Value of a hotel stay: a case study in Hong Kong

This study examines the value of a hotel stay from the perspective of hotel customers and hotel service professionals. Respondents, including hotel customers and hotel service professionals, were asked the extent of their agreement or disagreement with statements related to four different value dimensions: functional value, emotional value, social value, and customer-perceived sacrifices. Results showed that there are significant differences between the hotel service professionals’ perceived value of the hotel stay and customers’ perceived value of the hotel stay. The differences are found in social value and customer-perceived sacrifices.     

Examining the effects of robotic service on brand experience: the moderating role of hotel segment

This research investigates the effects of robotic service on guest evaluations of hotel brand experience, and examines the moderating effects of hotel segment via a 2 (service delivery video: human or robot) x 3 (hotel segment: budget, midscale, or luxury) between-subjects experimental design. The findings suggest higher levels of sensory and intellectual experience from robotic service but lower levels of affective experience. For behavioral experience, robotic service influenced a higher rating for midscale and budget hotels, but not for a luxury hotel. Overall, robotic service may not necessarily enhance brand experience as influenced by the moderating role of hotel segment.     

Tipping: The case of hotel turndown service

Turndown services are experiential and value-added practices to make guests feel cared-for in luxury hotels. Previous research has found that when receiving an additional or exceptional service, people may feel obligated to respond with a reciprocal behavior, such as providing tips. This study aims to investigate the effects of hotel turndown services on tips given to hotel room attendants. The results revealed that the room attendants received more tips for providing turndown service, both in terms of the frequency of receiving tips and the amount of those tips. The findings suggest that without the existence of a tipping norm in hotel guest rooms, the relationship between service and tip seems much clearer.     

The impact of information technology on hotel operations,service management and transaction costs: A conceptual framework for full-service hotel firms

This paper develops a conceptual framework that describes the impact of information technology (IT) on service management and transaction costs in full service hotel firms. It details how IT would help such firms to lower operations-related transaction costs. Further, the underpinnings of how IT would impact service management in full service hotel firms is discussed more specifically from a customer satisfaction point of view while focusing on two aspects, i.e. managing customer delight and the customer's role as a co-producer. Propositions are developed and a discussion on the impact of IT on firm profitability from a transaction cost perspective ensues while concluding with managerial implications.     

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.     

Embedding research and academic service in teaching: a case study of a hotel sales management course

Lecturers in Thai universities have to meet several key performance indicators (KPIs), posing a heavy burden and demanding much time and effort. A new teaching model is explained and proposed where several KPIs can be met through progressive teaching. Embedding academic service and research projects in a course involves the participation of students, employing progressive teaching methods, and helping lecturers to meet various KPIs more effectively. This article describes how the above method is applied in a Hotel Sales Management course at Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality, Dhurakij Pundit University, Thailand. The benefits and difficulties faced during the project are described.     

Examining key drivers of customer delight in a hotel experience: A cross-cultural perspective

Welcoming all guests is the calling shared by those who work in the hotel industry. Everyday hoteliers strive to provide a service of excellence to all of those who visit. This can be somewhat of a complex endeavor, as hotels receive guests from different nationalities and cultures. Previous research in the area of customer delight has revealed some of the factors that define and drive the customer delight experience. Despite the emerging literature on the subject, the question remains: are guest from different cultures likely to be delighted by different things? In the present study, the researchers conducted extensive semi-structured interviews (n = 228) with guests from different nationalities visiting the Central Florida area. The guests interviewed came predominantly from the United States, Brazil, Germany, and Canada. Using a process of content analysis, the researchers analyzed the drivers of customer delight and concluded that while some universal service elements exists, guests from different cultures can also be delighted by different services and amenities.     

Relationship between customer complaint behavior and demographic characteristics: A study of hotel restaurants' patrons

This study documented customer complaint behavior in hotel restaurants in Deadwood, USA, and examined the relationship between complaint behavior and demographic characteristics. The sample consisted of 250 hotel restaurant customers. It was found that the hotel restaurant customers tended to complain privately rather than taking public actions. Older, well-educated, customers with higher incomes tended to take private action to complain about their dissatisfaction more than younger, less educated customers with lower incomes. Based on results of the study, implications were suggested for industry practitioners to diminish the negative impact of complaint on hotel restaurants.     

Application of EMSs in a hotel context: A case study

In the last decade, hotel companies have become increasingly interested in the application of environmental management systems (EMSs). However, research on the effectiveness of EMSs in the hotel industry has been sparse. This study aims to address this research gap by exploring and evaluating the application of EMSs in a hotel context. Various approaches to EMSs are identified in the literature on environmental management and EMSs, including six core EMS elements specific to the hotel industry context. To develop a rich and deep understanding of the application of EMSs in the hotel industry, a qualitative case study was conducted in which data were collected from three levels of employees, executive, supervisory and general, from an international hotel. A series of in-depth, semi-structured interviews were conducted and relevant documents were collected for analysis. Four influential factors were identified in the formation stage of the hotel's EMS: (1) Corporate governance, (2) Piloting activities, (3) Initial gap analysis and (4) Partnership with external consultancy. It was also found that the six elements identified in the environmental management literature play important roles in the implementation of EMS in this case. In addition, although EMSs can help promote a bottom-up approach to change, a top-down approach to implementing EMSs was more suitable for a hotel with a predominantly Chinese workforce, due to cultural issues. This study identified a number of factors specifically related to EMSs to complement mainstream environmental management research.     

Intellectual capital in the hotel industry: A case study from Slovenia

Human, structural and non-end-customer-relationship capital in the hotel industry need end-customer-relationship capital to reflect themselves in financial performance, as a study of the Slovenian hotel industry has shown.     

Workplace ostracism and proactive customer service performance: A conservation of resources perspective

This study tests the impact of workplace ostracism on hospitality employees’ proactive customer service performance (PCSP). Drawing upon the conservation of resources theory, we investigate the effects of two sequential mediators (i.e. job tension and customer orientation) and the moderating effect of need for affiliation. Using a time-lagged research design and the data from 16 hotels in China, we find that workplace ostracism positively influences job tension; job tension decreases customer orientation, which in turn undermines employees’ PCSP. Moreover, we find that need for affiliation exacerbates the effect of workplace ostracism on job tension such that the effect is stronger when employees’ need for affiliation is high rather than low. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications subsequently.     

Mass tourism and water efficiency in the hotel industry: A case study

Mass tourism, which has traditionally been associated with an unsustainable use of natural resources and intensive land use, is frequently identified as a major environmental stressor in coastal regions. Nonetheless, mass tourism resorts typically have a compact and vertical urban configuration and have been shown to make more efficient use of water resources than other low-density tourist destinations. This article investigates how the main variables identified by the literature as determinants of water consumption by hotels influences water efficiency in hotels in Lloret de Mar, a well-known mass tourism destination on the Costa Brava in Spain. The results of a generalized linear mixed model show that large, high-rise hotels that attract thousands of tourists annually also benefit from economies of scale in terms of water efficiency.     

Switching intention model development: Role of service performances,customer satisfaction,and switching barriers in the hotel industry

The intricate relationships among core service and service encounter performances, customer satisfaction, and switching barriers in the formation of satisfaction and switching intention were examined in this study. A field survey was conducted at upper-midscale hotels. The results of the structural analysis revealed that both core service and service encounter performances significantly affected customer satisfaction, and satisfaction completely mediated the effects of service performances on switching intention. In addition, findings from the tests for metric invariances indicated that components of switching barriers (switching costs, relational investment, and lack of alternatives’ attractiveness) moderated the relationships between satisfaction and switching intention. In particular, the role of satisfaction derived from service performances in decreasing hotel guests’ intention to switch is greater when they perceive high switching costs, relational investment, and lack of alternatives’ attractiveness. Based on study findings, theoretical and practical implications are identified and discussed.     

Workplace deviance and human resource management relations: A case study of Turkish hotel employees

The main purpose of this study is to examine the negative associations between employees' perception of the effectiveness of performance appraisal practices and deviant workplace behavior. This study also tests the mediating effect of the forms of organizational justice in the relationship between performance appraisal practices and deviant workplace behavior. Moreover, it also investigates how line managers' performance appraisal politics may influence the relationship between perceptions of performance appraisal practices and employee deviant workplace behavior. In order to facilitate this study, the research team employed a survey design. A total of 193 service employees from different service establishments attended the forum where the study was conducted in the capital city of Turkey, Ankara. The results of this study strongly support the premise that effective performance appraisal practices influence employee deviance behavior, and especially that interactional justice is an important predictor of employee violative behavior. Moreover, the findings indicate that there is no evidence regarding the moderating effect of employees' perception of managers' appraisal politics in the negative relationship between performance appraisal effectiveness and employee deviance.     

When I put on my service mask: Determinants and outcomes of emotional labor among hotel service providers according to affective event theory

This article develops and tests a model of emotional labor in the hotel industry using affective event theory. A multiple-wave longitudinal analysis using data from 424 hotel service employees and their immediate supervisors reveals how work contexts (supervisory support) affect work events (interactional justice), and thereby influence the affective (negative emotions), attitudinal (job satisfaction), and behavioral (emotional labor, service quality, and voluntary turnover) reactions of hotel service employees. The results show that (1) supervisory support relates positively to supervisory interactional justice; (2) supervisory interactional justice is negatively associated with negative emotions; (3) negative emotions relate positively to surface acting and negatively to deep acting; (4) surface acting leads to lower job satisfaction, whereas deep acting leads to higher job satisfaction; and (5) job satisfaction leads to higher service quality and lower turnover. The implications suggest important recommendations for hotel managers.     

Tourist motivation and place attachment: the mediating effects of service interactions with hotel employees

Using social facilitation theory, this study evaluates the mediating effects of service interactions with hotel employees on the relationship between tourist motivation and place attachment. The moderating effects of nationality and hotel star-rating on these relationships are also examined. The overall model tested on a sample of 545 international visitors to the island of Mauritius showed that service interactions mediated the relationship between tourist motivation and place attachment. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) multi-group analysis found that the relationships among the constructs differed according to tourists’ nationality and the hotels’ star rating. The findings have important implications for hotel managers and destination marketing and management.     

Quality of hotel service and consumer protection: A European contract law approach

A lack of transparency in the hotel ranking system presents a serious problem for the industry. This is especially the case when it comes to providing information to the consumer and converting quality standards into binding standards. Since quality management is not merely a strategy for commercialisation, the aim of the first part of this research paper is to offer companies recommendations from a contract law perspective. This area of law reveals that a reduction in price can be very useful for facing quality failures. For this reason, the second part of this paper examines the requirements of such a remedy for non-performance and promotes the application of scales for calculating a price reduction.     

A preliminary study on customer expectations of hotel hospitality: Influences of personal and hotel factors

This study attempts to explain the influence of personal and hotel factors on the expectation level of hotel hospitality as well as to propose a scale to measure commercial hospitality for hotel services. A total of 101 local and international hotel guests were involved in the study. The results revealed that the expectations of hotel hospitality are influenced by personal factors such as gender, purpose of stay, nationality, and private domain of hospitality. The hotel's star rating is the only hotel factor that might have strong association with hotel hospitality.     

A holistic view of the service experience at coffee franchises: A cross-cultural study

Service quality alone is no longer a sustainable advantage in today's competitive hospitality industry, and marketers are paying more attention to strategically managing the customer's experience. The purpose of this study is to examine the customer service experience from a holistic standpoint, and further consider how different components of the customer service experience influence perceived value, attitudes, and loyalty at coffee franchises. Further, this study conducts a comparative analysis to find the similarities and differences that exist cross-culturally between Americans and Koreans. This study develops a self-administered questionnaire for data collection: we adopt a convenience sampling method and collected data at two Starbucks franchises and two Coffee Bean franchises in both Seoul, South Korea, and Miami, US. Further, the study implements structural equational modeling to analyze the data. Overall, the results support the study hypotheses, and indicate that nationality has a moderating effect on the relation between the latent variables.