Large scale infrastructure expansions in hotels are exposed to uncertainty. Since the costs involved in these expansion projects are high and often irreversible, hotels would benefit from analyses that incorporate uncertainty along with traditional valuation techniques like the discounted cash flow (DCF) method. Decision tree analysis (DTA) and real options analysis (ROA) have been in use for the past couple of decades to handle uncertainties and optimize investment decisions. DTA provides a distinct approach to strategic investments that quantitatively takes into account the uncertainties involved in the investments. Under uncertainty, the decision about whether to expand is analogous to the decision about whether to exercise an American call option. By using ROA to the hotel expansion scenario, managers can in-corporate and quantify, flexibility and timing in their analysis. The objective of this chapter is to detail the DCF, DTA and ROA methodologies and their applications specific to hotel expansion investments.
In this book chapter, we introduce the readers to typical sources of hotel financing using a hypothetical case-study. First, we provide a commentary on various types of funding sources. We provide rationale for why a particular surplus unit specifies certain constraints to an (investment) manager. A discussion is offered on various factors that may lead to a certain mix of financing. We walk the readers through various steps of the optimization process. Finally, we provide a case study on optimizing the funding sources using the SOLVER function in MS Excel.
Native American Indians have used Talking Circles and storytelling as the foundation of oral tradition for thousands of years. In this research note, I describe how Talking Circles were used to encourage safe communication to produce a community based on sharing and empathy. Storytelling helps people solve problems, explain concepts, and marry past experience with future decisions. This research note examines one practical application of Talking Circles and storytelling in a hospitality management communications course as well as how this practice could be used in other hospitality courses at the same institution through traditional or digital communication channels. Although Talking Circles and storytelling are ancient communication rituals, they are being implemented today through digital means such as online courses, social media, and the Internet. Digital technology may encourage new forms of Talking Circles and storytelling that could be used to create collaborative communication platforms for positive social change.
Purpose This paper aims to discuss how the hospitality industry is communicating corporate social responsibility (CSR) to its stakeholders, the premise being CSR communication through social media platforms will increase stakeholder engagement. Design/methodology/approach This paper is developed based on Schwartz and Carroll’s three-domain approach to CSR motivation, stakeholder theory and a synthesis of previous literature of CSR communication in the hospitality industry. Findings Successful communication through social media is based on two-way participative dialogue. Companies, especially the hospitality industry, have used social media to communicate information through social media in a one-way direction, that of giving information. One example is the communication of CSR actions and intentions as found on hospitality websites, intranets and social media platforms. While previous studies have shown a link between CSR communication through social media and corporate reputation, few studies have examined CSR communication through social media and its effects on specific stakeholder groups. Research limitations/implications Rather than assuming that CSR communication can be done successfully through a “one-size-fits-all” social media discourse, this paper suggests the need for specific messages and potentially different communication channels to increase engagement from each of the various stakeholders in the hospitality industry. Originality/value This is one of the first papers which tries to address how one communication channel, social media, can affect CSR communication and increase stakeholder engagement in the hospitality industry. This paper provides discussion on the usefulness of social media to communicate CSR messages and posits the need for future research projects on a macro and micro level.
Purpose This paper aims to identify a wide array of utility-based attributes of Airbnb listings and measures the effects of these attributes on consumers’ valuation of Airbnb listings. Design/methodology/approach A hedonic price model was developed to test the effects of a group of utility-based attributes on the price of Airbnb listings, including the characteristics of Airbnb listings, attributes of hosts, reputation of listings and market competition. The authors examined attributes as they relate to the price of Airbnb listings and, therefore, estimated consumers’ willingness to pay for the specific attributes. The model was tested by using a dataset of 5,779 Airbnb listings managed by 4,602 hosts in 41 census tracts of Austin, Texas in the USA over a period from Airbnb’s launch in Texas up until November 2015. Findings The authors found that the functional characteristics of Airbnb listings were significantly associated to the price of the listings, and that three of five behavioral attributes of hosts were statistically significant. However, the effect of reputation of listings on the price of Airbnb listings was weak. Originality/value This study inspires what they call a factor-endowment valuation of Airbnb listings. It shows that the intrinsic attributes that an Airbnb listing endows are the primary source of consumer utilities, and thus consumer valuation of the listing is grounded on its functionality as an accommodation. This conclusion can shed light on the examination of competition between Airbnb and hotel accommodations that are built on the same or similar intrinsic attributes.
In this article, we discuss how hospitality students can leverage new technology and new HRM metrics from a combination of a traditional format case study and innovative data spreadsheets. We offer a teaching case study that combines the strategic dimensions of HRM with practice-driven data analysis anchored in HR analytics and HR big data mining. We argue that this combination helps identify, develop, and promote appropriate managerial skills among students.
Crowdsourcing is an online activity in which an individual, an institution, a non-profit organization, or company proposes to a group of individuals of varying knowledge, heterogeneity, and number, via a flexible open call, the voluntary undertaking of a task. Crowdsourcing has been traditionally considered suitable to provide different types of support to the decision making process, especially in the design phase, through idea generation and co-creation, in the choice phase, through voting, as well as in the intelligence phase to explore or exploit information about the issue to be investigated. This article aims to investigate how to perform scenario planning by exploring ways to use crowdsourcing as a complement to two standard techniques for idea generation and selection: (a) brainstorming and (b) the Delphi method. Then, we question the cost and the effectiveness of combining these methods, and crowdsourcing to perform scenario planning for policy making. To this end, in this article we propose a model to assess the cost and effectiveness of the intersection between crowd and experts in decision-making activities, with a focus on scenario planning, choosing a public sector research site for its evaluation.
