The impact of artificial intelligence and employee service quality on customer satisfaction and loyalty

TLDR

Artificial intelligence–powered applications are increasingly used as commercial services in the hotel industry. The study investigates, from the customers’ perspective, how AI and employee service quality affect customer satisfaction and loyalty. Data were collected from departure guests in multiple Portuguese hotels who experienced both AI and employee services. AI and employee service quality together explain significant variance in overall service quality, satisfaction, and loyalty, but only specific service quality dimensions uniquely predict these outcomes, and when both are modeled together AI becomes negative and insignificant, underscoring the need for targeted resource allocation and offering financial insights for hotels.

Abstract

The study discusses artificial intelligence (AI) – powered applications as a commercial service with a focus on the hotel industry. This research is approached from the customers' perspective and examines how AI and employee service quality influence customer satisfaction and loyalty. The study was conducted in multiple hotels in Portugal and focused on departure guests who had experienced both AI and employee services associated with the surveyed hotels. The results show that both AI and employee service quality explain significant variances in overall service quality assessment as well as customer satisfaction and loyalty. However, only certain service quality dimensions made unique variances in the outcomes of interest. When regressing both AI and employee service quality in the same equation, AI becomes negative and insignificant. This study contributes to the AI and customer loyalty research. The findings of this study have financial implications for hotels and provide insights into optimal resource allocation.