Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention

This article explores the emergence of Airbnb, a company whose website permits ordinary people to rent out their residences as tourist accommodation. The company was just recently established, but it has grown extremely rapidly and is now selling many millions of room nights annually. This rise is examined through the lens of disruptive innovation theory, which describes how products that lack in traditionally favoured attributes but offer alternative benefits can, over time, transform a market and capture mainstream consumers. The concepts of disruptive innovation are used to consider Airbnb's novel business model, which is built around modern internet technologies, and Airbnb's distinct appeal, which centres on cost-savings, household amenities, and the potential for more authentic local experiences. Despite Airbnb's growing popularity, many Airbnb rentals are actually illegal due to short-term rental regulations. These legality issues and their corresponding tax concerns are discussed, with an overview...

Airbnb: disruptive innovation and the rise of an informal tourism accommodation sector.

Cornell hotel and restaurant administration quarterly

Being one of the “mega trends” that has significantly impacted the tourism system, the role and use of social media in travelers' decision making and in tourism operations and management have been widely discussed in tourism and hospitality research. This study reviews and analyzes all extant social media-related research articles published in academic journals during 2007 to 2011, mainly in tourism and hospitality fields. Based on a content analysis on the analyzed articles from both the consumers' and the suppliers' perspectives, this article found that consumer-centric studies generally focused on the use and impact of social media in the research phase of the travelers' travel planning process. Supplier-related studies have concentrated closely on promotion, management, and research functions, but few discussed product distribution. Research findings thoroughly demonstrate the strategic importance of social media for tourism competitiveness. This study also contributes to the academia and ind...

Social media in tourism and hospitality : a literature review

Despite hospitality and tourism researchers’ recent attempts on examining different aspects of online word-of-mouth [WOM], its impact on hotel sales remains largely unknown in the existing literature. To fill this void, we conduct a study to empirically investigate the impact of online consumer-generated reviews on hotel room sales. Utilizing data collected from the largest travel website in China, we develop a fixed effect log-linear regression model to assess the influence of online reviews on the number of hotel room bookings. Our results indicate a significant relationship between online consumer reviews and business performance of hotels.

The impact of online user reviews on hotel room sales [Summary]

Hotel companies are struggling to keep up with the rapid consumer adoption of social media. Although many companies have begun to develop social media programs, the industry has yet to fully explore the potential of this emerging data and communication resource. The revenue management department, as it evolves from tactical inventory management to a more expansive role across the organization, is poised to be an early adopter of the opportunities afforded by social media. We propose a framework for evaluating social media-related revenue management opportunities, discuss the issues associated with leveraging these opportunities and propose a roadmap for future research in this area.

https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1057%2Frpm.2011.12.pdf

Social media meets hotel revenue management: Opportunities, issues and unanswered questions

The role of price in prepurchase evaluations for variably priced services has not been widely examined. Increased consumer awareness of variable pricing practices, coupled with growing availability...

Effects of Price and User-Generated Content on Consumers’ Prepurchase Evaluations of Variably Priced Services:

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to propose and test a model which defines the psychological processes that mediate the relationship between perceived wait duration (PWD) and satisfaction. This model will provide a framework for evaluating the impact of situational and environmental variables in the servicescape on customer reaction to the wait experience.Design/methodology/approach – The approach included one field study and two laboratory experiments in which subjects participated in a service with a pre‐process wait and evaluated their experience on a survey.Findings – Perceived wasted time, perceived control, perceived boredom, and perceived neglect mediated the relationship between PWD and wait experience evaluation. When tested using filled versus unfilled wait time as the situational variable, the model showed that having something to do during the wait decreased perceived boredom, resulting in a more positive wait experience.Research limitations/implications – The services used in this paper...

/pdf/a-framework-for-evaluating-the-customer-wait-experience-401ovrm6qo.pdf

A framework for evaluating the customer wait experience

Effective pricing requires an understanding of how consumers use price and non-price information in purchase decisions. In this study we use discrete choice analysis to examine how hotel consumers trade off price and three sources of non-price information – user-generated content (UGC), UGC-derived ratings and brand name – during the choice process. Although all types of information had a significant effect on hotel choice, review valence emerged as the dominant choice driver. Further, a qualitative data analysis suggests that consumers integrate price with non-price information to assess value pre-purchase, and can be swayed to a higher price if non-price data suggest a superior experience. Implications for revenue management practitioners are discussed.

Pricing in a social world: The influence of non-price information on hotel choice

Customer surveys and comment cards are all well and good, but the best way to gain a full understanding of a customer’s feelings about a hotel is to analyze the context of the customer’s comments 

Kelly A. McGuire

Papers

Social media meets hotel revenue management: Opportunities, issues and unanswered questions

Effects of Price and User-Generated Content on Consumers’ Prepurchase Evaluations of Variably Priced Services:

A framework for evaluating the customer wait experience

Pricing in a social world: The influence of non-price information on hotel choice

Let Me Count the Words: Quantifying Open-ended Interactions with Guests