Wellness hotel: Conceptualization,scale development,and validation

This study defines the notion of a wellness hotel, generates a wellness amenity inventory list, and develops the Scale of Wellness Hotel Amenities (SWHA) to measure the level of wellness provided by hotels. The result reveals a 16-item measurement scale consisting of three dimensions: environmental wellness, physical wellness, and mind wellness. Incorporating qualitative and quantitative design and utilizing multi-source samples, we conducted five studies to demonstrate the face, convergent, discriminant, and nomological validity of the SWHA. This study fills an important research gap since no measurement scale is currently available to measure the wellness level of hotels. With an in-depth examination of customers’ perception of wellness hotels, this study provides a tool to identify wellness amenities that customers demand and to evaluate the performance of wellness hotels. The contributions, implications, and limitations of this study are discussed, as well as the recommendations for future studies.     

Modelling growth and revenue for Swedish hotel establishments

This paper provides first estimates of the determinants of output growth of Swedish hotels based on establishment data. Growth of overnight stays is modelled as a function of initial size, age, type of accommodation, location and hotel prices measured as average revenues per guest nights. The empirical model accounts for potential endogeneity of hotel prices through the two-stage least absolute deviation model (2SLAD) and the instrumental variable quantile regression method. 2SLAD estimates show a positive and significant relationship between hotel prices and subsequent growth. The relationship is nonlinear with a decreasing impact as the price level increases. Growth of establishments is significantly higher for smaller and younger hotels. An important result is that city hotels, in comparison to tourist and other hotels – which are mainly located outside urban areas (in the mountains and at the sea) – exhibit significantly higher growth rates with a gap between 2.2 and 3.4 percentage points. Furthermore, the positive impact of hotel prices on growth is larger for high-growth establishments. Accommodation prices significantly decrease with the number of local competitors with a non-linear form and increase with size. City hotels and accommodation in the capital city have the highest revenues per guest night.     

Accounting for customer satisfaction in measuring hotel efficiency: Evidence from the US hotel industry

Customer satisfaction, though an important output, is often ignored in hotel efficiency studies. Our study provides empirical evidence that excluding customer satisfaction may lead to significant difference in the mean and ranking of hotel efficiency scores. We derive our hotel efficiency scores using the distance stochastic frontier method based on a balanced sample of leading hotel chains in the US. We present and compare the efficiency results from two models, one that includes customer satisfaction and one that excludes customer satisfaction. The study discusses the difference in efficiency scores between the models. It also elaborates on the efficiency scores of some individual hotel chains and provides directions for future research.     

Service guarantees in the hotel industry: Their effects on consumer risk and service quality perceptions

This work proposes a theoretical model that examines how service guarantees offered by hotels affect the perceived quality and perceived risk of consumers, as well as the moderating effect of corporate reputation. We tested hypotheses with an experiment using a 2 (corporate reputation: good and poor) × 2 (guarantees coverage: unconditional and specific) × 2 (payout: money-back and non-money-back payout) between-subjects design. A total of 222 questionnaires were completed by hotel consumers in Taipei. The results indicate that the type of service guarantee significantly affects the perceived quality and perceived risk of consumers. Furthermore, corporate reputation has a moderating effect on the relationship between service guarantee type and the perceived quality and perceived risk. Some suggestions concerning service guarantee strategies for hotel services are given.     

Managing internal service quality in hotels: Determinants and implications

While internal service quality (ISQ) preconditions organizational service quality management, the tourism and hospitality management literature largely overlooks it. This study developed and tested a comprehensive model to understand the determinants and how they influence ISQ using an exploratory sequential mixed method. In study 1, we conducted 12 focus groups involving 86 hotel employees. ISQ is determined by three primary categories of organizational and personal practice: management systems (i.e., manage process, training and compensation), social systems (i.e., collaborative culture, interdepartmental communication and servant leadership), and personal characteristics (i.e., role stress, empathetic personality and collegial relationships). In study 2, we conducted 332 pairs of employee-supervisor questionnaires and confirmed the effects of these determinants on ISQ through employee's internal service orientation and efficacy. Distinct determinants interrelate to predict employees' internal service orientation and efficacy. This study thus provides hotels with targeted measures to improve their ISQ and competitive advantages.     

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.     

Linking servicescape and customer engagement: An investigation in the hotel context

Servicescape and customer engagement are important concepts in the hospitality literature, but scant research pays attention to their relationship. To fill the gap, the present study proposes a “servicescape–value–engagement” framework to examine the effects of servicescape elements on different components of customer engagement by addressing functional and wellness values as mediators. Structural equation modeling was applied to analyze the data surveyed from 619 hotel customers in China. Findings indicate that substantive and communicative servicescapes have positive effects on customers’ cognitive, affective, and behavioral engagements. Wellness value mediates all of these effects whereas functional value only mediates the effects on customers’ affective and behavioral engagements. Through the establishment of the framework, the present study theoretically broadens current knowledge on the servicescape-driven responses and the antecedents of customer engagement. Practically, the findings prompt hotels to effectively design and deliver servicescape elements to improve customer engagement and value perceptions.     

The development of an e-travel service quality scale

The purpose of this study is to identify the dimensions of e-travel service quality, and to develop a reliable and valid measurement instrument. The concept of an e-service quality construct is first clarified and the processes involved in scale development are then presented. Five core components of e-travel service quality are identified, namely, information quality, security, website functionality, customer relationships and responsiveness. The reliability and validity of this five-factor scale are verified using empirical data, and it is found that the e-travel quality service scale has strong predictive capability in relation to online customer satisfaction and loyalty intention. Moreover, a second-order factor is constructed due to the high correlation among the five factors. Finally, the managerial implications in regard to the research findings are discussed.     

Impact of quality on estimations of hotel efficiency

This paper provides empirical evidence on the impact of output quality on hotel efficiency. It demonstrates how ignoring quality can lead to erroneous efficiency estimates. The study uses stochastic frontier methodology and the model proposed by Battese and Coelli (1995) to estimate the efficiency of 838 hotels in Spain in the period 2009–2013. The key advantage of this methodology is its ability to estimate efficiency and identify factors that explain differences in efficiency in a single-stage sampling procedure. Estimates of cost efficiency, which only include the costs of higher quality, are compared to those of profit efficiency, which not only consider costs but also the revenues generated by higher quality. Results show that quality has a negative impact on cost efficiency and a positive one on profit efficiency. Thus, hotel management should implement strategies that increase the value of their services as a way to achieve sustainable competitive advantages.     

Construction of a service quality scale for the online food delivery industry

The main purpose of this study is based on qualitative and quantitative research procedures, and integrates the key service factors for the online food delivery (OFD) industry extracted by Internet Big Data Analytics (IBDA) to construct a OFD service quality scale (OFD-SERV). This study takes OFD customers in Taipei City as the objects. The results show that 20 key service factors for the OFD industry are extracted through IBDA. The OFD-SERV scale contains six dimensions including reliability, maintenance of meal quality and hygiene, assurance, security, system operation and traceability, a total of 28 items. The results from the structural equation modeling showed that the reliability, assurance and system operation have a positive impact on customer satisfaction. Finally, the findings provide knowledge and inspiration for the current OFD, and enable OFD operators and future researchers to more accurately identify the deficiency of service quality.     

Comparing local and foreign perceptions of service quality of five-star hotels in Sri Lanka

Using the SERVQUAL model, this study analyses the survey data from 400 local and foreign guests of five-star hotels in Sri Lanka. The study discovered local visitors were less satisfied with the assurance aspect of hotel service, while foreign visitors were less satisfied with the empathy aspect. Overall, foreign visitors had higher expectations and perceptions of hotel service compared to locals. The study demonstrates variations between local and foreign visitors’ perception and satisfaction of hotel service quality. This sheds light on differing treatments expected by foreign visitors than their domestic counterparts which is useful in strategic decision-making and service improvement.     

Towards an understanding of total service quality in hotels

The importance of service quality for business performance has been recognized in the literature through the direct effect on customer satisfaction and the indirect effect on customer loyalty. The importance was recognized by Parasuraman et al. [1985. A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research. Journal of Marketing 49(4), 41–51] in the development of SERVQUAL, a measure of perceived service quality across industries. Although the importance of service quality and service quality measurement has been recognized, there has been limited research that has addressed the structure and antecedents of the concept for the hotel industry.This research addresses the antecedents and structure of service quality in the context of the luxury and first class hotel sectors. The data are analysed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis approaches and a structural model is used to test the structure of service quality.The paper clarifies the dimensions and structure of service quality in the hotel industry. The clarification of the dimensions is important for managers in the hotel industry as it identifies the bundles of service attributes consumers find important. The clarification of the structure is also important as it confirms, in a hotel context, that customers see service quality in its entirety as a second order dimension.     

Present and future hotel website marketing activities: Change propensity analysis

The objective of this study is to examine and predict website marketing activities of US hotels. An online survey is conducted to collect data from members of three major hotel associations located in the US. Change propensity analysis is utilized to evaluate future trends of website marketing activities. The results demonstrate that current website exploitation by the US hotels is relatively limited, with a focus on information dissemination. It is suggested that a number of transaction and relation-building activities will emerge in the near future. Implications based on the results are discussed.     

Consumers’ willingness to pay for green initiatives of the hotel industry

This paper examines hotel guests’ willingness to pay a premium for environmentally friendly and sustainable practices of the U.S. hotel industry. Specifically, the goal of this research is to investigate the relationship between the level of U.S. hotel guests’ environmental concern, measured by the New Ecological Paradigm Scale (NEP) and their willingness to pay (WTP) a premium for hotels’ “green practices.” This study found that U.S. hotel guests with higher degrees of environmental concerns declare a higher willingness to pay premiums for hotels’ green initiatives. This avowed willingness supports the social identity theory and the means-end theory. In addition, based on the affect-based complementarity proposition, this study also examined the effect of hotel type on WTP in the U.S. hotel industry, and found that luxury and mid-priced hotel guests are more willing to pay premiums for hotels’ green practices than economy hotel guests.     

Impact of hotel website quality on online booking intentions: eTrust as a mediator

Growing competitiveness in the marketplace pushes hoteliers to fully take advantage of their websites as a marketing tool. This study proposed that a trusting relationship with customers could be developed by investing in hotel website development. A research model that incorporates hotel website quality, eTrust, and online booking intentions was put forward. The software AMOS 20.0 was adopted to analyze the proposed inter-variable relationships. Statistical results demonstrated that hotel website quality is a strong predictor of eTrust which then also mediates the relationship between website quality and consumers’ online booking intentions. Implications were offered for practitioners based on the results.     

A contrast analysis of online hotel web service purchasers and browsers

Ever since the introduction of Internet technology to general business, websites have played an important role in the business and promotional efforts of hotels. However, the existing tourism and hospitality literature contains only a limited number of articles that examine the perceived importance of the different attributes of a hotel website. This paper reports a study that analyzed the different perceptions of specific hotel website attributes between online purchasers and browsers and between Western and Asian users. The empirical findings reveal a set of attributes that are the most important in developing effective hotel websites. The findings also indicate the necessity of designing English- and Chinese-language hotel websites differently, based on the significant differences in the responses obtained from these two groups of online users.     

Managing emotional labor for service quality: A cross-level analysis among hotel employees

This study aims is to unify the concepts of emotional labor and service quality on the basis of job demands–resources theory, which is associated with engagement and burnout in working environments. This study draws upon a sample of data on 863 subordinate–supervisor dyads in 92 service teams at 46 international tourist hotels. The results of hierarchical linear modeling showed that emotional deep acting is positively related to work engagement and eventually leads to a high level of service quality. Conversely, emotional surface acting is positively related to work burnout and ultimately causes a low level of service quality. In addition, this study found cross-level interactions between perceived organizational support (POS) and abusive supervision on the relationships among emotional labor, engagement, burnout, and service quality. The positive effects of deep acting on work engagement and service quality were found to be significantly higher for the moderating effects of POS. However, the negative effects of surface acting on work burnout and service quality were found to be significantly higher for the moderating effects of abusive supervision. Finally, the theoretical and practical implications of this study for the hospitality industry are also discussed.     

Is the hotel classification system a good indicator of hotel quality?: An application in Spain

This paper analyses whether the hotel classification system is a good indicator of hotel quality, where quality is defined to be satisfying the expectations and needs of the client. We conducted our research in Spain, where a five-category system using stars is employed. To be exact, the hotel sector of one autonomous community (Cantabria, located in northern Spain) was studied, given that it is these autonomous regions that have exclusive authority to regulate and promote tourism. The results of the study confirm that even though significant quality differences are seen between the different categories, the ranking by quality does not correspond to that by categories. This supports the idea that quality is associated with the delivery of a service according to client expectations, more than it is with establishment category.     

Development and validation of a scale measuring hotel website service quality (HWebSQ)

This research aims to develop and validate a scale to measure website service quality in the hotel industry, namely HWebSQ. It also establishes the predictive power of the new scale by examining its relationship with an expected outcome, i.e. customer purchase intention. The research employs a detailed scale development process: domain specification, item generation, scale refinement, purification and validation. Data were collected from tourists who stayed at 4-to-5-star hotels in Vietnam. The findings confirm HWebSQ to be a valid and reliable measure of hotel website service quality containing 34 items with 7 dimensions. These include website functionality, website design, response time, ease of use, information quality, interactivity and security. Each of these dimensions is positively associated with customer purchase intention. The newly developed HWebSQ scale would be valuable to managers of hotels and other accommodation services who are interested in designing and managing websites aimed at attracting and retaining customers.     

A quarantined lodging stay: The buffering effect of service quality

How do guests feel during their stay at quarantine lodging? This study draws on terror management theory and social exclusion theory to synthesize a model that highlights guests’ perceptions about their experience under enforced isolation. The model articulates guests’ feeling of anxiety and loneliness, whereas quality of service presents warmth and care that activates an anxiety buffer mechanism that mitigates the effect of anxiety. In turn guests’ level of anxiety is further explained by an interaction between their health status and the length of stay. Results point to a conduit for studying the dark side of hospitality, opening up research avenues that could help assess broader social behavioral changes during the global pandemic, while offering operators revelations for lodging management during a crisis.