Indoor and outdoor physical surroundings and guests’ emotional well-being: A luxury resort hotel context

Purpose: This paper aims to examine the relationship of internal/external physical environments and emotional well-being and to explore the possible influence of such an association with guest satisfaction and retention considering the moderating role of price perception in the luxury resort hotel context. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 603 responses were gathered from a field survey at luxury resort hotels. The data were analyzed using quantitative data analyses to achieve research objectives. Findings: The results from the structural model assessment revealed that both internal and external physical environments elicited emotional well-being, which in turn leads to the increased guest satisfaction and retention. More specifically, internal atmospherics had a stronger impact on triggering subsequent variables compared to external environment factors. The outcomes also indicated the significant mediating role of emotional well-being and satisfaction. Emotional well-being was found to mediate the effect of internal and external physical environments on guest satisfaction, while guest satisfaction mediated the effect of emotional well-being on guest retention. Moreover, price perception significantly moderated the guest satisfaction–guest retention association. Overall, the proposed conceptual framework satisfactorily accounted for variance in guest retention. Originality/value: The findings help practitioners in luxury resort hotels to develop ways to boost guests’ post-purchase behaviors by using internal/external atmospherics and emotional well-being.