ROLE OF SERVICE AUTOMATION ON GUEST EXPERIENCE OF THE HOTEL INDUSTRY

What is it about?

Purpose: This research investigates the impact of service automation (SA) on value addition/creation (VC) and guest experience (GX) in the hotel industry to make recommendations on how the hotel industry can rebuild after the effects of Covid-19 and meet the future challenges of growth. Design: Constructs of variables were considered from previous kinds of literature. A two-tier questionnaire was formed to initially know the demography, years of experience etc. and later part of the questionnaire was based on a 5-point Likert Scale to unearth our intended proposal. Methodology: A sample of 290 Indian hotel customers was considered. The scale constructs' psychometric qualities were the preliminary study's focus. This study focused a lot on the validity and reliability of the scales. The first-order constructs, SA Practices, Service VC, and GX, are checked through lens of validity and reliability. Structural Equation Modelling (SCM) is used to find out the impacts of SA on VC and GE. Approach: Identified factors were confirmed with Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) and the SEM technique was applied to expose the exclusive as well as the complex relationships among SA, VC, and GX. Findings: The results indicate that both SA and service VC have a positive influence on GX. SA is shown to have an indirect and significant impact on GX with service VC playing a mediating role. The results indicate that both the factors, SA, and VC have a positive influence on GX in the hotel industry, but SA has an indirect and significant impact on GX, and VC is playing a mediating role. Originality of the research: This study suggests that SA may be able to enhance GX in the hotel industry through its impact on VC.

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