Understanding international consumers' behaviour towards disintermediation in the luxury hotel market

Abstract

Disintermediation presents an enormous opportunity for suppliers looking to increase profit margins and reduce their reliance on third parties. Situated in the context of the luxury hospitality industry of South Africa, this study aimed to determine if the psychological constructs of information risk, loss aversion, destination naivet? and transaction cost influence consumer choice of purchase channel. A quantitative methodology was applied to the study allowing for correlation analysis to assess the strength of the relationships between the psychological constructs and purchase channels. The findings suggest that the psychological constructs of loss aversion and to a lesser extent destination naivet? have an influence on purchase channel choice whilst contrary to current literature the construct of transaction cost has no influence on high-involvement non-frequently purchased experiential products such as luxury travel. Consumer's age was also shown to influence information sources utilised in the purchase process. The study contributes to both literature and practice in terms of the new context of South Africa, the potential marketing strategies to increase direct bookings and improved organisational understanding of the scale of disintermediation amongst the affluent consumer segment.