Designing Green Places for Well-Being: How Sustainable Wellness Hotel Servicescapes Foster Satisfaction, Revisit, and Recommendation

This study explores how the multifaceted servicescape of wellness hotels influences customers’ intentions to revisit and recommend, with customer satisfaction acting as a mediating mechanism. Drawing on the Stimulus–Organism–Response (S-O-R) model and experiential marketing theory, this study conceptualizes servicescape across four dimensions: sensory, social, wellness-related activities, and cultural experiences. Survey responses were gathered from 483 Korean adults who had visited a wellness hotel within the last six months. The data were processed using SPSS (version 27.0) and AMOS (version 23.0). Findings suggest that while sensory, social, and wellness activity experiences have a significant positive impact on satisfaction, cultural experience does not yield the same effect. Satisfaction mediates both revisit and recommendation intentions. Moreover, multi-group analysis confirmed that wellness interest moderates the influence of sensory and wellness activity experiences on satisfaction. Notably, individuals with a high interest in wellness report increased satisfaction through active participation in wellness programs, whereas those with low wellness interest show greater responsiveness to sensory aspects. Theoretically, this study contributes to the existing body of literature by embedding wellness psychology and sustainable development goals (SDGs 3 and 12) into servicescape research. In terms of managerial implications, this study emphasizes the need for wellness hotels to improve sensory-based designs and experiential service quality, while also segmenting their strategies based on customers’ wellness profiles. By presenting an integrated model that connects experiential value, satisfaction, and behavioral intention, this study provides deeper insights into sustainable wellness tourism from both academic and practical perspectives.