Exploring Luxury Train Experience Quality: A Netnographic Study Across Ten Iconic Journeys
Date
Authors
Patel, Khushbu
Harkison, Tracy
Manfreda, Anita
Supervisor
Item type
Journal Article
Degree name
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Emerald
Abstract
Purpose This study advances scholarship on sustainable and transformative luxury by showing how slow, place-connected mobilities generate meaningful guest experiences via luxury trains. Design/methodology/approach A netnographic analysis of 432 TripAdvisor reviews across ten internationally-recognised luxury trains was conducted, and data analysed through the Interactive Experience Quality (IXQ) model as a theoretical lens. Findings Findings highlight three interpretive movements: anticipation and symbolic expectation-setting; immersive engagement through motion, space, and sociability; and lingering emotional aftertaste, revealing how luxury trains foster deep emotional resonance, narrative continuity, and experiential congruence through a blend of mobility, heritage aesthetics, and relational hospitality. Practical implications Luxury train operators may benefit from adopting a journey-wide experience design approach that prioritises sequencing, hosting, and interpretation as core design resources. Doing so can support credible sustainability and transformative luxury positioning by embedding place engagement and learning opportunities into the journey in ways that are coherent, ethically mindful, and practicable in small, mobile contexts. Originality/value The study positions luxury train travel as a theoretically generative empirical context for examining experience quality in motion, extending existing experience scholarship beyond predominantly static luxury settings and large-scale mobile formats, positioning luxury trains as an evolving site of experiential, sustainable, and transformative consumption.Description
Keywords
3508 Tourism, 35 Commerce, Management, Tourism and Services, 3504 Commercial Services, 3506 Marketing, Generic health relevance
Source
Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights, ISSN: 2514-9792 (Print); 2514-9806 (Online), Emerald, 9(11), 120-136. doi: 10.1108/jhti-09-2025-1086
Rights statement
© Khushbu Patel, Tracy Harkison and Anita Manfreda. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) license. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/