THE FACTORS OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE THAT AFFECT LOYALTY AT NOVOTEL HANOI THAI HA HOTEL, VIETNAM

: Customer experience is gradually becoming important in improving the efficiency of hotel business operations because it contributes to attracting, retaining customers and increasing loyalty to the hotel. Loyalty plays an important role in creating a competitive advantage and increasing hotel brand value. Therefore, this research has built a model to evaluate experiential factors that affect customer loyalty at Novotel Hanoi Thai Ha Hotel. This research uses secondary data collection methods and expert interviews to determine the evaluation model. The method of surveying customers using questionnaires to collect opinions on the effect of their experiences when using the service has contributed to increasing their loyalty to the hotel. These data were processed quantitatively using SPSS 25.0 software to test Cronbach's Alpha reliability and EFA exploratory factor analysis. Pearson correlation and linear regression analysis show that the factors of customers' experience at Novotel Hanoi Thai Ha Hotel, such as service product, quality service, service price, brand image, service space, customer loyalty program and customer care are all positively affect their loyalty. Among them, service product factors have the strongest effect, and customer care has the least effect on loyalty. This research is the scientific basis for hotels to refer to when proposing solutions to improve customer experience and increase loyalty. At the same time, the established model can also be applied to studies on the effect of experience on customer loyalty in hotel businesses.


Introduction
For businesses, especially in the hotel business, customers are the ones who create profits and bring about sustainable development.Besides the factors of technical facilities and services, customer experience is now also considered a factor that makes a difference in a hotel's competitive strategy.With the rapid change in customer behavior, the current economy can be considered an experience economy, meaning businesses sell experiences to customers as well as highly value customer experiences about products and services.Customer service experience has become a new key dimension driving service businesses and inspiring service providers to design, deliver, evaluate and measure memorable service experiences (Arif K. Khan, 2011).Therefore, customer experience has become an important part in improving the competitiveness and business performance of hotels.
According to Mónica Veloso (2023), as hotel managers increasingly focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences, academic research on this trend has grown dramatically in recent years.Laghari et al. (2010) proposed a shift towards a customer experience-centric approach to service provision.To ensure a rich customer experience, the service delivery mechanism should shift to a customer experience-centric approach.This shift from service to experience puts the customer in control, whose intentions and needs enable service provision.Therefore, customer behavior has an impact on service experience.And in contrast, Beatrice Chepngetich's (2019) study aimed to evaluate customer experience and its relative impact on customer emotions and purchasing behavior in the hotel industry in Kenya.A hotel's service provision can be made to differentiate itself from competitors by creating memorable experiences for customers, a process in which multiple visible and invisible stimuli can interact with each other according to A Carù and B Cova (2003), Cova (2007), M Healy et al. (2007).In particular, Roy (2017) further emphasizes the importance of customer participation and social interaction in creating superior service experiences.These studies collectively emphasize the need for a customer-centric approach to service provision, focusing on managing customer behavior and creating positive, participatory experiences.Therefore, the authors Nasution (2008), Luturlean et al. (2016) proposed a conceptual model of customer experience management in the hotel industry, emphasizes the role of management strategy, customer attitudes and social environment.Factors of customer experience management, including customer attitudes and the social environment (trends and lifestyle), also affect the formation of this experience (B. S. Luturlean et al., 2016).As such, customer experience research in the hospitality industry has recently grown dramatically as managers increasingly focus on delivering exceptional customer experiences.The concept of customer experience in hotels is increasingly evolving and has recently focused on delivering exceptional customer experiences (Mónica Veloso, 2023).
Customer experiences in the hotel industry create comfort, joy and enjoyment.These aspects are found to significantly influence customer satisfaction, which in turn impacts brand loyalty and word of mouth (Sarwat Farrukh et al., 2018).Customer loyalty plays a significant role in ensuring business development as well as helping businesses gain competitive advantage (Anabila et al., 2022).If loyal customers are created and promoted, these loyal customers will become patrons of the hotel and bring in high revenue.Also, loyalty plays a considerable role in hotel brand value, contributing to the company's competitive advantage (Malgorzata Denoue, 2009).Brand loyalty is achieved when customers remain loyal to a brand offering them better products or services than another brand (Severi and Ling, 2013).Once there is customer loyalty, the hotel brand value will also be more prominent than other hotels.Exclusive customer experiences contribute to building brand awareness, providing customer loyalty, and increasing business profits (Fatoş Özkan Erciyas, 2018).Realizing the correlation between loyalty and customer experience, research by Responsetek (2010) has shown that investing in "customer experience will help businesses create and maintain loyal customers".These loyal customers will become advocates for that business, bringing in annual revenue and creating great value.
Consumer loyalty is an important factor in establishing competitive advantage, with product and service quality, price and consumer loyalty being the key factors that create business success (A. Chesnokova, O. Radina, 2014).The more personalized the experience is, the more customer satisfaction will increase, and customer loyalty will be created.Satisfied customers "not only lead to more purchases, but they also become loyal customers and, perhaps most importantly, become customers who support the hotel brand" (Trang, 2019).Research by A. Hussein, R. Hapsari (2018) has provided a comprehensive model explaining the relationship between experience quality, hotel image, perceived value and customer loyalty in in a classic hotel setting.Khan et al. (2020) evaluated the relationship between customer experience and hotel brand loyalty, examining the moderating role of gender, loyalty card membership, age and ability to troubleshoot serious problems.Analyzing the relationship between loyalty and customer satisfaction, Daly Paulose (2019) found that they continue to be positively influenced by perceptions of value and service experiences.Customers who perceive high service value have high customer satisfaction and loyalty.Therefore, customer loyalty is indirectly influenced by value perception and service experience through customer satisfaction.
Overall, these studies contribute to a better understanding of customer experience in the hospitality industry, highlighting its importance to customer satisfaction, loyalty and overall business success.Although there have been many studies related to this topic, studies carried out in this field in the hotel context are still scarce and scattered (Mónica Veloso, 2023).Future research in this field aims to explore emerging trends, innovative strategies, and potential gaps in existing literature to enhance the customer experience in hotels (Mónica Veloso, 2023).
Currently, Hanoi capital has 17 hotels achieving 5 stars according to national standards TCVN 4391:2015 and most are under the management of foreign corporations (Ha Le, 2024).Therefore, competition between hotels becomes fierce because competitors want to attract potential customers, improve customer experience and create loyalty to promote revenue growth.Novotel Hanoi Thai Ha Hotel is a 5-star hotel in Hanoi that has been in operation since October 2020 (Nguyen et al., 2022).As the Novotel brand of the world-famous hotel management group -Accor Hotels, the hotel also has policies and loyalty programs to increase customer experience and create motivation to return.However, customer experience is not highly appreciated, and the rate of returning customers is still low, only reaching about 6% in 2023 (Novotel Ha Noi Thai Ha, 2024).Therefore, the article aims to evaluate the factors of customer experience that affect loyalty at Novotel Hanoi Thai Ha Hotel.From there, research is the scientific basis for hotels to implement innovative policies to optimize customer experience, create differentiation competition and enhance the hotel's brand value.

Theoretical basis 2.1.1. Related notions A. The notion of customer experience
Given the crucial role of customer experience, numerous studies have addressed this issue from various perspectives.These perspectives can be interactions and contacts between customers and suppliers or customers' emotions and impressions.
Considering from an operational perspective, experience is the interaction and contact between customers and suppliers, Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore (1999) believe that: "Customer experience is the sum total of all the experiences that a customer has in a relationship with a supplier of goods and services throughout the process in which the two parties have a relationship of buying and selling goods with each other" (cited by Trang, 2019).This interaction between the two parties, or the value exchange relationship between consumers and businesses, creates the experience (Vargo, S.L. and Lusch, 2008).
According to the research on customer relationship management by Buttle, F., & Maklan (2019), customer experience is "the cognitive and emotional outcome of customers' interactions with people, products, services, technologies, processes, and other elements of the organization".
From the perspective of customer experience as an impression,Carbone, L.P. & Haeckel (1994) define "experience as an impression formed when a customer comes into contact with a product, service, or organization, and it is also a type of human perception".In the pointview of Klaus, P., & Maklan (2013), customer experience is "customers' intellectual and emotional evaluation of all immediate and sequential experiences when the company identifies their purchasing behavior".
Thus, while there are different perspectives on customer experience, the core concept is characterized by the interaction, engagement, and encounters between customers and providers.These interactions lead to forming positive or negative emotions and impressions in customers.

B. The notion of customer loyalty
According to Jacoby, J. and Chestnut (1978), customer loyalty is "biased behavioral response" exhibited over time with the number of decisions that are made, with alternative brands among those brands, and it is a function of psychological processes.Dick, A.S. and Basu, (1994) view customer loyalty as a "stable relationship between attitudes and repeat purchase behavior of individuals, representing the proportion, coordination, and possibility of repeat purchase behavior with the same supplier".Same opinion as above, Oliver (1997) describes customer loyalty as "a deep commitment to repurchase or return to a preferred product or service consistently in the future, resulting in repeat purchases of the same brand or set of brands despite situational influences and marketing efforts, with the potential to cause behavioral change" thereby highlighting the behavioral aspect (cited by Mala Srivastava & Kaul, 2016).Accordingly, Pearson (2016) defines customer loyalty as "customer behavior and attitudes towards a business that promises to repurchase the business's products and services and recommend the business's products and services to others".Alternatively, customer loyalty is "an important concept related to repeat purchasing behavior and high consumer spending" (Mala Srivastava & Kaul, 2016).Therefore, customer loyalty is understood as the voluntary behavior of repeatedly purchasing from a supplier or recommending that supplier's products and services to others.

The relationship between customer experience and customer loyalty
According to Oliver (1980), after experiencing and evaluating service performance, customers compare the results with their previous expectations to decide whether to continue purchasing or using the service.Kim et al. (2008) developed a scale to measure memorable experiences and demonstrated that it has a significant positive impact on future behavioral intentions.The authors also experimentally tested that memorable experiences are more likely to influence a person's future behavior.Yeng, LC, & Mat (2013) experimentally tested the antecedents of loyalty in the Malaysian retail industry and found that service quality, product quality, store atmosphere, and promotional activities have a strong impact on perceived/attitudinal loyalty.At the same time, satisfaction, the retailer's loyalty program, and brand value directly affect emotions (attitudinal loyalty), and attitudinal loyalty needs to be prioritized in strategy planning because it will build behavioral loyalty.
Mala Srivastava & Kaul (2016) extended the available research on loyalty by adding a new dimension to customer experience.The study also reinforces the importance of the influence of attitudinal loyalty on behavioral loyalty.On the other hand, the authors also extended the research by adding consumer spending to measure consumer expense due to loyalty.Studies on the relationship between customer experience and customer loyalty under the moderating role of cognitive motivation by Vu Thi Mai Chi et al. (2020) found that all components of customer experience have an impact on loyalty.
In the hospitality industry, the study by Faizan Ali et al. (Faizan et al., 2014) used the experience economy model of B. Joseph Pine II and James H. Gilmore (1999) then found that all elements of customer experience influence memory and loyalty.The customer experience of perceived value, including quality, price, emotions, and reputation, has an impact on customer satisfaction and loyalty (Le et al., 2013).This study also shows that loyalty has an impact on repurchase intentions and word-of-mouth but not on the search for alternative products or services.
Therefore, several studies have shown that businesses build loyalty successfully when they effectively manage the customer experience.

Customer experience measurement models
Various research models have been proposed by different authors to measure customer experience.Hart et al.'s (2007) research model suggests four factors influencing the shopping experience: Accessibility, Atmosphere, Experiential Environment, and Staff.
According to Omar, N.A. & Musa (2009), customer experience should consider the factor of customer loyalty programs.This factor helps to foster the relationship between customers and businesses.This factor helps to foster the relationship between customers and businesses.Inheriting the view of Hart et al. (2007) and based on the practical situation in Vietnam, the authors Nguyen Thi Thuy và Le Huu Chau (2018) developed a scale with 5 factors: Touchpoints; Environmental experience; Product-price-commitment relationship; Customer benefits; After-sales customer care.
In addition, developing from Bitner's point of view, author Phi Hai Long (2022) proposed a measurement scale for Servicespace including: Surroundings, Spatial layout, Aesthetics, Signs and guiding images, Cleanliness.Bitner (1992) defines service space as the physical characteristics of the service environment.The term service space or atmosphere has been mentioned by many researchers.Research on factors affecting customer experience by author Nguyen Thi Thu (2023) with a proposed model including 6 factors: Business image, Accessibility, Service product, Service quality, Technology and Security.Image can have a substantial impact on customer experience, buyer decisions and purchasing behavior, becoming an essential factor for customer loyalty (Biscaia et al., 2017).
These research models provide a basis for this essay to refer to when constructing measurement scales and observation variables to assess the impact of customer experience on customer loyalty at Novotel Ha Noi Thai Ha Hotel.

Research model and hypothesis
Based on the overview of the research model and theoretical basis, the author has selected and proposed a research model that predicts the elements of customer experience that affect hotel loyalty with 7 independent variable scales and 1 dependent loyalty scale (Figure 1).In particular, the independent variable scale includes 25 observed variables, the dependent variable scale has 04 observed variables.

Data collection method
Secondary data was collected to establish a theoretical basis for customer experience loyalty and build a model to research the factors of customer experience that affect hotel loyalty.Since then, the author has conducted in-depth interviews with 14 experts in the field of hotel management training, researchers, scientists, university lecturers, and senior leaders and managers in the hospitality industry.Then synthesize expert opinions to adjust the model including 7 scales: service product, quality serve, service price, brand image, servicespace, customer loyalty program, and customer care with 25 observed variables as well as 4 dependent variables.
From the adjusted model and research framework, the author built a questionnaire survey using a 5-level Likert scale to evaluate the extent to which the factors of customer experience affect loyalty at Novotel Hanoi Thai Ha Hotel.The minimum sample size must be ≥ n x 5, n is the number of observed variables (Hair Jr, J. et al., 2015).The research framework expects 29 observed variables, so the minimum sample size needed is 145.
The study conducted a survey with 200 votes.Survey participants are customers using the service, staying at Novotel Hanoi Thai Ha hotel in the form of random sampling.The survey was conducted from April to May 2024 and resulted in 196 valid survey forms.

Data analysis and processing methods
Quantitative data were analyzed and the reliability of the scales was tested through the Cronbach's Alpha tool on IBM SPSS Statistic 25.0 software.It was found that 06 invalid variables were removed, and valid variables were included in the exploratory factor analysis (EFA).Therefore, the official research model for the topic has been determined.Then, correlation analysis (Pearson) and multivariate regression analysis were used to evaluate the influence of the factors of customer experience on loyalty at Novotel Hanoi Thai Ha Hotel.

Characteristics of the study sample
Through the process of analyzing survey data from 196 customers, it shows that the survey sample is mainly male (59,6%).Ages from 31 -40 years old (accounting for 44,9%, equivalent to about half of the age structure of interviewees), with an average income of 10 -20 million VND (accounting for 49,3% of the survey sample).The research sample was mainly international visitors (51,1% and 6,2% larger than domestic visitors).Among them, visitors from Korea account for the most significant proportion (25,7%).The tendency to return after the first time is not too much (accounting for a low rate of 21,3% of the total number of research subjects).Guests mainly have official business needs (rate of 47,8%).This is very suitable because the hotel is designed to be very suitable for working in the room.At the same time, the area surrounding the hotel has many offices of companies and businesses.

Identify the factors of customer experience affecting loyalty at the hotel 4.1.1 Cronbach's Alpha reliability test
Input the independent variable and dependent variable scales to test the scale using Cronbach's Alpha reliability coefficient.The results show that all scales have an overall Cronbach's Alpha coefficient value above 0,6, and most of the corrected item-total correlation of observed variables are greater than 0,3.However, the corrected item-total correlation of the dependent variable Customers will continue to love the hotel's products and services (LY3) is not guaranteed to be greater than 0,3 with a value of only 0,16; the observed variable Always have new and trendy products (SP4) has a Cronbach's Alpha coefficient larger than the coefficient of the total variable (0,858> 0,856); the observed variable Service provided promptly and quickly (QS4) has a Cronbach's Alpha coefficient larger than the coefficient of the total variable (0,753> 0,682).Continue to remove variables LY3, SP4, QS4 and Rerun this step and the scales and 27 observed variables have ensured reliability.Thus, the results of the reliability test left 7 independent scales with 23 observed variables and 1 dependent scale with 3 observed variables, ensuring reliability and continuing to be included in exploratory factor analysis.

Exploratory factor analysis (EFA)
Analyze all 23 independent variables and 3 dependent variables through KMO and Bartlett's tests.The results show that the KMO of the independent variable is 0,728 and the dependent variable is 0,746 (satisfy the condition 0,5 ≤ KMO ≤ 1).Through Bartlett's Test, the Sig.value is equal to 0,00 and guaranteed to be less than 0,05.With the results of KMO and Bartlett's tests, all applied observed variables are entirely consistent and correlated together.
Next is to determine the eigenvalue and extraction sums of squared loadings values for the independent and dependent variables.With 23 independent variables included, there are 7 factors achieving eigenvalue ≥ 1 and ranging from 1,241 to 4,728.Extraction sums of squared loadings reached 71,108%, satisfying the requirement.This result means that 23 observed variables are reduced to 7 factors and can explain 71,108% of all scales.With 3 dependent variables, there is only one factor with a value of 2,483 (satisfying ≥ 1), and extraction sums of squared loadings reaches 82,763%.This factor has been reduced from 3 observed variables and explains 82,763% of all dependent variables.
Through the results of the rotated component matrix analysis, the loading factor of the independent variables is guaranteed to have a value above 0,5 (from 0,682 to 0,866).The scales ensure convergent validity and separateness when no scale is removed and separated from the original independent variable (Table 1).
For the dependent variable, the factor loading has values from 0,902 to 0,923.So, after performing the steps in EFA exploratory factor analysis, it shows that the research model still retains 7 independent scales with 23 observed variables and 1 dependent scale with 3 observed variables.Therefore, the research tested the suitability of 7 factors along with 23 observed variables of customer experience that affect loyalty at Novotel Ha Noi Thai Ha Hotel.

Evaluate the level of effect the factors of customer experience on loyalty at Novotel Hanoi Thai Ha Hotel
The results of correlation analysis show that all scales have a Sig.(2-tailed) value of 0,00 and ensure the condition is less than 0,05.With this Sig.value, the independent variable is correlated with the dependent variable.Thus, the relationship between the variables is very reasonable and statistically significant.The lowest Pearson coefficient is the correlation between Customer loyalty (LY) and Brand image (BI), with a value of 0,374; the highest coefficient is the correlation between Service product (SP) and Customer loyalty (LY), with a value of 0,526.In conclusion, the correlation between the independent variable and the dependent variable is at an average level.In addition, all r values have the symbol ** meaning that the confidence level reaches 99%.So, these variables are eligible to perform regression models.
The results of model testing show that the adjusted R squared is 0,588, which means that the independent variables included in the multivariate regression analysis influence 58,8% of the variation of the dependent variable.And the remaining 41,2% is due to variables outside the model and random errors.Thus, there is a correlation between the independent and dependent variables, so the multivariate regression model is completely suitable for the collected survey data.With F = 28,575 and Sig.= 0,000, the linear regression model is considered appropriate.The combination of independent factors in the model can explain changes independent factors.The results of multivariate regression analysis (table 2) show that the Sig.values of all variables range from 0,000 to 0,047 (ensuring the condition <0,05).This proves that the reliability level of these independent variables is up to 95%, and all of them have an impact on the dependent variable.As a result of collinearity statistics analysis, the VIF of the variables ranged from 1,138 to 1,218, and the model did not have collinearity.As a result of multivariate regression analysis, the VIF coefficient of the variables ranged from 1,138 to 1,218 (< 2), so multicollinearity did not occur.
The results of multivariate regression analysis show that the factors of customer experience all have a positive effect on loyalty at Novotel Hanoi Thai Ha Hotel to varying degrees.This result is consistent with the hypothesis made previously.
For the regression equation, the standardized coefficients reflect the extent to which customer experience factors affect loyalty.Therefore, the regression model evaluating the level of the factors of customer experience affecting loyalty at Novotel Hanoi Thai Ha Hotel has the following equation: The factors of customer experience that affect loyalty at Novotel Hanoi Thai Ha hotel have different levels ranging from 0,122 to 0,285 (Figure 2).Among them, Service product (SP) has the largest standardized regression coefficient of 0,285, so it has the strongest affect on loyalty at the research location.The second level of influence on loyalty is Service price (PR) with a Beta coefficient of 0,234.Next are Quality serve (QS), Brand image (BI), Servicespace (SS) and Customer loyalty program (LP) with standardized regression coefficients of 0,208 -0,189 -0,181 -0,146.And the lowest level of influence is Customer care (CC) with a standardized regression coefficient of 0,122.

Conclusions and management implications
Customer experience and loyalty play a vital role in the hospitality industry, as well as the hotel's goals, and are considered differentiating factors in competitive strategy.The research examined both theory and practice and applied various appropriate research methods.The results show that all seven customer experience factors positively affect loyalty at Novotel Hanoi Thai Ha Hotel.Additionally, the research identified the levels of effect: Service product (SP) has the highest impact on loyalty, while Customer care (CC) has the lowest impact.Moreover, the research result demonstrates the value and reliability of the measurement scales in the research model applied to the Novotel Hanoi Thai Ha Hotel.Based on the research results, the author proposes several recommendations to enhance customer experience and increase loyalty at Novotel Hanoi Thai Ha Hotel.The hotel needs to focus on improving the two factors rated lowest by customers: Customer care and Customer loyalty program.Accordingly, the hotel should provide excellent customer care services by continuing to develop, improve, and upgrade customer care activities.Regularly collecting feedback, opinions, and complaints from guests to address them thoroughly and ensure guests are satisfied with the hotel's services is crucial.Furthermore, the hotel needs to effectively improve its loyalty programs, such as leveraging the benefits of loyalty programs and membership cards to increase customer loyalty and raise the return rate.Implementing reward policies for referrers can also stimulate current customers to introduce friends and family, thereby naturally expanding the loyal customer network.
The research results are still limited to a certain extent and have some constraints.The non-probability random sampling method and the small sample size, along with the short research period, are not sufficient to represent a comprehensive evaluation.Furthermore, the study only evaluates the impact of customer experience on loyalty through seven factors.Other factors, such as impressive service, memorable moments, perceived value, accessibility, etc have not been mentioned and should be addressed in future research.
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Figure 2 :
Figure 2: Results of regression model analysis (standardized coefficients)

Table 1 :
The results of the rotated component matrix analysis

Table 2 :
Results of multi-variable regression analysis