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To Theme or Not to Theme: The Lisboa Pessoa, A Literary Hotel?
Abstract
Although theming has become an important differentiation strategy in the hotel industry and, accompanying the growth of cultural and literary tourism in recent decades, literature has been adopted as a central theme by numerous hotels worldwide, little to no research has been conducted on literary hotels. The inauguration of the Lisboa Pessoa, in Lisbon, in September 2016, dedicated to one of Portugal’s most celebrated poets, offered an ideal opportunity to study the impact of literary theming in a new unit. A qualitative study, considering external online communications and guests’ commentaries in social networking sites, was carried out to determine the thematic strategies implemented and the impact of these strategies on the perceived image of the hotel, in order to assess the influence of the theme on the experience of guests and the extent to which the Pessoa can be considered, from the guests’ perspective, a literary hotel. Results, however, showed that the impact of the literary theme on guests’ perception was low, especially considering the clear theming efforts evinced in external communications, indicating that meanings must be more adequately conveyed if motifs are to truly inspire differentiated experiences.
... Hotels with special features, such as themed hotels that feature sustainable or "green" design or innovative engineering [1] and those that make emotional or affective appeals to guests [2], have become increasingly common and competitive in the hospitality industry [3,4], both as options for accommodations and as destination choices [1]. Hotels were traditionally rated on the basis of guests' experiences with decoration, comfort, and luxury. ...
... Themes allow restaurants, parks, clubs, casinos, and hotels to offer the guests memorable experiences [19], as advocated by modern experiential marketing [20]. A theme hotel uses architectural style, decoration, services, and other atmospheric items to provide guests with unique and person-specific experiences centered around a theme, such as history, local culture, cities, nature, myths, fairytales, and so on [4,21]. ...
Theme hotels are becoming popular because of their fascinating characteristics, within which, theme hotels that feature green practices have become a niche market in the highly competitive hotel industry. Despite past research demonstrating that the cognitive image created by a green hotel exerts strong effects on customers’ favorable reactions, how guest appreciation for green practices affects the relationship between the hotel atmosphere and guest satisfaction remains unknown for hotels of this kind. This research investigated the influence of atmospheric cues on customers’ perceived value and satisfaction and the possible effects of green practices in shaping customer satisfaction. In total, 267 valid responses from persons with experience with theme hotels were used to test the model using confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis of the structural equation model. Results of the research indicate that customers’ atmosphere perception of the theme hotel positively affects customer satisfaction, while the perceived value of the hotel mediated the effects of atmosphere on customer satisfaction. The guest’s appreciation of the hotel’s green practices moderated the relationship between atmospherics and customer satisfaction. Academic and managerial implications of the results, as well as limitations and directions for future research, are provided.
... The rise in diverse theme hotel types, such as familyoriented, luxury, and green hotels, caters to varied customer interests seeking distinctive experiences [1,4]. Theming is considered a valuable tool for competitive environments like tourism, restaurants, and theme parks [5], acting as a strategic option for survival and growth in the industry [6][7][8]. ...
Despite the acknowledged connection between physical environment and human behavior, the literature often underestimates the crucial role of hotel spatial layout and its relation to other factors in shaping customer loyalty. The layout of theme hotels is often simply considered a general environmental consideration, ignoring its far-reaching impact. This research proposes that guests staying at theme hotels will perceive value when utilizing the layout and appreciate all aspects of hotel facilities. This, in turn, influences their value perception and loyalty to the hotel. To analyze the data, confirmatory factor analysis and path analysis were employed on a sample of 298 individuals who stayed in theme hotels. The findings from these analyses reveal that both the hotel layout and the external environment positively influence guests’ evaluations of the internal environment (R2 = 0.640). Furthermore, the evaluation of the internal environment and layout significantly impacts guests’ perceived values (R2 = 0.517), subsequently shaping their loyalty to the hotel (R2 = 0.370). Perceived value emerges as a vital mediating factor between the layout and customer loyalty. This study presents compelling evidence that spatial layout significantly influences customer loyalty in theme hotels through perceived value, transcending internal and external environmental boundaries.
... Personalization is thus particularly relevant to the hotel industry, which has been relying on personalizing guest experience to differentiate its highly substitutable and easy to imitate products and services (Chathoth et al., 2013;Shaw et al., 2011). Such higher reliance on and greater amount of resources invested in strategies for differentiation purposes set hotels apart from other service industries (Oliveira, 2020) and provides a unique context for studying personalization. ...
The importance of personalization has been widely recognized in hospitality industry for its impact on customer satisfaction and product differentiation. Studies have been conducted to understand the practice of personalization and the consequences such as customer acceptance, satisfaction, and loyalty. However, little is known about the design process of personalization in hotels while service providers are recognized as a key stakeholder in customer personalization. This study approached hoteliers to explore how a service environment is staged for customers to experience personalized service in hotels. Our findings reveal that personalization practices in hotels are staged based on senior management’s understanding of customer segments, and implementation difficulties at frontlines, and corporate culture, while on-site improvisation by frontline staff determine the effectiveness of the staging efforts. The originality of this study rests on the perspective it takes to understand personalization and developing insights that are grounded in the hospitality context. Studying personalization from a service design perspective (rather than a customer’s or employee’s perspective as most previous studies did) enables us to unearth new aspects of personalization.
... Studies show that tourists' experiences of a holistically themed environment at a tourist attraction or destination affect their overall satisfaction (Bigné, Andreu, & Gnoth, 2005;Dong & Siu, 2013;Meng & Choi, 2017;Sørensen, Fuglsang, Sundbo, & Jensen, 2020;Tsang, Lee, Wong, & Chong, 2012). However, empirical studies of the phenomenon in experiencebased tourism are minimal (see review in Table 2), despite growing research on how tourists act and react in various themed environments (Hung, 2015;Li, Zhang, Hua, & Jahromi, 2020;Oliveira, 2020). Studies of concepts specifically connected to theming refer to, e.g., its physical manifestations, composition, and imagery, such as theme factors and dimensions of theming in tourism (e.g., Kao, Huang, & Wu, 2008;Lukas, 2016b), have been sporadic (see examples in Table 3 and Table 4). ...
In tourism and hospitality, products and services have been the traditional foci and bases of value. However, in line with the experiential turn in tourism, numerous tourism businesses have changed focus toward providing consumers with distinctive experiences to avoid commoditization. In turn, this means businesses often employ theming as a method and practice to create experiencescapes for and together with their visitors. Although much research has been conducted regarding themed tourism spaces, less attention has been given to the phenomenon of theming. How knowledge about theming can be understood as kind of experience innovation is also less understood.
The overall aim of this thesis is to deepen knowledge of theming in experience-based tourism, and how knowledge about theming from both a visitor and provider perspective can facilitate experience innovation. More specifically, this thesis intends to explore what themes and theming are, what factors drive theming, the dimensions of theming, and the purposes of theming. These aims are explored in the context of experience-based tourism, a labor-intensive industry that seeks to provide symbolic and hedonic benefits and evokes more robust emotional and experiential responses from visitors. This dissertation includes three separate papers that investigate and discuss three research topics: (i) how the theme factors that drive experience based tourism can be better understood, (ii) identifying the dimensions of theming in experience-based tourism, and (iii) why theming is used in experience-based tourism. The fourth research topic (iv), how knowledge about theming from both a visitor and provider perspective may facilitate experience innovation is developed during the abductive process with the dissertation and is answered in the synopsis. Using quantitative and qualitative methodological approaches, theming in experience-based tourism is explored from both a visitor and a provider perspective. The first appended paper’s empirical analysis uses survey data. The second and third appended papers use semi-structured interviews.
The contributions of this thesis to the fields of experience-based tourism, marketing, and management literature are fourfold. The first contribution of this thesis relates to theme factors. The theme factors name, employee interaction, and lighting are the most central direct drivers of the tourist customer experience, while others (design and music) contribute to the perceived themed environment differently, depending on usage and context. The fact theme factors in particular, name, contribute to an environment’s theme perception is a novel find. The second contribution of this thesis relates to theming dimensions. The 10 dimensions of theming, authenticity, chronotope, cohesion, digital technology, immersion, interaction/co-creation, multisensory, novelty, relatability, and storytelling/narrative are crucial to and significant for theming in a tourism context. The dimension interaction/co-creation parallels dimensions from experience innovation research. The third contribution of this thesis relates to the purposes of theming in tourism: ensure differentiation; increase sales of a brand or a product; create bonds between the guests and a theme, brand, or product; attract, stop, and make visitors stay; or influence and modify their behavior and enhance the end-to-end experience. These purposes are revealed to be essential interrelated business objectives for managers in tourism. This thesis discusses the more profound meaning and the interplay of the theme factors, theming dimensions, and purposes of theming from both visitor and provider perspectives. The fourth and final contribution in this thesis is the implications of the empirical findings from the three papers for experience innovation. The thesis’ overall contribution is a comprehensive examination of theme factors, theming dimensions, theming purposes, and how they can facilitate experience innovation, which provides a broad understanding based on new and available knowledge on each aspect of the studied phenomena and deliberates their significance
for theming innovation.
This thesis argues for providers’ importance in carefully orchestrating theme factors and theming dimensions to fulfill the purposes of theming in experience-based tourism. Designing an experience often requires providers to critically use themes and theming to create innovative, high-quality, profitable, and memorable environments for visitors. Previous research has focused solely on providers staging themed products and services in an environment. However, staging the environment is not sufficient for providers of themed environments. Instead, the experience environment necessitates those providers facilitating themed environments that accommodate interaction with visitors to co-create value in their individual experiences—leading toward experience innovation.
Furthermore, managers are urged to enhance their themed environments to ensure differentiation and increased sales. Staff should receive ongoing training and managerial direction to act and speak often around the chosen theme, and staff interaction with visitors should be encouraged. Also, managers should strive to improve cohesiveness, fit, and orderliness between all elements in the themed environment to convey a positive impression of harmony. The theming dimensions of novelty, storytelling, and digital technology should be assessed and used adequately by managers to improve uniqueness, a sense of connectedness, and a heightened sense of reality.
The main contribution of this thesis is not towards traditional service innovation research. Instead, this thesis examines the role of theme factors and theming dimensions in tourists’ experiences and how organizations can use them for experience innovation. These results have implications for innovation in experience-based tourism: Thus, the focus of this thesis is on theming as a process that may lead to experience innovation. This kind of experience innovation can be called theming innovation, an interactive process in which visitors deliver providers with information about what is valuable to them, and providers prototype, evaluate, and test concepts with the use of theme factors to co-create new or improved experiences, creating theming dimensions that frame and support the theme factor development, in turn fulfilling the providers’ theming purposes, and does this better than their competitors.
Experience innovation centers more on environments than products and services, which may act as props in staging an experience. Rather than a supply-chain-centric stage-gate process where firms create value through offering various products and services, experience innovation emphasizes value as interactively co-created in ever more immersive, often technologically enhanced environments. Thus, this thesis focuses on the value of creating new and more profound knowledge of theming in innovation processes/design, leading to experience innovation. By extension, experience innovation is about staying relevant and surviving in the future.
Norwegian abstract:
I turismen og besøksnæringene har det tradisjonelle fokuset vært på produkter og tjenester som grunnlaget for verdiskaping. Imidlertid, i tråd med den opplevelsesbaserte vendingen i reiselivet, har mange aktører innenfor reiseliv nå endret fokus mot å tilby forbrukerne unike opplevelser for å unngå kommodifisering. Dette betyr at bedriftene har brukt tematisering for å skape opplevelsesrom for sine gjester. Selv om mye forskning har blitt gjort på tematiserte turistopplevelser, har det vært viet mindre oppmerksomhet til tematisering som fenomen. Hvordan kunnskap om tematisering kan forstås som en form for opplevelsesinnovasjon er også mindre kjent.
Som følge av dette er det overordnede målet i denne avhandlingen å utdype kunnskapen om tematisering i opplevelsesbasert turisme, samt hvordan kunnskap om tematisering fra både et besøks- og tilbyderperspektiv kan fasilitere opplevelsesinnovasjon. Mer bestemt har avhandlingen som intensjon å utforske hva temaer og tematisering er, hvilke faktorer som driver tematisering, tematiseringens dimensjoner, og hvilke formål tematisering kan ha. Avhandlingens mål utforskes med opplevelsesbasert turisme som kontekst, en arbeidskraftkrevende bransje som forsøker å skape merverdi ved å tilby symbolske og hedonistiske fordeler og fremkalle sterke emosjonelle og opplevelsesbaserte reaksjoner hos de besøkende. Denne avhandlingen inkluderer tre separate artikler som undersøker og diskuterer tre forskningstemaer: (i) hvordan temafaktorer som driver opplevelsesbasert turisme kan bli bedre forstått, (ii) identifiseringen av tematiseringsdimensjonene i opplevelsesbasert turisme, og (iii) hvorfor tematisering brukes i opplevelsesbasert turisme. Det fjerde forskningstemaet, (iv) hvordan kunnskap om tematisering fra både et besøks- og tilbyderperspektiv kan fasilitere opplevelsesinnovasjon, ble utviklet gjennom en abduktiv prosess i avhandlingen, og blir besvart i synopsisen. Tematisering i opplevelsesbasert turisme utforskes i både et besøks- og tilbyderperspektiv gjennom å benytte både kvantitative og kvalitative metodologiske tilnærminger. Den empiriske analysen i den første vedlagte artikkelen er basert på data fra en spørreundersøkelse. Den andre og tredje vedlagte artikkelen bruker data fra halvstrukturerte intervjuer.
Avhandlingen har fire bidrag til opplevelsesbasert turismefeltet, markedsførings- og ledelsesfeltet. Avhandlingens første bidrag omhandler temafaktorer. Temafaktorene navn, medarbeiderinteraksjon, og lyssetting er de mest sentrale direkte driverne av turistens kundeopplevelse, mens andre (design og musikk) avhengig av bruk og kontekst bidrar til oppfatningen av tematiserte omgivelser på en annen måte. At temafaktorer, særlig navn, bidrar til oppfatningen av tematiserte omgivelser er et nytt funn. Avhandlingens andre bidrag omhandler tematiseringsdimensjoner. De ti tematiseringsdimensjonene autentisitet, kronotop, kohesjon, digital teknologi, immersjon, interaksjon/samskaping, flersanselighet, nyhetsverdi, gjenkjennbarhet, og historiefortelling/narrativ er sentrale og betydningsfulle for tematiseringen i en turismekontekst. Dimensjonen interaksjon/samskaping har paralleller til dimensjoner fra forskningen på opplevelsesinnovasjon. Avhandlingens tredje bidrag omhandler formålene med tematisering i turisme: å sørge for differensiering; øke salgene av et merke eller et produkt; skape bånd mellom gjester og et tema, merke, eller produkt; tiltrekke, stanse og få besøkende til å bli; å påvirke eller endre atferden deres, og forbedre ende-til-ende-opplevelsen. Det viser seg at disse formålene er essensielle gjensidig relaterte mål for ledere i turismen. Denne avhandlingen diskuterer de dypere meningene og samspillet mellom temafaktorene, tematiseringsdimensjonene, og formålene med tematisering fra både et besøks- og tilbyderperspektiv. Avhandlingens fjerde og endelige bidrag er implikasjonene de empiriske funnene fra de tre artiklene har for opplevelsesinnovasjon. Avhandlingens hovedbidrag er en omfattende undersøkelse av temafaktorer, tematiseringsdimensjoner, tematiseringsformål, og hvordan disse kan fasilitere opplevelsesesinnovasjon, noe som gir en bredere forståelse basert på ny og tilgjengelig kunnskap om hvert aspekt av fenomenet som blir undersøkt, og diskuterer deres betydning.
Avhandlingen argumenterer for tilbydernes betydning i å omhyggelig orkestrere temafaktorer og tematiseringsdimensjoner for å møte formålene med tematisering i opplevelsesbasert turisme. Design av opplevelser krever ofte at tilbyderen kritisk bruker temaer og tematisering for å skape innovative, lønnsomme og minneverdige omgivelser av høy kvalitet for besøkende. Tidligere forskning har kun satt søkelys på at tilbyderne iscenesetter tematiserte produkter og tjenester i omgivelsene. Imidlertid er ikke iscenesettingen av omgivelsene tilstrekkelig for tilbydere av tematiserte omgivelser. I stedet gjør disse omgivelsene det nødvendig for tilbyderne å skape fasiliterende tematiserte omgivelser som legger til rette for at de besøkende gjennom interaksjon kan samskape verdien i sine individuelle opplevelser—noe som leder til opplevelsesinnovasjon.
Ledere anmodes til å forbedre sine tematiserte omgivelser for å sørge for kontinuerlig differensiering og økt salg. Ansatte bør få kontinuerlig opplæring og lederveiledning for å kunne oppføre seg og snakke konsistent med det valgte temaet, og de ansattes interaksjon med besøkende bør oppmuntres. I tillegg bør ledere søke å forbedre koherens og systematisk sammenheng mellom alle elementene i tematiserte omgivelser for å kunne kommunisere et positivt harmonisk inntrykk. Ledere bør vurdere tematiseringsdimensjonene nyhetsverdi, historiefortelling, og digital teknologi, og bruke disse i tilstrekkelig grad for å forbedre unikheten, tilhørighetsfølelsen, og en opphøyd virkelighetsopplevelse.
Følgelig er ikke hovedbidraget i denne avhandlingen knyttet til tradisjonell tjenesteinnovasjonsforskning. I stedet undersøker avhandlingen temafaktorene og tematiseringsdimensjonenes rolle i turistenes opplevelse, og hvordan organisasjoner kan bruke disse for opplevelsesinnovasjon. Resultatet av dette har implikasjoner for innovasjon i opplevelsesbasert turisme. I denne avhandlingen forstås tematisering som en prosess som kan føre til opplevelsesinnovasjon. Denne formen for opplevelsesinnovasjon kan kalles tematiseringsinnovasjon, en interaktiv prosess hvor besøkende gir tilbydere informasjon om hva som er verdifullt for dem, og hvor tilbyderne bygger prototyper, evaluerer og tester konsepter gjennom å bruke temafaktorer for å samskape nye eller forbedrede opplevelser, noe som skaper tematiseringsdimensjoner som rammer inn og støtter utviklingen av temafaktorer. Videre understøtter denne prosessen tilbyderens oppnåelse av tematiseringsformål, og helst bedre enn sine konkurrenter.
Opplevelsesinnovasjon fokuserer mer på omgivelser enn produkter og tjenester som kan fungere mer som rekvisitter i iscenesettelsen av en opplevelse. I stedet for en leverandørkjedesentrert stage-gate-prosess hvor firmaer skaper verdi gjennom å tilby ulike produkter og tjenester, så vektlegger opplevelsesinnovasjon verdi som er interaktivt samskapt i stadig mer oppslukende, ofte teknologisk forbedrede omgivelser. Dermed fokuserer denne avhandlingen på verdien i å skape ny og dypere kunnskap om tematisering i innovasjonsprosesser/design som fører til opplevelsesinnovasjon. I et utvidet perspektiv handler opplevelsesinnovasjon om å holde seg relevant og overleve i fremtiden.
... É o exemplo da casa -museu de Shakespeare (Stratford -upon -Avon), casa--museu de Balzac (Paris), casa -museu de Fernando Pessoa e a sua estátua no café Brasileira (Lisboa). Nas cidades literárias podem também fazer -se percursos literários (em que o poeta, através da representação do espaço nos poemas, serve de guia turístico), aliados ou não, à enogastronomia literária (pratos e bebidas que são referidos textualmente), e até pernoitar em hotéis literários (Oliveira, 2020). O turismo literário pode incluir também festivais literários, feiras do livro e livrarias/alfarrabistas emblemáticos. ...
A participação cultural e cívica é baixa em Portugal. A participação cultural é baixa, sobretudo, quando comparando com o que acontece na União Europeia. De acordo com os dados do Eurobarómetro, menos de metade das pessoas em Portugal visitaram
um monumento histórico ou um sítio e/ou assistiram a pelo menos um evento tradicional (45%), e apenas 33% assistiram a um espetáculo de artes performativas (Comissão Europeia, Direção‑Geral da Educação, Juventude, Desporto e Cultura, 2018, p. 3). Em Portugal é também baixa a participação cívica, com elevados graus de abstenção (PORDATA, 2019).
No entanto, se redefinirmos o que entendemos por participação cultural e cívica, deparamo‑nos com uma realidade mais complexa. Por exemplo, a baixa participação dos jovens no acto eleitoral, pode ser compensada pelo seu envolvimento em formas
de acção política alternativas ao voto e/ou por maior participação cívica, como por exemplo no associativismo (Lobo & Sanches, 2017, p. 136). Também o sociólogo José Machado Pais defende que, quando se fala em jovens e cidadania, não se deve
falar apenas da inclusão/exclusão de direitos, responsabilidades, obrigações, mas “importa também explorar os movimentos juvenis de expressão cultural, sem esquecer os sentimentos de pertença e as subjectividades que se investem nas relações de sociabilidade” (Pais, 2005, p. 56).
Sobre a participação cultural, há também que questionar se chega o que é contabilizado pelas estatísticas da cultura: visitas a museus, número de espectadores de cinema, teatro, espectáculos ao vivo.... Há que questionar o que conta como participação
cultural, que pode excluir actividades como street art/graffiti ou... experimentar roupa. Apela a sociológa Tia DeNora para não definirmos a priori o que é ou não é cultural, de modo a conceptualizar a participação cultural de forma mais inclusiva (DeNora,
2013, p. 57). Este apelo faz tanto mais sentido se retomarmos os dados do Eurobarómetro, que revelam que como principais obstáculos à participação em actividades culturais, os inquiridos identificaram em primeiro lugar a falta de interesse (45%), e só depois o preço (35%) (Comissão Europeia, Direção‑Geral da Educação, Juventude, Desporto e Cultura, 2018, p. 3).
Este texto propõe‑se a dar conta do fazer da cultura para além dos seus locais de produção, circulação e consumo culturais, usando como exemplo o fazer com palavras nas paredes da cidade, e entendê‑lo como forma de participação cultural e cívica, lê‑lo
nos circuitos de produção e distribuição de poesia, treslê‑lo poeticamente. Numa altura em que uma nova definição de museu está a ser polemicamente debatida pelos profissionais de museus, sugiro que o museu não olhe apenas para as suas paredes, e que possa aprender, em passeio, com as paredes da cidade.
A palavra, matéria‑prima de poesia, é uma matéria de intervenção na cidade, uma forma de apreensão, compreensão, imaginação e transformação do real urbano. A partir daqui,
debrucemo‑nos então sobre a relação entre cidade e poesia.
... In recent years, themed hotels have become increasingly more attractive in the hospitality industry (Loureiro, Bilro, & Japutra, 2019;Oliveira, 2020;Xiao, Zhang, & Huang, 2013), both as accommodation options and as destination choices (Pavia, Floričić, & Cerović, 2016). Consequently, they have also attracted greater attention from academia. ...
This study uses the Mehrabian-Russell model to assess place attachment in the themed-hotel context. We explored the theoretical framework using four constructs related to the stimulus-organism-response paradigm. A total of 282 usable survey questionnaires were collected from travelers to test our hypotheses. We conducted multiple stages of data analysis, using structural equation modeling (SEM) and generative probabilistic modeling to verify the findings. Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) was adopted to further verify key attributes in servicescapes. According to the SEM results, social cues are positively associated with pleasant arousal, and ambience cues are positively associated with social cues. We also verified that pleasant arousal is positively associated with place attachment. Furthermore, we confirmed that emotional factors can trigger the formation of place attachment to a themed hotel. The LDA results allowed us to further classify servicescapes by design cues, social cues, and ambience cues. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.
Journal of Tourism, Culinary, and Entrepreneurship e-ISSN: 2776-0928 Trends in accommodation are a part of the traveler's lifestyle, seeking valuable experiences during their stay. The phenomenon of theme hotels has become a trend in Malaysian accommodation. Unique physical architecture design made a special accommodation in a theme hotel. Physical environment quality is an important attribute that influences guest satisfaction by meeting their needs and expectations. Two primary dimensions, i.e., surrounding indoor and guestroom, were identified for the physical environment quality. Data were obtained from a questionnaire distributed randomly to 400 respondents in five selected theme hotels, and 375 completed questionnaires were returned. However, 360 were appropriate for further analysis. This study was analyzed using Exploratory Factor Analysis and multiple regression analysis. The results show that hotel ambiance and facility aesthetics significantly influence indoor dimensions. The guestroom's cleanliness significantly influenced guest satisfaction with the guestroom dimensions. Findings could assist the management of theme hotels and employees in improving their physical environment quality to ensure guests' satisfaction. Limitations and future research recommendations are presented.
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