Why Guests No Longer Just Want to Be Served. Dr Maggie Chen on the Future of Immersive Experiences

Beyond Great Service

The experience economy is nothing new. The hospitality industry has been developing the notion of guest experience for more than 25 years. But, as the world has changed, so consumer expectations have risen, and the definition of ‘experience’ today isn’t what it was a quarter of a century ago. Now, the type of experiences customers are really looking for are immersive, says Dr. Meng-Mei Maggie Chen, marketing faculty at EHL and the author of Hospitality Vibes, which calls for the hospitality industry to lead this shift.

From Spectators to Participants

But what does ‘immersive’ actually mean? Maggie equates it to the idea of ‘flow’, the psychological state of being so engrossed in an activity, so engaged with your cognitive, emotional and behavioral competencies, that you have an altered perception of time. To achieve that, guests must actively participate and contribute.

“Customers need to co-create the experience,” says Maggie, “and those experiences must involve all the senses: maybe the customer touches something, hears something, smells something. The more senses involved, the more vivid that experience is going to be. That's how you generate emotions and memories.”

The Search for Authenticity

And why is that necessary? Because, in today’s digitized, globalized world, human beings are craving deep emotional connection.

People are looking for authenticity. AI is producing content all the time, and people don't know whether it is true or not. They are overwhelmed with fake stuff, they are tired of technology, and they are looking for authenticity and human interaction. They want to go back to the offline life.

Here, Maggie discusses the role of co-creation in immersive experiences, the importance of bringing people together and building a community, and how brands – whatever their budget – can design meaningful, memorable experiences that will generate customer loyalty and increase revenue in the long-term.

Why are people craving human connection?

Years ago, people mainly worked in their own country and had their social support system with them all the time. But nowadays, things have changed. For example, I am Taiwanese, but I have lived in the United States, in Switzerland, in Puerto Rico. I didn't bring my social network with me as I moved. More and more people are in this situation. The single household number has increased in many countries, and these people don't have social support. Now, with AI on top of that, we have reached a tipping point.

People are saying, you know what? We need to do something differently for our well-being.

In our digital frictionless society, opportunities don’t often arise to spontaneously interact with strangers. So we need to artificially get people together and create this opportunity for people to interact.

The hospitality industry can be a safe harbor for initiating and nurturing interactions through immersive experiences that address people’s need for authenticity and humanity.

How do you define ‘immersive’?

I associate immersion with the state of ‘flow’. I often give the example of online gaming. When a person plays a game they are in their own reality, they forget about time and place, they are completely absorbed in their activity and they feel a sense of accomplishment when they go up the different levels. It's like their mind reaches a different status, where they are fully committed to what they are doing.

In a hospitality and tourism context, the most popular examples are theme park experiences. When you are on a rollercoaster, you feel you are in a different time and place, your emotions are high, and you forget about reality and feel a sense of achievement at the end.

However, I don't believe people want immersive experiences to be technology-driven because they are tired of that.

So it’s about translating that flow into social interactions where people can do things together. To make it truly immersive, guests and hosts must co-create the experience.

What does that mean exactly?

Hosts need to design activities for customers to participate in.

The hospitality industry is rooted in providing services, and it may find it a challenge to delegate tasks to customers, but it must understand that customers are no longer impressed by being served, they want to actively contribute.

For example, instead of playing live music for customers, invite them to play together, or provide space for people to dance. A few years ago, a friend told me he and his wife went to a party in a restaurant. When they arrived, they were told that it was arranged seating and they couldn’t sit together. Then the host said there was a bottle of wine hidden under the table and one of the guests had to open it and serve the others at the table.

Of course, when you do things like that, strangers start to interact with each other and it breaks the ice. Then the host can ask other questions and have people engaging with each other all evening. This is how you bring strangers together.

Another great example is the Norwegian football team’s post-match celebration in the recent FIFA World Cup. After winning a match, the team and the supporters in the stands came together to do the Viking row. It was a very powerful and moving experience; everyone participated, emotions and attention were high and the entire stadium was united. Even people who only watched it on screen were affected by it. And I feel like this is what is missing in society. People want to be part of something; they want that emotional connection. So we need to look at what sport teams are doing, at what musicians are doing with their fans at concerts.

Above all, brands need to take opportunities to be more authentic. People don’t want arranged PR activities, they want something more spontaneous, more human.

How can a brand avoid making it a PR exercise?

You need to figure out what really resonates with your customers, and then bring them together so they can share their passion and their experience with each other. That’s how you build a community. Then those people are going to stay longer with you and buy more frequently from you. Unfortunately, most brands want to see an immediately increase in sales, but marketing professionals should actually look to the long term.

It can be difficult to build a community when consumers are wary of what they see as PR…

I agree. But you know what, some people will pay attention because they are already fans of the brand. It's easier to convince those who already have a preference for you – so start with them. They are going to be the ones who sign up first, and then they might ask their friends and relatives to join in. Within two or three years, you’ll have convinced other people who didn't believe you at first. It’s like growing a garden, it takes time.

What immersive experiences have you personally enjoyed?

I once stayed at a ryokan, a traditional hotel in Japan. We slept on Japanese futons on tatami mats. The okami (manager) came to help us to put on our yukata (robes) before taking our food order. Our dinner and breakfast were made with local ingredients, beautifully presented as art, and served courteously in our room.

It was not only a hotel stay but also a cultural experience that touched my five senses and felt truly immersive.

I’ve stayed in many hotels for business and leisure, and most stays are forgettable, but my ryokan experience has stayed in my memory.

Why is it so important to engage all the senses in an immersive experience?

The more senses involved, the stronger the experience. We tend to focus on the visual and ignore the other four senses. Yet we all know that smell connects most closely with memory. Touch can be important: steakhouse restaurants tend to use heavier utensils because customers associate them with better taste.

And the recent heatwave is a reminder that we can influence our perceptions. For example, the scents of menthol and lemon, the touch of cotton satin bed linen, the sound of running water, and the natural environment can all create a sense of cool without actually changing the temperature.

These ‘brand ingredients’, as we call them – the background music, the scent, the type of tablecloth used – can make a real difference.

You said that people are tired of technology, but in some cases, technology can help build an immersive experience. How do you find a balance?

Yes, some immersive experiences are built on technology – for example, VR – and others use it very wisely, but tech is not required for immersive experiences. I actually think that companies should prioritize technology for employees, not customers, because it’s your employees who are going to be the hosts of these social occasions, so some of their work needs to be automated to make their lives easier and free up their time.

That’s also a way to put employees and customers on the same level. Traditionally, the customer is king and employees have to serve them. But the truth is, fewer and fewer employees want to do this.

We need to enhance their social status, and I believe immersive experiences give employees this opportunity. Why? Because they can be the host, and I think this increases their self-esteem.

How strategically important are immersive experiences to a brand?

Firstly, if you create a community, customers are going to stay longer with you and buy more frequently. This leads to bigger demand, allowing you to increase your prices and therefore your revenue.

Secondly, I believe that in the future we are going to delegate routine purchases to our digital AI assistant, because no one wants to spend time thinking about toilet paper and detergent or whatever. But some purchase decisions are important and personal, and digital AI assistants, which are entirely rational, won’t understand the emotional aspect of such purchases. So it’s up to brands to be able to connect with their customers at the emotional level, which will differentiate them from competitors. How? I think immersive experiences are the answer.

Can any company create an immersive experience, whatever their resources?

I truly believe so. In Japan, there's a group of monks who decided they needed to reach a new audience so they opened a bar. And in this bar, every day at 9pm, everybody stops what they are doing and, for 15 minutes, they either pray or just be quiet. This is the sort of spiritual experience people are looking for, and it doesn't cost money.

The key challenge is to find interesting activities to engage customers. I encourage companies to look at local culture and nature. For example, OMO 7 Osaka offers local foodie tours of the neighborhood, with employees as tour guides.

These immersive experiences build relationships with customers, boost employee engagement and help staff share their pride for the local area.

How do you see immersive experiences evolving in the future?

I really believe that people are going to look for more of this in the future. Currently, people are seeking pleasure. In the future, they will look more for well-being and transformation. Volunteering is going to be part of an immersive experience. When you volunteer, you reflect on what you have, you become grateful for it and you feel happy – and it’s the kind of happiness that is sustainable.

At the end of the day, immersive experiences address the human need for authenticity and for human interaction.

And why do people care about these things? Because they make you feel better. It’s all about well-being.

What advice would you give to a leader starting to think about creating immersive experiences?

First, they must understand why people need immersive experiences. Then they need to understand that it's not about serving guests anymore; it's about co-creation. And that doesn’t mean delegating tasks to the guest just to save the company costs, it means co-creating experiences that engage customers – and employees – and generate enduring memories. That’s how you create magic.