Wulan C.
Maharani/S141708003
Journal Title: Sharing Space with Visitors
The Servicescape Of The Commercial Exurban Home
C. Michael Hall
Commercial Homes in Tourism, An International Perspective
Statement
Servicescapes are therefore
significant as a stage upon which
the theatre of the hospitality
experience is set.
The connection the emotions of
consumers have to the physical
environment plays a very
important role in consumption.
Bed and breakfast and other
similar accommodation
provisions in private
homes, such as farmstays and
homestays, have become an
increasingly important part of the
New Zealand hospitality
landscape.
Magister Arsitektur Universitas Sebelas Maret
Evidence
 Use a theatre metaphor to define
experiences: that services are the stage and
the goods are the props. ‘An experience
occurs when a company intentionally uses
services as the stage, and goods as props, to
engage individual customers in a way that
creates a memorable event’
 They use the example of restaurants such as
Planet Hollywood, where the food is used as a
prop in an experience referred to as
‘eatertainment’
 If customers have positive emotions towards
the servicescape, it is likely they will stay
longer, spend more money and have a
positive experience
 If unpleasant factors are also experienced,
arousal may decrease approach behaviours.
Those who leave early because they feel
dissatisfaction with the physical surroundings
are obviously going to spend less money
 They have an effect on satisfaction when they
are at extremes, for example, too cold or too
hot, music too loud or too quiet, lighting too
bright or too dull. They are also noticed if the
customer experiences them in the
environment for a long period of time or if
they do not satisfy the customers’
expectations.
 The exact number of such providers is
extremely difficult to determine given that
many such services are highly casual and
seasonal and rest on owners‘putting a sign by
the road’ rather than being part of any formal
tourism network.
 It is estimated that there are approximately
2,500 bed and breakfast and homestay that
are part of formal tourism and
accommodation networks, plus as many as
four times that amount outside of such
networks.

Ambient conditions: The
importance of the sights and
sounds of the garden were
intrinsic to all respondents, while  Most respondents placed cut flowers or herbs
in several instances the vegetable
garden or orchards (which in
some cases were also another
source of income) also became a
significant part of the commercial
home experience
Spatial layout: The layout of a
property has important
implications for the capacity to
distinguish between areas that
are private to households and
those that are accessible to
guests.
Wulan C. Maharani/S141708003
Magister Arsitektur Universitas Sebelas Maret
 That the vast majority of respondents were in
the hinterlands of large urban centres and
demonstrated the classic profiles of
exurbanites in that they had either moved to
peri-urban and rural areas for lifestyle
reasons or, in some cases, were return
migrants, originally from the area but
returning after working abroad or elsewhere
in New Zealand.
 As home was regarded not just as the built
structure of the house but also the
surrounding countryside
in guest bedrooms and other guest spaces,
while scented waters were also widely used.
A significant dimension as well was ensuring
that the ‘noises’ experienced by visitors,
especially at evening and night time,fitted in
with notions of rurality.
 One respondent stated that they kept
chickens,‘as much for the noises they make as
we do for the eggs’, while several commented
on the importance of the quiet of the
countryside and the opportunity to hear
birdsong because‘that’s why we moved here’
 Host: With some guests I sometimes feel like I
lose a bit of privacy inside the house, I
occasionally feel like I have to run back to my
room. However, the garden is wonderful, we
never have such feelings there. As we are only
open in the warmer months we also take
every opportunity to eat out there with
guests rather than inside, and it can keep
guests busy for hours as well.
 Host : We never would have had guests here
if we didn’t have the idea of what we wanted
from the start. Designing it from scratch
meant that we could clearly indicate which
areas guests could use and which were
private while still all being under the one roof.
 Host: Although guests have their own ensuite
and bedroom, you still end up bumping into
each other in the hallway or the kitchen…I
wish we had a different house. The problem is
you can’t escape very easily.
 Nothing that even though both guests and the
household had their own private bathrooms

Sign, symbol and artefact: The
role of certain objects becoming
the basis for storytelling was also
noted inside the house, although
here the positioning of pictures,
furniture or other objects was
usually done quite consciously as
a way of potentially allowing
conversations to start.
Wulan C. Maharani/S141708003
Magister Arsitektur Universitas Sebelas Maret
the shared bathroom often caused personal
difficulties with respect to concepts of privacy
and hygiene, though guests usually would be
told not to use such facilities.
 Host: We have found it really important to
have an “ice-breaker”, something in the room
that allows us to start an easy conversation
with guests. We rarely have a guest who is
not interested in some aspect of the house,
family or local history …we just have to make
sure we have something that allows visitors
and us ourselves, I guess [starts laughing], to
have a point of connection.
 Host: So many of our visitors are interested in
gardens and in the plants, it always becomes
a place where we can share stories of the
difficulties we may have had in getting
something to grow or of our garden triumphs