Abstract: Abstract: Win-back management for lost customers is now the main research direction in marketing academia. Guanxi investment and price promotion strategies are both important marketing methods to obtain new customers, as well as to win back lost customers. However, academia and industry have different perspective on the prospects of applying the two strategies. In particular, foreign managers are skeptical of the operation of Guanxi investment in local Chinese markets. Through a survey conducted among 1,074 win-back customers from 121 hotels, it is found that customers’ trust, affective attachment and price-insensitivity in Guanxi investment conditions are significantly higher than that in price promotion conditions. Thus, customers have significantly higher affective commitment, attitude loyalty, and behavior loyalty in Guanxi investment condition rather than in price promotion condition. Therefore, the useful references for companies’ marketing activities are provided.

Key words: win-back strategy, customer loyalty, comparative research