ROLE OF SERVICE AUTOMATION ON GUEST EXPERIENCE OF HOTEL INDUSTRY

Purpose - This study examines the impact of service automation (SA) on value creation (VC) and guest experience (GE) in the hotel industry to provide recommendations on how the hotel industry can rebuild from the impact of Covid-19 and meet future growth challenges. Design - The constructs of the variables were considered from previous literature. A two-step questionnaire was created to first identify demographics, years of experience, etc., and a later portion of the questionnaire was based on a 5-point Likert scale to identify our intended proposal. Methodology - A sample of 290 Indian hotel customers was considered. The focus of the preliminary study was on the psychometric properties of the scale constructs. This study focused heavily on the validity and reliability of the scales. The first-order constructs, SA Practises, Service VC, and GE, were tested for validity and reliability. Structural equation modelling (SCM) is used to determine the effects of SA on VC and GE. Approach - The identified factors were confirmed with confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) and the SEM technique was applied to reveal the exclusive as well as the complex relationships between SA, VC and GE. Findings - The results show that both SA and the service VC have a positive influence on GE. SA has an indirect and significant influence on GE, with the service VC playing a mediating role. The results show that both factors, SA and VC, have a positive influence on GE in the hotel industry, but SA has an indirect and significant influence on GE, and VC plays a mediating role. Originality of the research - the study suggests that SA may be able to improve GE in the hotel industry through its influence on VC.