Pet-friendly hotels: distinctive attributes and their influence on customer behavior

Purpose: This study aims to determine the distinctive attributes of pet-friendly hotels, examine the importance versus the performance of each attribute, and test the effect of the performance of attributes on customer behavior. Design/methodology/approach: This research applied qualitative and quantitative methods to explore the unique attributes of pet-friendly hotels. The importance-performance analysis was used to investigate how customers perceive the importance and the performance of each attribute, and regression analysis was used to examine how the performance of attributes influences customer behavior. Findings: This study identified six distinctive attributes of pet-friendly hotels. Furthermore, the findings underlined the significance of pet-related activity support for pet-friendly hotel selections, and addressed an urgent need for the improvement of pet-friendly safety measures. Last, results showed the salient effect of pet-related activity support on visit and word-of-mouth intentions, and the strong influence of pet-centric facilities and services on willingness to pay premiums for pet-friendly hotels. Practical implications: The findings provided useful insights into how hotel companies could effectively position themselves as pet-friendly from customers’ perspectives. Originality/value: This research is among the first to determine distinctive attributes and adopt importance-performance analysis in pet-friendly hotel context.