Assessing the Impact of Accommodations on Mood and Future Travel Actions During A Short-term Study Abroad Experience

The global tourism and hospitality management industry has been expanding for decades, interrupted only by post-9/11 shutdowns and the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. The literature in this field has evolved over the past several decades toward more nuanced travel research related to travelers’ moods and how to keep them happy throughout their trips, and governments today are spending more than ever to market their locales to potential visitors, in order to better facilitate local tourism and increase intra-trip spending in order to secure tax dollars in their budgets. Consumer behavior literature on tourism has focused on the various on-site experiences of travelers in the past. This study will assess student attitudes toward different types of hotels during a recent study abroad, and the impact of these reactions on the likelihood of spending during the trip as well as the likelihood of repeat visits to those locations in the future.