Measuring customers’ satisfaction and loyalty in Thai wellness spas

ABSTRACT

This study develops a framework to explain the loyalty formation process of customers of Thai wellness spas. It examines the process of determination used by customers regarding their perceived value of the spa experience, satisfaction, desire, and loyalty intentions, which depend on the experiences they gain from wellness spa services. The proposed framework and hypothesised relationships were evaluated using structural equation modelling. Data were gathered by surveying 550 Thai wellness day-spa customers in Bangkok, Thailand. The conceptual model satisfactorily fit the data, and the mediating roles of value, satisfaction, and desire were identified. The wellness spa service experience, the perceived value of the spa experience, satisfaction, desire, and loyalty intentions showed significant correlations with each other. Overall, the results indicated that satisfaction is the most salient variable in building customer loyalty intentions. This study employed multidimensional approaches to the attitudinal loyalty phase and successfully built on the existing literature on sequential loyalty frameworks. Its important theoretical and practical implications stem from a highly holistic view of the formation process of Thai wellness spa customers’ loyalty.

KEYWORDS:

• Wellness spa destination
• spa service experience
• customer loyalty
• wellness tourism
• Thailand

Acknowledgements

We are extremely grateful to all the survey participants, spa customers, and spa business owners. The information they provided was very useful and reflected the quality of the spa business. This information helped predict the future of the industry during the uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are especially grateful to our institute for encouraging this professional academic work.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, Preedaree Sirirat. The data are not publicly available due to their containing information that could compromise the privacy of the research participants.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Saruka Wisitnorapatt

Saruka Wisitnorapatt has a PhD in Hospitality Management and teaches and conducts research in the areas of hospitality management, customer behaviour, and spa and wellness tourism. Saruka’s main research foci are the effects of wellness spa experiences on behavioural intentions and decision-making, conducting serial multiple mediation analyses in hospitality marketing research, and the effects of essential oils on emotion and behavioural intentions. Further research interests include the effect of health value on cannabis-hemp food consumption intention and considering the role of attitudes towards the risks and healthfulness of cannabis-hemp.

Preedaree Sirirat

Preedaree Sirirat has a PhD degree in Environmental Education and teaches and conducts research in the areas of tourism, marketing, and environmental education. Preedaree’s research focuses on communities’ interactions with cultural environments, spiritual and wellness tourism experiences, and environmental stewardship. Current research projects include: (a) creating added value in historical tourism by retracing the journey of Catholic priests in Baan Kamkoem, Nongsaeng, Nakhon Phanom Province, to work towards the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and (b) the impacts of marketing communications on the development of community-based tourism and of related environmental concerns on travel decision-making.