Browsing by Author "Schwartz, Zvi"
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- The Booking Window Evolution and its Impact on Hotel Revenue Management ForecastingWebb, Timothy Dayton (Virginia Tech, 2018-01-05)Travel booking behavior has changed substantially over the past two decades. The emergence of new technology and online intermediaries has provided travelers with the flexibility to book up until the date of stay. This has created a fast-paced, dynamic booking environment that disrupts traditional revenue management strategies focused on pricing and allocating rooms based on the time of purchase. The study explores the joint effects of technology and the economy on booking window lead times. It also evaluates a range of forecasting techniques and the importance of utilizing the booking curve for forecasting in dynamic booking environments.
- Chefs' perceptions of convenience food products in university food service operationsDallinger, Ioana (Virginia Tech, 2013-12-03)The decision regarding when and to what extent to use convenience food products is a perennial issue in the hospitality industry. Despite the pertinence of this issue in the industry, it has never been explicitly examined in the hospitality literature. Potential advantages of adopting convenience food products in food-service operations include: savings in time and costs, better portion and cost control, ease of training and evaluation, superior customer relationships through product consistency, increased safety, ease of storage, and added eye appeal. On the other hand, noticeable disadvantages may include: staff motivation problems, facilitated labor mobility, increased emotional labor for supervisor, health and nutrition down-sides, and more waste. Therefore, to further explore this issue, a paper and pencil survey was administered to culinary managers in a large university dining setting. Respondents included 132 chefs representing ten dining facilities. The results indicate that even though the time and labor cost savings brought about by the use of convenience food products are perceived as advantageous, the implied consistency of the final product and superior portion control are not as important. Furthermore, customer relationships, catering to special groups, and final products' eye appeal appear to be better facilitated by non-convenience foods. Even though it is easier to train chefs/ cooks/ employees to use convenience food products rather than non-convenience ones and these employees appear to be under less psychological pressure in their jobs, they will conversely be less motivated and worse paid. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed herein.
- An Examination of the Link between RM Implementation Strategies and PerformanceAltin, Mehmet (Virginia Tech, 2015-03-19)Since its foundation, revenue management techniques on aggregate have added billions of dollars to many firms' bottom lines, while using existing products or services and existing sets of consumers (Cross, Higbie, and Cross, 2010). The recent rapid changes in the business environment have forced firms to adopt strategies that will fit their overall strategies to aid in their survival and success (Pechlaner and Sauerwein, 2002). As a result of the modern reality of business, academic literature has not yet been able to address many important considerations. An example is RM implementation strategies and the performance outcomes as a result of these decisions. This study investigated the advantages and disadvantages of implementation of RM strategies; in-house, centralized, and outsourced. This was followed by the make or buy decision, specifically focusing on Transaction Cost Economics and the Resource Based View to investigate antecedents of outsourcing intention, and if and how these different strategies affect hotel properties' performance. Data were collected using an online survey of lodging properties located in the U.S. in October 2014. A total of 374 usable responses for outsourcing intention study and 591 usable responses for the performance study were collected. Factor analysis, hierarchical multiple regression, repeated measures ANOVA, regression analysis, and pairwise comparison analysis were the statistical analyses used in the study. The results found that specificity is significant and negatively associated with outsourcing intention. In addition, uncertainty is significant and positively associated with outsourcing intention as proposed. The moderating effect of organizational capability is significant and changes from base model to final model with the moderator being statistically significant. The findings of regression and a pairwise comparison test confirmed the difference in strategy choice on performance for US hotels, giving us insights into the importance of selecting the strategy that is optimal for a given property.
- On revenue management and the use of occupancy forecasting error measures [Summary]Koupriouchina, Larissa; van der Rest, Jean-Pierre; Schwartz, Zvi (Virginia Tech, 2014-08)This study aims to draw the attention of the revenue management academic community to inherent problems in forecasting accuracy measurement, and to initiate a critical discussion about forecast quality assessment in hotels.
- Subjective Estimates of Occupancy Forecast Uncertainty by Hotel Revenue Managers [Summary]Schwartz, Zvi; Cohen, Eli (Virginia Tech, 2008-09-22)Fifty-seven experienced hotel revenue managers participated in a study involving the use of simulated forecasting software. The revenue managers examined raw occupancy data and used simulated forecasting software to arrive at their own daily occupancy forecasts and subjective estimates of the forecast uncertainty for a period of seven consecutive days. The study underscores the subjective nature of forecast uncertainty, showing that uncertainty estimates depend on the individual’s years of industry experience as well as gender. The study demonstrates that there is no relation between the accuracy of a point estimate and the level of subjective uncertainty.
- “Where you do it” matters: The impact of hotels’ revenue-management implementation strategies on performance [Summary]Altin, Mehmet; Schwartz, Zvi; Uysal, Muzaffer (Virginia Tech, 2017-10)This study explores RM strategic implementation approaches, addressing the question of whether the RM function should be performed within the hotel property, or should be outsourced to an outside entity such as corporate, regional office or a third party.