Exploring the dimensions of bed and breakfast (B&B) visitors’ experiences

ABSTRACT

With the rapid development of the experience economy and sharing economy, bed and breakfast (B&B) accommodation, favoured by more and more tourists, has become an indispensable component of tourism. Gaining knowledge of the experiential features of tourist activities at B&Bs is paramount for B&B operators to understand and satisfy tourists’ wide-ranging needs. With this concern in mind, the purpose of this study was to develop a multiple-item scale to measure tourists’ experiences of staying at B&Bs. We developed an experiential scale with 24 embedded items in six dimensions: entertainment, aesthetics, escapism, education, relationship development, and folk custom. The data support this dimensional structure, as well as its internal consistency and validity. This research bridges the gap in measuring the experiential stay at B&B and puts forward directions for future research. The findings offer important practical implications for B&B operations in relation to experiential product development and marketing.

KEYWORDS:

• Experience economy
• scale development tourist experience
• bed and breakfast (B&B) experience

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Macau University of Science and Technology Faculty Research Grants [FRG-18-014-FHTM].

Notes on contributors

Yi Tong Deng

Yi Tong Deng is PhD Candidate in Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Macau University of Science and Technology.

Hoffer Lee

Hoffer Lee is Assistant Professor in Faculty of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Macau University of Science and Technology.