A new classification of the hospitality system from a travel experience perspective

Abstract: With the passage of time, the offer made by tourism companies has undergone important changes, becoming more and more a unique and memorable consumption experience able to activate the sensory system of the consumer and arouse emotions. Experiential marketing uses the experiences lived by the consumer as a marketing tool so as to make the end customer perceive a higher added value thanks to the involvement of the senses and emotions. Even within the tourism sector, the need to face the new needs of tourists has led companies on the road to experiential differentiation. In today's society, consumption no longer constitutes a private and personal act but a real "social event" in the sense that a product is purchased not so much for its functional value as for the meaning it assumes for those who use it or consume it. for their own social relationships. Therefore, the consumption experience generates a considerable involvement for the consumer and for his own social relationships: for this the individual seeks products and services with a symbolic value, which allow him to fully express his personality. "Consuming means satisfying one's needs, but also creating and maintaining social relations". The paper focuses on a hypothesis of the use of new indexes of evaluation of accommodation facilities that go beyond the analysis of the core product (rooms and reception) and pay more attention to the product of facilitation or support (car rental, bike, guided tours, recreational activities, typical gastronomy, website in foreign language, etc.), as well as the "proper" elements of the travel experience, such as to make it definable as "unique and unforgettable". The paper, from this perspective, answers the following questions: how much does the current classification of hotels in stars affect the purchasing decision-making process? Is the holiday motivation or accommodation facility chosen first? If the holiday motivation is chosen first, would a hotel that suits this motivation be appreciated? As regards the methodology used in the paper, a descriptive empirical analysis is used, assuming with the Fishbein model a positioning map of accommodation facilities in Puglia, classifying them on the basis of the higher or lower level of experientiality. This empirical analysis aims to confirm the validity of the scale of the level of experience in the purchasing decisionmaking process aimed at the choice of a receptive structure and, above all to testify the creation of a new brand of territorial identity evolved into a real tourism product, through the activity of those receptive structures that make of their offer a sensory and experiential excellence.