e-Hospitality – digital hospitality and empathy in digital tourism service encounters in the ‘new normal’

e-Hospitality – digital hospitality and empathy in digital tourism service encounters in the ‘new normal’



How to co-create unique added value and meaningful emotional experiences to the customers on the interface of physical and digital services? What could e-hospitality, i.e. hospitable and empathic service experience, be in the tourism, restaurant and event industry that is characterized by physical and digital elements?



To these questions we are aiming to find answers in this e-Hospitality – digital hospitality and empathy in digital tourism service encounters in the 'new normal'. Corona pandemic, but already years before the changes within the operational environment, have made visible how digitalization has significantly challenged the tourism, restaurant and event industry and its practices in terms of business, services and distribution and marketing. Customer encounters take place increasingly online and customer behaviour is more and more omnichannel. One of the main goals of this project is to ensure competitiveness and to tackle the changes both in customer behavior and overall industry trends. In addition to this, we aim to find solutions for better digital customer experience.



SMEs should invest in the digital customer experience, but they are struggling with acute challenges ranging from scarce resources and co-development within the seamless service chains to digital expertise and attitude towards technology and its possibilities to joint learning.



This project is executed together with Turku University of Applied Sciences. There is also a collateral project implemented by Lapland University of Applied Sciences. E-Hospitality project creates a community and an ecosystem of schools, companies and experts between three regions that enhances mutual learning, exchange of information and co-development. This project is funded as part of the European Union's response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Project period
-
Project state
Finished
Project area
National
Project funding
ERDF 2014-2020
LAB role
Lead partner
Unit
Business and Hospitality Management
Project focus area
Innovations
Takes place in project

Thank you for participating the journey to digital hospitality

This project has ended in August 2023. A big thank you for all who participated this project, it's been amazing to work with you.

In case you have ideas how to continue the work or other questions related to e-Hospitality, do not hesitate to contact maria.murto(a)lab.fi.

Check out here summary of the project by the team.

Video series about gamification

Gamification has been a big part of the project. Many people wonder what is it and how to use games in the business? We produced a video series about this! The videos are available with Finnish and English subtitles.

All about gamification What is gamification? How is it related to service design? Project manager and RDI specialist Katariina Mäenpää shares her knowledge and experiences in PARK-project.

Gamers as a target group for tourism What is the difference between games and gamification? Should gamers be considered as a target group? Find out the answers by watching the video.

Future studies approach on gamification How gamification could be used to facilitate workshops? Experiences from specialists from Bounce Forward project.

Sustainable Development Goals
Project managers