Standard Hospitality Elements at Resorts

Abstract

Prior research investigating the factors important to resort visitors has generally focused on a specific resort setting or market segment, which has resulted in a tendency to emphasize activity-related elements. While useful, this tendency to emphasize activity-related elements has limited our understanding of the role of the nonactivity, hospitality-based elements common to all resort types. Given this gap in the research literature, the purpose of this study is to develop a better understanding of the importance of these standard hospitality elements to resort consumers. Using survey data collected from a sample of recent resort visitors, three underlying factors are identified. Subsequent analyses examine the impacts of sociodemographic and trip characteristic variables on the relative importance of these three factors. Results suggest important implications for industry executives along with directions for future investigation.

Searching for Well-being: Exploring Change in Tourist Motivation

“…Given the claims made that there is significant growth in demand for wellness tourism (Smith and Puczko 2009), we might expect to see a range of features of wellness tourism provision added to tourism more generally and this does seem to be the case (Brey et al 2008). This might make it difficult to identify wellness tourism from a solely supplyside perspective.…”

Categorizing Cruise Lines by Passenger Perceived Experience

“…Research also reveals all manner of travel determinants based on the decision context, such as resorts (Brey et al 2008) or ski destinations (Konu, Laukkanen, and Komppula 2011).…”

Standard Resort Hospitality Elements: A Performance and Impact Analysis

“…For instance, when consumers seek to enjoy sun, sea, and sand they ultimately choose properties that provide these amenities. However, recent research has identified that while the activity driven concept plays an important role in resort selection, tertiary features or standard resort hospitality elements (SRHE) also represent important property factors (Brey et al, 2008). In their initial study of these secondary elements, three factors emerged from the 18 universal hospitality elements at resorts.…”

“…Performance satisfaction, values representing the more traditional IPA methodology, identified approximately 8 elements performing below expected levels. The majority of these elements are feature-based, identified as the most important tertiary resort elements (Brey et al, 2008). Finally, relative performance provided an alternative attribute evaluation as performance was compared against a competitive resort.…”

“…Through an extensive literature review, 18 universal elements were developed to address the complementary hospitality aspects at resorts, regardless of resort type or location (Brey, Klenosky, Lehto, & Morrison, 2008). This included features previously identified, ranging from geographic location to customer service quality (Ormiston, Gilbert, & Manning, 1998;Uysal, Howard, & Jamrozy, 1992), that consumers consider as important when visiting a resort.…”