Mediating hotel experiences with online photos: How consumers are attracted by a hotel through the perceptions of mediated servicescape

Abstract

Online photos as a form of media have risen to prominence in e-commerce and online travel booking contexts. Photos possess superior power in attracting attention and communicating experiences; however, the elements of a hotel photo that render a hotel attractive, and how this initial attraction can translate into consumers’ booking-related behavior, remain largely ambiguous. By addressing these research gaps and building upon existing evidence, this study links the visual elements of hotel photos to customers’ booking-related behavior through individuals’ environmental perceptions. More specifically, this study examines relationships among local content objects and their features and global graphic features of hotel photos, individuals’ induced environmental perceptions, and actual consumer behavior in the browsing stage (i.e., hotel property page visitation) and deliberation stage (i.e., clicking on a third-party site for booking). Findings extend Bitner’s theoretical servicescape framework to mediated contexts and provide practical implications regarding the curation of hotels’ online marketing photos.