To date, few empirical studies have focused on the constituents of creative tourists’ experience and its consequences. This study aims to bridge this research gap by examining the effect of creative tourists’ experience on their memories, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. Data were collected from 296 creative tourists, selected through purposive sampling, at selected resort hotels in the Malaysian states of Terengganu and Kedah. The results show that creative-tourist experience is a second-order factor with five dimensions, namely escape and recognition, peace of mind, unique involvement, interactivity, and learning. The results of structural equation modeling show that creative tourists’ experience is a good predictor of their memories, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions. The proposed model and findings can greatly help researchers and practitioners understand the concept of creative-tourist experience and its complex relationships with their memories, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions.

This study examines a model linking three facets of tourist involvement (“importance & pleasure,” “sign value,” and “risk probability & consequence”) with tourist experience (TE) and environmentally responsible behavior (ERB). Data were collected with a self-administered questionnaire in a convenient sampling approach from tourists visiting Nansha Wetland Park, China. In total, 308 valid questionnaires were obtained. The structural equation modeling technique was applied to data analyses. Of three tourist involvement (TI) facets, “importance & pleasure” was found to be the most salient predictor of TE, which in turn led to ERB. “Risk probability & consequence” was shown as a potent predictor of both TE and ERB. “Sign value” did not have any effect on either TE or ERB. Basically, TE served as a full mediator between “importance & pleasure” and ERB, and a partial mediator between “risk probability & consequence” and ERB. Contributions, managerial implications, and future research directions are discussed.

This study investigates the effect of hotel website quality, social presence, affective commitment, and e-trust on travelers’ online hotel booking intentions. Smart-PLS software was applied to test the hypotheses. The results of this study explain how hotel website quality, social presence, affective commitment, and e-trust have a significant relationship with online hotel booking intentions. This study identifies how hotel website quality is a critical driver in developing affective commitment, e-trust, and online hotel booking intentions. Travelers who enjoy the social experience with the hotel website platform are more motivated to book a room at that hotel. This study confirms the vital role of social presence in enhancing e-trust and online hotel booking intentions and provides evidence of the importance of the holistic model in understanding travelers’ decision-making processes, especially when booking a hotel room.

The purpose of this study is to test the relationships between physical environment, price perceptions, consumption emotions, and customer satisfaction in Chinese resort hotels. Five hundred self-administered questionnaires were distributed, and 340 were returned. Findings from this study reveal that the physical environment is a significant predictor of consumption emotions and price perceptions, which in turn affect customer satisfaction. Moreover, consumption emotions and price perceptions significantly mediate the relationship between physical environment and customer satisfaction. The management of resort hotels needs to consider that an attractive physical environment can be used for developing positive consumption emotions and price perceptions among customers, which may then increase their satisfaction.

Several hospitality brands changed their logos to reinforce the importance of social distancing in reducing the risk of virus infection. Since social distancing is a polarizing topic, this research intends to understand consumers’ attitudes towards social distancing and their response to branding change by hospitality brands. Study 1 creates and validates a multiple-item scale to examine consumers’ attitudes towards social distancing, which is then adopted for two subsequent studies. Study 2 tests consumers’ awareness and perceived brand anthropomorphism during a sensitive situation like a global pandemic and the impact of perceived brand anthropomorphism on brand love and brand defense. Study 3 tests the proposed model in study 2 across two customer segments, i.e. those in favor of social distancing and its effectiveness and those against it. Results indicate that brand anthropomorphism and brand love have a significantly positive impact on brand defense. Additionally, these relationships differ for consumers who favor or oppose social distancing. Our research contributes to the hospitality branding literature by studying relatively understudied branding constructs in an unprecedented context and offers insights for hospitality branding and marketing managers.