Luxury Hotel Booking and Scarcity Messages: Does Online Purchase Behavior Matter?

Hotel booking websites commonly use scarcity messages to sell hotels’ vacant room inventory. However, the effects of these messages on consumers’ booking intention still remain unclear. Focusing specifically on luxury hotels, this paper seeks to address three research questions: (1) How do limited-quantity scarcity messages (e.g., “20% discount – Only 1 room left”) differ from limited-time scarcity messages (e.g., “20% discount – Only 1 day left”) in affecting consumers’ luxury hotel booking intention? (2) How do frequent online purchasers differ from occasional online purchasers in their luxury hotel booking intention in response to scarcity messages? (3) Is there an interaction effect between scarcity message format (limited-quantity vs. limited-time) and online purchase frequency (frequent vs. occasional) on consumers’ luxury hotel booking intention? Data came from 96 participants who took part in an online experiment. Results indicate that limited-time scarcity messages induced higher booking intention compared with limited-quantity scarcity messages. Moreover, frequent online purchasers exhibited higher booking intention compared with occasional purchasers. However, the interaction was non-significant. The findings have implications for luxury hotel managers, hotel booking websites, and online consumers. While frequent purchasers getting influenced by scarcity messages is a good sign for marketers, the paper serves to remind the consumers not to become shopaholic in terms of their online buying behavior.