Hotel Companies Research Articles

What drives cross-border acquisitions of hotel companies based in an emerging economy? A study on Chinese hotel corporations

This study takes Chinese hotels as example, explores the driving forces and objectives underlying the cross-border acquisitions (CBAs) of hotel corporations based in emerging economies (EEs) from three perspectives: the institutional conditions of EEs; the characteristics of the hotel industry; and the types of the acquiring corporations. To this end, 20 senior corporate executives who served as decision makers in seven Chinese hotel corporations’ CBAs were interviewed. The findings identify four emerging objectives of Chinese hotel corporations: 1) create network; 2) export the brand; 3) obtain land resources; and 4) transfer assets. The findings also demonstrate that the institutional conditions of EEs, the characteristics of the hotel industry and the types of the acquiring corporations are important influential factors in the CBAs decisions of Chinese hotel corporations.

Effort for Developing Excellent Human Resources in the Hospitality Industry

The hospitality industry is an industry that prioritizes service for its guests, to provide the best service, of course, it requires superior, competent, and professional human resources in their field. To get HR with these criteria, of course, there are various efforts that can be made by every hotel company. The purpose of this study is to describe efforts to develop superior human resources in the hospitality industry, through this development it can provide an overview for hotel leaders in developing their human resources so that competent human resources are created in their fields who are able to provide the best service to guests. This type of research is qualitative research with the method of Data collection used is a literature study. Based on the results of the discussions that have been described, in an effort to build superior human resources in the hospitality industry, companies can make various efforts, including conducting recruitment and selection properly and fairly, providing opportunities for every employee to carry out education and training activities, providing opportunities for Career development for each employee, employees are able to cooperate with each other within the company, create a good and conducive work environment, improve technology capabilities for each employee, reward employees who excel and contribute positively to the progress of the company.

중국호텔기업 조직구성원의 목표지향성이 직무성과에 미치는 영향: 감정노동의 매개효과와 상사지원의 조절효과를 중심으로

The objective of this study is to understand the mediating effects of emotional labor and the moderating effects of supervisory support on the effects of goal orientation on the job performance of organizational members of Chinese hotel companies. Using the SPSS WINDOWS 21.0 for statistical processing. All the results of the established hypotheses were selected, and the conclusions are as follows. First, it would be necessary to continuously develop and educate the new programs, and also to provide the fair evaluation in relation to promotion and incentive to organizational members after transcending the past traditional relation through the leading and creative education of Chinese hotel companies. Second, the managers of Chinese hotel companies should motivate and give positive feelings to organizational members in the process of achieving the corporate goal. The academic implication of this study is to verify the applicability of the theories related to emotional labor and supervisor support to Chinese companies. The practical implication of this study is that the Chinese companies could also achieve great performance if they refer to and apply the foreign researches.

AUTOMATION OF BUSINESS PROCESSES AS A MECHANISM TO INCREASE THE EFFICIENCY OF A HOTEL ENTERPRISE

The peculiarities of regulation of hotel business with the help of information technologies are covered in the work. The urgency of the problem is confirmed by the fact that the existing methods of assessing the use of automated management systems of hotel enterprises and the specifics of individual software products increase the competitiveness of modern hotel enterprises. The main purpose of this study is to identify trends and concepts of hotel services, characterized by a high level of competition, a variety of services provided and increasing the level of service. The implementation of this task involves the analysis and forecasting of the development of the automation process taking into account the socio-economic situation of the countries. Today, hotel companies against the background of a fierce struggle for each guest are forced to improve actively, using a variety of internal organizational and technological innovations as the most effective mechanisms to increase competitiveness. The article examines the impact of information technology on hotel management, as it is directly related to improving the efficiency of both the individual manager and the hotel, as well as the impact on competitiveness in today's market. The article analyzes the use of computer networks, the Internet and Internet technologies, software products for end-to-end automation of all business processes of the hotel, which today are not just a matter of leadership and competitive advantage, but also survival in the market.
 Today, a significant number of Ukrainian hotel businesses are actively implementing automation systems that fully meet modern requirements. The main advantage of using ACS is the integration with such global booking systems as Amadeus, Galileo, Saber and Worldspan.
 The competitive advantage of enterprises in the hospitality industry largely depends on the active use of innovations in information technology, which in turn is a strong marketing tool that allows you to manage consumer loyalty to the guest.

MODERN FORMS OF ORGANIZATION AND PROCESS OF ANIMATION SERVICE AT HOTEL ENTERPRISES

The article considers the process of improving the quality of service in hospitality enterprises through animation activities. Animation is considered as a whole industry in hotel service, an integral part of the whole service and quality hotel service. The paper also outlines areas for improving service in hotel enterprises through the introduction of animation services to their activities.
 The main purpose of this article is to analyze the factors influencing the development of animation services, to reveal the main functions and directions of animation services and to find possible innovations in the hotel industry animation programs, using the experience of leading hotel companies and foreign countries.
 The problem of product quality assurance is very important now, because much in the development of a particular industry depends on how progressive its implementation is. However, speaking about the main indicators of quality, as well as possible problems that may arise with the release of quality services, they are individual for the hotel and restaurant business and the hospitality industry in general. Now a whole new direction has been actively used all over the world - animation, it occupies an important niche in the development of tourism in general, and is quite relevant for the effective functioning of hospitality enterprises. The organization of animation is the main part of the hotel business, which expresses its high degree of professionalism.
 Considering the animation service in hotels, we can conclude that in today's world in conditions of fierce competition in the market of tourist services it is impossible to imagine a hotel complex without the organization of animation activities. In order for the guests of the hotel and restaurant business of different nationalities, different ages, wealth and opportunities (physical, intellectual, etc.) to remain satisfied, animation programs must be improved and changed throughout the season in content, intensity, time and other parameters for the return of visitors to the hotel.

COVID-19 Tourist Seasons and Business Activities of Listed Hotel Companies in Croatia

The spread of the COVID-19 pandemic has caused an interruption to everyday life and the economy. In many countries, as in Croatia, tourism revenues account for one-fifth of the GDP, so any reduction in tourism revenues significantly impacts the economy. In Croatia, the peak season, July and August in 2020, was 54 percent and in 2021 was 84 percent of 2019 arrivals due to a better epidemiological situation. Based on the result of listed companies in the touristic sector on the Zagreb Stock Exchange in 2020, a multiple regression analysis defined a common indicator for detecting business results. The model of the common indicator is based on the ROE indicator, the ratio of business revenue and total assets and financial strength. The entire economy, especially the hotel industry, cannot survive the COVID-19 crisis without government support measures

Corporate social responsibility model for a competitive and resilient hospitality industry

AbstractDespite there was significant increase in the corporate social responsibility (CSR) literature, in the last decade, little attention has been devoted to shed light on strategic CSR practices in the hospitality industry, especially in the context of developing countries. This paper uses a case‐study methodology to investigate the CSR practices of eight hotels in Santa Marta, Colombia. The results show that the hotel companies were implementing different CSR behaviors that can be classified as philanthropic‐reactive, legal‐reactive, and active groups. The findings revealed that their CSR activities were focused on adding value to their economic performance. This contribution implies that Individual improvement plans for each establishment and a CSR management model for the entire industry are proposed. The results have important theoretical and practical implications for academia and the hospitality industry. Future research should take into account more stakeholders and companies from other industries in the study area.

Image perception of chain hotel companies by consumers

The hotel industry is growing and changing every time human needs change. There are a huge number of chain hotel companies ready to meet the needs of potential customers. In the conditions of ever-increasing competition, hotel companies are faced with the task of creating a positive image. The image itself is a mandatory element of a hotel brand and exists throughout its entire life path. Creating a positive image requires a lot of creative and organizational work. The purpose of the research is to determine the degree of influence of the image and reputation of a chain hotel company on the consciousness of consumers. The problem with the study is that it is impossible to accurately determine the unanimous opinion of consumers. Each brand has advantages and disadvantages, some consumers have used the services of chain hotel companies, and some have not, however, this will help to consider different sides of consumer views.

The incorporation of Mainland Chinese tourists' experiences into the Taiwan hotel branding process

PurposeThe purpose is to understand the importance of brand experience in the Taiwan hotel branding process; also, this study is to investigate the moderating effect of brand experience on the relationship between brand positioning and non-financial brand performance in Taiwan upscale hotels, focusing on mainland Chinese tourists.Design/methodology/approachThe structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis was used to conduct questionnaire analysis. This study examined data collected from Chinese tourists who stayed at Taiwan upscale hotels.FindingsThe brand experience of an upscale hotel brand can affect its brand image, product attributes, brand loyalty and customer satisfaction. By investigating the moderating effect of brand experience, the study revealed the brand image perceptions of hotel guests with a positive brand experience to significantly influence non-financial brand performance. The product attribute perceptions of hotel guests with a more positive brand experience were also found to have a more significant effect on nonfinancial brand performance.Originality/valueIn the highly competitive hotel industry, the application of brand experience to marketing practice has drawn much industry attention. There is a strong possibility that upscale hotel companies will eventually find value in adopting the measurement instruments and suggestions presented here to assess and guide their marketing practices.

Exploring the links among corporate social responsibility, reputation, and performance from a multi-dimensional perspective

This study examines the links among corporate social responsibility (CSR), reputation, and performance in hotel companies from a multidimensional perspective. Data were collected from 322 hotels in China and partial least squares equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed for a causal-predictive analysis. Study results reveal that CSR practices influence hotel reputation as seen from both international and local perspectives. CSR and reputation influence performance dimensions (accounting-based performance, market-based performance, and non-financial performance) differently. The research findings offer specific theoretical and practical implications for hotel managers. • CSR is defined via customer, employee, local-community, and environmental dimensions • CSR practices positively affect both short-term and long-term hotel performance • CSR practices have different impacts on different dimensions of hotel performance • Reputation has a mediating effect on the link between CSR and hotel performance. • Managers must focus more on non-financial performance to gain sustainable advantage.

Механизм разработки стратегии развития гостиничного предприятия, расположенного в сельской местности

Аннотация Цель проведенного исследования заключалась в определении факторов стратегического развития и установлении их весовых значений в процессе разработки механизма стратегии развития гостиничного предприятия, расположенного в сельской местности. На основе обзора статистических сведений о развитии гостиничной сферы и экспертного мнения о перспективах функционирования гостиничных предприятий, расположенных в сельской местности, определены ключевые факторы стратегического развития сельских гостиниц. Применяя ранжирование факторов и экспертную балльную оценку, показан вес факторов. При принятии управленческих решений о развитии бизнес-процессов сельской гостиницы необходимо учитывать состояние совокупного спроса и предложения, факторы, определяющие ресурсные возможности гостиничного предприятия, процессы индивидуализации и персонализации сервиса, факторы инвестирования. При ведении гостиничного бизнеса в сельской местности целесообразным является использование стратегии роста ценности бизнеса, стратегии роста рыночной доли предприятия и стратегии прибыли. Abstract Key factors for the strategic development of rural hotels have been identified on the basis of a statistical review on the development of hospitality industry and expert opinion on the prospects of functioning rural hotel companies. The weight of factors is shown by factors ranking and expert numerical scores. When making managerial decisions on the development of business processes in a rural hotel, it is necessary to take into account the state of aggregate supply and demand, factors that determine the resource capabilities of a hotel company, processes of service individualization and personalization, and investment factors. In rural hotel business, it is advisable to use the business value growth strategy, the enterprise market share growth strategy and the profit strategy.

Environmental Sustainability Strategies for Smaller Companies in the Hotel Industry: Doing the Right Thing or Doing Things Right?

The connection between tourism and nature justifies the environmental concerns from tourism agents, namely global hotel chains. This paper explores the differences between smaller hotel chains and their larger global counterparts regarding environmentally sustainable practices. The research approach is qualitative, based on the analysis of 40 company websites and in-depth interviews with 18 entrepreneurs and executives. Results suggest that environmental issues are, for most companies, not a response to societal challenges (‘doing the right thing’), but a response to owners’ concerns (‘doing things right’). Hotel chains develop environmental sustainability practices, mainly for cost-reduction purposes, accommodating the owners’ demands for efficiency. Notwithstanding, there are differences according to the chain’s size. Smaller companies are less prone to adopt environmental practices and to invest in communicating them than global chains. Concerning sustainability in the hotel industry, most studies focus on specific topics and discussions. A more holistic approach to sustainability to establish a deeper understanding of sustainable business decisions in the hotel sector is scarce in the literature. This paper addresses this gap by exploring the strategic reasons behind the sustainable practices of hotel companies, namely smaller ones. Managerial implications of the results are also derived in this paper.

Financial performance assessment of branded and non-branded hotel companies. Analysis of the Portuguese case

PurposePortugal has been experiencing a continuous growth in tourism activity, with hospitality industry as one of the main tourism sectors. Therefore, the assessment of hotel companies’ performance is very important to assist decision processes. The purpose of this paper is to assess the financial performance (FP) of 570 hotel companies operating hotel units in Portugal in 2017. To explore the question of brand affiliation, a comparison was made between hotel companies with similar stars rating and market orientation. In addition, this paper intends to fill a gap in literature studying the Portuguese reality on the subject of brand affiliation.Design/methodology/approachThe present study uses a methodology based on data envelopment analysis (DEA) to assess the overall performance for each company, which further decomposed into the within-group performance and the technological gap. The performance of the hotel company is assessed through the aggregation of multiple financial indicators using the composite indicator (CI) derived from the DEA model. A bivariate analysis based on the Tobit regression to test the robustness of brand effect on FP of hotel companies (HC) was also included.FindingsThe empirical results show that branded companies, on average, have significantly better overall FP than non-branded companies. On the one hand, the brand effect tends to improve the within-group FP of HCs and the brand presents a statistically significant positive effect on the FP. On the other hand, the best practices are observed in both branded and non-branded companies.Practical implicationsThe results of this study illustrate that, globally, the better FP of the branded companies is because of their individual relative companies’ performance and a better model of operation given by the brand effect. Brand affiliation will generally allow for a better FP and essentially a better profitability for invested equity, a higher return on sales and a higher value added per employee.Originality/valueThe study provides important theoretical and practical contributions that can assist the strategic decision of the HCs in choosing to operate independently or to adopt brand affiliation. Also, it is innovative because the FP of branded and non-branded HCs is measured not using a set of individual financial ratios but through a single CI that aggregates those financial ratios, using a DEA model.

Modern Slavery Statements and Leading UK Hotel Companies

Modern slavery is an insidious problem in many sectors of the global economy, and it is widely perceived to be commonplace in the hospitality industry. However modern slavery has received little attention in the academic hospitality literature and this paper looks to explore one of the ways in which leading hotel companies in the UK have publicly addressed the issue by reviewing their modern slavery statements. The paper adopts a simple methodological approach to review, and offer some reflections on, the modern slavery statements of seven of the leading hotel companies within the UK. The findings revealed that six interlinked themes, namely corporate commitment; risk areas; due diligence; awareness and training; audit; and performance measures; illustrated the seven companies’ approach to tackling modern slavery. The authors also suggested that the hotel companies’ approaches to modern slavery were expectational and that there were concerns about the scope of the auditing processes employed by the hotel companies and by the limited public reporting of their attempts to tackle modern slavery as part of their approach to corporate social responsibility. Keywords: modern slavery, modern slavery statements, UK hotel industry, hospitality industry, auditing, corporate social responsibility

ВНЕДРЕНИЕ DIGITAL-ИНСТРУМЕНТОВ В МАРКЕТИНГ И ОПЕРАЦИОННУЮ ДЕЯТЕЛЬНОСТЬ ГОСТИНИЧНОГО ПРЕДПРИЯТИЯ С ЦЕЛЬЮ ПОВЫШЕНИЯ КАЧЕСТВА ПРОДВИЖЕНИЯ И ПРЕДОСТАВЛЕНИЯ УСЛУГ

The article discusses modern digital tools that can help hotel companies improve the quality of services provided and improve the efficiency of promotion. The authors identified the main trends in changing the behavior of the population under the influence of external and internal factors in the development of the hotel business, identified the leading digital technologies in the hotel business, presented their hierarchy, identified digital technologies as part of the hotel business product. The article also substantiates the use of digital technologies in hotel promotion and shows the effectiveness of introducing key digital tools into the activities of enterprises in the hospitality industry. It is concluded that digital technologies improve the quality of hotel services and increase hotel brand awareness. When selecting certain technologies, it is necessary to accurately determine the goals that the technology will cover, to research your target audience, the market of competitors, take into account that the hiring of competent specialists or a consulting firm will be in demand for the implementation of digital technologies in a hotel.

Can Hotel Companies' Water Conservation Management and Waste Reduction Measures Influence Hotel Customers' Willingness to Pay More and Intention to Revisit?

This study investigated the effect of hotel water conservation management and waste reduction measures on customers’ social and personal norms, willingness to pay more, and revisit intention, with cost consciousness as a moderating variable. A total of 311 valid samples were obtained by conducting a survey on customers who have used hotels for the past year. To perform the empirical analysis, SPSS 22.0 (IBM, New York, NY, USA) and AMOS 22.0 (IBM, New York, NY, USA) were used. As a result of the analysis, seven of the eight hypotheses were accepted, and the ninth hypothesis that tested the moderating effect was partially accepted. The results of the study revealed that a hotel’s eco-friendly activities had a positive effect on its overall performance. The results also provide insight that can lay the foundation for the sustainable management of hotels.

The Impact of Information Technology and Sustainable Strategies in Hotel Branding, Evidence from the Greek Environment

Information Systems, Sustainable Development and Hotel Branding are the main study areas of this specific research. In recent years, many technologies have been which have started to be implemented in the hospitality industry, but the full potential of these technologies has not yet been analyzed in order to understand how they could help companies to develop branding strategies and increase the customer’s loyalty and business performance. Moreover, due to the pandemic crisis due to COVID-19, hotel companies have to manage a new crisis, which affects both the economic and social pillars of their sustainable development. Therefore, the hospitality industry must be more flexible in adopting information technologies and sustainable philosophies, firstly for their own survival and secondly to strengthen their position inside the task environment. The methodology approach was based both on the literature review and qualitative methodology, which was conducted through questionnaires. The aim of this research is to analyze the above concepts and see how this combination could lead the hotel companies to develop a competitive advantage inside their task environment. The findings of this research concern the region of Greece. They reveal that there is a strong correlation among the above concepts, and each company should start to adopt sustainable philosophy, use information technologies, and develop new branding strategies.

Sustainable Development Goals Localisation in the Hospitality Sector in Botswana and Zimbabwe

Many countries have fronted tourism as a tool for achieving Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in their voluntary national reviews. Nevertheless, very few studies have examined how the tourism industry has been localising SDGs. Therefore, this study is borne out of that knowledge gap. A qualitative approach comprising the use of primary and secondary data from integrated annual reports was adopted. The study found some progress made by hotel companies in localising SDGs. It emerged that Cresta Hotels and the African Sun group of hotels are only at the inception stage of SDG localisation, focusing on several SDGs that respond to the socio-economic and environmental demands of the environments they work in. Given that most of the work under the SDGs only began inception between 2018 and 2019, there is still a long way to go before meaningful progress can be reported regarding SDG localization, with preliminary evidence showing that the hotel industry is likely to have made significant inroads when the SDGs lapse in 2030 if their efforts are not disturbed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The study recommends continuous monitoring and support for the sector as the SDG framework offers a better and more focused sector to achieve sustainable and responsible tourism in Zimbabwe and Botswana.

Disability, Human Resources and Behavioral Economics: The Labour Inclusion Case of Ilunion Hotels of the Costa del Sol (Spain).

The situation of labour inclusion of people with disabilities in Spain is still too negative, in spite of the different efforts carried out by public and private sector. Previous research points to social discrimination as one of the main causes of the situation. Ilunion Hotels is one of the most important hotel companies in Spain focused on labour inclusion of people with disabilities. The objective of this paper is to explore the social inclusion case of Ilunion Hotels of the Costa del Sol, the actions that they have developed to improve the labour integration of this collective, based on a behavioral economics theoretical model (with a high relevance of the influence of social stigma, stress theories and coping to stress responses). We look into the specific situation of two of the three hotels developed as Special Employment Centres (sheltered employment contexts defined by Spanish legislation) and the possible impact of their Support Units for Professional Activity. Case study methodology is considered the most appropriate, according to the research objective, supported by semi-structured interviews with the hotel managers. The results show that, although Special Employment Centres are effective in improving labour integration in the short term and could contribute to change the long-term social perspectives about workers with disabilities, they could be also reinforcing the social stigma existing in the ordinary market.

The Effect of Viral Marketing on the Purchase Decision of Tourism and Hotel Services

The current study aims to identify the effect of viral marketing on the purchase decision of tourism and hotel services. Viral marketing includes marketing tools represented in viral advertising campaigns, opinion leaders, influencers, incentives, and electronic publishing media. To achieve this goal, a questionnaire was designed and distributed to a random sample of customers in some five-star hotels in Sharm El-Sheikh. The total number of forms distributed was (900) with (30) forms inside each hotel, of which (688) were (76.4%) is valid for statistical analysis. The results of the field study concluded that most of the peoples opinions of the study sample agreed upon three elements of the viral marketing tools that affect them with regard to the decision to purchase the hotel tourism product represented in “incentives, electronic publishing means, and viral advertising campaigns”. The results also revealed the positive impact of viral advertising in terms of message content, mental image, an advertising medium, and stimuli combined in influencing the purchase decision. The study recommended the adoption of viral marketing tools in tourism and hotel companies that may affect people's purchase decisions and employment by broadcasting the viral advertising campaign as being less costly and more successful.