Hotel restaurants’ challenges and critical success factors in Klang Valley,Malaysia: the inseparable roles of support centers and revenue streams

Hotel restaurants are of great importance in hotels, and the factors for this have so far been considerably understudied. This study investigated the challenges and critical success factors (CSFs) of restaurants owned and operated by five-star luxury hotels in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Four exemplar hotels were studied and 10 respondents responsible for hotel restaurants’ planning and operations were sampled in this multiple case study approach. A total of 13 challenges were identified, and thematic analysis found 10 common CSFs crucial to hotel restaurants. Among the 10 CSFs, 2 distinctive CSFs were identified playing exceptional roles, including: (1) the inseparable linkage between hotel restaurants and support centers, as well as (2) the inseparable linkage between hotel restaurants and revenue streams. Moreover, this study broadened the retrospective understanding of the term “inseparability” in service organizations, and also contributed several implications for hotel restaurant managers to incorporate into their businesses.     

Relationship between customer complaint behavior and demographic characteristics: A study of hotel restaurants' patrons

This study documented customer complaint behavior in hotel restaurants in Deadwood, USA, and examined the relationship between complaint behavior and demographic characteristics. The sample consisted of 250 hotel restaurant customers. It was found that the hotel restaurant customers tended to complain privately rather than taking public actions. Older, well-educated, customers with higher incomes tended to take private action to complain about their dissatisfaction more than younger, less educated customers with lower incomes. Based on results of the study, implications were suggested for industry practitioners to diminish the negative impact of complaint on hotel restaurants.     

The effect of distance on tourist behavior: A study based on social media data

Previous studies have mostly used government statistics and survey data to examine the effect of travel distance on tourist behavior. In this study, we used data obtained from Sina Weibo to analyze the travel patterns of tourists who visited Suzhou, China from April 2012 to October 2013. We divided tourists into three groups according to their origin: long-haul, short-haul, and local. A comparison of the three groups' spatial patterns, preferred attractions, restaurants, and hotels, and expenditure levels showed diverse behavioral and consumption patterns of the three groups. We further found a divergent effect of distance on hotel and restaurant expenditure, and the effect of distance on expenditure is less salient than income level and the sites they visited.     

Innovative restaurants in a mass-tourism city: Evidence from Antalya

This paper is about innovative restaurants in the single-asset (sun-sea-sand) mass-tourism city of Antalya, and focuses on the supply side of the restaurant market. The broader aim of the paper is to show that the mass-tourism city of Antalya is more differentiated than one might expect. The specific aim of the paper is to find out what types of restaurants are more innovative than others and in what types of tourism places in the city they are located. The empirical research is based on interviews with 54 managers and chefs, the results of which are analysed with quantitative methods of relational analysis such as correspondence- and chi-square analysis. The main result of the empirical research is that high-quality restaurants, visited by a mix of locals and tourists, and are located in a specific urban places, are most innovative.     

Promoting innovation in hospitality companies through human resource management practices

In this study, we investigate how hospitality companies can promote incremental and radical innovation through human resource management practices (i.e., selection and training). Data from 196 independent hotels and restaurants operating in the People's Republic of China show that hiring multi-skilled core customer-contact employees and training core customer-contact employees for multiple skills both have significant and positive effects on incremental and radical innovation among hotel and restaurant companies. The two human resource management practices are also found to have a negative joint impact on incremental but not radical innovation. The implications for promoting innovation in hospitality companies are discussed.     

Beyond the authentic taste: The tourist experience at a food museum restaurant

This study investigates the factors influencing food experiences perceived by food tourists in the context of a food museum and its associated restaurant. A qualitative exploratory approach was employed, using Chinese tourists visiting Hangzhou Cuisine Museum in Zhejiang province. This research finds that food tourists look for knowledge accumulation and gastronomic experiences when visiting a food museum and restaurant complex, and each experience is formed by both tourist and setting factors. The findings highlight the significant and more complex engagement of setting factors in the museum restaurants. The institutionalised characteristics of museums are equally expected within the in-house restaurants, and social trust in the museum along with external factors that verify authentic representation of the museum contributed to the perceived authenticity of the food tourist's dining experience. This paper discusses broad implications for food experience design at food museums and restaurants as emerging tourism attractions.     

Top managers’ environmental values,leadership, and stakeholder engagement in promoting environmental sustainability in the restaurant industry

This study examines the role of top managers’ values and leadership in advancing environmental sustainability. It also investigates the effects of stakeholder engagement on restaurants’ environmental sustainability and assesses the impact of related practices on restaurant performance. A web-based survey was administered to collect data from top-level restaurant managers in the United States. The sample was selected from panels recruited by a research company specializing in panel surveys. Invitation emails were sent to 2500 managers and 240 responses were returned, 218 of which were retained for final analysis (response rate: 8.7%). Structural equation modeling was used for testing hypothetical relationships among key constructs in the proposed research model: environmental values, leadership, stakeholder engagement, environmental sustainability, and restaurant performance. Findings confirmed the significant role of top management values and leadership in advancing environmental commitment. The results also demonstrated the strong impact of stakeholder engagement on restaurants’ commitment to environmental sustainability. Finally, they indicated the positive influence of restaurants’ environmental sustainability performance on both financial and nonfinancial performance. The study presents a theoretical framework, integrating theories or models from extant literature, and contributes to an enhanced understanding of restaurants’ environmental sustainability. The findings suggest several practical implications for managers in the restaurant industry.     

Effective restaurant rating scale development and a mystery shopper evaluation approach

Dining is a major attraction for tourists visiting Taiwan. In 2008, the Taipei City Government commissioned a project to produce a list of recommended restaurants in Taipei for tourists. To facilitate the selection process, we developed a restaurant rating scale using a mystery shopper approach. This study entailed 20 questions that covered all elements of the consumers’ dining experience in a table-service restaurant setting, as well as a comprehensive mystery shopper training program to ensure consistency of quality in the evaluation process. This research involved the top 500 restaurants in Taipei. The findings revealed that our rating scale achieves internal consistency, validity and model fit. This study provided an important tool for further industrial applications and research opportunities. Further, this study proposes future research directions.     

Revenue management strategies under the lunar–solar calendar: Evidence of Chinese restaurant operations

This paper discusses the lunar–solar calendar-driven festivals that affect Chinese restaurant operations. In-depth interviews and a survey were carried out with 50 catering professionals to provide information that was subsequently used to estimate the change of restaurant turnover due to the identified festivals. Four core common lunar–solar calendar-driven festivals that create more demand for dining out across China were identified. They generated extra revenue, which was nearly 10% of total annual business for restaurants. The study also ascertained 21 measures related to revenue management strategies to cope with these demand variations. In addition, a new restaurant revenue management strategy framework was developed. Recommendations based on this study were suggested to multi-functional restaurants and hotel systems.     

Effect of Management Practices on Actual ICT Application in Kenyan Hotels: A PLS-SEM Approach

Advances in information communication technology (ICT) has seen many hotels invest huge sums of money in ICTs to enhance their performance. However, this has never been the case for most hotels in economically developing countries due to poor ICT implementation. This study sought to establish how ICT-related management practices influence actual ICT application by hotels in Kenya. A total of 194 hotel managers drawn from 36 hotels were surveyed. The data collected was analyzed quantitatively. The outcomes show that though operational management and human resource management practices significantly predict actual ICT application, HRM practices have the biggest effect in explaining the variance in actual ICT application. The study finding offer insights to best management practices and how they influence actual ICT use in hotels.     

Effect of experiential value on customer satisfaction with service encounters in luxury-hotel restaurants

Exactly how the restaurant industry creates good quality service experiences has attracted the attention of scholars and practitioners. Some scholars advocate creating high quality service encounters to enhance customer satisfaction. However, recent research has not examined hotel restaurant service, and a detailed understanding of its potential effects on the customer meal experience and customer satisfaction is needed. Consequently, this study of service encounters and restaurant consumer behavior constructed a comprehensive framework via a literature review. Empirical data were collected by a questionnaire distributed to luxury-hotel restaurant customers. The empirical results indicated that restaurant environmental factors and interactions with service employees and other consumers positively influence the consumer experiential value. Additionally, only interactive relationships with service employees directly and positively affect consumer satisfaction. Restaurant environment factors and interactions with other consumers indirectly and positively influence consumer satisfaction through experiential value. Finally, with respect to marketing and development initiatives, the results of this study can help improve the physical attractiveness of the examined luxury-hotel restaurants.     

Motivation and satisfaction of Chinese and U.S. tourists in restaurants: A cross-cultural text mining of online reviews

Tourists with dissimilar cultural backgrounds think and behave differently. Precisely capturing and correctly understanding the cultural difference will help tourism managers generate greater customer satisfaction and increased business revenue. To this end, this paper uncovers and compares the motivation and satisfaction of restaurant tourist customers coming from China and U.S. by investigating their online ratings and reviews. From two major online review communities, customer ratings and reviews have been retrieved, quantified, text-mined, compared, and interpreted using statistics, latent Dirichlet allocation, and frequency analysis. Results suggest that Chinese tourists are less inclined to assign lower ratings to restaurants, and are more strongly fascinated by the food offered, whereas U.S. tourists are more apt to be fun-seeking, and are less uncomfortable with crowdedness.     

The Impact of Discounting Room Rates on In-House Restaurant Sales

This study investigates whether discounting hotel room rates during low seasons of demand influences in-house hotel restaurant sales in a positive way. A linear regression function was utilized to assess the relationship between discounting room rates and the hotel's in-house restaurant sales. The model summary provided results indicating that the discounting of room rates during the low season did not significantly influence in-house restaurant sales. The value of this study lies in the empirical results that may provide guidance to the revenue management practices of hotel managers.     

Self-service technology kiosk design for restaurants: An QFD application

Self-service technology (SST) has been increasingly integrated into today’s service industry. The ability to understand how customers perceive SST and improve its quality is therefore important for both researchers and practitioners. Applying the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) methodology, this research established an SST House of Quality (HoQ) structure for restaurants by synthesizing the inputs of consumers and restaurant industry experts, the managers. This HoQ presents a relationship matrix that allows restaurants to assess SST attributes in relation to SST technical design specificities in a measurable way. Such a relationship matrix can assist in designing restaurant SST to deliver better service and customer experiences. This research thus provides an illustration of how the QFD method can be a useful tool in SST service design in restaurants.     

An exploratory study examining information technology adoption and implementation in full-service restaurant firms

The purpose of the paper is to explore and compare the current use of information technology-related advances in chain and independent full-service restaurants, the factors that motivate managers of these types of restaurants to decide whether or not to implement such technology, and how these managers perceive the impact of technology on the firm. A case study analysis involving four San Francisco Bay Area full-service restaurants was conducted to examine the framework of full-service restaurants to implement new technology. Propositions are developed that purport the information technology adoption and implementation characteristics of full-service restaurant firms while elucidating the distinctiveness between chain and independent firms.     

Restaurant's decision to purchase local foods: Influence of value chain activities

In this paper we investigate how restaurant managements’ attitudes and behaviors influence decisions to purchase local foods as inputs to their products. An enhanced investigation of chefs’ and managers’ decision-making criteria could improve understanding of local food systems linkages with the restaurant industry. We apply a value chain framework to investigate activities that influence restaurants’ decision to purchase local foods. Results indicate that attitudes and behaviors associated with sourcing and product characteristics play an important role in local food purchase decisions in the restaurant value chain. Order processing time and uniqueness of products are the most significant reasons in restaurant managements’ decisions to purchase local foods. The implications of these findings for restaurants and producers are discussed. Our study contributes to the literature by expanding upon the criteria used by restaurants to make local food purchasing decisions.     

An exploratory analysis of hotel selection factors: A comprehensive survey of Tehran hotels

The selection of residence location in different countries is of high priority and significance for tourists. The selection of the most appropriate hotel entails a rather complicated decision-making process. A comprehensive hotel selection model can empower the hotel managers, the tourists, and the tourism industry to make decisions based on more effective indicators of high quality services for a higher rate of satisfaction. The purpose of this research is to deeply explore the broad literature and to identify the most significant hotel selection indicators and factors in Tehran hotels and to present a comprehensive model through an exploratory factor analysis of the extracted indicators so as to provide the managers and tourists with a firm ground for making better decisions regarding the indicators of hotel selection. Promenade and comfort, security and protection, network services, pleasure, staff and their services, news and recreational information, cleanliness and room comfort, expenditure, room facilities and car parking were identified as the main hotel selection factors of Tehran hotels. Afterwards, another factor analysis has been done in order to extract the next hidden set of factors within the aforementioned factors which return two main factors of “Hotel Comfort Factors” and “Hotel Compensatory Factors”. Following the creation of the final model and based on the intrinsic vagueness of decision making in the process of selection, a set of fuzzy membership functions for the extracted factors has been provided. The intention has been to provide the expert system and decision support system developers and users with a set of practical indicators in order to help them design and implement realistic systems based on the deeply studied indicators and factors of hotel selection. Such supportive systems can be directly presented to the tourists requesting a mechanism for selecting the most appropriate hotel but lacking enough information about the important indicators and factors and also to the managers of hotels who are trying to make strategic decisions regarding the most optimized investments on the indicators of selecting a hotel. Considering the priorities of tourists, hotel managers, entrepreneurs and investors in the hotel industry require deep investigations and studies for which this paper provides a firm basis.     

An examination of cost management behavior in small restaurant firms

The purpose of this study is to test cost management behavior of small restaurant firms and identify whether managers of these small restaurants behave differently depending on their management and ownership structure. The sample was comprised of 87 small restaurant firms identified from the 1998 Survey of Small Business Finances (SSBF). Cost of doing business, size of staff, and five performance measures were used as dependent variables. Independent variables included management and ownership type. Study findings identified significant differences in the profit margin depending on management type and ownership percentage of the primary owner. We also find that the cost of doing business (total expenses) varies depending upon single-family majority/minority ownership and the ownership percentage of the primary owner. The results support the notion that small restaurant firms are operated differently depending on their management and ownership structure.     

Enhancing business performance of hotels: The role of innovation and customer orientation

Innovation management and customer orientation have been widely recognized as key factors in enhancing the business performance of hotels. Our research investigates the interplay between customer orientation, innovation, and business performance in the Alpine hospitality industry. The study contributes to current innovation research by jointly investigating hotel innovativeness and innovation behavior as two distinct dimensions of the innovation concept. Analyzing data from 203 hotel managers, this study shows that the effect of hotels’ customer orientation exceeds the effects of innovativeness and innovation behavior on financial and non financial business performance. Mediation analysis shows that innovation behavior partially mediates the effect of customer orientation on business performance. The results of the study provide hotel management with relevant insights into the customer orientation innovation performance chain.     

The cause-effect relationship between negative food incidents and tourists’ negative emotions

Tourists often experience negative food incidents at tourism destinations, which can elicit negative emotional reactions. However, this important topic has been examined only in the narrow context of restaurants with a particular focus on customers’ negative restaurant experiences. This study is the first to incorporate three types of food establishments, namely, full-service restaurants, limited-service restaurants, and street stalls, to investigate the effects of negative food incidents on tourists’ negative emotions. Using a qualitative approach to capture the cause-effect relationship between negative food incidents and tourists’ negative emotions, this study found that food-related issues trigger tourists’ sadness and shame; queue management leads to fear; and high prices, unethical business practices and poor service quality result in anger. The three types of food establishments are correlated with different negative food incidents. In addition to providing theoretical contributions, this study also provides practical suggestions for food outlets at any destination.