From Parent-Child Activity Experience to Recommendation Intention: The Transmission Path of Satisfaction in Resort Hotels-A Case Study of Hilton Ningbo Dongqian Lake

Amid the global shift toward sustainable tourism and the growing demand for family-oriented hospitality, parent-child activities have emerged as a key competitive asset for resort hotels. Yet existing research on experiential factors and customer behavior has paid limited attention to the unique service dynamics within family-centered resort settings, leaving a gap in explaining how activity-specific experiences influence parental satisfaction and recommendation intentions. This study investigates the causal pathway linking activity experience (EX), customer satisfaction (SA), and recommendation intention (RE) in the context of resort-based parent-child programs, addressing the scarcity of empirical evidence tailored to this service environment. A quantitative survey was conducted at the Huamao Hilton Ningbo Dongqian Lake, a luxury resort in the Yangtze River Delta known for its family-friendly facilities. Questionnaires were administered both online and on-site between January and March 2024 to parents who had participated in at least one parent-child activity. After screening, 219 valid responses were analyzed using SPSS 29 and AMOS 24, incorporating Cronbach's alpha for reliability, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) for construct validity, and structural equation modeling (SEM) to test causal relationships. The results indicate that hotels' deliberate design and management of experiential elements exert a stronger influence on satisfaction than co-creation, reflecting parents' preference for reliability and convenience in family travel scenarios. These findings extend general hospitality frameworks with insights grounded in the resort family-activity context. Practically, resorts should allocate resources to developing well-structured, tailored parent-child activities that enhance satisfaction and foster recommendation intentions, thereby supporting repeat visitation within the family travel market.