Abstract
The introduction of ambient scents in different business facilities might be an effective strategy to influence customers’ emotions and, ultimately, their experience. Yet, there is scant evidence on the effects of introducing ambient scents in hotels and, particularly, in hotels’ private areas such as the guest rooms. Accordingly, this study aims to analyse the impact on customers’ positive emotions when a pleasant ambient scent is introduced in a hotel guest room. To this end, a randomized control trial was conducted in a real four-star hotel in Barcelona in which two experimental groups (N=99) were invited to enter and experience a scented guest room and an identical but unscented room, respectively. The happiness level and the emotional valence of the experiment’s participants were measured using a facial recognition technique. This methodological strategy represents one of the significant contributions of the study. The results show that, on average, individuals who entered the scented room were happier and had a better emotional state than individuals who entered the unscented room. These results suggest an important managerial implication for hoteliers who can improve the guests’ experience by implementing a non- expensive action and opens an avenue for future studies on scent marketing in hotels.
Highlights
Creating memorable guest experiences is key for firms in the hotel industry (Pizam, 2010) because the likelihood for hotel customers to recommend a hotel and to become loyal to it depends on the experience they had while in the establishment (Cetin & Walls, 2016; Sukhu, Choi, Bujisic, & Bilgihan, 2019)
Desirable behavioural and emotional reactions have been found in economic activities different from hotels when adding ambient scents in their premises (Bogicevic, Yang, Cobanoglu, Bilgihan, & Bujisic, 2016; Ouyang, Behnke, Almanza, & Ghiselli, 2017; Roschk, Maria, Loureiro, & Breitsohl, 2017; Spangenberg et al, 1996)
The undertaken analysis has allowed establishing that adding a lavender fragrance in hotel guest rooms can elicit happiness and a positive emotional valence to hotel guests
Summary
Creating memorable guest experiences is key for firms in the hotel industry (Pizam, 2010) because the likelihood for hotel customers to recommend a hotel and to become loyal to it depends on the experience they had while in the establishment (Cetin & Walls, 2016; Sukhu, Choi, Bujisic, & Bilgihan, 2019). The seminal work of Schmitt (1999) proposes that experiences can be generated by eliciting senses, feelings, emotions, and cognitive processes. In this sense, the correct management of customers’ emotions is a necessary managerial practice to create an experience, add value for customers and increase their satisfaction (Ali, Hussain & Omar, 2016; Hirschman & Holbrook, 1982; Io, 2016; Torres, Wei, Hua, & Chen, 2019). No previous studies have explored the emotional impact of the introduction of an ambient scent in a private area of a hotel, such as a guest room. Guest room features are vital to the generation of guests’ experiences (Mitton, 2017), which highlights the importance of considering any room element, including intangible aspects like the smell, into the holistic guest experience (Ogle, 2009)
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