Pratt, Stephen and Kirillova, Ksenia (2019) Are hotel guests bothered by unlucky floor or room assignments? International Journal of Hospitality Management, 83 . pp. 83-94. ISSN 0278-4319
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Abstract
Superstitious beliefs can guide individuals’ decision-making and change behavior. Different cultures believe that some numbers are ‘lucky’ and other numbers are ‘unlucky’. This can have significant business implications. There is little academic research into how these numerology superstitions impact the hotel sector. We conduct a quantitative survey among Chinese and Western hotel guests to determine the extent to which these guests are influenced by numerological superstitions in their hotel floor and hotel room numbering. Socio-demographic,
psychographic and situational characteristics are used as explanatory variables. The results show that the
Chinese were more likely to engage in superstitious behavior when it comes to feeling uncomfortable and
seeking a change from an unlucky hotel floor and room number than Western guests. For the Western cohort,
internal (demographic and psychographic) determinants of superstitious behavior are more significant, whereas,
in the Chinese cohort, both internal and external (situation, or trip-specific) determinants influence superstitious behavior.
| Item Type: | Journal Article |
|---|---|
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HF Commerce |
| Divisions: | Faculty of Business and Economics (FBE) > School of Tourism and Hospitality Management |
| Depositing User: | Stephen Pratt |
| Date Deposited: | 03 Apr 2020 03:49 |
| Last Modified: | 03 Apr 2020 03:49 |
| URI: | https://repository.usp.ac.fj/id/eprint/12055 |
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