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Sports event research has displayed gaps in the analysis of different stakeholders' perspectives and satisfaction levels. Consequently, this study aims at laying bare real-time experiences of event stakeholders via a unique mixed method research approach for explaining stakeholder satisfaction. Data were gathered on occasion of the 2016 International Children's Games in Innsbruck, Austria via mobile ethnography using an app (n = 103), semi-structured interviews (n = 24), and participatory observations. Stakeholders' experiences were analyzed with the confirmation/disconfirmation paradigm, revealing that catering, transport, and organization can be classified as essential factors, whereas performance factors comprise competitions, daily work, and atmosphere. The findings contribute to the sports event and tourism literature (1) by analyzing the main stakeholders' perceptions along the entire event journey during the 2016 ICG and (2) by aiming to gather a deeper comprehension of processes among sports event stakeholders with a mixed methodological approach (mobile ethnographical app, interviews and participatory oberservations). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since customers increasingly base purchase decisions on online reviews, tourism has to constantly manage and evaluate the whole service chain from the guests' perspective. Service design as a contemporary approach provides methods to analyze and visualize service chains in a holistic and user-centered manner. A customer journey map visualizes a sequence of direct and indirect touchpoints. Touchpoints are moments in which customers encounter a certain brand or destination from their first online search, their evaluation through social media, and the booking process, as well as the travel and stay itself and writing subsequent online reviews. The intentional design of service systems through the eyes of customers is becoming fundamental to compete for customer' s satisfaction. Service design builds on ethnographic research of real-life customers. However, quantitative and classic ethnographic research methods tend to fail when applied on the spacial scope and temporal extension of customer journeys in the field of tourism. In consequence, the innovative approach of mobile ethnography was developed to overcome this problem through integrating tourists as active investigators using smartphones. Mobile ethnography contrasts with other quantitative and qualitative research methods through its open approach. It is the guests who decide what is a touchpoint during their individual customer journey. This article reports on an EU-funded pilot study applying mobile ethnography in seven European tourism destinations. The findings of the study in St. Anton, Austria demonstrate the research design of mobile ethnographic research for tourism destinations and indicate its potential to iteratively improve the customer experience in a destination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]