A spatial relationship between the distribution patterns of hotels and amenities in the United States

Amenities are recognized as an important factor for hospitality and tourism development. While previous studies have primarily focused on natural amenities, this research considers both natural and constructed amenities based on Clark’s amenity concept. This study explored how and which amenities were related to the spatial distribution patterns of hotels in the United States. Exploratory spatial statistical techniques were employed in this research. The findings suggest that hotels are not randomly distributed across the country. As the Moran’s I statistic demonstrates, hotels tend to be regionally clustered. While this study statistically confirms the importance of natural amenities in the spatial distribution patterns of hotels using bivariate local indicators of spatial association tests, it also reveals a stronger spatial relationship between constructed amenities and the spatial distribution patterns of US hotels compared with natural amenities.