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1. Introduction
Traditionally, individuals have demonstrated their status by wastefully spending money on luxury goods and conspicuously consuming them. However, the understanding of the status and the importance of goods as status symbols have changed in recent years. In particular, a phenomenon referred to as the democratization of luxury (Dubois and Laurent, 1996), mass prestige (Kapferer and Laurent, 2016) or masstige (Yang and Mattila, 2014) has contributed to the descending value of luxury goods as status symbols. This phenomenon encompasses a continually expanding and wealthy middle class, as well as the increasing production of luxury goods. As luxury products have become affordable for a mounting number of individuals (Yang and Mattila, 2014), the market shares of luxury brands are growing (d’Arpizio et al., 2018) and traditional luxury products are perceived as less exclusive (Kim, 2018). As a result, the rich upper class is looking for alternative status symbols to differentiate it from the masses (Dubois et al., 2021). In particular, immaterial symbolic meanings are gaining in importance (Chaudhuri et al., 2011). This evolution has led to an increased desire for experiential luxury consumption (Kim, 2018). A recent Bain and Company luxury report (D’Arpizio et al., 2018) confirms this rising interest in luxury experiences by illustrating the growth in sales of high-end food (6%), wine (4%), luxury hospitality (5%) and luxury cruises (7%).
Despite their increasing (economic) importance, the research on the consumption of (luxury) experiences is still sparse. The few studies that do examine experiences have mostly concentrated on luxury hospitality services (Han and Hyun, 2013; Hwang and Hyun, 2013; Hyun and Kim, 2014; Kim and Jang, 2014; Kim et al., 2006; Lee and Hwang, 2011; Walls et al., 2011; Wu and Liang, 2009; Yang and Mattila, 2016, 2017). However, Bhattacharjee and Mogilner (2013) found that experiences, in general, are particularly self-defining when they are extraordinary. Hence, consumers choose not only luxury destinations that demonstrate wealth but also unique travel destinations that demonstrate a certain identity (Bronner and de Hoog, 2018). Nevertheless, it remains unexplored whether experiences can act as substitutes for luxury goods to demonstrate status and whether such experiences must necessarily be luxurious.
While in the past, consumers made experiential purchases primarily to gain life experiences (van...