Assessing the customer experience quality and customer loyalty: The mediating role of customer satisfaction

Customer loyalty must be maintained and improved by the firm, including the hospitality sector. Customers determine the sustainability and the firm success. The research aims to examine the mediating role of customer satisfaction in the relationship between customer experience quality and customer loyalty in the Indonesian hospitality industry. Customer satisfaction is the variable that will be assessed as an intervening variable. The research method uses a quantitative approach. Respondents in this study were customers who had ever stayed at hotels, both 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 star hotels and non-star hotels. A total of 215 respondents filled out questionnaires via online survey or Google Forms. The study was conducted in March-April 2023. The collected data were analyzed using SMART SEM PLS. The study’s findings demonstrate that customer satisfaction affects customer loyalty, customer experience quality is positively and significantly correlated with customer loyalty, and customer satisfaction drives loyalty. Customer experience quality (ß = 0.394, p < 0.001), and customer satisfaction (ß = 0.440, p < 0.000) positively affect customer loyalty. Customer experience quality (ß = 0.892, p < 0.000) positively affects customer satisfaction. The mediating role of job satisfaction between customer experience quality and customer loyalty (ß = 0.393, p < 0.000) has a significant positive effect. This means that job satisfaction has a very good role in increasing customer loyalty. Adding variables to the research model for future research is recommended. The originality or value of this study offers an original insight into how customer experience quality affects customer loyalty by using customer satisfaction as mediation in the model.