This dissertation aims to examine the concept of ―online customer experience‖, ―flow‖, and its role in influencing online customers‘ loyalty to a hotel booking website. To achieve this aim, a model was developed, which proposed that online flow is generated by both hedonic and utilitarian website features. A model was developed based on literature review to measure the relationships between the constructs. To initiate this research, a survey approach was taken. After conducting a pilot study, a marketing company was contacted to distribute the link for the online questionnaire. Five hundred and eleven (511) questionnaires were completed by guests who booked a hotel room online. Participants completed the self-administered online questionnaire by answering questions related to their last hotel booking experience. Study results found that hedonic and utilitarian website features affect the flow experience positively. Results highlight that hedonic website features has a stronger effect on the flow experience compared to utilitarian ones. In addition, the results revealed that hedonic features positively impact brand equity and utilitarian features impact trust towards the hotel booking website. Further, both trust and brand equity have significant and positive relationship with e-loyalty. However, according to study results, flow experience does not have a direct significant effect on e-loyalty. The study findings suggest that consumers who are able to achieve a state of flow while shopping online will perceive higher brand equity and trust. Therefore, their perceptions of the brand are improved. With enhanced levels of trust and brand equity, consumers are more likely to build bonds and stay loyal to the hotel booking website. It is important to note that iv enhancing the brand equity and trust via hedonic and utilitarian website features is important to increase loyalty because flow experience does not directly influence loyalty. This study contributes to existing research on flow experience in several ways. Firstly, it developed and tested a model with precursors of flow experience in ecommerce by establishing a link between website features and flow experience. Antecedents and consequences of flow experience can help researchers understand when this experience occurs and what to expect from this optimal experience in online environments. Thus, this study makes a contribution to the existing literature by examining the effects of features of the website on flow experience. It is worth noting that in the model, hedonic website features had the largest impact on flow experience. This is particularly an important contribution, considering that precious related research examined variables such as attractiveness, novelty, playfulness, personal innovativeness, content of the website, interactivity, teleperesence and perceived ease of use as the precursors of flow experience, but they have not examined the website characteristics that derives from shopping orientations. Study results can give hotel booking website designers and marketers a better understanding of the online consumer experiences and loyalty

Travel is now the largest online business-to-consumer product in the United States. Online hotel bookings are the second largest segment of online travel. Leisure travelers online spending will increase dramatically from 2002 to 2007. However, a majority of hospitality companies do not currently take advantage of the Internet as the cheapest and most efficient distribution medium. The purpose of this study examined leisure travelers' demographic and psychographic characteristics, online booking and travel frequency that influence travelers' desired hotel Website features and functions. The results found out that demographics (gender, occupation, and ethnicity), and psychographics (travel benefit sought), number of leisure travel trips per year, and number of online hotel bookings per year have impact on hotel Website attribute preferences.

Webbplatser har idag mindre än en sekund på sig att göra ett visuellt intryck innan besökaren riskerar att gå vidare till en annan webbplats. I hotellbranschen där kundrelationer är högt värderat och det fysiska mötet i många fall har bytts ut mot hotellets webbplats spelar det visuella intrycket en viktig roll. Varje kontakt en besökare har med ett företags webbplats påverkar besökarens känslor för varumärket och således kundrelationen. Framtidens stora kundsegment Generation Z kräver hög kvalitet på webbdesign vilket innebär att det är viktigt för företag att förstå hur deras webbplats kan skapa ett bra intryck för att fånga målgruppen. Forskning visar att visuella webbdesignelement har en påverkan på besökarens tillfredsställelse, tillit samt lojalitet, vilket även är tre viktiga faktorer för att bygga kundrelationer. Genom att analysera hur webbdesignelementen foto, färg, visuell ordning, visuell komplexitet samt informationsdesign/text påverkar tillfredsställelse, tillit samt lojalitet på en hotellwebbplats syftar studien till att skapa en förståelse för hur en hotellwebbplats således kan påverka kundrelationer med personer som tillhör Generation Z. Studien har genomförts med en kvalitativ metod i form av semistrukturerade intervjuer med en kompletterande enkät. Sex respondenter som tillhör Generation Z studerade två hotellwebbplatser där samtliga webbdesignelement diskuterades med utgångspunkt kring tillfredsställelse, tillit samt lojalitet. Studiens resultat visar att samtliga webbdesignelement i undersökningen har en avgörande roll för att uppfylla besökarens förväntningar och kan således påverka tillfredsställelse, tillit och lojalitet som i sin tur har en påverkan på kundrelationer. / Websites today have less than a second to make a visual impression before the visitor risks leaving for another website. In the hotel industry where customer relationships are highly valued and the face-to-face meeting has in numerous cases been replaced by the hotel's website, the visual impression plays an important role. Each contact a visitor has with a company's website will affect the visitor's feelings towards the brand and thus affect the customer relationship. Generation Z, the large customer segment of the future, requires high quality web design. This means that it is important for companies to understand how their website can make a good impression to capture the target audience. Research shows that visual web design elements have an impact on visitors' satisfaction, trust, and loyalty, which are also three important elements in building customer relationships. By analyzing how the web design elements photo, color, visual order, visual complexity and information design/text affect satisfaction, trust and loyalty, the study aims to create an understanding of how a hotel website can affect customer relationships with people belonging to Generation Z. The study was conducted with a qualitative method with semi-structured interviews and a supplementary questionnaire. Six respondents who belong to Generation Z studied two hotel websites where all web design elements were discussed based on satisfaction, trust, and loyalty. The findings in this study show that all web design elements examined are crucial for meeting the visitor's expectations. Thus, it can affect satisfaction, trust, and loyalty, which in turn has an impact on customer relationships.