The term 'servicescape' dates back to the early 1980s, and relates to the physical environment in which a service is provided - from the general ambiance to specifics like restaurant and hotel furniture, layout, signage, even the temperature and indoor air quality.
But despite being around for nearly 35 years, it's a term that has gone relatively unresearched, and a new article in the Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing notes the imbalance between the number of studies conducted in this area, and the vast amount of time customers spend engaging with establishments' servicescapes.
This is particularly the case in hotels, where the interplay between the servicescape and the customer can begin even before they enter the building, with exterior elements like landscaping, lighting, and the view of the reception desk, lounge and bar furniture, glimpsed through the front windows.
Researchers from several universities in Turkey collaborated on a study of servicescape, examining its relationships with customers' perceptions of value, image, pleasure and behavioural intentions.
Interestingly, they found that the servicescape of a hotel can have a direct influence on customer perceptions, even when there is no significant cause and effect between those different perceptions.
For example, the servicescape can have a significant positive effect on customer perceptions of value, image and pleasure, even though the research found no significant link between perception of value and behavioural intentions, or the hotel's image and its effect on guests' pleasure levels.
What does this all mean? For hoteliers it simply cements into place some of the notions that might already have been believed to be true - the importance of a good first impression, and of an environment that makes guests feel welcome and in a luxurious setting.
But more than that, it provides clear evidence that it is the servicescape of an establishment - whether that is the hotel furniture, fixtures and fittings, the easy access to stairways and elevators, the lighting and decor, or the temperature and ventilation - that matters when deciding customers' perceptions of their stay.
With this in mind, whatever the style and brand image of your establishment, it is worth doing all you can to choose the best possible hotel furniture, other equipment, decorations and so on, to create a servicespace that sells your premises at their absolute best.