Towards sustainable servicescape : tourists’ perspectives of accommodation service attributes

Abstract

The study uses content analysis to identify the sustainable attributes in 678 accommodation reviews from Finnish and Russian tourists published on the Tripadvisor website and examines the sustainability perceptions of these tourist groups. The servicescape framework was applied to the structuring of the attributes indicating sustainability in accommodation services. The sustainable attributes highlighted in the reviews were more frequently in the physical rather than in the social servicescape factor. The tourists also reported environmental sustainability attributes more often than those related to social, cultural and economic sustainability. Overall, the sustainable attributes were perceived positively. By analysing positive and negative tourists’ perceptions in a sustainability context, this research provides insights drawn from tourists’ perspectives to support the development of appealing and sustainable tourism accommodation products. The study also proposes a servicescape framework for managing environmental, social, cultural and economic sustainability in accommodation services.