Communicating Family Identity to Improve Competitiveness in Indigenous Family-Owned Hotels
Orlando Llanos-Contreras, Graciela Sandoval-Álvarez, Manuel Alonso-Dos-Santos
Keywords:
Family-owned hotels, Indigenous entrepreneurship, Family identity communication, Consumer response, Indigenous entrepreneurship competitiveness
Abstract:
Family firms play a central role in the tourism and accommodation sector, offering a reputational advantage that can be leveraged through branding and communication. Family businesses are also predominant among the ventures developed by Indigenous entrepreneurs. This study examines how communicating the family identity of a family-owned hotel influences tourist immersion in the experience, and how it influences Word-of-mouth and Visit Intention through tourist attitudes. We conducted an online experiment in which participants interacted with fictitious websites of family-owned hotels from Rapa Nui (Easter Island) and subsequently completed a survey, resulting in a sample of 440 Chilean participants. Results show that conveying a strong family identity significantly enhances tourist immersion in the experience, which in turn improves attitudes toward both the website and the destination, ultimately increasing visit intention and recommendation behavior. These findings underscore the strategic value of family identity as a signaling mechanism in tourism marketing. The study offers theoretical contributions to the literature on family-firm branding and hospitality, and practical implications for family-run businesses aiming to improve consumer response to branding strategies.
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 10.7441/joc.2026.03.06
Llanos-Contreras, O., Sandoval-Álvarez, G., & Alonso-Dos-Santos, M. (2026). Communicating family identity to improve competitiveness in indigenous family-owned hotels. Journal of Competitiveness, 18(3), 154–178. https://doi.org/10.7441/joc.2026.03.06
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