Customer brand identification is described by the customer's perception and feeling about a brand. It brings value and meets the customer's needs. The four drivers of CBI are brand self-similarity, brand social benefits, brand identity, and memorable brand experiences. The purpose of this study is to understand the influence of CBI (and, consequently, its drivers) on customer loyalty and its perception of hotel brands. Although the importance of CBI has already been recognized in some studies, its effects on customer loyalty in the hospitality context are still relatively unexplored. A survey was used to understand and confirm that CBI and all four of its dimensions significantly influence customer loyalty. This means, in the hotel industry, customers tend to look for brands that are distinct from their competitors, have an identity of their own, and close to their values. It was also possible to conclude that the client tends to behave more favorably towards the brand, spreading positive word of mouth and recommending brands that meet CBI conditions.
TopIntroduction
The hotel activity has an exceptionally competitive nature, either due to the growing level of an offer or the ease of reproducing its models, concepts and associated services (Mattila, 2006). This environment led to the need to look for new sources of differentiation and competitive advantages. The brand has become one of the main focuses globally for this purpose (Kayaman & Arasli, 2007; O'Neil & Mattila, 2010).
A strong brand represents an essential asset in this market context, with consequences regarding financial results. Other indicators, such as average price, occupancy rate, revenue and return on investment (ROI), also tend to have higher values. The brand also appears as a means of quality assurance and simplifies evaluating alternatives for the customer (O'Neill & Xiao, 2006).
Although the Customer Brand Identification (CBI) is an essential tool in defining a brand, it is still not mainly used in hotels (Leaniz & Rodriguez-de-Bolque, 2013). Consumers no longer buy branded services and products just for the sake of status and/or social status. The brand value, in some way, should contribute positively to their lives and relate to their concept of lifestyle (Sirgy & Su, 2000). This identification with the brand makes the customer use the product or service more and increases purchase frequency (Kuenzel & Halliday, 2010).
The main objective of this study is to understand the relationship between Customer Brand Identification and customer loyalty, starting by individually evaluating the behavior of the four dimensions of CBI.
Initially, a theoretical contextualization of each concept was carried out, which allowed the formulation of the hypotheses to be studied. Then, the methods used in the investigation, the structure of the survey, and procedures for evaluating the results were explained. Finally, the results were exposed and analyzed, and the conclusions presented.