Tourism and Travel Commons^™

Turning Discounts Into Profits: Factors Influencing Online Purchasing Decisions For Hotel Add-On Items, Esther Kim, Sarah Tanford

Department of Hospitality and Tourism Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

A hotel website exclusive discount is widely adopted by major chain hotels to increase the volume of direct bookings. Although the traditional purpose of a discount promotion is to attract customers to the business, this research suggests that a hotel website exclusive price discount can induce consumers’ additional spending. Principles of mental accounting and two thinking styles (analytic vs. holistic) predict different effects of a price discount and the add-on product type by individual thinking styles. A quasi-experiment investigated the effect of an unexpected discount, relatedness of add-on item to a hotel stay, and individual thinking styles on add-on purchasing. …