What Makes a Hotel Stay Work for Families with Children with Autism: A Laddering Study

For families with children on the autism spectrum, a hotel stay is not simply a holiday arrangement. It is a carefully managed exposure to an unfamiliar environment with unknown sensory conditions, unpredictable staff responses, and limited guarantees of the routine and predictability that underpin daily life at home. This study is among the first to examine the hospitality context specifically through the lens of what these families actually value — tracing the connections from concrete physical attributes through experiential consequences to the deeper personal goals that guide their accommodation choices.

How the research was done

The study used a soft laddering approach grounded in means-end theory, a technique that moves beyond identifying product characteristics to reveal the consequences and values that connect those characteristics to consumer decision-making. Sixteen parents of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) in Italy were recruited through the president of an Italian Association for the Protection and Integration of People with Autism. Interviews were conducted face-to-face or online, lasted an average of 47 minutes, and were audio-recorded and transcribed in Italian. The laddering method began by asking participants to describe both positive and negative hotel experiences and then applied probing questions — "Why is this important to you?" and "How does that make you feel?" — to progressively reveal consequences and underlying values.

Transcripts were analysed following a grounded theory approach, with codes grouped into hierarchical attribute-consequence-value relationships. Only items and linkages appearing at least three times were retained. The Ladderux software was used to generate the hierarchical value map. A final set of 16 attributes (7 concrete, 8 abstract), 14 consequences (6 functional, 8 psycho-social), and 16 values (6 instrumental, 10 terminal) emerged from the analysis.

What the research found

Among concrete hotel attributes, families most consistently highlighted inclusive entertainment service — adapted daycare programmes and recreational activities that allow children with ASD to safely engage with others — alongside sensory stimuli modulation, defined as quiet areas, adjustable lighting, air-conditioning control, and reduced noise in guest rooms and shared spaces. The ability to communicate openly with hotel staff before and during the stay was also consistently important, including being able to share the child's condition and have specific requests addressed proactively. Other concrete attributes included wide rooms, spacious and accessible bathrooms, and PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System) signage to help children independently navigate hotel facilities.

Among abstract attributes, trained and skilled staff was the single most frequently mentioned item in the entire dataset, followed by customised service — fast-track check-in, separate quiet restaurant seating, adjusted menus — and staff empathy. The three most recurring functional consequences were reduced sensory overload, avoided behavioural crises, and reduced physical danger. On the psycho-social side, the most frequently described consequence was less child distress, followed by child recovery and tranquillity and time for parents to restore themselves — a need that is rarely foregrounded in accessible tourism research. The strongest complete chain in the analysis ran from sensory stimuli modulation through avoiding behavioural crises to parents' tranquillity and ultimately to relaxation. Serenity and tranquillity was the single most recurring terminal value, mentioned 23 times across 16 interviews, followed by satisfaction and pleasure and relax. These values characterise an ideal stay defined by comfort, predictability, and the ability to function as a family without constant vigilance — rather than by novelty or discovery.

Insights for the industry

The study reframes ASD-accessible hospitality not as a compliance obligation but as a coherent design challenge with identifiable priorities. Trained and skilled staff emerge as the single most important attribute — which means that investment in ASD awareness and service flexibility training has a higher return for this guest segment than almost any physical modification alone. Customised service protocols — priority queuing at check-in, quiet restaurant seating, adjusted menus, and pre-arrival open communication — address the most critical functional consequences directly and are low-cost to implement.

Hotels in natural, resort, or bungalow settings are particularly well positioned to attract this segment, given participants' consistent preference for quieter, lower-stimulus environments with more spatial freedom. Marketing communications should be informational above all else: detailed floor plans, photographs of room and bathroom layouts, and pre-arrival virtual tours reduce anticipatory stress significantly, because families need verifiable specifics to plan effectively. Partnerships with other accessible service providers — transport, restaurants, attraction operators — that maintain compatible standards can make the difference between a family committing to a trip and deciding the logistics are unmanageable. The deepest insight from the study is that what families with children with ASD seek is something every hospitality brand aspires to offer: a stay from which the whole family actually returns rested.