The impact of perceived brand performance, brand imagery and ewom on customer loyalty: A case study of five star hotels in Istanbul

The aim of this study is to investigate impacts of customer based brand equity and electronic word of mouth (eWOM) on customer loyalty. It clarifies how components of CBBE (brand imagery and perceived brand performance) and eWOM influence on customer loyalty. The factors determine failure or success of hotel based on the scale and rating of the hotel in the market. Consumer based brand equity can directly affect building strong brand and success in the market. To meet the objective of this study, the questionnaire method selected by using the sample of 200 people, who are previously stayed as a guest in five-star hotels. Based on the result, it shows that there are positive relationships between perceived brand performance, brand imagery, eWOM and customer loyalty. As a result, all above factors, influence building strong customer loyalty toward the hotel. This type of study might be useful for future researchers who look in depth toward the marketing and branding strategies for five- star hotels. This study might be functional as a tool for setting branding strategies and making loyal guest to the specific hotel brand. Nowadays the top five-star hotels have high brand performance and strong brand imagery on the mind set of their customers, with taking attention to eWOM by using online platform. The result of this study is to investigate interrelation between impact of perceived brand performance, brand imagery and electronic word of mouth on customer loyalty among five-star hotels in Istanbul.