A Mixed-Method Approach to Understanding Luxury Vacations

This mixed-method exploratory study attempts to define luxury vacations in two ways. Firstly, constituent characteristics are identified through top-of-mind associations. Secondly, values underlying the consumption of luxury vacations are analyzed in relation to purchase intentions. These two approaches reveal consumers’ cognitive and socio-cultural interpretations of luxury vacations, and hence draw a more complete picture about the studied phenomenon. A total of 2,634 responses were collected from American leisure travelers and categorized as those with (Group 1) or without (Group 2) self-evaluated luxury travel experience. Existing literature suggests that users and non-users of luxury products perceive luxury differently and hence, comparisons were made across the two groups. Meanwhile, to capture the values of luxury tourists, only Group 1 respondents were assessed for values related to luxury consumption. Our results indicate that hedonic and financial values had a significant positive influence on purchase intentions while function value had a significant negative impact