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1 – 10 of 21The purpose of this study is to examine the evolution of revenue management (RM) research’s intellectual structure in hospitality and tourism in an effort to initiate a creative…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine the evolution of revenue management (RM) research’s intellectual structure in hospitality and tourism in an effort to initiate a creative discourse for RM scholars.
Design/methodology/approach
Co-citation analysis was used to examine the reference list of 343 articles over a 35-year period (1983-2018). Co-citation analysis focused on subject clustering and source knowledge evolution. Five periods were created to investigate the evolution of the RM field in the hospitality and tourism industry. The paradigm shift approach was adopted to acquire a better understanding of scientific evolution.
Findings
Findings indicated that from a Kuhnian perspective, RM research in hospitality and tourism did not go beyond the normal science phase. There is no current indication of anomalies in the form of conflict or questioning of the existing paradigms in RM research in hospitality and tourism. This might change, as the research in this realm develops further and evolves.
Research limitations/implications
This study identified issues related to research themes that have the potential of moving RM research in hospitality and tourism to the next level, enabling the paradigm shift in this discipline.
Originality/value
This study is instrumental in its outlook on the evolution of RM research’s intellectual structure in hospitality and tourism. In addition, it is the first study that considers the concept of paradigm shift in RM research context in hospitality and tourism.
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Basak Denizci Guillet, Anna S. Mattila, Zixi (Lavi) Peng and Yixing (Lisa) Gao
The purpose of this study is to investigate the interactive effect of timing and framing of hotel’s upselling message on consumer attitudes toward the message. The mediating role…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to investigate the interactive effect of timing and framing of hotel’s upselling message on consumer attitudes toward the message. The mediating role of reactance between the timing of upselling message and consumer attitudes is also explored.
Design/methodology/approach
A 2 (timing: immediately after the booking vs one week prior to arrival) by 2 (framing: concrete vs abstract) experimental design was used. A total of 250 Chinese consumers were recruited and were randomly exposed to a hotel online upselling scenario. The consumer attitudes and reactance were measured.
Findings
When the framing of upselling message involves specific room attributes, consumers show more favorable attitudes when receiving the promotion one week prior to arrival (vs immediately after the booking). However, when the framing of upselling message involves price, consumer attitudes do not differ across the time of receiving the promotion. Reactance mediates the effect of message timing on consumer attitudes when the message framing involves specific room attributes.
Practical implications
This research suggests that hotel managers should offer concrete message framing that includes specific room attributes at the time proximal to consumers’ arrival to increase acceptance of online room upselling. In addition, it is important for hotel managers to take consumers’ reactance into consideration when developing an online upselling strategy.
Originality/value
Research on online hotel room upselling is scant. This study adds to the upselling literature by examining the joint influence of timing and framing of upselling promotions on consumer attitudes toward such messages. Furthermore, this study extends our understanding of the role of reactance in the online upselling process.
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Basak Denizci Guillet and Angela Mai Chi Chu
The revenue management (RM) discipline is built on the principle of demand-based pricing. This study aims to examine how and to what extent RM can be implemented in the hotel…
Abstract
Purpose
The revenue management (RM) discipline is built on the principle of demand-based pricing. This study aims to examine how and to what extent RM can be implemented in the hotel industry during low-demand periods, particularly during the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) crisis.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper used semi-structured interviews to gather information from hotel RM executives, RM consultants and RM system providers. Participants were asked to think about the impact of COVID-19 on their RM practices. This paper interviewed 26 revenue executives between January and March 2020.
Findings
Core RM processes are still relevant during the COVID-19 crisis; however, not all components are equally important. Business analysis, pricing strategy and demand modeling and forecasting are the most critical RM processes. Inventory and price optimization and setting booking controls are not as important at this time; along with distribution channel management, these processes will become more relevant as demand picks up.
Research limitations/implications
Future research in this area should focus on each core RM process separately and in-depth to understand how implementation changes during the crisis and recovery periods. Future studies should also investigate how these processes operate during the recovery period. The full breadth of consequences of the COVID-19 crisis in hotel RM will likely manifest gradually. Therefore, the core RM processes should also be examined when the crisis is over.
Originality/value
Apart from a few studies that touched on RM-related strategies during economic downturns, to the knowledge, this is the first study to systematically examine the extent to which RM can be implemented during a crisis.
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Ibrahim Mohammed and Basak Denizci Guillet
This study aims to provide insights into human–algorithm interaction in revenue management (RM) decision-making and to uncover the underlying heuristics and biases of overriding…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to provide insights into human–algorithm interaction in revenue management (RM) decision-making and to uncover the underlying heuristics and biases of overriding systems’ recommendations.
Design/methodology/approach
Following constructivist traditions, 20 in-depth interviews were conducted with revenue optimisers, analysts, managers and directors with vast experience in over 25 markets and working with different RM systems (RMSs) at the property and corporate levels. The hermeneutics approach was used to interpret and make meaning of the participants’ lived experiences and interactions with RMSs.
Findings
The findings explain the nature of the interaction between RM professionals and RMSs, the cognitive mechanism by which the system users judgementally adjust or override its recommendations and the heuristics and biases behind override decisions. Additionally, the findings reveal the individual decision-maker characteristics and organisational factors influencing human–algorithm interactions.
Research limitations/implications
Although the study focused on human–system interaction in hotel RM, it has larger implications for integrating human judgement into computerised systems for optimal decision-making.
Practical implications
The study findings expose human biases in working with RMSs and highlight the influencing factors that can be addressed to achieve effective human–algorithm interactions.
Originality/value
The study offers a holistic framework underpinned by the organisational role and expectation confirmation theories to explain the cognitive mechanisms of human–system interaction in managerial decision-making.
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Basak Denizci Guillet and Xinchen Shi
The purpose of this study is to understand how and to what extent Hong Kong hotels have integrated customer relationship management (CRM) into their revenue management (RM…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to understand how and to what extent Hong Kong hotels have integrated customer relationship management (CRM) into their revenue management (RM) practices at individual customer level.
Method
Semi-structured interviews were used to gather information from experienced interviewees holding hotel RM- and marketing-related executive positions. In total, 11 revenue and 9 marketing executives were interviewed in 2016-2017 over a period of 13 weeks. The data were transcribed and then Nvivo was used for data organization and analysis.
Findings
The hotels do not systematically segment customers by value because of restraints on the RM systems’ capabilities and the industry’s conventional segmentations. The revenue and marketing executives’ attitudes toward integration, IT system infrastructure support to enable integration, loyalty and membership programs as a means for integration and executive management level support for integration influence the hotel’s potential for RM and CRM integration.
Research Limitations/implications
Only the perspectives of revenue and marketing executives were considered. Incorporating the insights of different parties may achieve a more comprehensive result. In addition, because it seems that there is no systematic RM and CRM integration within the Hong Kong hotel industry, relevant decision-makers’ opinions toward the practice may change once they evaluate the performance of the pioneering practitioner.
Originality
This study reveals what has been done in practice to integrate RM and CRM compared with the theoretical approach, proposes an integration framework and discusses the potential for further development together with the challenges to integration.
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Basak Denizci Guillet, Anna Pavesi, Cathy H.C. Hsu and Karin Weber
The purpose of this study is to examine and discuss whether women executives in the hospitality industry in Hong Kong adopt a feminine, masculine or gender-neutral approach to…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to examine and discuss whether women executives in the hospitality industry in Hong Kong adopt a feminine, masculine or gender-neutral approach to leadership.
Design/methodology/approach
This study focuses on women with positional power in senior-level leadership roles within the hospitality and tourism industry in Hong Kong. A qualitative approach was taken to capture the multiple dimensions of these female executive’s leadership orientations. The participants included 24 women executives.
Findings
Participants’ representations show that women have a multitude of leadership styles that operate on three continua. Not all women executives display leadership orientations that adhere to their indigenous culture values. Individual differences or differences related to the organizational culture are still relevant.
Research limitations/implications
A low number of women in leadership positions in Hong Kong limited the selection process of participants. There might be a selection bias based on that the participants volunteered to participate in the research study and some declined. Findings are based on participants’ memory to reflect on their leadership styles.
Originality/value
Because of the traditional and conventional definitions of leadership, women leaders might feel that they should behave in a masculine way to be taken seriously as a leader. There is a need to understand whether women executives today manage to defeat these stereotypes and comfortably display a feminine approach to leadership. A culture that values and leverages feminine approaches in addition to masculine approaches is likely to have higher engagement and retention of women.
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Basak Denizci Guillet and Ibrahim Mohammed
The purpose of this study was to examine hospitality revenue management (RM) research in the recent decade, to identify emergent issues/topics and suggest directions for future…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to examine hospitality revenue management (RM) research in the recent decade, to identify emergent issues/topics and suggest directions for future research.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic process of literature review involving content analysis was adopted. The process involved searching for published articles in three major online databases for hospitality and tourism journals, evaluating and selecting the relevant articles, analyzing and synthesizing the findings of the selected papers and organizing the findings to determine what is known and what is yet to be known.
Findings
The paper established a broad range of topics that have engaged the attention of hospitality and tourism researchers in contemporary times. These topics were structured into seven major themes constituting the core activities of hospitality RM process and another eight themes covering the factors influencing the practice of RM.
Practical implications
The classification of the literature into core activities of RM process and factors influencing RM serves as a useful guide for practitioners and academics to trace relevant literature on various aspects of RM and to visibly notice the gaps in the existing literature.
Originality/value
By developing an RM framework and using it to evaluate existing literature, this study brings cohesion into the hospitality and tourism RM literature.
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Basak Denizci Guillet, Wei Liu and Rob Law
The purpose of this study is to assist hoteliers to design hotel rate restrictions that are in the interest of hotels and of customers, under the joint influence of room rates and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to assist hoteliers to design hotel rate restrictions that are in the interest of hotels and of customers, under the joint influence of room rates and rate fences.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used a questionnaire as the data collection instrument. Conjoint analysis was applied to examine customers’ preferences regarding hotel rate fences.
Findings
The results indicate that refundability, price and advance requirement, in that order, are identified as the most important attributes in the overall decision-making process of customers. Changes allowed and rule type are comparatively less important attributes.
Research limitations/implications
This study extends the hotel revenue management literature by examining customer preferences for hotel rate restrictions based on their socio-demographic characteristics and travel behavior. This study also illustrates the usefulness of conjoint analysis in determining the utility values of hotel-room rates and rate fences.
Practical implications
The findings of this study may help professional hoteliers to better understand customers’ decision-making process and underlying needs, thus helping them to design attractive rate fences that are in the interests of both hotels and customers.
Originality/value
This study is the first to investigate customer preferences regarding hotel rate restrictions based on demographic and travel behavior information. The identification of these preference values should help hoteliers to identify the decision-making processes and needs of customers.
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Basak Denizci Guillet and Deniz Kucukusta
This paper aims to segment spa customers based on their preferences for a set of spa attributes. With the considerable growth rate of the spa market, it is vital for spa…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to segment spa customers based on their preferences for a set of spa attributes. With the considerable growth rate of the spa market, it is vital for spa professionals to understand spa-goers’ preferences. However, academics and industry professionals have not devised a structured method by which to manage spa customers.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was conducted using a face-to-face survey with visitors to Hong Kong who had visited a spa. By applying conjoint and cluster analysis, customers could be categorized into distinct segments.
Findings
Four customer segments were identified: spa enthusiasts, high spenders, value seekers and price-sensitive spa-goers. Spa enthusiasts were the largest segment among the four, followed by value seekers, price-sensitive spa-goers and high spenders.
Research limitations/implications
Given the limited academic interest in the area, this study contributes to the literature by providing insights into spa-goers’ preferences and how those preferences can be used to segment spa-goers.
Practical implications
Based on the different needs, preferences and socio-demographic characteristics of the four segments – spa enthusiasts, high spenders, value seekers and price-sensitive spa-goers – spa industry managers could customize their strategies and design different spa services and packages to meet the needs of the four segments.
Originality/value
The combined use of conjoint and cluster analysis provides a new method of market segmentation in the spa industry. This study could help spa professionals to design customized spa products for the distinct segments, and thus retain and attract more spa visitors.
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Basak Denizci Guillet and Rob Law
This paper aims to examine hotel star ratings on selected third‐party distribution websites, taking Hong Kong hotels as the sample.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine hotel star ratings on selected third‐party distribution websites, taking Hong Kong hotels as the sample.
Design/methodology/approach
Star rating information from 11 online distribution websites was retrieved and analyzed for all hotels in Hong Kong.
Findings
About 60 percent of the hotels were found on at least six of the selected distribution channels, and only 24 percent of the hotels have consistent star rating across different distribution channels. Results of data analysis indicated that consistent star rating becomes more difficult to maintain as the number of distribution channels used increases.
Research limitations/implications
Findings of the study are limited to the selected hotels and electronic distribution channels. Still, the online distribution channels represent some of the most widely used electronic distribution channels.
Practical implications
Findings of this research will be of use to hotel managers and guests for better understanding the standard, in terms of star ratings, of hotels.
Originality/value
Despite the importance of hotel star ratings on consumers and the hotel industry, prior studies in the existing hospitality literature rarely examined the difference of hotel stars. This novel study should, thus, make a meaningful contribution to knowledge development.
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