Safety and Security as Part of the Hotel Servicescape for Meeting Planners

ABSTRACT The physical features of a service business—its “servicescape”—play a significant role in both a consumer's choice and satisfaction. Most hotels use physical features like meeting space, guest rooms, and public areas to market their properties to meeting planners. The study examines how hotel safety and security attributes influence the site-inspection practices of meeting planners, and the relative importance of hotel safety and security attributes in influencing a meeting planner's decision to choose a hotel as the site for a meeting as well as her/his willingness to pay more for a hotel with safety and security certification. The study also explored the relationship of meeting planners' experience level and the nature of the meetings they plan in relation to the importance they place on hotel safety and security attributes. Three dimensions of the 20 hotel safety and security attributes were found: (1) visible safety features, (2) documentation and staff training, and (3) general security features. Further analyses showed that “visible safety features” and “documentation and staff training” play a significant role in the hotel site inspection practices of meeting planners. “Documentation and staff training” also had a positive impact on planners' site selection of a hotel with a safety and security certification over one without. In addition, the meeting planners' willingness to pay more for a hotel with a safety and security certification was positively influenced by the “documentation and staff training” and “general security” features. The implications of these findings and future research issues are discussed.