The effects of atmosphericelements on customer impression:

the case of hotel lobbiesCary C. Countryman

School of Business, Brigham Young University, Laie, Hawaii, USA, and

SooCheong JangDepartment of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Purdue University,

West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine the atmospheric elements of color, lighting,layout, style, and furnishings that make up the physical environment of a hotel lobby. Previousresearch indicates that these atmospheric elements impact overall guest perceptions and impressions.

Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected using a scenario approach along withphotographs of the hotel lobby. Structural equation modeling was used to analysis the data todetermine which of the atmospheric elements were more influential in the overall impression of thehotel lobby.

Findings – Three of the atmospheric elements (color, lighting, and style) were found to besignificantly related to the overall impression of a hotel lobby. Color was the most significant of thesethree atmospheric elements.

Research limitations/implications – The focus of this research was the hotel lobby. While thisphysical environment is fairly important in helping to establish first impressions, there are otherphysical spaces within a hotel that have a large influence on guest perceptions and impressions. Hotelpractitioners need to understand the importance of the atmospheric elements and their influence onoverall guest perceptions and impressions.

Originality/value – This research examines atmospherics from a hospitality and lodgingperspective. The topic has received limited research interest in the past but it is becomingrecognized as an important consideration in future hotel design and construction. This research helpsin establishing a foundation on which future research can be built.

Keywords Perception, Hotels, Colour, Consumer behaviour, Lighting systems, Design

Paper type Research paper

Psychologists have determined that the physical environment has an effect on humanbehavior and this branch of psychology has become known as environmentalpsychology. Using the premise of environmental psychology, Kotler (1973) determinedthat if the physical environment had an effect on human behavior, it would alsoinfluence the behavior of individuals in consumer settings such as retail stores. Bitner(1992) took the concept of atmospherics a step further by developing a framework thataddresses the effects of the physical environment on consumers in service settings. Todistinguish this framework from that of atmospherics, Bitner (1992) used the termservicescrape to describe the physical environment in which services take place.

There are many servicescapes that exist within a hotel. Among them, a hotel lobbycould be considered one of the most important servicescape because of its impact informing many of the first impressions by guests. It is usually easier to meet or exceed

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International Journal ofContemporary HospitalityManagementVol. 18 No. 7, 2006pp. 534-545q Emerald Group Publishing Limited0959-6119DOI 10.1108/09596110610702968

customer expectations when the first impressions have been positive (Knutson, 1988).Those impressions or attitudes that are formed based on a physical space help create acontext for the services that will follow.

According to Dube and Renaghan (2000), the physical property of a hotel whichincludes the hotel lobby and other public spaces is very influential in driving the hotelpurchase decision. They claimed that the physical property is one of the top attributesconsidered in the hotel purchase decision among travelers and it creates value for theguests during their stay. In light of the importance of the physical property of a hoteland in conjunction with the concept of servicescapes, it is important that hotels paycloser attention to the physical settings.

Much of the research on atmospherics, and even more so with servicescapes, is stillvery conceptual. Where research has been done, it has often focused on just one of theelements that makes up the physical environment. Few models exist that attempt tomeasure the combined impact of these elements in the creation of the overallimpression. The objective of this research is to fill that research gap by validating theimportance of atmospheric or servicescape elements in hotel environments. Morespecifically, this research attempts to identify which elements of physical environmentsignificantly influence a customer’s impression on hotel lobby.

Literature reviewEnvironmental psychology, atmospherics, and servicescapesIn an effort to define environmental psychology, Mehrabian and Russell (1974) describedit as “the direct impact of physical stimuli on human emotions and the effect of physicalstimuli on a variety of behaviors, such as work performance or social interaction”. Theirconceptual framework is based on the idea that the physical environment creates anemotional response, which in turn elicits either approach or avoidance behavior inregards to the physical environment. Mehrabian and Russell (1974) also stressed theimportance and the need for describing or defining the physical environment byidentifying those elements or dimensions that make up the physical environment.

Based on the early research in environmental psychology, Kotler took a narrowerperspective by focusing on consumer behavior and the effects that the physicalenvironment has on it. In addressing this, Kotler (1973) pointed out that the physicalenvironment in which a product is purchased is an important part of the totalconsumption package. The term atmospherics was also introduced to describe this newfocus of research. Kotler (1973) went on further to suggest that there are certainsettings where the physical environmental will have a greater influence on consumerbehavior and purchase decisions. These settings are characterized by:

. an environment in which a product/service is purchased or consumed and theseller has control of the design options;

. the number of competitive outlets has increased;

. product and/or price differences are small; and

. the product/service entries are aimed at distinct social classes or life style buyergroups.

This describes the present state of the hotel industry fairly well.

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Bitner (1992) developed atmospherics further by creating a conceptual frameworkfor service settings and began using the term servicescapes to describe the physicalenvironment in which services occur. This conceptual framework is comprised of thethree environmental dimensions that combine to form the perceived servicescape:

(1) ambient conditions;

(2) space/function; and

(3) signs, symbols, and artifacts.

In addition to the conceptual framework, a number of propositions were made based onthe conceptual framework (Bitner, 1992). Among them, there are three that are ofparticular interest. First, customers perceive environments holistically with the threedimensions affecting overall perception independently and/or through interaction withthe other dimensions. Second, positive cognitions of the perceived servicescape canlead to positive beliefs and attributions being associated with the organization, itspeople, and its products. Third, the physical environment serves as a mnemonic or arecognizable characteristic in helping customer differentiate among firms.

Moving beyond the conceptual models, Wakefield and Blodgett (1994) empiricallytested the concept of servicescapes in a leisure service setting by having researchparticipants view a videotape of a servicescape. Those research participants viewingthe servicescape of perceived high quality reported a greater excitement level, whichlead to greater satisfaction.

In summary, there is a strong conceptual framework for atmospherics orservicescapes based on the foundation of environmental psychology. However, theresearch to empirically test these conceptual theories in the hotel industry has beenlimited. While there has been research done on some of the individual atmospheric orservicesapce elements in retail and leisure settings (Baker et al., 1994; Bellizzi and Hite,1992; Sharma and Stafford, 2000; Turley and Milliman, 2000; Wakefield and Blodgett,1994, 1996, 1999), there is a need to test them as part of an overall model to identifythose elements that make up a physical environment of a hotel property.

Atmospheric/servicescape elements and hypothesesThe following is a brief overview of those atmospheric or servicescape elements thatare common to service settings and were included in this research to test theirinfluences on hotel lobby design.

Style. Siguaw and Enz (1999), after examining some of the best practices in the hotelindustry, indicated that the architectural style of a hotel did have an impact on theprofitability and success of the hotel. They believed that hotels with uniquearchitectural approaches and designs were able to increase the average daily rate(ADR) and increase occupancy. Those hotels that had more of a “home-like” orresidential feel to them, had a strong theme, or incorporated more of the naturallandscape surrounding the hotel, were found to be more successful than other hotels(Siguaw and Enz, 1999). Some people feel that the success of “boutique” hotels is due inpart to their unique architectural and interior designs (Cassedy, 1993; Templin, 1999).From these studies, it could be presumed that customers perceive the uniqueness of ahotel depending upon the style of the hotel. Thus, it is hypothesized that:

H1. Style has a significant impact on customers’ impression of the hotel lobby.

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Layout. In regards to layout, one of the most common errors noticed in the design ofa hotel lobby is that the front desk is not immediately visible to arriving guests andthat there is a lack of smooth traffic flow from the front desk to the elevators (Caro,2001). Related to this research is the effect of crowding (Eroglu and Machleit, 1990;Grossbart et al., 1990; Wakefield and Blodgett, 1994). The layout should minimizecrowding in order to create a favorable impression among guests. Architecturaldesign books argue that the layout is contingent on several factors including thesize of the hotel, grade or standard, patterns of arrivals and departures, tour andconvention bookings, length of stay, and seasonality (Lawson, 1976; Rutes andPenner, 1985). Based on the importance of layout in the functionality of hotel lobby,it is hypothesized that:

H2. Layout has a significant relationship to customers’ impression of the hotellobby.

Colors. Colors and color combinations have been studied by those interested in retailatmospherics and cognitive psychology. In an early landmark study by Guilfordand Smith (1959), it was found that colors that are bright and highly saturated tendto produce pleasant feelings. While people may prefer certain colors, it was foundthat the appropriateness of the color varies with the function of the room (Slatterand Whitfield, 1977). Colors and color combinations have also been found to helppeople find their way in a building (Evans et al., 1980). In retail atmospheric studies,it was confirmed that color has the ability to attract customers (Bellizzi et al., 1983)and the ability to create pleasant feelings among customers (Bellizzi and Hite, 1992).Therefore, colors and color combinations affect perceptions and attitudes, and mayeven cause certain behavioral differences (Robson, 1999). Accordingly, it ishypothesized that:

H3. Colors have a significant effect on customers’ impression of the hotel lobby.

Lighting. In studies cited by Mehrabian and Russell (1974), people tend to be drawn tolight sources. Another study found that the contrast of a bright area with that of adarker area, sometimes referred to as glare, to be unpleasant (as referenced inMehrabian and Russell, 1974). As for perceived image, soft incandescent lighting isusually associated with a higher quality environment, while bright fluorescent lightingis associated with a discount image (Baker et al., 1994; Sharma and Stafford, 2000). It istherefore hypothesized that:

H4. Lighting has a significant influence on customers’ impression of the hotellobby.

Furnishings. While furnishings are an important part of the physical environment,very little research has been done that focuses specifically on this one element.However, it is included in all of the atmospheric and servicescape models (Baker, 1987;Bitner, 1992; Wakefield and Blodgett, 1994, 1996, 1999) but may be referred to usingdifferent terminology depending on the physical setting being studied. In this research,the furnishings are hypothesized as:

H5. Furnishings have a significant association with customers’ impression of thehotel lobby.

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MethodologyAs used in many other atmospheric or servicescape research (Bitner, 1990; Ritterfeldand Cupchik, 1996), a scenario approach along with color photographs of hotel lobbieswere used in this research study. Participants were told that they were attending aconference and that this was one of the hotels used by conference attendees. Two colorphotographs of the hotel lobby were selected, one showing the front desk and the othershowing the hotel lobby seating area. The name of the specific hotel was not given andno identification was visible in the photographs to control for the influence of branding.While some may argue that this is not a true measurement of atmospherics orservicescapes, this approach may have some unique benefits. It provides some degreeof control in regards to the research study. If this research were to take place in anactual physical environment, the researchers might have difficulty in controlling forthose factors that are not part of the physical environment but may be includedinadvertently in the evaluation of the physical environment such as prior experience orbranding. People may be in a physical environment for many different reasons, whichwould lead to evaluations from very different perspectives. Another advantage is thatthis research approach may be more practical in that the photographs could bereplaced with architectural renderings or virtual design in order to evaluate the designsof a physical environment before it is built. As for some of the other elements that areconsidered part of the physical environment such as temperature and noise, these tendto be unnoticed or not even considered in the evaluation of a physical environmentunless they are extremes (i.e. too hot or too cold) (Baker, 1987).

Based on the examination of previous research, five atmospheric elements wereincluded in the research:

(1) layouts;

(2) style;

(3) color;

(4) lighting; and

(5) furnishings.

While there are other elements that make up the physical environment of a hotel lobby,these elements were selected because of their significant role in the service settings.Semantic differentials were used to assess each of the atmospheric elements along withthe overall impression of the hotel lobby, this method provided a good way ofassessing these complex elements of the physical environment (Bitner, 1990; Donovanand Rossiter, 1982).

A convenience sample was used for this study in that university faculty, who travelto conferences and other similar type meetings, were invited to participate in the study.Research participants were from several different universities in the USA. An effortwas made to contact people in many different academic disciplines. The survey wasdone on-line to allow for wider participation, easier distribution of the survey due to thecolor photographs and efficient collection of data. Research participants would berandomly shown one of four hotel lobbies. This was an effort to make the researchmore realistic in that an individual enters a hotel lobby and makes an assessment of thephysical environment at that particular moment. Special care was taken to select thefour hotels that were from the same rating category and classification. A total of 105

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responses were collected and three were deleted from the data set due toincompleteness. Thus, 102 responses were used for analysis.

ResultsAtmospheric elements and validationMeans and standard deviations for each of the atmospheric items are presented inTable I. The mean values were all above 0, which signifies that the respondentsassessed the atmospheric items in consistently positive ways.

To validate the developed elements, a measurement model was estimated with aconfirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Cronbach’s alphas were calculated to assess theinternal consistency of atmospheric elements and are presented in Table II. All alphasexceed the minimum hurdle of 0.7, as recommended by Nunnally (1978), suggestingreliability in measuring each construct. The model fit indices indicate that the proposedmodel reasonably fits the data. All of the loadings were greater than 0.53 andsignificant, suggesting convergent validity (Gerbing and Anderson, 1988).

Discriminant validity among the atmospheric elements was examined using twomethods. First, following the criteria suggested by Sivadas and Dwyer (2000), theresearchers calculated the average variances extracted (AVE) for the elements to see ifthe elements accounted for more than 50 percent of the corresponding atmosphericitems. All but one (furnishings) of the elements exceeded the recommended level ofAVE. Second, as Gerbing and Anderson (1988) recommended, the researchers tested if

Atmospheric elements and items Mean (scale: 23 , þ 3) Standard deviation Reliability Alpha

Style 0.86Current 1.09 1.52Refined 1.26 1.10Artful 0.76 1.52Beautiful 1.01 1.30Impressive 0.90 1.40

Layout 0.85Graceful 0.66 1.63Proportionate 0.70 1.67Accommodating 0.80 1.66Uncluttered 1.19 1.82

Colors 0.95Beautiful 0.89 1.48Soothing 0.73 1.36Pleasant 0.95 1.41

Lighting 0.95Appropriate 1.42 1.46Inviting 1.25 1.55Positive 1.33 1.50

Furnishings 0.73Beautiful 0.73 1.48Comfortable 0.87 1.43High quality 1.12 1.33

Table I.Atmospheric elements

and items

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the correlations among atmospheric elements were significantly different from 1.Among them, only furnishings and style had 1 in the 95 percent confidence interval ofthe correlation. The result indicated that the furnishings and style elements do nothave discriminant validity, which means that both elements do not represent uniquedimensions. Thus, the researchers decided to drop the furnishings construct since itfailed to pass the AVE test, either.

Atmospheric elements and itemsStandardized

factor loadings t-value

Averagevariance

extracted (AVE)(%)

Style 58.56Current 0.59 –Refined 0.79 5.99*Artful 0.69 5.50*Beautiful 0.91 6.47*Impressive 0.81 6.22*Layout 62.98Graceful 0.90 –Proportionate 0.84 10.93*Accommodating 0.85 11.33*Uncluttered 0.53 5.70*Colors 84.77Beautiful 0.90 –Soothing 0.89 14.13*Pleasant 0.97 17.45*Lighting 86.55Appropriate 0.90 –Inviting 0.96 16.88*Positive 0.93 15.36*Furnishings 47.55Beautiful 0.75 –Comfortable 0.60 5.89*High quality 0.71 6.90*Overall lobby impression 87.49Good 0.94 –Beautiful 0.90 16.23*Inviting 0.97 21.97*Comfortable 0.93 18.92*

Model fit statisticsx2

(194): 365.4 (p ¼ 0:00)x2 /d.f.: 1.88Normed Fit Index (NFI): 0.891Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI or NNFI): 0.908Comparative Fit Index (CFI): 0.923Root Mean Square Error of Approximation(RMSEA): 0.079

Notes: * p # 0:001The first path of each construct was set to 1, so no t � value was given to the first path

Table II.Measurement modelresults

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Structural model resultsA structural equation model with four remaining atmospheric elements (style, layout,colors, and lighting) was estimated using Maximum Likelihood (ML) to test the effectsof the elements on customers’ impression. Examination of overall fit indices of thestructural model indicated a good fit of the model to the data. Figure 1 presents theoverall results of the structural equation model.

Three of the hypothesized paths were statistically significant. The style elementwas found to have a positive effect on the impression of hotel lobby (b11 ¼ 0:32,t ¼ 2:63). That is, if a hotel was satisfactorily designed using current and not outdatedconcepts, had an element of refinement, and was both artistic and beautiful, it isexpected to positively impress customers. Thus, the first hypothesized path wassupported by the result. Contrary to the hypothesis, the layout element was notsignificant (b12 ¼ 0:03, t ¼ 0:34). The result suggested that the layout of a hotel lobby

Figure 1.A structural model for

lobby impression

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alone might not contribute to a significant improvement in customers’ impression. Thethird path for the effect of the colors element on lobby impression was statisticallysignificant (b12 ¼ 0:39, t ¼ 3:49), showing the greatest standardized parameterestimate among all the paths tested. This indicates that colors are the most influentialelement to affect overall lobby impression. The implication to hotel developers andoperators is how important colors are in creating the overall impression of the hotellobby. Finally, the lighting-to-impression path was also significant (b12 ¼ 0:26,t ¼ 3:46) as expected (see Table III).

ConclusionThe objective of the study was to test the effects of atmospheric elements on the guest’sfirst impression of a hotel lobby. The researchers proposed five atmospheric elements:

(1) style;

(2) layout;

(3) colors;

(4) lighting; and

(5) furnishings.

During the element validation process, the furnishing element was excluded for furtheranalysis since it was found not to represent a unique dimension of atmosphericelements. As was indicated in the literature review, furnishings often overlap to somedegree with style because furnishings are usually selected to match with the overallarchitectural style. The space is created first and then furnished. Therefore, the resultsof this study may not be truly unexpected. A structural analysis to examine the effectsof the remaining four exogenous elements on lobby impression revealed that threeincluding style, colors, and lighting significantly influence lobby impression. Theatmospheric element for the layout of the hotel lobby was revealed to be not asimportant as expected. Even though the three significant elements are of importance inpractice, colors appeared to be most influential, suggesting that hoteliers need to take

Path Standardized parameter estimate (b) t-value

Style ! Lobby impression (b11) 0.32 2.63*Layout ! Lobby impression (b12) 0.03 0.34Colors ! Lobby impression (b13) 0.39 3.49**Lighting ! Lobby impression (b14) 0.26 3.46**R-Square 0.799

Model fit statisticsx2

(142): 279.2 (p ¼ 0:00)x2 /d.f.: 1.97Normed Fit Index (NFI): 0.903Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI or NNFI): 0.919Comparative Fit Index (CFI): 0.933Root Mean Square Error of Approximation(RMSEA): 0.079

Notes: * p # 0:01, ** p # 0:001Table III.Structural model results

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special care in selecting the colors used in their facilities. The results also suggest thatcolor changes, when renovating hotels, may be one of the most effective tools to createpositive impression of the lobby.

Managerial implicationsFrom a practical standpoint, this research helps to identify those atmospheric elementsthat make up the physical environment of a hotel lobby and are used in determiningcustomers’ overall impression. Understanding the elements that comprise a hotellobby, allows the hotelier to make improvements in those areas that would lead to abetter overall impression and evaluation of the hotel lobby. This research can also beextended to room design such as dining rooms, guest rooms, and other significantspaces within a hotel or other hospitality settings such as a restaurant. While thisresearch makes no attempt to determine what colors are preferable, these findings doindicate that extra caution and care should be taken in the selection of the colors for thehotel lobby. However, this does not mean that hoteliers should use only neutral colorsin their hotel lobbies. The hotel lobbies included in this study contained a variety ofcolors, some of which were dramatic including dark and bold color combinations. Also,one must recognize that the research did not examine only one specific color for eachhotel lobby but the color combinations that existed in each hotel lobby. Certain colorscombined with other colors may be viewed as acceptable or even preferred, while thecolors individually may be undesirable or considered ugly. Due to the significantinfluence of color on the overall impression of hotel lobbies, potential guests should besurveyed and further research needs to be done on what colors and color combinationscreate more positive or favorable reactions by guests.

Even though color appeared to be the most significant, style and lightning alsoappeared to be significant. Style like colors comes from a combination of physicalelements. While a single item may not be pleasing or interesting by itself, the itemcombined with other items can create a unique and desirable style. However, style ismuch more complex than color and further research is warranted. As mentionedearlier, this research does not attempt to define what constitutes good style or not, butit does indicate that style like colors should be carefully considered from theperspective of the guests or the target market for that hotel. As for lighting, the trend inthe hotel industry is to provide more lighting with a large percentage coming fromnatural lighting during daylight hours. There has been a shift away from the low orsubdued lighting of past hotel lobby designs as is evident in many of the new hotelprototypes that incorporate more windows into the design of the hotel lobby and moreabundant lighting throughout. The findings of this research indicate that is a step inthe right direction. Hoteliers should be concerned with the lighting and what is deemedappropriate by their guests.

This research is not free from limitations. One limitation was found in the narrowscope of this research. The study focused only on the hotel lobby, so the application ofthe results has to be confined to the hotel lobby. Thus, future research would hopefullyinclude other major areas of a hotel. While this was a realistic sample given thescenario and focus of the research, it would be worthwhile to expand this research toinclude business travelers in general. Leisure travelers also could be surveyed todetermine if there are differences among these two types of travelers in the evaluationof hotel lobbies. If leisure travelers are included in future research, the classification of

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hotel would also need to be broadened. This research primarily focused on businesshotels, which is one classification of hotel. Other classifications of hotels that might beinteresting for further research might include luxury or theme properties because of thesignificance of the hotel lobby in their design.

This research’s primary contribution is that atmospheric elements such as colors,style, and lighting do contribute to the overall impression formed by guests. Thefindings of this research suggest that thinking that the physical environment of a hotellobby is not as important as other aspects of hotel operations or that a bad hotel lobbydesign will not be of concern to the hotel guest are simply not true. Like otherexploratory research, this research demonstrates that there is a need for continued andgreater research into the unique atmospheres and servicescapes that exist in the hotelindustry.

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Corresponding authorCary C. Countryman can be contacted at: ccountryman@uh.edu

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