婚礼宴会场地的选择外文文献

Selection attributes of wedding banquet venues An exploratory study of Hong Kong prospective wedding couples Chloe K H Lau Siu Hung Hui School of Hotel and Tourism Management The Hong Kong Polytechnic University Hung Hom Kowloon Hong Kong 1 Introduction The wedding reception is a focal part of any Chinese wedding and is customarily held at a banquet facility It is an elaborate and expensive occasion that serves as a public proclamation of the couple s marriage and a return on the kindness of all of their relatives and guests Traditionally the wedding banquet a private event with as many guests invited as possible is held after the ceremony or the signing of the marriage certifi cate at the GovernmentMarriageRegistrar Choi 2002 Thewedding banquet market has undoubtedly been expanding in recent years According to the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department HKCSD the number of marriages has been on the increase since 2002 and reached 47 500 in 2007 HKCSD 2008 Chinese restaurants and hotel ballrooms are the most popular venues for the banquet which is the greatest wedding expense for the couple The increase in high priced banquet activity such as wedding events has contributed to the outstanding growth in the overall profi ts of hotel food and beverage departments in the United States Adler and Chien 2004 In another study conducted also in the United States Marsan 2000 indicates that almost 70 of the food and beverage revenue of hotels is generated by banquets of which 50 comes from weddings According to data from the Hong Kong Hotel Industry Summary collected by the Hong Kong Tourism Board HKTB the revenue from hotel food and beverage departments increased steadily through 2003 to 2007 to US 1 16 billion US 1 HK 7 8 representing 30 of total hotel revenue HKTB 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 A recent survey conducted by ESDlife a public private partnership e platform reveals that each couple is willing to spend around US 15 900 on the wedding banquet alone ESDlife 2007 The wedding banquet business represents a turnover of US 755 million each year in Hong Kong To attract this lucrative market banquet managers try to provide various packages for prospective wedding couples including special premium services such as free accommodation for the wedding night parking space for guests and fl ower decorations Understanding how couples select their wedding banquet venue can provide banquet managers of hotels or Chinese restaurants with up to date market segment information for the effective implementation of different marketing approaches Despite the signifi cant contribution of the wedding business to the hospitality industry in general and the food service sector in particular the existing hospitality and tourism literature has virtually no published studies of couple behavior with regard to banquet venue selection To fi ll this gap this research makes an initial attempt to investigate the perception of prospective wedding couples in Hong Kong of the importance of venue selection attributes To provide recommendations to the banquet managersofhotelsandChineserestaurants thisresearch examines the extrinsic and intrinsic personal attributes that infl uence the decision making of couples Through developing a proposed model this study also investigates the relationship between the selection of a wedding banquet venue and the demographic characteristics of prospective wedding couples to determine the infl uence of these characteristics on purchasing behavior International Journal of Hospitality Management 29 2010 268 276 A R T I C L EI N F O Keywords Wedding Selection attributes Banquet Venue Event A B S T R A C T Despite the signifi cant contribution of the wedding business to the hospitality industry few studies of wedding banquet venues have been conducted This study aimed to investigate the perception of Hong Kong prospective wedding couples of the importance of venue selection attributes Among the 25 venue attributes identifi ed employee attitude was viewed by the 205 respondents as the most important followed by cleanliness and food quality Among the 11 extrinsic and intrinsic personal attributes fi rst impression was the most infl uential while an auspicious wedding date was the least Marketing strategies are recommended to industry practitioners on the basis of the fi ndings 2009 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved Corresponding author Tel 852 3400 3139 fax 852 2362 9362 E mail address hmchloe polyu edu hk Chloe K H Lau Contents lists available at ScienceDirect International Journal of Hospitality Management journal homepage 0278 4319 see front matter 2009 Elsevier Ltd All rights reserved doi 10 1016 j ijhm 2009 10 008 2 Literature review 2 1 Wedding banquet venue selection attributes To date the criteria for selecting a wedding banquet venue have been addressed only in trade magazines Similar to any planned event a wedding s spatial temporal phenomenon is a unique blend of interactions among settings peoples and management systems Getz 2008 Bowdin et al 2006 propose that the choice ofa venueisa crucialdecisionthat willultimatelydeterminemany of the event elements Van der Wagen 2005 identifi es several aspects of an event that must be considered when developing venue or site specifi cations including the facilities and services to be provided location capacity of the site or venue creative theme or image required availability and accessibility From this discussion it is clear that the venue is a key element of any event especially a wedding banquet Despite the importance of the venue to an event very few studies address the choice of venue for weddings as private events Callen and Hoyes 2000 investigate the requirements of event organizers when choosing unusual venues for different types of events and observe that wedding organizers consider availability location accessibility by roads convenience of parking cleanli ness lighting decoration audio equipment accommodation offer setting package wedding ceremony service and beverage price Whereas a broad range of studies have studied hotel choice there is no research into the selection of hotel ballrooms as wedding venues Early research on Chinese restaurants focuses mainly on dining selection attributes and no information is available on their selection as wedding banquet venues However general selection attributes of hotel ballrooms and Chinese restaurants are also applicable to this more specifi c type of event The attributes discussed in event hotel ballroom and Chinese restaurant studies are mainly aspects related to availability location atmospherics facilities food service and price These aspects will now be explored in greater detail Availability is the matching of an intention and a vacancy Forsyth 1999 defi nes availability as the venue being reservable at the time that the customer wants it The requirements of a wedding banquet which include the need to reserve the whole venue and block other users make the selection process complex Thediffi cultyinhavinga venuethatisopenat atimethatcoincides with the prospective wedding couple s feasible dates explains why wedding facilities require lengthy reservation periods to secure sometimes a year or more Goldman and Eyster 1992 The Chinese restaurant and hotel ballroom literature tend to neglect this attribute as regular dining customers do not consider reserving a restaurant far in advance Availability is examined only by the event literature Location refers to the physical position of the venue its accessibility by roads and convenience of parking A good location obviously increases the value of the lodging product to the guest Bull 1994 A good wedding banquet location is not only beautiful but also convenient for all guests attending the wedding Callan and Hoyes 2000 Bowdin et al 2006 identify the convenience of a location as involving not only transport to from and around the venue but also the availability of parking The best wedding venue needs to be close to the main transportation network and reachable within a short traveling time However the Chinese restaurant literature tends not to consider location as a selection attribute Atmospherics is the conscious design of a venue to produce specifi c emotional effects and comprises tangible and intangible environmental features including design cleanliness ambience and decoration with artifacts that serve as implicit and explicit signals that communicate with users Liu and Jang 2009a b The elegance and solemnity created by these artifacts have a direct impact on the wedding ceremony and banquet but are not discussed explicitly in the literature reviewed Sun et al 1999 fi nd that in addition to food quality and image cleanliness is another important selection attribute Whereas cleanliness is the most commonly discussed attribute in all three types of literature decoration is discussed mainly in the literature on the selection of Chinese restaurants Facilities comprise the physical constituents of the venue aspects of which include size audio equipment bridal room facilities and accommodation offer The venue size and layout directly affect its capacity Callen and Hoyes 2000 consider capacitytobeaprimarylogisticsrequirementthatisatangibleand measurable aspect of a venue Wedding ceremonies and banquets involve the use of different audio equipment Moreover similar to a dressing room in the backstage area of a theater it has been suggestedthat a bridal room shouldbe providedin whichthe bride can dress and prepare for the wedding As a competitive strategy wedding packages should include bridal room facilities and an offer of accommodation Adler and Chien 2004 Facilities are an area neglected in the literature Regarding food the banquet menu and quality of the food are important Food quality includes food taste freshness tempera ture presentation and options Liu and Jang 2009b Auty 1992 argues that food type and quality are the most frequent choice variablesregardlessofthe occasioninselectingarestaurant Kivela 1997 fi nds that among average Hong Kong diners food quality and type are the most important considerations in choosing a Chinese restaurant Food quality and menu variety are essential attributescommonlydiscussedintheChineserestaurantliterature reviewed but are overlooked for the most part in the hotel literature The results of a survey conducted in Hong Kong show that among 33 hotel selection attributes staff service quality is the one mostfrequentlypraised Chuand Choi 2000 Employeeattitudeis one of the most commonly considered attributes in all three types of literature Wedding packages help simplify the wedding process for couples and increase food and beverage revenues therefore hotels should also provide professional services including wedding ceremony service wedding photography and a bridal limousine Adler and Chien 2004 Sweeney et al 1992 fi nd that the most important cue affecting restaurant selection is employee manner and that price plays only a minor role in infl uencing the selection decision Pricing attributes include venue rental food and beverage setting package and equipment expenses Lockyer 2005 reviews a number of studies and fi nds that price is the most important consideration in the selection process Callan and Hoyes 2000 point out that the hiring of additional equipment as well as the provision of wine and beverages needs to be organized separately and increases the cost In contrast to regular dining activities a wedding banquet requires the construction of a stage and backdrop The set up price is usually included in the setting package All of the hotel research reviewed considers venue rental Ananth et al 1992 Bull 1994 Chu and Choi 2000 Lewis 1984 whereas the Chinese restaurant literature usually ignores the venuechargeasregulardinersarerequiredtopayonlyforfoodand beverage consumption 2 2 The decision making process Theabovementionedstudiesconsideronlyvenueattributes and neglect the personalattributesthat alsoaffect the selectionprocess Theprocessofchoosingonealternativeoverothersrequiresmaking aseriesofdecisionsthatinvolveindividualmotivations preferences knowledge cognitiveprocesses resources andconstraints Stewart C K H Lau S H Hui International Journal of Hospitality Management 29 2010 268 276269 and Stynes 1995 The early literature outlines several process or structural models of consumer decision making Engel et al 1990 Reid 1989 Roering and Block 1979 Zeithaml and Bitner 1996 whereas recent research focuses mainly on travel and tourism decisions GitelsonandKerstetter 1995 StewartandStynes 1995 Roering and Block 1979 and Zeithaml 1996 focus on the transformation process that takes place between the stimulus and response and present similar models that include fi ve steps 1 problemrecognition 2 informationsearch 3 alternative evaluation 4 choice and 5 outcomes Engel et al 1990 propose a structural model that also considers the relationship between the stimulus and response and emphasize that environmental infl u ences such as culture social class personal infl uence and family and individual differences such as motivation involvement knowledge attitude personality lifestyle and demographics all have an impact on decision making Reid s 1989 contemporary consumer decision making model introduces both extrinsic and intrinsic infl uences including needs experience personality and self image in addition to perception and attitude Applying the above frames of consumer behavior which directs and coordinates decision making activities in an idiosyncratic nature a conjoint choice model is developed as shown in Fig 1 A need is aroused which frames decision making activities and directsthe informationsearch In the evaluationstage thedecision maker judges the desirability of alternative choices Stewart and Stynes 1995 Consumer decisions are affected by both internal and external sources of information Goossens 1995 Pedraja and Yague 2001 assert that when consumers choose restaurants both an active and a passive external search are involved The consumption experience acts as an antecedent to the next cycle of decisionmakingonthesameitemofconsumption However inthe case of a wedding banquet there may not be another cycle of consumption This study focuses on prospective wedding couples evaluation of alternative choice which involves the dynamic betweenelementsofimplicitcognitionandenvironmental infl uences This is the stage when the prospective wedding couple is evaluating different options for the wedding banquet based on different venue variables and is affected also by intrinsic and extrinsic personal variables Individual preferences drive the differences in searches and are related to personality and self image Stewart and Stynes 1995 Personality and self image can be thought of as a consistent pattern of responses to environment stimuli Perceptions and attitudes based on the fi rst impression formed on the fi rst personal visit inform the elimination process however most decision makers are inexperienced and may be infl uenced by salespersons Stewart and Stynes 1995 Otnes and Scott 1996 emphasize that bridal salespersons are often key orchestrators of weddings and brides may therefore expect these salespersons to impart key information Intrinsic infl uence depends therefore on personal preference which is based on the fi rst impression the infl uence of the salesperson and the prospective wedding couple s perception of the venue promotion and package attractiveness compared to their perceived needs An attractive package is one that is lower in price but of better quality than others Johns and Pine 2002 Auty 1992 and Kivela 1997 refer to an attractive package as a combination of word brand image and promotion In a study conducted in Korea it was found that increased promotions by various national tourism organizations and airline companies have led Koreans to consider an attractive honeymoon destination a must for making a memorable start to a successful marriage and enjoying a once in a lifetime experience Kim and Agrusa 2005 Reference groups act as an extrinsic infl uence driving venue decision making In a study of unusual venues over 50 of the wedding organizers revealed that their initial source of knowledge of the venue was a personal one which consisted of general awareness recommendations and previous use or attendance of the facilities Callan and Hoyes 2000 When prospective wedding couples are searching for bridal supply information they tend to choose famous businesses Chen et al 2008 Reference groups including friends and relatives have been found to exert a dominant infl uence on travel decision making through utilitarian and value expressive information provision Gitelson and Ker stetter 1995 When a decision involves multiple decision makers most often it is a householddecision based on the preference of the family Gitelson and Kerstetter 1995 Otnes et al 1997 fi nd that seeking assistance from parents is an approach commonly employed among prospective wedding couples to cope with decision making overload Recommendations from friends and relatives thepreferenceofthefamily andespeciallythe experience of married couples are external information sources Culture also infl uences decision patterns Chinese tradition has a Fig 1 A conjoint choice model Adapted from Engel et al 1990 Roering and Block 1979 and Reid 1989 C K H Lau S H Hui International Journal of Hospitality Management 29 2010 268 276270 profound infl uence in Hong Kong and more banquets are held on auspicious dates of the Chinese lunar solar calendar Chan and Chan 2008 Finally socioeconomic level infl uences where and how the customer feels they should purchase Engel et al 1990 Kivela 1997 fi nds that different education and income levels also affect choice 2 3 Demographic infl uences on choice Very few studies have examined the infl uence of demographic characteristics on the selection of a hotel or restaurant Lockyer 2003 shows t