An analysis of means-end hierarchies in cross-cultural context: What motivates asian and western business travelers to stay at luxury hotels?

This article aims to show the potentialities of means-end chains for cross-cultural hospitality research. By means of laddering interviews, this work attempted to uncover major attribute-consequence-value chains for luxury hotels that may exist among Asian and Western business travelers. The results, although exploratory, suggest that the personally relevant meanings that customers hold for luxury hotels might depend on the individual’s ethnic background. Managerial implications of the findings for global luxury hotels are discussed.