Smart Service Interactional Experience for Family Travelers: Scale Development and Validation

Abstract

This study explores the key features of the smart service interactional experience (SSIE) and develops and validates a scale based on the perspectives of family travelers. Through multiple stages of qualitative and quantitative investigations using U.S. and U.K. samples, this study identified eight distinct features of SSIE: efficiency, ease of use, learning, socialization, newness, safety, flow, and seamlessness. The study findings also validate the aforementioned scale through two robustness tests and reveal significant relationships between the aforementioned SSIE attributes and the service encounter evaluations of family travelers. This study theoretically contributes to the development of smart hotel conceptualizations and the nascent research on family travelers. Furthermore, the study findings imply many valuable, practical suggestions for hotel practitioners who plan to invest in smart hotel operations and target family travelers.