Effects of experiential stimuli on customers’ responses An example of bed and breakfast websites Seonjeong Ally Lee Kent State University, Kent, Ohio, USA Miyoung Jeong School of Hospitality, Retail and Sport Management, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina, USA, and Myunghee Mindy Jeon Department of Management, Salem State University, Salem, Massachusetts, USA Abstract Purpose – Thepurposeofthisstudyistoproposefourexperientialcomponentsofe-servicescapethat influence customers’ pleasure emotions, satisfaction with bed and breakfast (b&b) websites and behavioral intentions in the context of the b&b industry. Design/methodology/approach – Thisstudyisbasedonacross-sectional,self-administeredonline survey from b&b customers. Findings – Thisstudyidentifiesthatbothperceivedenjoymentandsocialpresencerepresentpositive effectsoncustomers’pleasureemotionsandsatisfactionwithb&bwebsites.However,flowexperience only influences customers’ pleasure emotions, and interactivity only affects customers’ satisfaction with b&b websites. Results from this study confirm that customers’ pleasure emotions influence their satisfaction with b&b websites and their behavioral intentions. Originality/value – This paper incorporates the roles of experiential factors of e-servicescape in the context of the b&b industry. Keywords Satisfaction, Behavioral intentions, Experiential marketing, Bed and breakfast industry, E-servicescape, Pleasure emotion Paper type Research paper Introduction Withtheadvanceddevelopmentandprevalenceofinformationtechnologies,thevirtual service environment, also known as e-servicescape, is important because it enables customerstointeractwiththeserviceenvironment(Nilsson and Ballantyne, 2014).The roleofe-servicescapeisemphasizedwiththehotelindustryduetoitsinherentnatureof theindustry.Oneofthemajorcharacteristicsofthehotelindustryisintangibility;thus, customers tend to have a hard time evaluating the hotel’s service before they actually experience these services (Kotler et al., 2010). Therefore, hotels must find ways to visualize customers’ experiences during the pre-consumption stage, promoting customers’ experiences. Depending on how customers develop their experiences on the website, their perceptions influence the service quality (Hooper et al., 2013), customers’ attitudes The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: www.emeraldinsight.com/1757-9880.htm JHTT 7,4 390 Received17July2016 Revised24September2016 Accepted25September2016 Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology Vol.7No.4,2016 pp. 390-404 ©EmeraldGroupPublishingLimited 1757-9880 DOI 10.1108/JHTT-07-2016-0035