The customer experience and the customer journey throughout the hotel industry, the assessment of the touch points: the case of Greek Hotel on Corfu island

Abstract

The purpose of this research project is to examine the customer journey and experience in the hotel industry. Generally, marketers want to offer pleasurable experiences to the customers across channels, not only better services. Customer experience incorporates company- customer interaction that includes both functional and emotional clues developed through different touch points (Khan, Garg and Rahman, 2015). This research brings an understanding of customer experience quality in hotel operations. Since the term “Customer experience” has become a very commonly used phrase in recent years, but still difficult to find a clear definition, it is actually very challenging to conduct a research on this phenomenon like “innovation” and “design”. Hence, the focus of this undertaking remains on identification in depth the customer’s needs and expectations in hospitality industry, guided by observations, perceptions and collected information at Marbella Nido Suite Hotel and Villas, on Corfu island in Greece. This paper aims to distinguish “Customer experience” term, to provide an answer on questions such as- what it encompasses, how to structure it, how to approach and improve it. The project exposes all aspects, touch points and highlights of customer behavior, journey and experience. Firstly, it is provided theoretical background based on academic articles and sources relevant to the thesis title both in hospitality and in any other industry. Gathered data and analytics become a key to generating a better customer experience. The goal is to capture the real essence of customer experience construct. Results showed significant influence of customer experience dimensions on customer satisfaction. Customer satisfaction influences both brand loyalty and word-of-mouth, and the indirect effect of customer satisfaction on word-of-mouth through brand loyalty is much strong. Eventually, in an effort to prioritize the changing customer experience and involvement in hospitality, the final purpose is to discuss found results of the study and to recommend new potential experiences that would make satisfied, fulfilled and loyal customers, leading to both increasing sales and more profitable and gainful tourism industry.