Investigating the impact of large-scale exhibitions on hotel room rates from a spatial-temporal perspective: a case of the Canton Fair in China

Abstract

Purpose

While the economic benefits of the exhibition industry for the hotel sector have been addressed, the impact of exhibitions on individual hotels is unknown, especially when individual hotels’ star classification and locations are considered. This study aims to provide a better understanding of how room rates of different hotels change during different stages of the Canton Fair in China from a spatial-temporal perspective.

Design/methodology/approach

Room rates of 681 star-hotels within the city of Guangzhou before, during and after the Fair were extracted from websites. Through spatial interpolation and autocorrelation analysis and geographical detector (GeoDetector) technique, spatial and temporal patterns of hotel room rates and the interdependence between the convention center and the hotels with different star classification and locations were examined.

Findings

An inverse-U shape of room rate change was identified before, during and after the Fair, and the five-star hotels had the sharpest increase. Moreover, the distribution of hotel room rates followed the law of distance decay. The variation of hotel rates became larger when the distance to the convention center was larger. Spatial high-high clusters varied among hotels with different star classification.

Originality/value

This study contributed to the hotel literature by providing empirical evidence regarding how hotels with different star classification and locations were affected by events. This study also advanced the event literature by introducing GeoDetector. The findings of this study offered insights into the hotel location selection, pricing strategies and hotel collaboration with events.

研究目的

虽然展览业对酒店业的经济效益已经得到解决, 但展览对单个酒店的影响尚不清楚, 尤其是在考虑单个酒店的星级和位置时。本研究旨在从时空角度更好地了解中国广交会不同阶段不同酒店的房价变化情况。

研究方法

网站提取了广交会前、中、后广州市内681家星级酒店的房价。通过空间插值和自相关分析以及地理探测器（GeoDetector）技术, 研究了酒店房价的时空格局以及会议中心与不同星级和位置的酒店之间的相互依赖关系。

研究发现

会前、会中、会后房价变化呈倒U型, 其中五星级酒店涨幅最大。此外, 酒店房价的分布遵循距离衰减规律。到会展中心的距离越远, 酒店价格的变化就越大。不同星级酒店的空间高-高集群存在差异。

研究原创性

该研究通过提供关于不同星级和位置的酒店如何受到事件影响的经验证据, 为酒店文献做出了贡献。这项研究还通过引入 GeoDetector 推进了事件文献。研究结果为酒店选址、定价策略和酒店与活动的合作提供了见解。

Citation

Zhou, L., Lu, Y., Yu, H., Lu, L., Wu, D. and Zhao, J. (2023), "Investigating the impact of large-scale exhibitions on hotel room rates from a spatial-temporal perspective: a case of the Canton Fair in China", Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, Vol. 14 No. 3, pp. 347-364. https://doi.org/10.1108/JHTT-04-2021-0126