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Exploring the Importance of Basic Hotel Attributes: A Focus on Senior Wellness Tourists

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Rediscovering the Essentiality of Marketing

Abstract

Senior tourists represent an attractive target for the wellness industry. Despite the diversifying needs in the senior market, the tourism and hospitality literature has only recently started to investigate the importance of hotel attributes for this specific target. In particular, very few studies have explored the importance of hotel attributes for senior tourists involved in wellness tourism activities. Hence, the aim of this study is twofold. First, it intends to explore the importance of basic hotel attributes according to senior tourists. Second, it aims to identify the underlying dimensions of those hotel attributes.

A quantitative study was conducted on a sample of 200 senior tourists at hot spring hotels located in Italy, a European country with a high proportion of senior residents. The findings reveal that the most important attributes are the personnel’s friendliness and kindness, efficiency, reactivity, and the presence of a doctor at the hotel. In addition, four dimensions of hotel attributes emerged: senior-friendly facilities; customer care; spa facilities; servicescape. The results allow interesting theoretical and marketing contributions.

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Acknowledgement

The authors wish to acknowledge, with appreciation, the support of Arianna Donegatti, M.Sc. in Languages for Tourism, in the data collection phase.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Verona, Verona, Italy

    Vania Vigolo & Angelo Bonfanti

Authors
  1. Vania Vigolo
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  2. Angelo Bonfanti
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Correspondence to Vania Vigolo .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business and Law Studies, University of Bari Aldo Moro, Bari, Italy

    Luca Petruzzellis

  2. Stern School of Business, New York University, New York, New York, USA

    Russell S. Winer

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Vigolo, V., Bonfanti, A. (2016). Exploring the Importance of Basic Hotel Attributes: A Focus on Senior Wellness Tourists. In: Petruzzellis, L., Winer, R. (eds) Rediscovering the Essentiality of Marketing. Developments in Marketing Science: Proceedings of the Academy of Marketing Science. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-29877-1_192

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