Hospitality environmental factors: a study of the consumption experience of homosexuals in the Northeast of Brazil

              © PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural. ISSN 1695-7121
Vol. 10 Nº 3 págs. 331-343. 2012
www.pasosonline.org
Hospitality environmental factors: a study of the consumption experience of
homosexuals in the Northeast of Brazil
Yákara Vasconcelos Pereira Leite i
Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (Brazil)
Juliana Pinheiro da Silva ii
Manuela Souza Constantino Oliveira iii
i Professora do Departamento de Agrotecnologia e Ciências Sociais da Universidade Federal Rural do Semi-Árido e doutoranda em
Administração da Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (Brazil). E-mail: yakarav@gmail.com
ii Graduada em Hotelaria pela Universidade Federal de Pernambuco (Brazil). E-mail: julianapds@hotmail.com
iii Aluna do International Master of Science in Business Administration – UCP/ FCEE. E-mail: manu.scoliveira@gmail.com
Abstract: The overall goal of this research is identifying environmental factors in hospitality that lead the interviewed
homosexuals to memorable consumer experiences at hotels and inns. This research was conducted under descriptive
qualitative approach. According to this perspective, gays from two states of the northeast of Brazil were interviewed. The
narratives were presented in order to enhance the formation of categories. Regarding results, it was observed that the expe-rience
of consumption is memorized as positive or negative due to the performance of factors related to service provision
and infrastructure. Therefore, it was noticed that the hospitality servicescape influences the consumption experience of
the interviewed homosexuals to a point that it becomes memorable.
Keywords: Consumption experience; Hospitality; Homosexuals; Experiential marketing; Consumer subculture.
Título: Factores del ambiente de la hospitalidad: un estudio de la experiencia de consumo de homosexuales del Nordeste
Brasileño
Resumen: Esta investigación tiene el objetivo general de identificar los factores ambientales de la hospitalidad que impul-san
los homosexuales entrevistados a vivieren experiencias memorables de consumo en los hoteles y hostales. Se utilizó
el enfoque cualitativo de tipo descriptivo. Desde esta perspectiva, gays de dos Estados del Nordeste de Brasil fueron en-trevistados.
Los relatos se presentaron a fin de mejorar la formación de categorías. En cuanto a los resultados, se consideró
que la experiencia de consumo se almacena como un rendimiento positivo o negativo debido a factores relacionados con la
prestación de servicios y la infraestructura. Por lo tanto, se constató que el entorno de servicios de hospitalidad influye en
el consumo de los homosexuales entrevistados a punto de hacerla memorable.
Palabras clave: Experiencia de consumo; Hospitalidad; Homosexuales; Marketing experiencial; Subcultura de los consu-midores.
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Introduction
Helping organizations capture and retain clients is
one of the goals of studies that investigate consumer be-havior.
Hence this challenge, the buyer not only receives
information before the acquisition of a product or service,
but also during and after this process.
Due to this idea, experiential marketing focuses on
providing a differentiated consumer experience so the
client feels satisfied and repeats the purchase (Schmitt,
1999). Consumer experiences may take place at different
settings, such as shows, operas, restaurants, cinemas, ho-tels
and others. In the case of a hotel environment several
factors contribute for the production of memories related
to a differentiated and pleasant stay on a guest’s mind
(PORIA, 2006). This can make the client return to the
hotel in the future or indicate it to other potential con-sumers.
This way, this investigation consists on identifying
consumer experiences at hospitality settings that are
memorable for a group of interviewed homosexuals. This
subculture of consumption (Peñazola, 1996; Kates, 1998,
2002; Nunan, 2003; Pereira, Ayrosa y Ojima, 2005) has
been little explored by researchers and entrepreneurs,
although it represents great profit opportunities. This
public is formed by the GLBTs (gays, lesbians, bisexuals,
transgender people - and supporters) group; this research
refers to a group of both male and female gays.
Thus, the present work is structured into seven sec-tions.
Besides this one, second and third sections portray
a theoretical approach to the thematic of subculture and
consumer experience. Then, the procedures, results, final
considerations and references are presented.
Subculture: Homosexual Consumer
Mowen and Minor (2003, p.3) explain that: “Consumer
behavior is defined as the study of the buying units and
the exchange processes involved in acquiring, consuming,
and disposing goods, services, experiences, and ideas”. So-lomon
(2008) follows a similar perspective, stating that
several factors influence consumer behavior, among them
the marketing stimuli, macro-environment, individual
factors and characteristics, and also the subculture.
Besides culture, there’s also the subculture, thus,
Mowen and Minor (2003: 36) state:
[...] culture as the way of life of people in a socie-ty.
On the other hand, a subculture is a subdivi-sion
of a national culture. The subculture is based
on some unifying characteristics [...] and its mem-bers
share a similarity of behavior somewhat dis-tinct
of the national culture in which they live.
Hooley, Saunders and Piercy (2005) go further, explai-ning
that every individual can take part in a variety of
subcultures. The subcultures are groups within society
that have unique characteristics regarding their attitu-des
or behavior. In order to have some importance for the
investigations, it is recommended to observe if the par-ticipants
of the analyzed subculture have long-lasting
behaviors, and also that these are of great importance,
affecting the attitudes of such individuals. This is verified
in the case of homosexuals.
Based on social movements, homosexuals have deve-loped
an awareness of themselves, which is the result of
common interests and experiences of exclusion, mobiliza-tion
and mistreatment by the dominant society (Penãzola,
1996). For this reason, homosexuals were classified in the
market as a subculture of consumption, since the subcul-ture
of consumption is “a socially constructed phenome-non”
(Nunan y Jablonski, 2002, p. 21) and gathers indivi-duals
with similar lifestyles, values, attitudes and beliefs
– that are opposite to the ones of the dominant culture
(Delozier y Rodriguez, 1996; Kates, 1998; Nunan, 2003).
By being grouped into a subculture of consumption, it be-comes
easier to be identified and included in consumption
patterns through the different dimensions of identity,
social practices and formation of communities (Penãzola,
1996). Thus, a subculture is made up of “meanings, codes,
language, norms, values, customs, activities, institutions
(material and psychological support structures) and tra-ditions”
(Nunan y Jablonski, 2002, p. 21).
Oliveros and Lopez (2006), Oakenfull and Greenlee
(2005) and Oliveira (2002) complement this point of view
by stating that the gay community is an attractive consu-mer
market because it is composed of couples with dual
incomes and no children, that also possess a high level
of culture, which encourages them to spend more on lei-sure.
Due to the interesting buying potential offered by
the homosexual community, Newman and Nelson (1996:
57-58) argue that marketers “are beginning to recognize
homosexuality as a way of life.”
Another aspect is that the most solid studies in the
literature on consumption behavior of homosexuals were
conducted by foreign researchers in their country of ori-gin
(Delozuier y Rodrigue, 1996; Fugate, 1993; Haslop,
Hill y Schmidt, 1998; Hughes, 2002 ; Kates, 1998, 2002;
Lukenbill, 1999; Reiss y Webster, 1997). However, despite
the fact that these studies have been developed abroad,
Nunan (2003) states that the consumption behavior of fo-reign
homosexuals is similar to the one in Brazil. Further-more,
regardless of social class, gay men value the image,
appearance and fashion and, moreover, are directed to
information and entertainment, which means that they
seek information about fashion, personal relationships
and about what is happening in the world.
Homosexual tourists’ interests are related to cul-tural
activities, urban tourism, and sites that do not
show homophobic attitudes (Hughes, 2002). This
happens when other individuals in society disap-prove
homosexuality and, therefore, there is often a
high probability of physical or verbal aggression to
the homosexual.
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Jones (1996) explains that there is still discrimina-tion
against same-sex couples and that it could be noticed
even during bookings/ reservations. Considering this as-pect,
the term “gay” adopted along the study refers to both
male and female gays and does not intend to be regarded
as pejorative.
According to Lukenbill (1999: 52), “the gay travel a
lot, both domestically and abroad”. Nunan (2003: 161)
states that this occurs “quite frequently” and that they
tend to choose destinations where “there is greater sexual
freedom or an established gay community.­This
is becau-se
for gays the concept of freedom covers various spheres
of social life, including consumption, patterns of behavior
and sexuality, being a relevant factor in this subculture
(Visconti, 2008). The reason to go on several leisure trips
is closely related to the high stress level that homosexuals
face on a daily basis (Lukenbill, 1999). To this group, tra-velling
comes as an alternative that allows them to set
themselves free from heterosexuality, and this leads to a
search for places where they may, in one way or another,
“discover or be themselves by the performance of gender
and sexual roles” (Waitt y Markwell, 2006, p. 4). This
freedom can be expressed in hotels, providing memorable
consumer experiences. The following section presents an
overview of this topic.
Memorable consumer experiences
Experiences can last a long time in people’s minds
(Schmitt, 2002), becoming memorable (Nsip y Gilmore,
1998).
Memory
The acknowledgement of the buyer’s needs of happens
once the difference between an actual and a desired con-dition
is noticed (Mowen y Minor, 2003; Solomon, 2008).
Depending on its needs and desires, the consumer may
get more involved with the buying process.
Zaichkowsky (1985) defines involvement as the re-levance
of a perceived object based on a person’s needs,
values and interests. It is expected that the more the cus-tomer
is involved, the more attention is paid in order to
understand the information related to products and servi-ces
(Mowen y Minor, 2003). Solomon (2006), Mowen and
Minor (2003) warn marketers that they should expose con-sumers
to information, making them pay more attention
to the product. When there is attention, cognitive capacity
is directed towards a stimulus, in a way information is
processed consciously. Cognition is the area in which all
mental phenomena, perception, memory, judgment and
reasoning are grouped (Bayton, 1958). In the case of me-mory,
it “influences the process of attention, orienting the
sensory system to focus, according to its own choice, on a
specific stimulus (Mowen y Minor, 2003, p. 64).
Memory is formed by long-term memory (LTM), short-term
(working) memory (STM) and sensory memory (SM)
systems. The information is captured by one or more re-ceptors
(sight, smell, touch, etc.) and transmitted to an
appropriate SM, where it is rapidly lost (in fractions of se-conds),
unless attention is allocated to the stimulus. The
received information is transferred to the STM, which
performs as the center of the processing activity since it
integrates information from sense organs and the LTM
(Shimp, 2003).
The internal construction of consumer reality may
not be congruent with the outside world, i.e. the world
objectively verifiable. Because of this, researchers should
probe the mental image that consumers establish towards
a product, as seen in the consumer’s subjective reality –
thus, beyond its objective context. The hedonic approach
raises important questions about the mental role, such as
multisensory images and emotional arousal (Hirschman y
Holbrook, 1986), in order to complement this discussion,
follows some information about the analyzed subculture’s
experience of consumption.
Consumption experiences of homosexuals
In contrast to traditional marketing - which focuses on
features and benefits, the experiential marketing focuses
on consumer experiences. Experiences occur as a result of
meetings, suffering or simply living. Experiences promote
sensations, feelings, cognition, behavior and a relation-ship
value that replaces the functional value. In recent
times, there is a growing trend to provide consumer ex-periences,
especially in the service sector (Berry, Carbone
y Haeckel, 2002; Pullman y Gross, 2003). Currently, the
concept of experience in marketing involves offering so-mething
more attractive to buyers (Wikström, 2004).
According to Schmitt (2002: 77), which is one of the
most relevant scholars on this subject “experiential mar-keting
is based on the client’s psychological theory and
practice – as well as their behaviors.” Thus, it is related
to hedonic consumption. To Hirschman and Holbrook
(1986: 92), the “hedonic consumption relates to facets of
consumer behavior that relate to the multisensory, fan-tasy
and emotive aspects of one’s own experience with the
products.” The concept is linked to the pleasure that is
captured via the senses of the consumer. It is an approach
that aims to examine the interaction between consumers
and products. Hedonic products have a high reliance on
sensory aspects (Woods, 1960). Thus it provides a further
justification for studying the homosexual consumption in
hospitality.
Holbrook and Hirschman (1982) present a model that
represents the variables in consumer behavior. The focus
is on symbolic, hedonic and aesthetic nature of consump-tion.
They add that the choice of products depends largely
on the subculture.
The service encounter, which is known as the “Dya-dic
integration that occurs between service providers and
customers” is considered the starting point in customer
service ratings (Saura et al., 2005: 50). The experiences of
consumption in services are therefore the result of these
interactions between “organizations, systems/processes
related, employees and consumers” (Bitner et al., 1997:
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193). The consumption experiences are created, modera-ted
and mediated by emotions that are a state of mind
that comes from evaluations of an event or thought and
can generate specific actions depending on the nature and
the thoughts of the individual (Gutiérrez, 2006).
This way, efforts to create emotional connections with
consumers through effective planning of tangible and in-tangible
aspects of services have achieved greater impor-tance
to hospitality businesses (Pullman y Gross, 2003).
Dube, Le Bel and Sears (2003: 125) believe it is possible
to manage different objective elements, such as physical
environment, human resources and communication in or-der
to “shape guest’s perceptions in order to create satis-fying
experiences”, because according to the authors, the
specific aspects of hotels operate as providers of private
benefits that are stored in the minds of guests.
The importance of the social elements in mutual ex-changes
of service was considered by Butcher (2005), espe-cially
in hospitality services, where there is close contact
between customers and employees. The author defined
two social variables (social comfort and social value) capa-ble
of influencing consumer behavior and, consequently,
the results of the service, such as repurchase intentions.
The social comfort was defined as the “consumer’s feelings
of anxiety or relaxation arising from social interaction
with the employee’s service.” The feelings of comfort come
from the behavior of others on site, therefore, within the
service interactions, are often dependent on actions by
hospitality employees. The second variable - social value,
concerns the value and importance feelings demonstrated
by service providers to their clients during service (But-cher,
2005).
In order to explain how the process of consumer expe-rience
in hospitality takes place and is constructed, Kn-utson
and Beck (2003) developed a theoretical model di-vided
into three specific parts. The first part of the model
consists of the stage of “pre-experience” of consumption,
which includes the expectations created by the brand,
promotional activities, advertising campaigns and the
personal memories stored in a previous experiment. The
second part is considered the “heart” of the model and re-presents
all service encounter experiences. In hospitality,
this part of the model is related to all stages that guests go
through, including booking the hotel, the stay itself and
check-in and check-out procedures. It is emphasized that
the degree of accessibility of the service may affect the
value of experience perceived by customers. The accessibi-lity
within consumer experiences relates to cost, delivery
and service availability at the time the consumer desires
to buy it. The third part of the model consists of the “post-experience”
built on the perceived personal aspects of
guests in relation to the experience and on the value and
satisfaction that they attribute to the experience. On the
third part of the model the authors also include customer
complaints and resolutions, through feedback after con-sumption,
to then complete the whole process of consump-tion
experience.
Some studies concern about the influence of the servi-cescape
on the consumer experience of homosexuals. In
service companies related to leisure – including hotels,
consumption has been induced by emotional reasons.
More recent studies corroborate this perspective (Lally y
Fynes, 2006). It is known, however, that the responses
of an individual or a group of individuals, caused by the
atmosphere at a given time may be different in another
group (Turley y Millimam, 2000). According to Kates
(1998), who studied the homosexuals, the complex set of
meanings represented by beliefs, standards, values, tradi-tions
and practices is the foundation of human activities
and help shape the way people use products.
Bars, restaurants and clubs aimed at the homosexual
audience also cause internal reactions that are important
to the understanding of gay consumer behavior. In the-se
settings, homosexuals keep their network of friends,
socially interact with others and can freely express their
cultural identity and sexual orientation (Hughes, 2002).
The importance of the environment on leisure services
as a factor of great influence in the homosexual consu-mer
experience was studied by Haslop, Hill and Schmidt
(1998). In a survey conducted on gay bars in the city of
Manchester in the United States, the researchers found
that gay men who have experienced the services offered
in the gay bars of the city had feelings of freedom, libera-tion,
safety and social participation. Two key influences
of environmental services that attracted and pleased gay
customers were music and atmosphere. The atmosphere
was presented as an “integration of all aspects of the envi-ronment”,
composed by music, decor and other customers,
this corroborates the research developed by Ruangwanit
and Wattanasuwan (2009), which presents decoration as
an important aspect to the male homosexual.
Haslop Hill and Schimidt (1998) also found the more
apparent values among homosexual consumers during
experiences in a service encounter environment and their
findings include security, the opportunity to express one-self,
freedom, community, individualism, hedonism and
diversity. Therefore, it could be noticed that the “subcul-ture
of consumption helps the individual to resolve va-rious
problems which are related to the need for freedom,
identity, affiliation with others” (Kates, 1998, p. 132).
Another relevant research was conducted by Poria
(2006) and examined the experiences of gay consump-tion
in hotels. According to this research it is significant
for homosexuals to feel welcome and accepted once their
sexual orientation is known. For this reason, the parti-cipants
considered important that hotel workers allocate
gay couples in double bed apartments. For this group it
has a symbolic meaning because it is in the allocation of
apartments with double bed that they realize that their
sexual orientation is accepted by the establishment. Ac-cording
to Poria (2006, p. 330), “almost all participants
said they would like to feel they are being treated and
served by staff the same way as the other guests.” Besides
that, interviewed homosexuals also gave importance to
the place’s security and extended breakfast.
Once the theoretical framework that conducted data
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collection and analysis has been presented, the following
section describes the methods applied to this research.
Methods
In order to achieve the overall objective, a qualitative
approach has been adopted (Merriam, 1998). “The qua-litative
method makes it easier to study in depth and in
detail” (Patton, 2001: 14) and does not intend to genera-lize
the results.
In relation to environmental factors that can provide
memorable consumer experiences in hospitality, this re-search
considered memories related to stays at hotels and
inns, excluding thus memories of any other establishment
that provides accommodation such as hostels and motels.
This criterion was established due to observation of a lack
of studies in this specific field.
Following the qualitative perspective, six male gays
were interviewed early in the second half of 2006 in Per-nambuco
(PE) and ten other homosexuals, being five fe-males
and five males, responded to the interviews at the
end of the first half of 2010 in Pernambuco and Rio Gran-de
do Norte (RN). The interval of time for data collection
was determined due to access and availability of the re-searcher.
Among these ten, three gay men and two wo-men
were from RN, whereas two homosexual males and
three females were from PE.
Some criteria have been adopted to select respon-dents.
The first was that, in order to respect the design of
this investigation individuals should be publicly assumed
gays. The second criterion was to admit only those res-pondents
who stayed at hotels and/or inns within the last
five years. While acknowledging that experiences “last a
lifetime” (Schmitt, 2002) and its main attribute is the fact
that customers consider the experiences as a “memorable
event” (Pine y Gilmore, 1998, p. 98), the five year period
was set in order to get closer to the period of stay. Besi-des
these criteria, respondents also had to previously earn
some college degree, even if still in progress or incomple-te,
once it is understood that educational level influences
consumer behavior (Solomon, 2008).
The selection of these two states in the Northeast of
Brazil (PE and RN) was due to access to these locations.
As for the selection of subjects, the first ones in Pernam-buco
and Rio Grande do Norte were chosen intentiona-lly,
these then indicated their contacts, according to the
“snowball” technique (McDaniel y Gates, 2005) which
enabled the selection of the study participants. Finally,
the definition of the number of respondents occurred ac-cording
to the criterion of saturation of the categories for-med
during data analysis (Taylor y Bogdan, 1984).
A semi structured interview was the method used
for data collection. According to Jacoby (1978), the inter-view
is an important technique when one wants to lead
the respondent to recall past events. To determine the
adequacy of the collection tool, the interview script went
through two pilot studies, in 2006 and 2010. Two types of
interviews were used, one with a predetermined script,
implemented in semi-structured interviews in 2006 and
2010 and the fictional, only adopted in 2010. The fictio-nal
interview intend to bring out the subject’s past ex-periences
allowing creative freedom in the form of a na-rrative,
beginning with a presentation by the interviewer,
in a hypothetical and realistic situation, through which
the interviewee can create a personal fictional narrative
(Albandes-Moreira, 2002). Thus, all interviews were re-corded
and transcribed.
Regarding the stage of data analysis, a large amount
of information is a characteristic of qualitative studies
(Patton, 2001), in which the encoding appears as a syste-matic
of development and refinement that contributes to
interpretation (Taylor y Bogdan, 1984). Considering this,
the collected information was encoded, so it was possible
to analyze the interviews (Bogdan y Biklen, 1994). From
the data coding, categories were formulated to capture as-pects
of the analyzed phenomenon (Merriam, 1998). Thus,
we considered the repetition of words and the empha-sis
that respondents gave to certain themes (Bogdan y
Biklen, 1994).
Results
This research aims to identify the consumer experien-ces
at hotels and inns that are memorable for interviewed
homosexuals. Regarding this purpose, the findings are
presented in three stages. The first presents the positi-ve
and negative memorable experiences experienced by
six male homosexuals who were interviewed in 2006 in
the state of Pernambuco. The second stage presents the
memorable consumption experiences remembered by the
ten male and female homosexuals surveyed in 2010 in the
states of Pernambuco and Rio Grande do Norte. At last,
the results are discussed with the support of the theore-tical
framework.
The narratives were presented in order to enhance the
formation of categories. This way, the narratives had to
go through a selection process.
Male gay’s reports - Pernambuco (2006)
Through analysis of the collected data it was obser-ved
that issues related to service, breakfast, privacy and
discretion make an experience of consumption in hotels
and inns memorable in a positive way to gay respondents.
Table 1 presents evidences of these results by sharing
sections of narratives - along with pseudonyms of respon-dents
in parentheses. The three categories on Table 1 are
classified as activities related to service delivery.
Also regarding positive experiences Table 2 lists infra-structure
factors. The bed, the differential structure, pool
and cable TV are responsible for creating positive memo-ries
in the minds of respondents after staying in hotels
and inns.
Regarding location, Table 3 presents excerpts from
the interviews that demonstrate the relevance the in-terviewed
gays deposit in that respect. Accommodation
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Service
[...] the hotel really values the offer of a personalized service [...]. Personalized service,
politeness, posture, willing to serve, dealing with the situation with proper finesse [...].
(João da Silva)
[...] the way you are treated, that’s really important, being welcome, because that’s hard
to find. (Gabriel Montenegro)
Breakfast
[...] breakfast was exquisite, it was like a convention Center, everything was provided [...].
(Gabriel Montenegro)
I think the breakfast should offer diversification, because it's different, right? [...] (Antônio
Cavalcanti)
[...] you come to breakfast, the food is good, not as in just offering better quality but a
well prepared meal. (Eduardo Assis)
Privacy and discretion
[...] they won’t invade your privacy, what matters to them is that you feel good when you
stay there [...]. [...] to me, discretion is fundamental [...]. (João da Silva)
Discretion, because they’ll be dealing with all sorts of people [...]. (Gabriel Montenegro)
I believe it should be as discrete as possible, providing regular service, making the guest
feel as comfortable as possible. (Pedro Araújo)
Table 1 Positive consumption experiences – Service provision (2006). Source: data collected in 2006
Bed
The bed! Sleeping is very good [...] The bed must have a nice mattress, a good pillow
– neither too high nor too low, maybe a duvet according to the temperature [...].
(Antônio Cavalcanti)
[...] if there’s a nice, comfortable bed and pillows, a Nice and clean bathroom and all,
then it’s fine [...]. As long as it’s soft and comfortable [...]. (João da Silva)
Must offer a comfortable bed (Eduardo Assis)
Differentiated structure
It was a big hotel, an Othon, once you arrive you can notice the differential. It was
chic, there were marble columns and shops, such as: Zahra, Clock’s [...]. (João da
Costa)
[...] but there was a very beautiful balcony and you could have breakfast on this
porch because it was connected to the bedrooms [...]. (Gabriel Montenegro)
Pool
[...] a pool with a waterfall, whirlpool, warm water etc It was all about the hotel, you
don’t even bother going out, you just relax [...]. (Gabriel Montenegro)
[...] there was a heated pool, so it doesn’t matter if it’s winter or early morning.
Another thing, I do enjoy swimming. I cherish a hotel that offers a pool where I can
spend some time swimming [...] (Antônio Cavalcanti)
Cable TV
[...] cable TV, you have the option to watch a movie, several programs [...]. (Antônio
Cavalcanti)
I think it’s fundamental [...]. Cable TV is an essential item nowadays, it’s like offering
an ensuite bathroom. (João da Silva)
Table 2 Positive consumption experiences – Infra-structure (2006). Source: data collected in 2006
[...] the location, the feasibility to go wherever you want from the hotel [...] (Gabriel Montenegro)
Ibis Belo Horizonte is located in the suburb of Liberty, it is extremely central; it is extremely close to everything [...].
It is extremely hard to get a reservation there because of its location; it’s in the heart of the city which really makes
things easier. You can go around by foot, taxi rides become cheaper because distances are [...]. (João da Silva)
Table 3 Positive consumption experiences – Location (2006). Source: data collected in 2006
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within easy access or close to transports centers are rela-ted
to the perception and memorization of the consump-tion
experience. Thus, using these data, it is possible to
understand that for the six respondents in 2006, the pro-vision
of services, infrastructure and also the location of
hotels and inns are crucial to remember the moment as
positive.
On the other hand, the experiences of consumption
can be regarded as negative when triggered by factors re-lated
to service, availability of double bed and cleanliness.
Table 4 shows the reports of respondents about the cate-gories
of services that may lead the guest to rate a stay
as negative.
After data analysis, the findings indicate that the ser-vice
is relevant and when poorly managed can affect the
customer’s memories about the stay. In what concerns the
service, a couple of situations stand out – when employees
do not meet the requests of guests or when they do not
perform the service adequately. The category availability
of double beds represents the difficulty of getting a double
bed in hotels and inns. Gays pointed out problems, since
employees do not easily offer double beds to homosexuals.
This fact leads the gays to go through constraints at ti-mes.
Perceived by that, that negative experiences are rela-ted
to the provision of services, not to be, initially, a rele-vant
infrastructure. Presented data from Pernambuco in
2006, is passed to the results achieved with the interviews
conducted in 2010.
Table 4 Negative consumption experiences – Service provision (2006).
Source: data collected in 2006
Service
[...]Then my friend asked for one thing and
the attendant responded with ill will, said
they didn’t have it, and would not do it - if
she wanted that she should pay to get it
[...]. (Eduardo Assis)
[...] they gave us the key but when we got
there it wasn’t our room, there was
someone else [...]. (Gabriel Montenegro)
Cleanliness
[...] a bad hotel can ruin your trip. I was
traumatized by the hotel in Florence; you
end up associating that bad experience at
the hotel to the city. [...] Once in the
bedroom, the bathroom! I’m disgusted by
a dirty bathroom [...]. (Gabriel
Montenegro)
[...] it cannot have that mold smell [...].
(Pedro Assis)
[...] the bathroom was not hygienic [...].
(Eduardo Assis)
Service
In London, I was having a hard time communicating, the employee understood that I was a Portuguese speaker
and immediately called a central service where I could speak my own language and have it translated to him [...]
I thought it was perfect, the fact that he cared about it (Evandro Mota-RN)
The receptionist’s service provision, kindness, courtesy, quick service, no one was left waiting. (Dário Varela-RN)
[...] personal service, being treated by one’s own name. Being agile, effective, courteous. (Cláudio Abreu-PE)
Absence of prejudice
I’ve never felt the effects of prejudice, even though everyone knows I’m overly gay. When we get around it can
be noticed, it’s clear [...] they are there to provide a good service, be you straight, or overly gay (Zuca Maia-RN)
[...] that would be the service, being respected, treated well. (Cláudio Abreu-PE)
Breakfast
[...] an interesting breakfast. I really like everything from breakfast. (Zuca Maia-RN)
[...] the option of having breakfast included. (YlmaMaia-PE)
Wonderful breakfasts, lots of breads, lots of fruits [...] an incredible variety, I believe breakfast is an extremely
important item, you see? (Laura Freitas-PE)
Internet
[...] wireless internet. (Zuca Maia-RN)
It must offer an internet zone. (América Revoir-RN)
Has free internet access. (YlmaMaia-PE)
Cleanliness
[...] it’s about the hotel’s organization and cleanliness, it’s essential. (YlmaMaia-PE)
Cleanliness, I think it’s extremely important.[...]. Not only bedrooms but social areas as well. (Olga Benário-RN)
Privacy and
discretion
It’s always good [...] being equally served. [...] privacy, we want privacy. (América Revoir-RN)
There’s privacy within the bedroom [...]. (Luisa Lago-PE)
Table 5 Positive consumption experiences – Service provision (2010). Source: data collected in 2010
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Male and female gay’s reports - Pernambuco and
Rio Grande do Norte (2010)
In the following tables, interviewees’ names are
represented by pseudonyms along with the abbreviation
of the States where the interviews were conducted. It was
identified that with regard to service provision, the servi-ce,
absence of prejudice, breakfast, internet, cleanliness,
privacy and discretion are important in order to build a
positive and memorable consumer experience. The fra-mework
presents five extracts of the narratives of the in-terviewees
where evidences that guided the construction
of the categories can be observed.
Comparing results from 2006 with the data co-llected
in 2010, it was found that service, breakfast, priva-cy
and discretion are common categories of data collected
in both periods. Besides those, the respondents of 2010
added the absence of prejudice, the Internet and cleanli-ness
as aspects that may also lead them to positive consu-mer
experiences. The absence of prejudice is highlighted
only by gay men; on the other hand, the Internet and
cleanliness are important to gays of both genders and
States.
In the segment of positive experiences, infras-tructure
also plays a role. The bed, a differentiated struc-ture,
the pool and other social areas, bedroom and techno-logy
are the categories that influence positively the stays
of gays in hotels and inns (see Table 6).
The bed, the differentiated structure and the pool
were items that provided positive experiences for respon-dents
in 2006 as well as in 2010. However, the cable TV
was only relevant to the respondents in the first period,
while the bedroom and technology were emphasized by
people who were part of research in 2010. The bedroom
plays a prominent role for both genders in both states.
Moreover, technology only provided positive memorable
experiences for gays from Rio Grande do Norte.
Another important aspect of data obtained in 2010, is
that the pool is related to other social areas that allow mo-ments
of social interaction. Please note that only gay men
in Pernambuco recognize these areas as special.
Finally, location also plays a role in the process of
consumption (see Table 7). This memory remains in the
memories of the individuals interviewed in both periods.
It was noted that location was emphasized, mainly by res-
Table 6 Positive consumption experiences – Infra-structure (2010). Source: data collected in 2010
Bed
The first thing I check in the room is the bed. It must be tidy, clean, this way we already feel more at ease. [...].
The sheet has to be nice [...] mainly because at the hotel we usually require more than at home. [...] I check the
mattress [...]. (América Revoir-RN)
[...] the nights of good sleep because the bed was wonderful [...] goose feather pillows, Egyptian linens, nice bed.
The hotel in Pipa, R$ 800,00 per night. (Cláudio Abreu-PE)
Differentiated
structure
Really, really good, at the Tropical Hotel in Manaus. It was about everything, it is round, there’s a water park in
the middle [...] the river is huge [...]. By nature, at an exotic city. [...]. Many hotels excite us because of the
structure. [...]. (Zuca Maia-RN)
This hotel is huge, it’s colonial, takes an entire block in São Paulo [...] it has a library, lots of history. [...]. The one
in Brasília had a huge piano [...] there was a lot of things in that ambient [...] that was new for me, things we
don’t find in any hotel. (América Revoir-RN)
[...] a little treat when you arrive. A basket of fruits [...] a turndown service, a chocolate, a little liqueur. [...] you
notice that the establishment is working with pleasure. (Cláudio Abreu-PE)
[...] a hotel I stayed in Amsterdam that took details and comfort to another level. The mattress was filled with
goose feathers, so I thought it was amazing. (Evandro Mota-RN)
Pool and other social
areas
These common areas that are really pleasant, well designed and accessible [...] areas you can actually make use
of. [...]. I really enjoyed the gardens and the pool. I really like trees and plants. (YlmaMaia-PE)
The pool, because I enjoy the sun, I like to be in the water, that’s a personal characteristic. (Luisa Lago-PE)
Pool, because it’s exactly the contact with nature, calmness, water, I really like swimming. (Cláudio Abreu-PE)
Bedroom
You have privacy, you say what you want, you can have fun, chat, and it all becomes much more comfortable
when lying in bed. (YlmaMaia-PE)
The bedroom is where I spend most of the time; it’s where I feel at home. [...]. I really like the bedroom (Zuca
Maia-RN)
The bedroom, I feel good, free, at ease. (Olga Benário-RN)
Technology
So you receive the card, get to the door and have to guess that the door will open once you insert the card. At
the first time I was surprised. That stuck to my mind because it was a new experience, it was different, it was
positive. [...] (Olga Benário-RN)
I just had this experience; I had never seen such thing. A self service machine for everything, I thought it was
perfect, didn’t have to bother anyone. [...]. Self service is perfect. (Evandro Mota-RN)
I stayed at an odd hotel in SãoPaulo, the Formule 1. I quite like it, despite its odd characteristics [...]. First the
double bed, the toilet apart from the shower, but I enjoyed it. [...] it’s not expensive [...] good location. (América
Revoir-RN)
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pondents who had travelled abroad.
As to negative consumer experiences, they occurred
due to service provision issues (see Table 8) but also
due to infrastructure problems (see table 9). The servi-ce,
breakfast, cleanliness, privacy and limited operating
hours, can also influence the consumer experience nega-tively.
When analyzing the data acquired in the two stages
of collection, it was identified that when there are failu-res,
service and cleanliness are crucial for the consumers
to retain possible problems related to these categories in
their memory. The availability of double beds was pointed
out only by 2006’s respondents, while the homosexuals in-terviewed
on the second period of research indicated that
breakfast, privacy and limited operating hours, when re-lated
to undesirable situations, reflect on negative con-sumption
experiences.
As for the data collected in 2010 in the State of Per-nambuco,
regarding breakfast, problems related to si-tuations
when food was not served abundantly, meals
didn’t have the desired flavor and mainly when it’s not
previously charged (included). This was reminded by les-bian
interviewees. On the other hand, limited operating
hours and privacy were memorized by both genres, from
both states.
Finally, in contrast, to 2006’s findings, the infrastruc-ture
influences the results of guests’ stays; perhaps, this
observation is a consequence of the inclusion of RN’s par-ticipants
on the research. The distance between tables in
the restaurant was only remembered by gays from Rio
Grande do Norte. Besides that, it was also verified that
among those who identified problems in the physical in-frastructure,
the majority also resides in Rio Grande do
Norte (see Table 9).
Results and discussion
The way service is provided unfolds as positive or ne-gative
to clients. This social factor is acknowledged by
Baker, Parasuraman and Grewal (1994) as primordial
to social relations developed in the servicescape. In this
research, according to homosexual respondents, the beha-vior
of employees in hotels and inns was relevant, corro-borating
what is postulated by Knutson and Beck (2003).
Table 8 Negative consumption experiences – Service provision (2010). Source: data collected in 2010
Table 7 Positive consumption experiences – Location (2010). Source: data collected in 2010
It was close to town, easy to move around, meet people. [...]. To me getting around the city is more interesting than
staying inside the hotel. (Roni Rodrigues-PE)
[...] the hotel location, easiness to get around the city [...]. (Dário Varela-RN)
First the location [...]. Easy access to transports (Luisa Lago-PE)
Firstly, I search for location [...]. (Olga Benário-RN)
Service
[...] I asked something and the employee turned away from me, it happened and I don’t like
it. (Evandro Mota-RN)
Because once I was roaming around the hotel searching for the elevator, I kept asking how to
get there [...] I couldn´t find it. I mean, the receptionist’s willingness. (Evandro Mota-RN)
Breakfast
One thing I didn’t like was that they charged for breakfast, which costed about R$15. [...] that
means, I was paying just for the room [...] (YlmaMaia-PE)
Negatively, I had awful experiences at inns that offered really bad or no breakfast at all. [...]
The food was either late or sitting there for too long, not tasteful, cold, or there was a lack of
options, no fruits. (Lara Freitas-PE)
Cleanliness
Why we left that hotel? Hygiene issues. [...] (América Revoir-RN)
Regarding room service, for example, all negative memories I can remember have to do with
having to ask people to come around and get the room cleaned. (Lara Freitas-PE)
A negative thing... maybe cleanliness, it bothers me, the fact that I don’t know who had
stayed in that room before, sometimes old equipment. I’m concerned about hotel
cleanliness (Dário Varela-RN)
Privacy
[...] privacy. Because there are times when the maid wants to enter the room and we’d
rather stay there. Sometimes it’s annoying. [...] (Zuca Maia-RN)
I’ve been to hotels where the other guests acted as if they were home, they were really loud.
[...] some people just behave badly anywhere. (Luisa Lago-PE)
Limited operating
hours
Restrictions, [...] I was bothered because I couldn’t use the pool after 8 p.m., this kind of
thing. (Laura Freitas-PE)
[...] a restaurant service you can count on, I sense a lack of it. You can’t have a proper meal at
the hotel after 11 p.m. That’s why location is also important. (Dário Varela-RN)
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Thus, employee performance is considered the most im-portant
asset of hotels in order to a stay to be classified
by guests as free of worries. (Dube, Le Bel y Sears, 2003).
Privacy and discretion offered - or not - by hotel emplo-yees
can also reflect on memorization of the consumer ex-periences.
The need to privacy and discretion is essential
to gays, confirming what has been stated by Nunan (2003)
regarding the search for freedom. The quest for privacy
also relates to the preference of having more distance bet-ween
tables in the hotel restaurant.
They also look for places that have absence of prejudi-ce,
this finding strengthens Poria’s (2006) argumentation:
gays want to be treated the same way as heterosexual
clients. There’s a search for the social comfort (Butcher,
2005) that depends on the behavior of others and emplo-yees
in the service environment.
The categories breakfast, internet, technology and ca-ble
television are understood as extrinsic benefits. Knut-son
and Beck (2003) presented the consumer experience
(in hospitality) construction model and through this de-monstrated
that this kind of benefit affects the essential
step of the consumption process that is the participation.
It was also noticed that the issue of cleanliness in ho-tels
in general is essential for homosexuals to remain, re-turn
or choose an establishment of this kind. This state-ment
goes against what was found in the study by Baker,
Parasuraman and Grewal (1994), which considers that
aesthetic and design factors of the environment, among
them cleanliness do not affect the inferences about the
service quality. However, Turley and Milliman (2000) do
recognize its importance.
As for the bed in hotel apartments, it should be “large”
(Pedro Araujo), “soft” (João da Silva) and “comfortable”
(Pedro Araujo, Eduardo Assis, João da Silva) in order to
create a positive consumer experience. This statement is
in accordance with Dube, Le Bel and Sears (2003), they
indicate that the style of apartment is a component of the
stay that may lead to comfort provision. In that sense,
the findings of this research present the room as impor-tant.
Another fact is that, according to the study by Poria
(2006), there was evidence that the homosexual demand
double beds.
Besides that, homosexual interviewees value diffe-rentiated
structures, because that makes it possible for
them to have different experiences in hotels or inns. This
result agrees with the work presented by Nunan (2003),
by emphasizing that homosexuals value fashion and ap-preciate
what is different, thus, it is necessary the hotel
should consider the physical structure of the establish-ment
in order to impress these guests.
Regarding the pool and social areas, when consumers
want to interact with other individuals the presence of
others in the environment results in positive behavior be-cause
they enjoy their free time on site (Backer y Came-ron,
1996). Furthermore, the model of Knutson and Beck
(2003) contributes to this acknowledgement by previously
stating that the interaction with other individuals also in-fluences
the guest’s experience.
Regarding the location, the testimonials of respon-dents
agree with the works of Turley and Fugate (1993).
The authors state that location is an important element
when it comes to accessibility and proximity. Thus, the
location where the service is offered influences the value
of experience for consumers (KNUTSON; BECK, 2003).
Finally, limited operating hours or rules were not
addressed Knutson and Beck’s (2003) model. Only Poria
(2006) identified that gay men prefer extended breakfast
periods. Given the data, it could be observed that some of
the interviewees feel uncomfortable with the existence of
such rules in the hospitality service.
Final considerations
The overall goal of identifying the consumer experien-ces
at hotels and inns that are memorable for homosexual
respondents was achieved, and these experiences iden-tified
as positives and negatives. The service, absence of
prejudice, breakfast, internet, cleanliness, privacy and
discretion (service provision) as well as, the bed, differen-tiated
structure, the pool and other social areas, the be-droom,
technology and cable TV (infrastructure) and loca-tion
are recognized as factors that could cause a consumer
experience to be remembered positively. The negatives
result of failures in service, breakfast, cleanliness, lack
of privacy, availability of double beds and limited opera-ting
hours (service) and problems regarding the physical
Distance between
restaurant tables
One thing I don’t like at restaurants is when everything seems too tight and crowded [...].
(América Revoir-RN)
[...] usually, the restaurant tables are too tight and almost one over the other [...] the
space could be harmonious accordingly to its size (Dário Varela-RN)
[...] that the tables were more apart, offering more privacy. (Olga Benário-RN)
Physical infrastructure
For example, the cheaper ones usually present some maintenance issues. We were on the
elevator and the mirror was broken. (Zuca Maia-RN)
Uncomfortable beds and pillows, malfunctioning TVs, even though I don’t usually watch it
but then it won’t work when you intend to do so. [...] Electric shocks from water faucets
(Lara Freitas-PE)
Table 9 Negative consumption experiences – Infra-structure (2010). Source: data collected in 2010
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structure and the short distance between restaurant ta-bles
(infrastructure).
It was observed that few differences were found bet-ween
genders with regard to elements that foster memo-rable
consumer experiences. Otherwise, additional fac-tors
have emerged in 2010; perhaps it could be explained
by the inclusion of lesbians, as well as individuals from
Rio Grande do Norte in the research scope.
Therefore, the service environment of hotels and inns
influences the consumer experiences of the interviewed
homosexuals. Thus recognizes that consumption is in-fluenced
by environmental factors of the servicescape,
including the social aspect, along with the role of hedonic
perspective in the process of consumption (Hirschman y
Holbrook, 1986; Woods, 1960). However, considering the
relevance of the theme and the shortcomings of this inves-tigation,
it is indicated further research on this subject in
future studies.
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Recibido: 	 14/01/2011
Reenviado: 	 01/09/2011
Aceptado: 	 09/09/2011
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