Insights into TripAdvisor's online reviews: The case of Tehran's hotels

User-generated data in TripAdvisor.com consists of considerable amount of useful information that can help managers to provide better services to their customers. This study aims to forecast a new user's rate to a hotel based on information of the hotel and user. To do so, all reviews on all hotels of Tehran on TripAdvisor.com as real data are selected and 8 different supervised machine learning models are applied to the data to select the best method including K-nearest neighbors (KNN), Naïve Bayes, decision tree, logistic regression, support vector machine, neural network, random forest, and gradient boosting. KNN algorithm which uses similarity and distance measures for classification is selected as the best method through conducted comprehensive comparisons, statistical analysis and data-based sensitivity analysis. Since this study investigates an intensive set of data of all hotels in a city in all time, some worthful managerial insights are presented.     

Worldwide hedonic prices of subjective characteristics of hostels

An overnight at an accommodation establishment might be understood as a package of several different items. Since they are not traded separately in the market, their values for the consumer are difficult to measure. On the other hand, this information is be useful for managers to develop better strategies regarding the mix of services and facilities of their establishments. Analytical decomposition of total prices by different characteristics can be done through hedonic price techniques. In this paper, hedonic prices are used to analyze the impact of different characteristics on prices of hostels. Accommodation prices of more than 8000 hostels worldwide are explained by their characteristics as rated by guests. Results show that the most relevant characteristics are cleanliness, location and facilities.     

Forecasting tourism revisited

This article examines the accuracy and efficiency of forecasting techniques by applying time series regression to forecasting visitor arrivals. Past studies have shown that simpler time series techniques perform as well or better than complex forecasting models. An assessment of visitor forecasts developed at regional, destination and individual market levels suggests that time series regression performs well in producing annual forecasts of visitors which can also serve as a baseline for evaluating the net returns from applying more complex techniques. Tourism managers should appreciate the usefulness of simpler formal methods in developing forecasts of visitors.     

Key Managerial Accounting Skills for Lodging Industry Managers: The Third Phase of a Repeated Cross-Sectional Study

This study is the third phase of a repeated cross-sectional study that explores the current rankings of important accounting skills to lodging managers and the changes in the importance of accounting skills to lodging managers over time. In this study, as with two prior studies, financial executives were asked to rate the importance of a list of managerial accounting skills used by hotel general managers. The top three managerial accounting skills were the operating budget, the income statement, and analysis of variances. This study can provide a better sense of the perception of importance of accounting skills utilized by lodging managers. It will be useful for hospitality educators in designing the curriculum for managerial accounting courses to meet the expectations of the current hospitality industry.     

Antecedents of customer WOM in glamping: The critical role of original ecology

Glamping has grown increasingly popular as a new type of outdoor hotel that combines nature with luxury. Glamping operations managers must fully understand how certain attributes of their business affect their customers’ word-of-mouth (WOM) in order to sustain growth and attract new customers. There has been little previous research on the influence of nature-related attributes on customers’ emotions and WOM. To address this gap, we conducted interviews in two glampsites based on the Stimulus-Organism-Response (SOR) framework. We also analyzed online reviews for 20 glampsites. We conducted qualitative analysis on the data using grounded theory techniques. We found that original ecology (including authenticity, scenery, and natural lifestyle) and accommodation environment (including room and public space) can affect customers’ emotional value (including tension release, enjoyment, and social bonding), which can in turn affect their WOM. The results presented here may provide useful implications for both researchers and glamping business managers.     

An introduction to helpful forecasting methods for hotel revenue management

Revenue management is a key tool for hotel managers’ decision-making process. Cutting-edge revenue management systems have been developed to support managers’ decisions and all have as an essential component an accurate forecasting module. This paper aims to introduce new time series forecasting models to be considered as a tool for forecasting daily hotel occupancies. These models were developed in a state space modelling framework which is capable of tackling seasonal complexities such as multiple seasonal periods and non-integer seasonality. An empirical study was carried out to illustrate how a practitioner may apply and compare the performance of different models when forecasting a hotel’s daily occupancy. Results showed that the trigonometric model based on the new modelling framework generally outperformed the majority of the other models. These findings are potentially useful to the entire revenue management community facing the challenge of accurately forecasting a hotel’s daily demand.     

Evaluation of hotel brand competitiveness based on hotel features ratings

Understanding the competitiveness of hotel brands is important for hotel managers to shape their brands and initiate effective marketing strategies and business developments. However, evaluating hotel brand competitiveness is challenging due to the complexity of information involved. A hotel brand often comprises many hotels with different performances. Hotel brands are also evaluated against multiple hotel features, thereby making the application of traditional evaluation techniques impractical. This paper introduces a novel technique for automatically evaluating the competitiveness of hotel brands based on probability distribution and earth mover’s distance. We demonstrate the effectiveness of our proposed method by conducting a case study that involves major hotel brands in Hong Kong. The proposed method can be applied in various contexts and can help researchers and managers evaluate the competitiveness of hotels as well as other branded products in the hospitality and tourism sectors.     

女性高管会提升旅游企业绩效吗?——来自旅游上市公司的经验研究

旅游业是女性就业较为集中的行业。近年来,我国旅游企业中女性高管不断增加,文章以2003-2016年期间我国旅游上市公司作为样本,基于高阶理论构建研究假设,并利用非平衡面板数据建立计量经济学模型,实证研究我国旅游上市公司中女性高管对企业绩效的影响。研究发现,旅游上市企业中女性高管对企业绩效具有显著促进作用;然而,对酒店行业的进一步分析表明,女性高管对酒店企业绩效的正向作用,会因为行业高度竞争压力的存在而受到抑制。研究结果丰富了现阶段女性研究相关文献,也为旅游企业管理决策提供了理论依据和经验支持。     

Declining Memberships During an Economic Downturn in U.S. Private Clubs

ABSTRACT

Surveys were sent to managers at one thousand private clubs, who were members of the Club Managers Association of America (CMAA) to determine what membership changes clubs have experienced during the economic downturn from 2000 to 2003. The majority of respondents managed country clubs, member-owned clubs, and represented different areas of the United States. An overall response rate of 50% was achieved. Most clubs experienced a decline in the overall number of members and a higher annual attrition rate. Fewer clubs reported having a waitlist of members wanting to join and the clubs having a waitlist reported a smaller number of individuals on the waitlist. The clubs without a waitlist reported a higher number of openings in their club. The results of this study suggest that clubs need to implement membership marketing strategies in order to increase the number of candidates for membership during economic downturns.     

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.     

Performance measurement in the networked context of convention and visitors bureaus (CVBs)

The management of Convention Bureau offices (CBs) requires coordination of several tourism-related operators and that the CB private/public members’ demand for accountability be met. Building on the argument that CB managers could employ a multi-dimensional performance measurement system (PMS) to face the challenge of managing different stakeholders’ expectations, this study aimed to understand which performance metrics CBs monitor, the group of stakeholders the metrics refer to, and if they are integrated into a formalized PMS. The research is based on multiple case study analyses. The findings indicate that the management function and number of CB partners affect the presence of a multi-dimensional analysis. Managers dedicate their attention to salient stakeholders, whose legitimacy is strongly related to their contribution to the CB (i.e. shareholders and partners providing financial support). The salience perceived by CB managers is resource-dependent and affects the dimensions on which the process of performance measurement focuses. Thus, a single performance measurement model for all CBs that would be useful for dialogue with stakeholders is not feasible.     

Information technology and destination performance: Examining the role of dynamic capabilities

Destinations can be considered as service ecosystems in which independent actors (largely firms) form elements in destination business networks. An understanding of resource capabilities and their configuration in relation to improved firm management, and competitive advantages within destination organisations, has implications for resource integration and ultimately destination performance. This study utilises dynamic capabilities theory and a survey approach with managers in different destination organisations to model resource configuration based on the fundamental role that Information Technology plays in competitive advantages and destination performance. The results confirm that information technologies cannot promote improved performance directly but contribute indirectly through enhancement of capabilities; coordination, integration and flexibility. The results provide implications for understanding links between management advantage and destination performance and competitiveness.     

Managing business travel: Developments and dilemmas in corporate travel management

Work organizations today often depend on communication and interaction between persons working in geographically dispersed locations. As a consequence, business travel has increased considerably over the past few decades, and large companies and public authorities often employ travel managers to implement efficient travel routines. The present paper investigates the professional practice of travel management. Using interviews, policy documents and existing literature, it examines recent developments in this field and identifies a number of dilemmas and challenges that travel managers experience in their attempts to control travel behaviour and travel costs in their organizations. These dilemmas occur in travel managers’ relations with other stakeholders in the business travel process - travellers, senior managers, suppliers, and travel agents. An additional dilemma concerns the role of ‘virtual meetings’ (via telephone, video or the Web) and their potential to serve as substitutes for or complements to travel and face-to-face meetings.     

A data-driven approach to measure restaurant performance by combining online reviews with historical sales data

Restaurant management requires customer responsiveness to deal with increasingly higher expectations and market competitiveness. This study proposes an approach to simplify the decision-making process of restaurant managers by combining both live social media customer feedback and historical sales data in a sales forecast model (based on TripAdvisor data and the Bass model).Our approach was validated with internal and external (i.e., online reviews) data gathered from six restaurants. The collected data was processed using data analytics for developing a dashboard that provides value for restauranteurs by taking advantage of online reviews and sales forecast. Such dashboard was evaluated by restaurant management experts, which provided positive feedback, highlighting in particular the time saved in the decision-making process.     

The effect of psychological contract fulfillment on manager turnover intentions and its role as a mediator in a casual,limited-service restaurant environment

Job satisfaction is the most consistent predictor of turnover intention; however, its correlation with turnover intention in most studies is modest. Leader–Member Exchange (LMX) has not proven to be a reliable predictor of turnover intention. Meanwhile, the psychological contract has emerged as a useful framework for understanding the employee/employer relationship. In the present research, which utilizes a sample of managers in a casual, limited-service restaurant environment, a structural equation model is developed in which psychological contract fulfillment serves a mediating role between LMX and turnover intention. Psychological contract fulfillment is also found to be a statistically significant predictor of turnover intention. Findings from the study suggest that management turnover may be mitigated if organizational leaders develop strong relationships with their managers based upon respect, trust and mutual obligation and then utilize these relationships to understand and fulfill the unwritten contract perceived to exist between the firm and its management personnel.     

Establishing attributes of an environmental management system for green hotel evaluation

This study establishes attributes of an environmental management system (EMS) for the hotel industry in Taiwan to create an instrument to help address green hotel auditing. Hotel EMS indicators were initially selected from ISO14000 and nine representative foreign green hotel assessment systems. The Delphi method conducted on twenty five experts with government officials, scholars and hotel managers for item modification to identify the preliminary EMS evaluation framework. An indicator selection process was employed to determine the dimensional indicators of the system. The data analysis reveals that a total of 64 indicators into ten dimensions were identified and prioritized in terms of their relative importance and feasibility. Moreover, 38 indicators are suitable for use and 18 of them should be implemented firstly in Taiwan hotel industry. The results also reveal the comparison with Taiwan government's environmental standards. Finally the EMS approach of this study provides managerial implications for government, hoteliers and consumers to improve their environmental management.     

Creating and Sustaining Fun Work Environments in Hospitality and Service Organizations

ABSTRACT

Managers of hospitality and service organizations have long believed that it is critical for their employees to have fun at work. They recognize the important relationships between their employees having fun and their customers having a pleasant experience. While everyone accepts this notion, there is little empirical support for either a definition of what managers can do to promote a fun work environment or even what makes a fun work environment fun. Further, while many positive outcomes for both the individual and the organization are claimed to be associated with fun work environments, there is even less empirical data to support this belief.

This primary purpose of the paper is to identify and define the actions and activities that managers can do or support to create and sustain the feeling employees have that their firm is a fun place to work or have a “fun work environment.” The paper reports results of a large e-mail survey of human resource managers designed to identify what cues managers send to create a fun work environment, the degree to which these cues actually are associated with a work environment that is fun, and the positive individual and organizational outcomes that are claimed to be associated with working in such an environment. The study offers definitions and measurements of the cueing process, a fun work environment, and outcomes of the process.

We found a strong relationship between the antecedent cues and the degree to which the work environment was perceived as fun. The relationships between a fun work environment and various outcomes were not as strong or comprehensive. While the results of this research are positive and extend our knowledge of cues, culture and especially “fun work environments,” more needs to be done in validating the measures and extending the research.     

The negative spillover effect of food crises on restaurant firms: Did Jack in the Box really recover from an E. coli scare?

Despite the enormous impact of food crises on restaurants, limited understanding of their long-term impacts and associated factors has undermined crisis managers’ ability to handle crisis situations effectively. This article investigated the long-term impact of food crises on the financial performance of restaurant firms and identified the factors that influenced this impact. This explanatory study examined the case of Jack in the Box, whose 1993 Escherichia coli scare was the first and largest restaurant-associated food crisis in modern times. An event study method was used to uncover stock price movements of Jack in the Box, in conjunction with 73 unrelated food crises that occurred from 1994 to 2010. Stock prices of Jack in the Box exhibited significantly negative responses to other firms’ food crises, moreover, the negative spillover effect was stronger if the crisis occurred closer in time, was similar in nature, and was accompanied with no recall execution. These findings shed light on the long-term financial impact of food crises and offer insights for crisis managers to develop more effective crisis management strategies.     

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.     

Why Do People Leave? a Study Of Nonsupervisory Restaurant Employees’ Polychronic Time Use Preference and Turnover Intention

ABSTRACT

The purpose of the study was to present a comprehensive view on the associations among polychronicity, job satisfaction, work engagement, and turnover intention within a restaurant context. Using a sample of 252 servers in full-service restaurants, structural equation modeling results found that polychronicity positively linked with job satisfaction, work engagement, and turnover intention. An indirect effect from polychronicity to job satisfaction to turnover intention was found. Results can assist restaurant managers in selecting candidates that best fit their organization. It will also assist employees in determining which career path best matches their personality traits.