MOTIVATIONS FOR ARCHITECTURAL ELEMENTS OF HOTEL LOBBIES PREFERENCES
Yawate Vahyala Elisha1 and Dr. Zachariah Bako Zinas2
1PG Student, Department of Architecture, MAUTECH, Yola, Nigeria
2 Senior Lecturer, Department of Architecture, MAUTECH, Yola, Nigeria
Email: vahyalayawat@gmail.com)
ABSTRACT
The lobby is the first space guests will encounter and possibly the first impression they will form of the hotel’s physical environment. Various literatures suggest that a stimulating physical environment has the potential to make a positive impact on customers’ perceptions and behavior. However, there is scarcity of data pertaining to the physical environment that emphasizes attractiveness of hotel lobbies. This paper examines hotel lobby architectural elements preferences and the expected motivations for these preferred elements attributes. A structured questionnaire survey was first administered to 200 hotel lobby users in Yola, Adamawa State, Nigeria, followed by laddering interviews of the Means-End Chain (MEC) methods. The result shows that three (3) distinct architectural elements namely; hard material (tiles/slate/terrazzo) for floor finishing, stucco for wall finishing and sofa/seat/chair arranged in group were preferred and the most emphasized attributes elements are artful, beauty, comfort, appropriate, high quality and hygienic. Five (5) motivating user values of “stimulation”, “security”, “benevolence”, “hedonism” and “achievement” were found to be drivers for these preferences. Key words: Lobby’s architectural element attributes, means-end chain, laddering interviews
