Consumer's Value Judgments

The broad goal of this study was to learn about the service-evaluation process used by business executives who are luxury-hotel customers. The specific focus was on consumers' assessments based on what they value, rather than trying to measure customer satisfaction. Specifically, the study used a conjoint-analysis approach to investigate the trade-offs that luxury hotel customers from Singapore are willing to make between physical environment and personal service. The results suggest that, overall, the physical environment may play a prominent role in determining customers' value perceptions of luxury hotels, more so than highly personalized services (such as butler service and personal recognition by the hotel's employees). Moreover, when scenarios contrasted a luxury hotel's physical environment against its service components, business travelers rated pleasant, functional spaces significantly higher than elevated levels of personalized service. This indicates that a full range of marketing and organizational objectives for business travelers can be approached through careful management of the hotel's environment.