Effects of the Booking.com scoring system

Booking.com provides a large travellers’ reviews database that is useful for consumers, hoteliers and academics. Recent research discovered unexpected peculiarities in its scoring system, suggesting it could lead to “inflated scores” for hotels on their website. To confirm the above suspicions, the methodology used in this paper compares values assigned on Booking.com with those on Priceline that have a conventional scoring system. Conclusions show significant distortions, particularly in hotels with low and medium scores.     

Satisfaction measures with monetary and non-monetary components: Hotel’s overall scores

Hotel scores are critical indicators of satisfaction. However, the diversity of methodologies for calculating these indicators leads to notable differences. To explore such discrepancies, this study investigated the differences when monetary and non-monetary components are included in the measures of satisfaction. The empirical test conducted on over 26,000 hotels revealed that exclusively using non-monetary components in satisfaction measures (e.g., arithmetic mean of non-monetary attributes) leads to higher values than using monetary measures of satisfaction (e.g., value for money). The deviations between attribute performance and its expected value explained the difference between both satisfaction measures. In addition, the attributes to which people seem to be monetarily sensitive are “comfort,” “staff,” and “services.” This study provides a tool for decision-makers to identify the best method for communicating the hotel’s satisfaction measures via its position in the market and attributes that require reinforcement.     

Negotiated exchanges in the online hospitality market: Hoteliers and hotel managers’ perceptions of Booking.com

Social exchange theory and online business-to-business (B2B) relational exchanges have been scarcely examined in the hospitality sector. Taking into consideration this research gap and the expansion of online travel agencies (OTAs), this exploratory study aims at examining hoteliers and hotel managers’ perceptions of their negotiated exchanges with Booking.com. Twenty two in-depth interviews were conducted with hoteliers and hotel managers from two Regions of Northern Greece. The results revealed that the informants considered their negotiated exchanges with Booking.com to be characterized by assurance rather than trust and admitted being dependent on it in financial and advertising terms. The hoteliers and hotel managers felt satisfied with their economic exchanges but required stronger social interactions. Additionally, hotel reputation was considered among the most important intangible outcomes of this partnership. Based on these findings relevant managerial implications are provided to improve social exchanges between Booking.com and accommodation providers.     

Effects of hotel website photograph size and human images on perceived transportation and behavioral intentions

Travelers have been shown to use the Internet as their primary source of information for locating and booking hotel accommodation, while various website dimensions have been known to influence consumer behavior. Yet, there is no consistency in the way that hotels display their website photographs, especially in relation to photograph size and content, and few studies have investigated this important domain. This study examines the influence of hotel websites’ pictorial information (i.e., photograph sizes and human images) on perceived transportation, booking intentions and willingness to pay more. Analyzing 247 responses with structural equation modeling, large photographs increase transportation, which, in turn, increases booking intention and willingness to pay more. Large photographs are most effective when human presence is absent, while the effect of small photographs is improved with human presence. This study extends transportation theory by demonstrating that transportation can occur in non-narrative scenarios, specifically through photographic images.     

Unveiling the cloak of deviance: Linguistic cues for psychological processes in fake online reviews

Although fake online reviews have been gaining more attention from both academics and practitioners, little effort has been made to explore the linguistic characteristics of the psychological processes related to fake reviews. This research proposes four linguistic cues (i.e., affective, cognitive, social, and perceptual) related to a reviewer’s psychological processes and explores their relationships with fake reviews while examining the influence of time distance and reviewer location on these reviews. The results of logistic regression analysis of 43,496 reviews from Yelp.com suggest that affective, social, and perceptual cues are significantly related to fake reviews with the presence of the significant effects of time distance and reviewer location. Further, the results of post-hoc analysis confirm that the effect of photos on fake reviews is limited. This study contributes to the body of knowledge on online reviews and interpersonal deception theory, providing valuable implications for practitioners in the hospitality and tourism industry.     

Validation of a market orientation adoption scale in rural tourism enterprises. Relationship between the characteristics of the enterprise and extent of market orientation adoption

Market orientation (MO) is considered as a competitive strategy for the rural tourism sector. A MO adoption scale is proposed and validated for the rural tourism sector. Given the importance of MO, it is important to know the relationship between a firm's characteristics and MO adoption. This study makes a hierarchical segmentation to predict the behaviour of these firms when adopting the MO. Activity and category are the two characteristics that most effectively predict a firm's behaviour. The contribution made by this work is of interest given the new field of application achieved and which have implications for the professional sector.     

Cross-listing effect of U.S. casino companies: Risk-adjusted performances

Globalization and market liberalization have resulted in more firms being listed on foreign stock exchanges. Even though cross-listing is an important corporate financial decision, research in this area for the hospitality discipline has been limited. The current study investigates issues of international cross-listing from the perspective of diversification. The findings from examination of five risk-adjusted measurements—Jensen's Alpha, Treynor Index, Sharpe Ratio, Sortino Ratio, and Upside Potential Ratio—for U.S. casino companies show that cross-listing improves U.S. casinos’ performances in terms of Jensen's Alpha and Sharpe Ratio, but not in terms of the other three measures.     

A Temporal Analysis of Conference Venue Refurbishment Within the U.K. Conference Sector

Abstract

This paper examines conference venue refurbishments within purpose-built venues, hotels, educational establishments, and visitor attractions across the U.K. conference sector. The main data relate to six refurbishment activities undertaken to create a venue conference product. Additionally, refurbishments undertaken since the conference facilities opened, and future plans for refurbishments across the four venue classifications are examined. The refurbishments examined are those of upgrading furnishings, upgrading décor, complying with health and safety legislation, the implementation of modern conference technologies, converting and/or extending the venue to supply or improve conference facilities and the provision of disabled access. The results show that initial level of initial investment across all venue classifications is not sustained, and a decline in future investment is apparent.     

基于亲景度的美国旅华市场拓展研究--以我国六大旅游热点城市为例

本文引入亲景度的概念，利用亲景度指标，以美国游客作为研究对象，根据不同年度美国游客旅华的人数．分析了美国游客对北京、上海、广州、西安、昆明、桂林六大热点城市的亲景度，揭示了美国游客在进行旅游目的地选择方面的偏好程度，提出了深层次开发美国客源市场的对策，从而确定针对美国客源市场的拓展方向。     

The politics,satisfaction, loyalty,and success of Ph.D. students in hospitality and tourism

The purpose of this study was to explore the roles of organizational politics in educational institutions with regard to graduate students’ satisfaction with supervision and loyalty toward advisors, and thereby success of students in the Ph.D. program, within the hospitality and tourism discipline. The findings demonstrate that satisfaction and loyalty play important roles in doctoral students’ experiences in graduate education. Several implications for students and faculty are discussed.     

Moderating effect of capital intensity on the relationship between leverage and financial distress in the U.S. restaurant industry

During the recent and ongoing economic turmoil, countless businesses have been facing financial distress and many have filed for bankruptcy. This issue is especially critical for the restaurant industry due to restaurants’ sensitivity to economic fluctuations. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to examine the financial distress issue in the U.S. restaurant industry. In particular, the study examines a moderating effect of capital intensity on the relationship between a firm's leverage and degree of financial distress. The dataset includes publicly traded U.S. restaurant firms during the period 1990–2008. The study measures the degree of financial distress by modified Z-scores, and findings suggest a positive moderating effect of capital intensity on the relationship between leverage and financial distress.     

Effects of concealing vs. displaying prices on consumer perceptions of hospitality products

This study was designed to empirically test the psychological consequences of concealing (vs. displaying) the prices of hospitality products on perceptions of expensiveness, quality, value, and purchase intention. To achieve this objective, seven hypotheses were proposed and a series of four experimental studies were conducted. It was found that a cafe that did not (vs. did) display price information was evaluated relatively highly in terms of perceived expensiveness, but relatively low in perceived quality, value, and purchase intention. Specifically, we found that the heightened perception of expensiveness of a price-concealing cafe, along with relatively weak change in quality perception, negatively influenced both perceptions of value and purchase intention in Studies 1 and 2. Further, we found that these relationships are moderated by the consumer personal trait of price consciousness (Study 3) and mediated by price fairness (Study 4).     

Interpretation of contested heritage at an attraction in St. Lucia

The tangible sugar heritage in the Anglophone Caribbean is important to its tourism product. This heritage, like the plantations which play a central role in regional preservation efforts, was created as a result of the enslavement of Africans to provide a large, cheap labour force. Sugar heritage is thus a contested heritage and there is disagreement about how this heritage should be interpreted. In fact, the silence of slaves resounds in the interpretation evident at many former sugar plantations in the Americas. The question, however, is if consumers of this heritage notice the absence of slave voices at this sites that are now primarily used as places of leisure and pleasure in the tourism industry. This study confirms that the silence is perceived by tourists visiting Morne Coubaril Estate, a popular attraction in St. Lucia. Though their satisfaction and overall quality of experience are not related to their disappointment with this component of interpretation, they nonetheless overwhelmingly support the need for more details about slavery and greater emphasis on slavery in the interpretation on site. These findings are important at both the site and destination level, given the current inclination to exploit cultural heritage resources to diversify the region's tourism offerings.     

Stars vs lemons. Survival analysis of peer-to peer marketplaces: the case of Airbnb

This paper analyses the determinants of listings' survival on peer-to-peer marketplaces. Working on a dataset of Airbnb listings in Ibiza, we implement survival analysis to estimate the relationship between listings' key attributes and the probability to leave the platform. In addition, we highlight the importance of user-generated content to reduce the asymmetry of information and prevent adverse selection. Results confirm that listings' characteristics, location, degree of local competition and hosts' managerial skills, significantly affect the survival chance. Moreover, we found that low quality listings (proxied by the customer rating) are intended to disappear: the reviewing system successfully signals the quality on this market and drive the market selection process.     

TO SHARE OR TO EXCHANGE: An analysis of the sharing economy characteristics of Airbnb and Fairbnb.coop

Many organizations seek to position themselves as part of the sharing economy, due to positive conceptual connotations; however, in reality, some may more closely represent the exchange rather than the sharing economy. This research analyses the extent to which Airbnb and Fairbnb.coop represent the sharing economy by examining the characteristics of the sharing economy. We utilize a Sharing Index (SI) and a Sharing Economy Continuum (SEC) to measure each organization’s degree of sharing and exchange. The analysis suggests that Fairbnb.coop is a stronger example of the sharing economy than Airbnb. This study offers a more robust characterization of the sharing economy and offers tools to help businesses assess and improve their business practices to more accurately align with the true sharing economy.     

供需双方对景区文化偏好的差异性研究——以天柱山风景区为例

山岳型景区文化内涵的挖掘是提升景区质量的重要途径,但景区提供的文化旅游产品容易偏离旅游者的需求.文章以天柱山风景区为例,运用因子分析法、两独立样本t检验等方法,分析了供需双方对景区文化旅游资源偏好的差异,同时借助IPA模型帮助旅游经营管理者制定了景区文化旅游产品的开发方向.结果表明:(1)供需双方对天柱山风景区的整体印象差异不显著;而对文化印象具有显著差异,其中,旅游经营管理者对天柱山风景区文化印象较好,而旅游者对其印象较为一般;从文化资源要素上来看,供需双方对绝大部分文化旅游资源具有显著差异,且旅游经营管理者对其偏好的程度总体强于旅游者.(2)采用IPA模型,通过对比供需双方对天柱山风景区文化旅游资源的偏好差异,得出继续努力、过度表现、低优先改进、重点改进4个区域,并针对不同区域提出不同的解决方案.