engleski

Who are wellness customers? An empirical study in the Croatian hotel industry

Although wellness is becoming an increasingly popular concept in practice, there is an evident lack of academic research regarding wellness services, in general, and tourists as wellness customers, in particular. Thus, the purpose of this study is to identify the main characteristics of wellness customers in hotel wellness settings. The study was conducted in hotel wellness centres in the Opatija Riviera (Croatia). The empirical research was organized in two steps, using two different instruments for collecting primary data, namely the modified ATLAS wellness questionnaire and the modified SERVQUAL questionnaire. The first questionnaire was used to determine the main demographic and travel characteristics of wellness customers, as well as to identify their habits regarding wellness services. The second questionnaire aimed to assess wellness customers’ expectations and perceptions of service quality. Questionnaires were distributed in 11 hotel wellness centres in the Opatija Riviera during the spring months of 2010. In order to meet study goals, descriptive, bivariate and multivariate (exploratory factor analysis and reliability analysis) statistical analyses were conducted. The study contributes to a better understanding of the particular lifestyle characteristics of hotel wellness customers. Furthermore, the findings can help give wellness managers a better understanding of customers’ expectations and of what customers think about the performed service.

Wellness customers ; expectations ; perceptions ; hotel industry ; statistical analysis ; Croatia

rad prezentiran na konferenciji ATMC 2011 Maribor