Abstract

The economic downturn has inspired hotels to turn their attention to local residents to seek new revenue sources, and they are offering more of own special events to attract nearby residents to their venues. This study examines locals’ experiences at hotel special events, and evaluates their intention to purchase special event packages that include room nights. By employing Pine and Gilmore’s dimensions of experience economy, this study found that escapism experience and positive memory have strong impacts on locals’ purchase intention of hotel room nights in association with hotels’ special events. Based on the findings, this paper reports the potential of local customers to serve as revenue generators and concludes with practical implications for developing special event packages.