Article: Welcome to Your Experience: Where You Can Check Out Anytime You'd Like, But You Can Never Leave Journal: Journal of Business and Management (JBM) 2003 Vol.9 No.3 pp.215 - 232 Abstract: Experience design, or efforts to create emotional connection with guests or customers through careful planning of tangible and intangible service elements, has gained popularity in many hospitality and retail businesses. With ever-increasing competition, service providers seek to develop loyalty by aggressively designing, continuously innovating, and managing their customer experiences. This paper explores the relationship between different service elements designed to create enhanced experience and customer loyalty. In addition, it looks at emotional responses as mediating factors between the physical, relational, and time-designed elements and loyalty behavior. A model is proposed and tested with a VIP hospitality tent for an internationally renowned performance company. Results of the study indicate that while a few design elements directly affect loyalty, the relationship between most design elements and loyalty is strongly mediated by eliciting certain types of emotional behavior. This connection has implications for the focus of service managers' efforts in different environments. Inderscience Publishers - linking academia, business and industry through research

Title: Welcome to Your Experience: Where You Can Check Out Anytime You'd Like, But You Can Never Leave

Authors: Madeleine E. Pullman; Michael A. Gross

Addresses: Author address listing can be found in the "About the Authors" section at the end of the article.

Abstract: Experience design, or efforts to create emotional connection with guests or customers through careful planning of tangible and intangible service elements, has gained popularity in many hospitality and retail businesses. With ever-increasing competition, service providers seek to develop loyalty by aggressively designing, continuously innovating, and managing their customer experiences. This paper explores the relationship between different service elements designed to create enhanced experience and customer loyalty. In addition, it looks at emotional responses as mediating factors between the physical, relational, and time-designed elements and loyalty behavior. A model is proposed and tested with a VIP hospitality tent for an internationally renowned performance company. Results of the study indicate that while a few design elements directly affect loyalty, the relationship between most design elements and loyalty is strongly mediated by eliciting certain types of emotional behavior. This connection has implications for the focus of service managers' efforts in different environments.

Keywords: Experience design; service elements; customer loyalty; emotional responses; hospitality.

DOI: 10.1504/JBM.2003.141109

Journal of Business and Management, 2003 Vol.9 No.3, pp.215 - 232

Published online: 05 Sep 2024 *

Title: Welcome to Your Experience: Where You Can Check Out Anytime You'd Like, But You Can Never Leave

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