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.     

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.     

A room with a view—A valuation of the Mediterranean Sea view

Aesthetic view is one of the ecosystem services of the Mediterranean Sea which can be estimated using price differences in the hotel market. Hotels situated on the Mediterranean Sea charge higher prices for a room with a sea view than for a room without it. The value of this view in 10 major Mediterranean regions was estimated in this paper using a hedonic price method. Data on 2819 hotel rooms in high season and 2406 rooms in the low season were collected from Booking.com and fixed effects regression was used to estimate the model coefficients. Hotel room prices were found to be higher by about 10% for a room with a view than for one with no view specification. No significant difference was found between regions or season. These findings lend support to the fact that the view of the Mediterranean is equally valued in all regions.     

The dynamic interactions between hotel room rates and international inbound tourists: Evidence from Singapore

Recognizing the possible existence of mutual interactions between hotel room rates and the number of international inbound tourists, this research note investigates the short-run and the long-run dynamic interactions between these two variables for Singapore. It tests for the existence of any cointegrating relationship between them using the bounds testing approach to cointegration. The causal effects between them are tested with Granger causality test. We find no evidence that Singapore's hotel room rates and international inbound tourists are cointegrated. The results also suggest that there is a bi-directional short-run causal relationship between these variables.     

Determinants of revenue per available room: Influential roles of average daily rate,demand, seasonality and yearly trend

Determining price per room to be charged to customers is an important decision to be taken by hotel management. Hotels frequently change their room rates based on the demand of room, occupancy rate, seasonal pattern, and strategies undertaken by other hotels on pricing. We formulated four models to analyse how various influencing variables, such as hotel price, demand, yearly trend and monthly seasonality influence hotel revenue per available room (RevPar). To analyse a case, we used monthly accommodation statistics for Sweden taken for Swedish Agency for Economic and Regional Growth and Statistics from January 2008 to July 2017. We carried out data analysis using both multiple regression and Multivariate Adaptive Regression Splines (MARS) model and found that application of MARS can help establishing a nonlinear relationship of RevPar with other determining variables in a superior way. We also proposed the possibility of developing a better forecasting model using MARS.     

An analysis of customer room choice model and revenue management practices in the hotel industry

Considering the limitations of existing studies on the customer choice behaviour, this paper tries to use the variable precision rough set (VPRS) approach to establish a customer room choice model (CRCM) based on the logit model, which satisfies the required precision. This model could analyze the data set of customer room choice and directly identify real attributes, which affect customer room choice and the weights of these attributes without prior information; and then the probability of the customer room choice can be conducted by the CRCM. In terms of the results, hotels can predict customer demand of each rate class and improve their precision, in order to increase hotel revenue.     

Effect of monumental heritage sites on hotel room pricing

This study measures the effect of historic monuments on hotel room pricing in Seville, Spain. A hedonic model including classic explanatory variables and the city’s heritage site was specified to explain hotel room rates. Variables related with heritage sites were determined to explain room rates and an iso-values map was obtained for the rates of a ‘standard hotel’ to show the impact of historic buildings on hotel rates. The maps display the area of influence of the heritage site. These results may be of interest to entrepreneurs, consumers, or the administration, among others, due to it permits them to determine which location maximizes rates.     

Estimating the duration of different seasons and their impact on hotel room prices

The purpose of the study is to accurately measure the span of different seasons and its effect on the fluctuation of the occupancy rate and the average room rates in the hospitality sector. While prior studies have concentrated on measuring seasonality using calendar months, this study takes a different approach by measuring seasons in terms of the date count so that the exact starting and ending date of a season can be identified. This step involves adopting a non-parametric methodology that split the time scale into several small parts to obtain a better fit of the relationship and that can detect the starting and end of the season when given specific dates.     

Algarve hotel price determinants: A hedonic pricing model

This study sought to assess customers' willingness to pay for a wide variety of characteristics and attributes of hotels in Portugal's Algarve region. After collecting nearly all the information available on TripAdvisor for hotels in this region, a hedonic pricing model was developed using a database of 9992 cases. The results suggest that – after standardisation – the most important variable shaping Algarve hotel room rates is the previous day's prices. When associated with a family-friendly hotel, star category and services have a greater value than beaches or golf courses do. Customers also appreciate some types of hotels, such as boutique, quaint or trendy hotels, but view others negatively, such as family-friendly or business hotels. Only the specific location of Falesia Beach adds value, although the Algarve is a desirable destination overall. Both destination and hotel managers can use the proposed method to analyse data for their region on customers' propensity to pay.     

Globalization or localization of consumer preferences: The case of hotel room booking

The purpose of this study is to investigate potential differences in attitudes between Chinese and Western tourists towards various hotel room reservation policies. The study is meant to help the revenue managers of international hotel companies make informed choices on whether to pursue a globalized or a localized approach in the design of hotel room rates and rate restrictions. Three ranges of room prices and four types of rate restrictions are evaluated. The rate restriction policies considered are: a) rule type, b) advance requirement, c) refundability, and d) changes allowed. The results of customer surveys show that the Chinese and Western respondents do not express significantly different preferences concerning room rates, advance requirement, rule type, or refundability. They differ significantly only concerning the changes allowed policy. This result indicates that revenue managers of international hotel companies can take a globalized approach in designing rate restrictions. The identification of these customer preferences provides hotel revenue managers with empirical data on the attitudes of culturally diverse consumers, and this information can enable the design of hotel pricing policies that attract consumers in the global market.     

How demand uncertainty and market concentration affect long-term price instability

The object of this paper was to investigate the long-term influences of demand uncertainty and market concentration on price instability in the hotel industry. We applied 1996–2008 price and room revenue data collected by Taiwan's Tourism Bureau to test the following two hypotheses: (1) demand uncertainty is negatively associated with price instability in the hotel industry; (2) the market concentration is negatively associated with hotel price instability. We constructed a two-stage price instability model and the estimate results produced the following two findings: First, the uncertainty in room demand significantly contributed to the price instability. Second, the effects of market structure on price instability were heterogeneous across different levels of price instability distribution. Notably, when the distribution of price instability moved from lower to higher quantiles, the relationship between market concentration and price instability altered from positive to negative.     

The determinants of hotel room rates: Another visit with Singapore's data

In this research note, volatility clustering modeling framework is used to examine the determinants of hotel room rates in Singapore. Using monthly data from January 1985 to June 2009, GARCH-M(1, 1) is identified as the appropriate model used to capture volatility clustering. The results suggest that total inbound tourists and economic performance have positive effects on hotel room rates. The main findings are (a) the occurrences of terrorist activities in the neighboring countries have negative impacts and (b) the volatility of hotel room rates has a positive effect, on hotel room rates.     

How does hotel pricing influence guest satisfaction by the moderating influence of room occupancy?

Whether the product price increases customer satisfaction or rather decreases it has been actively debated for some time. A non-linear correlation between the hotel price and guest satisfaction, explored empirically in this paper, implies that the two phenomena are actually not inconsistent with one another At the low price level, room price and food and beverage (F&B) price leads to an increase in guest satisfaction whereas the high price level could have just the opposite effect The results suggests an inverse U shaped relationship between price level and guest satisfaction On the other hand, the room price guest satisfaction link could be affected by the moderating influence of room occupancy to be a U shaped function This paper reports results from a study on the influence of hotel pricing on guest satisfaction in the context of room products and F&B products in Taiwanese international tourist satisfaction It is found that the hotel pricing has a quadratic effect on guest satisfaction     

Influence mechanism of tourists' impulsive behavior in E-sports tourism: Mediating role of arousal

While e-sports tourism has gradually become popular among young adults—especially with China’s e-sports industry in full swing—certain problems have emerged with this new type of tourism. This study uses arousal theory as a basis for exploring the influence mechanism of e-sports tourists' impulsive behavior in Chinese collective culture. A sample of 562 participants in China were surveyed online to test the research model, which included 10 hypotheses. The empirical results indicate that: Firstly, the system quality of the Information System (IS) success model and the human stimuli influence arousal; secondly, tourists' motivation for e-sports tourism, group honor concerns, and identity in the Chinese context also positively affect arousal, and then influence impulsive behavior; and thirdly, arousal has a mediating effect between the environmental stimuli (except information quality) and impulsive behavior. This paper innovatively proposes that the physical and psychological elements of environmental stimuli could significantly affect arousal levels, thus in turn influencing impulsive behavior in e-sports tourism. Furthermore, the conclusion section discuses practical suggestions for the organizers of e-sports tournaments, such as adjusting environmental stimuli to achieve optimal arousal levels.     

Investigating the whole picture: Comparing the effects of Airbnb supply and hotel supply on hotel performance across the United States

This study examines and compares the extent to which Airbnb and hotel supply affect key hotel performance measures in the United States. The results show that although both Airbnb and hotel supply adversely affect hotel revenues (i.e., RevPAR), the magnitude of the impact of hotel supply on RevPAR is much larger than that of Airbnb. Airbnb adversely affects hotel room prices (i.e., ADR), however; it does not affect occupancy rates (i.e., OCC). Yet, increasing hotel supply negatively affects OCC but not ADR. The results from the state-level analyses further showed that the negative effects of Airbnb and hotel supply on RevPAR, ADR and OCC persist only in states with high hotel supply. Analyzing the joint effects of Airbnb and hotel supply on hotel performance in a manner that is both geographically-comprehensive and spatially-meaningful, this study provides a more complete and nuanced understanding on the economic dynamics of the accommodation industry.     

Total Factor Productivity Assessment of Tourism Industry: Evidence from China

This paper adopts the Malmquist Index and panel data model to measure and test the spatial–temporal evolutionary characteristics and the factors that affect total factor productivity of China's tourism industry from 2001 to 2009. The results show the following: there is a trend of growth in the total factor productivity of China's tourism industry, and technological progress is the dominant factor that affects total factor productivity changes, which indicates that the growth pattern of China's tourism industry has changed from a pattern driven by input factors to a pattern driven by technology; the spatial pattern of the total factor productivity of China's tourism industry has changed from a spatial pattern dominated by provinces with a low productivity to a spatial pattern dominated by provinces with a high productivity; the total factor productivity of China's tourism industry is mainly affected by the levels of economic and service industry development.     

Successfully selling accommodation packages at online auctions – The case of eBay Austria

In this era of e-commerce online auctions have emerged as a valuable distribution channel (36 and 52). Displaying low entry and exit barriers but also vast coverage rates, online auctions may effectively augment the distribution potential of hotel businesses. This paper identifies those factors that positively affect the final price level obtained in online auctions for hotel room vouchers. Based on data gathered at eBay comprising 53,406 auctions, linear structural equation modelling (SEM) was conducted to identify significant relationships between auction characteristics and the obtained final price for hotel room vouchers. By drawing on these results and through an example of the Austrian eBay platform, selling strategies for successfully listing accommodation packages at online auctions are proposed.     

Virtual interviews vs. LinkedIn profiles: Effects on human resource managers’ initial hiring decisions

This study examined how human resource (HR) managers' assessments of a job candidate's performance in the first virtual interview and his/her LinkedIn profile affect their hiring decisions. Using field data with 44 HR managers' assessments of 400 job candidates' virtual interview performance (Time 1) and their LinkedIn profiles (Time 2), regression analyses reveal that managers' hiring decisions in Time 1 (before checking LinkedIn) is positively affected by interpersonal competence and leadership potential but negatively affected by virtual presence. Virtual presence reduces interpersonal competence's but strengthens leadership potential's positive effects on hiring decisions in Time 1. Having a LinkedIn profile could change managers' decisions. Their hiring decisions in Time 2 become stronger for candidates with a higher overall rating on their LinkedIn profiles but weaker for those with more spelling/grammatical errors. Such findings add to the relevant literature and provide meaningful implications for HR managers and job candidates.     

Basic psychological need satisfaction and affect within the leisure sphere

Research on leisure and well-being in non-Western contexts is rare. Our study addresses this issue by investigating whether satisfaction of three basic psychological needs – autonomy, competence and/or relatedness – influences four types of affective well-being – high-arousal positive (HAP) affect, low-arousal positive (LAP) affect, high-arousal negative (HAN) affect and/or low-arousal negative (LAN) affect – within the leisure sphere. Telephone survey data were collected from 583 Hong Kong Chinese employees. Structural equation modelling indicated that (1) autonomy, competence and relatedness need satisfaction were all significantly and positively correlated with HAP affect; (2) autonomy need satisfaction alone was significantly and positively related with LAP affect; and (3) autonomy need satisfaction alone was significantly and negatively associated with both LAN and HAN affects. Taken together, these results suggest that fulfilment of basic psychological needs, especially the need for autonomy, contributes to people’s overall affective well-being, within the leisure sphere. We discuss our findings in terms of two frameworks: basic psychological needs theory and the DRAMMA leisure model. We also explicate the practical implications of our study and provide future research recommendations.     

When diversity leads to divided teams: A multi-level moderated mediation model of team faultlines and employee engagement

Team faultlines are hypothetical dividing lines that split a team into two or more subgroups based on individual (diversity) attributes, which negatively influence team process and outcomes. Linking with diversity literature and building on social identity and optimal distinctiveness theories, our study examined a multilevel moderated mediation model on whether, how, and when team faultlines would affect hotel frontline employees’ work engagement using data from 337 Chinese hotel employees nested in 102 work groups, collected at multiple times. The results indicated that team faultlines negatively influenced hotel frontline employees’ work engagement, and that individual perceived psychological safety played a mediating role. Inclusive leadership moderated the indirect relationship between team faultlines and employees’ work engagement via psychological safety, thus providing a more optimistic view that measures can indeed be taken to mitigate the negative impacts of team faultlines.