Do hospitality services differentiation impacts willingness-­to-­pay? A study on Pousadas de Portugal

Abstract

The hospitality sector is an ever­changing industry that must be able to keep up with consumer trends and predict their demands and needs. Nowadays, more than ever, hotel units must find ways to stay appealing with the emergence of alternative hospitality solutions like Airbnb. It is, therefore, essential to keep consumers updated and to communicate to them the essence of the brand. This study is done on the context of Pousadas de Portugal by developing different scenarios that measure the impact of each Pousada type in terms of consumers’ willingness­to­payvariation, while also investigating the mediation effect of brand equity and its dimensions. The scenarios created idealize three Pousadas de Portugal, one of each type (Monument, Historic and Charming), all located in Lisbon that offer distinctive services and have unique characteristics. The stimuli were used in an online questionnaire where responders where randomly assigned to each type of stimuli. Findings reveal that, for Pousadas de Portugal, hospitality differentiation and willingness­to pay are not related, and brand equity has a small to null effect on the relationship. Also, although, responders are aware that different types of Pousadas exist, they appear to not have a clear understanding of their differentiation brand strategy, thus Pousadas should find a better solution.

Date of Award	3 Feb 2023
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Paulo Romeiro (Supervisor)