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After completion of the case study, the participants would be able to understand the challenges in building a sustainable homestay tourism business; develop a positioning statement for La Pinekonez which builds a unique competitive advantage; and outline elements of the business strategy to profitably sustain and grow a sustainable tourism homestay in terms of service offering, pricing, marketing and operations.

La Pinekonez Homestay, located in the beautiful region of Himachal Pradesh, India, is the subject of this case study, which explores both its successes and its difficulties. In August 2022, Arvind, the dedicated sole proprietor of La Pinekonez, grappled with multifaceted challenges, the first being the foray of established hotel chains into the homestay business. As the protagonist, was is in dilemma of preserving La Pinekonez’s unique identity amidst corporate competitors, particularly with regards to differentiating from the expanding hotel chains. The clash between customer expectations for hotel-like amenities and the homestay’s commitment to sustainable tourism presented a crucial challenge. Negative reviews questioning the authenticity of La Pinekonez’s green initiatives heightened the complexity. Adding to Arvind’s predicament were the seasonal fluctuations in tourist inflow and his aspiration to embrace immersive tourism trends. This case study facilitates exploration of strategic positioning, sustainability management and marketing strategies in the dynamic and competitive hospitality industry. It also offers insights into the complexities of balancing differentiation, customer satisfaction and sustainability while navigating the evolving landscape of tourism trends.

This case study is suitable for students of tourism and hospitality management at postgraduate level. The case study can be discussed once the basic concepts of hospitality management and service dimensions are covered.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CCS 12: Tourism and hospitality.

This case study provides in-depth, practical knowledge to develop business strategies for the management program. After reading this case study, the students will be able to learn about the challenges and problems that service firms face during a crisis, the drastic changes in the market environment due to a crisis and the analysis tools that can be used when analyzing the shifted market environment. By analyzing this case study, students will be trained for the decision-making that arises in the process of crisis management in the hotel industry.

Nam Nghi Resort, situated on the picturesque Phu Quoc Island in Vietnam, experienced the tumultuous period of the COVID-19 pandemic. Before the pandemic, Nam Nghi was a thriving five-star resort, deeply rooted in Vietnamese culture and renowned for its luxurious amenities and breathtaking location. However, the onset of COVID-19 brought unprecedented challenges to the hospitality industry, leading to a sharp decline in tourism and revenue. Despite the adversity, Nam Nghi implemented risk management practices successfully and displayed resilience and adaptability. Through rigorous cost minimization, strategic facility upgrades and targeted marketing efforts, Nam Nghi managed to navigate the crisis and gradually rebuild its business as travel restrictions eased. As the industry began to show signs of recovery, the general manager faced new challenges in restoring the resort’s prepandemic vitality. The challenge remained of understanding changing consumer values and market dynamics.

This case study can be used as class material for Master of Business Administration (MBA) students. In particular, MBA students in the hospitality industry such as hotels, resorts, travel agencies and restaurants are the target audience.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 12: Tourism and hospitality.

Positive reviews can enrich the favorable impression of peer-to-peer accommodation products, and seizing this impression is vital for hosts. This study aims to focus on hosts’ response strategies to positive reviews and their effects.

This study categorizes hosts’ response strategies to positive reviews into cordial and tailoring responses. This study empirically analyzes the influence of these response strategies on subsequent review volumes using 1,283 valid listings and zero-inflation negative binomial regression models.

While hosts use cordial responses more, tailoring responses are more likely to drive subsequent reviews. In addition, when the host chooses entirely shared accommodation or sets a high price, the facilitating effect of the two response strategies on subsequent reviews weakens.

This study enriches the knowledge system on managerial responses by proposing two specific response strategies to positive reviews that can be adopted by peer-to-peer accommodation hosts and by finding the promoting impact of these strategies on subsequent review volumes.

This study recommends that peer-to-peer accommodation hosts adopt cordial and tailoring responses to encourage subsequent consumer reviewing behavior.

As an early attempt to explore hosts’ responses to positive reviews and their impacts on subsequent review volumes, this study provides valuable insights into further research on positive review response strategies in the digital space.

Engaging in webcare, i.e. responding to online reviews, can positively affect consumer attitudes, intentions and behavior. Research is often scarce or inconsistent regarding the effects of specific webcare strategies on business performance. Therefore, this study tests whether and how several webcare strategies affect hotel bookings.

We apply machine learning classifiers to secondary data (webcare messages) to classify webcare variables to be included in a regression analysis looking at the effect of these strategies on hotel bookings while controlling for possible confounds such as seasonality and hotel-specific effects.

The strategies that have a positive effect on bookings are directing reviewers to a private channel, being defensive, offering compensation and having managers sign the response. Webcare strategies to be avoided are apologies, merely asking for more information, inviting customers for another visit and adding informal non-verbal cues. Strategies that do not appear to affect future bookings are expressing gratitude, personalizing and having staff members (rather than managers) sign webcare.

These findings help managers optimize their webcare strategy for better business results and develop automated webcare.

We look into several commonly used and studied webcare strategies that affect actual business outcomes, being that most previous research studies are experimental or look into a very limited set of strategies.

This study, a conceptual paper, analyses the growth of curation in tourism and hospitality and the curator role in selecting and framing products and experiences. It considers the growth of expert, algorithmic, social and co-creative curation modes and their effects.

Narrative and integrative reviews of literature on curation and tourism and hospitality are used to develop a typology of curation and identify different curation modes.

Curational techniques are increasingly used to organise experience supply and distribution in mainstream fields, including media, retailing and fashion. In tourism and hospitality, curated tourism, curated hospitality brands and food offerings and place curation by destination marketing organisations are growing. Curation is undertaken by experts, algorithms and social groups and involves many of destination-related actors, producing a trend towards “hybrid curation” of places.

Research is needed on different forms of curation, their differential effects and the power roles of different curational modes.

Curation is a widespread intermediary function in tourism and hospitality, supporting better consumer choice. New curators influence experience supply and the distribution of consumer attention, shaping markets and co-creative activities. Increased curatorial activity should stimulate aesthetic and stylistic innovation and provide the basis for storytelling and narrative in tourism and hospitality.

This is the first study of curational strategies in tourism and hospitality, providing a definition and typology of curation, and linking micro and macro levels of analysis. It suggests the growth of choice-based logic alongside service-dominant logic in tourism and hospitality.

The intention of consumers to behave sustainably is not a reliable predictor of sustainable hospitality choices. This intention-behaviour gap represents one of the biggest challenges for marketers and environment-friendly businesses. To address this issue, this study aims to draw upon the intention-behaviour gap. The authors revise the sustainable hospitality literature to identify the limitations, to evaluate the extent to which the intention-behaviour gap is embedded in the hospitality literature and to provide practical guidance on how to move research forward in the sustainable hospitality field.

The authors adopted a five-step process to review and analyse 71 scientific papers published in 14 Hospitality Journals. The authors developed a descriptive overview of the literature showing the publications in this field over the years, the sustainability practices implemented by companies and consumers and the setting of the studies. Finally, the authors conducted a critical analysis of research in sustainable hospitality adopting the intention-behaviour gap lens.

Leveraging the descriptive overview and critical analysis, the authors offer four directions for future research to address the existing literature limitations. The authors encourage scholars to expand the scope of the research setting, investigate diverse sustainability practices, integrate existing knowledge on the intention-behaviour gap into sustainable hospitality research and combine traditional research methods with emerging technologies.

This study exposes the theoretical challenge of applying conventional behaviour theories to sustainable hospitality, prompting a call for framework re-evaluation. It offers practical insights, empowering researchers, marketers and policymakers to navigate and mitigate the intention-behaviour gap in sustainable hospitality.

The originality of this paper is underscored by its distinctive focus on the unique intention-behaviour gap within sustainable hospitality, coupled with a compelling call to re-evaluate traditional behavioural frameworks. It provides a roadmap for future research in sustainable hospitality, benefiting researchers, policymakers and marketers in promoting sustainable initiatives.

Recognising the literature of a field is vital for advancement in that field. Yet, there has not been a systematic analysis of recent publications published in the Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Insights (JHTI). Therefore, this research aims to do a bibliometric analysis of articles published in JHTI during the previous five years.

This study used bibliometric techniques and indicators to analyse JHTI publications from 2018 to 2022. The data utilised in the study were obtained from Scopus and subsequently subjected to analysis through the Bibliometrix software.

The findings show good collaboration between the production components (country, institution and author) in JHTI. The co-occurrence analysis of keywords comprises five clusters; the co-citation analysis comprises six; and a group of articles connected with psychological aspects and areas such as motivation, attitude, customer engagement, place attachment and behavioural intention was the most remarkable cluster. Sharing economy, destination marketing, destination image and some, to an extent, social media and revenue management are just a few of the niche themes that have the potential to come up.

This study will be helpful as a roadmap for researchers in different fields who are interested in such studies, as well as for editorial board members and those who work in JHTI.

Scholars and practitioners may benefit the most from this research by obtaining insight into the development of JHTI's research and the areas of the hospitality and tourism industries that need more study.

The current study is both necessary and valuable because it is the first to provide insight into the effectiveness and intellectual framework of the hospitality and tourism literature selected by the JHTI.

This review paper aims to contribute to the growing literature on women empowerment in tourism by identifying knowledge gaps that may offer opportunities for further research.

A critical review of the literature on women empowerment in tourism was conducted.

The review reveals four knowledge gaps in relation to methodology, geographical location, study context and theoretical framework adopted. Pertinent research includes mostly qualitative research with a focus on non-Western geographical locations. Studies examined women empowerment in relation to alternative tourism forms with several not adopting a theoretical framework. Based on these gaps, suggestions for further research are made.

Although this paper does not aim at providing an exhaustive review of the gender literature, it highlights the narrow focus placed on women empowerment in tourism and suggests avenues for further research.

Women empowerment has only recently begun to attract attention in tourism. This paper adds to extant knowledge on gender tourism studies by suggesting ways to achieve gender equality for sustainable development.

本综述旨在通过确定可能为进一步研究提供机会的知识差距, 对旅游业中妇女赋能的文献做出贡献。

对关于在旅游业中赋予妇女权利的文献进行了批判性综述。

在研究方法、地理位置、研究情境和所采用的理论框架方面, 本综述揭示了四个知识差距。相关研究主要包括关注非西方地理位置的定性研究。研究检验了与其他旅游形式有关的妇女赋权问题, 其中有几项研究没有采用理论框架。基于这些差距提出进一步研究的建议。

虽然本文的目的不是对性别文献进行详尽的审查, 但它强调了对旅游业中妇女赋能的狭隘关注, 并提出了进一步研究的途径。

妇女赋能最近才开始在旅游业引发关注。本文通过提出实现可持续发展的性别平等的途径, 拓展了性别旅游研究的现有知识。

El objetivo de este trabajo de revisión es contribuir a las crecientes publicaciones sobre el empoderamiento de la mujer en el turismo, identificando la brecha de conocimiento que puede ofrecer oportunidades para futuros estudios.

Se llevó a cabo una revisión crítica de la bibliografía sobre el empoderamiento de la mujer en el turismo.

El análisis revela cuatro brechas de conocimiento con relación a la metodología, situación geográfica, contexto de estudio y el marco teórico adoptado. La presente investigación incluye en su mayoría estudios cualitativos centrado en las localizaciones geográficas no occidentales. Los estudios examinaron el empoderamiento de la mujer con relación a las formas de turismo alternativo, y varios de ellos no adoptaron un marco teórico. A partir de estas lagunas, se hacen sugerencias para futuras investigaciones.

Aunque este artículo no pretende ofrecer una revisión exhaustiva de la literatura sobre género, pone de relieve la escasa atención prestada al empoderamiento de la mujer en el turismo y sugiere vías para futuras investigaciones.

El empoderamiento de la mujer sólo ha empezado a ser objeto de atención en el turismo recientemente. Este artículo se suma a los conocimientos existentes sobre estudios turísticos de género al sugerir vías para lograr la igualdad de género en aras del desarrollo sostenible.

The impact of digital technology in the wider travel field has been substantial and significant, changing both the competitive landscape of businesses and the behavior of travelers. However, we are now on the cusp of new digital developments encompassing cloud computing, blockchain, internet of things (IoT) and above all, artificial intelligence (AI), which are predicted to disrupt the business and consumer sides of several industries – travel included. This study aims to frame this upcoming digital transformation in travel within a human-centered approach where the critical understanding of digital humanism principles will enrich social scientists’ research agenda in the coming years.

The viewpoint follows a structure based on (i) setting the scene for the rise of digital transformation, (ii) the historical perspective on digital transformation in travel, (iii) the pandemic’s impact and (iv) future development and research agenda.

It is only by fostering a human-centered digital transformation perspective that social science researchers in travel can realize the “high-tech for high-touch” promise of fostering a human-to-human encounter empowered and possibly hampered, by digital technologies. This work proposes to start from the concepts of digital technology control, participation, education and ethics to design a research agenda with a 2050 horizon.

This work has been designed to shift the attention of researchers toward a human-centered digital transformation approach to reflect on the human-machine relationship for a better society. Due to its inner characteristics the travel field can foster a reflection on this topic by reaffirming the centrality of human beings and their authorship in the travel product creation.

数字技术在更广泛的旅游领域产生了巨大而显著的影响, 改变了企业的竞争图景和游客行为。然而, 我们现在正处于新的数字发展的风口浪尖, 包括云计算、区块链、物联网以及最重要的人工智能, 预计这些技术将颠覆包括旅游业在内的多个行业的企业端和消费端。这项研究建议将即将到来的旅行数字化转型纳入以人为本的方法, 对数字人文主义原则的批判性理解将丰富社会科学家未来几年的研究议程。

该观点遵循基于以下方面的一种结构, (i)为数字化转型的兴起设定场景, （ii）旅行数字化转型的历史视角, (iii)疫情的影响和（iv）未来发展和研究议程。

只有培养以人为中心的数字化转型视角, 旅游领域的社会科学研究人员才能实现“高科技换高品质”的承诺, 培养一种被数字技术赋能但也可能受到阻碍的人与人之间的接触。这项工作建议从数字技术控制、参与、教育和伦理的概念出发, 设计一个2050年的研究议程。

这项工作旨在将研究人员的注意力转移到以人为中心的数字化转型方法上, 以反思更美好社会的人机关系。由于旅游领域的内在特征, 它可以通过重申人在旅游产品创造中的中心地位和作者身份来促进对这一主题的反思。

El impacto de la tecnología digital en el ámbito de los viajes en general ha sido sustancial y significativo, cambiando tanto el panorama competitivo de las empresas como el comportamiento de los viajeros. Sin embargo, en la actualidad estamos en la cúspide de nuevos desarrollos digitales que abarcan la nube informática, blockchain, IoT y, sobre todo, la inteligencia artificial, que se prevé que alteren los aspectos comerciales y de consumo de varias industrias, incluidos los viajes. Esta investigación propone enmarcar esta próxima transformación digital en los viajes dentro de un enfoque centrado en el ser humano, donde la comprensión crítica de los principios del humanismo digital enriquecerá la agenda de investigación de los científicos sociales en los próximos años.

El presente trabajo presenta una estructura basada en (i) el establecimiento del escenario para el auge de la transformación digital, (ii) la perspectiva histórica de la transformación digital en los viajes, (iii) el impacto de la pandemia y (iv) el desarrollo futuro y líneas de investigación.

Únicamente si se fomenta una perspectiva de transformación digital centrada en el ser humano podrán los investigadores de las ciencias sociales en el ámbito de los viajes hacer realidad la promesa de “alta tecnología para un alto contacto”, promoviendo un encuentro entre seres humanos potenciado, y posiblemente obstaculizado, por las tecnologías digitales. Este trabajo propone partir de los conceptos de control de la tecnología digital, participación, educación y ética para diseñar una agenda de investigación con horizonte 2050.

Este trabajo ha sido diseñado para desplazar la atención de los investigadores hacia un enfoque de transformación digital centrado en el ser humano para reflexionar sobre la relación ser humano-máquina para una sociedad mejor. Por sus características internas, el ámbito de los viajes puede propiciar una reflexión sobre este tema reafirmando la centralidad del ser humano y su autoría en la creación del producto turístico.

The present study aims to gauge the experience of gender non-binary (NB) employees in the context of employee value propositions (EVP) in Indian enterprises and make suggestions for organizations to align their gender-aligned interventions with the EVP framework.

Qualitative methodology was used for collecting data through semi-structured interviews and subsequent analysis of the transcripts. The data was gathered from 10 NB participants working in Indian enterprises with the use of non-probabilistic purposive snowball sampling.

The analysis revealed eight themes representing the good, bad and ugly experiences of NB individuals within the context of EVP. These findings underscore the potential of enriching value propositions for employees to promote gender inclusion in corporate settings, contributing to long-term organizational success.

The study offers both theoretical and practical implications for fostering inclusivity at the workplace. It suggests that policymakers and organizations should align EVP with diversity and inclusion initiatives, re-evaluate hiring processes and promotion policies to ensure equal opportunities for NB individuals, provide regular staff training to address biases and implement inclusive insurance policies and representation in employee resource groups (ERGs).

This study provides unique insights into the experiences of NB employees within the framework of EVPs in Indian organizations.