential for hotels. The purpose of this research is to design and validate the customer delight model in hotel industry using the mix methods. At first, semi-structured interviews were conducted with 30 specialists by using grounded theory and using theoretical and purposive sampling method, three coding steps led to identification of 98 concepts and 25 main categories, which were presented in the form of a paradigm model. The findings of quantitative section showed that the category of perceived value of service is causal factor and the cause of customer delight, and this category will influence the consequences of delight through the optimization of the customer experience management process. Meanwhile, in order to successfully implement delight strategies, it is necessary to pay attention to the availability of cultural platform and obstacles to delight.

Keywords

• customer delight
• customer experience management
• grounded theory
• hotel industry