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Successful revenue management programs are found in industries where managers can accurately forecast customer demand. Airlines, rental car agencies, cruise lines, and hotels are all examples of industries that have been associated with revenue management. All of these industries have applied revenue management, whether it be complex overbooking models in the airline industry or simple price discrimination (i.e., having a tiered price system for those making reservations ahead of time versus walk-ups) for hotels.

This chapter conceptualizes a framework that can be applied to examine the service experiences of business tourists at luxury hotels. A synthesized literature review results in the identification of three service constructs − surprise, recovery, and sweetness − that constitute the service experiences. In the development of five propositions and in views of emotional appreciation and reciprocity, the chapter posits that emotional value from these three constructs of service experiences can enhance business tourists’ attitude of gratitude and consequently their willingness to pay a price premium. The proposed conceptual framework extends the three service constructs to, and integrates them with, a value–attitude–behavior model.

The importance of diversification and innovation in strengthening of global competitiveness has been emphasized in both tourism and local development literature. The aim of this chapter is to define the factors (company type, company size, intra-industry investments, collaboration with other companies, and associations) that influence the product- and service-diversification of hotels. This chapter addresses the diversification and innovation strategies of hotels, not only in the light of tourism literature, but also of local development literature, and it provides empirical evidence based on a company-level survey. The findings of the study show that company type, company size, sector-specific knowledge (intra-industry investments and experience of hotel workers), and collaboration with other companies and institutions matter for product- and service-diversification of hotels.

This paper identifies and models the effect of eight attributes that influence hotel room rents in India. These attributes are conceptually grouped into three factors: (1) site factors including the presence or absence of a “swimming pool,” “free breakfast,” and the “hotel capacity”; (2) situational factors including, “distance from the airport,” “weekend/weekday,” “city population,” “cost of living”; and (3) a reputation factor indicated by “star rating.” Our regression model uses secondary data collected from a hotel booking website for 570 hotels across 18 cities of India. The results indicate that six out of these eight variables namely, presence of swimming pool, free breakfast, hotel capacity, distance from the airport, city population, and hotel star rating have a significant impact on hotel room rents in India.

The aim of the study is to explore the adoptions of augmented reality and virtual reality used by hotels in terms of increasing room sales and reaching out to potential clients. Mobile technology is an exceedingly important tool for hotels to provide booking-related information and also creates a great opportunity for innovative services and experiences for customers.

Based on extensive literature, study examines how the augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) are important in the selling of hotel rooms and providing an innovative experience to guests while selecting and booking of hotel rooms.

The contribution of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) is to discuss the increasingly significant role in the selling of hotel rooms. This chapter deals with the mobile technology to provide an opportunity and a platform to hotel management as well as guests.

In order to fully comprehend the level to which hotel guests accept the use of these technologies for hotel selection, this study focuses on mobile technologies, such as smartphone applications. Since mobile technology has space for growth and will fundamentally alter the way that hotels are now managed.

The hotel sector in South Africa is also aware of the detrimental impact of its activities on the environment. As a result, it has taken steps to mitigate such effects, evidenced by implementing green hotel practices. ‘Green hotels’ refers to lodging establishments that try to consume less energy, water and materials while still offering high-quality services. Unfortunately, although the hotel sector contributes significantly to employment and economic growth globally, its activities harm the environment through pollution, overuse of natural resources and solid and liquid waste.

This chapter discusses the concepts of green hotels and green practices. This chapter also highlights the need for green practices and identifies a case study on green hotels and practices in a South African context. This chapter found that the green hotel sector implements green practices, such as water-saving practices due to the risk of water insecurity, the growing demand for sustainability and the necessity to boost revenues. Green hotels and practices are a step to actualise the objectives of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 12 and 13, which focus on clean water and sanitation and climate change, respectively. The study underscores the importance of green practices and how South Africa responds to the challenge. It is believed that hotels contribute significantly to environmental degradation, but they can also help to preserve the environment through their activities through green practices. Strategies like adopting green practices would be a remedy to mitigate pollution and its effects on environmental sustainability.

Outsourcing is an important phenomenon in hotel sector. It is changing from a tactical to a strategic perspective, with greater scope and relevance to the creation of competitive advantages. The opening up of hotels to outsourcing and strategic alliances improves individual competitiveness, but also has strong repercussions on destinations, especially those in a stage of maturity and requiring new approaches to improve competitiveness. This change in interorganizational relationships to a strategic perspective requires new theoretical and practical frameworks to make it easier for hotels to outsource their operations with greater potential for competitive advantage. This work proposes the types of relationship and degree of process integration required for relational capabilities to be achieved in the hotel sector when operations are outsourced. Finally, a series of conclusions are presented.

This case studies the growth of OYO Hotels (OYO) to illustrate the operational processes necessary to succeed in the service sector. The case allows for a discussion of employee- and customer-management systems, tech-driven solutions, and profit drivers. The material unfolds OYO's growth and its solution for making economy hotels discoverable and bookable online.

The case raises a series of questions around OYO's business model, its ability to translate across global markets, and growth potential. It has been successfully taught in a second-year MBA class on the management of service operations.

This study aims to predict customer churn in resort hotels by calculating the churn probability of repeat customers for future stays in the same hotel brand.

Based on the recency, frequency, monetary (RFM) paradigm, random forest and logistic regression supervised machine learning algorithms were used to predict churn behavior. The model with superior performance was used to detect potential churners and generate a priority matrix.

The random forest algorithm showed a higher prediction performance with an 80% accuracy rate. The most important variables were RFM-based, followed by hotel sector-specific variables such as market, season, accompaniers and booker. Some managerial strategies were proposed to retain future churners, clustered as “hesitant,” “economy,” “alternative seeker,” and “opportunity chaser” customer groups.

This study contributes to the theoretical understanding of customer behavior in the hospitality industry and provides valuable insight for hotel practitioners by demonstrating the methods that facilitate the identification of potential churners and their characteristics.

Most customer retention studies in hospitality either concentrate on the antecedents of retention or customers’ revisit intentions using traditional methods. Taking a unique place within the literature, this study conducts churn prediction analysis for repeat hotel customers by opening a new area for inquiry in hospitality studies.

This study aims to examine the perception and practices related to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) implemented in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs), focussing on small hotels in London.

A qualitative research design comprising detailed semi-structured interviews was employed with 12 small hotel owner-managers in central London and its outskirts. The study adopts a social constructionist approach to explore CSR perspectives and practices, along with a social capital framework to investigate how CSR is perceived at the individual level and consequently manifested into CSR practices.

The findings indicate that a small hotel’s implementation of CSR is influenced by long-term versus short-term considerations, as well as socio-economic and socio-political conditions. Individual-level factors, like hoteliers’ CSR conceptualisation and personal and business values, affect CSR adoption in small hotels. Lastly, institutional-level factors, such as ineffective institutional participation and the hotelier’s cultural background against the cosmopolitan context of a big city, have contributed to a muted response to socially responsible issues.

This study was conducted with a limited sample of 12 participants from small hotels in London and its outskirts, which may limit the generalisability of the findings. Future research could enhance these findings by involving a larger and more diverse group of participants from various urban areas, potentially employing a quantitative research approach for broader applicability. This study’s insights can guide policymakers in educating small business owners on CSR benefits and implementation. It also proposes how governments could encourage sustainable practices among small hotels seeking to enhance their reputation. Moreover, these findings enable small businesses to develop their stakeholder strategies for greater CSR initiatives.

This study integrates social capital theory into investigating CSR in small hotels in London, broadening the literature on CSR perception and integration, particularly in SMEs and the hospitality sector.