Promotional games in service recovery: Luck works

This research proposes a proactive strategy for alleviating unfavorable post-failure consequences from a luck-based perspective—offering discounts through promotional games before service failures. Findings show that winning discounts through promotional games (vs. direct discounts) induces higher perceived luck, recovery expectancy, and customer forgiveness. Additionally, results indicate that in crowded environments, messages about the winning result framed as non-losses (vs. gains) are more effective in generating positive customer outcomes. However, in non-crowded environments, both types of message framing yield similar results. Findings bring new knowledge to an under-researched area—proactive service recovery and expand the literature on luck and promotional games in the tourism service recovery field. Results suggest hotels should proactively conduct promotional games to counteract negative post-failure influences.