The Hospitality Experience Conspicuous Consumption

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The Hospitality Experience Conspicuous consumption is a natural progression due to the rise of the middle class. The rich are getting richer; therefore it leads to conspicuous consumption. O’hara (1999 p139) defines conspicuous consumption as an attempt to obtain prestige by displaying the ability to pay more than the average. In today’s society, wealth and status of a person are portrayed through the clothing, mobile phone, cars owned and where they choose to dine. Take wine and beer as a classic example; consumers’ have moved onto wine because of the prestige it eludes a kind of ‘upgrades’ a person’s social statue. Whereas beer is deemed as cheap and not so ‘high class’ to be seen holding a beer. Jester (2008 p87) also commented that wine consumption is steadily rising due to the increasing personal disposable income and an influence of lifestyle. This is a natural progression of consumers’ wanting to flaunt and show others what their social status are in the society; which leads to the demand and supply of goods. The latter is said to be beneficial for the economic growth, which benefits everyone as more jobs are created. As there is demand, businesses are bringing or making products specifically for different markets. The demand would also cause a spark for more entrepreneurs who would create new products to keep the demand of conspicuous consumption. For example, IHG hotels and resorts have rolled out a new China-branded hotel called Hualuxe; it is targeted towards more traditional Chinese consumers (Burkitt 2012). In the hospitality industry, there are many hotels and restaurants catered to consumers’ who are willing to spend. Hotels such as the Savoy in London and restaurants such as El Buli in Spain; such establishments are around because customers are willing to spend and show their social status. Destinations such as Singapore can benefit from
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