Listening to the voice of the customer in the hospitality industry: Kano model application

Purpose This paper aims to discuss the customer satisfaction drivers of Russian tourists choosing hotels in Europe. Design/methodology/approach The study is focused on tangible aspects of the hotel service product adopted from the European Hotel Guest Satisfaction Index by J.D. Power. Research methodology is based on the Kano model that enables satisfaction driver classification based on the level of their impact. Data collection was conducted via online panel representative for 1 million+ Russian cities, totaling 1,238 respondents. Findings This paper reveals groups of customer satisfaction drivers by their impact from attractive to expected and indifferent, as well as customer preference profile by age, overall travel experience and trip purpose (recreational, sightseeing or active tourism). Research limitations/implications This paper focuses on the tangible attributes of hotel experience; the survey sample composed of Russian tourists that evaluated their satisfaction with hotels in Europe. Practical implications As a result of the study, the authors test Kano model application in the hospitality and tourism industry, providing hotel managers with an advanced yet easy to use customer satisfaction measurement tool. Also, the authors demonstrate substantial differences in customer satisfaction drivers by groups that can be used to plan product development. “Expected” and “one-dimensional” groups of product features would cause customer dissatisfaction if missing and should be the first priority of management. Interestingly after a certain level, “expected” factors have no marginal value, so their improvement by the hotel management should be limited. On the other hand, “attractive” factors boost customer satisfaction while present but with no negative impact if they are absent; that makes this group the second priority for hotel management. Factor distribution by group is different for various customer segments that can also be taken into consideration when designing the marketing communications of a hotel. Originality/value In this research, the authors use the Kano model to identify customer satisfaction drivers in the hospitality and tourism industry. This methodology enables in-depth analysis of the factors’ impact and provides understanding of the accommodation product improvement potential based on customer perception. The authors suggest several groups of factors and demonstrate that certain high-impact satisfaction drivers have zero incremental value for customers.