Chapter 10

Measuring Interest and Price for Sensory Experience: Application to Hotels

Johanna Fyrbjörk, Rieko Shofu, Linda Ettinger Lieberman and Howard R. Moskowitz

Abstract

The RDE-based hotel study reported here shows that it is not the particular sense, but the experience that drives consumer interest and willingness to pay. A total of 315 respondents evaluated experimentally designed vignettes, comprising different combinations of positive, pleasant sensory experiences that a hotel might offer its guests as a point of differentiation. Each respondent evaluated a unique set of these vignettes. The ratings to the vignettes were deconstructed into the contribution of each sensory experience as a driver both of interest in the hotel and of relative amount of money one was willing to pay versus a standard one-night hotel cost. These experiences covered four different aspects of each of four of the five senses (seeing, touching, smelling and hearing). It is not the particular sense but the particular experience that drives interest and amount willing to pay. Three mind-set segments emerged: sensory seekers, fragrance and touch and design and relaxation.

Total Pages: 184-200 (17)

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