Hotel Professionals Research Articles

Data vulnerability and privacy risk among hotel guests who share personal data

This research explores the guests’ perception toward data vulnerability and its impact on the privacy risk, privacy concern, and the perceived benefits of sharing personal data with hotels, which is in response to rising concerns about the personal data collection for service facilitation in hotels. A proposed research framework that explains the antecedents and outcomes of hotel guests’ privacy risk and privacy concern that is related to personal data sharing was examined using the generalized structured component analysis with measurement errors incorporated (GSCAM), the necessary condition analysis (NCA), and a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA). The results expand the antecedents → privacy concerns → outcomes (APCO) model by determining a set of salient variables, such as data access, data breach vulnerabilities, privacy risk, and concern in regards to determining hotel guests’ perceived benefits of sharing personal data. This study provides valuable insights into privacy dynamics, enabling hotel professionals to develop targeted marketing strategies prioritizing both data utilization and guest privacy. It also suggests enhancing data security measures to mitigate concerns and foster trust among guests.

Developing Commercial Talent: Is it Time to Rethink the Commercial Arm of the Hospitality Curriculum?

ABSTRACT The hotel industry is transitioning from a siloed approach to driving topline revenue to a formalized commercial function to pursue commercial excellence. This survey-based research provides empirical support for a shift toward the formalization of the commercial function at the corporate level and the key functions housed under the commercial umbrella: marketing, sales and revenue management. Hotel professionals’ perceptions of commercial – the commercial team and commercial strategy – are presented. Additionally, their perceptions of the competencies that hospitality students need to succeed within the commercial space are discussed. The implications of the study’s findings for students, as well as for faculty teaching the hospitality commercial curriculum, are outlined, along with practical recommendations for faculty to support commercial curriculum evaluation and development efforts.

Cultural Practices and Food Consumption Behaviour of Guests Dining In 4-5 Star Hotels in Nairobi City County, Kenya

In a culturally diverse market such as Kenya, consumers form a mindset of foods to consume while dining out, have different food preferences, and assume different consumption behavior patterns while making food purchases. Cultural practices may influence their decisions, prohibiting them from eating certain foods. The study sought to investigate the influence of cultural practices on behaviors regarding food consumption of guests when dining out in restaurants found in 4–5-star hotels in Nairobi County. The study’s target population was customers dining out in restaurants in 4–5-star hotels in Nairobi County and respective restaurant managers. A suitable pretest sample of 10 respondents was selected from walk-in customers and three restaurant managers from three restaurants picked from the hotels that were not part of the sample. Cronbach's Alpha obtained from the pre-tested 13 participants was 0.743. The ideal sample size of respondents drawn from restaurants in hotels classified as four- and five-star hotels according to the Tourism Regulatory Authority classification 2016 was determined by proportionate stratified sampling. The sampling technique for the Managers was purposive, selecting each Restaurant's Manager. The estimated number of respondents was 385 from a sample of restaurants in 21 hotels ranked as 4- and 5-star hotels in Nairobi County. Data collection involved questionnaires and direct interviews, yielding an 80.5% response rate with 310 adequately completed questionnaires and seven interviews. The analysis utilized descriptive and inferential statistics, presenting the data in tables, charts, and graphs for each category of variables. The Chi-square Test was employed to assess the relationship between dependent and independent variables at a 95% confidence level. The findings showed a significant association between food taboos and the dining habits of patrons in 4-5 star hotel restaurants in Nairobi County (χ2=8.980, p=0.003), a notable link between cultural beliefs and dining habits in the same context (χ2=22.099, p<0.05), and a significant influence of rituals on these dining habits (χ2=5.361, p=0.021<0.05). The study further established that the decision-making process significantly moderated the relationship between cultural practices and consumption behavior of diners in restaurants in four and five-star hotels in Nairobi County. The study concludes that modern-day food consumption behaviors result from several factors, including culture, taboo, religious beliefs, rituals, and thus food choice diversity. Therefore, 4- and 5-star hotel professionals should factor in the cultural element during menu planning to balance the catering, financial, and marketing policies. Keywords: Cultural influences, food consumption patterns, luxury hospitality, gastronomic tourism, Nairobi city county hospitality.

The four-way approach of tourism students towards a post–Covid-19 world and the future of tourism

This study explores current tertiary tourism students’ post-pandemic career strategies and their visions towards Egypt’s post–Covid-19 tourism future. The data were collected through 29 semi-structured in-depth interviews with 29 students majoring in tourism management at the University of Alexandria, Egypt. Findings demonstrate that in order to adapt to the tourism workforce in post–Covid-19 Egypt, students adopted a four-way approach: a dual temporal perspective, individual agency, parental support and active imagination of lifelong careers and reimagining the future of Egypt’s tourism in the post-pandemic era. The four approaches are conceptualized in relation to participants’ strategies and concerns towards future career paths and the Egyptian tourism industry in the post-viral world. In this regard, students’ perceptions can guide policymakers, hotel professionals and government agencies to develop post-pandemic strategies and programs to meet the changing needs and expectations of post-pandemic tourists, as well as students. Finally, the study indicates avenues for future research directions related to the findings and limitations.

Designing the digitalized guest experience: A comprehensive framework and research agenda

AbstractDigital transformation has emerged as a critical necessity for hospitality, a sector that traditionally prioritizes human interaction and personalized experiences. While prior research has explored the impact of digital technologies on the realized guest experience, there is a lack of work that studies their influence on the intended guest experience, as designed by hoteliers. Drawing on existing literature on customer experience management and digitalization in hospitality, this research aims to understand the psychological mechanisms by which digital technologies enhance the intended digitalized guest experience. We conducted two qualitative studies, involving 22 hotel professionals and 18 consumers. By consolidating these different theoretical and practical perspectives, we propose a conceptualization of the intended digitalized guest experience and present an integrative framework that includes the mediating and reciprocal role of consumer‐ and professional‐based psychological mechanisms, along with antecedents, outcomes, and contingency factors. These findings have practical implications for hotel professionals, enabling them to leverage appropriate digital strategies for successful guest experiences. The article concludes with specific recommendations to managers on how to design a unique guest experience. These recommendations include designing a game‐like experience, developing “care” as a new source of digital value creation, and providing training to the staff to enhance their creativity.

How virtual reality moderates daily negative mood spillover among hotel frontline employees: A within-person field experiment

This study explores how virtual reality (VR) interventions mitigate daily negative mood spillover among hotel frontline employees through a daily dairy study. A within-subject field experiment was conducted to collect data from 87 hotel employees over ten consecutive workdays (846 daily responses). The multilevel analysis supports daily negative mood spillover by revealing positive relationships between negative moods before work and midday negative moods, and between midday negative moods and turnover intentions. Exposure to virtual natural scenes alleviates these daily positive relationships. Employees with high (vs. low) levels of trait mindfulness are less likely to be influenced by their negative moods before work when exposed to the VR intervention. This study advances our knowledge by integrating spillover theory, stress recovery theory, and mindfulness through a multilevel framework of employees’ daily emotional fluctuations moderated by VR interventions. The study findings provide hotel professionals with meaningful information regarding workplace stress management.

Tangible and intangible hotel in-room amenities in shaping customer experience and the consequences in the with-corona era

PurposeThis study aims to draw on customer experience theory to shed light on how hotel in-room amenities foster customer experience, which continues to form brand attitude and loyalty before and during the pandemic. Also, this study assesses the impact of the pandemic in the relationships among proposed constructs on the basis of risk perception theory.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative approach was deployed using a total of 379 responses, for evaluating the measurement model through confirmatory factor analysis and testing proposed hypotheses through structural equation modeling.FindingsThe findings provide initial support for the predictions, except for the influence of brand attitude on brand loyalty before the pandemic. Particularly, the analysis results observe that the effect of tangible amenities on customer experience was stronger before the COVID-19, whereas the impact of intangible amenities on customer experience is greater during the pandemic. Furthermore, the results validate the significant moderating influence of the COVID-19 pandemic in the path between customer experience and brand loyalty.Practical implicationsThis present study guides hotel professionals to be more effective in the management of appropriate in-room amenity to create a satisfactory customer experience, which contributes to brand loyalty in the with-corona era.Originality/valueThe study differs from earlier studies in that it investigates how the pandemic changes the role of hotel in-room amenities on customer experience, which, in turn, increases brand attitude and brand loyalty for the first time.

Promoting hotel upselling: The effect of message appeal and delivery setting on consumer attitude and purchase intention

This study investigated the effectiveness of rational and emotional appeals in online and offline hotel upselling messages on customer attitude and purchase intention. The study employed a 2 (rational appeal: rational vs. non-rational) × 2 (emotional appeal: emotional vs. non-emotional) × 2 (message delivery setting: online vs. offline) between-subjects design with a sample size of 578 respondents. The findings revealed that, for offline upselling, rational appeal is the most effective for increasing both customer attitude and purchase intention. On the other hand, for online upselling, emotional appeal was the most effective for improving customer attitude, while none of the appeals direabsctly improved. The current study extends the literature by providing a better understanding of hotel consumer attitude and purchase intention toward upselling and helps hotel professionals strategically utilize the upselling technique.

Entrepreneurship in Hospitality and The Hotels in The Social Lifestyle of Residents

Despite increased scientific attention to tourism and hospitality entrepreneurship themes, there is still a general clearance of the inhabitants in relation to the hotels of their residence region, in terms of social frequency and lifestyle, caused by the fact that hotel strategies are designed only for their guests and very little for local residents. At a time when new tourism markets gain importance never felt before, this paper seeks to provide a new and in-depth understanding through a set of interviews conducted with 35 hotel professionals related to the frequency and type of consumption made by residents of the region in their hotels, as well as the entrepreneurial capacity that these companies have to get closer to local residents by creating innovative products or services more appropriate to this market segment needs, to integrate hotels more into the social lifestyle of locals residents.

A qualitative assessment of hotel employee engagement in anti-human-trafficking initiatives

The hospitality industry is particularly vulnerable to human trafficking crimes. Unfortunately, prior research has not sufficiently tackled this important issue. This study investigates hotel employees’ motivation and engagement in anti-human-trafficking initiatives by conducting in-depth qualitative interviews. A total of 28 hotel professionals, ranging from managers to frontline staff members, who work at both international chains and independent hotel properties, participated in the investigation. Data were analyzed using the MAXQDA Pro 12 package. Results identified five main themes (leadership, organizational system, peer support, technology, and training) consisting of 21 factors that impact hotel employees’ engagement in anti-human-trafficking initiatives. The study findings are valuable to hotel practitioners, policymakers, and society at large in order to help prevent human trafficking crimes.

Priority Weights for Predicting the Success of Hotel Sustainable Business Models

This study proposes the use of consistent fuzzy preference relations to evaluate the structure of hotel sustainable business model (HSBM) dimensions and the corresponding hierarchy of evaluation indicators, and predict the overall probability of success. As fuzzy preference relations require, a group of hotel professionals in Taiwan was asked to process pairwise comparisons using linguistic variables to determine the weights of dimensions and indicators. According to the results, finances were found to be the most important dimension, followed by human capital. The number of local cultural events in the hotel was identified as the most important indicator. The predictive values revealed the possibility for successful HSBM implementation, shedding light on the vision of sustainability for the hotel industry. The results of the present study contribute to the literature on sustainability by determining the importance and weights of dimensions and indicators for hotel business models, providing an example of the use of this strategic tool in generating and modifying sustainable business models for the hotel industry.

Responses to vignettes as a methodology to reveal hoteliers’ sustainability practices, knowledge and competencies

This study analyzes the competencies of hoteliers in handling sustainability dilemmas through the proxy of their responses to vignettes. It uses a practice-based lens to develop a novel methodology to study the reasoning behind sustainability decisions. Vignettes were compiled from stories submitted by hoteliers and tourism specialists that address both social and environmental issues, then validated by university students and researchers. Forty-three hotel professionals from Brazil responded to the six real-world vignettes which asked them to project themselves into different situations with sustainability challenges. Using an interpretive approach of those hoteliers’ lived world responses, researchers uncovered what practices they adopted in the hospitality sector. Analysis of the subjects’ competencies showed that triggered practices erred more towards hotel interests than to social and environmental ends. These results contribute to understanding the factors that prevent advances in organizational learning processes around sustainability. They also point to the need for a shift in sustainability research towards the lived world practice of professionals, through vignettes or other methodology, and to professional development that directs workers to consider long-term consequences of decisions.

Methodological approaches to the formation of professionally oriented english lexical competence in speaking in future specialists of hotel and restaurant business

Methodological approaches to the formation of professionally oriented English lexical competence in speaking in future hotel and restaurant specialists are selected and revealed, and the principles of this process are substantiated. The essence and structure of professionally oriented English lexical competence in speaking of future specialists of hotel and restaurant business are formulated. The preconditions of vocabulary use, including terminological, are considered. It has been found, that the production of oral speech is impossible without the perception and understanding of oral speech by ear. The following approaches are described, which provide methodical and methodological substantiation of the process of formation of professionally oriented English lexical competence in speaking in future specialists of hotel and restaurant business, such as: communicative, interactive, student-centric, sociolinguistic. The peculiarities of formation of professionally oriented English lexical competence in speaking in future specialists of hotel and restaurant business on the basis of the communicative approach are outlined. The educational materials, used in the application of the communicative approach, are investigated. The interactive discourse, which is a type of communicative activity, is considered. The principles, on which this process is based, are analyzed: general methodological principles (situational; communicative activity; communicative value; immersion), specific principles speech clichés, parallel activation of visual and auditory channels of information perception). Recommendations for the optimal combination of classroom learning and extracurricular learning, including independent work with the help of network technologies using video, audio and text materials, are given. Learning outcomes are formulated on the basis of the student-centered approach, attention is focused on students' skills and competencies. On the basis of the sociolinguistic approach, the creation of educational situations for the purpose of reproduction of scenarios of professionally oriented communication of experts of hotel and restaurant business is provided. It is concluded, that the formation of professionally oriented English lexical competence in speaking in future hotel and restaurant professionals on the basis of communicative, interactive, student-centric, sociolinguistic approaches will ensure the effectiveness of this process

Economic policy uncertainty and hotel occupancy: the mediating effect of consumer sentiment

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is twofold. First, the study examines the prolonged effect of policy-related economic uncertainty on hotel operating performance, particularly the room demand (occupancy). Second, the study attempts to explain why occupancy drops when the perceived economic uncertainty is high by studying the mediating effect of consumer sentiment in the relationship between economic policy uncertainty and hotel demand.Design/methodology/approachThis quantitative study uses secondary data – US economic policy uncertainty (EPU) index, University of Michigan's index of consumer sentiment (ICS), and property-level hotel operating data from three states of the US – California, Florida and New York. Data were analyzed using random effect regression and structural equation modeling. Robustness tests were conducted to enhance the reliability of the research findings.FindingsRandom-effects regression analysis reveals that policy-related economic uncertainty has a negative and lead-lag effect on hotel occupancy, average daily rate and revenue per available room (RevPAR). Structural equation modeling results show that the relationship between economic policy uncertainty and hotel occupancy is significantly mediated by consumer sentiment. Robustness test results support the findings from the main analysis.Practical implicationsThis study offers valuable implications for the hotel professionals in regard to anticipating the economic impact of policy-related uncertainty on hotel industry and understanding how consumer sentiment affects demand at such crises times. Moreover, the study suggests potential course of actions to deal with declining room demand at times of uncertainty.Originality/valueThis empirical study explores how economic policy uncertainty affects hotel performance at the property level and explains the mediating effect of consumer sentiment on hotel room demand. The study provides a first-hand evidence of how consumer sentiment relates to the perception of economic uncertainty and leads to decline in consumer demand. In that regard, findings of the study have valuable implications for hospitality industry practitioners and relevant policymakers.

Chinese travelers’ preferences for hotel amenities

PurposeThis research aims to investigate how Chinese leisure travelers value hotel amenities when they book hotel rooms in Hong Kong.Design/methodology/approachThe research method was based on a conjoint analysis approach. Conjoint models were developed to determine how people make decisions and what they really value in products or services.FindingsPrice had the highest average importance value, followed by airport/local area shuttles, wireless internet, breakfast and quality of coffee/tea. Price, airport/local area shuttles and wireless internet were rated as being relatively more important than breakfast and quality of coffee/tea.Research limitations/implicationsThis research has some limitations in terms of the generalizability of its findings to all hotels and travelers. First, only four hotel amenities were considered. Second, the research focused on Chinese leisure travelers staying in hotels in Hong Kong. Finally, the sample only consisted of leisure travelers.Practical implicationsThis research shows that providing complimentary breakfast and free access to quality coffee/tea when a hotel already provides a shuttle service and free wireless internet does not add much value to the overall hotel product from the customer’s point of view. Moreover, it provides insights into how hotel professionals can customize and select the amenities they provide to impress their customers.Originality/valueThis research has significant implications for hotel managers’ efforts to formulate and implement strategies or tactics in their daily operations or long-term plans through the selection of hotel amenities.

The Impact of Training on Team Effectiveness in Hotel Industry

The aim of this study is to examine the impact of no training for the new employees and re-training of the existing employees. A review has been done on different aspects of the training. The findings of this study will reveal the drawbacks of lack of interest and investment in the training and how it affects the overall running of the organization. There are many factors which needs to considered in order to ensure effectiveness of training like support from management, attitude, training style and environment, open mindedness of trainer, job related factors etc. The implications of no trainings are lesser job satisfaction and job retention which increases the overall cost of the organization in firing and hiring new employees. To keep the staff motivated and to ensure the overall growth, trainer identifies the different areas of improvement and continuously works with the departmental heads which makes them capable of performing the duties and responsibilities in an efficient manner. The hospitality industry is facing skilled workforce challenges. Success in meeting these challenges is on the ability of the industry’s stakeholders to come together and deal with their problems. Based on comprehensive research and feedback from hospitality professionals, we portray a picture of this critical facet of industry. Seen through the eyes of hotel professionals, hotel jobs are often low-wage, with irregular hours and little training. Seen through the eyes of the investors, high turnover of workforce and therefore training are too risky an investment.

The influence of social media on the consumers’ hotel decision journey

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to explore “how social media influence the way consumers search, evaluate and select a hotel within the ‘evaluation stage’ of the wider hotel decision-making process”.Design/methodology/approachAn exploratory qualitative research has been carried out, conducting 12 individual face-to-face, semi-structured, in-depth interviews with social media users, followed by a qualitative thematic analysis.FindingsSocial media transform the consumers’ hotel decision journey by influencing the way consumers search, decide and book hotels. The findings reveal the determinants shaping this process, by shedding light on the perceived value of using social media, consumers’ information search behaviour “then and now”, the advantages and disadvantages of social media use for decision-making, their trustworthiness and the factors that influence the consumers’ hotel decision-journey. The findings are conceptualised in an integrated theoretical model, entitled “hotel consumer decision-journey through social media”.Research limitations/implicationsThe study’s scope for qualitative in-depth insights into the “hotel consumer decision-journey through social media” asked for a compromise on a larger sample size and in turn the transferability of the theoretical model beyond service, hospitality and tourism consumer decision-making contexts.Practical implicationsThis paper provides strategic implications for hospitality marketing and management for a better understanding of the influence of social media on the hotel customer decision journey. The study shows that a variety of social media with associated content sources and levels add to the complexity of hotel-related information search and decision behaviour. The developed framework not only helps hotel professionals understand consumers’ different levels (e.g. type of content, content source, content level) through which social media might influence decision-making. Various real-life scenarios presented also help practitioners understand the fine nuances of how consumers are influenced by social media and how this causes them to iteratively change their minds and make a final decision towards the rejection or selection of a hotel.Originality/valueConsumers use social media for a wide spectrum of scenarios in tourism and hospitality, while the influence of social media on the consumers’ hotel decision-making process remains little understood. This study makes a theoretical contribution in that it addresses these existing gaps and bridges consumer behaviour and social media literature in the hotel context to shed light on the “hotel consumer decision journey through social media”. The core contribution is an integrated theoretical model and real-life scenarios that depict the impact of social media on the hotel decision-making.

The Applications of Environmental Technologies in Hotels

ABSTRACTThis article investigates the use of environmental technologies in the hotel industry. Data was collected via a series of in-depth, semistructured interviews with hotel professionals. The research findings reveal that the environmental technologies most commonly used in the sampled were light-emitting diode lights, T5 fluorescent tubes, motion sensors, the key-card system, and water-cooled chillers. When not faced with budget or technical constraints, the hotel professionals preferred solar-based renewable energy-related technology, food-waste decomposers, and energy-saving chillers. This study provides a framework for hospitality researchers and practitioners to better understand the use of environmental technologies in the hotel industry. This study offers theoretical and practical implications.

Barriers to Environmental Technology Adoption in Hotels

This study investigates potential barriers to the adoption of environmental technologies used in Hong Kong hotels. Data were collected via in-depth semistructured interviews with senior hotel professionals including general managers, financial controllers, directors of engineering department, and environmental management system managers. The research findings illustrate several specific barriers to adoption of environmental technologies which are grouped under three categories: (1) product-related barriers, (2) external barriers, and (3) internal barriers. The study findings are discussed and specific recommendations for overcoming these barriers are put forward. Conclusions and suggestions for future research are also provided.

Segmenting Hotel Customers Based on Rate Fences Through Conjoint and Cluster Analysis

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this study is to segment hotel customers based on room rates and rate fences. Four distinct customer segments were identified by combining conjoint and cluster analysis methods: refund seekers, 1-week advance booking lovers, price-sensitive consumers, and non-fenced consumers. The results of this study supported the effectiveness of the combined use of conjoint and cluster analysis in market segmentation. Findings could help hotel professionals understand the preferences and expectations of different customer segments, and design different hotel rate restrictions that cater for the needs of different types of customers.