A conceptual model of co-creating an authentic luxury spa experience

The rapid growth of the international hotel or resort spa establishments underscores the importance of defining the spa operators’ unique authenticity and understanding of customers’ perceptions of authenticity, experiential value, and satisfaction. Today's luxury hotel or resort spas are criticised for losing the essence of the spa experience, lacking authenticity, and being over-commercialised. In this paper, we focus on authenticity and argue that authentic spas are considered as a premium offering. We develop a conceptual framework that incorporates both the views of spa operators and their customers. The model draws on multi-disciplinary theories to define authenticity and to guide spa operators in creating and rendering an authentic spa experience. To that end, we examine factors contributing to customers’ perceptions of authenticity, experiential value, and satisfaction. Managerial and future research implications are also discussed.