Revisiting the impact of VR applications on hotel bookings

Purpose The current study aims to investigate hotel guests’ intention to use virtual reality (VR) and willingness to pay more for hotels that have VR applications (e.g. virtual room tour) when booking a hotel. Design/methodology/approach Through a theoretical lens of stimuli–organism–response (S-O-R), relationships among an individual’s performance expectancy, effort expectancy, social influence, utilitarian motivation, hedonic motivation, perceived value, intention to use VR and willingness to pay more for VR were tested using partial least square-structural equation modeling. Findings Performance expectancy, social influence, utilitarian motivation and hedonic motivation affect the perceived value of VR. An individual’s perceived value of VR affects his/her intention to use VR and willingness to pay more for a hotel that has VR contents (e.g. virtual room tour) available during the hotel booking process. Originality/value Through the S-O-R framework, this study provided insights into hotel guests’ intention to use VR and explored how their intentions lead to their willingness to pay more for a hotel if VR is available during the reservation or hotel selection process.