An exploratory study of the boutique hotel experience: Research on experience economy and designed customer experience

Boutique and lifestyle hotels (BLH) have relied on their experiential nature to differentiate themselves in a competitive market place. The present exploratory study is intended to clarify boutique and lifestyle hotel manager perceptions regarding the creation of the boutique/lifestyle hotel experience as a business strategy. This exploratory analysis utilized a framework of customer service and constructs of the experience economy model. The empirical segment included website-based surveys of a total of thirty-eight boutique and lifestyle hotel general managers, owners, and other operations and corporate managers. To understand the boutique/lifestyle hotel experience, the researchers examined manager perceptions concerning the importance of the customer experience, physical environment and customer service environment, three elements of experience differentiation, and intended behavioral responses. The researchers applied analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Pearson product-moment correlation coefficient for data analysis. Results showed that the customer service environment played a prominent role in design and management elements, differentiation in customer service environment was the chief approach, and a customer experience that focused on esthetics was the ideal boutique and lifestyle hotel experience. Overall, the findings explained the importance of environment stimuli to the boutique and lifestyle hotel experience, provided insight into the experiential nature of a BLH and offered notable implications for hotel marketers