Luxury Level Research Articles

When are vivid hotel photos effective? The moderating effects of resource scarcity and brand level

Despite the wide use of photos on brands’ social media accounts and hotel websites, limited attention has been paid to how color saturation levels of photos affect hotel consumers’ purchase decisions. Drawing on the congruency framework, the current research examines the interaction effect between color saturation level and consumers’ consumption goal on purchase intention. Specifically, this research uses consumers’ subjective level of resource scarcity and brand level as the moderators. Findings from three experimental studies demonstrate that hotel photos with high (vs. low) color saturation can enhance advertising trustworthiness when consumers perceive a low (vs. high) level of resource scarcity (Study 1) and when they are visiting a luxury (vs. mid-scale) hotel (Study 2A & 2B). Hotel marketers may optimize the color saturation level of their property photos based on the profile of their target consumers and mid-scale vs. luxury level.

Exploring the role of brand–sustainability–self-congruence on consumers' evaluation of luxury brands

PurposeWith increasing managerial attention on the strategic promotion of brand-related sustainability initiatives (BSI), this study explores the psychological role of image congruence of the triad comprising brand, BSI and self-concept (brand–sustainability–self-congruence; BSSC). The study assesses the predictive effect of BSSC on consumers' brand evaluations and its variation according to the brand types and consumers' attributes. The purpose is to provide managerial suggestions as well as theoretical implications to build an effective BSI strategy from the perspective of consumer psychology.Design/methodology/approachThe data from 409 respondents in Japan are assessed to discuss the relationships among BSSC based on actual/ideal self-concept (actual/ideal BSSC), brand trust, brand affect and purchase intention according to hypothetical BSI settings.FindingsThe results suggest a significant role of BSSC in consumers' brand evaluation mechanisms associated with BSI: mostly, actual BSSC affects non-luxury brand evaluation, while ideal BSSC affects luxury brand evaluation. Likewise, the effects of actual/ideal BSSC seem to vary according to consumers' income levels.Practical implicationsThe results suggest that managers strategically consider consumer psychology of brand evaluation with actual/ideal BSSC, income levels and brand attributes such as luxury level in BSI planning. Thus, they may predict its contribution to brand equity, leading to companies' performance being compatible with environmental contribution.Originality/valueThis study uniquely extends the self-congruity theory and discusses the psychological brand evaluation mechanism comprising BSSC, presenting the switching role of actual/ideal self-concept according to brand types and consumers' attributes.

Vision-based housing price estimation using interior, exterior & satellite images

• Collecting a large dataset of interior, exterior, and satellite images of houses. • A novel housing price estimation method considering interior, exterior, and satellite visual attributes of the house. • Deep convolutional neural network trained on a dataset to extract visual features of the houses and classify luxury levels. • Comparing the efficiency of the proposed method with commercial services like Zestimate. Real estate price estimation has been an interesting subject in the literature from the appearance of online real estate services like Zillow and Redfin. These websites and many other works in the literature have proposed their methods for evaluation and pricing of the real estate. However, these methods fail to consider important information about the appearance and the neighborhood of the house which leads to occasional incorrect estimations. The novel proposed method in this paper tries to estimate housing price by considering attributes of the home as well as interior, exterior, and satellite visual features of the house. Deep convolutional neural networks on a large dataset of images of interior, exterior and satellite images of houses are trained to extract visual features of the houses. These features along with house attributes are fed to another system to automatically estimate the value of the house. Finally, the performance of the system is compared to Zestimate and some vision-based methods in the literature on a new dataset.

Защита единственного жилья при банкротстве гражданина: проблемы правоприменения

The important aspect while considering the bankruptcy of citizens represents issues that rise while realization of dwelling, in particular, when this dwelling is the only place of living that belong to the family of the bankrupt person. This dwelling is also the only place suitable for living for such family. In spite of the existing regulation of exclusion of such residential premises from the contest lot of premises when the dwelling is taken from the debtor. Representatives of the legal practice, taking into consideration the unscrupulous actions of the debtor, abuses from their part, have to take other approaches to the established executive immunity. The norms that regulate the issues of the realization of the sole dwelling of the bankrupt citizen, has to be more precise. In particular, there is the need to legally reinforce the requirements that are submitted to the sole dwelling of the debtor. Likewise, there is the necessity to establish the level of luxury of the sole dwelling. It is stated that this issue should be regulated by the lawmaker in accordance with the executive immunity and by meeting creditors’ requirements. Whereas, as it is stated, if the legislative regulations are absent and they do not allow determining the criteria of the sole dwelling of the debtor, it leads to various procedural complications when the case goes to court. In case of taking sole property of the debtor, his or her rights are violated as well as the rights of the members of his or her family and the rights of creditors.

Total expenditure elasticity of healthcare spending in Russia

In this study we estimate the income elasticity of spending on different healthcare services and medication in Russia, taking into account the non-linear relationship between income level and expenditure. We employ the RLMS-HSE data, 2006–2017, to estimate the elasticities at household level. Our findings show these elasticities have not changed over the years. Additionally, we show that low-income and high-income households demon­strate different levels of elasticities, which is consistent with the fact that healthcare is less affordable for the poor. The study confirms that healthcare and medication are close to luxury level for low-income households and drugs are almost income inelastic for rich households. The results could help to reveal which services are the least affordable for the population.

Roman Water Transport: Pressure Lines

In Roman times long distance water transport was realized by means of aqueducts. Water was conveyed in mortared open channels with a downward slope from spring to destination. Also wooden channels and clay pipelines were applied. The Aqua Appia, the oldest aqueduct of Rome, was constructed in the third Century BCE. During the Pax Romana (second Century CE), a time of little political turmoil, prosperity greatly increased, almost every town acquiring one or more aqueducts to meet the rising demand from the growth of population, the increasing number of public and private bath buildings, and the higher luxury level in general. Until today over 1600 aqueducts have been described, Gallia (France) alone counting more than 300. Whenever a valley was judged to be too wide or too deep to be crossed by a bridge, pressure lines known as ‘inverted siphons’ or simply ‘siphons’ were employed. These closed conduits transported water across a valley according the principle of communicating vessels. About 80 classical siphons are presently known with one out of twenty aqueducts being equipped with a siphon. After an introductory note about aqueducts in general, this report treats the ancient pressure conduit systems with the technical problems encountered in design and function, the techniques that the ancient engineers applied to cope with these problems, and the texts of the Roman author Vitruvius on the subject. Reviewers noted that the report is rather long, and it is. Yet to understand the difficulties that the engineers of those days encountered in view of the materials available for their siphons (stone, ceramics, lead), many a hydraulic aspect will be discussed. Aspects that for the modern hydraulic engineer may be common knowledge and of minor importance when constructing pressure lines, in view of modern construction materials. It was different in Vitruvius’s days.

Hedonic shopping experience, subjective well-being and brand luxury: a comparative discussion of physical stores and e-retailers

PurposeThe study explores the influence of shopping channels on the hedonic shopping experience, contributing to subjective well-being (SWB) based on the purchased branded product. It also assesses the variations in these effects according to brand luxury. The purpose of the paper is to provide strategic suggestions for building luxury apparel distribution tactics that balance maintaining brand luxury with business growth through both physical stores and digital stores (e-retail).Design/methodology/approachBased on 418 samples collected in Japan, consumers' perceptions of hedonic shopping value and SWB are examined according to two channel factors, such as physical retail vs e-retail and mono-brand stores vs multi-brand stores. Additionally, the moderation effects of brand luxury are discussed.FindingsMulti-group path analyses reveal that physical mono-brand stores contribute to hedonic shopping value. In addition, this experiential value is found to increase SWB, especially when the brand luxury level is high.Practical implicationsThese findings suggest that managers should place a high level of importance on consumers' shopping experiences via physical direct retail especially in the case of a higher luxury level, even in today's highly developed digital environment.Originality/valueThe current study uniquely discusses the effects of shopping channels and experiences on SWB based on an acquired branded product, i.e., an evaluation of the outcome of shopping behavior and product acquisition. The study also reinforces the importance of physical stores suggested in previous luxury research.

Luxury supply chain management: a framework proposal based on a systematic literature review

PurposeThis study aims to identify the main elements that describe the luxury supply chain. It discusses the relationship between them in a framework that organises and summarises the literature.Design/methodology/approachA systematic literature review was conducted that returned 288 papers, which were selected based on specific quality and theme criteria. Content analysis was used to investigate the alignment of critical success factors with the performance goals and configuration elements of luxury supply chains in the final sample of 66 papers.FindingsThe results provide a framework that clarifies the relationship between the configuration elements and supply chain performance goals and the critical success factors for three different levels of the luxury market. Depending on the level of luxury, performance goals and configuration elements assume a different importance and different characteristics. An understanding of these differences is relevant for defining strategies and managing luxury supply chains properly. The three different configurations also reveal new research avenues to be further investigated.Research limitations/implicationsThe study is limited in terms of its data source as the papers reviewed were collected from only three academic databases.Practical implicationsThe findings of this work help incorporate knowledge about luxury supply chain management into a framework that can be easily used for defining strategies and organising the supply chain according to the different levels of luxury.Originality/valueThis study represents an important evolution in organising the current literature on luxury supply chain management into a framework that covers critical success factors, supply chain performance goals and configuration elements for three different levels of luxury, which in turn creates promising opportunities for future enquiry.

Role of user-generated photos in online hotel reviews: An analytical approach

While user-generated content has been studied extensively in the hospitality and tourism domain, the value of user-generated photos is not well understood due to theoretical and methodological barriers. The purpose of this study is to explore the role of user-generated photos in online hotel reviews in terms of how they are generated and how they contribute to online reviews. The research questions are examined using descriptive analysis and regression analysis based upon approximately 538,000 online hotel reviews collected from TripAdvisor. Findings show that people tend to post photos for hotels with a higher level of service or luxury or when they had a positive experience staying at hotels. User-generated photos are informative of online hotel review helpfulness and the interactions between these photos and other review information cues, such as review sentiment and review topics. Limitations and directions for future research are also discussed.

The price of social status desire and public self-consciousness in luxury consumption

This study examines the factors that influence what is an acceptable price for a luxury product. It considers how much people are prepared to pay for different categories of luxury products to satisfy their desire for status and to avoid public embarrassment that may result from their level of public self-consciousness. The effects of these factors, together with price consciousness, income, attachment to luxury products, and the extent to which the consumer uses price to infer the luxury level of a product, are empirically tested. Using data from U.S. consumers, the model is tested with latent moderated structural equations across nine luxury product categories. The results show that desire for status, price consciousness, and price-luxuriousness inferences influence price acceptability levels based on the product type. A series of mediating effects highlight the importance of public self-consciousness and attachment to price acceptability mainly through the price-luxuriousness inferences consumers make.

Launch of Sustainable Plastic Apparel: Effects of Brand Luxury and Experience on Consumer Behaviour

Since plastic waste is a serious social issue, fashion companies are attempting to develop sustainable apparel made from post-consumer plastic bottles. This social issue is relevant to every company regardless of the level of brand luxury. However, previous literature has not examined the effect of this sustainable product type on consumer behaviour, whereas comprehensive sustainable development is widely discussed in luxury branding research. Consequently, this study investigates how the launch of sustainable plastic apparel affects consumer brand attitude and purchase intention. According to the 440 samples collected via an online survey in Japan, moderated mediation analyses reveal that the launch of sustainable plastic apparel positively affects brand attitude contributing to purchase intention indirectly, while it also contributes to purchase intention directly. In addition, brand luxury and brand experience are found to weaken the effect of this sustainable product launch, whereas the influence of sustainable product experience is insignificant. To launch this type of sustainable apparel effectively, luxury companies are advised to redesign their current marketing to promote sustainable products more effectively and adjust their branding tactics to align with sustainability. Otherwise, their brand luxury may lead to a disadvantage, since plastic recycling is increasingly becoming a social requirement.

Sustainable plastic clothing and brand luxury: a discussion of contradictory consumer behaviour

PurposeThis study examines consumer behaviour based on product sustainability and brand luxury. The purpose is to provide strategic suggestions to apparel companies attempting to invest in sustainable development of plastic clothing, as well as implications for marketing and sustainability research.Design/methodology/approachConsumer brand attitude and purchase intention towards sustainable plastic clothing are examined across material types, brand luxury levels and price levels from 315 valid samples collected in Japan.FindingsThe results reveal that sustainable plastic clothing raises brand attitude, indirectly influencing purchase intention. However, the direct effect of sustainable clothing on purchase intention is contradictorily negative. These contradictory effects are especially significant when brand luxury is high. Both brand attitude and purchase intention hardly vary across price levels or material types of sustainable plastic, such as post-consumer bottles versus apparel.Practical implicationsThe results imply that sustainable products are not instantly profitable but contribute to a desirable brand association, especially for luxury brands. An investment in costly closed-loop technology for apparel recycling is found to be commercially disadvantageous. Managers are suggested to discuss this aspect carefully, since it seems partially unprofitable, while sustainable management seems to comprehensively contribute to overall enterprise performance.Originality/valueThe study specifically reveals the luxury effect enhancing, yet contradictory, consumer behaviour towards sustainable plastic clothing. To the best of the author’s knowledge, few studies have examined the relationships between these elements. Furthermore, the study sheds new light on consumer behaviour across recycled plastic types from a marketing perspective.

Does Small Indulgence Lead People to Use Luxury Fashion Sharing Services?: Focused on the Mediation Effects of Perceived Utility and Moderating Effect of Luxury Level

Does Small Indulgence Lead People to Use Luxury Fashion Sharing Services?: Focused on the Mediation Effects of Perceived Utility and Moderating Effect of Luxury Level

The Anti-consumption Effect on the Car Sharing Utility: The Moderating Effect of Brand Luxury Level

Purpose: This study examines the motivations that prompt customers to use commercial sharing services (CSSs), and the relationship between...

Ključni faktori u izboru hotela od strane poslovnih putnika

In contemporary business conditions characterized by the intensive competitive pressure, attracting new customers/ service users is becoming a more complex and expensive business activity. The development of information-communication technologies (ICT) and the intensive development of the hotel industry has affected the appearance of significant changes in marketing and hotel sales strategies. The contemporary market is a witness to the opening of more and more independent hotels, but there is also an expressed trend of growth and development of branded hotel chains, which significantly influences the growth of competitive pressure. In such conditions attracting guests is becoming the most important challenge within the business of the hotel sector. Due to the globalization of the world economy, the number of business travelers is increasing in all regions of the world. Business travelers are a significant segment of guests for all hotels, and especially for those located within big cities and administrative business centers. Hotels direct their business efforts and marketing strategy more intensively to this segment of tourists. The adjusting of the offer towards the preferences and expectations of the business travelers is extremely important in order to achieve competitive advantage in the process of their attracting and retaining. Big hotel chains develop the brands of lower, medium and high level of luxury in order to adjust their offer. Independent hotels create the personal identity and originality which enables the offer adjustment to a specific segment. The aim of the paper is to identify key factors in decision making of the business traveler concerning the hotel selection. The analysis is based on an empirical research regarding business traveler preferences in Serbia who travel relatively often for reasons of business.

206 Quantifying the effect of phenotypic factors on pedigree lamb performance using the Irish national database; Sheep Ireland

Abstract This study aimed to quantify the effect of phenotypic factors including birth type, rearing type, age at first lambing, lactation number and their interactions on pedigree lamb performance at 40days and 100days of age (weaning), where nutritional requirements were met at luxury levels. A dataset containing 644,330 lamb weight records from 2010–2017 were retrieved. Two datasets were created; 47,694 forty day weights (20–65 days of age and weighing 12-32kg) and 46,088 weaning weights (66–120 days of age and weighing 20-55kg). The PROC HPMIXED model (SAS 9.4) included gender, age, breed-class, contemporary group and interactions, i.e. birth type*rearing type, and lactation*age at first lambing, with dam as the random effect. At forty days and weaning respectively, lambs born and reared as singles weighed heaviest (20.95kg and 36.83kg) and lambs born and reared as triplets weighed lightest (16.83kg and 31.29kg). There was no difference between lambs born as twins and reared as twins and those born as triplets and reared as singles (18.11kg, 18.38kg and 33.00kg and 33.12kg). Lambs born as singles and reared as twins and those born as twins and reared as singles did not differ (19.01kg, 19.20kg and 34.30kg and 34.64kg), (Table 1, P < 0.01). In first and second lactation respectively, ewes that lambed for the first time as hoggets produced heavier lambs at forty days (18.12kg and 19.30kg) and at weaning (33.06kg and 34.58kg) than ewes who lambed as ewe lambs (16.88kg, 18.54kg and 31.40kg and 33.59kg). By third lactation, weights did not differ between progeny of ewes who first lambed as ewe lambs or hoggets (20.00kg, 19.41kg and 33.77kg and 34.64kg), (Figure 1 and 2, P < 0.05). In conclusion, rearing type significantly alters pedigree lamb performance at forty days and weaning regardless of birth type. By third lactation, production is similar regardless of age of first lambing.

Most Plant Nutrient Elements Are Retained by Biochar in Soil

Biochar may contain substantial amounts of plant nutrient elements, and at typical rates of application, may supply luxury levels of K, Ca, P, and other plant nutrients. However, little is known of the agronomic effectiveness of these nutrients because they exist in diverse compounds and are located in the microporous matrix of biochar particles. We have identified the compounds and location of nutrient elements in three biochars and observed their release from biochar particles in soil. Much K was quickly released from biochar but little or no Ca, Mg, S, and P were released over eight months, which represents a very different behavior from chemical fertilizers that are mostly water soluble. There is clearly a need to determine the availability to plant nutrients in biochar. Appropriate laboratory methods should be developed for measuring the availability of plant nutrients as standard methods of fertilizer analysis are ineffective.

History as Luxury Brand Enhancement

People feel emotional attachment to historical events. Heritage is the representation of the sensitive response that many luxury brands developed in their customer. This paper examines how Rolex use heritage like a strategy that enhances the luxury level of a brand. Using heritage and innovation, Rolex has developed a brand that considers historical and current ideas to satisfy customer’s desires. Some existing literature mentions luxury understood as an experience. This paper will analyze how Rolex creates an aura of authenticity and luxury based on heritage. Authenticity gets customer’s loyalty. Rolex can involve customers in the personal experience of purchasing Rolex watches.

Ancient Egyptian furniture in the light of the characteristics that led to it’s preservation till now

Woodcrafts have been known since the pre-dynastic era. Wooden furniture has been depicted on tombs since the Old Kingdom, but surviving examples of them before the modern state are rare. Where the religious belief and belief in the resurrection dictated that Egyptians provide for their afterlife in the way they used to do in their religions, so their graves were deposited with supplies and equipment, and with the pictures and drawings spread on their walls, representing all matters of their lives. Egyptian furniture reached a high level of luxury, which no people could attain in that ancient time, and if the furniture is like a mirror, it reflects the personality of any people and the degree of its civilization, and then the ancient Egyptian furniture truly reflects the Egyptian environment and its civilization. In addition, if the carpentry, since the pre-dynastic period, was dry and devoid of integrity in its refinement, but the skill of the maker and his knowledge of the properties of the material enabled him to treat this industry and this formation properly.

The paradox of odd-even price in fashion luxury sector: Empirical evidence from an international direct observation of luxury stores

ABSTRACTPrice has always had a key role in the luxury fashion market, because high prices are linked to the uniqueness and the prestige of luxury products and brands. Because of this direct contribution of price to the luxury essence, scholars have partially neglected the possible existence of unintuitive and controversial pricing strategies followed by luxury firms. This article deals with this literature gap, particularly analyzing a specific pricing strategy that seems to be in contrast with the nature of luxury pricing: the odd-even price (OEP). With the direct observation of physical and digital store windows of 20 luxury brands, this research investigates the role of OEP in the fashion luxury sector. Particularly, this work examines the relationship between the OEP strategy and the luxury level of fashion brands considering both offline and online channels.