Wan Yang

Who they are

This page records the public professional record only. Nothing adverse is recorded and no motive is attributed.

Her affiliation was not verified for this page, so none is asserted. The record available here is the one paper, which the article Why Luxury Brands Hold Their Prices uses for the claim that the buyers who matter most to a luxury house are the ones most likely to mind a markdown.

Key papers

• Yang, W., Zhang, L., & Mattila, A. S. (2016). 'Luxe for Less: How Do Consumers React to Luxury Hotel Price Promotions? The Moderating Role of Consumers' Need for Status.' Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 57(1), 82-92. doi:10.1177/1938965515580133

Key ideas

The study starts from a commercial fact, that online discount websites are a growing channel for luxury hotels, and from a gap, that the literature offered little guidance on whether promotions work for them. Drawing on status consumption theory, the authors examined how price promotions and consumers' need for status jointly affect attitudes toward the hotel and intentions to return.

Guests high in need for status viewed the hotel less favourably and were less likely to return after learning the hotel would run promotions through discount websites. Guests low in need for status were not affected. The authors suggested that luxury hotels that attract high-need guests may be harmed by this promotion channel.

The abstract does not give the design or the sample, and the outcomes are attitudes and intentions, not bookings. The concept page Need for Status carries the detail.

What the paper asks

The 2016 study starts from a commercial fact. Online discount websites are a growing channel for luxury hotels, and the research literature offered little guidance on whether price promotions work for hotels at that end of the market. The authors, Wan Yang, Lu Zhang and Anna Mattila, draw on status consumption theory, which treats some purchases as signals of standing, to ask how promotions and a consumer's need for status together shape attitudes toward the hotel and intentions to return.

How the paper is used on this site

The article Why Luxury Brands Hold Their Prices uses it for a claim about who minds a markdown. Guests high in need for status viewed the hotel less favourably, and were less likely to return, once they learned it would run promotions through discount websites, while guests low in need for status were not affected. The people with the most status at stake were the ones who minded.

It is the only study in the article's table that asks consumers of a luxury service how they feel about discounting, and it is the closest of the six to the situation a luxury house faces. The article still lists it as a stand-in, because it concerns hotels, attitudes and intentions, not purchases of goods.

What the paper does not show

The abstract gives neither the design nor the sample, so this page cannot judge how strong the result is. The outcomes are attitudes and intentions to return, and they are not bookings. The study does not show that discounting reduces a hotel's revenue, and it does not show that status-minded guests leave.

It does not extend to a handbag or a watch. The study did not test goods that are displayed in public, where the role of status may differ.

How it was read

The paper was read here at the level of its published abstract, via the Penn State record. Her affiliation was not verified for this page, so none is asserted. Nothing adverse is recorded and no motive is attributed to the authors.

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