Color, emotion and behavioral intentions in city hotel guestrooms

The aim of this study is to explore the effect of colors on people’s emotional states and behavioral intentions in a real world city hotel guestroom. The conceptual framework of the study is based on the Mehrabian- Russell model that suggests that an environmental stimulus from physical environments would create an emotional state which would then elicit behavioral intentions. A field study approach is used and conducted with three different sample groups for three different colors which are blue, yellow and grey. The study is carried out in two phases. This experimental procedure is repeated for each color scheme in the same hotel guestroom with different participants. The results indicate that blue and yellow are associated with pleasure and arousal, whereas grey color evokes displeasure and no arousal. Moreover, yellow and blue are found to reveal approach behavior, while the color grey is found to evoke avoidance behavior in city hotel guestrooms. In addition to these, it is shown that there is a positive relationship between pleasure and approach behavior and between arousal and approach behavior. The results of this study can be useful for interior architects, designers and hoteliers who put emphasis on touching guests’ emotions and behavioral intentions to meet guest expectations, enhance hotelier’s satisfaction and guest’s loyalty.