Summaries of Academic Articles on Research in Hospitality (Feiertag Collection)
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Here you will find concise summaries of peer-reviewed journal articles targeted to industry practitioners. These summaries provide a quick resource for busy hospitality industry managers and executives so that they can learn the latest academic research in a timely manner.
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Browsing Summaries of Academic Articles on Research in Hospitality (Feiertag Collection) by Issue Date
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- Sales skills in the hospitality industry [Summary]Plunkett, Robert L.; Berger, Florence (Virginia Tech, 1984)The study examines important skills that are necessary for employees to be better in sales. Presentation of the results of these surveys is preceded by commentary from the literature and from selected hotel sales executives regarding the unique nature of sales in the hospitality industry.
- Towards a knowledge discovery framework for yield management in the Hong Kong hotel industry [Summary]Cho, Vincent; Choi, Tat (Virginia Tech, 2000-03)Yield management is a technique focusing management decision making on maximizing revenue or profit from the sale of hotel rooms. In our study, we develop a yield management technique for maximizing revenue using a probabilistic rule-based framework in Knowledge Discovery technique. The paper starts the investigation with a theoretical framework that sets the profit maximization criteria for a hotel.
- Consumer research sheds light on all aspects of resort timesharing business [Summary]Rezak, Sarah (Virginia Tech, 2002-09)Resort timesharing involves many interacting components—marketing and sales, products design, financial analysis, and resort management to name a few. This article aims to apply relevant findings in Ragatz Associates’ recent consumer research to the functionality of timeshare industry professionals.
- Room occupancies: cruise lines out-do the hotels [Summary]Toh, Rex S.; Rivers, Mary; Ling, Teresa (Virginia Tech, 2005-03)The cruise industry, which is essentially a North American phenomenon, is the most successful and fastest growing sector of the tourism industry. This paper seeks to describe how cruise lines go about managing their cabin inventory with regard to the acceptance and cancellation of reservations, collection of deposits, and dealing with no shows, overbooking, over-sales, upgrades, auctions, and walks (with compensation). Individual as well as group bookings will be analyzed.
- Attrition clauses: outstanding issues and recommendations for meeting planners [Summary]Toh, Rex S.; DeKay, Frederick; Lasprogata, Gail (Virginia Tech, 2005-03)This paper deals with the attrition clauses within hotel group sales agreements, the former of which became popular in the early 1990s. Attrition clauses specify pre-determined liquidated damages that a group (usually a corporation or an association) must pay to the hotel in case the group does not pick up a certain percentage of its room block. Attrition charges may also apply to food and beverage agreements as well as to meeting facilities.
- Pricing strategies to maximize revenues in the lodging industry [Summary]Collins, Michael; Parsa, Haragopal "HG" (Virginia Tech, 2006-03)Price-ending strategies may be utilized by hotels to signal value or quality. The current study presents that there is a directional relationship between room rates and price-ending strategies. It demonstrates that as average room rates decrease, the price-ending strategies change from whole dollar practice to dollar and cents practice. Results from the qualitative investigation were compared with the room rates from the Internet for 10 US cities. Based on this study, an innovative pricing strategy is presented with a potential gain of $251 million dollars by conservative estimations (nearly $555 million if estimated liberally) annually for the hotel industry in the USA. These potential sales are about 0.54% of revenues and 3.9% of industry-wide pre-tax profits. Further studies in consumer acceptance of the recommended pricing strategy are suggested.
- A yield management model for five-star hotels: Computerized and non-computerized implementation [Summary]Emeksiz, Murat; Gursoy, Dogan; Icoz, Orhan (Virginia Tech, 2006-12)The purpose of this study was to propose an enhanced yield management (YM) model that was developed based on the previous models and to test the applicability on five-star lodging properties in Turkey to identify the related problems. The proposed model overcomes some of the limitations of previous ones. It was specifically developed for full service, upscale hotels, namely for five-star lodging properties with or without a computerized yield management system (CYMS). Examination of the actual implementation stages provided useful insight in determining the applicability and the problems related to the application of the model.
- Does corporate growth really matter in the restaurant industry? [Summary]Chathoth, Prakash K.; Olsen, Michael D. (Virginia Tech, 2007-03)In this study, the authors hypothesize that growth strategies are not necessarily always performance-enhancing strategies that are sustainable. This is contrary to what industry managers tend to believe to be the outcome of growth strategies. Based on past research, a second hypothesis is developed that corporate liquidity impacts performance in a more positive way than growth strategies, and therefore, should be considered in the decision-making framework of firms before they launch into new products and/or markets. The interrelationship between corporate growth and liquidity is also tested, which further highlights the importance of pursuing corporate liquidity.
- Expectations of working relationships in international buyer–seller relationships: Development of a relationship continuum scale [Summary]Jones, David L.; Mccleary, Ken W. (Virginia Tech, 2007-07-23)This study is an attempt to develop a scale to measure expectations of buyer-seller working relationships on a cross-cultural basis in the hospitality industry. The focus is on North American and Asian hotel salespeople. The scale development drew from previous research in guanxi relationships, purchasing, and selling strategies. While the results did not support a reliable unidimensional scale that could distinguish between transactional and collaborative working relationships, the methodology did create a framework for further scale development.
- Influential factors and relational structure of Internet banner advertising in the tourism industry [Summary]Wu, Shwu-Ing; Wei, Pao-Lien; Chen, Jui-Ho (Virginia Tech, 2008-04)The Internet serves as a major marketing and communication tool in the tourism industry; it is, therefore, surprising that there have been few discussions of the structural relationship between tourism and Internet-based advertising. This study focuses on determining how Internet-based advertising has influenced travel agencies operating in the tourism industry. The sample of 605 respondents is, therefore, limited to those with experience of both Internet-based advertising and travel agencies. Using structural equation modeling (SEM), it was found that while both consumer contact and attention paid have a direct relationship to a consumer's attitude of an advertisement, they only indirectly affect the consumer's response. The level of importance ascribed to the content of Internet advertisements creates two distinct responses, indicating that the consumer's degree of product involvement is a significant variable in determining the success of Internet advertisements.
- The relationship of sales and marketing expenses to hotel performance in the United States [Summary]O'Neill, John W.; Hanson, Bjorn; Mattila, Anna S. (Virginia Tech, 2008-05-28)While hotel organizations are investing considerable sums of money for marketing at the unit level, research investigating the relative benefits of the different areas where those funds can be invested is lacking. This exploratory study endeavors to fill that void. Since different types of hotels have different operating characteristics, this study examines marketing expenditures for various hotel tiers, using the Smith Travel Research chain scale categorizations. The study finds that marketing expenditures have differential effects according to the type of hotel and the particular type of marketing expenditure. These analyses explore implications of various types of marketing expenses on both hotel unit revenue and profitability.
- Impact of Weather on Downhill Ski Lift Ticket Sales [Summary]Shih, Charles; Nicholls, Sarah; Holecek, Donald F. (Virginia Tech, 2008-07-07)Skiing heavily relies on specific weather and environmental conditions to make participation both feasible and enjoyable. The lack of published research on the relationships among ski activity, weather, and climate is, therefore, surprising, especially in light of mounting evidence regarding climate change. The analyses of the influence of daily weather variations on daily ski lift ticket sales at two Michigan ski resorts presented here appear to be the first of their kind. The regression models developed could be used by outdoor recreation and tourism providers for both short-term decision making and longer-term planning and management activities, in particular, those involving consideration of climate change and potential adaptation strategies.
- Price bundling and travel product pricing practices used by online channels of distribution [Summary]Kim, Jinhoo; Bojanic, David C.; Warnick, Rodney B. (Virginia Tech, 2008-08)Price bundling is one of the most prevalent marketing practices in many industries, including hospitality and travel. Virtually all types of firms in the hospitality and travel industry, from suppliers such as hotels and airlines to intermediaries such as travel agents, are encouraging customers to purchase travel “packages” rather than a single component of travel to save money and streamline the purchasing process. The purpose of this research is to determine whether the practice of price bundling by online travel agents results in actual monetary savings for consumers (i.e., lower prices) relative to the prices charged by individual service providers (i.e., hotels and airlines) through their own online Web sites. The results indicate that there are monetary savings in the form of lower prices realized by consumers who purchase bundled offerings from online travel agents, and there is an interaction effect between channel and hotel class.
- The impact of website quality on customer satisfaction and purchase intentions: Evidence from Chinese online visitors [Summary]Bai, Billy; Law, Rob; Wen, Ivan (Virginia Tech, 2008-09)With the increasing popularity of online shopping and being the most populated country in the world, China is one of the major online markets now and is likely to become the largest market in the future. In the academic literature, website quality has generally been recognized as a critical step to drive business online. As such, numerous studies have been devoted to website quality and evaluations. Research efforts are, however, in need of understanding the use of websites in regards to online customers’ behavior, especially Chinese customers. This study developed and empirically tested a conceptual model of the impact of website quality on customer satisfaction and purchase intentions. Results indicated that website quality has a direct and positive impact on customer satisfaction, and that customer satisfaction has a direct and positive impact on purchase intentions. While the influence of website quality on purchase intentions exists, customer satisfaction does significantly mediate this effect. Drawing on the empirical findings, managerial implications and recommendations for future research are offered.
- Yield Management and Performance in the Hotel Industry [Summary]Capiez, Alain; Kaya, Abdoulaye (Virginia Tech, 2008-09-22)This paper presents a model of the impact of customer satisfaction due to service quality and Yield Management practices on hotel performance. A survey of a significant sample of hotel guests shows that customer satisfaction is relative not only to the traditional measures of quality but also to practices of Yield Management and that the satisfaction variables are positively related to the performance of the firm. These results are a starting point for further research with many managerial implications.
- 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.
- Proxemics and Its Effect on Travelers During the Sales Contact in Hotels [Summary]Hashimoto, Kathryn; Borders, Aberdeen Leila (Virginia Tech, 2008-10-10)This study examines the impact of conversational distances and the image of the salesperson on expected satisfaction levels for a new service. The current study does lend support to the theory that social distances are important in developing relationships with the buyer and the personality of the seller has the most impact at intimate distance levels. When gender is added to the conversational distances, there is an added emphasis on the image of the salesperson with social distances reflecting a more positive image for same sex dyads. However, the results remain inconclusive on whether distance impacts the expected product satisfaction levels for a new service.
- Approaches, techniques, and information technology systems in the restaurants and foodservice industry: a qualitative study in sales forecasting [Summary]Green, Yvette Nicole Julia; Weaver, Pamela A. (Virginia Tech, 2008-10-11)This is a study of the approaches, techniques, and information technology systems utilized for restaurant sales forecasting in the full-service restaurant segment. Companies were examined using a qualitative research methods design and long interviews to gather information on approaches, techniques, and technology systems utilized in the sales forecasting process. The results of the interviews were presented along with ensuing discussion.
- Hospitality Industry Sales Force Automation: Organizational and Individual Levels of Adoption and the Implications on Performance, Productivity and Profitability [Summary]Jones, David L. (Virginia Tech, 2008-10-12)The growth of sales force automation (SFA) in the hospitality industry in recent years has led to virtually every hotel salesperson having a computer at his or her desk in order to perform his or her sales responsibilities. However, as Orenstein and Leung (1997) point out, simply providing a computer and software is not going to miraculously increase sales volume or productivity. This article presents evidence that significant differences exist in the level of both organizational and individual adoption of SFA in the hotel sales profession.
- The Importance of Selling Abilities in Corporate Hospitality Sales to Corporate Customers [Summary]Weilbaker, Dan; Crocker, Kenneth (Virginia Tech, 2008-10-20)Little has been published recently about the salesperson/customer dyad. Drawing upon the selling and sales literature in the area of marketing, the authors with the cooperation of a large anonymous hotel company conducted a study to determine those common selling abilities deemed important to both sides of the dyad. Using a previously developed scale of 14 major selling abilities, the study was able to identify nine agreed upon abilities that both parties felt were important and five abilities on which the corporate customer and the hotel salesperson differed significantly. Understanding how the corporate customers view the sales abilities can assist sales managers in recruiting and training salespeople who will help the property increase their share of corporate revenue.