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© Faculty of Management University of Warsaw. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.7172/2449-6634.jmcbem.2016.2.2
Journal of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour in Emerging Markets 2(4)2016 28
(28–39)
Exploring the Multi-Sensory Based
Memorable Tourism Experiences:
A Study of Adam&Eve Hotel in Turkey
Ass. Prof. Ozlem GUZEL
Akdeniz University, Tourism Faculty, Antalya/Turkey
Ass. Prof. Taylan DORTYOL1
Akdeniz University, Ayse Sak School of Applied Sciences, Antalya/Turkey
Received: 8 February 2016 / Revised: 14 July 2016 / Accepted: 29 July 2016/ Published online: 6 October 2016
ABSTRACT
Tourism business executives should discover critical ways to create a memorable experience
by appealing to consumers’ multi-sensory organs emotionally and rationally. From this point
of view determining the most successful multi-sensory brand experience concept, which the
customers fi nd most satisfying, is becoming a critical marketing strategy. So this study aims to
fi nd the sensory based memorable tourism experiences, attributes/specifi c elements of the hotel
business. With this aim, Adam&Eve Hotel, a themed hotel in Antalya, was chosen as the study
sample. In this exploratory research, comments which were made electronically on Tripadvisor.
com, known as the world’s most visited online social travel information channel about the holiday
experience, constituted the search data and the data was subjected to content analysis via Nvivo
Software and the critical multi-sensory organs that create memorable tourism experiences were
defi ned. The analysis of the results has been performed on the basis of fi ve sensory stimuli:
1) tactile, 2) gustatory, 3) olfactory, 4) visual, and 5) auditory. The fi ndings also revealed that
nearly 70 percent of the recalled emotions and feelings from sensations related to visual stimuli
which were detailed with the components like decor, interior/exterior design, etc.
JEL classifi cation: M30, M31, M39
Keywords: Sensory Marketing (SM), Memorable Tourism Experiences (MTE), multi-sensory
brand strategies, Nvivo, Turkey.
INTRODUCTION
The businesses, in the midst of change in competitive/dynamic market place, direct their
activities from traditional marketing that reveals the nature and benefi ts of the product through the
competitive activities emphasizing the emotions and feelings that will create value for customers.
As creating value for customers requires a new way, Tung and Ritchie (2011) offer the concept
of the tourism experience which should be created and managed by companies to differentiate
their offers (Kotler and Armstrong, 2014). This fact is more intensely perceived in tourism and
1 Corresponding author. Akdeniz University Dumlupınar Boulevard 07058 Campus Antalya, TURKEY, e-mail: taylandortyol@gmail.com
© Faculty of Management University of Warsaw. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.7172/2449-6634.jmcbem.2016.2.2
Journal of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour in Emerging Markets 2(4)2016
Ozlem Guzel, Taylan Dortyol
29
(28–39)
hospitality industry because people visit the tourist destinations in order to satisfy their particular
needs including social, emotional, psychological, etc. and the tourism experiences are formed by
these visits and environment (Volo, 2010; Chhetri et al., 2004). While the destination experiences,
identifi ed by Oh et al. (2007) as enjoyable, engaging, and memorable encounters, are highly
idiosyncratic, tourism businesses have to give attention to the realization of memorable tourism
experiences for travelers (Tung and Ritchie, 2011; Kim et al., 2010). For instance, Bharwani and
Jauhari (2013) stressed the co-creation of memorable customer experience and discussed the role
of frontline employees. In the context of destination experiences, this paper will be organized to
highlight sensory marketing.
Sensory marketing is one of the main issues of memorable experiences. Businesses that activate
multi-sensory bases create memorable experiences for the customer; strengthen the emotional
connection between the customers and the business/brand; infl uence the value perception of
product quality/brand value/economic. As Krishna and Schwarz (2014) state, in recent years,
the role of sensory experiences in judgment and decision making has increased and there has
been seen a surge of interest in marketing as well as psychology, and as Tung and Ritchie (2011)
declared, while academic studies are increasingly examining tourism as a function of memorable
experiences (ME), more research must be done to uncover the essence of what exactly makes
certain experiences special, spectacular, and memorable. From this point of view, determining
the most successful multi-sensory brand experience concepts which the customers fi nd most
satisfying has become a critical marketing strategy for ME. Sensory research in consumer
psychology has produced a rich body of observations that bear on how sensory attributes of
products, advertisements, and retail spaces infl uence consumers’ thoughts, feelings, and decisions
(Krishna and Schwarz, 2014). The themed hotels increasing their consumption capacities are the
best examples of the tourism business focusing on sensory marketing contents and use them most
effectively. In this context, the starting point of this research is to discover the determinants of
MTEs based on the multi-sensory organs for the marketing strategies in hotel business.
1. LITERATURE REVIEW
Experiences, expressing the fl ows of consumption through fantasy, emotion and entertainment,
change people who enter and experience a real, imagined or virtual event (Schmitt, 1999;
Holbrook and Hirschman, 1982). Businesses, while creating a consumption environment in the
atmosphere designed by sensory stimuli, change emotions of the customers (Güzel, 2013). At this
point, memorable experiences could be defi ned as the changing of behavioral, emotional, sensory,
cognitive, relational and functional values, and these experiences take place in the neurological
brain areas as a mixture of sensations and emotions evoked by the physical performance (Güzel,
2013; Kim, 2010; Lindstorm, 2007; Shaw, 2007; Schmitt, 1999). Memorable experiences are
constructed by travelers based on their individual assessment of subjective experiences (Kim,
2010) as the recollection of pleasurable memories during the holiday and as being emotional,
these experiences have a signifi cant relationship with behavioral intentions, which is mediated
by satisfaction (Prayag et al., 2013). Therefore, it is vital to contribute to the conceptualization of
human senses, which play important roles in consumers’ memorable experiences.
The tourism sector is the main sector in which memorable experiences could be created by
provoking the customers’ feelings and emotions by fun and joy and the behavior of the customers
could be changed. As tourism establishments get more profi t from experiences (Pine and Gilmore;
1999), Hulten (2011) advises tourism establishments to focus on the sensory systems to maximize
their profi t by producing their own brand experience. At this point, multi-sensory marketing
(MSM) is established as a critical marketing strategy (Güzel, 2014). Krishna and Schwarz (2014)
defi ne the SM as “marketing that engages the consumers’ senses and affects their perception,
© Faculty of Management University of Warsaw. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.7172/2449-6634.jmcbem.2016.2.2
Journal of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour in Emerging Markets 2(4)2016
Ozlem Guzel, Taylan Dortyol
30
(28–39)
judgment, and behavior” and focuses on the senses, as well. American Marketing Association
(AMA) focuses mostly on feelings and emotions, on the sensory marketing’s identifi cation, as
it defi nes SM as “marketing techniques that will drive customers’ feelings in order to infl uence
customers’ behavior and emotions” (Valenti and Riviere, 2008).
In tourism marketing, multi-sensory dimensions were discussed by many researchers, with
varied methodologies. Accordingly, the role of human senses, as part of sensory information and
sensory marketing, in designing and enriching tourist experiences and marketing communications
(Pan and Ryan, 2009; Agapito et al., 2012), advertisement effectiveness (Krishna et al., 2016)
and innovative product design (Raz et al., 2008), was investigated. Apart from this literature, the
present paper aims to fi nd the sensations heavily contributing to memorable tourism experiences.
Therefore, it will be proper to review sensation marketing literature deeply.
The visual (eyesight) component has often been the focus of the empirical research on tourist
experiences (Agapito et al., 2013). That literature indicates that natural and muted colors increase
good feelings, intense and artifi cial lights affect the customer’s dynamism and powerful lighting
creates a live/warm and friendly environment (Güzel, 2013; Ballantyne et al., 2011; Valenti and
Riviere, 2008; Heide and Grønhaug, 2006).
Based on the research related with the auditory sensory stimuli, the easiest/cheapest/strongest
factor of creating emotions and feelings, it has been found that specifi c music evokes memories
and emotions, increases sales and time spent in the shopping areas, affects what places customers
like; slow music creates positively loaded emotions (Güzel, 2013; Hulten et al., 2009; Valenti and
Riviere, 2008; Lindstrom, 2007; Shaw, 2007; Turley and Chebat, 2002; North and Hargreaves,
1996; Yalch and Spangenberg, 1990; Millman, 1986).
Findings on the olfactory stimuli suggest that pleasing aromas make customers spend more
time at the shopping areas and make them feel good (Slatten et al., 2011; Bowie and Buttle, 2009;
Hulten et al., 2009; Lindstrom, 2007; Shaw, 2007; Hirsch, 1995).
The presentation and taste of food and beverages is another sensory content that strengthens
the experience, attracts customers’ attention and persuades the customers (Hulten et al., 2009;
Valenti and Riviere, 2008). The disappointing experiences related to gustatory stimuli have
negative consequences, as well. Son and Pearce (2005) stressed that, as being an important part of
total sensory experience, food should be mentioned clearly by marketing strategies.
Also, businesses/brands going beyond the product should not ignore the tactile stimuli in order
to make the products more realistic and different (Lindstrom, 2007). As the emotions are set in the
center of the consumptions, Lasalle and Britton (2003) claim that customers’ emotional needs are
the hardest to satisfy. Within this realm, all the sensory contents have many positive effects if they
are used in an effective way. Consequently, Ditoiu et al. (2012) highlight that the way to create
a link between the identity elements of a destination and a tourist’s feelings and to gain a place
in his mind is designing experiences by stimulating the consumer from a sensory point of view.
2. METHODOLOGY
The present study aims to explore the following research questions:
RQ1 – Which sensation is further used to express the memorable tourism experiences of
a themed hotel visit?
RQ2 – What are the detailed sub-dimensions of each sensory stimulus that contributed
to memorable tourism experiences?
In order to fi nd answers to these questions, a qualitative approach was preferred. Content
analysis, a qualitative approach, was chosen to explore the multi-sensory based memorable
tourism experiences. The data was taken from Tripadvisor.com, which is a popular online social
travel site. TripAdvisor, the world’s largest travel site, has reached 340 million individual monthly
© Faculty of Management University of Warsaw. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.7172/2449-6634.jmcbem.2016.2.2
Journal of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour in Emerging Markets 2(4)2016
Ozlem Guzel, Taylan Dortyol
31
(28–39)
visitors, enables travelers to plan and book a perfect trip with 350 million reviews and opinions
covering more than 6.5 million accommodations, restaurants and attractions. TripAdvisor offers
advice from millions of travelers and a wide variety of travel choices and planning features with
seamless links to booking tools that check hundreds of websites to fi nd the best hotel prices (www.
tripadvisor.com, 24.05.2016). From this travel community, the Adam&Eve Hotel was chosen as
the sample hotel which has a special class category with designing awards such as Turkey’s
Leading Honeymoon Hotel, Europe’s most Romantic Hotel, Europe’s Leading Design Hotel,
World’s Luxury Hotel Awards Winner, World’s Leading Design Hotel, Europe’s Leading Couples
Resort. The 299 travelers’ – all English and Turkish – comments dated from 30th May 2007 to 23rd
May 2014 were analyzed. Other languages such as French, German, etc. were eliminated because
of the limitation of the language. Some descriptive results were gathered to mine more detailed
explorative inferences related to emotions and feelings. 299 reviews were investigated based
on fi ve sensations and all coded sensual contents were assigned to the categories (sensations) to
which they belong. As a result of the analysis, the contents were gathered on fi ve sensory stimuli
(tactile, gustatory, olfactory, visual, and auditory), the number of emotions and feels remembered
was presented and some examples of the reviews were displayed. All the consumer reviews were
imported to and analyzed by QSR NVIVO 10, software used to analyze unstructured large data sets.
3. FINDINGS
In the present study, a qualitative study has been performed to explore the sensory based
memorable tourism experiences attributes. The analysis of the results was based on fi ve stimuli
categories: 1) tactile, 2) gustatory, 3) olfactory, 4) visual, and 5) auditory. Nearly 70 percent of the
recalled emotions and feelings from visual stimuli were detailed with the components like decor,
interior/exterior design, etc. The other ranges are shown in Table 1.
Table 1
The Sensory Stimuli Distribution
Sensory stimuli The Recalled Emotions and Feelings
Tactile 9
Visual 209
Gustatory 65
Auditory 14
Olfactory 2
In the next Tables from 2 to 6, all the themes gathered from the reviews will be illustrated in
fi ve sensory categories.
Table 2
The Recalled Emotions and Feelings vs. Tactile Stimuli
Sensory
Contents
The Recalled Emotions
and Feelings
Emotion and
Feeling Statements Memory Based Customer E-reviews
Tactile 9
amazing
freshening,
relaxing,
fantastic
(1) “The room is amazing and very comfortable”
(2) “It also has comfortable lounge chairs in the pool
which help keeping you fresh on a very warm sunny day”
(3) “If you like the sea you can also relax on the pontoon
in very comfortable beds”
(4) “The room was so very comfortable, a fantastic
memory of foam bed”
© Faculty of Management University of Warsaw. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.7172/2449-6634.jmcbem.2016.2.2
Journal of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour in Emerging Markets 2(4)2016
Ozlem Guzel, Taylan Dortyol
32
(28–39)
The memories related to tactile stimuli focused on the components of the room. Mostly
mentioned statements frequently described the emotions associated with the comfortableness of
the bed, chairs etc. A review says:
“The room was so very comfortable, a fantastic memory of foam bed”
The reviews clearly revealed that if a tactile based memorable experience is targeted, the room
and its components should refl ect the sense of comfort.
Next, the sensation that infl uences creating memories most, as it was mentioned in 209 reviews,
namely visual stimuli, is addressed. The feeling statements range from some soft expressions like
romantic, love, happiness to some extreme like phenomenal, wow, just to die for as shown in
Table 3.
Table 3
The Recalled Emotions and Feelings vs. Visual Stimuli
Sensory
Contents
The Recalled
Emotions
and Feelings
Emotion
and Feeling
Statements
Memory Based Customer E-reviews
Visual 209
romantic,
amazing,
fantastic,
nice, interesting,
sexy,
fabulous,
love, wonderful,
refreshing,
pleasing,
happiness,
impressive,
fascinating,
superb,
great,
phenomenal,
unique,
magnifi cent,
special,
chic, pleasure,
relaxing,
impressive,
lovely,
just to die for,
joyful,
fun,
perfect
(1) “Full jacuzzi bath in the bedroom and three beds for ‘sleeping’
including one on the balcony, added to the impression that this
hotel was really designed for one purpose and that the people
most likely to appreciate its surreal attributes are those on
honeymoon or other ‘romantic’ reasons”
(2) “The room is amazing and very comfortable, it has a Jacuzzi
and near it there is a bed on which you can lay even if you are
wet, one meter away there is the actual bed which is very spacious
and comfortable”
(3) “The room was so very comfortable, a fantastic memory of
foam bed, with another ergonomic day bed and a full-size double
day bed on the balcony. In the room there is a Jacuzzi bath, and a
fl at screen TV on the wall.”
(4) “Concept of the hotel is very interesting and geared towards
the party scene”
(5) “The rooms are defi nitely sexy”
(6) “As I stepped in this fabulous hotel I felt like I walked into
heaven. From fl oor to ceiling, it looks spectacular”
(7) “There were mirrors everywhere, we loved it”
(8) “…somewhere so aesthetically pleasing”
(9) “It’s not just mirrors, it’s lights, and furniture, and the way it’s
organized that makes it so amazing.”
(10) “The rooms are spacious and big where you’ll be happy to
even spend some time therein”
(11) “It is the single most impressive modern interior space I’ve
ever seen.”
(12) “The Adam and Eve Hotel has a special design that
fascinated me from the fi rst moment”
(13) “Hotel concept is great and you always see this design that
makes you special”
(14) “What attracted us to the hotel is its stellar design. We love
it”
(15) “It is defi nitively a magnifi cent design-wise place.”
(16) “… great design that you may not have experienced yet”
(17) “..chic contemporary architecture as well as a romantic
atmosphere.”
(18) “A resort designed for pleasure”
(19) “Lovely pools…”
(20) “A relaxing pool which is just to die for”
© Faculty of Management University of Warsaw. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.7172/2449-6634.jmcbem.2016.2.2
Journal of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour in Emerging Markets 2(4)2016
Ozlem Guzel, Taylan Dortyol
33
(28–39)
Sensory
Contents
The Recalled
Emotions
and Feelings
Emotion
and Feeling
Statements
Memory Based Customer E-reviews
(21) “The room also offers the possibility of changing the color
of the light to which color you may like and it really helps to
create a romantic, relaxing and joyful atmosphere”
(22) “The rooms are very sexy, with… cool lighting features”
(23) “It gave me so much refreshing feeling that made me about
to cry when we were checking out, mirrors are all over the room
and the lighting system is so much of fun”
(24) “The white and mirrored theme was impressive and certainly
has a wow factor”
(25) “…sea facing large rooms does have fantastic scene of
Mediterranean”
(26) “everything is white and all the walls are mirrors;
nice concept”
All reviews related to visual stimuli were arranged in seven subgroups: (1) decor, (2) interior
design, (3) exterior design, (4) pool, (5) lighting, (6) color and (7) view. Generally, decor and
interior design generate some romantic emotions and feelings all together as a review reveals:
“Full jacuzzi bath in the bedroom and three beds for ‘sleeping’ including one on the
balcony added to the impression that this hotel was really designed for one purpose and
that the people most likely to appreciate its surreal attributes are those on honeymoon
or other ‘romantic’ reasons”
Some components of interior and exterior design like mirrors and color, as the distinctive
features of the hotel, were emphasized positively. They can be seen as the main highlight of the
review, alone:
“There were mirrors everywhere, we loved it”
“The room also offers the possibility of changing the color of the light to which color
you may like and it really helps to create a romantic, relaxing and joyful atmosphere”
or guests remembered the multi-visual stimulus, also mentioning their memorable emotions:
“It’s not just mirrors, it’s lights, and furniture, and the way it’s organized that makes it
so amazing.”
“The room also offers the possibility of changing the color of the light to which color
you may like and it really helps to create a romantic, relaxing and joyful atmosphere”
“It gave me so much refreshing feeling that made me about to cry when we were
checking out, mirrors are all over the room and the lighting system is so much of fun”
“The white and mirrored theme was impressive and certainly has a wow factor”
By that, the hotel management seems to have achieved the goal. One review totally refl ects the
concept of the hotel by using the heaven metaphor:
“As I stepped in this fabulous hotel I felt like I walked into heaven. From fl oor to ceiling,
it looks spectacular”
While some of the others highlight the specialty of the design:
“The Adam and Eve Hotel has a special design that fascinated me from the fi rst moment”
“Hotel concept is great and you always see this design that makes you special”
“What attracted us to the hotel is its stellar design. We love it”
“It is defi nitively a magnifi cent design-wise place.”
In these reviews, it is understood that people create positive memories, mostly through
the visual sensory stimuli. According to this research, fi nding some distinctive specialties and
associating them with visual components may make the customers pay attention and take interest
in some facts shaping their memories which are recalled more easily.
© Faculty of Management University of Warsaw. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.7172/2449-6634.jmcbem.2016.2.2
Journal of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour in Emerging Markets 2(4)2016
Ozlem Guzel, Taylan Dortyol
34
(28–39)
The gustatory stimulus is the second most mentioned sensory stimulus that makes customers
recall positive emotions and feelings. The reviews concerned the fl avors of food& drinks and
buffet as well.
Table 4
The Recalled Emotions and Feelings vs. Gustatory Stimuli
Sensory
Contents
The Recalled
Emotions
and Feelings
Emotion
and Feeling Statements Memory Based Customer E-reviews
Gustatory 65
relaxing,
nice,
gorgeous, fantastic,
amazing, fabulous,
wonderful, funny,
awe,
inspiring,
excellent, perfect,
extraordinary, enjoy,
impressive
(1) “…relaxing on one of the bed cubes with a nice cup
of herbal tea.”
(2) “…freshly squeezed orange is gorgeous”
(3) “…The blind restaurant was a fantastic experience.”
(4) “Drinks are also still amazing, fabulous cocktails,
frozen ice drinks and delicious fresh coffee”.
(5) “…the wonderful and varied dining options.”
(6) “The one restaurant that I will actually mention is the
‘Blind’ restaurant in which you can eat in absolute dark...
very funny!”
(7) “The food buffet in the main restaurant was awe
inspiring”
(8) “We tried the Turkish and seafood restaurants and the
food and service were excellent.”
(9) “…food and drinks perfect”
(10) “…foods are extraordinary”
(11) “The buffet was of relatively good quality and we
enjoyed most of the food choices”
(12) “…the buffet was impressive but I would recommend
paying the extra 10 euros service charge and eating in the
A’la carte restaurants which were very nice”
As in the reviews below, hotel guests mention the quality and fl avor of the foods & drinks
mostly and the assessments were made in a more utilitarian context.
“Drinks are also still amazing, fabulous cocktails, frozen ice drinks and delicious fresh
coffee”.
“The food buffet in the main restaurant was awe inspiring”
“The buffet was of relatively good quality and we enjoyed most of the food choices”
The way the meals were served to the guests also seems to lead to the hedonistic experiences.
“…The blind restaurant was a fantastic experience.”
“The one restaurant that I will actually mention is the “Blind” restaurant in which you
can eat in absolute dark... very funny!”
As in these examples, the blind restaurant experience was qualifi ed as fantastic and funny.
The customers’ eyes are closed to create a dark atmosphere and to make them focus only on the
food’s fl avor. That is why it is called blind restaurant. This was, for instance, a strategy for hotels
to enhance the utilitarian feature of food and drinks by adding some hedonist patterns.
© Faculty of Management University of Warsaw. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.7172/2449-6634.jmcbem.2016.2.2
Journal of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour in Emerging Markets 2(4)2016
Ozlem Guzel, Taylan Dortyol
35
(28–39)
Table 5
The Recalled Emotions and Feelings vs. Auditory Stimuli
Sensory
Contents
The Recalled
Emotions
and Feelings
Emotion
and Feeling Statements Memory Based Customer E-reviews
Auditory 14
enjoy,
cool,
fantastic,
just to die for,
perfect,
fun, peaceful,
amazing, attractive
(1) “The night shows and parties are very enjoyable.”
(2) “The parties were cool”
(3) “And the shows are also fantastic.”
(4) “And yet I haven’t told you about the party itself
which was just to die for. The food, the show, the music,
everything was perfect and overall it was such a fun
night”
(5) “Noise isolation is perfect. You will have a quiet room
and a peaceful sleep at all times.”
(6) “…but there were lots of people around and amazing
music, parties, and entertainment”
(7) “Night shows at the bar are attractive usually”
Auditory stimuli clues were also mentioned by a certain number of guests. In this theme, guests
mostly came up with items related to entertainment. In this case, night shows, party music were
primary elements. The comments below describe the impact of auditory stimuli on entertainment.
“The night shows and parties are very enjoyable.”
“And yet I haven’t told you about the party itself which was just to die for. The food, the
show, the music, everything was perfect and overall it was such a fun night”
“…but there were lots of people around and amazing music, parties, and entertainment”
Apart from the hedonistic aspect of the sense of sound, silence is another important issue for
a calming holiday experience. But given the fact that only 1 guest mentioned the noise isolation, it
can certainly be said that the hedonistic effect of sound is by far more vigorous than its utilitarian
effect.
“Noise isolation is perfect. You will have a quiet room and a peaceful sleep at all times.”
Table 6
The Recalled Emotions and Feelings vs. Olfactory Stimuli
Sensory Contents
The Recalled
Emotions
and Feelings
Emotion
and Feeling Statements Memory Based Customer E-reviews
Olfactory 2 nice,
marvelous
(1) “…nice, very well scented, everywhere”
(2) “..the marvelous apple scent at the entrance
of the hotel effaces everything”
The fi ndings surprisingly reveal that guests did not value the sense of smell as an essential part
of their experience, although the hotel in question has some arrangements appealing to this sense,
namely the smell that welcomes guests in the lobby. Only in one review, the effect of smell on
experience was commented.
“..the marvelous apple scent at the entrance of the hotel effaces everything”
Finally, the results of the content analysis show that the sensations of the tourists were used to
express their tourism experiences and the detailed sub-dimensions of each sensation contributed
to these memorable experiences. The response scores of each sensation and the sub-dimensions
are presented in Figure 1. As seen in Figure 1, of the total 299 reviews the sense of sight came
forward as the most frequently mentioned sensation, while the sense of smell as the least.
© Faculty of Management University of Warsaw. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.7172/2449-6634.jmcbem.2016.2.2
Journal of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour in Emerging Markets 2(4)2016
Ozlem Guzel, Taylan Dortyol
36
(28–39)
Figure 1
The Sensory Stimuli Profi le of Tourism Experiences
Olfactory
(2)
LOBBY SCENT ROOMS
CHAIRS
BEDS
NIGHTSHOWS
PARTIES
MUSİC
FOODS&DRINKS
BLIND - DARK
RESTAURANTS
TURKISH FOODS
DECOR
INTERIOR -
EXTERIOR DESIGN
POOL
LIGHTING
COLOR
Tactile (9) Auditory
(14)
Gustatory
(65)
Visual (209)
CONCLUSION
Tourists tend to make biased choices based on their past experiences, as emotional stimuli,
including both positive and negative valence, lead to the strong memorability of an event (Kim,
2014). So, business management should discover the ways to be able to appeal to consumers’
multi-sensory organs emotionally and rationally by generating a relationship between tourism
and psychology. Similarly, Hulten (2011) states that sensory strategies differentiate the brand,
approaching the consumer’s mind and senses both from a cognitive point of view and from an
emotional one. As experiences have become a signifi cant concept of tourism, it is crucial to
acknowledge the components of experiences (Çetin and Bilgihan, 2014). As an attempt to answer
the research questions, the results of the study show the detailed sub-dimensions of each sensation
that contributed to the memorable experiences.
The customers’ multi-sensory based memorable tourism experiences revolve around fi ve
sensory stimuli: tactile, 2) gustatory, 3) olfactory, 4) visual, and 5) auditory. The sense of sight
came forward as the most frequently mentioned sensation in explaining the emotions and feelings
in the context of the ME. This result is compatible with the results of Ditoiu and Caruntu (2014).
Visual stimuli (design, lighting, mirror theme, white color, etc.) of the sensory experiences were
mostly identifi ed with emotions and feelings such as refreshing, relaxing, romantic, sexy, happy,
joyful, fun, fascinating. The sight sense is followed by taste content and sensory experiences
related to this sensory stimulus were mostly associated with emotions and feelings such as
relaxing, fantastic, extraordinary, and fabulous. Hearing content, the third most commonly
mentioned stimulus, is linked with the emotions and feelings such as fun and peaceful. And
fi nally, the sense of smell was the least mentioned sensory stimulus, contrary to expectations. As
Krishna and Schwarz (2014) emphasize that not all stimulations will exert an infl uence through
the same pathways, in this study sight has been the most dominant sensory content for creating
emotions and feelings.
Sensory contents could be referred to the esthetic dimension of the experience economy. In the
related literature, a relationship between esthetic dimension and memory has been detected (Ali
et al., 2014; Güzel, 2014; Güzel, 2013; Hosany and Witham, 2010; Oh et al., 2007). It has been
noticed that guests share their memories with emotions and feelings through sensory experiences.
These emotions and feelings could be seen as the antecedent of the post-experience behaviors.
Some past research from the tourist experience literature (Ali et al., 2014; Loureiro, 2014;
© Faculty of Management University of Warsaw. All rights reserved. DOI: 10.7172/2449-6634.jmcbem.2016.2.2
Journal of Marketing and Consumer Behaviour in Emerging Markets 2(4)2016
Ozlem Guzel, Taylan Dortyol
37
(28–39)
Prayag et al., 2013; Güzel, 2013; Kastenholz et al., 2012; Tung and Ritchie, 2011; Hosany and
Witham, 2010; Yuksel and Yuksel, 2007; Turley and Milliman, 2000), stressing that emotional
reactions affect post-experience behaviors like intention to recommend/buy, satisfaction, loyalty
or remembering the experience positively, supports this argument.
Themed resort hotels are increasing in number and paying attention to the customers who are
willing to have a unique experience and to collect memories. Ali et al. (2014) state that resort
hotels are preferred by the guests who want to escape their daily routine. Creating memorable
experiences is the essence of the tourism industry and signifi cant sensory themes may lead to some
conclusions for the hotel management to optimize the environment and enhance the profi tability
of the sensory ambient. In this manner, hotel managements may have a chance to plan, design
and differentiate the overall experience of guests and to make this experience more memorable
with more qualifi ed sensory channels. Positive memorable experiences should be created with
an amazing service area and positive values. This study could offer to managers a suggestion
that sight and taste sensory contents should be mostly taken into account. But as emphasized by
Ditoiu and Caruntu (2014), alongside the sight sensation, the other sensations also complete the
experience and make it more memorable.
Although this study offers a review of the sensory profi le of tourism experiences, as being
an exploratory study, the results presented could not be generalized. Because of the language
limitations, as stated before, only Turkish and English comments were analyzed. For further
studies, a big language analysis team may be formed to have a holistic view. The fi ndings should
be investigated in different contexts to reach a more general result. Moreover, sensory channels
have not only positive outcomes, but also negative ones. This paper takes only the positive aspects
of sensations into consideration. As the concept of the tourism experience has become a focal
point for current tourism research and management (Tung and Ritchie, 2011), future studies
may include negative reviews on sensations to represent the whole picture of sensory based
tourism experiences. Moreover, some recommendations could be made on the methodology
section like analyzing the data through the experience model (4Es-model – educational, esthetic,
entertainment, and escapist) of Pine and Gilmore (1999) or integrating qualitative and quantitative
studies to identify the factors that drive consumers’ emotional responses.
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