Hotell Speciell. Livsstilskonsumtion på känslornas marknad

Sammanfattning: During the last decades of the 1900’s, businesses started to - in a broader sense than before - acknowledge the economic relevance of intangible components, such as emotional experiences, of products and services. This dissertation explores how the so-called lifestyle hotel segment reflects the socio-cultural currents that set the conditions for these changes in the Western economy. The aim of the study is to show the work of the mechanisms of this emotional production, in place and by means of tangible tools. The methodological thrust is that of cultural analysis; i.e. micro-studies of small events and limited milieus as reflections of broader societal and cultural contexts. Examples of empirical sources are interviews, observations, newspaper clippings, Internet sites and digital discussion fora. The study dissects the phenomenon of lifestyle hotels into some central elements that are central to the “cultural economy” at large; elements such as otherness, uniqueness, singularity, rebellion, estrangement, individualism, innovation, boldness and newness. The thesis analyses the logics and practices through which the cultural economy is materialized – what it feels, smells, sounds and looks like. The dissertation discusses the linking capacities of the lifestyle hotels, and describes how hotel operators apply a number of selective strategies in order to maintain the guest group as homogenous and representative for the hotel’s image as possible. A great deal of the analysis circles around an emotional charge that is significant to the world of lifestyle hotels. The text describes how lifestyle hotel operators call forth the vision of their hotels as imaginary dream worlds, spiritual and emotional experiences, in order to make them attractive to the market. Partly, the dissertation discusses the aesthetic strategies used by lifestyle hotel operators and the visitor’s emotional response to this visual communication of the hotel. The dissertation also analyses the charging of products and services with “specialness”. This charging seems to be connected to an emotional competence – in order to make their hotels appear as special and unique, the operators need to possess an ability to evoke feelings. Lastly, the dissertation discusses how the ideals and logics that steer the cultural construction of a lifestyle hotel are being reproduced and transmitted by means of what could be called two management tools, or translation processes: imitation/inspiration and the writing of scripts for how to create the unique and special.