STHRSCAPE: Developing and validating a collaborative economy based short-term hospitality rental servicescape scale

This study develops a culture-specific servicescape measurement scale for collaborative economy based short-term hospitality rentals (STHRs) from a Chinese customer perspective, as some of the servicescape measures developed from a Western consumer perspective may not be applicable to Chinese consumers due to cultural differences. Dimensions of the servicescape of collaborative economy based STHRs (STHRSCAPE) were identified after text analytics of a total of 31,584 reviews for 6313 SHTRs. These dimensions were tested on Chinese STHRs customers using three sets of data. The findings revealed that the STHRSCAPE scale has two main dimensions, namely, the physical servicescape and the social servicescape. The physical servicescape dimension has 12 subdimensions, while the social servicescape dimension has four subdimensions. The STHRSCAPE scale developed in this study is expected to help hosts and marketers on both international and local STHR platforms to better understand the key aspects of physical and social servicescape dimensions that are valued by Chinese consumers.     

Determinants of willingness to pay to stay at a green lodging facility

The adoption of green initiatives is attracting increasing attention among tourism providers and researchers. One important dimension of travellers’ environmental concern is their willingness to pay higher rates for green travel products. This study determines the association between pro-environmental attitudes and beliefs, and willingness to pay a higher room rate at a green lodging facility. A survey of 388 travellers in Michigan, USA, revealed a positive relationship between environmental concern (measured using the New Environmental Paradigm scale) and willingness to pay for a green hotel room. Income was the only one of a series of socioeconomic, demographic and travel pattern variables to reach statistical significance. Additional evidence regarding consumer attitudes towards and concomitant behaviours with respect to travel and the environment is vital to the broader consideration of the sustainability of the tourism and hospitality sectors. Understanding of willingness to pay for green practices has important marketing and management implications.     

Green initiatives in the lodging sector: Are properties putting their principles into practice?

There is growing recognition of the role of good environmental management practices on the part of both tourism providers and consumers. But to what extent is this recognition translated into practice in daily operations and activities? This research note assesses the correspondence between the perceived importance of environmental management techniques and the actual adoption of these same initiatives among lodging property owners and managers in the US state of Michigan. Results showed sometimes substantial differences between the perceived importance of environmental initiatives and their actual adoption or implementation. In other words, the 217 properties surveyed appear to be failing to put their principles into practice in the case of most of the environmental management techniques assessed. The findings suggest a potential need for increased education regarding the practicalities of implementing such techniques, as well as further investigation of the barriers currently preventing higher levels of adoption.