A Study on the Brand Personality of Resort Hotel: The Case of Si-Tou Area

[[abstract]]Brand is a business?s most valuable asset. To establish a long-lasting, unique brand, a business must have some clear-cut and differential advantages so as to attract consumers with brand symbolism. A brand with appreciable and unique personality will stand out from a sea of brands and survive and flourish. In this way, it will become appealing and attractive in its market and be recognized by consumers. Over the past 5 years, resort hotels have grown rapidly in Taiwan. And without a noticeable brand personality, a majority of them have been facing operational crisis in succession. The Xitou Forest Recreation Area (XFRA) in Nantou, a renowned scenic area in central Taiwan, has also been facing the difficulty of decreasing tourists as a result of economic recession and the emergence of other new tourist spots in recent years. How can a hotel stand out from a multitude of resort hotels with similar features? This study was aimed to explore the brand personality structure of resort hotels at Xitou, recognition of tourists with resort hotel brand personality, and influence of resort hotel brand personality on tourists? willingness to get accommodation. Based on the Xitou Tourist Information Center, this study issued questionnaire copies by random sampling around the XFRA and at the gates of the hotels. At the end, a total of 492 valid copies were collected. After the data went through statistical analyses including Descriptive Analysis, Factor Analysis, Independent-Sample T-Test, one-way ANOVA, Regression Analysis, the results showed that: (1) the brand personality of resort hotels in Xitou area could be divided into 3 dimensions ? ?novel?, ?innocent? and ?charming?; (2) the 8 hotels discussed in this study were found to have some noticeable differences in terms of brand personality dimension, which suggests that tourists could distinguish between different hotel brand personalities in each dimension through BPS and that resort hotels could achieve their differentiation purposes by brand; and (3) brand personality variable had a significant positive effect on tourists? willingness to get accommodation. The above results may serve as a reference for resort hotel operators in the Xitou area when they are formulating market strategies