Reducing perceived health risk to attract hotel customers in the COVID-19 pandemic era: Focused on technology innovation for social distancing and cleanliness

As an essential risk-reduction strategy, technology innovation is likely to play a key role in the hotel industry’s recovery from the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. However, its impact on customer decision-making behavior is unknown. Focusing on technology innovation for reducing guest interaction with employees and enhancing cleanliness, the purpose of this research was to examine the impact of expected interaction and expected cleanliness on perceived health risk and hotel booking intention. Three experimental studies were conducted using online consumer samples. The studies found that low levels of expected interaction through technology-mediated systems lead to low levels of perceived health risk. Perceived health risk mediates the relationship between expected interaction and hotel booking intention. In addition, high levels of expected cleanliness through advanced cleaning technologies moderate the impacts of expected interaction on perceived health risk. Importantly, the proposed perceived risk mechanism was effective in post-pandemic scenarios. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.