Love Spillover from a Hotel Sub-brand to its Corporate Brand: An Associative Network Theory Perspective

Abstract

Although it has been a trend for hotel firms to develop sub-brands within their brand portfolios, a knowledge gap exists in explaining how to strengthen the relationships between sub-brands and their corporate brands. Therefore, based on the associative network theory, this study proposes and aims to examine a three-way interaction model of love spillover in a hotel brand portfolio. A total of 214 responses were collected from U.S. frequent travelers who had a membership with one of the five case hotel firms. Results of this study firstly found that hotel sub-brand love exerts positive effects on its corporate brand, demonstrating love spillover in a hotel brand portfolio. Second, involvement of the sub-brand could strengthen the love spillover. Third, membership satisfaction could further strengthen the moderating effect of involvement, thereby proving the proposed threeway interaction model.