Managing green marketing: Hong Kong hotel managers’ perspective

In view of the serious environmental problems we are currently facing, taking action to protect our planet is becoming more persuasive and important. Along with various environmental initiatives, the concept of green marketing emerged in the late 1980s. Some hotels have taken various initiatives to position themselves as green hotels, including the use of eco-labels as a marketing ploy to attract customers. Nevertheless, some of the hotels that use these green marketing strategies have been accused of “green washing”. The main aim of this study is to investigate Hong Kong hotel manager perceptions of the relative importance of different green marketing strategies. Questionnaires containing 30 attributes were distributed to this effect. The findings reveal that hotel managers equally perceive “Hotel green marketing should begin with green product and service design”, “Hotels provide products and services that do no harm to human health” and “The Internet is an effective channel to market a hotel's green initiatives to customers directly” as the top green marketing ploys. Independent t-tests and one-way ANOVA were also used to examine significant differences in the way hotel managers with different professional backgrounds and individual demographic characteristics rate the importance of hotel-related green marketing strategies. The findings indicate that lower-grade hotels tend to adopt lean green marketing strategies, whereas hotels with larger sizes or formal environmental management systems are likely to adopt shaded or extreme green marketing strategies. The study also provides a number of insights to help hotel managers and especially marketers better understand the implementation and importance of different green marketing strategies, thereby allowing them to employ suitable measures to avoid the “green washing” designation and attract more green-conscious travellers.     

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.     

The implications of hotel employee attitudes for the development of quality tourism: the case of Cyprus

In an increasingly competitive market, the issue of quality has grown in significance for tourism businesses and destinations alike. This has been influenced by a number of factors, such as the expansion of consumer rights and the alleged emergence ‘new’, quality conscious tourists. In particular, it is the need to retain or increase competitive advantage that has underpinned the drive for quality in tourism—certainly, many destinations, especially those operating in the highly competitive summer-sun market, are now adopting quality tourism development strategies. However, little or no attention has been paid to the role of tourism industry employees, particularly those in hotels, in the success of quality management programmes. The purpose of this paper is to address this omission. Based upon a survey of hotel employees in Cyprus, it identifies a number of factors that may support or limit the drive towards quality service provision, with a variety of implications for the destination as a whole as well as individual hotels. In particular, hotel management should implement strategies based on reward systems, empowerment and reducing staff turnover, whilst there is an important co-ordination and guidance role to be played by the national tourism organisation.     

When quality signals talk: Evidence from the Turin hotel industry

This study analyzes the relationship between quality signals and price setting through the application of hedonic price functions. The model proposals also include variables relating to land use policies and tourism development strategies. A simultaneous equation model endogenously estimates quality signals. This method is appropriate for analyzing emerging urban destinations, as characterized by the presence of an expanding hotel industry. The results are based on a dataset of 145 hotels in Turin, Italy. The empirical findings reveal that reputation-based quality signals help explain tariff levels. Price proposals also include a premium for quality assured hotels, defining some limits of the current hotel classification system. The empirical evidence has significant marketing implications for the hospitality industry’s competitiveness, since the results clarify the impact of quality signals on price level.     

Green Marketing: Hotel Customers’ Perspective

Green marketing should appeal to the needs and desires of environmentally concerned customers. The aim of this study was to investigate hotel customers’ perceptions of hotels’ green marketing strategies. A questionnaire containing 30 statements was used to gauge respondents’ perceptions of different hotel green marketing strategies. Using exploratory factor analysis to identify interpretable orthogonal factors, five factors were identified and interpreted: (1) Green Partnership; (2) Development of Green Products and Services; (3) Genuine Green Products and Services; (4) Higher Price for Green Products and Services; and (5) Credibility of Green Promotion. Independent t-tests and one-way analysis of variance were conducted to examine significant differences between hotel customers’ ratings of the importance of the identified factors according to demographic variables. This is one of the first research studies to examine green marketing in the hotel industry. The discussion of the findings includes some practical implications to help hotel marketers implement more effective green marketing strategies.     

Who benefits more from trade shows: Independent,franchised or chain-owned/managed hotels?

Large-scale events are opportunities for hotels to generate revenue. The literature has attested positive effects of events on hotel performance. However, while large-demand events are associated with room rate increases, hotel operation types may play a critical role in this “event-hotel performance” relationship. Drawing on the resource-based view theory, the chain value model and the theory of strategic groups, we hypothesize that independent and franchised hotels outperform chain-owned/managed hotels when events are held. The empirical application on over 950,000 observations between 2014 and 2019 shows that while chain-owned/managed hotels generally outperform independent and franchised hotels, this situation reverses in the presence of events. This result extends the resource-based view theory and the value chain model by including the short/long-term and corporate/property paradigm in the hotel industry.     

From innovation to sustainability: Sustainability innovations of eco-friendly hotels in Taiwan

Sustainable innovation is a critical attribute in modern hotel management, as is widely recognized by experts and hotel managers alike. This paper develops and tests a new integrated theoretical model of associations among innovation diffusion, environmental marketing strategy, sustainability innovations, and the organizational environment. This research also considers the mediating effect of environmental marketing strategy and the moderating role of the organizational environment. The results of a study that included 367 managers of eco-friendly hotels in Taiwan provide support for this model across various dimensions of hotels’ sustainable innovation. The present study found relationships among innovation diffusion, environmental marketing strategy and sustainability innovations, and a mediating effect of environmental marketing strategy. The results also confirmed that the organizational environment moderates the relationship between innovation diffusion and environmental marketing strategy. That is, a supportive organizational environment will enhance the effect of innovation diffusion on environmental marketing strategy.     

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.     

The impact of industry force factors on resource competitive strategies and hotel performance

This study integrates the Porter's five forces and resource-based approach measuring U.S. hotel performance. The results show that hotels with the advantage of low customer bargaining power and low threat of new hotel entrants exhibit the strong human resource and information technology (IT) strategies. In contrast, hotels with the advantage over existing competitors do not exhibit any significant competitiveness of brand image, human resource, and IT strategies. This dues to different hotels define competitors with various criteria such as proximity and price. Competitive human resource and IT strategies indicate the increase of hotel performance, while competitive brand image strategy has no influence on hotel performance. The competitiveness of brand image strategy may overlap with implementing human resource and IT strategies.     

Antecedents and consequences of relationship quality in hotel industry

This study investigated the antecedents and consequences of relationship quality. This study will help hotel managers to develop and implement effective relationship marketing strategies. Effective usage of relationship marketing strategies will be able to improve hotel performance such as share of purchases, relationship continuity, and word of mouth. To analyze data collected from 12 five-star hotels in Seoul, the linear structural relationship (LISREL) model was used to identify structural characteristics of relationship management between service providers and guests. The empirical results of this study were threefold. First, greater service providers’ relational and customer orientation resulted in higher relationship quality. Second, better service providers’ attributes resulted in higher relationship quality. Third, higher relationship quality resulted in higher share of purchases and better relationship continuity and share of purchases.     

How to enhance hotel guests’ acceptance and experience of smart hotel technology: An examination of visiting intentions

Smart hotel is a novel concept in the hospitality industry, and few studies have examined hotel consumers’ intentions to visit smart hotels. This study investigates the relationship between technology readiness (TR) and technology amenities (TA) as antecedents to visiting intentions, using an extended technology acceptance model (TAM). Based on an online survey with 648 valid responses, the results indicate that perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness are correlated with TA, but not with TR. Furthermore, TR affects intentions to visit smart hotels, but TA does not. The findings enrich the hospitality literature and have practical implications for hospitality marketers designing technology-related marketing strategies to maintain competitiveness. This study contributes to raising awareness of the importance of technological amenities and services for the future visiting intentions of hotel consumers.     

Hotel Theming in China: A Qualitative Study of Practitioners’ Views

Facing increasing competition, many hotels have adopted “theming” as a marketing strategy. Although still in its fledgling stage, hotel theming has already gained popularity in the growing Chinese hotel market. This study conducted focus group discussions to understand the concepts behind hotel theming in China. Respondents were 41 practitioners from the Chinese hotel industry, who were enrolled in an executive graduate program. Data revealed that hotel theming has four analytical dimensions, namely, the current state, perceived facilitators, inhibitors, and future prospective for developing such strategy in China. Results showed that the specific traits of the Chinese hotel market are highly important for the success of hotel theming in the given context.     

Resources and capabilities as drivers of hotel environmental marketing strategy: Implications for competitive advantage and performance

Building on the resource-based view, we develop a model of drivers and outcomes of environmentally friendly marketing strategies in the Greek hotel sector. Data collected from 152 hotels reveal that possessing sufficient physical and financial resources is instrumental in achieving effective green marketing strategies. In addition, shared vision and technology sensing/response capabilities help develop a sound environmentally friendly marketing strategy. In turn, the adoption of such a strategy is conducive to obtaining competitive advantage, which subsequently increases the potential to achieve superior market and financial performance. Furthermore, the study finds that the effect of environmental marketing strategy on competitive advantage is stronger in the case of intense competitive situations, while market dynamism has no moderating effect on this association. Several implications can be drawn from the study findings for both corporate and public policy makers and interesting directions for future research are provided.     

An Examination of Social Media Marketing in China: How do the Top 133 Hotel Brands Perform on the Top Four Chinese Social Media Sites?

The purpose of this study is to evaluate hotel companies’ social media marketing efforts using the “6Is” social media monitoring framework. More specifically, in this study we set out to understand how hotels disseminate information, engage with consumers, and distribute products through social media. We investigate the presence of the top 133 hotel brands in China on the top domestic Chinese social media sites in order to identify to what extent the hotel industry in China recognizes the potential of this marketing tool. The findings indicate that the majority of the hotels actively and consistently use the Sina Weibo and Wechat platforms for their social media marketing.     

Free add-on services and perceived value in competitive environments: Evidence from online hotel reviews

This study investigates how free add-on services affect customers’ perceived value in horizontal and vertical competition. We collected 349,879 reviews about over 3000 hotels in 25 U.S. cities from TripAdvisor. Using three balanced data sets generated by coarsened exact matching, the ordered logistic regressions show that free hotel add-on services (including free breakfast, parking, and WiFi) positively affect consumers’ perceived value. However, increased horizontal and vertical competition differentially weakens the positive effects of free add-on services. We not only observe a negative moderating effect of horizontal competition, but also identify three patterns of the marginal effects of these three add-ons in horizontal competition. The moderating effect of vertical competition exists from the higher-grade hotel segment to a lower-grade hotel, but such an effect is insignificant from the lower-grade hotel segment to a higher-grade hotel. Therefore, hotel managers should consider diverse external competitive environments and design appropriate differentiated service strategies.     

“货币补偿”总是最优策略吗?——高星级酒店不同服务失误归因下的情境研究

酒店服务的异质性和顾客需求的多样性使得服务失误在所难免。服务补救成为酒店修复服务失误,赢得顾客口碑和再次光顾的重要举措。在酒店管理实践中,货币补偿颇受管理者青睐,通常被作为应对服务失误的首要选择。然而,货币补偿是否为服务失误发生时的最优选择?文章以高星级酒店为研究背景,对服务失误进行情境设计,检验不同失误归因下货币补偿和非货币补偿的补偿满意度差异。数据分析结果显示:酒店因素导致的服务失误情境下,相比货币补偿而言,非货币补偿具有更好的补偿效果;其他顾客因素和顾客自身因素导致的服务失误情境下,货币补偿与非货币补偿间没有显著效果差异。此外,补偿满意度对顾客信任、重购意向与口碑有显著正向影响。     

Innovation activity in the hotel industry: Evidence from Balearic Islands

The paper provides empirical evidence on technological activity in the Spanish service sector, in particular for the tourist accommodation in the Balearics. The study wants to fulfil the lack of analyses in the field of tourism. Commonly, the study of innovation activity has been carried out from a manufacture perspective, for that reason the paper discusses the precise definition of innovation in accommodation services. The data refer to a large representative sample of hotels in Balearic Islands (Spain), providing a homogeneous set of information. The results show as higher-categories hotels are more innovative than lower-categories hotels; an aggregated measure of technological innovation presents a rate over the average for hotels that belong to a chain, and that for hotels under management contract. Half of innovative companies adjust the human capital skills and abilities. The hotel industry is a supplier-driven sector that innovates introducing R&D embodied technology rather than undertaking internal R&D activities.     

服务营销管理体系与酒店绩效关系的实证研究

已有研究主要探讨某一服务营销管理举措与企业绩效的关系,而在酒店业不同的发展阶段,各种服务营销管理举措发挥作用的程度不同.为了揭示现阶段我国酒店最佳的营销管理组合,我们在充分总结有关研究的基础上,构建了服务营销管理体系对酒店绩效影响的回归模型,随后对全国30多个城市千余家酒店进行了问卷调查,对221个有效样本的分析发现:在酒店服务营销管理体系中,服务创新、服务补救和人员管理决定着酒店绩效,且酒店星级对以上关系存在显著的调节作用.     

An evaluation of Spanish hotel websites: Informational vs. relational strategies

The websites of many hotels are beginning to incorporate new online tools such as social media in order to maintain closer relationships with clients and, possibly, investors. The objectives of this study are to identify the strategies pursued by Spanish hotel websites and to analyze the relationship between the size of the hotel and website strategy. The results show that Spanish hotel websites are primarily built for customers and that the information oriented toward investors is relatively scarce. Further, there is a significant positive relationship between the size of the hotel and the information provided in two of the perspectives studied, those of the investor and presence on social media. Lastly, significant relationships were identified between the customer, marketing, Web 2.0 and social media categories. However, significant relationships were not identified between the investor perspective and any of the other four categories investigated.