Understanding the Hospitality Consumer

Citation

Ingram, H. (2003), "Understanding the Hospitality Consumer", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 15 No. 2, pp. 129-129. https://doi.org/10.1108/ijchm.2003.15.2.129.1

Here is another good book from the series edited by Conrad Lashley by a colleague from Leeds Metropolitan University. It follows eight previous series titles about hospitality finance, operational and research issues that are commendably seeking the true essence of hospitality. In this book, Alistair Williams looks at consumer behaviour theory and its applications to hospitality marketing, both now and in the future. In keeping with the best applied texts in the field, it is interdisciplinary in nature, calling on sociology, psychology and economics. The customer is (rightly) the subject of the book, rather than the object, as is often the case in less focussed texts. Most operators would agree and applaud the generous use of case studies on companies such as Six Continents, Euro Disney and McDonald’s. As the late René Thom (creator of catastrophe theory) declared: “If one must choose between rigour and meaning, I shall choose the latter”. This book happily gives both.

The first part sets the context for the study of hospitality services with an introduction to the discipline of consumer behaviour and the context of hospitality consumption.

Part two considers some complementary perspectives, including the individual decision‐making process and the effects of factors such as society, culture and reference groups on hospitality consumption.

In Part three, the arguments become more interesting and forward thinking. For example, there are questions about the validity of the strategy of market segmentation, because (according to Crawford‐Welch) many hospitality organizations are “in reality practicing the strategy of product differentiation”. Williams concludes that “systematic violations of the marketing concept are the norm rather than the exception”. This means that hospitality buyer preferences are not simple, explainable or predictable by generic marketing theory, but are more dependent on the context of choice and the products available. Hospitality buyers, therefore, use different rules for different occasions. This realization moves thinking from Levitt’s 1960s view of “marketing myopia”to Brown’s 1990s description of “the myopia of marketing”.

How does all this affect hospitality? Williams suggests that greater flexibility of social roles and more fragmented hospitality consumption has implications for marketing hospitality services. The puritan ethic of Spartan consumption has been supplanted by the conspicuous social consumption of postmodern capitalism and plenty. Williams cites some relevant examples of hyperreality, chronology and pastiche in postmodern products and services, supported by case studies about cruise lines and pubs. The implications for marketing hospitality are further explored, with the suggestion that the hospitality marketer of the future should recognise the changing characteristics of consumers and develop products and services that address these needs.

Finally, Williams considers problems in researching contemporary hospitality consumer behaviour. There are tensions between research methods and it is suggested that there should be a transition from “realist” traditional consumer research to “relativist” postmodern consumer research, in terms of epistemology and ontology. This new approach looks for difference in the behaviour of hospitality consumers and suggests more subjective methodologies that may be more relevant.

In summary, although this book is primarily aimed at the student population, it is one that should be read by all enquiring and reflective hospitality operators. The reason is that this book is a satisfying synthesis of theory and practice. Williams not only sets out the theory clearly, but also shows how it applies to the complicated world of hospitality. Unlike many academic texts, this book has direction and leaves the reader with a provocative and pertinent message.