Understanding the millennials’ customer experience in hospitality throughout the customer journey

Abstract

The importance of experiences as a way of gaining competitive advantage highlighted the need to study them especially in the hospitality and tourism sector, as an area with specific characteristics that make these experiences difficult to predict. In particular, the experiences of millennials are of great importance, due to their weight of global travel, significant economic contribution and particularities that shape the industry. Thus, this dissertation aims to study the experiences of millennials along the journey in hotels, through the customer journey mapping in order to have a clear view of the interactions between this generation and these establishments. The results revealed heterogeneity in the journey of millennials in hotels according to the traveler type, resulting in distinct maps. Overall, the interactions identified were, before the experience, the research, comparison and booking, during the experience, the check-in, room, meals included, restaurant, bar, pool, gym, entertainment, and check-out, and after the experience, the evaluation and promotions. In each map, it was concluded that the actions, channels, feelings, expectations, points of delight and pain points vary throughout the journey and recommendations were identified to improve the service at each stage. The study of the customer experience in hotels constitutes a contribution to the theory through the use of customer journey mapping, which, in this context, has received limited attention in the literature. By mapping the millennials’ journey, hotels are able to identify the opportunities and weaknesses associated with their services and understand how they can adapt them to captivate this generation.

A importância das experiências como forma de obter vantagem competitiva destacou a necessidade de as estudar especialmente na hotelaria e turismo, enquanto área com características específicas que tornam estas experiências difíceis de prever. Em particular, são cruciais as experiências dos millennials, devido ao peso nas viagens globais, significativo contributo económico e particularidades que moldam a indústria. Assim, esta dissertação visa estudar as experiências dos millennials ao longo da jornada nos hotéis, através do customer journey mapping de forma a ter uma visão clara das interações entre esta geração e estes estabelecimentos. Os resultados revelaram heterogeneidade na jornada dos millennials em hotéis de acordo com o tipo de viajante, resultando em mapas distintos. No geral, as interações identificadas foram, antes da experiência, a pesquisa, comparação de hotéis e a reserva, durante a experiência, o check-in, o quarto, as refeições incluídas, o restaurante, bar, piscina, ginásio, entretenimento, e o check-out, e, após a experiência, a avaliação e as promoções. Em cada mapa concluiu-se que as ações, canais, sentimentos, expectativas, points of delight e pain points variam ao longo da jornada e identificaram-se recomendações para melhorar o serviço em cada uma das etapas. O estudo da experiência do consumidor em hotéis constitui um contributo para a teoria através da utilização do customer journey mapping, que, neste contexto, tem recebido pouca atenção da literatura. Ao mapear a jornada dos millennials, os hotéis conseguem identificar as oportunidades e fraquezas associados aos seus serviços e entender como podem adaptá-los para cativar esta geração.