Transformations  in
Business & Economics

CONCEPTUALIZATION OF EXPERIENCE MARKETING IN THE SECTOR OF HOSPITALITY SERVICES
Lina Verbauskiene, Ingrida Griesiene

ABSTRACT.Marketing experience is a new area, yet little examined marketing theorists and practitioners. However, the recent period has increasingly focused on the concept of experience marketing and its practical application. Many service companies recognize that business success depends on the user experience development and management, because satisfied customers are likely to repeat purchases and verbal recommendations. The paper aims to theoretically reason the possibilities of applying experience marketing in the sector of hospitality services. In order to reveal the conceptualization of experience marketing in the hospitality services sector, was made extensive theoretical studies of experience/experiential marketing and hospitality sector. This article presents the theoretical model of experience marketing in the hospitality services sector, which consists of two structural components: 1. reflects the client / guest experience levels and types as well as the activities of company; 2. the customer / guest behavioural consequences (results), which depends on what kind of experience customers receives. Model specification and theoretical analysis of the study showed that the hospitality service companies should use the experience marketing tools, because the main task of companies providing hospitality services is to make a customer become a steady visitor / customer, since his/her decisions and actions will depend in the future on his/her "positive", "unforgettable", "unique" experience while facing with service provider or brand

KEYWORDS: experience, experience marketing, experiential marketing, sector of hospitality.

JEL classification: L83, M31, D11, E 21.