The changing hospitality industry
How to sustain a competitive advantage in the future Tristan Leopold University of Amsterdam
Name: Tristan Leopold Student number: 11029110
Program: BSc Economie en Bedrijfskunde / Economics and Business
Code: BSc ECB
Supervisor: Daphne Dekker Date of submission: 26 June 2018
Statement of Originality
This document is written by Student [Tristan Leopold] who declares to take full responsibility for the contents of this document.
I declare that the text and the work presented in this document are original and that no
sources other than those mentioned in the text and its references have been used in creating it. The Faculty of Economics and Business is responsible solely for the supervision of
Abstract
The hospitality industry is a rapidly changing environment. Therefore, it becomes harder for hotels and restaurant to survive and keep up with new trends. The aim of this research was to give answer to the question: How could hospitality organizations sustain a competitive advantage in the future? By looking at former research, the drivers that are changing the hospitality industry were identified. These are information technology, customer service, corporate social responsibility and the Asian traveler. By conducting qualitative research it became clear that the drivers of change corporate social responsibility and the Asian traveler did not have enough impact on the hospitality industry in Amsterdam to sustain a competitive advantage. Information technology and customer service, however, are of big influence. Therefore, hospitality organizations should consider these drivers of change if they want to sustain their competitive advantage. Hotels and restaurants have a better chance in surviving in the competitive hospitality industry when they apply the following: Review stimulation, stimulation of bookings via own website, use of social media as a marketing tool, keeping up with new customer needs and new customers, and provide a personal service where a balance is found between adding something extra to a service and delivering a fast service.
The changing hospitality industry
How to sustain a competitive advantage in the future
The hospitality industry is a continuous changing environment. The economic landscape in the world is improving. People are spending more money in hotels and in restaurants. The competitiveness in this industry is getting fiercer every year (Carmo, 2015). Consequently, it becomes harder for hospitality organizations to survive and keep up with new trends. Therefore, hospitality organizations must keep changing and improving their strategies in order to sustain a competitive advantage (Carmo, 2015; Olsen & Connolly, 2000). There are many factors playing a role on keeping competitive advantage in the hospitality industry. In the literature there is a lot of research done on how hospitality organizations could achieve a competitive advantage (Yong Kim & Oh , 2004). There does exist a gap in the literature on how to sustain a competitive advantage, while the hospitality industry is changing (Gutierrez, Alcaraz, Susaeta, Suárez, & Pin, 2015). Olsen and Connolly (2000) did an investigation on what future research should focus in order to get a more comprehensive body of knowledge about the influence of technology on the hospitality industry. They came to the conclusion that new strategies are necessary to effectively guide hospitality organizations in the future. Organizations in the hospitality industry spend millions a year on information technology. Yet there are only a few studies explaining how managers should use this new information technology (Connor & Murphy, 2004). Managers of hospitality organizations are aware of the fact that the hospitality industry is rapidly
changing, therefore most organizations are trying to improve their information on technology. Still most organizations do not know which strategies to implement in this changing industry (Connor & Murphy, 2004). A reason for the lack of academic research on this topic, could be caused by the fuzzy nature of hospitality. Where it is difficult to identify the drivers that are influencing the hospitality industry (Sipe & Testa, 2009).
In this research the drivers of the changing hospitality industry are identified and divided into four dimensions. Hospitality organizations are almost obliged to change the service they are providing. More customers are expecting an experience when getting a service in the hospitality industry (Olsen & Connolly, 2000; Khan & Khan, 2009). Guests are becoming more demanding about what they want for their money (Chathoth, 2007). Another factor influencing the hospitality industry is that of environmental policies. Hospitality organizations are not taking a proactive approach to environmental concerns. This could therefore have a bad influence on sustaining a competitive advantage (Costa, 1997). The last dimension of change in the hospitality industry is called the Asian traveler. The Asian traveler will dominate a large share of the world travel, instead of the European traveler, therefore organizations should find ways to attract these guests (Carmo, 2015).
Overall, the hotel and restaurant industry is becoming more competitive over time. How organizations should act on this changing environment stays unclear in the existing literature. The aim of this research is to give answer to the question: How could hospitality organizations sustain a competitive advantage in the future? To give answer to this question first an overview of the current state of knowledge on this subject is described. The literature overview is divided into several sub questions. First, hospitality organizations and the
hospitality industry will be clarified and described. Second, all the relevant knowledge will be found on how hospitality organizations are achieving competitive advantage in the present. Third, all the drivers of change in the hospitality industry are given and described. Fourth, all the relevant information is presented about what the new focus of hospitality organizations should be in the future. Subsequently a conceptual model is formed. Followed by a research design that explains how this qualitative research is deducted. In total, seven managers were interviewed. The outcomes of the interviews will be given in the results and discussion section. Finally, the conclusion is given.
Literature review What are hospitality organizations?
This research is about commercial hospitality. This means the provision of food, beverages and sometimes accommodation within business. Where you can rent a room for a day or longer. This kind of hospitality has existed for at least 4000 years. The industry where these commercial hospitality services are provided is called the hospitality industry (Gorman, 2009). In this research, hospitality organizations are also referred to as hotels and restaurants. Previously it was known as hotels and catering (Lashley, 2001). According to Dittmer and Griffin (1993) the idea of a hospitality organization is that customers do not actually buy quality services or service delivery, but they buy experiences. Services are seen as different from goods as experiences are seen as different from services. Services are intangible and experiences are memorable. An experience is seen as something personal that only exists in the mind of the customers. Therefore, an experience is different for every individual (Pine & Gilmore, 1998). Consequently, it can be be hard for hospitality organizations to provide a good experience. Besides that, the competitiveness between hospitality organizations have grown over the years. As a results, it becomes harder for hotels and restaurants to sustain a competitive advantage (Mok, Sparks & Kadampully, 2013).
How do hospitality organizations achieve a competitive advantage?
Hospitality is an essential element in the relationship between host and guest. This would be an effective relationship when the host is perceived as hospitable by the guest (Dittmer & Griffin, 1993). Restaurants always try to sell the right food and drinks at the right price to the right customer, whereas hotels try to sell the right room for the right price to the right customer. This is a fundamental goal that will remain unchanged to achieve competitive advantage. Only the means that are used to achieve this goal will change in the future (Sigala,
Lockwood & Jones, 2001). Understanding the key forces of supply and demand is essential to achieve competitive advantage in the hospitality industry. Making effective use of these capabilities is an organization's ability that contributes to sustaining competitive advantage (Fraj, Matute, & Melero, 2015). Porter and Advantage (1985) describe competitive strategy as the search for a good competitive position in an industry. Competitive advantages are achieved when a firm is creating value that exceeds the cost of making the value. This research is about how hospitality organizations could keep creating value in the future, while the industry in where they are operating is changing. Therefore, the Porter's five forces model can be used to look at how the external environment, in this case the hospitality industry, is at this moment and how it presumably is going to change (Porter & Advantage, 1985). This model provides a framework with five different forces. The threat of new entries, threat of substitutes, bargaining power of buyer, bargaining power of suppliers and the
competitiveness among organizations (Dobbs, 2014). Entering the hospitality industry is very hard, because of the high entry barriers that come along with opening a hotel or restaurant. The government plays a big role in this, because the government is restrained in giving a permission to open a new hotel or restaurant. Besides that, the overall costs of opening a new place is often very high. This would also probably not change in the future or only get higher (Yong Kim & Oh, 2004). Hospitality organizations also cope with a threat of substitutes. Companies like Airbnb take away a lot of potential guests of hotels and therefore intensify the competition (Yong Kim & Oh , 2004). Both the bargaining power of buyers and suppliers appears to be low, because of the enormous number of suppliers and buyers in this industry (Yong Kim & Oh, 2004). The bargaining power of buyers and suppliers could be increased in the future, because of information technology. Through the use of internet and knowledge technologies organizations and customers in this industry can obtain more bargaining power, because they have more knowledge about each other. Finally, competitiveness has increased.
More people are entering the market, because people are gradually earning a higher income and spending more money on leisure travel. Consequently, more people are going to a restaurant or hotel (Carmo, 2015).
By understanding all the five forces in which an organization operates, a firm can react on market signals and consequently create value for the firm. Porter’s five forces approach is primarily based on an assumption that firms have identical or similar resources within an industry (Porter & Advantage, 1985). Hospitality organizations are not providing homogeneous services. Therefore, the resource based view is also a good way to look at how hospitality organizations are achieving a competitive advantage. This view has an internal perspective on how an organization could achieve competitive advantages. The focus of the resource based view lies on physical, technological, financial and organizational resources (Yong Kim & Oh , 2004). For hospitality organizations it is of great importance to know what the drivers are that change the hospitality industry, because only then firms could speculate how the industry environment is going to change. Accordingly, they can change their strategies and know what to focus on in the future to sustain competitive advantage.
What are the drivers of change in the hospitality industry?
By looking at past research about what is influencing the hospitality industry, many drivers of change were identified. These drivers are categorized and separated into four dimensions. The influence of information technology, the change in delivering customer service, the influence of corporate social responsibility and the upcoming Asian traveler. Information technology and customer service, presumably, have a bigger influence on change in the hospitality industry than corporate social responsibility and the upcoming Asian
chosen, because they all influence the hospitality industry in a different way and cannot be put together.
Information technology. Technology gives on the one hand more bargaining power to the hotels and restaurant offering a service, but on the other hand more bargaining power to the buyers of the hospitality industry. Hoteliers and restaurants will be able to determine the lifetime value of their guests through technologies. As a result, they can create customer loyalty and increase their market share (Olsen & Connolly, 2000). Organizations will no longer compete via traditional methods, like pricing and location. Rather, they will use a knowledge-based approach. Probably the most successful companies in this industry will collect information about the buying behavior of their customers and convert this knowledge to a more personal level of service. Through mass customization, individual customer needs can be met (Olsen & Connolly, 2000). On the other hand the bargaining power of buyers in the hospitality industry is likely to change even more (Olsen & Connolly, 2000). People are nowadays constantly connected with the Internet. For this reason they have more access to information and can make better decisions about which hotel or restaurant to book in the future (Carmo, 2015; Olsen & Connolly, 2000). Consumers have better access to information sources. This enhances their voice and therefore changes the market (Kucuk &
Krishnamurthy, 2007). Buyers are also becoming spontaneous decision makers in the sense that they have no problem with buying last-minute deals and packages. They almost see booking a hotel as a game to take advantage of low prices to save money (Carmo, 2015).
The way of intermediaries as we know them is expected to change as well. The role of travel agencies and global distribution systems will change in the future (Olsen & Connolly, 2000). The best intermediaries must redefine themselves and consequently will keep
providing value in the hospitality industry. New intermediaries will have an increasing role as brokers of information by filtering the volumes of information. Accordingly, these new
intermediaries will take over the role of present day services such as travel agents. New intermediaries will give rise to other methods of how products are sold and bought in the future (Connor & Murphy, 2004; Olsen & Connolly, 2000). Companies like Bol.com and eBay will reinvent the booking model in this industry. The relationship between intermediary and supplier is also changing, because of the growth of the merchant model instead of the commission model. With the merchant model, intermediaries determine the price instead of the suppliers. This makes it easier for consumers to compare rates on the internet.
Consequently, decreasing profitability and giving more power to intermediaries. In the commission model, it is the other way around, where the suppliers determine the price (Connor & Murphy, 2004; Olsen & Connolly, 2000). Overall, the information technology is and will become an important asset for restaurants and hotels to increase their organizational performance and strategic position (Wang & Qualls, 2007).
Customer service. The hospitality industry has grown across the globe. As a result, customers are becoming more experienced and more aware of what a good experience entails. Besides that, technology gives customers access to all possible options available to them. Therefore, it is more important for organizations to improve the quality of their service (Carmo, 2015; Olsen & Connolly, 2000). When hotels and restaurants want to differentiate themselves from competitors the quality of service will become more important than the price (Kandampully & Suhartanto, 2000). Besides that, hotels and restaurants are nowadays more pressured to always provide a good service. This is because people can complain immediately through the use of websites and mobile applications. Guests could give a bad review after they have visited a hotel or restaurant. This could have a bad impact on the image of a hotel or restaurant, because some reviews could reach millions of people (Carmo, 2015).
Consumers are also expecting a faster delivery of services. Millennials are presumed to be less patient than previous generations. Millennials include people who are born between
1979 and 2000. This group is therefore very important to consider in the future, because it includes 25.47 percent of the world’s population (Carmo, 2015). Carmo (2015) states in his research that millennials find it more important to get a fast service, instead of face-to-face contact or a friendly service. This could change the way hospitality organizations deliver services.
Corporate social responsibility. Hospitality organizations are considered to not have a proactive approach towards corporate social responsibility (CSR) (Costa, 1997; Carmo, 2015). This concept is defined as the responsibility an organization has towards the
environment in which it operates (McWilliams, Siegel, & Wright, 2006). Through the use of CSR a business has a positive influence on the community (Lynn, 2009). We are now living in a world where the concern of CSR is getting more important. More people are raising awareness for a better environment. At this moment and in the future, it is determined that consumers will prefer a organization that is being social responsible. Consumers feel self-fulfilled when they know a small amount of their money goes to charity (Carmo, 2015). Asian traveler. Through the development of globalization in Asia it is determined that people from Asia and especially from China will be the biggest spenders in tourism. Countries like India and Indonesia should also be considered relevant (Li, Meng & Uysal, 2008). Consequently, this will have a big impact in the hospitality industry, because tourists are a large group of the guests who visit a hotel or restaurant. Asian and western cultures have different values. Hotels and restaurants should identify these values to determine consumer preferences (Carmo, 2015; Li et al., 2008). Therefore, they could provide quality service where customer expectations could be met.
All the drivers that are changing the hospitality industry are identified and divided into four dimensions. But how could hospitality organizations best react to this changing industry environment? What should they do in order to sustain a competitive advantage? Those organizations that identified the emerging trends and can adjust their offerings accordingly, will succeed and keep ahead on competitors. Those who do not adapt, will be left behind and become spectators in the hospitality industry (Carmo, 2015; Rusu, Isac & Cureteaunu, 2014). Per dimension is identified what the focus of hotels and restaurants should be to sustain a competitive advantage in the future.
Information technology. There are three main changes identified that are influenced by information technology. These are the increased bargaining power of hotels and
restaurants, the increased bargaining power of buyers and the changing role of intermediaries. As mentioned before, the bargaining power of buyers is likely to grow more than the
bargaining power of the organizations offering the service (Carmo, 2015; Olsen & Connolly, 2000). This could decrease the profitability of hospitality organizations (Porter & Advantage, 1985). Hotels and restaurant could sustain their bargaining power through the use of
knowledge technologies. Where they would rely more on artificial technologies and intelligent agents. Through the use of technology, hotels and restaurants can work more efficient and could get a better understanding about the needs of their customers (Chathoth, 2007; Sigala et al., 2001). The focus should be more on mass customization and one-to-one marketing. Consequently, the focus shifts from getting as many customers as possible, to getting most out of the existing customers. Also, organizations should try to build long-term relationship with the guests (Sigala, et al., 2001). Still the bargaining power of buyers will increase more, because of the digital revolution. Kucuk and Krishnamurthy (2007) did research on how organizations could balance the decision making process of consumers. They have made four conclusions on how organizations could best respond to the increasing
consumer power, because of the accessibility of the Internet. Organizations should increase the findability of their website on different search engines. Enhance the credibility of their website by giving understandable and accurate information. Organizations must introduce convenient payment options, like e-cash and smart card. Finally, they should increase consultancy, through transparency of their company and try to respond quickly to complaining customers.
Social media will also play an important role in interacting with guests. Therefore, organizations must be active on social media to increase word-of-mouth (Carmo, 2015). Word-of-mouth is created when a customer gives a recommendation to another person about a product or a service. It is considered as the most effective form of promotion (Anderson, 1998). The role of intermediaries in the hospitality industry is expected to change as well. Through information technology the services that hotels and restaurants are providing will be seen more as a commodity. To avoid this organizations could try to bring consumers to their own websites and thereby decreasing the power of intermediaries (Connor & Murphy, 2004). Subsequently, organizations could establish one-to-one marketing, because of
disintermediation (Buhalis & Main, 1998).
Customer service. There are two changes described in the customer service
dimension. These are the change of the service quality and the speed of the service delivery. Hospitality organizations could improve the quality of their services by providing more than just a service. Hotels and restaurants should focus on providing an experience instead of just a service. According to Pine and Gilmore (1998) there are five principles how an experience could be best designed. By theming the experience consumers immediately know what to expect when they enter an organization. An experience must be harmonized with positive cues, where even small cues can create memorable experiences. Negative cues should also be eliminated. According to the researchers a mix in memorability should be added to an
experience. Finally, all the five senses of consumers should be engaged in order to provide an experience (Pine & Gilmore, 1998). Hotels and restaurants could offer additional things to their guests, like outdoor activities or getting in touch with a local culture (Carmo, 2015). Hotels and restaurants should also focus on providing a good experience all the time, because otherwise guests could complain immediately (Mok et al., 2013).
As mentioned, a faster service delivery will be important in the future. Hotels could focus on a faster check-in and check-out process, whereas restaurants could focus on delivering drinks and food faster (Carmo, 2015).
Corporate social responsibility. CSR is becoming an important factor for hotels and restaurants to sustain an advantage. Hotels and restaurants could engage in social projects. Therefore, giving a proactive view regarding social awareness. As a result, a more unique experience could be formed for the guests (Carmo, 2015). Accordingly, strategic CSR should be implemented by hotels and restaurants. Where organizations are involved in philanthropic activities that will also improve the company and align with the strategic goals (Lynn, 2009). Hotels and restaurants could get more involved in the community where they do business. Subsequently, enhancing public relations and the reputation of the organization. This could draw new customers and increase the morality of the staff (Lynn, 2009). Finally, through CSR hotels and restaurants could enhance profitability. By reducing operation costs through the use of waste reduction (Carmo, 2015; Lynn, 2009).
Asian traveler. It is determined that Asian travelers will become the biggest spenders in tourism and therefore it also concerns the hospitality industry. Organizations must try to understand the cultural values of Asian travelers to attract these guests (Carmo, 2015). For example, hotels and restaurants could involve the Chinese language more in their
organization. By having a menu in Chinese or organizing outdoor activities with a Chinese guide (Carmo, 2015). Besides that, Asian travelers usually use other platforms, than Western
countries to plan their travels. Consequently, hotels and restaurants should also present themselves on these platforms if they want to attract Asian travelers (Carmo, 2015).
Conceptual model
By looking at former research, there are several drivers of change identified and divided into four dimensions. In order to give answer to the research question these four dimensions will be used. Through these dimensions the future of the hospitality industry can be predicted. As a result, new ways of coping with this change could be identified on what hotels and restaurants should do to sustain their competitive advantage. Per dimension is identified what the focus of hospitality organizations must be in order to sustain a competitive advantage.
Information technology describes three changes. The change of the bargaining power of hotels and restaurants, that of the buyers and the role of intermediaries. As a result of this change, organizations should focus on customization, balancing the consumer power through increasing credibility, findability, convenience and consultancy, and to decrease the power of intermediaries by ‘de-commoditization’. Customer service is about how consumers will
expect a different service in the future. As a result, the quality of service must be improved and a faster delivery of the service will be important. The third dimension is corporate social responsibility. People are preferring organizations that are social responsible. Therefore, a proactive view regarding this subject will be important. The fourth dimension is about the upcoming Asian traveler. It is determined that Asian travelers will have a big impact on the hospitality industry. Consequently, hotels and restaurants should determine how to attract these guests.
Research design
According to existing literature there is a gap in knowledge on what hospitality organizations should do to sustain a competitive advantage in the future (Gutierrez et al., 2015). Already a lot of information is found on what the drivers of change are in the
hospitality industry and how to react to these drivers of change. The goal of this research is to test the conceptual model by investigating if the drivers of change identified are indeed true. And also test, if the literature is right about how hospitality organizations could act to this changing environment, while sustaining a competitive advantage. Grounded theory is necessary to give answer to the research question. Through an inductive research approach a richer theoretical perspective on the hospitality industry is developed. Qualitative research gives the possibility to understand why certain events are happening in the hospitality industry (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011). This research is associated with a interpretative philosophy.
It would be better to focus on the complete hospitality industry, but because of a lack of time, the focus will only be on hotels and restaurants in Amsterdam. Therefore, the results of this research will still be somewhat generalizable to Western culture, but not to the
restaurants in the urban industry and in the countryside (Carmo, 2015). Consequently, it was decided to only focus on the hospitality industry in Amsterdam. Therefore, all the interviews were held in Dutch. To enhance the validity of this research questions in the interviews about the future of the hospitality industry were related to change in the upcoming 10 years.
Data collection
The first step of this research was to identify the drivers of change in the hospitality industry and how organizations could sustain a competitive advantage in this industry. This was done by looking at all the relevant literature concerning this subject. And dividing all the drivers of change into different dimensions.
The second step was collecting new data. This was done by interviewing several managers of hotels and restaurants in a semi-structured way. Managers in the hospitality industry were chosen to be interviewed, because they have to make the biggest decisions about the future of the company and on how to sustain a competitive advantage. A manager of an organization has to think about the bigger picture of a company and knows more about the industry in which a company is operating (Noe, Hollenbeck, Gerhart & Wright, 2003). Managers that work in a progressive organization in the hospitality industry were selected, because some hotels and restaurants are more traditional and are less involved in the future trends of the hospitality industry. Therefore, only managers were selected of restaurants and hotels that opened their business not longer than four years ago. My personal network was used to get in contact with managers in the hospitality industry. This could have a negative influence on the internal and external validity of this research, because some interviews could be influenced in a negative way when the interviewer and the interviewee know each other (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011). To enhance the validity, a variety of managers were interviewed and not all the managers were approached by my personal network. Also, an epistemological
position towards the interviews was held. This means that I talked interactively towards the interviewees. Hereby more data could be generated. There are a few implications with this kind of approach, because the results from the interviews are dependent on the knowledge and the capabilities of the people who are interviewed. Sometimes a person could interpret or conceptualize something differently than how it was in reality (Mason, 2017, p.197).
In total, seven managers were interviewed and six interviews were conducted. In the last interview conducted, two managers were interviewed at the same time, because these two managers were working for the same organization, but were managing a different hotel. This research is about the changing environment of hotels and restaurants. Therefore, three managers of a restaurant and four managers of a hotel were interviewed in order to keep a balance between the differences in the hotel and the restaurant industry. All the managers had to have more than 10 years of experience in the hospitality field. So they know how the industry have changed in the past and therefore also could better predict how the industry is going to change.
Semi-structured interviews were conducted to get the most relevant information out of the interviews and to dig deeper into the subject. This is done by using open-ended, non-dichotomous, singular and clear questions (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011). Before the interview were started, the participants were asked if it was alright if the interviews were recorded. None of the participants refused this. In the beginning of the interviews, managers were asked general questions about how they think the hospitality industry is going to change, what the different drivers are of this change and how they think a competitive advantage could be sustained in this industry. After that, the questions were more structured. The interviewer first explained, which different dimensions were found in the literature. Subsequently, the
interviewee was asked if they agreed with the different dimensions found and how they would act to these dimensions in order to sustain a competitive advantage.
After conducting the first three interviews, the next three interviews were slightly adapted to get all the information needed. Therefore, the last three interviews were improved by the knowledge of the first three interviews. The focus of the last three interviews was more about how hotels and restaurants could best react to the new role of the intermediaries and less about the upcoming Asian traveler, because the first three managers interviewed stated that this was not of great importance yet for most of the hotels and restaurants in Amsterdam. The interviews were between the 20 and 35 minutes and took place in the workplace of the interviewee. Therefore, managers could look around in their current work environment and come up with ideas about future trends. Another advantage of the face-to-face interviews is that the questions could be adjusted by the interviewer. As a result, responses were more properly understood (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011).
Data analysis
The interviews were recorded and transcribed. This means that the conversations were changed into sentences that were coded and analyzed. The written material was analyzed in a interpretative matter. Therefore, it was easier to understand the data. Theoretical knowledge about the changing hospitality industry was formed by identifying and coding themes and categories (Denzin & Lincoln, 2011). The data analysis process begun with analyzing the first three interviews by using open codes. This was done by making remarks on relevant parts in the transcripts and giving them certain names, in the form of codes, which did best categorized the pieces of text in the transcripts. After coding the first three interviews, 41 open codes were made. Next, the axial coding process was started. All the relevant open codes were divided into six categories. During this process, some open codes were put together or were changed into a different name with the intention to define and divide all the relevant information in the best way possible.
After coding the first three interviews, the last interviews were held and analyzed. These last three interviews were coded and analyzed by using the axial codes from the first three interviews. Only five new codes were made in analyzing the last three interviews. These five were added to the axial codes. Also some axial codes were changed, when a concept looked to broad or narrow after looking at the transcripts of the last three interviews. By initially coding the first three interviews the speed of the coding process of the last three interviews was enhanced.
Research results
Out of the six interviews 41 open codes were made. The relevant codes out of the open codes were divided between five categories. The results out of the interviews are given per category. The names of the categories are: The additional drivers of change, information technology, customer service, corporate social responsibility and the Asian traveler. The research results are divided into these five categories. These five categories were chosen, because the interviews were also divided into five different parts. In the beginning of the interviews, the participants were not given much information about this research. Primarily, the participants were asked very broad questions. As a result, they could speak freely about what they thought the drivers of change were in the hospitality industry and on how to sustain a competitive advantage in the future. In this part of the interview, the participants gave several drivers of change that corresponded with the drivers of change that are stated in the literature review and the conceptual model. The participants also mentioned additional drivers of change. After the first part of the interview, the interviewees were given more information about what former research stated and which drivers of change were found in the literature review. Per driver of change the participants were asked several questions about if they agreed with the drivers of change found and how hospitality organizations could best
reacts to this change to sustain a competitive advantage. Consequently, the other paragraphs of the research results were named by the four drivers of change mentioned in the literature review and the conceptual model.
Additional drivers of change
According to several managers, there were also other drivers of change influencing the hospitality industry and that were not mentioned in the conceptual model. One managers stated that the hospitality industry is most influenced by prosperity. He stated that when there is economic stability and an increase in prosperity people are more driven to start a restaurant or a hotel. According to the hotel manager, the competitiveness in the hospitality industry is increasing, because there are a lot more tourists in Europe these days. Consequently, the manager stated that organizations must try to differentiate themselves even more than before and come up with an original concept to compete with all the other organizations. According to another manager, the government also affects the hospitality industry. According to him, the barriers to enter the hospitality industry are lowered through less rules and regulations, causing an increase in competitiveness.
Taken together, several participants stated that change in the hospitality industry was mostly caused by competitiveness. According to a restaurant manager, it is of great
importance for hospitality organizations to keep up with new trends. Therefore, hotels and restaurants could sustain their competitive advantage: ‘I think you just have to keep innovating. And that you have to keep a close eye on new trends. Only then will you stay ahead of competitors (E. Cladder, May 4, 2018).’ All the other drivers of change that were mentioned are discussed in the next sections.
In this section, all the results found in the interviews about the influence of information technology on the hospitality industry will be given. In all the six interviews came forward that information technology will have a big impact on the hospitality industry. The interviewees spoke about an impact that could have a positive influence and a negative influence. This section is divided into five different parts. The most influential factor causing a change in this industry, is the new role of the intermediary. Therefore, first will be
explained how the role of the intermediary has changed. Followed by how hotels and
restaurants could best respond to this change in the future. After that, the role of social media in de hospitality industry will be described. Finally, the new customers and the new customer needs in this market will be given.
The role of the intermediary. The participants stated that the hotels and restaurants, the suppliers in this industry, did not have the bargaining power anymore. As such the power lies in the hands of the intermediary. These companies have completely changed the market. The managers of hotels stated that companies as booking.com and TripAdvisor have the most power in this market, whereas the managers of restaurants declared that the company Iens was of big influence. Through the internet customers can make better choices about which hotel or restaurant to go to. They make this decision by viewing websites of the e-businesses as just mentioned. The intermediaries were called the ‘review sites’ by the managers, so that is how they will be referred to from now on. According to several managers, the review sites have changed the way hotels are rated entirely. Hotels were first rated by a star rating. Where a five-star hotel was of excellent quality and a two-star hotel was of less quality. One
manager explained, that hotels still get star ratings, but customers give more attention to the rating that hotels get on the review sites. On these sites hotels and restaurant are rated by the reviews customers have given them. They said that this new way of rating could have a positive influence on the rating process, because customers now have more information.
Where a customer can read other customers opinions instead of only looking at a star rating of a hotel. According to the managers, the classical rating system has vanished: ‘You see that a lot of hotels do not fill in the qualifications for a star rating anymore. Or not even present themselves on the rating sites, because the review sites, like TripAdvisor and booking.com are much more important nowadays. Those are the sites where people are looking at (P. de Vries, E. le Duc, May 22, 2018).’ On the contrary, more participants agreed that the reviews are of bad influence for the hospitality industry, because the reviews are misleading.
According to several managers, the reviews are misleading, because the hotels and restaurant that appear on top of a review site are not the organizations with the best reviews. The review sites put the organizations that get the most reviews on top of the list. According to one manager, it is obvious that the review sites do so, because these companies earn more money when there are more reviews posted.
Besides that, they stated that hotels and restaurants also have to pay fees to the review sites. When a guest books a hotel through a review site, the hotel must pay a percentage of the price of the room back to the booking company. As a consequence, some hotels charge higher prices for the rooms. One manager stated that this has a bad influence for the hotel and for the customers, because the hotels will increase their prices when they have to pay a percentage of their sale price to the review sites : ‘The consumer is eventually worse off because of his own behavior (J. Dol, May 4, 2018).’ Two restaurant managers stated that they also have to pay a certain amount of money when they want to be posted on the website of Iens. Two managers also complained about the review sites, because of another reason. They said that the review sites have a lot of rules that hotels and restaurant must obey. Hotels and restaurant cannot display themselves on the review sites as who they are. One manager said that they had got a lot of complaints of guests who did not know that the hotel had a club on the seventh floor and that the hotel could be crowded in the weekends. The guests were not
aware of this information, because the hotel was not allowed to put it on the website of booking.com, simply because booking.com did not care about the club in the hotel. There were several other managers with the same kind of problems.
How to deal with the intermediaries. The participants spoke of several ways about how organizations could best deal with the new role of the intermediaries and on how to sustain a competitive advantage. According to three managers hotels and restaurants should try to stimulate the quantity of reviews they get. This should be done in a pleasant and not intrusive way. By asking guests politely if they want to leave a review behind when they are leaving. According to the interviewees, the reviews are also a good indicator to see how organizations are doing: ‘When people are stimulated to write a review, people sooner leave a positive review behind. Besides that, it is also a good indicator to see if guests are satisfied (P. de Vries, E. le Duc, May 22, 2018).’ One manager stated that they were also trying to stimulate guests to book their hotel via their website. Through website stimulation, hotels could decrease the bookings made through the review sites. This means that hotels could decrease the amount paid to these companies. Besides that, according to another manager, nowadays guests almost always make a reservation online instead of by physically going to a place, as it was done in the past. Therefore, he stated it is important to maintain websites and make it as easy as possible for guests to make an online payment and reservation.
Another participant stated that it was better to skip the review sites completely. He thought that they were too expensive and misleading. He stated also that through the use of reviews companies forget the essence of the organization. When hotels or restaurants want to stimulate the amount of reviews customer are posting, they are also going to work with targets every month. He stated that these targets were mostly unfeasible: ‘Because I have seen it before, than you are going to work with targets. These targets are or unfeasible or too much dependent on what someone else thinks. Therefore you forget the essence about what is
important (G. Weijde, May 14, 2018).’ He said that he still made use of Google, because people still need to find you on the internet.
The role of social media. According to four managers, the reach of customers has grown. They described that this is caused by social media. Blogging and vlogging is very trendy at the moment and there are a lots of people watching vlogs and blogs. This means that when a famous vlogger or blogger says something about a hotel or restaurant this could reach a lot of people and therefore have an enormous impact: ‘Imagine you now have 10 guests in your restaurant. Then that used to be just ten guests. But now they can have a reach of
millions of people. Suppose there is a famous blogger or vlogger between them (J. Staal, May 2, 2018).’ Therefore, the managers stated that in the future organizations are more obliged to always provide a good service, because you never know what a unsatisfied or satisfied guest could mean for your organization.
Every manager that was interviewed stated that social media is a very effective way of marketing. Through the use of Facebook and social media organizations can reach the most people: ‘This is very important nowadays. To deal with social media well. Still creating a kind of Word-of-mouth. Because people, for example, share a lot on Facebook and Instagram. If people see something interesting on social media, you can attract a lot of customers (G. Weijde, May 14, 2018).’ They said it was important to keep interacting with customers through these two platforms. Consequently, Word-of-mouth could be created by posting something funny or try to make guests posts things about your place.
New customers and customer needs. Through the digital revolution a new group of customers were created. One manager called it the laptop generation. Where she explained that nowadays many restaurants and cafés are full of guests who work behind their laptops: ‘Werkplaats is completely packed every day, because everybody is sitting there behind their
laptops (E. Cladder, May 4, 2018).’ Werkplaats is the place where the restaurant manager works. She explained that these guests do not order a lot of things, but they still make your place look full during daytime. This group of people could be attracted by providing comfortable tables where the noise is kept at a low volume.
The information technology influences the customer needs as well. All the manager agreed that good Wi-Fi in a hotel or restaurant is very important. One manager even stated that through a good Wi-Fi system a hotel does not even has to provide a television in a hotel room anymore. According to him, all travelers bring their own tablet or laptop with them when they are going on a trip. As a result, guests can watch television or Netflix on their own device. Another manager did not agree with this and stated that it was still important to provide Chromecast or Netflix in a hotel room. She also stated that in her hotel all the electrical outlets were replaced with an electrical outlet combined with a USB entrance. According to this manager, it is of great importance for hotels and restaurants to keep up with the new customer needs created by information technology: ‘So you will go along with those developments of the IT. Because the traveler wants it, so we have to go with that. You have to develop as a hotel (J. Dol, May 4, 2018).’
Customer service
All the managers agreed that providing the right customer service is of big importance for hospitality organizations to sustain a competitive advantage in the future. Several
managers stated that guests nowadays prefer services that includes a personal touch, where guests feel at home and can endure the local experience. According to the managers, guests wants something more than just service. The interviewees were also asked if they thought the speed of the service delivery is of big importance. Therefore, this section is divided into two parts. The customer experience and the speed of service delivery.
The customer experience. According to four managers, people nowadays prefer to
go to a hotel or a restaurant for the experience instead of the fancy stay or food. Customer experience has a lot of influence for hospitality organizations on sustaining a competitive advantage. Almost all the managers explained that they were trying to provide a service that gives something extra than just a service at a hotel or restaurant. That guests these days want something more than just a place to sleep or eat. All the managers had different ideas about how something extras could be added to a service. One participant stated they were
organizing cultural events and a DJ in the weekends. Another manager explained that they made cocktails only to enhance the customer experience. According to another manager, it was all about the details of the experience. Where a consistent nice garnish in a drink and a glass of water with your coffee was just enough for people to come back. All things
considered, the managers described that when an organization wants to sustain a competitive advantage, they need to differentiate themselves by providing not only a service.
According to several managers, customers are becoming more interested in the concept of a hostel than the traditional hotel: ‘I expect that we will get a hotel that is more like a hostel. You still call it a hotel, but it is much more about experiencing and meeting other people (J. Dol, May 4, 2018).’ Two managers explained that guests are more interested in the hostel concept, because this concept is more about personalization. As a result,
customers can feel more at home when they are in a hotel or restaurant. According to the two managers, guests also are more interested in the local experience, where they could meet local people. The managers stated that in the past, guests wanted to stay in the hotel room more. Therefore, some services are becoming unnecessary. A few managers decided to not provide room service and a fridge in the hotel rooms anymore, because they thought guests are more interested in seeing the city or be in a common room in the hotel where they can meet other people.
The speed of service delivery. All the managers were asked, if they thought the speed of service delivery was of big importance for hospitality organizations to sustain a competitive advantage in the future. They all answered that it was. According to numerous managers, the speed of service delivery had always been of great importance. Others stated that the speed of the service had increased in the past years. Some participants stated that especially through modernization the speed of service has been increased. One manager stated that they have left out a reception in their hotel, because guests could just check-in and check-out online. Another manager said that he got a lot of complaints from guests who thought they were waiting too long on a reservation confirmation and that this was never a problem ten years ago. He said that it is of great importance nowadays to help guests as soon as possible, but doing it in a pleasant way is also crucial. According to several managers, organizations should try to find a balance between providing a good experience and a fast service: ‘They want something fast, but still they want something different than what they can get on every corner (J. Staal, May 2, 2018).’
Corporate social responsibility
The participants were also asked several questions concerning corporate social responsibility. The managers answered questions about if they thought corporate social responsibility could be seen as a driver of change in the hospitality industry and if hotels and restaurants must be sustainable and social aware in the future to sustain an advantage.
According to all the managers, corporate social responsibility is very trendy at the moment and will probably also be trendy in the future. But six out of the seven managers concluded that hospitality organizations do not have to be sustainable or socially aware to sustain a competitive advantage. The interviewees stated that social awareness was not something hotels and restaurant were really applying at the moment. One manager said that he did an
attempt to help people from other cultures, but it was too hard: ‘We sometimes try to help people who really need a job, but sometimes you have to dismiss them because there are often a lot of culture clashes (J. Staal, May 2, 2018).’
Several managers were trying to be sustainable in different ways. A view managers of restaurants stated that they were not using straws anymore to reduce the amount of plastic. Another manager said that he was not selling water anymore. Instead he only provided tap water, because that is better for the environment. Another participant said that every
organization wants to be sustainable, but not every customer wants to pay two euros more for their drinks: ‘We all want to be sustainable, but it still remains an expensive matter (J. Staal, May 2, 2018).’ Therefore, sustainability is mostly too expensive. Another manager stated a different problem with sustainability. She said that sustainability in most organizations is misleading. According to her, restaurants acted like they were very social responsible towards their guests, but on the background they were not even separating their waste. Several
managers concluded that it is a good thing that sustainability is a big trend at the moment, but organizations do not have to be completely sustainable in order to sustain a competitive advantage.
Asian traveler
In this section the influence of the upcoming Asian traveler is discussed. The managers were asked if they thought that the Asian traveler will be of big importance for hospitality organizations to sustain a competitive advantage in the future. All the managers agreed that the upcoming Asian traveler could be a driver of change in the future. On the contrary, none of the managers were trying to attract these guests in any way possible. Several managers stated, that it could be important in the far future, but at this moment it did not had a great impact on the hospitality industry: ‘They are already saying it for twenty years
that the Asian traveler will have impact and I think it still will have an impact, but not now and not on us (J. Staal, May 2, 2018).’
The managers stated various reasons why they were not attracting Asian guests. According to several managers, there were too much differences in culture. They were especially talking about the Chinese culture. They stated that these guests were more looking for hotels outside the city and that these hotels should focus on attracting these guests. Another manager stated that they were not focusing on a particular target audience at all, but that guests should choose them for who they are. According to another manager, who worked in a five-star hotel, they were trying to attract Chinese guests. He stated that all expensive hotels, were focusing on attracting travelers from the four BRIC countries, of which China is one of them. He stated that they were attracting these guests by working together with Chinese search engines and travel agencies. Also, the web page of the hotel must be
translated in Chinese in order to attract these guests and one of the employees should speak the Chinese language.
Discussion
The main goal of this research was to make an attempt in clarifying how hospitality could sustain a competitive advantage in the next ten years. In order to achieve this goal, the drivers of change in the hospitality industry had to be identified first. By identifying these drivers of change, new strategies for hotels and restaurants could be found to sustain a competitive advantage. Sustaining a competitive advantage is described as the search for a good competitive position in an industry. Where an organization keeps creating value that exceeds the costs of making value (Porter & Advantage, 1985). Based on the judgements of the managers interviewed and former research, change in the hospitality industry is most influenced by information technology and customer service.
The managers stated several ways how organizations could best react to the influence of information technology. According to the managers, the review sites have changed the hospitality industry entirely. The review sites have increased their bargaining power and have changed the way hospitality organizations are rated. According to the managers, there are multiple ways how hotels and restaurant could best react to this change in order to sustain a competitive advantage. One of them is to stimulate guests to write reviews in a pleasant and not intrusive way. Accordingly, organizations will be better presented on the review sites. Organizations should also try to stimulate guests to make a reservation on their own website and not through the review sites. As mentioned in the literature review, website stimulation good be best done by enhancing the credibility, findability, online payment options and consultancy of a website (Kucuk & Krishnamurthy, 2007).
Through information technology, the reach of customers has grown enormously. Therefore the managers stated, that hotels and restaurants must try to always provide good service quality and try to enhance guests to post things about their place via social media. Consequently, social media is the best way of marketing and it could reach a lot of guests, just as former research also had stated (Carmo, 2015). In order to sustain a competitive advantage, the managers stated that hospitality organizations should also keep up with the new customers and customer needs. Where good Wi-Fi connection and a place where people could work behind their laptops is important.
According to the managers, the delivery of customer service is changing and it is important for hotels and restaurants to keep up with this change. The managers stated, that guests prefer a service that is personal, where guests can feel home and can endure the local experience. As former research also had stated, customers are more interested in getting an experience than just a service. Where something extra to the service is added. The managers all had different ideas about how something extras could be best added to an experience.
Former research stated that the best way to design an experience is by theming an experience, harmonized with positive cues, excluded by negative cues and a mix in memorability should be added (Pine and Gilmore 1998). Besides that, according to the managers the speed of the service is also important. Therefore, hotels and restaurants should try to find a balance between providing a good experience and a fast service.
According to the managers interviewed, there were also other drivers of change in the hospitality industry that were not mentioned in the literature review. These drivers of change were all related to the role of competitiveness in the hospitality industry. The managers stated that hotels and restaurants, should therefore try to differentiate themselves even more from competitors than before. The managers did not gave concrete examples about how
organizations could best respond to the increase in competitiveness in order to sustain a competitive advantage.
Another driver of change mentioned in the literature review is corporate social responsibility. According to the managers, this concept is very trendy at the moment, but hospitality organizations do not have to apply it in order to sustain a competitive advantage. Several managers stated that sustainability could enhance the customer experience. Former research stated, that sustainability could indeed enhance the customer experience and that it also could reduce the operating costs (Carmo, 2015; Lynn, 2009). On the contrary, the
managers stated that sustainability is mostly too expensive to maintain. Therefore, the created value does not necessarily exceed the cost of making value through corporate social
responsibility.
According to the managers, the Asian traveler could be of big impact in the far future, but hotels and restaurants are not concerned with attracting these guests in the next ten years. Organizations that were interested in attracting Asian travelers could best do it by
Overall, there were four drivers of change identified in the conceptual model. According to experts in the field of the hospitality industry, not all the drivers of change identified have that much impact on the hospitality industry. Therefore, corporate social responsibility and the upcoming Asian traveler will not be considered in answering the research question. On the contrary, the drivers of change information technology and
customer service are considered to have a big impact on change in the hospitality industry in the next ten years. Therefore, hotels and restaurants must find a strategy on how to react to this change in order to sustain a competitive advantage. According to the managers, hotels and restaurants should stimulate the quantity of reviews and bookings via their own website. Social media must be used for marketing. Hospitality organizations must keep up with the new customers and customer needs. Besides that, hotels and restaurants should provide a service that is personal, where guests can feel at home and can endure the local experience. Hospitality organizations should provide a service where a balance is found between providing an experience, where something extra is added to the service, and where a fast service is delivered.
Limitations and further research
This research was confronted with the next limitations. The generalizability of this research was minimized to only hospitality organizations in Amsterdam, but unfortunately this research is still too narrow to generalize to every hospitality organization in Amsterdam. There are too many differences between hotels and restaurants in a big city like Amsterdam. Some organizations are achieving competitive advantages in a complete different way than others. Therefore, the advice given on how to sustain a competitive advantage does not apply to every hotel or restaurant in Amsterdam. Nonetheless, it still applies to most of the
was a qualitative research. On the one hand, through the use of interviews, new insights were developed and a lot of knowledge was found about change in the hospitality industry. On the other hand, these new insights cannot be seen as facts, because they were based on the knowledge and the judgements of the managers interviewed and were not supported by any statistics. However, most of the arguments used in the discussion section were verified by several managers which makes it more reliable.
To overcome the limitations of this research, future research must focus on the following. As mentioned before, this research was very broad. Therefore, future studies should investigate the effect of the different drivers of change separately. Also, not the entire hospitality industry should be investigated, but for example only the hotel or restaurant industry. Or even better, only certain segments in the hotel or restaurant industry. Therefore, the results of future research could be more generalizable. Besides that, quantitative research is needed to test the results given in the discussion section. For example, the best way how to deal with intermediaries could be tested. Or it could be examined if social media is indeed the best marketing tool by conducting surveys or using experiments.
Conclusion
The hospitality industry is a rapidly changing industry. Consequently, it is hard for hotels and restaurants to survive in this environment. By looking at former research the drivers that are changing the hospitality industry were found. There is a gap in the literature about how hotels and restaurants could best respond to these drivers of change in order to sustain a competitive advantage. Therefore, the aim of this research was to answer the question how hospitality organizations could sustain a competitive advantage in the future.
The first step of this research was to identify all the different drivers of change by looking at former research and dividing these drivers into different dimensions. The drivers
of change were information technology, customer service, corporate social responsibility and the Asian traveler. These four dimensions were presented in a conceptual model. This
conceptual model also includes how hotels and restaurants could best respond to the different drivers of change.
The second step of this research was to test the conceptual model by conducting qualitative research. Seven managers of hotels and restaurants were interviewed to get a deeper understanding about the new trends in the hospitality industry and how to sustain a competitive advantage. The validity of this research was enhanced by focusing only on the hospitality industry in Amsterdam and change in the next ten years.
After coding the interviews, it became clear that the dimensions corporate social
responsibility and the Asian traveler are not of that much influence in the hospitality industry in Amsterdam to sustain a competitive advantage. Therefore, these two drivers of change were not considered when answering the research question. On the contrary, information technology and customer service are of big influence in the hospitality industry. By linking former research and the results from the interviews a strategy was given on how hotels and restaurants could best respond to these two drivers of change. First, the role of the
intermediary has changed. Therefore, hospitality organizations should stimulate the quantity of reviews and bookings via their own website. Second, hotels and restaurants should keep up with the new customer and customer needs, where social media became the best marketing tool. Third, customer service has changed. Therefore, hotels and restaurant should provide a service that is personal, where guests can feel at home and endure the local experience. Finally, a balance should be found between adding something extra to a service and delivering a fast service.
Future research should focus on using this research to test if the advice given is really true by conducting quantitative research. Thereby, focusing on smaller segments of the
hospitality industry in Amsterdam to enhance the validity and make it possible to generalize the results found in this research.
References
Anderson, E. W. (1998). Customer satisfaction and word of mouth. Journal of service
research, 1(1), 5-17.
Barney, J. B. (2001). Resource-based theories of competitive advantage: A ten-year retrospective on the resource-based view. Journal of management, 27(6), 643-650. Buhalis, D., & Main, H. (1998). Information technology in peripheral small and medium
hospitality enterprises: strategic analysis and critical factors. International Journal of
contemporary hospitality management, 10(5), 198-202.
Carmo, D. M. A. N. (2015). Hotel industry: An answer to the emerging trends on the global
demand side of tourism (Doctoral dissertation).
Chathoth, P. K. (2007). The impact of information technology on hotel operations, service management and transaction costs: A conceptual framework for full-service hotel firms. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 26(2), 395-408.
Connor, P., & Murphy, J. (2004). Research on information technology in the hospitality industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 23(5), 473-484. Costa, J. (1997). Trends in hospitality: academic and industry perceptions. International
Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 9(7), 285-294.
Denzin, N. K., & Lincoln, Y. S. (Eds.). (2011). The Sage handbook of qualitative research. Sage.
Dittmer, P. R., & Griffin, G. G. (1993). Dimensions of the hospitality industry: an
introduction. Van Nostrand Reinhold.
Dobbs, M. (2014). Guidelines for applying Porter's five forces framework: a set of industry analysis templates. Competitiveness Review, 24(1), 32-45.
competitiveness in the hotel industry: The role of learning and innovation as determinants of environmental success. Tourism Management, 46, 30-42.
Gorman, K. D. (2009). Origins of the commercial hospitality industry: from the fanciful to factual. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 21(7), 777-790.
Gutierrez, I., Alcaraz, J. M., Susaeta, L., Suárez, E., & Pin, J. R. (2015). Managing
Sustainability for Competitive Advantage: Evidence From the Hospitality Industry. Kandampully, J., & Suhartanto, D. (2000). Customer loyalty in the hotel industry: the role of
customer satisfaction and image. International journal of contemporary hospitality
management, 12(6), 346-351.
Khan, M., & Khan, M. A. (2009). How technological innovations extend services outreach to customers: The changing shape of hospitality services taxonomy. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 21(5), 509-522.
Kucuk, S. U., & Krishnamurthy, S. (2007). An analysis of consumer power on the Internet.
Technovation, 27(1-2), 47-56.
Lashley, C. (2001). Towards a theoretical understanding. In In search of hospitality (pp. 1-17).
Li, X., Meng, F., & Uysal, M. (2008). Spatial pattern of tourist flows among the Asia-Pacific countries: An examination over a decade. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research,
13(3), 229-243.
Lynn, C. (2009). Corporate social responsibility in the hospitality industry. Hosteur, 18(2), 5-10.
Mason, J. (2017). Qualitative researching. Sage.
McWilliams, A., Siegel, D. S., & Wright, P. M. (2006). Corporate social responsibility: Strategic implications. Journal of management studies, 43(1), 1-18.
Mok, C., Sparks, B., & Kadampully, J. (2013). Service quality management in hospitality,
tourism, and leisure. Routledge.
Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2003). Gaining a competitive
advantage. Irwin: McGraw-Hill.
Olsen, M. D., & Connolly, D. J. (2000). Experience-based travel: How technology is changing the hospitality industry.
Pine, B. J., & Gilmore, J. H. (1998). Welcome to the experience economy. Harvard business
review, 76, 97-105.
Porter, M. E., & Advantage, C. (1985). Creating and sustaining superior performance.
Competitive advantage, 167.
Rusu, S., Isac, F., & Cureteneau, R. (2014). The dimensions of hospitality industry. Lucrări
Științifice Management Agricol, 16(4), 28.
Sigala, M., Lockwood, A., & Jones, P. (2001). Strategic implementation and IT: gaining competitive advantage from the hotel reservations process. International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality Management, 13(7), 364-371.
Sipe, L. J., & Testa, M. (2009, August). What is innovation in the hospitality and tourism marketplace? A suggested research framework and outputs typology. In International
CHRIE Conference, San Franscisco, California.
Yong Kim, B., & Oh, H. (2004). How do hotel firms obtain a competitive advantage?.
