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While all recoveries are good, some are better than others with regard to their speed and/or magnitude. Many revenue-related key performance indicators (KPIs), such as comparisons to budgets and forecasts that were designed pre-pandemic to assess a hotel's or destination's performance are no longer valid. Therefore, the primary purpose of this conceptual paper is to highlight the need to peg financial-related KPIs relative to competitors' performance during and following a radical market disruption. The secondary purpose of this paper is to summarize advances reported in the literature and in the industry related to competitor benchmarking and accurately identifying competitor sets.

This conceptual paper synthesizes research from disparate sources to offer a series of recommendations to the industry regarding best practices for developing and monitoring revenue-related KPIs during pandemic recovery. Such KPIs will be different based upon hospitality or tourism sector but must be largely founded upon benchmarking off comparable operations.

Industry disruptions triggered by COVID-19 underscore the need (1) to increasingly utilize competitor-based revenue KPI benchmarks; (2) to have reliable competitor benchmarking data more readily available for use by hotels and destination marketing organizations (DMOs) and (3) for both hotels and DMOs to more accurately identify their competitive sets.

The recommendations offered in this paper are anchored with appropriate theories and empirical research; and as a consequence, offer guidance for the industry for KPI formulation during and following the pandemic.

Tourism sustainability is a challenge for 21st-century destinations – this paper aims to analyse smart destinations' sustainability through a case study of Benidorm, the first world destination to be certified under the UNE 178501 standard as smart tourism destination (STD).

The methodological component has been divided into developing a framework for measuring sustainability through economic, social and environmental open data. Moreover, studying the plan's contribution “Benidorm, Destino Turístico Inteligente y Sostenible” to the city's sustainability through a time series analysis.

The main contribution shows that Benidorm's transformation into an STD leads to more sustainable cities. Thus, the conversion of Benidorm into an STD has a sustained effect in the medium and long term, contributing to the sustainability of the city.

An open question as a limitation is the subjectivity of the distribution of the relative weight of each indicator. However, statistical analyses are developed to explore the relationship between indicators and global sustainability.

The debate to contextualise this paper is bridging the gap between sustainability and tourism intelligence, giving an original framework for measuring destination sustainability that provides a reasonable starting point for comparing tourism sustainability in different destinations.

Tourists in the 21st century prefer environmentally friendly tourism. Marketing campaigns based on destination sustainability must be based on data rather than mere slogans.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the originality of this paper provides a flexible framework for measuring sustainability from open data sources, being one of the first empirical analyses to study the effects on the sustainability of converting a mature destination into an STD.

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.

Companies are adopting a more active role in managing their online reputations by using electronic word of mouth (eWOM) and often responding directly to customer reviews. Therefore, companies need to understand the effects of management responses to customer reviews. This study aims to explore whether it is worth responding to reviews and whether expressing gratitude enhances the effects of review responses.

This study uses customer reviews and management response data from a sample of 766 Spanish rural lodging establishments listed on Toprural (www.toprural.com). Analyses are undertaken with NVivo and SmartPLS.

Responding to negative reviews improves lodging establishments’ average ratings, but responding to positive reviews has no significant direct effect. Expressing gratitude in responses positively moderates the effects of review responses; this moderating effect is more significant for responses to negative than to positive reviews.

Previous research provides contradictory evidence about the positive outcomes of a company’s responses; it also does not address expressions of gratitude. This research provides evidence of the direct effects of management response quantity on ratings. It also expands current research on the content characteristics of these responses. The contextual setting for this research, rural tourism, is a key driver of sustainable rural development and a sector in which eWOM is especially relevant; thus, correctly managing the eWOM phenomenon becomes crucial.

Al objeto de mejorar su reputación online, las empresas progresivamente están adoptando un papel más activo ante las reseñas online de los clientes, ofreciendo respuestas online a dichas reseñas. Por tanto, es necesario que las empresas conozcan mejor los efectos de responder online. Este estudio examina si resulta beneficioso responder a las reseñas y si expresar agradecimiento potencia el efecto de responder.

A partir de datos sobre reseñas online de clientes y respuestas de la empresa, correspondientes a una muestra de 766 alojamientos de turismo rural de Toprural (www.toprural.com), se realizan análisis con NVivo y SmartPLS.

Responder a reseñas negativas mejora las puntuaciones medias del establecimiento en Toprural. Sin embargo, responder a reseñas positivas no tiene un efecto directo significativo. Además, expresar agradecimiento en las respuestas modera positivamente el efecto de responder. No obstante, esta moderación es más intensa en el caso de respuestas a reseñas negativas frente a las reseñas positivas.

La investigación previa aporta evidencia contradictoria sobre los efectos de la intensidad de respuesta empresarial a las reseñas online; además, no se ocupa de la expresión de gratitud en particular. Este estudio aporta luz respecto al efecto directo de la intensidad de respuesta sobre las puntuaciones online y amplía la investigación actual sobre las características de contenido de las respuestas. El marco de estudio, el turismo rural, se considera clave para un desarrollo rural sostenible y constituye un escenario donde el boca-oído electrónico es especialmente importante; en consecuencia, gestionar correctamente el fenómeno es crucial.

Palabras clave Boca-oído electrónico, Respuesta empresarial, Reputación online, Turismo rural

Tipo de artículo Trabajo de investigación

The purpose of this study is to gain a deeper understanding on if and how hotel senior managers (HSMs) in four-star chain hotels in London and Stockholm implemented crisis management techniques (CMTs) as a response to the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

Qualitative questionnaires were sent to 30 HSMs in London and Stockholm. From the feedback, this paper assesses, using thematic analysis, differences in CMTs used, past and present, alluding to COVID-19’s economic impacts on hotels.

Results determined that crises broadly economically impacted destinations similarly through loss of travellers and thus revenue. However, with a more intricate and specific assessment, destinations are impacted differently; thus, CMTs must alter. Findings show many CMTs can be implemented to reduce crises’ economic impacts. The literature review and empirical results allude to many previous and current CMTs, although these must be relevant and specific to the crisis, hotel and/or destination.

This paper has theoretical implications for academics on, among other things, theory building. Practically, it supports hotels in developing and determining CMTs to reduce the economic impacts of crises, to be better prepared when another pandemic emerges and contributes to the tourism and hospitality industry’s knowledge of management strategy within crises.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first Swedish study focusing on post-COVID-19 crisis management in hotels in London and Stockholm.

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of key hotel attributes on the room rates of selected hotels in the Greater Gaborone Region, Botswana.

Using hedonic pricing analysis, the effect of eight attributes collected from 80 standard double rooms on Booking.com in the area was analysed using quantile regression.

The estimated results from quantile regression suggested the importance of the 10th quantile as the best predictor of hotel room price distribution. Overall, the presence of a fitness centre and the availability of meeting and conference facilities were positively significant for the lowest- and premium-priced hotels, respectively.

The study advanced the literature in hedonic pricing models by confirming the applicability of hotel room rate attribute research in unexplored environments.

Hotel managers should be aware of the influence of key attributes, such as meeting and conference space availability and locational factors, on the pricing decisions of room rates in the Greater Gaborone Region. The study also presented opportunities for business-to-business marketing between hotel and tour operators in the region.

The study is one of the few that uses quantile regression in the hedonic pricing analysis of hotel room rates.

The purpose of this paper is to explain how the elements of a tourism policy class (historical, structural, economic, social, and technological) are employed in the discussion and analysis of space tourism.

The material serves as revision class of methods and concepts. The topics and methods covered depend in part on previous class content making use of space tourism materials available on the web and in the literature.

The sources cited cover a remarkable and growing range of space tourism endeavors worldwide. Whilst it is definitively not a forecast, the paper does appraise future directions in space tourism.

Further research is required in order to properly evaluate the value of space tourism to future human societies, and strategize accordingly.

As a source‐based review, the paper has limited originality, but shows the possibilities and limitations of tourism planning methods for space tourism.

The purpose of this study was to create a more balanced, comprehensive and valid illustration of the relationships between casino gaming volume and employment during economic downturns in urban and rural locations in nondestination gaming states.

This study analyzes gaming volumes and employment prior, during and after the recession of 2007–2009, using a time series with intervention analysis on a monthly coin in, table drop and regression analysis on employment impacts of casinos.

Findings indicate that while there was a slight drop in gaming revenue and employment figures during the economic downturn, nondestination gaming locations such as Indiana proved relatively resilient to an economic downturn.

The Great Recession had no significant impact on gaming volume because gamblers chose to spend their more limited entertainment dollars on less expensive gaming options; in other words, casinos closer to home requiring the expenditure of fewer dollars on travel and/or hotel rooms. The current pandemic and pressures of the macro-environment again threaten the US gaming and casino market with an economic downturn and the results of this study are as timely as ever for hospitality professionals and social scientists to understand the behavior of casinos in recessionary environments.

The article investigates different types of strategies for managing user-generated content (UGC) and provides some insights into their implications.

A unique sample of Italian hotels with current and prospective customers in the digital environment is investigated. A taxonomy of user-provider interactions mediated by UGC is developed. A mixed approach was designed to meet the study aims. Firstly, an exploratory factor analysis was performed in order to illuminate different strategies of UGC and electronic word-of-mouth (E-WOM) management. Secondly, a cluster analysis was implemented in order to explain hoteliers' behavior toward users' contents.

The study results suggested the existence of three clusters, which reflected three different types of interactions between hotels and customers in the digital domain. Interestingly, most of Italian hotels were found to adopt a reductionist approach to UGC and E-WOM management, turning out to be ineffective to exploit them for the purpose of quality improvement and hospitality service excellence.

Hotels were found to be largely unaware of the importance of UGC and web-based communication with customers to improve their digital business strategy. Tailored management approaches are needed to realize the full potential of hotels' online content responsiveness for the purpose of value co-creation and service co-production.

This is one of the first studies investigating the strategic and management perspectives embraced by hotels to handle their interactions with customers in the digital arena.

The purpose of this paper is to determine whether different scales and ways to collect reviews and ratings found on online travel agencies (OTAs) can affect hotels, and whether hotels obtain the same or different evaluations.

Hotel ratings from five OTAs in four European markets were collected and compared in pairs. An initial comparison was made with the hotel scores of each OTA to show what a typical user would see. Then, a rescaled score (0-10) was used to compare all the OTA scales appropriately and to distinguish between what customers observe and what the reality is.

The results reveal that Booking.com that uses a scale (2.5-10) and Agoda with a scale (2-10) seem to give higher rating scores than Atrapalo (1-10), Travel Republic (0-10) and hotel reservation service (1-10). However, when the scores are rescaled (0-10), the worst ratings are found on Booking.com followed by Agoda.

OTAs should include, next to the scores, the scale used to rate hotels so as to provide users with better and clearer information. Moreover, rating questionnaires should match the verbal denominations with their numerical values to avoid biased ratings.

OTAs and hotel managers are losing information provided by customers because customers are not aware of the scale when rating hotels. Moreover, hotel ratings are used by potential customers to obtain a clearer image of an establishment. However, if some hotels are being overrated by some scales, customers might have higher expectations, which may not be met.

The unique rating scales of Booking.com and Agoda provide additional insights into their hotel evaluations, which seem to be apparently higher when in fact they are not.

在线旅行评论评分量表及其对酒店得分和竞争力的影响

摘要

这项研究旨在研究在线旅行社（OTA）上评论和评级的不同量表和方式是否会影响酒店获得的评估。

本研究收集并比较了来自四个欧洲市场中五个OTA的酒店等级数据。研究首先对每个OTA的酒店得分进行了比较, 以显示一般用户会看到的内容。然后研究使用重新缩放的得分（0-10）来恰当地比较所有OTA的酒店等级, 并区分顾客观察到的内容和现实。

结果显示, Booking.com使用的量表（2.5-10）和Agoda的量表（2-10）, 似乎高于Atrapalo（1-10）, Travel Republic（0-10）和 hotel reservation service （1-10）的评分。但是, 当分数重新调整为（0-10）时, 最差的评分是在Booking.com上, 其次是Agoda。

OTA应在评分旁边注明用于对酒店进行评分的量表, 以便为用户提供更好, 更清晰的信息。此外, 评级问卷应使评价描述与其数值相匹配, 以避免评级出现偏差。

OTA和酒店经理正在丢失客户所提供的信息, 因为客户在对酒店进行评级时并不了解其使用的量表。此外, 潜在客户使用酒店评级来获得更清晰的企业形象。但是, 如果某些酒店被某些网站的评级量表高估, 那么客户可能会有偏高的期望, 而这些期望可能无法被满足。

Booking.com和Agoda的独特评分等级标准为酒店提供了更多见解, 而实际上酒店的情况可能并非如此。

Las escalas de calificación de las opiniones de los viajes online y sus efectos en la valoración y competitividad de los hoteles.

El objetivo de esta investigación es determinar si las diferentes escalas y formas de recopilar opiniones y valoraciones de las Agencias de Viajes Online (OTAs), pueden afectar a si los hoteles tienen las mismas o distintas calificaciones.

Las calificaciones de hoteles de cinco OTAs en cuatro mercados europeos, se recopilaron y compararon por pares. Se realizó una comparación inicial con las puntuaciones de los hoteles de cada OTA, para mostrar lo que vería un usuario típico. Luego, se utilizó una puntuación de reescalado (0-10), para comparar todas las escalas de las OTAs de manera apropiada y así poder diferenciar entre lo que los clientes observan y lo que es en realidad.

Los resultados revelan que Booking.com, que utiliza una escala (2.5-10) y Agoda con una escala (2-10), parecen puntuar con calificaciones más altas que Atrapalo (1-10), Travel Republic (0-10) y hotel reservation service (1-10). Sin embargo, cuando se vuelven a escalar las puntuaciones (0-10), las peores calificaciones se encuentran en Booking.com, seguida de Agoda.

Las OTAs deben incluir, junto a las puntuaciones, la escala utilizada para calificar los hoteles a fin de proporcionar a los usuarios una información mayor y más clara. Además, los cuestionarios de calificación deben hacer coincidir las denominaciones verbales con sus valores numéricos para evitar calificaciones sesgadas.

Por un lado las OTAs y los gerentes de hoteles, están perdiendo información proporcionada por los clientes, porque los clientes no son conscientes del tipo de escala utilizada cuando califican los hoteles. Por otro lado, los clientes potenciales utilizan las calificaciones de los hoteles para obtener una imagen más clara de un establecimiento. Por lo que en muchos casos, los clientes pueden tener expectativas más altas, que pueden no cumplirse, si los hoteles están siendo sobrevalorados por algunas escalas.

Las escalas de calificación únicas de Booking.com y Agoda, brindan información adicional sobre las evaluaciones de sus hoteles que parecen ser aparentemente más altas cuando en realidad no lo son.