Customer experience management in capsule hotels: a content analysis of guest online review

Purpose Capsule hotels are a revolutionary Japanese concept of lodging that dates back over four decades. On the other hand, capsule hotels are a relatively new concept for most travelers outside of Japan. Organizations within this target segment are starting to recognize the critical role that an excellent customer experience management (CEM) strategy offers in improving competitiveness and organizational success. Thus, this research provides scholastic insight into the framework of CEM by evaluating the user-generated content at capsule hotels. Design/methodology/approach This study inspected 1,304 online user-generated content from the top 10 capsule hotels from Booking.com. Leximancer 4.5 was deployed to analyze the data. Findings The analyses revealed nine key themes to CEM of capsule hotels which are “staff,” “hotel,” “area,” “location,” “bed,” “capsule,” “check-in,” “noisy” and “luggage”. Practical implications This research encourages hospitality and tourism executives to develop specific strategies for capsule hotels. Originality/value This research differs from previous writings in that it attempts to fill a gap in the research by offering insight into the issue in the low-budget hotel industry and by identifying key indicators that influence customer experience.