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The hospitality industry the world over is transforming from a product-focused, physical-asset-intensive business to a customer-focused, experience-centric one. This research aims at evolving a typology of customer-centric hospitality innovations. It attempts to explicitly capture the intrinsic DNA of hospitality innovations in the Indian context by exemplifying the typology posited with customer service innovations adopted by contemporary hoteliers that provide new ways of managing and enhancing customer experience.

This study is based on primary research through qualitative interviews conducted with select hospitality professionals, supplemented by secondary research in the form of a review of academic literature, as well as other secondary data sources such as company websites and travel websites which shed light on customer service innovations in the Indian context.

To develop and sustain competitive advantage, hospitality businesses are increasingly channelizing their efforts to provide innovative and holistic experiential service offerings. Service innovations are being tailored to cater to the unique personal tastes and requirements of hotel guests to connect with individual guests on a personal and emotional level to create memorable hospitality experiences.

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.

The research highlights that it is critical to keep the customers’ perspectives central while designing innovative hospitality products. Further, it is important to create a cadre of innovation champions and service enthusiasts who can engender a culture of service innovation within the organisation.

It is crucial for hospitality organisations to develop sustainable leadership by regularly re-evaluating the competencies and skills required by their senior managers and leaders. In the context of this strategic talent management imperative, this paper aims to identify and map competencies required for the pivotal position of a hotel general manager to develop a holistic and relevant leadership competency framework.

Through secondary research, this study undertakes a detailed literature review of competency and leadership studies in the context of the hospitality industry to distil the essential competencies and skills required by a general manager.

This study proposes a leadership competency model for hospitality organisations in the form of a 43-item competency framework for hotel general managers categorised into four broad dimensions – cognitive competencies (knowledge), functional competencies (skills), social competencies (attitudes and behaviours) and meta competencies (motives and traits).

The proposed competency model, once empirically tested for robustness, could serve as a blueprint for hospitality organisations to develop their own organisation-specific competency framework for senior leadership that could prove to be a keystone for integrated talent management practices. Further, educationists and trainers could use the findings of this study as inputs in designing curricula and pedagogical interventions to meet the industry’s future needs and expectations with regards to competencies of senior managers.

By aggregating competencies from earlier studies and synthesising and categorising them in accordance with a contemporary, hospitality industry-relevant typology, a comprehensive competency model specific for hotel general managers has been proposed.

Tourism and hospitality.

This case has been developed to suit the pedagogical needs of undergraduate and post-graduate students of management in the area of strategic marketing management in the service industry.

The case describes the challenge faced by Gautam Raj, Executive Vice President, Strategic Development, The Oberoi Group, in making submissions to the Chairman, P.R.S. Oberoi for giving shape to the company's future strategic plans and developing the blueprint for further growth. The Oberoi Group is a leading India-based hospitality company, which was looking at selective expansion in the five-star deluxe segments by seeking new opportunities for its luxury leisure business in order to achieve a greater geographic spread. The case gives detailed information related to “The Oberoi” resorts ranging from their genesis to their branding and marketing strategies to put into perspective the challenge faced by the protagonist in making appropriate recommendations regarding the optimal choice of location for new-luxury leisure resorts.

The case is designed to give students an opportunity to demonstrate understanding of generic strategies for sustaining competitive advantage and market selection strategies and to analyse prospective location choices for making recommendations regarding appropriate markets to enter.

Teaching note.

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 research aims at evaluating and discussing developments and key challenges for the hospitality industry in an emerging global context and the impact of these changes on human resource development and management.

This paper uses qualitative primary research through semi‐structured interviews conducted with select hospitality practitioners in India, supplemented by secondary research and triangulated with inputs from an HR round table of experts from the field of hospitality.

It has become imperative for hospitality organisations to consider the implications of the global context in which they operate and respond appropriately to meet the change‐induced challenges. This can be done by ramping up the quality and the quantity of manpower employed through training and development interventions and by adopting suitable employee engagement and motivation initiatives.

Researchers, practitioners and educationists in the hospitality industry will find the implications of this study useful.

This paper amalgamates industry viewpoints with the perspective of academia, providing a holistic picture of the impact of the global changes on talent management and development in the hospitality industry. It further endeavours to prescribe a panacea to provide a long‐term solution to the HR issues faced by this sector.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and map competencies required by frontline employees to enhance guest experience in the hospitality industry, in the context of an emerging experience economy.

Secondary research through extensive review of relevant literature in the area of experience economy and hospitality management.

This study proposes a new construct of “Hospitality Intelligence” (HI) encompassing mainly Emotional Intelligence (comprising Interpersonal Intelligence and Intrapersonal Intelligence), Cultural Intelligence and Hospitality Experiential Intelligence dimensions.

Practitioners and HR professionals in the field of hospitality would find the Hospitality Intelligence construct useful in recruiting and training frontline employees, while educationists could use the findings of this study in designing curricula and pedagogical interventions for developing the right skill set for the hospitality industry.

This study proposes a competencies framework and develops a construct of Hospitality Intelligence required by frontline employees in the hospitality industry to elevate guest experience from a simple interaction to a memorable experience.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to profile the experiences of the theme editor and the writing team of Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes (WHATT) theme issue “What should Indian tourism and hospitality managers focus on to stay competitive in the coming decade?”

This paper uses structured questions to enable the theme editor to reflect on the rationale for the theme issue question, the starting point, the selection of the writing team and material and the editorial process.

This paper identifies key issues shaping the Indian tourism and hospitality industry and some of the implications for managers. It also identifies ways of improving competitiveness and some of the ways in which the Indian Government (at national and state levels) is investing in and facilitating community-focussed tourism development.

The theme issue outcomes provide lines of enquiry for others to explore and reinforce the value of WHATT’s approach to collaborative working and writing.

This paper draws on discussion and applied research with industry to identify and assess the likely impact of innovation, information technology, social media and related developments on tourism and hospitality industry development in India. The theme issue collection of this paper provides a rich picture of the occurring changes and prospects for the future.