Utilitarian or hedonic? : factors affecting the purchase intention of a serviced apartment in Bangkok

Abstract

There are many kinds of accommodation available nowadays, both for short-term and long-term stays. Since hotels might not be able to serve all of the preferences of the guests, new accommodation such as hostels, Airbnb, homestays, and serviced apartments are starting to take more part in the guests' considerations. Serviced apartments are among the most popular choices for people, and yet not much research in the past has been conducted to unearth the customers' needs and demands. Therefore, this research aims to examine the criteria selection among guests when choosing a serviced apartment. Moreover, this research intends to investigate the purchase intentions when looking at utilitarian and hedonic values that the serviced apartments offer. Underpinned by Hedonic and Utilitarian theory, this study applies quantitative research method. Convenience sampling was selected to collect survey data of 503 Thai participants living in Bangkok. The samples of this research are customers who live in serviced apartments or are interested in serviced apartments. The results of this research indicate that although the participants showed that they agreed on the utilitarian conditions (price and convenience) as the most preferable factor when they have to choose the serviced apartments, nevertheless epistemic value is the only factor that positively affects the purchase intention of the target customers under the Thai context. The results also show different aspects, in terms of target customer's preferencing factors, comparing to previous studies. IMPLICATION OF THESIS. The theoretical implications of this research are to fill in the research gap by introducing the Utilitarian and Hedonic Theory into the decision choice of choosing serviced apartments. The practical contribution is for the stakeholders in the serviced apartment industry to be able to acknowledge the preferences of Thai consumers and be able to utilize the research output for their marketing strategy and practices.