This is a preliminary qualitative study on temple-affiliated pilgrim accommodation in Taiwan. The researcher did field research and interviewed 41 respondents. The purpose of this study was first to investigate pilgrim accommodation’s positioning in the lodging industry, second to find the reasons why tourists lodged at pilgrim accommodation, and third to explore their lodging experience while staying at pilgrim accommodation. Furthermore, we discussed whether pilgrim accommodation was in competition with hotels, and the degree of lodging accessibility as to whether being affected by certain religious belief. The results of this study showed that the main motivation for tourists to stay at pilgrim accommodation was to pilgrimage, the secondary motivation was to go sightseeing, and these results in the make-up and attributes of pilgrim accommodation. Tourists’ lodging experience could be divided into two types: one considered staying at pilgrim accommodation to be stressful; the other thought that staying at pilgrim accommodation could receive blessing and protection of the Gods worshipped in the temple, which in turn is the reason why they stayed there, and thus the whole experience is very graceful. The research concludes that, while pilgrim accommodation can be categorized as a part of lodging industry, the nature, feature, and location all are quite different from normal hotels. Therefore, the competition between the two are rather limited. The degree of lodging accessibility among various religious beliefs seem to be related to the ‘purpose’ of the beliefs, their religious teachings, the complexity of their philosophic system, and how they define the sacred and the profane.
