Proxemics and Its Effect on Travelers During the Sales Contact in Hotels [Summary]

This study examines the impact of conversational distances and the image of the salesperson on expected satisfaction levels for a new service. The current study does lend support to the theory that social distances are important in developing relationships with the buyer and the personality of the seller has the most impact at intimate distance levels. When gender is added to the conversational distances, there is an added emphasis on the image of the salesperson with social distances reflecting a more positive image for same sex dyads. However, the results remain inconclusive on whether distance impacts the expected product satisfaction levels for a new service.