Purpose Globally, guesthouses provide an important source of accommodation to visitors and tourists. Surprisingly, research into this sector is rather sparse. The purpose of this paper is to examine the dimensions of experience value, determine guests’ perceptions of experience value, analyse the influences of various profile variables on experience value, and investigate the relationship between experience value, satisfaction, and customer behavioural intentions regarding guesthouses in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative research design was followed. A total of 541 useable questionnaires were received from 650 guests conveniently selected from 51 guesthouses in Ghana. The guesthouses were selected by means of stratified random sampling. Findings The results of the study reveal that atmospherics, enjoyment, entertainment, escape, efficiency, excellence and economic value measure guests’ perceptions of experience value. Atmospherics and economic value attracted the highest positive rating while escape had the most negative rating. In addition, the study showed that there is a strong positive relationship between experience value, satisfaction and behavioural intention. Research limitations/implications The first limitation relates to the sample. Only the major city from each of four regions was selected for the study. These regions include Accra, Koforidua, Cape Coast and Kumasi. Future research should investigate perceived value provided by guesthouses in the remaining six regions of the country in the quest to generalise the findings. Lastly, the study derived the experience value dimensions from the literature and verified these. While this is not regarded as a limitation, future research could investigate further dimensions of experience value such as novelty, nostalgia and social interaction. Practical implications Guesthouse managers could use the outcome of this study as a form of differentiation. Second, managers should take note of the positive relationships between experience value, satisfaction and respondents’ intentions to return to the guesthouse and tell others about their experiences (behavioural intentions). This can strengthen the organisation’s competitive position within the accommodation industry. Finally, the research resulted in a fairly simple instrument guesthouse managers can use to assess their guests’ perceptions of value provided by the guesthouse. It is recommended that guesthouse managers measure guests’ perceptions of value on a regular basis. Originality/value Theoretical implications and recommendations following the empirical findings and recommendations are provided. First, defining the concept of value is complex. While the underlying foundation of value as benefits relative to sacrifices (Zeithaml, 1988) remains relevant, affective forms of value should also be considered. This suggests that organisations that focus only on providing benefits may be at a competitive disadvantage. Second, experience value is multidimensional. Seven dimensions, namely atmospherics, enjoyment, entertainment, escape, efficiency, excellence and economic value were shown to contribute to the guesthouse experience. These included emotional factors in addition to the conventional functional factors.

Background: Consumers are increasingly demanding memorable experiences, thereby placing pressure on businesses to meet these demands. The provision of memorable experiences is particularly important to the tourism industry as its core business is to provide experiences. To stage these experiences, businesses must know which dimensions to include. For this purpose, cognitive dimensions present a reasonable starting point.Aim: The current research aimed to explain and examine the cognitive dimensions that have an influence on the memorability of three marine tourism experiences, namely whale-watching, shark-cage diving and visits to marine protected areas. Marine tourism is one of the most popular forms of tourism worldwide, but also a desperately under-studied field, particularly in South Africa. The results of the research will assist providers and marketers of these activities in satisfying the experience needs of marine tourists by focusing their offerings on those dimensions that will enhance the memorability of the experience. The results will also help fill the gap in knowledge of the cognitive dimensions impacting the memorability of marine tourism experiences.Setting: The study was conducted in South Africa.Methods: Data were collected from 444 respondents using an exploratory design, mixed method approach and survey methods. Data were analysed through frequency distributions, Pearson’s product-moment correlations and multivariate analysis of variance.Results: Knowledge, meaningfulness, novelty and social interaction positively influence the memorability of marine tourism experiences in South Africa.Conclusion: The results indicate that positive interrelationships exist among all the dimensions, suggesting that these dimensions all represent the cognitive domain. Furthermore, the results also indicate that all four dimensions have a positive influence on memorable marine tourism experiences. These findings are important for the enhancement of memorable marine tourism experiences. An understanding of the identified cognitive dimensions in a marine tourism experience will lead to a more memorable experience for consumers and can result in post-purchase behaviour such as a repeat purchase, loyalty and positive word-of-mouth recommendations resulting in increased profitability for the business.

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The vast number of competitors and the similarity of products on offer in the South African stainless steel stockist and distributor market force organisations to find alternative means of competing effectively. Customer satisfaction might be one such an example. Whilst research has confirmed the positive outcomes of customer satisfaction, much less is known about the antecedents (drivers) that should act as the foundation of attempts to maximise satisfaction, particularly in a developing country. This study confirms five satisfaction drivers, reports the gap scores between importance and satisfaction ratings by the account clients of a major South African stainless steel stockist and distributor, and shows the relationship between these drivers and overall satisfaction. The analysis of 320 useable survey questionnaires shows a moderate to strong positive relationship with overall satisfaction for four of the five drivers. Reliability is the most important driver and product quality received the highest average satisfaction rating. Drivers with the largest significant gap scores include reliability, service quality and commercial aspects. Management should focus on the important drivers—those with the highest negative gap scores between satisfaction and importance, and those showing a significant relationship with overall satisfaction.

Background: Long-distance coach liner bus transportation forms an important economic sector in South Africa as it contributes to the gross domestic product (GDP) and employment, and significantly impacts the daily life activities of many people. While this is commendable, there have been reports relating to inefficiency, reliability (late arrivals and departure times) and safety concerns. These concerns have the potential to negatively impact on passengers’ satisfaction.Aim: No South African investigative research study could be found on the predictors of passengers’ satisfaction with long-distance coach liners. This study was conducted to identify predictors of passengers’ satisfaction with long-distance coach liners in South Africa.Setting: The target respondents were passengers who recently travelled on a long-distance coach liner in South Africa. The potential respondent had to be at least 18 years of age.Methods: Primary data were collected using an online survey, and respondents recruited through convenience and snowball sampling. Of the 409 questionnaires received, 399 useful questionnaires were included in the data analysis.Results: The results of the study indicate that peace of mind (β = 0.552, p = 0.000) and efficiency (β = 0.455, p = 0.000) have a predictive power on passengers’ satisfaction.Conclusion: The findings suggest that when there is an improvement in peace of mind and/or efficiency, passengers’ satisfaction will also improve. It is thus recommended that operators/managers of long-distance coach liners prioritise the elements that contribute to peace of mind at all touchpoints (e.g. safety, security, privacy, professionalism of drivers) and efficiency in delivering services to passengers (e.g. reliability and punctuality).