Value-creating assets in tourism management: Applying marketing's service-dominant logic in the hotel industry

Abstract

Value-creating assets are recognised as critical in today's tourism management field. However, empirical research to date has not yet developed a useful conceptual framework for managing and marketing such assets. This paper presents service-dominant logic (S-D Logic) as a framework for advancing our understanding of intangible assets within the hotel industry. The research used S-D Logic to analyse intellectual capital (IC) disclosures of 20 publicly-listed European and US hotels. Results showed hotels acknowledge IC assets; in particular, the value embedded in their brands. However, the hotel companies' disclosures on generic items of Guest and Employees indicate they are overlooking the capacity for value-creation from such IC. This research, which makes a unique contribution by applying S-D Logic to examine hotel IC disclosures, recommends developing more sophisticated constructs for effective management of hotels' intangible assets. Finally, the S-D Logic framework has potential application in other areas of tourism management.