This study examines the performance of a penalized neural network and the replication of a customer engagement survey scale with text information in the hotel industry. Although the empirical analysis shows highly accurate model performance only in the training sample, the results also clarify the issues of the engagement scale.

The hotel industry vs. online travel agencies: forever foe? The rise of Online Travel Agency (OTA) conglomerates such as Expedia and Priceline has forced the hotel industry to find ways of working with, or avoiding, an increasingly powerful channel for room distribution, and an increasingly relevant set of brands for consumers (Zhang, Denizci Guillet, & Kucukusta, 2015; Lee, Denizci Guillet, & Law, 2013). Although strategizing how to work with different electronic distribution channels has been studied, very few of them have addressed hoteliers‘ perceptions of OTAs, and how OTAs are affecting the industry. In this exploratory research, we sought to investigate the state of current and possible future relationships between OTAs and the hotel industry, from the perspective of diverse hoteliers in the U.S. Using a grounded theory method (Charmaz, 2014; Corbin, Strauss, & Strauss, 2014) that advises to maximize variety to increase the chances of finding new distinctions through a method of ‗constant comparison‘ between data sources, we interviewed eight highly accomplished hotel industry professionals in the U.S., mostly executives, across a variety of roles. Two of our informants were owners/operators of a large hotel management group (Interviewees 1 and 2), one was a former C-level executive at a major hotel brand (Interviewee 3), one was a senior executive at a midlevel regional hotel brand (Interviewee 4), one was the owner/operator to two family-run independent hotels (Interviewee 5), one was the owner of an independent, luxury hotel online services provider (Interviewee 6), one was the manager of a mid-level major brand hotel (Interviewee 7), and one was the owner of a hotel real estate investment company (Interviewee 8). The interviews were semi-structured on: the influence of OTAs on their business, and the hotel industry in general and current strategies for working with, or competing against, OTAs. The interviewees were guaranteed full anonymity, and the resulting 60-75 minute conversations were fully transcribed. Based on the grounded theory design, we followed gradual phases of data analysis: a preliminary open coding phase where concepts are associated with a line-by-line reading of transcripts; a focused coding phase where a limited number of concepts are chosen for further analysis; and an ‗axial‘ coding phase where concepts are systematically related to each other. During the open coding phase, this study‘s authors individually did initial code generation. They then came together to select the primary themes that emerged during focused coding, and worked together to relate the chosen themes to each other, and to key contextual variables such as industry role, hotel size, and hotel category. The impact of OTAs The first consistent perception of OTAs from every corner of the hotel industry is that they ―are not going away‖ (Interviewees 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8). The interviewees noted that OTAs first came into the picture post 9-11 when the market was down. Back then, hoteliers ―signed up for OTAs without thinking about any future impacts‖ (Interviewee 5), and ―did not anticipate how disruptive they were going to be, because the original OTA model was to sell distressed or unusable inventory‖ (Interviewee 1). The negative perceptions of OTAs were widespread, with the use of terms such as ―necessary evils‖, ―evil empires‖, and ―Frankenstein‖ (Interviewees 4 and 5). The hotel industry ―sold its soul‖ to OTAs (Interviewee 1), we [hoteliers] are idiots‖ (Interviewee 8) and ―we hate them all.‖ (Interviewee 5). The interviewees expressed that OTAs have had an unexpectedly significant and negative impact on the hotel industry and their business, ―dramatically changing the landscape of hotel business‖ (Interviewee 8). With a marketing budget far larger than that of many hotels, OTAs have successfully convinced consumers to book on their websites for speed, convenience, choice, and loyalty points, and made them believe – incorrectly, according to the interviewees – that they can get the cheapest rates there. The negative view of OTAs has led to a predominantly zero-sum view of the hotel- OTA relationship. OTAs have consolidated to develop a large network of suppliers, and they have been taking more direct business away from hotels, according to the interviewees. As such, the main impact of OTAs on the interviewees‘ hotel bookings was increasing costs due to commission fees to the OTAs, which ―drive up the customer acquisition cost, [which is why] profit hasn‘t gone up in proportion to the revenue increase‖ over the years (Interviewee 6). All but one interviewee mentioned the term ―rate parity,‖ whereby hotels and OTAs have to offer the same room rates on their respective websites. Nonetheless, one interviewee expressed discontent about OTAs‘ practices of rate parity, because hoteliers have ―no clue what they‘re selling [my inventory] for, especially when hotels are packaged with other travel products‖ (Interviewee 5). To minimize this negative financial impact, hotels try to increase direct bookings as much as possible from their members by offering extra features such as mobile check-in, or better rates available only to them. This ‗closed group‘ offering is also practiced by OTAs through which their loyalty program members can also be offered more favorable pricing or terms. The interviewees mentioned that the impact of OTAs is larger for independent than for chain hotels because independent hotels have no ―big distribution channel, and it‘s a way for [them] to be visible‖ (Interviewee 8). However, OTAs are more expensive for independent than for chain hotels, as the latter can leverage their large size to negotiate better terms with OTAs. The OTA commission rates at the interviewees‘ hotels ranged between 6% and 28%, with the highest rate being for independent hotels. Four interviewees pointed out that hotel location and service/price level influence the degree to which OTAs are utilized. That is, OTAs‘ booking volume is higher at resorts, and at hotels at or near airports with a high guest turnover. OTAs‘ booking volume is also higher for hotels with limited service (economy or budget hotels) than those with higher levels of service/price (luxury or upper scale hotels). The former, as compared to the latter, are akin to ―soap on a shelf‖ (Interviewee 8) because they are not distinctive in the consumer‘s mind, and consumers who choose to stay at the former are typically price-elastic. Although the majority of bookings at major chain hotels are still generated by direct bookings, what concerns the hoteliers most is that the percentage of bookings by OTAs has been ―growing at a double-digit rate for many years‖ (Interviewee 3). This makes the interviewees feel that ―OTAs take customers away‖ from their hotels (Interviewee 8). Strategic response of the hotel industry Although all the interviewees acknowledged and worried about the negative financial impact of OTAs, the only consistent strategy for coping with OTAs was to divert bookings to more cost-effective channels such as direct booking, or ―limit visibility over premium dates as much as possible‖ (Interviewee 8). They responded that they use or have to use most or all major OTAs (e.g., Expedia, Priceline), simply because these are prevalent and most familiar to consumers today. The response to the perceived OTA threat varied, depending on the respondent‘s role in the hotel industry. The REIT investor (Interviewee 8) and the major brand executive (Interviewee 3) displayed the purest zero-sum view of the relationship. The REIT investor believed the best response is to strengthen the bargaining position of hotels and win back lost revenue, expressing that hotels are ―letting other people take all this money…we‘re stupid.‖ From the major brand perspective, the best response was consolidation (getting bigger) to have better leverage in complex OTA negotiations, and to have more capital for marketing campaigns and technology development. For the more ―independent‖ respondents there was more scope to react by working with OTAs at some level. The single hotel manager and the independent hotel owner both used the metaphor of ―playing the game‖ to survive in the new era: ―You‘d better play ball with them if you want a presence online‖ (Interviewee 5). For an independent hotel, ―Expedia is my franchise website‖ (Interviewee 7) because OTAs are ―doing things that I could never do as an independent‖ (Interviewee 5). In particular, they emphasized the necessity to understand and master the digital marketing landscape of social media, review sites, search engine optimization, daily deal sites, and a good online presence on their own websites, expressing ―You gotta fish where the fish are‖ (Interviewee 4). Independent and small hotels do suffer from higher OTA commissions, but can also work in their favor in terms of preferred placement in hotel searches and referrals from OTAs. The technology service company‘s, (Interviewee 6) key strategic response was to gain control over customer data, because customer email addresses are particularly important for ―retargeting and email marketing to get guests back for zero costs‖ but is difficult to obtain when receiving bookings from OTAs. Some interviewees were able to see other potential strategic responses that were promising, but not yet pursued widely. One example was ‗bundling‘ products and services along with hotel rooms in new ways (Interviewees 1, 2, 4, 5, 6), similar to Airbnb‘s recent pivoting of offerings. Recognizing that part of the success of OTAs comes from customer convenience, some interviewees thought that innovations such as eliminating check-in (Interviewee 4) would help hotels cope with the new pressures. The regional hotel chain executive and the hotel management company owners perceived that changes to the physical product offered by hotels were needed to compete with Internet providers, especially Airbnb, saying that hotels need to ―rethink the long hallway‖ and the ―300 square-foot rooms‖ (Interviewee 4). This same executive saw significant barriers to innovation in the hotel industry. ―We [hotel industry] are definitely trying…but we are capital heavy, labor heavy, slow to innovate‖ (Interviewee 4). Discussion Our exploratory findings suggest that hoteliers, across a variety of hotel industry roles, had an almost uniformly profoundly negative, zero-sum view of the OTA relationship. While not dismissing the very real concerns and profitability pressures of the hotel industry, we are concerned that these perceptions may lead hotel industry players to not pursue or develop the relationship between them and OTAs in more mutually beneficial ways. The strategy of choice right now is to simply compete directly with OTAs, which is not a strategy that has necessarily worked for other traditional industries when digital intermediaries have entered their space, especially highly fragmented ones with many service providers such as the media and retail industries (Grossman, 2016). This view of the relationship does explain the relative lack of innovation about how to maximize the benefits of this relationship for both sides. In contrast to the zero-sum view, we would point to an alternative theory such as coopetition (Brandenburger & Nalebuff, 2011). The theory of co-opetition points to two simultaneous processes: the cooperation required to ‗create the pie‘, or create value for all parties; and the competition to ‗divide up the pie‘ or capture the value created. Success in co-opetition comes from ‗changing the game‘ by developing new partnerships with four related parties: customers, suppliers, competitors, and complementors that offer ancillary services. In our data, we saw some tentative recognition of co-opetition possibilities in each of these four categories. For new customer relationships, we saw some desire by hoteliers to improve customer convenience and value, beyond simply increasing loyalty rewards. Some hoteliers recognized that OTAs have succeeded in part because of the consumer convenience and value proposition is a superior one. For new supplier relationships, there is limited recognition that new kinds of hotel products might be needed, supplied by non-traditional sources as in the Airbnb case, or by construction partners when building new hotels. Hotels have traditionally worked with complementors by bundling rooms with various travel services such as gaming or meals, but OTAs and Airbnb now offer similar services, making it difficult for hoteliers to differentiate themselves. Thus, there is an opportunity for hoteliers to creatively rethink their relationship with complementors, which none of our respondents mentioned. Despite the negative perceptions, our respondents reported some possibilities for new relationships with their OTA competitors, by using digital marketing techniques to their own advantage. To take an example, instead of having a booking war against OTAs, Red Lion Hotels strategically decided it would partner with Expedia in 2016. When customers see Red Lion hotel rates on Expedia sites, they see both a loyalty member rate, which is lower, and a non-member rate. Even if they are not part of Red Lion‘s loyalty program, customers can still book the loyalty rate and are then automatically enrolled as Red Lion members – thus enjoying member benefits while at the same time also earning points with Expedia. To complete the enrollment, the customer‘s email address is then sent to Red Lion ―which is a big deal because the online travel agencies don‘t normally share such information with partners‖ (Schaal, 2016b, p. 1). Looking across all four categories of new co-opetition relationships, however, we see little evidence of coordinated, systematic strategies for pursuing them in the hotel industry. For the hotel industry to respond to the rise of today‘s OTAs, and the other technology companies that might enter the industry in the future, we suggest that hotels will need to transcend their negative, zero-sum views of the OTA relationship and actively experiment with new co-opetition relationships. In addition, the hotel industry should also continue to improve the effectiveness of its traditional responses to OTAs, including their loyalty programs and brand loyalty initiatives. Several interviewees acknowledged that consumer behavior is changing and consumers today are not as brand loyal at they used to be. Research results echo the same phenomenon. For example, Wollan, Davis, De Angelis, and Quiring (2017) found that 71% of 25,426 respondents in 33 countries said ‗loyalty programs do not engender loyalty‘; 77% ‗retract their loyalty more quickly than they did three years ago‘; and 61% said they ‗switched one brand to another in the last year.‘ Decreasing brand loyalty is also apparent for hotels. MBLM (2017) found that consumers have the least ‗brand intimacy‘ (emotional bond with a brand) with hotel brands compared to those of other industries such as automotive and retail. Similarly, Oracle Hospitality (2017) found that 58.7% of survey participants (8,000 in Australia, Brazil, Mexico, France, Germany, Japan, U.K. and U.S.) stated that they do not belong to any hotel program. The Global Traveler Study (2014) also found the diminishing meaning of ‗loyalty to one hotel,‘ as 66% of their 4,618 respondents in the U.S., U.K., Germany and China are members of 1-4 hotel loyalty programs, while 15% are members of 5 or more programs. Despite the decreasing numbers and the questioned value of such programs, hoteliers are still trying to make consumers loyal to their own brand by enticing them to join their loyalty program. This effort is to increase direct bookings and compete with OTAs by offering ‗member-only‘ incentives such as member discounts, or additional perks such as free late check-outs, free meals, or free upgrades. However, these incentives may exacerbate the already increasing costs for hoteliers, particularly if they are attracting consumers who are price sensitive and would not book directly unless they get something back. While the interviewees mentioned their efforts to increase direct bookings through loyalty programs, none referred to the cost of those programs. Given the changing consumer behavior toward becoming less loyal to brands, it stands to reason for hoteliers to re-consider their loyalty programs. Conclusion Hoteliers are fighting intermediation and trying to push direct bookings. This is nothing new for them since they have been doing it with traditional travel agencies for years. Yet, bookings with traditional agencies remain strong, and OTA bookings continue to grow. It seems that it might be time for hoteliers to quit fighting intermediation, and embrace the ―good‖ that it can bring by adopting a co-opetition mindset, while also creatively thinking about brand loyalty programs and what they might bring to that mindset – if anything. In the zero-sum perception of OTAs, however, we found little space for innovative thinking about how to create new offerings through new partnerships, or loyalty programs. While existing OTAs, and emerging OTAs such as Airbnb, are personalizing services for customers, offering new services that are bundled with rooms, and new products with a new population of room suppliers, the hotel industry‘s response is to simply copy what the OTAs are doing and apply it to their own online bookings. We urge the hotel industry to move beyond this response, and be equally creative in finding new co-opetition opportunities that speak to the traditional strengths of the hospitality industry and its experienced professionals.

The hotel industry has been reaching their existing and prospecting customers via emails throughout a customer’s journey, from pre-arrival information/promotions to post-stay emails for the reviews (Huang, 2016). In different from other email marketing campaigns containing pure promotional materials for acquiring customers, post-stay e-mails can be used to send personalized messages and build an emotional connection with customers by thanking and rewarding their stays. As an increasing number of customers open and read emails via mobile devices on the move (Jordan, 2015), effectively designed post-stay emails with persuasive messages can be a powerful communicating method keeping customers in the lines of dialog with the brands. However, there is lack of studies on how the post-stay email marketing campaign works to retain customers. This study aimed to identify post-stay email features that affect customers’ intention to revisit the same hotel brand depending on their levels of involvement in choosing hotels for leisure purpose. Grounded on the Elaboration Likelihood Model (ELM) (Petty & Cacioppo, 1986), this study identified what causes “motivation” to process a post-stay email and which email features can be more effectively positioned to persuade consumers with different elaboration levels. This study developed hypotheses regarding the effects of email features on attitude and intention to revisit the hotel brands. A total of 189 responses was determined to be usable in this study. Using Path Analysis, this study tested multivariate regression model with direct effect of email features on attitude and indirect effects of email features on intention to revisit the hotel brand. In addition, this study tested a moderating effect of leisure involvement on the hypothesized paths. The results showed that consumers with a low level of leisure involvement tended to be influenced by financial and interactivity features on their attitude towards the hotel brand while personalization features yielded favorable attitude towards the hotel brand for consumers with a high level of leisure involvement. Attitude towards the hotel brand was a significant predictor of behavioral intention to revisit the hotel brand that sends post-stay emails in this study. Industry professionals and researchers can utilize this study to better design their e-mails as customer retention strategies. The email features analyzed in this study can be strategically included in the post-stay e-mail according to their target market. The initiative can assist in reinforcing or persuading their guests to revisit the hotel brand and build stronger customer relationships.

Web 2.0 has changed the way users create, share and use online information (O'Connor, 2008). The testimony of anonymous and exempt consumers that emits reviews and ratings through online reviews is a form of Electronic Word of Mouth (eWOM). Positive online reviews can contribute to a significant increase in hotel reservations (Ye, Law, & Gu, 2009). Online reviews are amidst the most important factors that influence hotel reservations (Dickinger & Mazanec, 2008) However, only a small percentage of travelers contribute actively with new reviews and evaluations (Bronner & Hoog, 2011). Thus, it is very important to know what motivates consumers to make online hotel reviews, to get more online comments and, consequently, more hotel reservations. Cantallops and Salvi (2014) say that there is little research on eWOM and hotels. The objective of this study is to identify the different causal combinations (configurations) of motivations (personal, social benefit, social concern, and consumer empowerment (Bronner & Hoog, 2011)), and socio-demographic characteristics (gender and age) that lead to hotel online reviews. The study uses the fuzzy-set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (fsQCA) because it allows to identify the necessary and sufficient configurations to achieve the outcome (Fiss, 2011). This is an innovative approach in this domain, to the best of our knowledge, because the study focuses on the causal recipes of motivations and not on the net effects of independent motivations as past research do. The study obtained a convenience sample of 192 valid responses, from an online survey.The measures show adequate reliability. The results show that the social concern is a necessary condition and the consumer empowerment is an “almost always necessary” condition. The analysis of sufficient conditions show that three different combinations (explain 43.6% of the cases) of conditions exist that lead to eWOM: 1) being a female older than 35 years old combined with high social concern and high consumer empowerment; 2) being a female older than 35 years old combined with high social concern and high personal motivations; and, 3) being a male combined with the presence of high social concern, high personal motivations, and high consumer empowerment which represents the most significant representation of consumers that make online reviews. Managers should consider these recipes in communication and website design strategies. For example, for men, it is important to have jointly a simple communication channel so that they can easily share positive or negative experiences to help others (social concern); a travel website where they get some fun (personal motivation); and, to believe that their opinions are taken into account by the hotels, namely to improve service (consumer empowerment). In this way,hotels and travel services providers promoting these aspects will tend to have more and better online reviews, which will have a positive influence on hotel reservations. Future studies should consider different motivations for online reviews and eWOM.

This study investigates (1) how promotion activities in intra-firm and inter-firm levels influence customers’ total spending amount (revenue) and (2) how customer- and firm-generated online information influences revenue directly and indirectly in luxury hotel industry.

  본 연구는 호텔에서 방 예약을 받는 시스템에서, 전술적으로 방의 등급을 정해 예약을 받는 방 배정 문제에서, 효과적인 절차를 총 수익에 관련되는 여러 가지 요소들을 고려하여, 총 수익을 최대화하는 알고리즘을 개발하였다. 이익을 최대화하고, 자원들의 효과적인 배분을 위해서 먼저 시장의 차별화가 어떻게 다르게 형성되는가를 분석하고, 이 결과를 전략적인 계층 방 분배 문제를 해결하는 데에 적용하였다. 하룻밤을 지내는 손님을 위한 예약에서는 동적인 모델링(

As public gives more attention on the well being trend, the aim of this study on the Sommelier - an industry profession in the hotel and food service industry is to suggest the educational plan to meet the demand as a professional and to help establish the direction to the effective curriculum. Findings from this study showed that a Sommelier need to possess knowledge in not just wine but in areas such as foreign language, computer, management, hotel and restaurant, global manner, and etc. It was also recommended to authorize the sommelier license as an official and to develop educational entities for sommelier.

In this paper we develop an efficient procedure for solving the tactical-level room allocation problem for hotel industry by incorporating other sources of revenue into overall Revenue Management (RM) system. To maximize profits and allocate wisely available resources, first, determine how different market segments contributed. And apply this to an efficient procedure for solving tactical-level room allocation problem for the hotel industry by combining the dynamic model for handling single-night reservation requests and the static model for handling multi-night reservation requests.

The purpose of this study was to get data on the job attitude of cooks. This study was surveyed 216 cooks who work for deluxe hotels at Pusan. The results were summarized as follow: 1. The cooks think that their devotion is most important source for the best cooking. The next are taste, quality of raw materials, skill and hygiene in order. 2. 57.9% of the cooks think that a degree of expertise their field are average, but 73.6% cooks believe that the degree of expertise is higher than the other restaurant cooks. 3. They think that a good cook should be sincere and have proficiency of skill, good human relationship and study attitude, but they also believe an academic background and knowledge is not important to be a good cook. A deficiency of knowledge about cooking is what cooks believe to be the greatest hindrance for progress of cooking skills. The next hindrance are, a shortage of endeavor and authority of management. 4. The cooks believe that the ability of cooking is most important for a promotion, the others are, in order, human relationship, career background and age. 5. The cooks show little satisfaction with their job, but express their unsatisfaction with their pay. Also the cook's social status is mean. 6. The cooks recognize that a change in hotel policy is most important for the cooking department of the hotel. The next are, in order, enlargement of working space, arrangement of equipments and hiring of experts. 7. The cooks think that Japanese cooking have the best prospect in a food and beverage enterprise, while Chinese cooking have relatively lower prospect.

Given the rise in international tourism and the rapid growth of the Vietnamese economy, the hospitality industry in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam’s commercial hub, has been facing severe labor shortages due to competition with other fast-growing parts of the economy. These struggles to acquire high-quality employees is strangling future growth and placing new importance on the role of recruitment. To better understand the effectiveness of an organization’s recruitment strategy, recruiters need to ascertain the Job Pursuit Intention (JPI) of job seekers to efficiently align an applicant’s work notions with the organization’s goals. This study aims to investigate the factors impacting on JPI among employees working in the hotel sector in Ho Chi Minh City. Secondary data are from previous studies and primary data are from consultation with 10 experts, group discussions and five in-depths structured interviews with 15 random employees and 302 survey questionnaires with employees working in three five-star hotels. Cronbach’s Alpha, EFA, T-Test, ANOVA are used for statistical analysis. The findings show that compensation, career advancement, and work-life balance affect JPI of job seekers, in which compensation is the most influential factor. Furthermore, recommendations for recruiters, further research and limitations of this study have been laid out.

This study aims to investigate the effects of market commonality and resource similarity on price competition and the recursive consequences in the Korean lodging market. Price comparison among hotels in the same geographic market has been facilitated through the development of information technology, rendering little search cost of consumers. While the literature implies the heterogeneous price attack and response among hotels, a limited number of empirical researches focus on the asymmetric and recursive pattern in the competitive dynamics. This study empirically examines the price interactions in the Korean lodging market based on the theoretical framework of competitive price interactions and countervailing power. Demonstrating superiority to the spatial lag model and the ordinary least squares in the estimation, the results from spatial error model suggest that the hotels with longer operational history pose an asymmetric impact on the price of the newer hotels. The asymmetry is also found in chain hotels over the independent, further implying the possibility of predatory pricing. The findings of this study provide the evidence of a hierarchical structure in the price competition, with different countervailing power by the resources of the hotels. Theoretical and managerial implications are discussed, with suggestions for future study.

The objective of this study is to investigate the effect of HR practices such as (Recruitment, empowerment, working condition and compensation) on Job satisfaction in the prospects of Hotel Industry of Pakistan. The sample size for this study was 100 employees who were selected through convenience sampling techniques. This study was restricted to 10 Hotels of Peshawar. Hypotheses of the study were tested through correlation and regression analysis to inspect the employee’s satisfaction. The findings investigates that there is significant relationship between HR practices and job satisfaction. Moreover Recruitment and selection, empowerment and working condition have positive effect on job satisfaction, while compensation has negative effect on job satisfaction, which indicates that most of employees are not satisfied from payment of employer. Empirical findings concluded that best HR practices have significant and positive effect on employees job satisfaction. Therefore, it is suggested for HR manager to understand and implement the HR practices correctly to take good work from their employees.