Application of Artificial Intelligence on Marketing Performance, Guest Satisfaction and Loyalty: Implications for Sustainable International Hotel Business in Abuja, Nigeria

The growing adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) is reshaping hotel marketing and guest-service delivery, yet empirical evidence on its implications for guest satisfaction and loyalty in developing hospitality markets remains limited. This study examined AI applications in selected international hotels in Abuja, Nigeria, focusing on their perceived contribution to marketing performance, guest satisfaction and loyalty, as well as barriers to adoption. A cross-sectional mixed-methods design was employed, involving hotel staff and guests from six selected hotels. Data were collected through structured questionnaires, key-informant interviews and observation. Descriptive statistics, Pearson correlation, multiple regression and mediation analysis were used to examine relationships among the study variables. The findings indicate that conventional digital technologies were more widely used than genuine AI applications, with chatbots, machine-learning forecasting, intelligent recommendation systems and AI-supported analytics representing the principal AI-related applications. AI-supported guest experience was positively associated with satisfaction, while satisfaction demonstrated a stronger relationship with loyalty. The findings further indicate that cost, shortage of specialised skills, privacy and cybersecurity concerns, systems integration and infrastructural limitations constrain effective AI adoption. The study concludes that AI does not automatically generate guest loyalty; rather, its value depends on the quality, relevance and trustworthiness of the experience it creates. The study contributes by distinguishing AI from conventional digitalisation and proposing a human-centred pathway linking AI-supported experience, satisfaction and loyalty in the Abuja hospitality context.