Designing the digitalized guest experience: A comprehensive framework and research agenda

Abstract

Digital transformation has emerged as a critical necessity for hospitality, a sector that traditionally prioritizes human interaction and personalized experiences. While prior research has explored the impact of digital technologies on the realized guest experience, there is a lack of work that studies their influence on the intended guest experience, as designed by hoteliers. Drawing on existing literature on customer experience management and digitalization in hospitality, this research aims to understand the psychological mechanisms by which digital technologies enhance the intended digitalized guest experience. We conducted two qualitative studies, involving 22 hotel professionals and 18 consumers. By consolidating these different theoretical and practical perspectives, we propose a conceptualization of the intended digitalized guest experience and present an integrative framework that includes the mediating and reciprocal role of consumer- and professional-based psychological mechanisms, along with antecedents, outcomes, and contingency factors. These findings have practical implications for hotel professionals, enabling them to leverage appropriate digital strategies for successful guest experiences. The article concludes with specific recommendations to managers on how to design a unique guest experience. These recommendations include designing a game-like experience, developing “care” as a new source of digital value creation, and providing training to the staff to enhance their creativity.