Search results

The purpose of this paper was to explore the ways travel intermediaries (online travel agencies (OTAs) and travel meta sites) used throughout the distribution value chain engaged in relationships with travel suppliers.

The multiple‐case study approach is suitable in examining contemporary events in their natural context. A commonly reported strength of the case study approach in that a variety of evidence can be used to investigate the subject matter. The data evidence gathered for this paper came from field study interviews and document analysis.

The results show that the relationship structure has an impact on the type of contractual agreement OTAs and meta sites have with travel suppliers and with each other.

These results can be used by top‐level executives involved in online travel as they research and test how to best craft their relationship and formal or informal agreements with their suppliers, affiliates, and other entities with which they choose to work.

Partnerships between travel suppliers and meta search engines could threaten travel agencies and allow travel suppliers a viable means to bypass agencies all together and maintain more control in both the transaction, the relationship building process with customers, and, ultimately, ownership of customers.

Based upon the current state, it is clear that the distribution landscape is in state of flux. Travel meta search engines are gaining traction, both in terms of market share and financial backing. Kayak's recent acquisition of SideStep helps to provide strength to Kayak and will likely be the catalyst for other mergers in due time. All of the major players are jockeying for position. There will likely be consolidation and more new entrants. To remain relevant, one must actively monitor this space, continue to keep abreast of developments as they unfold, and innovate. Most importantly, one must provide unmatched value to win customer loyalty and gain market share.

Since the advent of non‐proprietary technologies fostered by the internet, the travel distribution model has been subjected to significant changes. One of the primary changes has been the expanding potential of interoperability between systems brought about the advent of extended markup language‐based specifications developed and published by the Open Travel Alliance (OTA). The potential impact of the underlying technology (web services) in use for developing these standards is significant. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate strategic perspectives from key industry players over the potential of this technology and examine the factors pertaining to their adoption.

Data for this came from a series of 30‐45‐minute interviews with senior executives of four major travel suppliers (included three major hotel chains and one leading car rental company) as well as three major intermediaries (comprised two global distribution system companies and one major online travel agency). Interviews were guided using two types of signposts – conceptual and industry‐level phenomena.

Findings indicate that suppliers and intermediaries see distinctive levers of advantage from OTA messaging specifications. While suppliers seek to build flexibility to add/delete channels and subsequently leverage greater control over inventory distribution, intermediaries seek to consolidate on their aggregation capabilities through wider content and enhance dynamic packaging as value for end‐customers.

This is a qualitative study comprising in‐depth interviews with a selected few respondents that limit the generalizability of the results. Additionally, the perspective is limited to the larger players in the travel distribution space.

The study is the first in hospitality/travel marketing literature to examine the issues of interoperability specific to a major initiative such as the OTA.

The purpose of this paper is to illustrate new methods of examining structural differences among segmented markets beyond comparing merely univariate variable mean scores, so as to help marketers and researchers gain better insights into segment differences for meaningful strategy development.

A comprehensive dataset covering various lodging market segments was constructed from Tripadvisor.com. The data then were sorted into lodging customer segments by star rating, type of operation, and level of price charged. Structural equation modeling with the −2 log‐likelihood difference test was conducted to illustrate how effectively the differences, if any, of market segments could be assessed in contrast to the traditional mean‐score comparison approach.

Guest satisfaction was influenced by the same performance variable to the same magnitude and direction across different lodging segments examined. Such stability in the amount of influence of performance on guest satisfaction was true even in the fact that the variable mean scores were significantly different across the market segments.

The traditional approach to examining segment differences via univariate mean scores could be one set of results, while the effect‐based difference assessments in this paper resulted in another. Developing marketing strategies based on the effect‐based segment differences, as illustrated in this paper, is considered more effective than the traditional mean‐based approach. One limitation of this paper could be use of a secondary dataset with limited scope of the model employed for an illustrative purpose. Another limitation is that the sample characteristics are unknown due to the nature of a secondary dataset. The examination of the market segments was also limited to those based on only three popular variables.

The paper is a fresh attempt to examine market segment differences through the effect of one variable on another. The paper advances the methods of hospitality and tourism research for examining segment differences beyond the traditional univariate mean‐based examination approach. The methodological illustration is applicable to a vast majority of different theoretical frameworks known in the hospitality and tourism field. Use of the assessment method illustrated in this paper also requires future market segmentation studies to rely more on theories than data.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors that affect the usage of guest empowerment technologies (GET) with a specific focus on in‐room entertainment technologies.

This study used structural equation modeling to evaluate the application of task‐technology fit (TTF) and technology acceptance models (TAMs) in reference to entertainment GETs.

This paper confirmed that the most popular forms of entertainment GET were in‐room movies and on‐demand services. Most importantly, the analysis of the data revealed that a user's individual experiential characteristics have a significant negative relationship with fit of GET while the technology and task characteristics have a significant positive relationship with fit of GET.

This paper makes a contribution to the current body of literature as it is among the first to utilize a hybrid TTF/TAM in the hotel self‐service environment. As such, it can be utilized by future researchers as a foundation for conducting similar research.

This paper is of value as it is the first academic paper to investigate a variety of forms of entertainment‐based GET. These types of technologies which combine the functionality of self‐service devices while taking into account the user's experience during the design process are in constant and growing demand. As such, technology developers as well as hospitality practitioners will need to rely more and more on this type of research in the future in order to provide consistent levels of quality guest experiences.

The paper aims to examine the antecedents and consequence of casino employees' ethical behavior. In particular, it proposes that both distributive and procedural justice have positive influences on such behavior, which in turn positively affects workers' job satisfaction. The paper aims to help casino management pinpoint areas for enhancing and promoting employees' ethical behavior so as to benefit industry stakeholders.

A questionnaire was designed based on a literature review and preliminary conversations with 37 casino employees. These were distributed to frontline casino employees working in the slot and table games departments. Exploratory factor analysis and path analysis were employed to test the proposed model.

The paper shows that casino employees' ethical behavior was positively influenced by both procedural and distributive justice, with the former a slightly stronger motivator. Of the three proposed determinants of casino employees' job satisfaction, distributive justice had the most strongly positive effect.

This paper suggests that action could be taken by management to enhance employees' perception of both distributive and procedural justice to motivate ethical behavior. Furthermore, casino managers should be aware that distributive justice plays a more important role than procedural justice and ethical behavior in enhancing casino employees' job satisfaction. In making decisions, they should consider outcome fairness to demonstrate distributive justice.

Currently, to the best of the authours' knowledge, there is no study linking both distributive and procedural justice with employees' ethical behavior and job satisfaction within a single framework. In addition, there is no research evaluating how organizational justice influences employees' ethical behavior when interacting with customers. This paper fills this gap.

How do we measure the success of a hotel business? What factors determine performances? This paper seeks to explore the responses which researchers and practitioners have given to these questions in the last 20 years.

The paper is based on the analysis of 152 contributions and uses the balanced scorecard as a model to rationalize the main streams of research.

The analysis of literature shows the gradually assumed importance of the balanced scorecard as a satisfactory performance measurement system. The findings related to the determinants of results are instead highly complex and far‐reaching. The determining factors are generally looked for within the enterprise. Four main functional research fields have been identified (strategy, production, marketing and organization) and for each one main research goals, findings and open questions are defined. The horizontal axis of the balanced scorecard (customer perspective, strategy and process perspective) is the area of greatest research (over half of the papers). This evidence appears in line with the structural features of the hotel business and with the importance held, respectively, by customer relations and the protection of the efficiency of management processes.

The paper shows the main weaknesses and strengths in previous research design in terms of: dependent and independent variables, sample and data sources. At theoretical level, the current research is strongly based on six countries (69 percent of the sample). Given the profound diversity of national contexts, researchers focusing on internal determinants should use external control variables more extensively. Furthermore, some recent subfields appear very fragmented especially in terms of independent variables used.

The paper identifies research streams and gaps in the field of hotel performance.

The paper aims to examine the activity‐based costing (ABC) method as a feasible and appropriate tool for the casino and hotel industry to apply to support kitchens in order to eliminate the monthly allocation of overhead based on variable costs.

Data were collected at a support kitchen in a Las Vegas casino. These data were analyzed by using ABC methods and establishing ABC costs. ABC methods were compared to traditional allocation methods to determine, first, if allocations could be eliminated entirely; and, secondly, to establish if some outlets would be significantly impacted by the accounting change.

An ABC approach can be applied to support kitchens and total cost (ABC) can be estimated. This approach allowed the casino to eliminate traditional allocation methods based solely on food cost.

ABC was shown to be a powerful technique that can be applied effectively in a support kitchen of a casino. Since this paper involved only a single support kitchen in a single casino, further research should be conducted to confirm that ABC can also be applied in support kitchens in other hospitality industry settings.

The use of ABC techniques confirmed that the ABC process is a useful tool in an effort to abolish allocations and can be applied to the remaining support kitchens. Without the benefit of this paper, restaurant management for individual food and beverage outlets received an unfair share of the overhead and did not have appropriate cost information for bread products.

ABC may be a powerful technique when applied effectively to the food and beverage operations in the field of hospitality.

The goal of the present conceptual paper is to integrate two streams of literature related to service failures: customer complaining behaviors (CCB) and service recovery literature. The suggested conceptual framework intends to broaden the thinking on consumers' complaint handling processes for hospitality institutions.

A model is proposed that integrates the service recovery and CCB literatures under a single framework. A careful literature review is performed to justify the conceptual framework.

The framework offers a starting point for broadening the thinking on consumers' complaint handling processes.

Systematic empirical research is needed to test the integrative model.

This paper offers insight for hospitality managers into how to effectively deal with dissatisfied customer experiences.