Examining Chinese consumers’ luxury hotel staying behavior

• Luxury value (i.e., symbolic, experiential, and functional values) will affect consumers’ attitude toward luxury hotels.
• Chinese consumers’ attitude toward luxury hotels will influence their staying behavior.
• Luxury hotels’ symbolic and experiential values will directly affect Chinese consumers’ luxury hotel staying behavior.

The value of the luxury goods market is about to exceed US$302 billion worldwide in 2012. In addition, the top 3% of travelers in the world represent 20% of the total tourism expenditure. Although the growth has been significant, few studies have examined the consumption of luxury tourism and hospitality products. The purpose of this paper is to examine consumers’ luxury hotel staying behavior when traveling for leisure purpose. To examine this issue of growing importance, a modified value–attitude–behavior model was proposed. Following exploratory qualitative research, 368 Chinese consumers were recruited for the main study. Data were analyzed through structural equation modeling. The results show that hotels’ luxury value will influence lodgers’ attitude toward luxury hotels. Furthermore, the better their attitude toward luxury hotels, the more likely they will stay in luxury hotels when traveling. The implications of this study are discussed within the literature of hospitality and consumer studies.