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The purpose of this paper is to determine the most efficient hotels in the Indian hotel industry, the competitive positioning of these hotels, and the factors that affect their efficiency change.

This study conducts a two-stage analysis and uses data envelopment analysis (DEA) and Global Malmquist productivity index (MPI) approach in the first stage to calculate the managerial performance of a panel of 63 Indian hotels in 2019–2020 and their efficiency change from 2009–2010 to 2019–2020. Bootstrapped generalized least square (GLS) approach is applied in the second stage to evaluate the impact of contextual variables on efficiency change.

Using the results of the first stage analysis, the authors categorized the 63 Indian hotels into 7 distinct clusters. These clusters represent different levels of competitiveness and pace of growth. The GLS regression reveals a U-shaped relationship between hotel size and efficiency change and a negative relationship between pro social investments and efficiency.

This is the first study in the hotel industry that has used global MPI as a measure of efficiency change in the first stage and GLS in the second stage. In the Indian context, to the best of authors’ knowledge, no such study exists.

The purpose of the study is to explore the strategic growth challenges for the hospitality industry in the context of India. As the tourism industry is growing, Indian and global firms face new challenges which need to be addressed.

The study involved obtaining practitioner insights by conducting an industry round table discussion with senior managers who are in leadership positions with international and national hotel brands. The data so collected were then corroborated by a literature review.

The major challenges are in the domains of human resources (in terms of skill and knowledge base), land acquisitions, technology deployment as a strategic tool and understanding the dynamics of new generation consumers.

The paper has policy implications for both industry practitioners and government bodies setting up governing mechanisms for this industry segment.

There is very little formally documented research in the domain of hospitality management in an Indian context. This holds significance for other growing economies as well.

The purpose of the study is twofold: (1) it captures the work–life balance (WLB) experiences of front-office employees to inductively classify a set of WLB indicators for the locally owned Indian luxury hotels and (2) it further examines the existing WLB practices of the select hotels with the lens of talent management (TM) approach of key human resource management (HRM) practices (Thunnissen, 2016).

To explore and classify WLB indicators, an exploratory, qualitative approach is utilized by administering seven focus group discussions involving 70 front-office employees working in Indian luxury hotels. Seven in-depth interviews with HR professionals were triangulated with secondary data to capture and analyse the existing WLB practices of sampled organizations.

Four clusters of WLB indicators that are grounded in the lived experiences of front-office employees are identified and presented. Interview data from human resource representatives unveil that hotels consider existing WLB practices as key HRM practices with an inclusive TM approach. The findings also surface the differences in expectations of front-office employees and WLB practices followed by the hotels.

First, the paper addresses the issue of WLB from employees’ perspective which is crucial for designing effective WLB practices. Second, the paper contributes to the existing TM literature from the perspective of WLB practices.

The originality of the study is grounded in the employees’ lived experiences to classify the WLB indicators for India and further examine the WLB practices through the lens of the TM approach.

The Indian hospitality and tourism industries, major economic growth drivers and employment generators, have been greatly affected by the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. In FY 2020, the Indian tourism sector created 39 million jobs and contributed nearly US$194.3bn, or 6.8%, to India’s gross domestic product. The purpose of this study is to focus on ranking 22 listed hotels and 9 listed travel agencies in India based on their performance across 14 selected financial parameters in both the pre-COVID-19 year ending in March 2019 and the post-COVID-19 year ending in March 2021 to understand how the pandemic affected their businesses.

This research proposes to analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the financial performance of 22 listed Indian hotels and 9 listed travel agencies evaluated over 14 financial parameters using a pipeline of two recently developed multicriteria decision-making techniques, method based on the removal effects of criteria (MEREC) and grey-based combined compromised solution (CoCoSo). First, the criteria weights are objectively determined using MEREC, and then the financial performances of the selected companies in both the hospitality and tourism industries are separately assessed using CoCoSo to get their overall performance score, based on which the companies are ranked in order of preference.

It was observed that Westlife Development, Lemon Tree Hotels, Indian Tourism Development Corporation, Royal Orchid and Country Club performed significantly poorer than their peers in the aftermath of the pandemic, whereas EIH, Advani Hotels and Resorts and TGB Banquets performed relatively better. Travel agencies Easy Trip and International Travel House performed particularly poorly because of the pandemic, but VMV Holidays performed relatively better in FY 2021.

The findings of the analysis will aid portfolio construction, corporate investment decisions, competition research, government policymaking and industrial analysis.

The proposed model is novel because it fills the research gap in the application of the integrated MEREC–CoCoSo method to study the impact of COVID-19 on the hospitality and tourism sectors in India.

The study aims at analyzing the adoption and preference of E-Marketing tools in five-star hotels in India. This paper also explores the scope of artificial intelligence and the challenges with regards to its application.

A qualitative approach is adopted for this research, wherein the data has been collected through conducting one on one telephonic interviews (some in questionnaire format) and a roundtable conference with the general managers and marketing communication managers of 30 New Delhi/National Capital Region (NCR) hotels respectively to understand the transition from traditional to digital marketing era and how are they using various social media marketing tools.

This study aims to inform how digitalization has benefitted the industry in various aspects and its comparison to the traditional marketing methods. It also discovers the future of artificial intelligence in the Indian hospitality space.

This study aims to help managerial decision-making in the application of various E-marketing tools and strategies, suggesting the right mix of both traditional and digital marketing platforms.

Arguably this is one of a kind study, as there has been no such research done specifically aiming at the five-star hotels of the Indian market. The findings will help the industry explore and enhance their digital presence by suggesting the appropriate mix of both traditional and digital approaches and can be used as a good source for further exploring the perspective of digitalization by academicians as well.

As the world tries to come to terms with the exact economic and human cost of the Covid-19 pandemic, businesses are trying to discern and act on the implications of the “new normal” in order to survive and grow. Amongst all the industries impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic, travel and tourism has been the hardest hit. Operators across the value chain are trying to innovate and improvise in order to mitigate the impact of the pandemic on cash flows and working capital. The primary purpose of this paper then is to take a closer look at the measures adopted by the Indian hotel industry to restore revenues, conserve resources and attain greater operational and cost efficiencies in the midst of the Covid-19 crisis. The article also brings to the fore the growth-enhancing measures adopted by the industry in anticipation of a “new normal” in the post-Covid world.

This study is based on primary data collected via a survey, followed by a series of interviews with a select group of senior finance managers from a wide spectrum of hotels based in India.

Our findings suggest that Indian hotels have adopted several measures to enhance cash flows/revenues, reduce operating costs and cash outflows and conserve resources in order to tide themselves over during the crisis. Prominent cash flow–enhancing measures include price drops on special offers and reductions on list prices. Cost-cutting measures include economizing on energy consumption, reductions in labour costs and the postponement of maintenance expenses and discretionary spending. Resource conservation measures that have been adopted focus on postponement of capital expenditure and an increasing shift to localizing supply chains. Growth-enhancing measures adopted by the industry in anticipation of the long-term “new normal” include restructuring of the workforce and measures aimed at attracting domestic tourists and increasing product diversity.

This study attempts to understand the short-term and long-term financial management strategies adopted by Indian hotels in the face of unprecedented disruption caused by the Covid-19 pandemic. To the best of our knowledge, this paper is the first of its kind in the Indian context.

This paper aims to summarize and review the key innovations that have taken place in the Indian Hospitality Industry in recent times.

The paper draws on the findings and managerial implications as outlined by the contributors to this theme issue: “How is the need for innovation being addressed by the Indian Hospitality Industry?”

The paper highlights some of the recent innovations that have taken place in the Indian Hospitality Industry, especially in the areas of customer service, cost competitiveness, culinary management, revenue management and technology. It also highlights some of the key challenges faced by senior management of selected hotels in implementing innovative ideas and related processes.

With domestic hoteliers continuously expanding and foreign players’ intent on investing in India, it will be of interest to hoteliers and policymakers to know about the recent innovative measures adopted by the Indian Hospitality Industry. The innovations will aid hoteliers as they seek to create differentiation for their products and services.

There is limited literature on innovation in the Indian Hospitality Industry, especially with a focus on practitioner perspectives. This issue offers a significant contribution in the field of research in the Indian Hospitality Industry.

This study aims to explore the reasons for the rise of independent, stand-alone restaurants and ascertains the benefits of outsourcing food and beverage (F&B) in luxury hotels in India from the perspectives of the strategic partners involved in such an alliance. The study also proposes different formats for F&B outsourcing in luxury hotels.

An exploratory study was carried out by collecting primary data from 16 Hotel General Managers and F&B operations experts through qualitative, semi-structured, personal and in-depth interviews. NVivo12 software was used to carry out a qualitative thematic analysis of the data. The primary data collected were triangulated with secondary data gathered through literature review of academic papers, industry reports and studies on the trends of restaurants in luxury hotels being outsourced.

The study focusses on the antecedents of the rise of stand-alone restaurants in the Indian hospitality industry. To combat the competitive disruption arising because of this trend, the study posits the business model innovation of outsourcing F&B operations in luxury hotels.

The benefits of a strategic alliance from the perspective of both parties – the luxury hotel and Michelin-star chef or branded/marquee restaurant – are elucidated. Further, three broad formats, which can be adopted for speciality restaurant outsourcing are also proposed. Practitioners, researchers and educationists in the hospitality industry would find the implications of this study useful in the context of the present customer-centric business environment where hotels are constantly striving to meet the exponentially rising bar of guest expectations in an increasingly globalised milieu.

The study proposes a preliminary road map for internationalisation of F&B operations through the business model innovation of outsourcing operations of in-house specialty restaurants by luxury hotels in the Indian context.

This paper aims to identify the key risks which are endemic to the hospitality industry and considered as important by hoteliers in today's growing global context, with particular reference to the Indian context. It also seeks to propose a generic model for risk management.

Primary data collection using questionnaires and semi‐structured qualitative interviews with hospitality professionals was supplemented by secondary research in the field of risk and uncertainty management.

To secure competitive advantage and develop business resilience, it is becoming increasingly important for hospitality organisations to shift their focus from merely responding and reacting to crises and emergency situations, to proactively identifying, analysing and assessing risks while formulating their business strategies. The paper identifies the most commonly addressed areas of risk in the Indian hospitality industry, which include competition, seasonality of business and changes in customer preferences and demand.

Practitioners, researchers and educationists in the hospitality industry will find the implications of this study useful in the context of the present complex business environment which is fraught with risks.

Given the dearth of research in the field of risk and uncertainty management in the hospitality industry, especially in the Indian context, the paper explores various aspects of hospitality operations prone to risk and proposes a framework for identifying the key risks in hospitality organisations. It also puts forward a generic model of the process of risk management.

This study aims to provide a comprehensive treatment of the various issues surrounding the concept of the cost competitiveness, competitiveness and sustainability of the hospitality industry. We also investigate how innovations in the Indian hospitality industry can optimize costs without compromising the quality of the product or the services offered.

The methodology used is mainly survey-based with the use of both structured and unstructured questionnaires. In addition, some interviews were conducted with policy-makers and academics to explore from their perspectives what might be the innovations and sustainability issues in the next decade.

The paper helps to identify the essential aspects of cost competitiveness, competitiveness and sustainability in the hospitality industry and to better understand if cost optimization can be accomplished simply by realigning process or cost. These issues have become very important in India in the present context of globalization.

With growing competition on a global level, the hospitality industry needs to proactively manage its internal operations and focus on reducing costs and raising service quality. In this context, the paper helps to reveal sustainable cost effective practices that are geared to today’s competitive environment.

The inspiration to write this paper arises from the recent global economic slowdown and the fact that the hospitality industry is confronted with growing competition on a global level. This study highlights how value can be created for customers by applying suitable strategies.