A Model of Hotel Defection at the Purchasing Stage

Abstract

Hotel operators spend millions of dollars each year to create customer loyalty. Less attention is paid to factors that cause customers to defect. In the current study, factors that influence hotel purchasing and established loyalty-related constructs were integrated into two models of hotel defection, one for full-service brand guests and one for limited-service brand guests. For full-service hotels, the decision to defect or not is driven by affective, or emotional, commitment, as well as switching costs, which are defined as the amount of discount that an otherwise loyal customer would require to switch to a competing brand. Hotel selection factors influence defection primarily through their impact on affective commitment. For limited-service guests, value considerations play a central role. Reward program membership and hotel selection factors influence defection through commitment, based on reward program benefits. The findings emphasize the importance of tailoring hotel features and reward program benefits to the needs of target customer segments.

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