The impact of social media on tourism experience has been a common theme in existing research. However, there is a noticeable lack of focus on the genesis of lodgers’ experience, notably at the internet-celebrated B&Bs. Our study conducted within the context of mainland China’s rise in Bed and Breakfasts (B&Bs) over the last decade, employing qualitative methodologies, based on interview content from 17 residents and 6 practitioners in the B&B industry, exploring the evolution and structure of guest experience at these unique accommodation offerings. Results from our study distinguish two categories of guest experience at internet-celebrated B&Bs-functional and symbolic. These experience traverse three stages: pre-trip, during the trip, and post-trip. Deeper analysis shows a decisive role played by media-spectacle in this process, merging these stages into an integrated meaning-generation system. This system reveals a bidirectional relationship between media-spectacle and guest experience, typified by positive elicitation and negative validation. Consequently, we provide a grounded understanding of guest experience at internet-celebrated B&Bs, taking into account the effect of media-spectacle.
BansalH. S.VoyerP. A. (2000) ‘Word-of-Mouth Processes Within a Services Purchase Decision Context’. Journal of Service Research3(2): 166–177.
2.
BaudrillardJ. (2014) The Consumer Society (LiuC. F.QuanZ. G., Trans.). Nanjing: Nanjing University Press.
3.
BaudrillardJ. (2015) Critique of Symbolic Political Economy (XiaY. Trans.). Nanjing: Nanjing University Press.
4.
BeehoA.PrenticeR. (1997) ‘Conceptualizing the Experience of Heritage Tourists: A Case Study of New Lanark World Heritage Village’. Tourism Management18(2): 75–87.
5.
BellaD. (2012) Displayed Culture: The Production of Contemporary ‘Visibility’ (FengY. Trans.). Beijing: Peking University Press.
6.
BoneP. F. (1995) Word-of-mouth Effects on Short-term and Long-term Product Judgments. Journal of Business Research32(3): 213–223.
7.
ChenC. C.ChangY. C. (2018) ‘What Drives Purchase Intention on Airbnb? Perspectives of Consumer Reviews, Information Quality, and Media Richness’. Telematics and Informatics35(5): 1512–1523.
8.
ConnellJ.DingX.McManusP., et al. (2021) ‘Social Media, Popular Culture and “Soft Heritage”: Chinese Tourists in Search of Harry Potter’. Tourist Studies21(4): 572–595.
9.
CouldryN. (2016) Media Rituals (CuiX. Trans.). Beijing: Renmin University of China Press.
10.
DebordG. (2006) The Society of the Spectacle. Nanjing: Nanjing University Press.
11.
DinhoplA.GretzelU. (2016) ‘Selfie-Taking as Touristic Looking’. Annals of Tourism Research57(2): 126–139.
12.
DouglasK (2003) Media-spectacle: A Perspective on Contemporary American Social Culture(ShiA. B. Trans.).Tsinghua University Press. Beijing.
13.
FlynnL. R.GoldsmithR. E.EastmanJ. K. (1996) Opinion Leaders and Opinion Seekers: Two New Measurement Scales. Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science24(2): 137–147.
14.
GunasekaranN.AnandkumarV. (2012) ‘Factors of Influence in Choosing Alternative Accommodation: A Study with Reference to Pondicherry, a Coastal Heritage Town’. Procedia—Social and Behavioral Sciences62: 1127–1132.
15.
GuttentagD. (2015) Airbnb: Disruptive Innovation and The Rise of An Informal Tourism Accommodation Sector. Current Issues in Tourism18(12): 1192–1217.
16.
HanB.-C. (2019) In the Crowd: Popular Psychology in the Age of Digital Media. ( C. W., Trans.). Beijing: Beijing CITIC Publishing House.
17.
HanM. (2020) From Media Illusion to Media Sharing: A Study on the Mediatization of Tourism Experience. Master’s thesis, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian. CNKI.
18.
HuangX.LuL. S.HongY. N. (2022) From Homestays to ‘Internet-celebrated accommodations’ - Where Are the Internet-celebrated Homestay Stars?China Ecotourism12(01): 49–64.
19.
HuangX.CuiQ.ChenZ. (2023) ‘Couchsurfing in China: Guanxi Networks and Trust Building’. Tourist Studies23(1): 44–61.
20.
IaquintoB. L. (2020) ‘Understanding the Place-Making Practices of Backpackers’. Tourist Studies20(3): 336–353.
21.
IoannidesD.PetersenT. (2003) Tourism ‘Non-entrepreneurship’ in Peripheral Destinations: A Case Study of Small and Medium Tourism Enterprises on Bornholm, Denmark. Tourism Geographies 5(4): 408–435.
22.
JeonM. M.LeeS.JeongM. (2018) ‘e-Social Influence and Customers’ Behavioral Intentions on a Bed and Breakfast Website’. Journal of Hospitality Marketing and Management27(3): 366–385.
23.
JiangX. L.GuoX. D. (2020) ‘Media Pilgrimage and Spatial Ballet: Cultural Formation of Internet Celebrited Destination’. Modern Communication (Journal of Communication University of China)42(10): 12–17.
24.
JoverJ.Díaz-ParraI. (2020) ‘Who Is the City For? Overtourism, Lifestyle Migration and Social Sustainability’. Tourism Geographies24(1): 9–32.
25.
KimJ.-H. (2014) ‘The Antecedents of Memorable Tourism Experience: The Development of a Scale to Measure the Destination Attributes Associated with Memorable Experience’. Tourism Management44: 34–45.
26.
KuangZ. R.LinG. (2024) ‘Consumption Practices and Spatial Production of “Internet-Celebrated Check-In” in the Visual Era: A Case Study of the Film “Better Days” and Its Filming Location Chongqing’. Tourism Tribune39(2): 74–88.
27.
LacanJ. (1978) The Four Fundamental Concepts of Psychoanalysis: The Seminar of Jacques Lacan Book. New York: Norton, p. 106.
28.
LeszczynskiA. (2015) ‘Spatial Mediation’. Progress in Human Geography39(6): 729–751.
29.
LiY.LeeF. L. (2024) ‘Social Media and the Negotiation of Travel Photo Authenticity in the Making of Wanghongjingdian in China’. Tourist Studies24(3): 221–245.
30.
LinL. S.LiM. M.WangY., et al. (2024) ‘Rural B&B Entrepreneurs’ Lifestyle Pursuits and Rural Resilience’. International Journal of Hospitality Management123: 103920.
31.
LiuD. P. (2007) ‘Tourist Gaze: From Foucault to Urry’. Tourism Tribune22(6): 91–95.
32.
LiuR.YangY. C.WangM. M. (2016) Research on Visual-spectacle Production of Tourist Attractions under the Background of Urban Renewal in China during the Transition Period: A Case Study of Kuanzhai Lane in Chengdu. Human Geography31(03): 136–144.
33.
LiuY. E.YanS. Y. (2021) Analysis of Behavior of Internet-celebritied Scenic Spots from the Perspective of Consumer Culture. Audiovisual 20(10): 113–114.
34.
MacCannellD. (2008) The Tourist: A New Theory of the Leisure Class (ZhangX. P. Trans.).Guangxi Normal University Press.Guilin.
35.
MånssonM. (2011) ‘Mediatized Tourism’. Annals of Tourism Research38(4): 1634–1652.
36.
MarcuseH. (2006) One Dimensional Man (LiuJ., Trans.). Shanghai: Shanghai Translation Publishing House.
37.
McIntoshA.SiggsA. (2005) An Exploration of the Experiential Nature of Boutique Accommodation. Journal of Travel Research44(1): 74–81
38.
MorenoA.NavarroC.TenchR.ZerfassA. (2015). Does Social Media Usage Matter? An Analysis of Online Practices and Digital Media Perceptions of Communication Practitioners in Europe. Public Relations Review41(2):242–253.
39.
Mun LimW.EndeanM. (2009) Elucidating the Aesthetic and Operational Characteristics of UK Boutique Hotels. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management21(1): 38–51.
40.
NiH. Y. (2019) A study on Emotional Identification of Moganshan Online-famous B&Bs Based on Online Reviews. Master’s thesis, East China Normal University CNKI.
41.
NalluriV.YangK. F.ChenL. S., et al. (2023) ‘Exploring Crucial Social Media Marketing Factors for Improving Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty in Bed and Breakfast Sectors in Taiwan’. International Journal of Tourism Cities9(2): 429–446
42.
NeuhoferB.BuhalisD.LadkinA. (2014) ‘A Typology of Technology-Enhanced Tourism Experience’. International Journal of Tourism Research16(4): 340–350.
43.
PattonM. Q. (2002) Book Review: Learning in the Field: An Introduction to Qualitative Research. American Journal of Evaluation23(1):115–116.
44.
PengL. (2016) ‘Three Clues to the Definition of the Concept of “New Media”’. Journalism and Communication23(3): 120–125.
45.
ReichenbergerI. (2017) ‘Why the Host Community Just Isn’t Enough: Processes and Impacts of Backpacker Social Interactions’. Tourist Studies17(3): 263–282.
46.
RolandB. (2016) The Fashion System (AoJ., Trans.). Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House Press.
47.
RyanC. (1991). Recreational tourism: A social science perspective. New York: Routledge.
48.
SchwarzK. C. (2021) ‘“Gazing” and “Performing”: Travel Photography and Online Self-Presentation’. Tourist Studies21(2): 260–277.
49.
SeamonD. (1980) ‘Body-Subject, Time-Space Routines, and Place-Ballets’, pp. 148–165 in ButtimerA.SeamonD. (eds) The Human Experience of Space and Place. London: Routledge.
50.
SerhatG.UzuncanB. (2020) ‘Impossibility of Authentic Experience? The Existential Estrangement Which Turns to Performance’. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change19(5) : 681–695.
51.
ShepherdJ.LavenD. (2019) ‘Providing Counter-Narratives: The Positive Role of Hostels in the Israeli-Palestinian Context’. Tourism Geographies22(4–5): 848–871.
52.
ShiY. R.XieY. J.ZengS. Q. (2020) ‘Estrangement and Affinity: Courtyard Emotions and Interpersonal Relationship Reconstruction in Rural Tourism Experience’. Tourism Tribune35(12): 63–80.
53.
SontagS. (1999) The Theory of Photography (AiH. H.MaoJ. X. Trans.). Changsha: Hunan Fine Arts Publishing House.
54.
SunJ. J.XieY. J. (2020) ‘Thesociety of the Spectacle: A New Research Perspective of Modern Tourism from the Perspective of Situationism’. Human Geography35(3): 10–16.
55.
TussyadiahI. P.FesenmaierD. R. (2009). Mediating Tourist Experiences. Annals of Tourism Research36(1): 24–40.
56.
UrryJ. (2016) The Tourist Gaze. Shanghai: Shanghai People’s Publishing House.
57.
VealA. J. (2006) The Use of Urban Parks. Annals of Leisure Research9(3–4): 245–276.
58.
WalshM. J.JohnsR.DaleN. F. (2019) The Social Media Tourist Gaze: Social Media Photography and Its Disruption at the Zoo. Information Technology and Tourism21(3): 391–412
59.
WangL. L. (2019) Research on Chinese Homestay as Non Standardized Accommodation. Master’s thesis, Nanjing University, Nanjing. CNKI.
60.
WangD. P.XieY. J. (2024) ‘Group Symbolic Spirit and Alienation of Subjectivity: Generation, Dissemination, and Consumption of Internet-Celebrated Spectacle Symbols’. Tourism Tribune39(2): 61–73.
61.
WangY.XuR. (2021) ‘The Internet-Celebrated Transformation of Tourist Attractions: An Analysis of the Internet-Celebratedization Process Based on User Daily Practices in the Short Video Environment’. Chinese Youth Research (2): 105–112.
62.
WangZ. F. (2008) Debord’s Spectacle Concept and Its Significance in the History of Western Critical Theory. Nanjing Social Sciences19(02): 20–26.
63.
WeaverA. (2009) ‘Tourism and Aesthetic Design: Enchantment, Style, and Commerce’. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change7(3): 179–189.
64.
WilsonT. (2012) ‘Hotels as Ready-to-Hand Recreation: Trip Advisors Posting Potentiality-for-Being in Play’. Tourist Studies12(1): 70–86.
65.
WuL. Y.HouX. L. (2006) ‘A Study on the Motivation of Movie-Induced Tourists: A Case Study of Tourists in Longquan Villa of Tieling’. Human Geography21(2): 24–27.
66.
WuX. J.YuL. L. (2018) Concept clarification, connotation evolution, and business development of homestays. Tourism Research10(2): 84–94.
67.
XiangZ.GretzelU.FesenmaierD. R. (2009). Semantic Representation of Tourism on the Internet. Journal of Travel Research47(4): 440–453.
68.
XieJ. (2022) ‘Representation, Relationship, Capital: The Logic of Rural Internet-Celebrated B&Bs Generation from the Perspective of Media Geography’. Tourism Tribune37(10): 50–64.
69.
XieY. J. (2005) Tourism Experience Research. Doctoral dissertation, Dongbei University of Finance and Economics, Dalian. CNKI.
70.
XieY. J.XuY. (2016) ‘Interactive Rituals in Tourism Sites: A Dynamic Analysis of Emotional Energy in Tourism Experience’. Tourism Science30(1): 1–15.
71.
YangS. T. (2022) Exploration of the Media-spectacle of ‘the internet-celebritied spots’.Master’s thesis, Jilin University, Jilin. CNKI.
72.
YuH. M. (2023) ‘Research on the Perception of Rural B&Bs Tourism Experience Based on Network Text Analysis: A Case Study of Moganshan Area’. Science and Technology and Industry23(6): 96–101.
73.
ZhangJ. Y. (2008). Research on the Impact of Family Hotel Blog Marketing Characteristics on Customer Brand Attitude. Master’s thesis, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang. CNKI.
74.
ZhangS. S. (2022) Research on the Development of Rural B&Bs Tourism in Fuyang Dongziguan Village Under the Background of Internet-Celebrated Economy. Master’s thesis, Guangxi Normal University, Guangxi. CNKI.
75.
ZhangX. Y.LiQ. (2006) ‘Consumption, Consumption Culture, Consumptionism: The Logical Evolution from Utilitarian Consumption to Symbolic Consumption’. Academic Forum (9): 35–38.
76.
ZhaoH. (2007) ‘Ethical Reflection on the Formation of “Internet Celebrities”’. Ethics and Civilization (5): 92–95.
77.
ZhaoL.ZhouW. Z. (2011) ‘The Transformation of Tourist Landscapes and the Shift of Visual Paradigms’. Tourism Tribune26(8): 32–37.
78.
ZhengD. X. (2023) ‘Research on the Promotion Path of Rural Revitalization Through B&Bs Industry’. Contemporary Rural Finance and Economics (1): 50–52.
79.
ZhongL. J. (2022) Research on the Influencing Factors of B&Bs Tourism Based on Perceived Value. Master’s thesis, Guangxi Normal University, Guangxi.
80.
ZhouK.ZhangH. T.XiaY. N., et al. (2021) ‘New Characteristics of Urban Consumption Space Under the Influence of Social Media: A Case Study of the Internet-Celebrated Spots in Changsha on Xiaohongshu’. Modern Urban Research (9): 20–27.
81.
ZhouX. (2001) ‘Visual Culture and Consumer Society’. Fujian Forum (2): 29–35.
82.
ZhouX.YangC. H. (2006) TV Show: From Media-spectacle to Cultural Representation - An Interview with the School of Arts and Media at Beijing Normal University Vice Dean Professor Zhou. Modern Communication28 (6): 62–65.
83.
ZhuH.CaiX. M.SuX. B., et al. (2020) ‘“Post” and “Like”: The Interactive Construction of Tourism Experience in the WeChat era’. Tourism Journal35(10): 96–108.
