ABSTRACT
Understanding and measuring customer satisfaction are important elements in the post-encounter marketing mix. Satisfaction has a signifi cant infl uence on customer attitude and behavioural intention. Customers generally have pre-encounter expectations of hospitality experiences and after the encounter they evaluate the experience against those expectations, effectively asking: ‘Did that experience meet my expectations?’ If expectations are underperformed, dissatisfaction is likely to result. Dissatisfi ed customers are at risk of defecting to competitors and generating negative word of mouth comment. Satisfi ed customers, whose expectations are met or exceeded, however, hold out the promise of further business and positive word of mouth. Consequently, it is important for marketers to measure and understand the major infl uences on customer satisfaction.
