It is very traditional, you must try it! The role of traditional breakfast in family-run hotels

This work examines how the type of breakfast offered by a family-run hotel affects guests' decisions to stay. Grounded in the construal level theory, we hypothesize that offering a traditional, local breakfast, compared to a continental one, increases the likelihood of guests staying, especially among leisure travelers in a family run hotel. A field experiment (n = 146) and an online study (n = 300) test this hypothesis by exposing guests to different breakfast conditions. The findings confirm that traditional, local breakfast increases the number of guests who stay for breakfast, with a stronger effect for tourist travelers. Perceived authenticity mediates this relationship. The paper contributes to understanding consumer decision-making in hospitality and offers practical implications for revenue management, suggesting that providing traditional, local breakfast can increase hotel profits. • Leisure travelers prefer traditional/local breakfast over continental options • Perceived authenticity mediates the effect of breakfast type on guests' choices • Construal-Level Theory explains guests' preferences for traditional breakfast • Offering traditional breakfast options increases revenue for family-run hotels