Smart technologies for personalized experiences: a case study in the hospitality domain

Recent advances in the field of technology have led to the emergence of innovative technological smart solutions providing unprecedented opportunities for application in the tourism and hospitality industry.With intensified competition in the tourism market place, it has become paramount for businesses to explore the potential of technologies, not only to optimize existing processes but facilitate the creation of more meaningful and personalized services and experiences. This study aims to bridge the current knowledge gap between smart technologies and experience personalization to understand how smart mobile technologies can facilitate personalized experiences in the context of the hospitality industry. By adopting a qualitative case study approach, this paper makes a two-fold contribution; it a) identifies the requirements of smart technologies for experience creation, including information aggregation, ubiquitous mobile connectedness and real time synchronization and b) highlights how smart technology integration can lead to two distinct levels of personalized tourism experiences. The paper concludes with the development of a model depicting the dynamic process of experience personalization and a discussion of the strategic implications for tourism and hospitality management and research

The behaviour of repeat visitors to museums: Review and empirical findings

This study presents a theoretical and operational framework for analysing repeat visit to museums. Starting from the literature on repeat visit in tourism, the specificities of these cultural attractions are made explicit through a review of theoretical and applied works. Consistently with previous contributors, the paper suggests that the analysis of actual past behaviours has to be preferred to the one of attitudes. The application of proper econometric models is also remarked in order to put into account individual profiles. Information coming from three techniques is then used in an integrated way in order to provide a more comprehensive view of the phenomenon. Evidence from an ad hoc survey suggests the necessity to give a greater attention to perceived cultural value during the visit, promoting cultural events during the week and addressed to children, and taking care of those visitors that come from far places also through an integrated tourist supply. © 2013 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

Destination loyalty and repeat behaviour: an application of optimum stimulation measurement

This paper reports on a study of consumer loyalty in the holiday destination selection process. The study does not define loyalty, but attempts to contribute to an understanding of the concept by applying a psychological measure of variety seeking directly to patterns of holiday destination choice. The measure used is based on the optimum stimulation level (OSL) concept. The guiding proposition in this study was that tourists with a high need for variety would display a varied pattern in their vacation destination selection and this assumption is modestly supported by the empirical findings. The results suggest that further experimentation with the OSL would be fruitful when combined with attitudinal measures and with precisely defined sets of tourist behaviours. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Visitors' evaluation of an historical district: Repertory grid analysis and laddering analysis with photographs

This study discusses the complex nature of visitors' evaluation of an historical district, and proposes a theoretical framework and qualitative methods to elicit relations between visitors' mental states and the district's features. The combination of Repertory Grid Analysis and Laddering Analysis with the use of photographs as stimuli is discussed and demonstrated. Results show that these methods can shed light on the varied nature of visitors' evaluation. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

The Case for Process Approaches in Loyality Research in Tourism

The article reviews the literature on loyalty in consumer behaviour with particular emphasis on the difficulties of interpreting repeat purchasing in terms of loyalty. Problems of conceptual definition and measurement are examined in the context of tourism. A case is made for seeing the concept of loyalty as a process rather than as a state. In this respect two approaches related to information processing are suggested as possible research approaches. Psychological cost-benefit technique and methods associated with optimum stimulation level are discussed. Copyright © 2001 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Customer empowerment in tourism through consumer centric marketing (CCM)

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explain consumer centric marketing (CCM) and adopt this new technique to travel context. The paper seeks to outline the benefits and disadvantages of the CCM together with warnings of typical caveats. Design/methodology/approach – The paper provides an exploration of the CCM concept and demonstrates several applications in the tourism, travel and hospitality industries. Findings – CCM will be expected as the norm in the travel industry by customers of the future, yet it is only the innovators who gain real tangible benefits from this development. Practical implications – The paper offers tangible examples for the travel industry on how to utilise this new technology. The technology is already available and the information communication technologies (ICT) companies are keen to establish ways as to how consumers can utilise it, i.e. by providing “content” for these ICT products the travel industry can fully gain from these developments and also enhance consumers’ gains from it. This can result in more satisfied customers for the travel (as well as ICT) companies thus truly adopting the basic philosophy of marketing. Originality/value – The paper outlines current and future opportunities to truly place customers at the centre and provide organisations with some real savings/gains through the use of ICT