ABSTRACT
There has been considerable research on customer loyalty in general and specifically customer loyalty within the hotel industry. This chapter discusses customer loyalty and hotel loyalty programmes. It focuses on environmental factors that will affect hotel loyalty programmes. Today most hospitality and travel loyalty programmes are still based on only the behavioural component. The chapter discusses the growth of social media, the emergence of Millennials as the most important travel market segment, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and the emergence of online travel agencies (OTAs) as a powerful distribution channel. OTAs have had a disruptive effect on the hotel industry, through their relatively high fees. There is evidence that social media and online communities can build customer loyalty. The researchers looked at how integration into the brand community was developed through these events and investigated the effect of social media generated by the events. This effect created by social media is also consequential for customer loyalty.
