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Article
Publication date: 14 May 2018

Srikanth Beldona, Zvi Schwartz and Xian Zhang

With the advent of the smart home, where connectivity is facilitated by the internet of things, the provision of guest technologies in hotel service delivery has acquired greater…

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Abstract

Purpose

With the advent of the smart home, where connectivity is facilitated by the internet of things, the provision of guest technologies in hotel service delivery has acquired greater significance. This ubiquity of technology implies that hotels need to view their technological offerings as facilitating guest’s broader lifestyles, and not just services in isolated spaces. This study aims to examine the role of “home” as a socio-technological unit, and how customers’ ownership of technologies at home affects evaluations of guest technologies at hotels.

Design/methodology/approach

Data are collected from a sample of US lodging consumers using Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. Partial least squares, which is a component-based structural equation modeling technique with SmartPLS 3.2, is used to test the hypotheses and meet the study’s objectives.

Findings

The findings show that hotel guest technologies should be of a higher standard than those at home, for guests to be satisfied with them. This relationship was robust across all hotel types, and both leisure and business visitation. Also, satisfaction with guest technologies has a relatively stronger impact on customer satisfaction in mid-scale and economy hotels compared to that in upscale and luxury hotels.

Research limitations/implications

By empirically validating “home” as a frame of reference in the evaluations of hospitality experiences, it opens up the potential for future research to study how home affects the evaluation of the hospitality experience as a whole.

Practical implications

Hotels need to identify viable technologies that have the potential to become mainstream, and be ahead of customers in the technology adoption curve.

Originality/value

This study is the first to look at home as a conceptual entity that is integral to hospitality using a socio-psychological lens, and evaluates its impact on evaluations of guest technologies at hotels.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 30 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 March 2022

Srikanth Beldona, Hemant V. Kher and Kunwei Lin

Regulatory focus theory proposes that people make decisions and engage in the pursuit of goals based on either promotional goals indicating sensitivity to gains/nongains or…

Abstract

Purpose

Regulatory focus theory proposes that people make decisions and engage in the pursuit of goals based on either promotional goals indicating sensitivity to gains/nongains or preventional goals reflecting sensitivity to losses/nonlosses (Aaker and Lee, 2001). The purpose of this study is to examine the roles of regulatory foci and their impact on the perceived value and usage of location-based services (LBS) in travel experiences.

Design/methodology/approach

Travel planning strategies are framed along promotional or preventional lines to evaluate regulatory focus orientation and respondents’ perceptions of value in location-based marketing (LBM) services are examined. Regression analysis evaluates the primary relationships, followed by analysis evaluating the mediating effects of “travel interest messages” (discount coupons, etc.) in the regulatory-focus-perceived value in LBM relationship.

Findings

The findings indicate that the effects of promotional focus are significantly greater than those of preventional regulatory focus. Additionally, the importance of travel interest messages (discount coupons, maps, etc.) was more significant with a promotional regulatory focus than preventional regulatory focus orientation.

Practical implications

The findings provide proof of regulatory focus as a differentiator in travel consumption behavior and demonstrate how it can be used to effectively target marketing messages to augment the travel experience. Destination marketing organizations can apply regulatory focus theory in organizational settings in the areas of leadership, decision-making and front-line employee creativity that can enhance the delivery of memorable travel experiences.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is one of the first to examine the relationship between gains-focused/risk-averse travel planning and their impact on perceptions of value in LBS programs in travel experiences.

对比以收益为中心与风险规避为中心的不同取向, 及其在旅游中对定位营销服务的影响

研究目的

调节焦点理论提出, 消费者决策以及目标达成行为可以基于对收益/非收益敏感的促进目标或反映对损失/非损失敏感度的保守目标(Aaker and Lee, 2001)。本研究的目的是研究调节焦点及其对定位营销在旅行体验中的感知价值和使用的影响。

研究设计/方法/方法

旅行计划策略是按照促进或保守路线制定来评估调节的取向, 并检查受访者对定位营销(LBM) 服务价值的看法。本研究运用回归分析评估主要关系, 然后分析评估“旅行兴趣信息”(折扣券等)在LBM关系中的调节焦点感知价值中的中介作用。

研究发现

调查结果表明, 促进型路线的效果明显大于保守型的效果。此外, 旅游兴趣信息的重要性(折扣券、地图等)在促进调节焦点(相比于保守型)中显得尤其重要。

实践意义

研究结果证明了调节焦点是旅游消费行为的差异化因素, 并展示了如何将其用于有效地定位营销信息以增强旅游体验。目的地营销组织可以在领导力、决策制定和一线员工创造力等领域的组织环境中应用调节焦点理论, 从而提供难忘的旅行体验。

研究原创性/价值

本论文是首次研究以收益为中心/风险规避为中心的旅行计划, 以及其在旅行经历中对定位营销服务计划中价值感知的影响之间的关系的研究之一。

Details

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, vol. 13 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-9880

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 October 2021

Timothy Webb, Srikanth Beldona, Zvi Schwartz and Simone Bianco

Coopetition is the simultaneous cooperation and competition among firms operating in a specific market. It is particularly relevant in tourism where many competing suppliers…

Abstract

Purpose

Coopetition is the simultaneous cooperation and competition among firms operating in a specific market. It is particularly relevant in tourism where many competing suppliers (hotels in this case) contribute to the facilitation and delivery of the tourism product, i.e. the destination. By engaging in cooperative arrangements, firms can increase the attractiveness and competitiveness of the tourism product and subsequently demand for individual firms. This study aims to explore the three types of benefits derived from cooperative relationships in the context of the hotel industry, as well as the link between coopetition and market performance.

Design/methodology/approach

This study adopts several scales from prior research to survey 475 hotels in the USA. Specifically, respondents were asked to evaluate their performance with regard to the three benefits of coopetition. The responses were used to model the benefits of coopetition as a higher-order construct in a two-stage partial least squares model. In the second stage, the higher-order construct was linked to perceived hotel performance and the respondents’ RevPAR index.

Findings

The results show that perceived benefits from coopetition are positively associated with hotel performance. Specifically, the model depicts positive links between the coopetition construct and the hotels’ perceived performance, as well as their RevPAR index. Interestingly, the results were not as strong for index performance and may be due to the relative nature of the measure.

Research limitations/implications

This study supports the notion that coopetition alliances between hotels provide a viable avenue for performance growth. Specifically, managers should consider working together to allocate resources strategically to grow the pie. It is important that managers measure the benefits of cooperative relationships outside of competitive index scores as these metrics may be relative to the cooperative arrangement.

Originality/value

The study is the first to investigate the three benefits of coopetition in the context of the hotel industry. Specifically, it is the first to establish a positive link between firm coopetition and perceived performance in the hotel industry at the firm level.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 33 no. 12
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 January 2021

Yiran Liu and Srikanth Beldona

The examination of revisit intentions in hospitality is integral to relationship marketing and customer loyalty. Its measurement and determination have largely been done through…

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Abstract

Purpose

The examination of revisit intentions in hospitality is integral to relationship marketing and customer loyalty. Its measurement and determination have largely been done through closed-ended measures in surveys of customers. However, vast troves of consumer-generated media in the form of open-ended text reviews can also serve as sources for the determination of revisit intentions. The purpose of this paper is to develop and test a rule-based classification model from big data to extract revisit intentions.

Design/methodology/approach

Data for this came from 116,241 reviews scraped from Tripadvisor.com using a stratified sampling technique comprising hotels in major cities in the USA. A sample comprising 1,800 reviews was randomly drawn from this larger pool of reviews and manually annotated. A manual-set rule-based model, supervised machine learning (ML) models and hybrid models were developed to extract revisit intention.

Findings

The hybrid model of the MSRB method complemented by the gradient boosting ML method performed the best to classify revisit intentions in reviews.

Practical implications

This study’s rule-based classification model can be used by hotels to evaluate revisit intentions from the ever-growing pool of consumer-generated reviews. This can enable hotels to identify drivers of re-patronage and enhance relationship marketing initiatives.

Originality/value

This study is the first to propose an analytical model that taps big data to extracting revisit intentions. In the past, revisit intentions have been assessed using closed-ended questions using traditional survey-based methods.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 33 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 29 May 2019

Dimitrios Buhalis, Tracy Harwood, Vanja Bogicevic, Giampaolo Viglia, Srikanth Beldona and Charles Hofacker

Technological disruptions such as the Internet of Things and autonomous devices, enhanced analytical capabilities (artificial intelligence) and rich media (virtual and augmented…

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Abstract

Purpose

Technological disruptions such as the Internet of Things and autonomous devices, enhanced analytical capabilities (artificial intelligence) and rich media (virtual and augmented reality) are creating smart environments that are transforming industry structures, processes and practices. The purpose of this paper is to explore critical technological advancements using a value co-creation lens to provide insights into service innovations that impact ecosystems. The paper provides examples from tourism and hospitality industries as an information dependent service management context.

Design/methodology/approach

The research synthesizes prevailing theories of co-creation, service ecosystems, networks and technology disruption with emerging technological developments.

Findings

Findings highlight the need for research into service innovations in the tourism and hospitality sector at both macro-market and micro-firm levels, emanating from the rapid and radical nature of technological advancements. Specifically, the paper identifies three areas of likely future disruption in service experiences that may benefit from immediate attention: extra-sensory experiences, hyper-personalized experiences and beyond-automation experiences.

Research limitations/implications

Tourism and hospitality services prevail under varying levels of infrastructure, organization and cultural constraints. This paper provides an overview of potential disruptions and developments and does not delve into individual destination types and settings. This will require future work that conceptualizes and examines how stakeholders may adapt within specific contexts.

Social implications

Technological disruptions impact all facets of life. A comprehensive picture of developments here provides policymakers with nuanced perspectives to better prepare for impending change.

Originality/value

Guest experiences in tourism and hospitality by definition take place in hostile environments that are outside the safety and familiarity of one’s own surroundings. The emergence of smart environments will redefine how customers navigate their experiences. At a conceptual level, this requires a complete rethink of how stakeholders should leverage technologies, engage and reengineer services to remain competitive. The paper illustrates how technology disrupts industry structures and stimulates value co-creation at the micro and macro-societal level.

Details

Journal of Service Management, vol. 30 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-5818

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 5 October 2010

Ajith Nayar and Srikanth Beldona

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…

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Abstract

Purpose

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.

Design/methodology/approach

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

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.

Research limitations/implications

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.

Originality/value

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.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 22 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 July 2012

Srikanth Beldona, Kunwei Lin and Joanne Yoo

As mobile devices amass greater capabilities that include broadband internet and global positioning systems (GPS), the relevance of location based marketing (LBM) services has…

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Abstract

Purpose

As mobile devices amass greater capabilities that include broadband internet and global positioning systems (GPS), the relevance of location based marketing (LBM) services has gained increased attention among tourism researchers and marketers alike. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of personal travel innovativeness, information privacy and the type of delivery method (pull vs push) on the perception of potential value in LBM programs.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from travelers at two large airports in the USA. A 2*2 design that comprised LBM (services vs promotions) and the delivery method (pull vs push) combined with two primary covariates, namely personal travel innovativeness and information privacy, evaluated the potential value of LBM programs amongst consumers.

Findings

The findings indicate that personal travel innovativeness has a significant impact on the perception of potential value in LBM. Additionally, the pull delivery method was more amenable to customers when compared with the push delivery method.

Research limitations/implications

There are significant implications for practitioners in the way LBM programs can be conceived and implemented. Also, marketing messages can be produced based on the relevance of the findings.

Originality/value

The paper is the first to directly ascertain the impact of the delivery method and travel innovativeness in an emerging domain of LBM using a synthesis of constructs.

Details

Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, vol. 3 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-9880

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 April 2014

Srikanth Beldona, Nadria Buchanan and Brian L. Miller

The aim of this paper is to determine the relative efficacy of an e-tablet menu over the traditional paper-based menu across the parameters of order information quality, menu…

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Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to determine the relative efficacy of an e-tablet menu over the traditional paper-based menu across the parameters of order information quality, menu usability, and ordering satisfaction using customer perceptions.

Design/methodology/approach

Two types of data were collected: customer perceptions using an instrument comprising academically underpinned constructs and observational data that involved ordering times, logs of any customization requests, and notes gathered from interactions with restaurant staff.

Findings

Findings indicate that e-tablet menus are significantly superior to the traditional paper-based menu across all parameters. Restaurateurs should be cognizant of customization options to significantly enhance order information quality, improve customer service and boost sales.

Research limitations/implications

The findings support the idea that the use of technology does help to enhance the service experience, specifically the ordering experience for the customer.

Practical implications

Electronic tablets have the ability to transfer greater levels of information in an interactive manner thereby enhancing the role of the menu in the merchandising of a restaurant's offerings.

Originality/value

Although there is evidence of the importance of restaurant menus to the success of restaurants, little is known about the influence of the use of electronic menus on the ordering experience. This study provides findings that focus on the usability of menus and their impact on the ordering experience.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 26 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 20 April 2010

Srikanth Beldona, Andrew P. Moreo and Gokul Das Mundhra

Eating out behaviors vary from one individual to another. However, there is no conceptually underpinned typology to explain this phenomenon effectively. This paper aims to develop…

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Abstract

Purpose

Eating out behaviors vary from one individual to another. However, there is no conceptually underpinned typology to explain this phenomenon effectively. This paper aims to develop a conceptually underpinned typology of eating out attitudes and to distinguish differences based on demographics and actual eating out behaviors.

Design/methodology/approach

This study proposes a typology using a 2×2 matrix (high and low levels of involvement and variety seeking) and uses multinomial logistic regression to examine differences between the four groups.

Findings

Age, education, the breadth of culinary exposure, and the extent of eating out are significant differentiators between the four eating out attitudes.

Research limitations/implications

The typology can be investigated in cross‐cultural contexts to expand the understanding of eating out behaviors underpinned by involvement and variety seeking. Both restaurants and destination marketing organizations can use the typology to better understand their customers and build effective communication and product mix strategies.

Originality/value

The paper is the first in the restaurant marketing literature to examine and explain the roles of two important and highly relevant consumer behavior constructs: involvement and variety seeking. Additionally, the study provides key insights pertinent to the fast growing Indian market.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 22 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 8 January 2018

Jay Kandampully, Tingting(Christina) Zhang and Elina Jaakkola

In the contemporary hospitality industry, superior customer experiences are essential in gaining customer loyalty and achieving a competitive advantage. However, limited research…

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Abstract

Purpose

In the contemporary hospitality industry, superior customer experiences are essential in gaining customer loyalty and achieving a competitive advantage. However, limited research addresses this subject. The purpose of this study is to advance scholarly research on customer experience management (CEM) in the hospitality field by providing a comprehensive overview of the key elements of CEM, a framework for managing customer experience and a rich agenda for research.

Design/methodology/approach

An extensive literature review produces a comprehensive overview of the existing knowledge of CEM. A synthesis of previous literature reveals the need for additional, contemporary information sources. The study is, therefore, supplemented by invited commentaries on CEM from senior scholars and hospitality managers.

Findings

The proposed model takes a holistic perspective on managing a positive customer experience, through collaboration among marketing, operations, design, human resources and strategy, in association with technology and social media.

Research limitations/implications

The literature review and commentaries from leading experts reveal six areas for further research on CEM in the hospitality industry.

Originality/value

This study provides a comprehensive, systematic review of CEM literature and detailed understanding of the mechanisms for managing customer experiences in the hospitality industry. It integrates state-of-the-art CEM knowledge in the generic business context, along with principles of hospitality management, and advances CEM research by emphasizing the need for collaboration among marketing, operations and human resources.

Details

International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, vol. 30 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-6119

Keywords

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