The Structural Relationship among Smart Hotel Services, Brand Attitude, and Electric-Word of Mouth(e-WOM) Intentions

This study investigates the impact of various attributes of smart hotel services on brand attitude and electronic word-of-mouth(e-WOM) intentions and mediation effect of brand attitude, in the context of AI-based smart services in the hotel industry. A survey was conducted among customers who had experienced smart hotels, and a total of 227 responses were used for the final analysis. Structural equation modeling (SEM) using AMOS 20 was applied for model validation. The smart service attributes were categorized into efficiency, ease of use, reliability, convenience, and controllability. Through hypothesis testing, the following key results were derived. First, ease of use, reliability, and controllability positively influenced brand attitude, while efficiency and convenience had no significant effect. Second, only convenience directly influenced e-WOM intentions, with no significant influence from other attributes. Third, brand attitude directly had a large impact on e-WOM intentions. Fourth, brand attitude fully mediated the relationship between reliability, controllability, and e-WOM intentions. The results offer important implications for development and marketing strategies of smart services in the hotel industry.