The impact of IT-enabled customer service systems on service personalization,customer service perceptions,and hotel performance

Customer service is a critical element of a hotel's strategy and an important lever for differentiation of the hotel's offer. Over the last two decades, information systems have contributed to the transformation of customer interactions, enabling an unprecedented scale and scope of service personalization in the tourism industry. This paper reports the results of a mixed method study in a hotel that offers three contributions to the development and refinement of IT-enabled service personalization theory. It explores the role of signifiers in the design of customer service systems, showing that they significantly increase customer preference elicitation during the learning phase of the service personalization process. It then demonstrates that improved preference elicitation translates into higher customer service evaluations and value perceptions of the hotel. Finally, our study shows that IT-enabled service personalization creates financial benefits for the hotel via revenue share-shift from costly intermediated to direct distribution channels.     

The Influence of a Hotel Firm's Quality of Service and Image and its Effect on Tourism Customer Loyalty

The aim of this article is to understand the influence of hotel service quality and corporate image on tourism customer loyalty. Data were collected from tourists at several sight-seeing locations in Mauritius. The study sample comprised guests of various hotels in Mauritius who were randomly approached and invited to participate in a survey on the hotel's services. The study findings suggest that it is the quality of service and the corporate image of the hotel that jointly influence tourism customers' loyalty. Although the study findings do not indicate a direct relationship between service quality and loyalty, it is the consistent quality of service that creates and sustains the image of the hotel which, ultimately, results in tourism customer loyalty. This would therefore suggest that tourism customer loyalty is dependent on a hotel's ability to consistently deliver service quality.     

Understanding how consumers view green hotels: how a hotel's green image can influence behavioural intentions

As the public is increasingly concerned about environmental issues, green management is rapidly becoming a strategic tool that can enhance a hotel's competitive advantage. This study explores how to develop the image and branding of a green hotel using the concepts of cognitive, affective and overall images. The study, based on a survey of 416 hotel users, also investigates how a green hotel image can affect behavioural intentions (i.e. intention to revisit, intention to offer positive recommendations to others and willingness to pay a premium). The findings confirm that cognitive image components (namely value and quality attributes) can exert a positive influence on a green hotel's affective and overall images. The affective image is also found to positively affect a green hotel's overall image. A green hotel's overall image, in turn, can contribute to more favourable behavioural intentions. Quality attributes were found to be more powerful than value attributes. The importance of the concept of selfish altruism and obtaining a feeling of wellbeing from a purchase were shown to be very strong. A range of theoretical and practical implications are discussed.     

Self-discipline or self-interest? The antecedents of hotel employees' pro-environmental behaviours

Abstract

Motivating employees to engage in pro-environmental behaviours is an essential topic in the tourism and hotel fields. This paper advances this research direction by integrating the mechanisms of cognition and incentives from the externalities/spillovers perspective. This paper argues that we can view the environmental and financial benefits received by hotels and natural environment as positive spillovers from employees' voluntary pro-environmental behaviours. Accordingly, internalization (the subject of positive spillovers cognitively perceives oneness with beneficiaries like hotels and physical environment) and compensation (beneficiaries offer incentives for positive spillovers' subject) are two leading solutions to the positive spillovers issue, which can improve employees' engagement in pro-environmental behaviours. Hence, this paper explores the impact of employees' cognitive internalization (work ethic) and positive incentives from the organization and nature (hotel's environmental benefit sharing and health rewards rooted in employees' ecological embeddedness) on employees' pro-environmental behaviours in the hotel industry. The empirical analysis of a sample of 324 employees working in Chinese luxury hotels suggests that employees' work ethic, hotel's environmental benefit sharing and employees' ecological embeddedness are significantly positively related to employees' pro-environmental behaviours and that the interplay of employees' work ethic and ecological embeddedness significantly and negatively affects employees' pro-environmental behaviours.     

A hotel sustainability business model: evidence from Slovenia

This research explores and develops a hotel sustainability business model (HSBM) to study the sustainability orientation of the Slovenian hotel industry. Based on a comparative analysis of the existing sustainability and triple bottom line models, the usual content of a three-line HSBM (economic, environmental and sociocultural) was extended to include customer satisfaction, environmental education and power to implement changes. Financial, marketing and tourism sustainability experts investigated best practices in sustainability measurements and gathered appropriate sustainability indicators; expert opinion and the Delphi method refined and reduced an initial 79 indicators to 36 operational indicators, able to fulfil the HSBM's sub-categories within the extended triple bottom line. The HSBM's concept was used to study the sustainability of Slovenian hotel firms to reveal how important these indicators are for hotel managers and do they monitor them. Results indicated strong importance and measurement of economic and marketing indicators, such as profitability and customer satisfaction. Following the socialist tradition, companies recognise the importance of human resources, but the importance of environmental education and awareness building, biodiversity, and the establishment of partnerships with stakeholders to implement sustainable tourism development are neglected. Economic performance was, for example, monitored by 66% of respondents, environmental performance by 28% and social performance by 42%.     

Do luxury room amenities affect guests’ willingness to pay?

Intangible services have fewer cues to enable consumer evaluation compared to physical goods. Cues are therefore particularly important for highly intangible services, since they provide tangible evidence of quality. This study explores whether luxury brand room amenities can be used as cues for customers to evaluate a hotel. This study attempts to identify what items and amenities guests find most/least useful and to examine whether luxury brand room amenities can enhance customers’ evaluation of a hotel and increase willingness to pay based on positivity bias. Wi-Fi was regarded as the most useful hotel amenity, while telephone was regarded as the least useful amenity. This study found customers willingness to pay is affected by providing luxury brand room amenities. When luxury amenities were placed in the room, customers’ estimation of the room rate and their willingness to pay for it both increased. Moreover, about two out of five expressed a willingness to pay extra for an upgrade to access luxury brand room amenities. The findings of this study provide important implications for hotel practitioners.     

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.     

Hotel booking through online travel agency: Optimal Stackelberg strategies under customer-centric payment service

Facing stiff competition, online travel agencies (OTAs) are dedicating to provide customer-centric payment service in hotel online booking, which poses challenges for hotels and customers to make optimal strategies. This paper studies the optimal Stackelberg decisions and strategic interactions of a hotel and a customer in online booking through online travel agencies with customer-centric payment service. The results show that refund rate has great effect on the customer's payment decision, while transaction cost has great influence on the hotel's operational decision. When the refund rate is greater than a threshold, the customer prefers online payment. Being a leader in the Stackelberg game, the hotel can induce customers to choose the payment option with the lowest transaction cost by setting a refund rate.     

The effects of environmental and luxury beliefs on intention to patronize green hotels: the moderating effect of destination image

Recent research has demonstrated a disconnect between environmental beliefs and behavior when it comes to the consumption of hospitality products. Unfortunately, while many consumers believe that hotels should engage in green practices, there is mounting evidence that such beliefs do not necessarily translate into actual purchases of sustainable products. The purpose of this research is to examine this issue by developing an integrated framework establishing the relationships among the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors associated with the consumption of the green hotel product. In particular, we are concerned with the effects of consumers' beliefs regarding the luxury-based trade-offs associated with staying in green hotels. Additionally, we seek to establish the role of destination image as a determinant of the relationships specified in the proposed nomology. The results support our overall hypothesis that the established disconnect between environmental values and sustainable hospitality consumption behavior is at least partially attributable to the cognitive evaluation of the attributes of the hotel's destination. Specifically, our results show that, while the belief that green hotels are less luxurious translates to unfavorable attitudes toward green hotels in urban tourism destinations, this relationship does not occur in nature-based tourism destinations.     

The effects of ethical leadership on manager job satisfaction,commitment, behavioral outcomes,and firm performance

This study investigates the effects of ethical leadership on a hotel middle manager's job satisfaction and affective commitment, which in turn influence that manager's behavioral outcomes (e.g., extra effort and turnover intention) that can also impact the hotel's performance. Mail surveys were distributed to 30 U.S. hotels, representing more than 8 different national and international brands, and 324 middle managers participated in the survey. This study demonstrates that executives’ ethical leadership is positively related to their middle managers’ job satisfaction and their affective organizational commitment. Middle managers’ job satisfaction is positively related to organizational commitment, but job satisfaction does not necessarily lead to their willingness to exert extra effort. The positive linkage between middle managers’ extra effort and the hotel's competitive performance is also confirmed.     

Does better service induce higher profitability? Evidence from Taiwanese Hospitality Industry

We adopt Wang et al. (2006) service quality measure to examine how the qualities of various hotel services affect hotel's profitability using panel data in the Taiwanese international tourist hotel sector. The empirical results indicate that there is a non-linear relationship between food and beverage service quality and hotel profitability, while the effect of room service quality on hotel profitability is not significant.     

Consumers’ willingness to pay for green initiatives of the hotel industry

This paper examines hotel guests’ willingness to pay a premium for environmentally friendly and sustainable practices of the U.S. hotel industry. Specifically, the goal of this research is to investigate the relationship between the level of U.S. hotel guests’ environmental concern, measured by the New Ecological Paradigm Scale (NEP) and their willingness to pay (WTP) a premium for hotels’ “green practices.” This study found that U.S. hotel guests with higher degrees of environmental concerns declare a higher willingness to pay premiums for hotels’ green initiatives. This avowed willingness supports the social identity theory and the means-end theory. In addition, based on the affect-based complementarity proposition, this study also examined the effect of hotel type on WTP in the U.S. hotel industry, and found that luxury and mid-priced hotel guests are more willing to pay premiums for hotels’ green practices than economy hotel guests.     

Modeling hotel room price with geographically weighted regression

Insufficient attention has been given to hotel-room-price attributions and its mechanism in the lodging research field till now. This article examines how site and situation factors differently affect lodging industry and room prices. Comparative analysis of four hedonic price models has been conducted to investigate how these attributions influence room price of Beijing's hotels above star three. Spatial autocorrelation in hotel prices and in hedonic room price equation residuals were analyzed in this research too. Some conclusions can be found and summarized: according to the estimated results, for specific locales, the results expressed in a global model might be inaccurate. The fitting coefficient of geographically weighted regression demonstrates the importance of going beyond the global modeling framework when incorporating geographically weighted regression into hedonic price model. At last, an innovative method for determining the influence of a hotel's attributes at market rates on its’ values, or implicit prices was put forward by the authors.     

Impact of hotel information security on system reliability

While information systems are very essential to a hotel's operations, the need for obtaining information security is emerging. Hotels acquire customer information in databases and utilize information systems to support various marketing activities. This study pursues an empirical examination of the impact of information security on the system reliability of Hotel Information Systems (HIS) through perceptions of hotel employees who use and manage HIS. An information security index for the hotel industry was developed based on previous research and practices current in the industry. Data was obtained from 4-star and 5-star hotels. Findings revealed eight information security factors affecting system reliability in hotel operations. Findings also indicate that management types and styles of hotels moderate in the relationship between information security and system reliability. Implications of the findings were discussed in relative to the hotel industry.     

Do price promotions drive consumer spending on luxury hotel services? The moderating roles of room price and user-generated content

Price promotion, as price information, and user-generated content (UGC), as non-price information, play an important role in generating luxury hotel revenue. This study empirically investigates how price promotion influences actual consumer spending on luxury hotel services except room price, by considering the contingency role of room price and volume and valence of UGC. Combined data of daily settlements and Tripadvisor customer reviews of a regional luxury hotel chain are used for the analyses. The results indicate that, overall, price promotion negatively influences consumer spending on luxury hotel services and its negative effect is strengthened when the room is higher priced or the valence of UGC is high. Furthermore, a larger volume of intrinsic attribute-related UGC–amenity and location–with price promotion leads to more consumer spending than a larger volume of extrinsic attribute-related UGC–food and staff. The findings provide hotel managers with important insights into pricing and UGC management.     

The Role of Expected Outcomes in the Formation of Behavioral Intentions in the Green-Hotel Industry

Despite customers' increasing environmental concerns and demand for green products in the lodging industry, there has been a lack of research undertaken to identify critical factors in hotel consumers' eco-friendly decision-making processes. The present study was designed to identify the expected outcomes of staying at a green hotel from a customer's perspective and to examine the relationships between the identified factors and behavioral intentions (i.e., visit intention and word-of-mouth intention). To achieve these objectives, this study used both qualitative (a focus group) and quantitative (survey and regression analysis) methodological approaches. A total of seven expected outcomes were identified through the focus group. An online survey of U.S. hotel customers was conducted. The results of the regression analysis evidenced that hotel customers' expected outcomes of staying at a green hotel had a positive influence on behavioral intentions, which demonstrated the role of expected outcomes as direct antecedents of behavioral intentions and as an immediate reason for choosing a green hotel over a non-conventional hotel. Findings from an additional analysis indicated that healthy guestrooms, eco-friendly practices, and reduced expenses were positively associated with visit intention. Further, healthy guestrooms, reduced expenses, organic foods, and environmental protection had a positive and significant impact on word-of-mouth intention.     

Marketing sustainable tourism: the role of value orientation,well-being and credibility

Abstract

Marketing for sustainable tourism primarily attracts customers with a biospheric–altruistic value orientation. To reach a broader consumer group and also persuade people with a self-enhancement orientation to book sustainable hotels, the effectiveness of three different communication styles (emotionality levels, amount of sustainability information and inclusion of a label) is investigated, considering the consumer’s value orientation. An experiment with 337 participants was conducted to analyze the effects of communication on consumer perceptions of well-being and credibility. Multigroup structural equation modeling was used to compare the impacts of communication style on participant’s attitude toward booking a sustainable hotel, mediated by well-being and credibility. The results highlight significantly different communication effects among the two contrasting target groups. Consumers who are highly interested in sustainability (biospheric–altruistic value orientation) are persuaded by messages that include details about the hotel’s sustainability performance, in order to increase the social–environmental well-being, whereas for customers who are less interested in sustainability (self-enhancement value orientation), a self-referential emotionally communication is essential, as it increases the emotional well-being. Inconsistent findings regarding the role of communication in raising the perception of credibility were obtained.     

Market demand variations,room capacity,and optimal hotel room rates

This short note develops an optimal hotel room rate model and proposes optimal room rate strategies in both high and low seasons. We then examine our model with the data from tourist hotels in Taipei, Taiwan. The empirical results support our model's major predictions: (1) market demand variations significantly affect the difference between high season and low season optimal room rates; and (2) hotel's room capacity negatively affect the difference between high season and low season optimal room rates, which also means that fixed costs shall negatively affect the high season optimal room rate. This result contradicts with conventional wisdom.     

Exploring the Factors Affecting Hotel Outsourcing in Taiwan

Two studies were conducted to examine factors affecting hotel outsourcing in Taiwan. In study 1, interviews with senior hotel managers were analyzed to explore the factors determining a hotel's outsourcing of different services. The results of the questionnaire survey used in study 2 indicated that the current and desired percentages of outsourcing for international tourist hotels in Taiwan were very low, indicating that strategic outsourcing has not received much attention in that part of the Taiwanese hospitality sector. The hotel departments that were most often outsourced were housekeeping, security, maintenance and information systems. Study 2 also showed outsourcing decisions were based only on a hotel's resources. The effect of predicting outsourcing was not significant for transaction costs. The results of this study provide both hotel management and outsourcing service providers with insights into hotel outsourcing in Taiwan.