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The purpose of this paper is to explore the effect of customers’ perception of the integrated resort by focusing on brand-related variables, namely, brand reputation, brand experience, brand attitude, and behavioral intention. Integrated resorts have become popular in the tourism industry. However, despite the popularity of integrated resorts, little is known about how the integrated resort brand contributes to customer attitude.

A descriptive online survey was carried out with customers who had experience using the integrated resort. This study used the regression analysis and process macro to test hypothesized relationships among variables.

These results demonstrate that brand reputation increases customers’ perception of brand experience and brand attitude; brand experience, brand attitude and brand reputation affect behavioral intention toward the integrated resort brand; and brand experience and attitude plays a fully mediating role in the relationship between brand reputation and behavioral intention. These results suggest that customers’ perception associated with the integrated resort brand name is likely to generate a favorable experience and attitude, which, in turn, develops customers’ revisit intention.

A theoretical implication is that the pleasant brand experience and attitude emphasize the significance of the brand reputation in the formation of behavioral intention toward the integrated resort brand. Another theoretical implication is that integrated resort brand reputation might not be a strong indicator of the behavioral loyalty. It is worth conducting additional research on joint effects of brand reputation and customers’ type (e.g. recreational gamblers, problem gamblers, business travelers and family travelers).

The findings offer additional insights into managers on the integrated resort brand concept. This research provides opportunities for managers to identify rational/emotional linkages in differentiating, distinguishing and positioning integrated resort.

Although both brand experience and brand attitude have received past research attention, no researchers have studied them in an integrated resort setting. The main contribution of this research lies in testing the direct and indirect and fills a major gap in the integrated resort literature and research in stressing the need to consider about brand management.

This study aims to apply the perspective of self-determination theory to investigate the effects of needs satisfaction on customers’ emotional bond and perceived fit with the integrated resort brand.

To provide empirical evidence, this study uses an online survey analyzed with structural equation modeling.

The results suggest how integrated resort experiences enhance the needs satisfaction for autonomy, competence and relatedness, and that customers are likely to have an attachment and compatibility with the brand. This study also documents that strong attachments and compatibility are predictive of behavioral intention.

This study provides a theoretical perspective through self-determination theory for explaining how needs satisfaction impacts customers’ brand-related attitude, which can be used to guide future studies. Insights from this research will be used to design and evaluate customers’ experience in tourism and hospitality industry.

Although the concept of needs satisfaction has studied on the employees’ behavior, a scarcity of research has been offered to explain customers’ behavior. Thus, this study makes a significant contribution to the hospitality and tourism research by testing the needs satisfaction as an antecedent of customers’ brand-related behavior.

This paper aims to present the case for a new integrated resort business model. It does so by integrating the notion of a smart tourism ecosystem into the concept of dynamic capabilities so as to guide integrated resort theory and practice in an evolving landscape.

The theoretical model is derived from synthesising the gaps surrounding literature that contextualises business models and the relatively scarce body of knowledge related to integrated resort business models.

Integrated resorts are characterised by strategies using a follower mentality. Destinations seeking to create new integrated resorts largely emulate existing product or service points of differentiation, though such attempts are often quickly eroded by competition. By integrating the smart tourism ecosystem to the theoretical framework, this conceptual paper elucidates how an information-rich environment can help to better realise sustainable competitive advantages.

This conceptual paper will require empirical data to validate the theoretical model. Implications stemming from the research will hasten greater social networks that need to be incorporated to foster timely and necessary circulation of information to attain optimal outcomes generated by the dynamic capability effect.

This paper re-conceptualises the business model for integrated resorts. By integrating the notion of smart tourism ecosystems to business model literature, the paper illuminates how integrated resorts can be better positioned in adapting to the changing operating environments.

Examines the impact of trends and fashions on international leisure resort design. Two types of trend are identified: the changing behaviour and attitudes of “tourists” and the forces of fashion, which also influence architectural design. Discusses various travel and leisure trends and examines their impact on leisure resorts through international examples. The pattern of present and future developments may be resolved into a relatively small number of emerging resort styles which are expected to gain increasing importance through the 1990s.

This study aims to develop an employee competency model for integrated resorts (IRs) in Macau through insights gleaned from IR professionals and to investigate whether any differences emerge in competency perception between IR professionals and college and high school students.

A mixed-method approach was adopted to answer the research questions. The Delphi approach was used, and four IR experts were invited to refine components of the IR competency for the survey questionnaire. Quantitative data were collected from 596 IR professionals and college/high school students. Fisher’s least significant difference test was used to test the competency gaps between groups. Qualitative interviews were conducted with 12 respondents to gather their comments on the survey results.

The IR competency model consists of 15 critical competencies. A strong work ethic and customer service orientation were ranked as important attributes of employee competency among the four target groups. A mismatch in IR competency perceptions emerged among IR managers, employees and students.

The IR competencies can serve as a pragmatic reference for IRs in terms of employee recruitment and training. This model can also serve as a guideline to ensure the alignment between IR industry needs and the course offerings in higher education institutions in Macau.

The IR competencies contribute to resolving human capital issue challenging Macau’s IRs and provide insights for Macau’s IR stakeholders to improve the IR workforce development.

Using the analogy of “If you build it, they will come” from the movie Field of Dreams, this study aims to draw on relational signaling and commitment–trust theories to examine the role of different types of trust (cognitive, affective and relational) in the relationship between relational-encounter quality and customer loyalty to service employees and to the organization in the case of an integrated casino resort. The study confirms that building it (trust), they (customers) will come to the casino exhibited in their loyalty to casino hosts and their affiliated casinos.

The study was conducted with very important person (VIP) customers who have a designated VIP host to provide them with personal services at an integrated casino resort in Macau. The questionnaire was distributed to the respondents by VIP hosts using WeChat and Tencent QQ.

The study shows that different types of trust (cognitive, affective and relational) play a significant mediation role in the relationship between relational-encounter quality and the customers’ loyalty to the hosts and their affiliated casinos.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to investigate the roles of different types of trust (cognitive, affective and relational) in the relational encounter between casino hosts and VIP customers and provides insights into the link between service employees and their firm through the nurturing of the service encounter with the firm’s key accounts.

Bad Gögging is a health spa resort in Bavaria with a long tradition of sulfur springs. Due to reforms in the health care system, the destination has experienced a structural crisis, particularly noticeable in the 1980s. The establishment of new resorts under the corporate model in the 1990s led to a change in the destination’s life cycle. The case study of Bad Gögging illustrates challenges for the governance of a destination where both the community model and corporate model coexist at a local level. This historical health spa town displays characteristics of both models and typical diverging control mechanisms and interests of a small-scale destination. The case study also shows how both organizational and management approaches affect destination governance and stakeholder relations.

Services marketing, hotel management, branding, and promotion management.

Undergraduate business and management; MBA/MA management courses.

Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts had become a leading player in the luxury resorts and spa market in Asia. As part of its growth strategy, Banyan Tree had launched new brands and brand extensions that included resorts, spas, retail outlets, and even museum shops. Now, the company had to contemplate how to manage its brand portfolio and expand its business while preserving the distinctive identity and strong brand image of Banyan Tree, its flagship brand.

This case illustrates how a powerful service brand can be built even with little advertising. It also exemplifies how pro-environmental business practices can co-exist with a firm's profit objectives. Set in a service context, the case may be used in discussions on services marketing, hotel management, branding, and promotion management.

Teaching notes

The purpose of this paper is to develop a typology of the organisational forms comprising the Australian condominium tourism accommodation sector.

A total of 34 exploratory interviews were conducted with interviewees representing a cross‐section of interests in condominium tourism accommodation operations.

An original hierarchical typology is developed. The structuring criteria employed for the hierarchy include: whether a condominium complex is in a hotel or apartment complex, whether it is branded and whether the condominiums are serviced.

The findings reported will greatly advance the capacity to provide a meaningful commentary on the nature of condominium tourism accommodation complexes and to understand key issues associated with different forms of condominium tourism accommodation services provided.

The study suffers from the normal limitations associated with the subjective interpretation of qualitative data. In addition, the fast evolving nature of the condominium tourism accommodation sector signifies that the typology advanced should be viewed as somewhat time‐specific.

Despite the huge growth in condominium‐based tourism accommodation worldwide, there has been a scarcity of research directed to the phenomenon. The study can thus be seen to be highly original.

This study aims to analyze the antecedents and consequences of customers’ actual and ideal self-congruence in the tourism and hospitality context. This research analyzes playfulness (e.g. creative- and enjoyment-based), self-congruence (e.g. actual and ideal self-congruence) and passion (e.g. harmonious and obsessive).

Data were collected from 350 integrated resort customers in the USA, and the hypotheses were examined using partial least square-structural equation modeling.

Findings suggest that creative-based playfulness significantly and positively influences the different types of customers’ self-congruence. Moreover, a fit between integrated resort brand and customers’ actual and ideal self leads to their harmonious and obsessive passion toward integrated resort brand.

In the integrated resort setting, customers’ attitude toward innovation served as the antecedent of self-congruence and passion. The proposed model can be used to other sectors, such as hotels, restaurants and casinos.

The present study contributes to integrated resort service providers through the provision of several insights into how they can manage integrated resort brands.

This study contributes to the service research and extends previous studies in several important ways. Although previous studies have focused on analyzing the effect of the playfulness of product on customers’ behavior, the current study moves a step further by assessing its relationship with dual types of image congruence and passion in the tourism and hospitality setting.