ABSTRACT
The physical environment sends important signals to all of the hospitality organization’s stakeholders but, most importantly from a marketing perspective, to customers. Customers intuitively respond to the signals that the external appearance and internal atmosphere project. If the physical environment is appropriate, then target markets are more likely to find the offer attractive and want to buy; at the same time, potential customers who do not ‘fit’ into the target market profile can be deterred. In this sense, the physical environment helps ‘tangibilize the intangible’ aspects of the hospitality service. Whilst the physical environment clearly has an impact on customers on the premises and that is why we discuss it in the encounter marketing section of the book, it can also influence customer expectations in the pre-encounter marketing stage. Maybe you’ve walked past a club or bar and felt ‘that’s not for me’. You are responding to the signals evident in the physical environment.
