Do ambient scents in hotel guest rooms affect customers’ emotions
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 21864563 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Oriol Anguera-Torrell (0000-0002-8151-573X, Universitat de Barcelona), Iván León (0000-0002-8879-1470), Iván Álvarez León (Universitat de Barcelona), Alessandra Cappai (Universitat de Barcelona), Glòria Sanmartín Antolín Glòria Sanmartín Antolín, Gloria Sanmartín Antolín (Universitat de Barcelona) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Pages | 2701 |
| Publication date | 2021-03-01 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Journal of Tourism Research (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1994-7658 • E-ISSN: 1314-0817 |
| Publisher | Varna University of Management (PUBLISHER • BG) |
| DOI | 10.54055/ejtr.v27i.2120 |
| OpenAlex | W3114548780 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 4 |
| References cited | 9 |
The introduction of ambient scents in different business facilities might be an effective strategy to influence customers’ emotions and, ultimately, their experience. Yet, there is scant evidence on the effects of introducing ambient scents in hotels and, particularly, in hotels’ private areas such as the guest rooms. Accordingly, this study aims to analyse the impact on customers’ positive emotions when a pleasant ambient scent is introduced in a hotel guest room. To this end, a randomized control trial was conducted in a real four-star hotel in Barcelona in which two experimental groups (N=99) were invited to enter and experience a scented guest room and an identical but unscented room, respectively. The happiness level and the emotional valence of the experiment’s participants were measured using a facial recognition technique. This methodological strategy represents one of the significant contributions of the study. The results show that, on average, individuals who entered the scented room were happier and had a better emotional state than individuals who entered the unscented room. These results suggest an important managerial implication for hoteliers who can improve the guests’ experience by implementing a non- expensive action and opens an avenue for future studies on scent marketing in hotels
Advertising · Business · Economics · Happiness · Management · Aesthetic Perception and Analysis · Applied Psychology · Communication · Multisensory perception and integration · Olfactory and Sensory Function Studies · Psychology · Social Psychology · Marketing
| Citations per year | 0.8 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2021 - 2025 (5) |
| Highly cited | No |