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Introduction
Branding in the hotel industry has received limited research attention (Khan and Rahman, 2017). Hotels with an active brand strategy often try to differentiate themselves on their physical attributes and tangible designs, but these can easily be copied by other hotels (King, 2017). As the hospitality industry is part of the experience economy, a brand strategy in which differentiation is based on positive, strong and unique experiences that are not easily copied may be a better way to achieve sustainable competitive advantages (Omerzel, 2016; Khan and Rahman, 2017). Brand experience has a positive influence on brand knowledge, brand satisfaction, brand loyalty, brand personality, word of mouth and revisit intention (Brakus et al., 2009; Manthiou et al., 2016; Khan and Rahman, 2017). In recognizing these positive influences of brand experience, a critical question for hotel managers is how to stimulate brand experience. Examining the antecedents of brand experience in the hospitality sector is also in line with Khan and Rahman’s (2017) and King’s (2017) recommendations.
Two factors of increasing importance among consumers are brand innovativeness and green image. Innovation is critical for tourism success (Lin, 2015; Omerzel, 2016). Though moderated by several variables, Rubera and Kirca’s (2012) meta-analysis reveals several positive performance outcomes of firm innovativeness. In general, empirical studies on the influence of product innovation are scarce (Stock, 2011). In particular, the relationship between innovativeness and customer satisfaction is unexplored for services (Stock, 2011), tourism destinations and enterprises (Hjalager, 2010). Given the importance of creating difficult-to-copy experiences, it is relevant to explore how brand innovativeness can influence brand experience and satisfaction. Green new product introduction has a positive influence on brand attitude (Olsen et al., 2014). In particular, customers’ perceptions of a company’s green image exert a positive influence on their attitudes toward the company (Jeong et al., 2014), though the performance level of green company attributes needs to be high to ensure customer satisfaction (Robinot and Giannelloni, 2010). In the hotel context, few studies have investigated the influence of green image (Martínez, 2015). Wu et al. (2016) find positive influences of green image on experiential satisfaction. Thus, given the importance of green image for company success, and in line with the research direction Wu et al. propose, it...