Can perceived coolness enhance memorable customer experience? The role of customer engagement

Purpose Memorable customer experience (MCE) is a key factor affecting customer loyalty and revisit intention. Hospitality managers must identify factors that create MCEs. This study aims to investigate relationships among perceived coolness, customer engagement and MCE and examine the mediation effect of customer engagement. Design/methodology/approach Two samples of 434 restaurant customers and 372 hotel customers in Taiwan returned questionnaires. Hypotheses were examined by structural equation modeling. Findings The results demonstrated that perceived coolness positively affected customer engagement and MCE and that customer engagement positively affected MCE. Furthermore, customer engagement mediated the relationship between perceived coolness and MCE. Research limitations/implications This study is cross-sectional, which limits causal inference. Furthermore, this study only investigated customers of Taiwanese restaurants and hotels, and the findings may not be generalizable to other industries and countries. Originality/value This study contributes to the MCE knowledge in hospitality by elucidating the association among perceived coolness, customer engagement and MCE. The findings can aid hospitality managers in developing marketing strategies, fostering customer engagement and creating MCEs.