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The purpose of this paper is to understand how hospitality companies can best explain controversial corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities to consumers who may not agree with the CSR activity. This research explores message framing through emotional and cognitive appeals to influence consumer perceptions of the Gideon Bible in USA hotel rooms. The study uses the theory of deontic justice to measure the impacts of messaging on consumer perceptions of the morality of the Gideon Bible as suicide prevention in hotels and its relation to controversial CSR initiatives.

The study uses an experimental study design via a self-administered survey to analyze participants’ perceptions of the placement of the Gideon Bible in hotel rooms and participants’ attitudes toward CSR initiatives based on deontic justice and religion using different message framing conditions.

Results show that religion was a major determinant of attitude towards the Gideon Bible, but the sentiment analysis also revealed that negative perceptions can be mitigated through message framing via emotional and cognitive appeals. Additionally, the cognitive appeal did impact CSR perceptions, as did identifying as Christian. Moral outrage emerged as a significant moderator for the relationships between message framing, attitudes toward the Gideon Bible and CSR.

This study provides an extension of deontic justice research to examine justice traits in accepting controversial CSR.

This study aims to create actionable guidelines for pricing decision-making by employing game a theory matrix to forecast the correlation between the average daily rate and the latest ambiance of hotels.

Utilizing a vector error correction model, the research employs game theory to assess the influence of the average daily rate on the hotel's newest atmosphere during both peak season (April–September) and valley season (October–March).

Findings indicate that during the peak season, when the average daily rate rises in resorts and falls in suburban areas, the hotel’s newest atmosphere is at its best in both types of accommodations. During the off-peak season, the hotel’s newest atmosphere is achieved when both resorts and suburban accommodations increase their average daily rates.

There are two study constraints. One is the assumption that hotel guests in both parties prefer not to change hotels, but in fact they would. Two is a limited sample of two resort and suburban markets.

This suggests that the hotel’s newest atmosphere can draw both leisure and business travelers to suburban areas during the low season and more leisure travelers to resorts during the high season.

The study’s findings have implications for revenue related to the hotel’s newest atmosphere and cleanliness for both suburban and resort hotels, particularly when promoting tourism collaboratively.

The study provides valuable insights for hotel managers in analyzing pricing strategies using matrices.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an insight in the future of hotel rating. It reviews the impact of social media, technology that provides integration of data for the consumer and the hotels, and the way that rating bodies may respond to the changing environment on how hotels are selected and reviewed.

By reviewing current trends, practices and technological possibilities, the impact of online reviews on conventional hotel rating systems is projected into the future.

The paper predicts a full integration of conventional rating systems with online guest reviews from the different guest review platforms leading to greater transparency for the consumer and better positioning opportunities for innovative hotels. It is further predicted that those conventional rating systems that do not seek integration and alignment will see a continued drop in hotel participation and will cease to exist.

Little research has been done on the relation between online guest reviews and conventional hotel rating systems. The paper presents new insights into how current and future trends influence the way in which consumers select hotels and how this influences the way that hotels are rated.

The purpose of this paper is to interview Mr. Jingbang Zhang, EVP of Yagao Meihua Hotel Management Co., Ltd & CEO of Madison Brand based in Shanghai, China, regarding the impact of COVID-19 on China’s hotel industry and potential post-COVID-19 trends.

Interview with hotel group CEO and industry leader in China.

Several effects of COVID-19 and potential trends are discussed from a hotel CEO’s perspective.

Tourism and hospitality stakeholders will acquire a better understanding of the impacts of COVID-19 on China’s hotel industry and possible post-COVID-19 adjustments

Interest in the Electronic Word-of-Mouth (eWOM) in connection with tourism is constantly growing not only among consumers but also among theoreticians. Therefore, the objective of this chapter is to provide an overview of studies that focus on eWOM in the tourism sector using the snowball method. The article is based on a review of the literature of 60 studies that focus not only on consumer behavior in tourism and the impact of eWOM on tourism supply but also on the impact of hotel managers' responses to other consumer behavior and tourism companies. The results of the studies show that eWOM has a significant impact not only on consumer behavior but also on tourism supply. Manager responses can also strongly affect other consumer behavior in decision-making. When eWOM is distributed, consumers are influenced by their emotions, motives, and also by the websites to which they have decided to contribute. The chapter proposes further research areas for different authors.

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 aimed to explore the adaptations and perspectives of hotel managers regarding green and smart hotel technologies within the context of sustainability.

A comprehensive literature review guided the formulation of this study, followed by face-to-face, semi-structured interviews with hotel managers. A total of 17 prepared questions were finalized after examination by two expert academicians. The responses were analyzed using qualitative research methodology and the results were weighted using the step-wise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA) method.

Interviews with sustainability and operational managers yielded insights into environmentally friendly practices and strategies such as reducing energy and water consumption, waste and chemical reduction, supporting local entrepreneurs and adopting smart technologies. These factors are crucial in eco-friendly hotels. According to the SWARA analysis, 'reducing energy consumption' is the most effective criterion.

This study offers insights into green and smart hotel management by focusing on the perspectives of hotel managers with a small sample. In future studies, research with larger samples on customer perspectives and the effect of hotel selection is recommended.

This study offers insights to hotel managers on energy conservation and customer satisfaction enhancement through green and technological applications. These technological applications can improve hotel service quality and provide personalized experiences, fostering customer loyalty.

This pioneering study focuses on the intersection of green and smart practices in hospitality. By intertwining the often separately discussed concepts of “green” and “smart,” this study presents a novel approach to the sustainability practices in the hospitality industry, holding a key position, especially in Turkey. Implementing these concepts can yield environmental and economic benefits, offering invaluable insights to hotel managers and policymakers into integrating smart technologies with sustainability.

Drawing on the theory of memory-dominant logic, this study aims to examine how the substantive staging of the servicescape, experience co-creation, experiential satisfaction and experience intensification affect experience memorability and hedonic well-being in the case of unmanned smart hotels.

An online survey was used, with the target respondents being hotel guests people aged 18 years and older who had been recent guests of the FlyZoo Hotel in Hangzhou, China. Data were collected online from 429 guests who had stayed in the hotel between April and June 2023. Data analysis was undertaken using structural equation modelling.

The results suggest that all the proposed four constructs are positive drivers of a memorable unmanned smart hotel experience. The relationship between the memorability of the hotel experience and hedonic well-being was found to be significant and positive.

Unmanned smart hotels should ensure that all smart technologies function effectively and dependably and offer highly personalised services to guests, allowing them to co-create their experiences. This will lead to the guest receiving a satisfying and memorable experience. To enable experience co-creation using smart technologies, unmanned smart hotels could provide short instructional videos for guests, as well as work closely with manufacturers and suppliers to ensure that smart technology systems are regularly updated.

This study investigates the antecedents and outcomes of a novel phenomenon and extends the concept of memorable tourism experiences to the context of unmanned smart hotels.

This research proposes to organise and distil this massive amount of data, making it easier to understand. Using data mining, machine learning techniques and visual approaches, researchers and managers can extract valuable insights (on guests' preferences) and convert them into strategic thinking based on exploration and predictive analysis. Consequently, this research aims to assist hotel managers in making informed decisions, thus improving the overall guest experience and increasing competitiveness.

This research employs natural language processing techniques, data visualisation proposals and machine learning methodologies to analyse unstructured guest service experience content. In particular, this research (1) applies data mining to evaluate the role and significance of critical terms and semantic structures in hotel assessments; (2) identifies salient tokens to depict guests' narratives based on term frequency and the information quantity they convey; and (3) tackles the challenge of managing extensive document repositories through automated identification of latent topics in reviews by using machine learning methods for semantic grouping and pattern visualisation.

This study’s findings (1) aim to identify critical features and topics that guests highlight during their hotel stays, (2) visually explore the relationships between these features and differences among diverse types of travellers through online hotel reviews and (3) determine predictive power. Their implications are crucial for the hospitality domain, as they provide real-time insights into guests' perceptions and business performance and are essential for making informed decisions and staying competitive.

This research seeks to minimise the cognitive processing costs of the enormous amount of content published by the user through a better organisation of hotel service reviews and their visualisation. Likewise, this research aims to propose a methodology and method available to tourism organisations to obtain truly useable knowledge in the design of the hotel offer and its value propositions.

This study explores how institutional and cultural factors influence political trust among hotel employees and its impact on support for local government actions, with implications for hotel leadership and regulatory compliance.

Employing a quantitative approach and structural equation modeling (SEM-PLS), the study integrates institutional and cultural theories of trust. Data were collected from 444 frontline hotel employees via mTurk in May 2021.

The research reveals insights into the significant role of institutional and cultural factors in shaping political trust among hotel employees. Moreover, it demonstrates a positive correlation between political trust and support for local government actions.

This research has limitations to acknowledge. The sample size may restrict generalizability, and data from May 2021 might not capture long-term trends. Furthermore, relying solely on quantitative data may overlook individual nuances and complexities.

Hotel leadership can leverage these findings to prioritize building political trust among employees, leading to better support for government actions and regulatory compliance.

Fostering trust between hotel employees and governing bodies can foster more effective collaboration, benefiting the hotel industry and the broader community.

This research contributes to the existing body of knowledge by presenting a novel conceptual model that integrates institutional theory and cultural theory of trust to examine the formation of political trust in the context of hotel employees. The application of this model to the hospitality industry adds to the limited research available in this area.