• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.28 no.1
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• pp.45-53
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• 2004

This study was conducted to redesign hotel robes based on Korean images. Hotel robes are furnished at many Korean hotels to increase the level of their guests' satisfaction toward their hotel services. The current hotel robe has several flaws in utility and design. Also, the robes register a low level on guests' satisfaction while generating high cleaning cost. Consequently, improvements in the hotel robes' material, motifs, style, and color were needed. The current one-piece, cotton towel weave robes used in hotels are white and pale. Half of the hotel guests never wear the hotel robes during their stay, because they are unattractive and most Korean hotels provide a robe similar in design. Furthermore, these robes are undistinguishable from those found at other countries. Nevertheless, Korean hotel managers feel that the hotel robe is an important tool to express its hotel image and to increase guests' satisfaction of their services. Most hotel managers and consumers agreed that it is necessary to design hotel robes based on Korean images. They believe that redesigning the hotel robes based on Korean images would induce hotel guests to wear them and at the same time feel part of the Korean traditional culture. The Korean traditional motifs of Taegug, Un (cloud), JuJag (phoenix), and Kumkwan (gold crown) were used in the new design of the hotel robes. The style of new hotel robes is the Korean traditional Pho of the Three Kingdoms. The colors of new hotel robes are white and pink. Forty-three examiners evaluated the newly designed robes for their aesthetic, symbolic and distinctional values. They concurred that the new robes were much better than the current ones.