How to create interactive rituals: Key factors and strategic configurations for host-guest interaction in boutique hotels

Host-guest interactions in boutique hotels can improve guest satisfaction and word-of-mouth communication, as well as contribute to the sustainable development of the brand image of boutique hotels. However, existing studies have less research on the micro-sociological perspective of interaction in boutique hotels, and this issue needs to be further discussed. This study adopts grounded theory and fuzzy set qualitative comparative analysis (FsQCA)respectively, exploring the multiple paths and combinatorial relationships of the intrinsic influence of multiple factors on the host-guest interaction of boutique hotels from a holistic perspective, taking a typical boutique hotel in an ethnic minority region in China as an example. The results show that the intrinsic model of the host-guest interaction ritual of boutique hotels consists of two paths of interactive ritual preparation, elements, and results, the successful ritual path can lead to the interaction of the host-guest to generate brand symbolic cognition and group ethnic cultural identity, and the failed ritual path fails to form the collective ritual of host-guest interaction and brand image cognition, subsequently, there are four antecedent combinations that can realize the common influence of the interactive ritual of boutique hotels and combinatorial relationships, and these antecedent combinations are classified as behavior-intention dominant, interaction-satisfaction dominant, cultural interaction dominant, and behavior-satisfaction-cultural perception dominant. This study innovates the research perspective of micro-sociology of boutique hotels, identifying the key factors and multiple paths of successful host-guest interaction rituals, and expands the application of host-guest interaction theory to provide an empirical basis for the effectiveness transformation and brand value enhancement of existing boutique hotel host-guest interaction rituals.