Cornell Hospitality Industry Perspectives
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The Industry Perspectives: A White Paper Series from Cornell draws on the expertise of hospitality industry leaders for their insights on the issues that matter most to senior executives and hospitality practitioners.
Participation in this industry-wide forum is open to leaders in all areas of the hospitality industry and related businesses. The Industry Perspectives series allows executives and managers to share successful ideas from their organizations or to explain positive interactions of hospitality businesses and their communities. The perspectives should present examples and procedures that others in the industry could learn from and follow.
Please note that all new and forthcoming Industry Perspectives will be published as Center for Hospitality Research Reports. They can be found in the Center for Hospitality Research Reports collection.
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Item Sustainability in the Hospitality IndustryVarney, Jeanne (2023-10-09)Data gathering and sharing have become essential functions in the hospitality industry. As explained and examined by a panel of industry leaders, travelers, travel agents, and investors all seek data regarding hotel firms’ carbon, energy, and water usage. The five panelists are directly connected to or responsible for sustainability and corporate responsibility in worldwide hotel firms, and are participants in the Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index (CHSB), a ten-year effort led by Greenview and published exclusively by the Center for Hospitality Research to develop industry benchmarks for greenhouse gases, water use, and energy consumption.Item Global Hospitality, Travel, and Tourism TrendsDev, Chekitan (2023-09-25)On May 27, 2023, at the opening session of the 2023 Global Hospitality Conclave held at The Oberoi in New Delhi, India, I had the pleasure of speaking with Hari Nair of Expedia Group, a distinguished alumnus of the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration, about the changing world of hospitality, travel, and tourism. We framed the discussion around ten major travel trends. This report presents some of the detailed insights from our discussion.Item Consolidating the $50 Billion U.S. Short-term Rental MarketLólis, Philip; Scott, Mike; Dickinson, Clay (2023-08-02)Over 72 percent of all hotels in the United States are affiliated with large brands like Marriott, Hilton, IHG, and Hyatt. In contrast, the largest operator in the short-term rental (STR) market, Vacasa, manages less than 1 percent of the total market. With around $53.5 billion in gross booking value, or about 25 percent of the entire U.S. lodging industry, the STR market presents an enticing consolidation opportunity.Item Implementation vs. Rewards of Tech InvestmentThe Center for Hospitality Research (CHR) (2023-06-26)Insights from more than 200 hospitality decision-makers for technology solutions including: data security management, customer satisfaction, approaches to legacy technology, and investment in new solutions.Item The Integrity Dividend: How Excellent Hospitality Leadership Drives Bottom-Line ResultsSimons, Tony (2012-02-01)Item Lost in Translation: Cross-Country Differences in Hotel Guest SatisfactionPingitore, Gina; Huang, Weihua; Greif, Stuart (2013-09-01)With the global expansion of the hotel industry and greater mobility of international travelers, awareness of international differences in guests’ attitudes about their travel experiences is important. As a consequence, most multinational hotel chains currently invest significant resources in implementing large-scale measurement programs to track, compare, and benchmark guest satisfaction across their various international markets. They do so for two related reasons. First, most hoteliers understand that highly satisfied guests are much more likely to return to that property and spend more during future stays than guests who are indifferent or displeased.1 More important, successful hoteliers understand that simply tracking performance is not enough. What is required is using the results of tracking programs to guide day-to-day management decisions and, ultimately, long-term operational strategies.Item Using Research to Determine the ROI of Product Enhancements: A Best Western Case StudyGarlick, Rick; Schlentner, Joyce (2013-04-01)The never-ending challenges of hotel brand management have only become more involved as the hotel industry has consolidated, competition among hotel brands has become stiffer, and consumers’ expectations continue to rise. Needless to say, any brand that fails to continually evolve risks being left behind, because an experience or hotel feature that exceeds guest expectations today may be commonplace tomorrow and sub-par not long afterward.1 Competition among hotel brands is often seen as a race, but more often, it resembles a treadmill. One brand’s product enhancements may give it a momentary advantage, but competitors can quickly expand their own product and service offerings. Thus, a brand needs to improve just to stay in the game. One aspect of the upgraded services is the need for continual property upgrades that may require substantial investment. Brand managers typically need to justify these expenditures for property owners since having uniform compliance is necessary to maintain brand consistency. As we explain in this article, the process of determining and justifying brand standards has greater complexity for brands that comprise membership or referral associations. Whereas most hotel brands are working with institutional owners, Best Western International is working with its membership, who are owner-operators. In fact, however, the knowledge-driven process we describe here can be applied by any brand system to select and create a business case for any possible upgrades.Item Energy University: An Innovative Private-Sector Solution to Energy EducationO'Kane, R. Sean; Hartman, Susan (2012-05-01)Energy use is one of the most critical issues facing our world. The U.S. Energy Information Administration forecasts that the world’s energy consumption will double by 2050, with electricity use also doubling by 2030. Energy prices will grow accordingly, with oil reaching as much as $125 per barrel by some forecasts.1 We often focus on efficiency in transportation, which is an important goal, but industry and buildings consume nearly three times as much energy as transportation does. By focusing on clean, efficient energy we can reduce CO2 emissions and also meet the increased demand.Item Making Customer Satisfaction Pay: Connecting Survey Data to Financial Outcomes in the Hotel IndustryPingitore, Regina; Seldin, Dan; Walker, Arianne (2010-07-01)Despite the conventional wisdom that measuring customer satisfaction makes good business sense, there is a small but growing point of view that such measurements provide little or no actionable information to drive business outcomes.1 In contrast to that view, as we explain here, it is our position that companies should never stop measuring customer satisfaction, and instead they should take the necessary steps to ensure that measures of customer satisfaction are designed to provide the full benefit possible from such research.Item Engaging Consumers: Building the LEGO Brand and Culture One Brick at a TimeKalcher, Conny (2012-04-01)