Seminario titulado: "To add or not to add breakfast to a hotel room reservation: The role of salience". El seminario será el VIERNES día 8 de marzo a las 12:30hs, en la sala Dr. Ernest LLuch (Dpto de Economía)
Abstract: Hotels tend to charge a fixed amount to add breakfast to a reservation. Drawing on the salience theory for consumer choice, we show that this constant surcharge makes the demand for breakfast-included rooms dependent on the room's price. The application of the salience theory predicts that the probability of selling breakfast-included rooms rises (1) after a room price increase and (2) less so if consumers do not anticipate the price hike. The empirical application on over 22,000 reservations made at a particular hotel in Barcelona between 2018 and 2022 supports both predictions. This paper brings relevant managerial implications for dynamic pricing strategies for breakfast and represents the first test of the salience theory in a travel-related context.
