Investigating the Key Routes to Customers' Delightful Moments in the Hotel Context

Based on increased interest in customer delight, this study identifies specific customer-described delightful experiences and explores factors that influence guests' delightful experiences in the context of the lodging industry. Utilizing the critical incident technique (CIT), two broad groups of factors are emerged-tangibles (i.e., property related) and intangibles (i.e., service related). Within these two groups, five categories are identified as factors of guests' delightful experiences: service-related tangibles, property-related tangibles, professional services, friendly services, and unexpected services. Consistent with previous studies, results from this study show loyalty is strongly represented when customers have delightful experiences. Implications for industry and academia, as well as directions for future research are discussed.