The impact of technology on the hotel industry

This article discusses applications of technology to the hospitality environment. Front office information processing systems such as reservations, guest accounting and room management systems are discussed, as well as their impact on the efficiency of operations. Effects of developments in telecommunications and, more recently, teleconferencing on the lodging (hotel) industry are discussed. Technology benefits, such as energy management and the safety and security of guests and their property, are discussed. This article also clarifies the issues that must be considered in the application of new technology and examines future trends.     

高星级酒店业的信息技术“生产率悖论”研究——基于广州案例

信息技术与酒店业的结合给酒店业带来了新的发展机会.国外有大量的学者致力于信息技术投资与企业生产率及业绩之间关系的研究,但并没有一致的结论.文章通过对广州市高星级酒店的相关调查,获取了第一手数据,借助AMOS软件的验证性因子分析及SPSS软件的相关性分析和多元回归分析功能,以检验信息技术的应用对酒店业绩的影响.结果显示,信息技术“生产率悖论”在高星级酒店业内不存在,前厅应用、客人相关界面应用、餐厅及宴会管理系统及后台应用均对酒店业绩有积极的作用.其中,客人相关界面应用对酒店业绩影响最大,因此应着重投资.文章的结论将为高星级酒店业决定是否战略性地投资于信息技术或集中于某些特定领域提供重要的信息.最后,文章还对研究的局限性以及后续可以开展的研究进行了一定的展望.     

中国酒店业能源消耗水平与低碳化经营路径分析

低碳旅游是在低碳经济背景下旅游管理研究的热点问题。旅游业虽然被认为是低碳经济的一个重要组成部分,但关于旅游业的能源消耗水平研究一直缺乏定量研究成果。文章以中国酒店业为例,采用投入产出分析方法,对中国酒店业的能源消耗水平进行了定量分析。研究表明,中国酒店业每万元的总产出需要消耗330.99千克标准煤。通过产业部门间的比较研究,发现中国酒店业整体仍然处于高耗能阶段,酒店业在节能减排以及发展低碳经济方面还不具有比较优势;通过比较研究,发现中国酒店业能源消耗水平与部分发达国家相比,还存在很大差距;通过与本地居民能源消耗水平的比较,发现酒店住客的日常能源消耗量远远高于城市居民日常生活的能源消耗量。最后,针对中国酒店业在能源消耗方面存在的问题,提出了中国酒店业低碳化经营的发展路径。     

Identifying critical hotel cancellations using artificial intelligence

Cancellations have a significant impact on the hotel and lodging industry because they directly affect income and are thus considered critical in revenue management. Specifically, cancellations made close to the time of service are the most damaging for hotels because they leave management with no time to react. The use of Personal Name Records (PNR) has led to new approaches in this field, however despite this novel research area there are no investigations focusing on forecasting for individual hotel cancellations made close to the time of service. With the aim of filling this gap, this research is intended to identify those individuals likely to make cancellations in a short-horizon of time using Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques through PNR data. Promising results have been achieved with 80% accuracy for cancellations made 7 days in advance. By taking this approach, booking management systems, as well as cancellation policies may be optimised.     

Hotel property performance: The role of strategic management accounting

In the current study, we contend that to enhance their competitiveness and performance, hotel properties need to develop and implement internal policies and procedures such as strategic management accounting that are consistent with their business strategies and account for changing competitive demands. We employ a sample composed of 80 hotel properties to investigate the key precursor of hotel property strategic management accounting use and its impact on hotel property customer and financial performance. The results highlight that market orientation business strategy is a key determinant of hotel property strategic management accounting use and illuminate the mediating influence of hotel property strategic management accounting use and hotel property customer performance on the relationship between hotel property market orientation business strategy use and hotel property financial performance. Recommendations are provided for both researchers and hotel managers concerning their future study of, or use of, strategic management accounting.     

Forecasting h(m)otel guest nights in New Zealand

The purpose of this paper is to highlight some time series models which hotel and motel industry practitioners could use to forecast guest nights. Given their considerable practicality, the lodging industry can easily benefit from using these models as forecasts can be obtained at low cost for effective management and planning. Monthly observations are used for estimating the model from 1997(1) to 2006(12). The Holt–Winters and Box–Jenkins ARMA models are able to forecast guest night demand accurately as 99% of the variations in the guest night forecast are associated with variations in actual guest nights in 2007.     

Coping Strategies Used by Lodging Managers to Balance Work and Personal Lives: An Exploratory Study

The hospitality industry offers services to consumers around the clock, every day of the year. Lodging managers, in particular, are required to work long hours in a highly unpredictable and stressful environment. Consequently, a successful career in hotel management leaves little time for outside activities which often leads managers to leave such positions or the industry altogether. The purpose of this study is to explore the coping strategies used by lodging managers who have a successful balance between their work and personal lives. Eight coping strategies are identified by interviewing 15 lodging managers.     

Emerging Definitions of Boutique and Lifestyle Hotels: A Delphi Study

Despite growing interest in the boutique and lifestyle sector of the lodging industry, there is not an accepted definition of either “boutique hotel” or “lifestyle hotel.” Boutique and lifestyle hotel strategies provide hotel companies with important points of differentiation in an increasingly competitive marketplace. The current study determined definitions using a Delphi analysis of responses from a diverse group of experts from the lodging industry. Forty-one panel members were involved in the process that was undertaken with three rounds of questions. The study determined that boutique hotels are best characterized as small, stylish hotels that offer high levels of service. Lifestyle hotels are described as innovative and provide more of a personal experience than so-called “branded” hotels.     

Guest Satisfaction in the U.S. Lodging Industry Using the ACSI Model as a Service Quality Scoreboard

SUMMARY

This article extracts data from the American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) for the lodging industry and for the six hotel brands included in the study. Guest satisfaction scores are analyzed for three important standards: overall satisfaction, expectancy-disconfirmation, and customer experience compared to an ideal product. Findings indicate that [1] the lodging industry scores slightly better than the entire service sector and about the same as the national score, and [2] there is significant variation in satisfaction scores among the six brands tested. Implications for management are included.     

The managerial flash sales dash: Is there advantage or disadvantage at the finish line?

The central intent of this qualitative inquiry is to investigate the benefits, drawbacks, and performance measures of hotel room inventory distribution via flash sales websites. Key advantages and disadvantages of using such a distribution channel fall within the categories of inventory management, revenue management, brand marketing, customer relationships, and operational challenges. The significance of the study is in providing a comprehensive review of the flash sales phenomenon in the lodging industry that may assist hotel managers with the performance evaluation of this distribution channel. Using grounded theory methodology, a flash sales evaluation framework was developed based on 46 phone interviews with hotel managers from different segments of the American hotel industry.     

Mobile Technology: An Exploratory Study of Hotel Managers

Hospitality businesses provide a natural context for mobile technology, especially given the dynamic nature of the business, the size and complexity of many hotel operations, and the need to have managers visible and overseeing multiple areas of the business (and sometimes, multiple properties) concurrently. To explore the potential for mobile technology in hospitality business contexts, we surveyed 70 full-service hotel property managers. The survey was based upon two theoretical frameworks: technology adoption model and innovation diffusion theory. Specifically, this study addressed (a) hotel property managers’ intentions to use mobile technology at work, (b) factors influencing their intentions, (c) their suggestions for implementing mobile applications in different departments, and (d) demographic characteristics of those who are inclined to adopt certain types of mobile applications. This study identified the top opportunities for mobile applications and found adoption differences based upon the respondents’ demographics as well as the factors of perceived enjoyment and relative advantages as significant determinants of hotel property managers’ intentions to use mobile technology. This study concludes with recommendations for industry practitioners and suggestions for future research opportunities related to mobile technology adoption and usage in hospitality.     

Evolution of hoteliers’ organizational crisis communication in the time of mega disruption

This research note explores the evolutionary process of corporate crisis communication to understand how international hotel enterprises respond to the present pandemic. Corpus linguistics was used as a computer-aided approach in assessing a large collection of naturally occurring texts. Press releases from hotel corporations listed in Fortune 500 within the period of January to April 2020 were curated and built into three corpora. Lexical patterns that evolved over the course of the first quarter of 2020 reveal that the lodging industry did not fully prepare for the crisis until March, while management was still dwelling on their past achievements even in February 2020. The overall tone, pre-crisis, reflected top management's demonstration of success and performance, attributed to the CEOs themselves; while it completely changed during the crisis. This study draws upon crisis management and organizational communication streams of work to advance prevailing theoretical accounts of organizational crisis communication.     

The power of design: How does design affect consumers’ online hotel booking?

Emphasizing experiential appeals to consumers through design is most notable in the emerging lifestyle hotel segment of the lodging industry. This study identifies which lodging design mechanisms evoke consumer responses and provides a novel understanding of the relationships among consumer perception of hotel product/service design and booking intention by incorporating consumer emotional arousal and quality expectations in a theoretical model. The findings of this study suggest that aesthetics and symbolism in hotel design shape booking intention through emotional arousal and quality expectation. The functional dimension of design affects booking intention only through quality expectation. The findings will be particularly meaningful to the lodging industry because online booking requires both emotional and cognitive responses on the part of consumers.     

The causality examination between demand uncertainty and hotel failure: A case study of international tourist hotels in Taiwan

The hotel business is highly sensitive to economic cycles, as the industry faces high frequency and high fluctuation of uncertainty over the demand for lodging services. Without a thorough consideration on the issue, hotels may undergo a business crisis. This research therefore investigates the influence of demand uncertainty on hotel failure by using the operation data of international tourist hotels in Taiwan during 1995–2008. The analysis applies two stages of estimation. The first stage employs a first-order autoregressive model, AR(1), to model lodging demand uncertainty. The second stage estimates the likelihood of hotels’ failure by using a logit model. The results are supportive to determine that the demand uncertainty causes hotel failures.     

The Future of Internet Based Training in the Lodging Industry

ABSTRACT

It has become clear in recent years that the Internet has dramatically affected all aspects of hotel operations. Although the Internet has been primarily used as a medium for marketing and communications, it has the potential to reshape the way in which many other vital operations are performed, such as the distribution of training programs. The proliferation and popularity of the Internet now makes it possible to separate trainees and trainers by both time and location. This study examines expert's predictions of using Internet based training and identifies its benefits, drawbacks and barriers to entry in the lodging industry. The findings of the study have direct implications for hotel operators, training professionals, and technology vendors for their future training plan, budget, technology inputs, and product development.     

A longitudinal investigation to test the validity of the American customer satisfaction model in the U.S. hotel industry

This study was designed to test the validity of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) model specifically for the hotel industry. The main objective of this study was to determine consistency of the ACSI hotel model over three periods: 1994, 2001, and 2009. The model was tested using the Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) technique using a two stage data analysis procedure. The findings from multi-group structural equation modeling showed that the model fit of ACSI lodging is consistent, regardless of economic conditions, demonstrating the validity of that model. Several plausible interpretations are presented in explaining meaningful patterns of path coefficients, for each of the study test periods. Furthermore, as the model tests validate the model fit of the hotel ACSI, academicians studying customer satisfaction may use the theoretical underpinnings and conceptual foundation of the model as a basis for their research.     

酒店业与物管业的管理模式比较及其联盟业态创新

文章比较了酒店业与物管业在管理模式上的异同.文章认为,酒店业与物管业同属服务行业,两者在产品本质、服务内容、管理方法和文化特质上具有相通性,这为两个行业的战略联盟提供了内在基础.文章据此分析了两个行业的战略联盟形式,及其所带来的业态创新发展,并对联盟的运作提出了具体的管理措施.     

Impacts of peer-to-peer accommodation on the hotel industry: Hoteliers’ perspectives

The sharing economy is a new phenomenon that has considerable implications for traditional industries in general and the hospitality sector in particular. Although some recent studies have investigated the effects of sharing economy on the hotel industry, they primarily focused on quantifying its effects which are not exploratory for a phenomenon. This study attempts to achieve two research objectives. First, an exploratory qualitative method via a semi-structured in-depth interview is employed to investigate the impacts of P2P accommodation on the industry from hoteliers’ perspectives in China. Second, the current study provides valuable insights about traditional hotel marketing and operations. A social science perspective is proposed because prior hospitality research, merely in its commercial sense, fails to capture the essence of hospitality. Results indicate that P2P accommodation has effects on the hotel industry in terms of host–guest interactions, product offerings, staff empowerment, and platform collaboration. The study also suggests that the extent to which P2P accommodation impacts the hotel industry is different in terms of hotel star ratings and operating model. P2P accommodation and the hotel industry in China have a supplementary relationship. This study contributes to social studies of the hospitality literature by gaining insights from hotel senior management level. It also has great implications for the hotel marketing and management practices within the sharing context.     

Calculating ROI for training in the lodging industry: Where is the bottom line?

The challenge of measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of training has long been a hurdle for human resource and training professionals in the lodging industry. The reporting of a department's financial performance is a basic expectation of leaders responsible for their share of operational goals of a property. The management of revenue, yield, assets, and total quality are all part of the mix; however, for many leaders in human resource and training experts in the lodging industry, justification for expenditures and financial performance expectations are rarely requested.     

An Assessment of Quality Consciousness of Service Employees

Abstract

Frontline service staff plays a vital role in the success of firms in the lodging industry. Quality service often determines the competitive edge of businesses in this industry. In this study, data from the questionnaires filled out by hotel managers and employees have been analyzed to assess their service quality consciousness. Although the results point to the existence of an organizational culture and climate that encourage the fostering of quality consciousness, they are not effective enough in the development of satisfactory quality consciousness in employees. A set of guidelines for quality service management is proposed.