The Impact of Customer Sacrifice and Attachment Styles on Perceived Hospitality

Abstract

As is the case in service settings where relationships span long periods of time, customers’ attachment styles for brief hotel stays affect their perception of hospitality. Using a newly developed measure of how well guests feel they are treated—perceived hospitality—this study outlines the interplay of customer sacrifice with customer attachment styles. Based on a survey of 307 U.S. consumers who had recently stayed in a hotel, the study finds that attachment avoidance (resisting relationships) has a greater impact on perceived hospitality than does attachment anxiety (desiring relationships), and that customer sacrifice perceptions exert both direct effect on perceived hospitality and also mediate the effects of attachment styles on perceived hospitality. Perceived sacrifice in this context includes direct and indirect sacrifice, including the sacrifice of effort to plan and take the trip, monetary sacrifice, and emotional sacrifice. The implication for hospitality marketers is to understand and acknowledge customer attachment styles, and to address sacrifice where possible so as to better meet customer needs.