Investigating guest books at heritage hotels: a forensic approach

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper presents a novel method based on the logic of the criminal approach, which we have called ‘guest book investigation.’ The aim is to uncover a unique, immersive story that can be used in people-centered heritage communication. We provide eight research steps (recording of clues, gathering of physical evidence, focused questioning, making enquiries of key informants, finding new evidence trails, data analysis, theoretical reconstruction, scene and incident reconstruction), with recommendations, to arm researchers for the investigation. The novelty of this method is its immersion in a rich pool of evidence and consequent potential to reveal unique, evocative cues which can be leveraged in brand architecture. While the contribution of this paper is mostly methodological, it also has practical value as a means to evoke the past and draw visitors into the atmosphere of a heritage attraction and – literally – to make its spirit of place tangible. We applied the guest book investigation method to the 1948–1956 entries in the guest book of the historic four-star Continental Hotel in Budapest, Hungary. An example of an entry-specific ‘cold case’ reconstruction is provided and the managerial implications of using guest book entries are discussed.