Attitude Towards Green Hotel by Hoteliers and Travel Agency Managers in Taiwan

Analysis is performed by green hotel features: energy conservation, water conservation, waste management, green purchasing, and corporate social responsibility. Questionnaires were distributed to managers of hotels and travel agencies via snowball-sampling. Findings show that hoteliers have higher green hotel attitudes than travel agency managers. By gender, female managers have higher green hotel attitudes. Managers with less work experience have higher green hotel attitudes. Managers who work for upscale hotels have higher green hotel attitudes than managers of typical hotels and travel agencies. Managers working in south or east Taiwan have higher green hotel attitudes than those in north or central Taiwan.     

An Investigation of Gen-Y's Online Hotel Information Search: The Case of Hong Kong

The Internet has made searching for hotel room information and making online reservations common practices among hotel guests. Despite constantly changing consumer behavior and widespread application of online hotel information sources, limited studies have been conducted to examine the online sources used frequently by customers and the related attributes of such sources. As such, drawing from an online questionnaire survey with 205 respondents, findings in this study indicate that there are no socio-demographic effects on future purchase intention of Generation (Gen) Y travelers. Moreover, websites of suppliers (e.g. official websites of hotels), travel intermediaries (e.g. Hotels.com), and social media (e.g. TripAdvisor) are the three major types of websites used by Gen Y hotel guests. Travel intermediary websites are often used to search for hotel information, whereas social media websites are used to make reservations. Based on these findings, implications for hotel managers are discussed.     

Change in Consumer Patronage and Willingness to Pay at Different Levels of Service Attributes in Restaurants: A Study in India

Consumer patronage and consumer willingness to pay are the two most important criteria for business development. The current study investigates the changing preferences of consumers in a developing economy with respect to three major service attributes from the restaurant industry: food quality, service, and ambiance. Results indicated that consumers give greater preference to quality over service in high-end restaurants and prefer service compared with ambiance in quick-service restaurants. Food quality was found to have strong interaction effect with two other variables. When food quality was improved from low to high, consumer preferences for ambiance and service tended to change accordingly in the same direction, but not necessarily at the same level. Thus, restaurateurs have a strategic advantage when they choose high quality food and an appropriate level of service or ambiance. Consumer expectations are significantly different for high-end, full-service restaurants and quick-service restaurants in service attributes.     

The Importance of Hotel Attributes in Contributing to Travelers' Satisfaction in the Hong Kong Hotel Industry

Abstract

This study surveyed 402 international travelers to explore their satisfaction levels towards service and facility quality in three Hong Kong hotel market segments, High-Tariff A, High-Tariff B and Medium Tariff. Six perception dimensions were extracted from 33 hotel attributes by a factor analysis. All six dimensions had a significant impact on the overall satisfaction of travelers with service quality and facilities in the three Hong Kong hotel market segments. Quality of Staff Performance was the most influential factor followed by Quality of Room Facilities, Value for Money, Variety and Efficient Services, Business Related Services, and Safety and Security respectively. It was found that travelers had the lowest satisfaction level towards the Medium-Tariff hotel segment. By identifying the most influential hotel dimension in influencing travelers' satisfaction levels, hoteliers will be in an advantageous position to formulate tactics to meet the changing needs and expectations of travelers. Implementing human resources training that emphasizes the fact that service quality is part of each employee's job should have a significant impact on guest re-purchase intention. The importance of value segmentation cannot be overlooked by hoteliers. Travelers will continue to expect hotels to provide more value-for-money services and facilities and they are expected to shift their purchasing decision to an economic value basis.     

Willingness to Pay for Customization: The Impact of Choice Variety and Specification Assistance

Research in mass customization suggests that consumers are willing to pay more for customization, but limited studies to date have investigated product or process related factors that would affect consumers' willingness to pay for a customized product. In a foodservice context, we empirically tested the impact of choice variety and specification assistance on consumers' willingness to pay for the customized product. The study results indicate that consumers would pay more for the customized product if extensive choice variety was provided for each product component. However, specification assistance was not found to affect consumers' willingness to pay.     

Predicting Hotel Choice Decisions and Segmenting Hotel Consumers: A Comparative Assessment of a Recent Consumer Based Approach

Abstract

Given the intensified competition to attract today's increasingly discerning hotel guests, it is vital for hotel managers to understand the set or bundle of hotel attributes which are demanded by the potential traveler. Unfortunately, marketing research in hotels is still mainly confined to the analysis of guest-related data collected during registration or from guest comment cards. These data, however, have little merit as predictors of customer behaviour and cannot answer the “what if” questions. In recent and past research in hospitality and tourism, researchers have demonstrated the use of product attributes in predicting consumer preferences and segmenting markets (Bell and Morey 1997; Kim 1996). In undertaking this approach to behavioral study, many researchers in the field have been attracted to use conjoint attribute part-worths, (the judgmentally quantified attribute valuesderived from conjoint modeling. This study attempts to utilize the compositional self-explication model as a reference model to assess the comparative superiority of the conjoint model in predicting client preferences among travelers to Hong Kong. It also seeks to reveal subgroup preference variations by using two segmentation approaches. The overall finding indicated that the most important hotel attribute sought by all respondents is Room Rate, followed by Star Rating, Location, Brand and Room Type. In terms of market segments, the results revealed similar preference profiles among leisure, short-haul and infrequent travelers as one group and business, long-haul and frequent travelers as another.     

The Environmentally Friendly Programs in Hotels and Customers' Intention to Stay: An Online Survey Approach

This study surveyed customer perceptions about the environmentally friendly programs (i.e., green programs) in hotels and analyzed the degree to which such programs influenced customers' hotel selection. Data were collected from online travel communities by conducting Web-based online surveys. A total of members from 63 travel-related online communities participated in the survey. Multiple regression analysis results showed that the significant factors that affected client hotel selection were: Solid waste and water programs in guestrooms, energy programs, solid waste and water programs in housekeeping, and biodiversity programs. However, water program by customers' option did not influence customer decisions to stay at environmentally friendly hotels. Results also showed differences in customer awareness and demand for environmentally friendly hotels based on gender, income, and age.     

世界遗产地旅游企业环境行为及其驱动机制——张家界饭店企业实证

世界遗产地旅游企业的环境行为直接影响到区域环境质量.文章利用6大类33个环境行为指标,对世界自然遗产武陵源所在地张家界市的饭店企业环境行为进行测度;同时,构建饭店企业环境行为影响因素量表,运用多元线性回归分析方法,探析饭店企业环境行为的驱动机制.研究表明:张家界饭店企业环境行为总体均值得分较低(1.72);6个环境行为指标组的均值分别为1.82、1.70、1.63、2.02、1.59和1.43,其中,环保知识掌握、环境管理沟通和节水管理等3个方面的环境行为表现较为欠缺;在大多数环境行为指标的得分上,高星级饭店并未与低星级饭店、社会旅馆拉开明显差距;利润动机、政府环境规制压力和其他利益相关者压力是饭店企业环境行为的主要驱动因素;管理层环境意识和事业动机对饭店企业环境行为绩效没有显著影响.     

Comparing Voluntary Policy Instruments for Sustainable Tourism: The Experience of the Spanish Hotel Sector

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis of the voluntary policy instruments most commonly applied by the hotel sector: codes of conduct, best environmental practices, ecolabels, environmental management systems (EMSs) and environmental performance indicators. Based on a qualitative study of Spanish hotel companies that have applied one or more of these voluntary tools, each instrument is reviewed and analysed with regard to incentives and obstacles experienced during its practical implementation. In the comparative assessment of all the tools studied, formal certification systems such as ecolabels and EMSs appear to be the most effective instruments. At a conceptual level, ecolabels and EMSs are the tools with the broadest scope and the only ones that guarantee an improvement of the company’s environmental (and sustainable) performance. At the practical level, the present research shows that, although both of these instruments involve higher costs and complexity than the other tools studied, they offer a wider range of tangible and intangible benefits.     

Tourist preferences for ecotourism in rural communities adjacent to Kruger National Park: A choice experiment approach

This paper analyses the potential for development of ecotourism in rural communities adjacent to Kruger National Park (KNP) in South Africa. We determine preferences of tourists, according to origin and income levels, for ecotourism and their marginal willingness to pay (MWTP) for three ecotourism attributes: village accommodation, village tours and visits to crafts markets. Data were collected from 319 tourists through choice experiments, and analyzed using a conditional probit model. Findings indicate reluctance on the part of all tourists to use accommodation facilities outside KNP, but interest to purchase village tours and visit village-based craft markets. MWTP was negative for accommodation for all income groups, but positive for village tours and crafts markets. Among international and high income groups of tourists, tourists were willing to pay much higher fees than proposed by communities. These findings suggest the potential for development of some limited ecotourism services in villages adjacent to KNP.     

Leadership Competencies for Hotel General Managers: The Differences in Age,Education, and Hotel Characteristics

This study was designed to explore the leadership competencies necessary for general managers (GM) in Thailand hotels. The exploratory factor analysis extracted six leadership competency components: leadership, motivational/interpersonal skills, strategic orientation, planning and implementation, team building and ethics, communication skills, flexibility, and concern for the community. The results showed that team building and ethics, leadership, and communication skills are the most important factors for the GMs. In contrast, flexibility and strategic orientation were the least important competencies for them. There were significant differences between leadership competency factors and GMs’ age, education, hotel stars, and hotel locations in diverse aspects.     

The Entitled Tourist: The Influence of Psychological Entitlement and Cultural Distance on Tourist Judgments in a Hotel Context

This research examines how a tourist’s degree of psychological entitlement (sense of deservingness) influences their responses to hotels that differ in cultural distance. Using a visit to China by Western tourists as a context, an experiment shows that entitled tourists respond more negatively to high cultural distance hotel environments compared with low cultural distance environments. Results are mediated by tourist irritation. Research contributions include demonstrating how entitlement moderates cultural distance effects, revealing tourist irritation as a mechanism that explains these effects, and showing how psychological entitlement influences how tourists react to hotel environments when visiting a foreign destination.     

Facilitating Benchmarking with Strategic Grouping and Data Envelopment Analysis: The Case of International Tourist Hotels in Taiwan

For a performance measure to be instructional in future operations, selecting the right strategic groups of firms from which appropriate benchmark targets are to determined is important in the development of business strategies. The immediate question is how to group firms and choose the best benchmark. In this study, a revised context-dependent data envelopment analysis model is applied to identify multilevel strategic groups. Empirical data are obtained for 56 international tourist hotels in Taiwan. Five strategic groups are identified in terms of efficiency frontiers, and the hotels within the groups are ranked by attractiveness scores that reveal their competitiveness. The hotels are also assessed by progress scores that reveal the effort needed for them to advance to a higher level. By integrating both these scores, a clear benchmarking path is designed for each hotel. This path can guide inefficient hotels to identify suitable role models for excellence.     

The Impact of Employee Training on Job Satisfaction and Intention to Stay in the Hotel Industry

ABSTRACT

Training has been found to link with improving job satisfaction and employee intention to stay. The purposes of this research were to investigate the expectations and perceptions of training quality between hotel managers and employees, and to suggest implications for improving training quality and increasing training satisfaction, job satisfaction, and intention to stay among employees in the hotel industry. The conceptual model of this study was developed based on SERVQUAL and the ServiceProfit Chain model. T-test showed that employees perceived low training quality, which suggested employees were not satisfied with training quality and that training quality needed improvement. Results of regression analysis showed that training was positively related to training satisfaction and job satisfaction. Job satisfaction led positively to intention to stay. The indirect effect of training quality on intention to stay was mediated by job satisfaction. This study suggests more understanding of the importance of training quality and its consequences, and to pay more attention to employee training.     

The Use of Consumer-Generated Feedback in the Hotel Industry: Current Practices and Their Effects on Quality

Consumer-generated feedback is hard to ignore these days. Word-of-mouth has expanded beyond a customer’s immediate friends and family; with the help of technology it reaches thousands of current and prospective guests. In light of this, scholars and practitioners are exploring the subject of consumer-generated feedback. Today, most of the research regarding this subject focuses on the use of consumer-generated feedback to make purchase decisions. In contrast, the present study explores the use of such information for the purposes of improving hotel operations. This article examines the amount of value placed on consumer-generated feedback, the relative importance placed on positive and negative feedback, and its effects on perceived quality. Furthermore, this study inquires as to the specific uses given to consumer-generated feedback in the hotel industry. It is the researchers’ contention that valuing feedback has positive effects on perceived quality. The findings conclude that hotels can use consumer-generated feedback to take actions such as modifying training programs and operating procedures, as well as identifying patterns of complaint and praise.     

Online Complaining Behavior in Mainland China Hotels: The Perception of Chinese and Non-Chinese Customers

Examining hotel customer feedback is vital for effective service recovery and improvement. The main objective of this study is to analyze online complaints about hotels in Mainland China and to examine the relationship between culture and other factors that affect the intention to complain online. Content analysis was performed for 822 complaints about hotels in major Chinese cities drawn from TripAdvisor and Ctrip. Complaints made by Chinese and non-Chinese customers were compared and 11 major complaint categories were identified. A two-way contingency table analysis demonstrated that traveler age, hotel price, and travel partner significantly influenced the online complaints made.     

大学生酒店实习社会化及其留职意愿影响因素分析

实习社会化是大学生社会化过程中的一环,会对其职业生涯和留职意愿产生重要影响。本文通过实地调查,应用分层回归方法探讨了大学生酒店实习社会化及其留职意愿的影响因素。研究结果发现:(1)工作条件和组织信任与大学生实习社会化、留职意愿正相关;(2)大学生性格特征与实习社会化正相关;(3)实习社会化在工作条件、组织信任对大学生留职意愿的影响中起部分中介作用,在大学生性格特征对其留职意愿的影响中起完全中介作用。据此,文章最后提出了管理建议。     

The effects of environmental and luxury beliefs on intention to patronize green hotels: the moderating effect of destination image

Recent research has demonstrated a disconnect between environmental beliefs and behavior when it comes to the consumption of hospitality products. Unfortunately, while many consumers believe that hotels should engage in green practices, there is mounting evidence that such beliefs do not necessarily translate into actual purchases of sustainable products. The purpose of this research is to examine this issue by developing an integrated framework establishing the relationships among the beliefs, attitudes, and behaviors associated with the consumption of the green hotel product. In particular, we are concerned with the effects of consumers' beliefs regarding the luxury-based trade-offs associated with staying in green hotels. Additionally, we seek to establish the role of destination image as a determinant of the relationships specified in the proposed nomology. The results support our overall hypothesis that the established disconnect between environmental values and sustainable hospitality consumption behavior is at least partially attributable to the cognitive evaluation of the attributes of the hotel's destination. Specifically, our results show that, while the belief that green hotels are less luxurious translates to unfavorable attitudes toward green hotels in urban tourism destinations, this relationship does not occur in nature-based tourism destinations.     

Applying Interpretive Structural Modeling to the Planning of a Sequence of Marketing Strategies: A Case Study of the Architectural Tourism in Taiwan

Architectural tourism, the popular activity of visiting traditional buildings primarily for seeing and enjoying their architecture, offers opportunities for tourism industry. This study is focused on developing marketing strategies for architectural tourism in Taiwanese context. As a result of rapid development in Taiwan with the increasing population and higher residential density, most of the old houses in Taiwan have been replaced by the modern buildings. Despite this irreversible development, the remaining old styles can generate fresh business opportunities in the new age through adequate planning. Therefore, this study will use literature reviews and Interpretive Structural Modeling in order to determine an effective and scientific decision-making process to help develop marketing strategies for this sector. It will also be used as a reference for future researchers and as a benchmarking object for the other countries facing similar challenges.     

The relationship between CRM, RM, and business performance: A study of the hotel industry in Taiwan

This study aims to investigate the implementation of customer relationship management (CRM) and its effect on relationship marketing (RM) and business performance, through an analysis of the hotel industry in Taiwan. A survey on hotels, including general and tourist hotels, and bed and breakfasts (B&Bs) was conducted, and a total of 560 questionnaires were returned. The results showed that implementing CRM has a significant and positive influence on the RM effect, positively affecting business performance for both hotels and B&Bs. However, a comparison of the influential paths of relationship models between hotels and B&Bs showed that, for hotels, the Internet service and customer support functions of the CRM strategy are the main sources of influence on the RM effect and business performance, whereas for B&Bs, the marketing support function of the CRM strategy alone influences the RM effect and business performance. To achieve higher performance, the different types of hotel enterprises should understand their main advantage before implementing key CRM strategies.