Purpose

This paper aims to estimate the price premium for a sea view on room rent in a Nordic context, i.e. where proximity to the sea is not valued for the presence of swimmable beaches and suntanning activities. The analysis also explores regional and seasonal variations in price premiums.

Design/methodology/approach

To do so, the study uses information from a Web search of room rents during winter and summer peak seasons. The investigation is based on hotels located along the St. Lawrence River in the Province of Quebec (Canada), where about 40 to 60 km separate both shores. A matching procedure and hedonic pricing models are used to identify the causal impact of a sea view on individual room rents.

Findings

Results suggest that the view price premium varies between 0% and 20%. It is relatively stable on the North Shore, but varies highly on the South Shore, where touristic activities are mainly operating in summertime. The estimation suggests a median local economic benefit of about $30.1M/year.

Practical implications

The analysis reveals that a hedonic pricing model might fail to identify causal effects, especially if it does not account for hotel characteristics. A multiple linear regression model does not ensure a causal interpretation if it neglects unobserved characteristics correlated with the view.

Originality/value

The paper proposes a matching identification procedure accounting for spatial confounding to retrieve the causal impact of the view of the sea on hotel room rents. A heterogeneity analysis suggests that view price premium on room rent can vary within seasons but mainly across regions, even for the same amenities.

中文翻译：

---

酒店客房定价和当地经济的经济效益：来自加拿大的证据

 目的

本文旨在估算北欧环境下海景房租金的溢价，即在北欧环境下，靠近大海的地方并不因存在可游泳的海滩和日光浴活动而受到重视。该分析还探讨了溢价的区域和季节性变化。

设计/方法论/途径

为此，该研究使用了冬季和夏季旺季房间租金的网络搜索信息。此次调查的对象是位于加拿大魁北克省圣劳伦斯河沿岸的酒店，两岸相距约 40 至 60 公里。使用匹配程序和特征定价模型来确定海景对单个房间租金的因果影响。

 发现

结果表明，观看价格溢价在 0% 到 20% 之间变化。北岸相对稳定，但南岸变化很大，旅游活动主要在夏季进行。据估计，当地经济效益中位数约为每年 3010 万美元。

 实际影响

分析表明，特征定价模型可能无法识别因果效应，尤其是在不考虑酒店特征的情况下。如果多元线性回归模型忽略与视图相关的未观察到的特征，则不能确保因果解释。

 原创性/价值

本文提出了一种考虑空间混杂的匹配识别程序，以检索海景对酒店房间租金的因果影响。异质性分析表明，即使对于相同的设施，房间租金的价格溢价可能会随季节变化，但主要是跨地区。