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The purpose of this paper is to examine corporate strategic effects on hotel unit performance. Taking a hotel owner's perspective, the relationship between four types of the owner's corporate level strategies and the hotel property financial performance are examined.

This study is built on a secondary data set provided by Smith Travel Research. A total of 2,012 hotels across the USA were analyzed for the period between 2003‐2005.

The findings support the existence of corporate effects in the US lodging industry. It is revealed that a hotel owner's corporate strategies do influence hotel property level financial performance. Specifically, a hotel owner's expertise in implementing superior strategies regarding segment, brand, operator, and location (i.e. state) are critical to hotel unit financial performance.

The main limitations of this study include the limited number of years with available data, lack of knowledge on the names of hotel owners, brands and operators, and the performance measures focusing only operating but not value/return measures.

This research shows that a hotel owner can have significant influence on the operating performance of its hotel properties by implementing strategies regarding its properties' locations, segments, brand affiliations and operators. Specifically, brand affiliation has shown a consistently larger impact on both revenue and profit than other corporate strategies, and consequently should receive particular attention from the owner to carefully assess the brand's potential contribution before engaging in a franchise agreement.

This research expands the strategy research in the hospitality field by linking two key strategy constructs – corporate effects and corporate strategy – together and by revealing their collective influence on hotel performance.

This study examines whether corporate governance enhances the financial and social business performance of three-to five-star hotels in Western Australia (WA) through the three dimensions of market orientation (i.e. customer orientation, competitor orientation and inter-function coordination) as mediators.

Data were collected from managers of hotels in the WA capital city of Perth and its surrounding areas using a questionnaire. Partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to analyse the data.

The overall result shows interesting findings of market orientation’s mediating role. It is found that corporate governance may lead to better financial business performance through competitor orientation but not through customer orientation and inter-function coordination. Complementary, corporate governance may lead to better social business performance through customer orientation and inter-function coordination but not through competitor orientation.

This paper offers contributions to both literature and practice on what dimensions of market orientation are important to enhance the performance of hotels when corporate governance is applied.

This study aims to examine corporate sustainability in the hospitality industry as it caters to multiple stakeholders such as society and environment. Further, the researchers have attempted to portray a comprehensive outlook of corporate sustainability by examining the organizational-level and environmental-level drivers and assessing the impact of corporate sustainability on an overarching measure of hotel performance: sustainability balanced scorecard (SBSC).

A three-staged mixed-methods research design was implemented comprising interviews, surveys and a post-hoc analysis to test the comprehensive framework of corporate sustainability.

The authors observed that corporate sustainability positively impacted hotel performance. The results further indicated that in competing environments and presence of slack resources, sampled firms could develop their sustainability strategy to improve performance. Surprisingly, environmental munificence did not significantly influence corporate sustainability but directly increased hotel performance. Interestingly, hotel performance also improved upon having managerial commitment toward sustainability.

The study highlights the crucial role of top management in hotels, where their commitment to sustainability can positively impact not just hotel's engagement in corporate sustainability but can also directly enhance hotel's overall performance. Hotel managers can utilize the SBSC developed in this study to comprehensively measure hotel performance which is found to be positively impacted by hotel's engagement toward corporate sustainability.

The study contributes to the sustainability literature by examining drivers of corporate sustainability in the Indian hospitality industry from two perspectives: environmental and organizational. With the escalating ambiguity of sustainability–performance relationship, the authors employed a novel technique for operationalizing hotel performance: SBSC.

Environmental issues have triggered the need for sustainable behavior around the globe. The tourism industry’s rapid growth also contributes to environmental degradation through natural resource depletion and excess water and energy utilization. Based on social identity theory, this study aims to assess the impact of environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives on green customers’ citizenship behavior. Furthermore, the study assesses the mediating effects of green trust, customer–company identification and green image.

This study is a quantitative approach, and purposive sampling technique was used to collect the data from the hotels’ customers from northern areas of Pakistan. This study used partial least square-structural equation modeling to analyze the data of 426 customers.

The study’s findings show that environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives significantly impact green customers’ citizenship behavior, green trust, customer–company identification and green corporate image. However, the relationship between green corporate image and green customers’ citizenship behavior was insignificant. Furthermore, the study’s results revealed that green trust and customer–company identification partially mediate between environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives and green customers’ citizenship behavior.

The findings suggest that hotels’ environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives improve green customer citizenship behavior, green trust and enhance customer–company identification. Therefore, hotel industry managers should consider reinforcing existing environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives and make further efforts to highlight the importance of such initiatives for environmental sustainability, which ultimately affects customers’ green customer citizenship behavior.

This research developed a novel framework to understand green customers’ citizenship behavior in the tourism industry. It extended the literature on environmental corporate social responsibility initiatives and green customers’ citizenship behavior. In addition, the research adds value by confirming the significant direct and mediating role of customer–company identification in tourism industry context.

The study aims to explore major internationally operating hotel groups and their corporate diversity statements. An understanding of these statements is critical for the analysis of workforce diversity actions, as they shape the policy framework and basis for any diversity management (DM) program or initiative.

The study applied a qualitative content analysis of corporate web sites. The analysis and evaluation of the data was not treated in statistical terms or in any quantifiable measures due to the study's rather exploratory and inductive nature. Moving away from traditional forms of validity and reliability, this study applied Denzin and Lincoln's authenticity criteria.

Most of the selected hotel companies with diversity management strategies and policies need to communicate their diversity management activities and actions more extensively and clearly via their corporate web sites to help support employee recruitment efforts, attraction of talents with different educational and cultural backgrounds, development of multiple (minority) supplier relations and corporate social responsibility (CSR) image, and accessibility into new markets.

This study should be seen as a starting point with some of the arguments and conclusions to be reconfirmed with more case‐study based explorations of corporate DM policies and their translation into operational actions and programs.

Communicating in a more effective and structured way, corporate or operational diversity strategies and activities via corporate web sites will provide hotel organizations with a key sustainable competitive advantage in talent recruitment, CSR and market accessibility.

This study provides a starting point for better understanding corporate diversity management in the global hotel industry.

The study aims to assess how corporate branding affects firm performance in the context of the Oman hotel industry, listed on the Muscat Stock Exchange (MSX).

This study approach was made by way of a mixed method. First, it examines qualitative and exploratory information collected from companies’ internet sites, audited annual reports (the financial year 2019) published in MSX, web searches and websites of companies and travel agencies from all the eight listed hotel companies in the MSX to examine the impact of corporate branding on firm performance proxied by return of assets (ROA) and return of equity (ROE) and secondly, it assesses the measurement and structural models by applying partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM).

The findings recommend that well-thought-out web marketing on corporate branding by hotel companies leads to firm performance. The findings indicate that corporate branding on travel agency websites and a company’s own website can help businesses become more profitable. In addition, there is a synergistic connection on corporate branding of the hotel industry, including the presentation of a novel hotel narrative, the conception of a cornerstone loyalty program, the demonstration of excellence in hospitality and service, information on timely amenities like Covid-19 safety measures and the use of technology and experiential elements through platforms like the company website or the website of the travel agent all essential to achieve firm financial performance. As per the importance–performance matrix map, websites of travel agents (agoda.com, booking.com and hotels.com) had the importance (agoda.com 0.616, booking.com 0.959 and hotels.com 1.036) to impact companies’ corporate branding and firm performance, whereas Google search shows a value of −1.954, which has no impact on companies’ corporate branding.

The study considered only one hotel/tourism industry to know the effect of corporate branding on firm performance. Further studies may be chosen on other industries needed to allow for generalization.

This study aims to provide insights into how the hotel industry can make use of corporate branding through the company website, Google sites and websites of companies’ travel agency by providing timely updated promotion, facilities, quality services and hygiene matters to enhance firm performance.

This study provides empirical evidence to find various factors of corporate branding of the hotel industry’s firm performance. In addition, the study offers valuable insight into the nonmonetary measures of achievements.

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which the quality of corporate governance mechanisms and growth opportunities affect agency problems in hotel firms.

The effects of cash flows on investments and cash holdings were analyzed using three-stage least square analysis to determine the extent to which agency problems are due to the quality of corporate governance in hotel firms.

The findings showed that the effects of cash flows on investments and cash holdings were greater in well-governed hotel firms than in poorly governed hotel firms. These effects were also greater in low-growth hotel firms than in high-growth hotel firms. However, the results from a concurrent examination of the quality of corporate governance and growth opportunities showed that poorly governed hotel firms with low-growth opportunities are exposed to agency problems.

These results suggest that neither corporate governance mechanisms nor growth opportunities alone indicate agency problems. Theoretical implications are discussed within the realms of free cash flow theory and growth hypothesis.

High-growth hotel firms should retain all of their cash and cash flows to undertake value-increasing projects when they become available. Shareholders’ wealth is more likely to be maximized in high-growth firms regardless of the quality of corporate governance.

Although various aspects of corporate governance have been investigated in hospitality literature, previous studies did not examine the concurrent effects of corporate governance and growth opportunities on agency problems.

This paper aims to ascertain how hotels in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), engage in environmental sustainability and what benefits and negativities can be incurred from such activity, and to determine the extent to which hotels use their own corporate websites to disseminate information pertaining to their environmental sustainability.

The concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in business has infiltrated since the latter half of the twentieth century. The hotel industry claims to engage in environmental sustainability due to the impact hotels have on the environment and considering the benefits that can arise from being environmentally friendly, such as positive corporate image and awareness of company’s stakeholders regarding company’s policies, practices and initiatives. A literature review regarding the current, most commonly used environmental practices and policies of hotels was conducted and content analysis was carried out in websites of companies and independent hotels in Dubai, UAE.

Key findings showed that the environmental practices and policies which were the cheapest and easiest to implement were the most commonly used among hotels, and that hotel companies provided more corporate online environmental information than independent hotels. Overall, currently, hotels in Dubai do not effectively use online environmental reporting to their stakeholders, which should be an area of improvement by 2020.

Further research should be conducted in small and medium enterprises to identify benefits and challenges of and create awareness of the importance of online environmental reporting preparing for Expo2020.

The analysis presented aims to highlight the importance of online environmental reporting by hotels and to compare and contrast ways of communicating CSR activities between hotel companies and independent hotels in Dubai, UAE.

The purpose of this study is to investigate and document current US hotel management company practices in budgeting and forecasting, and to recommend a process to improve accuracy and efficiency.

Key corporate financial executives of hotel management companies operating in the USA were surveyed. Different from prior studies that surveyed the US property‐level managers, or European hotel operators, the study surveyed the authors of budget guidelines of US hotel management companies with at least ten units or 1,000 rooms, to discover and document the budgeting and forecasting practices of multi‐unit hotel management companies. Chi‐square and t‐tests for equality of means were used to identify the differences between large and small hotel management companies.

Many concepts were identified that are not found in hospitality management textbooks. Current budgeting and forecasting methods used in the industry present opportunities for improving accuracy. There are also opportunities for time efficiencies, which may lead to improved participant satisfaction. Some significant differences were identified in budgeting and forecasting processes between large and small management companies.

The findings may not apply to independently owned and operated hotels, or small hotel management companies. Future research may focus on identifying economic factors that most influence hotel revenues at the local or regional level. Also, future research may focus on corporate computer software that facilitates intranet consolidation of property level budgets and forecasts and also allows spreadsheet flexibility for exploring various scenarios.

The practical application of the study is the recommendation for a centralized budget process that enhances accuracy, improves efficiency, and reduces “gamesmanship”.

There are four main contributions of the study: the obtaining of inputs from corporate officers of hotel management companies with operations in the USA; the documenting of forecasting and budgeting practices of hotel management companies operating in the USA; the recommending of a forecasting and budgeting process that may improve accuracy and participant satisfaction; and the identifying of differences between large and small companies in relation to forecasting and budgeting practices.

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the corporate image as a high-order construct in the hospitality industry. Therefore, it includes an important part of all the agents that contribute to the formation of this corporate image: the clients, the employees and the hotel management.

In order to better conceptualize and understand the dimensions of corporate image in the hospitality industry, a theoretical systematization and analysis of the literature on corporate image definitions and validated scales to date are presented. The primary research is based on a questionnaire survey that emerged from the theoretical model. The collected data were tested using confirmatory factor analysis and covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM).

Results indicate that corporate image is a high-order construct that includes the dimensions of symbols from servicescape, employees' behaviour, perception of the organization, perception of the management, perception of the service and perception of the hotel.

The application of this paper will enable new research in the corporate marketing literature, while the presented multidimensional approach will support future empirical research on corporate image in hospitality.

The paper contributes to theory by conceptualizing the corporate image as high-order construct. It provides evidence of corporate image multidimensionality, comprising six dimensions. Moreover, the findings provide an insight for practitioners to better understand how to manage hotel image.