Minimalism in capsule hotels: Enhancing tourist responses by using minimalistic lifestyle appeals congruent with brand personality

Capsule hotels have increased in popularity among both tourists and business travelers. This study aims to understand how minimalistic lifestyle appeals affect tourist responses (i.e., attitudes and booking intentions) to capsule hotels from the perspective of brand personality. In particular, Study 1 (N = 186) demonstrates that competent hotel brands benefit from using egoistic minimalistic lifestyle (EML) appeals, whereas sincere hotel brands benefit from biospheric minimalistic lifestyle (BML) appeals when marketing capsule hotels to tourists. Moreover, Study 2 (N = 202) identifies two underlying mechanisms driving these effects, such that the need for autonomy mediates the relationship between an EML appeal and a competent hotel brand while connectedness to nature mediates the relationship between a BML appeal and a sincere hotel brand with respect to tourist responses to capsule hotels. Beyond their theoretical implications for the existing literature, our findings encourage hospitality and tourism managers to enact certain strategies (e.g., minimalistic lifestyle appeals or brand personality positioning) in capsule hotel marketing.