Search Results (19)

Employee loyalty in hospitality settings is influenced by a combination of economic, relational, and developmental factors, including remuneration, recognition, interpersonal relationships, and opportunities for career advancement. This study explores managerial perceptions of the key organizational drivers that enhance employee satisfaction and foster employee loyalty in luxury hospitality settings. Focusing on five-star hotels located in the Heraklion Prefecture of Crete, Greece, the research addresses a context characterized by high service expectations, strong cultural traditions of hospitality, and pronounced seasonal labor dynamics. While previous studies have predominantly examined employee attitudes and outcomes, limited attention has been given to how decision-makers perceive and prioritize the factors influencing employee loyalty in luxury hospitality environments. To address this gap, the study adopts a mixed-method approach, combining structured Likert-scale questionnaires and qualitative insights collected from senior managers and owners representing 28 luxury hotels. The quantitative component provides descriptive insights into managerial consensus regarding organizational practices, while the qualitative analysis offers deeper interpretation of perceived challenges and priorities. Findings indicate that managers consider leadership style, working conditions, professional development, and employee welfare as central drivers of satisfaction and loyalty, although variation exists regarding the role of benefits and technology. The study contributes to hospitality management literature by highlighting the managerial perspective as a distinct analytical lens and offers practical implications for strategic human resource practices in high-end tourism contexts. Full article

This research examines high-rise hotel buildings located on the Mediterranean coast, focusing on the advantages, in terms of energy consumption and environmental benefits of installing domestic hot water (DHW) storage tanks on upper technical floors instead of in the basement. To this end, the Bali Hotel, the tallest hotel in Europe, is analyzed as a case study. The proposed system achieves a substantial reduction in energy consumption by decreasing heat losses in DHW recirculation pipes (61.3%). Annual energy costs are reduced by €8976.89, corresponding to overall DHW energy savings of 3.69%. In addition, installation costs are reduced by €15,462.18 due to the shorter recirculation pipe lengths required, which must withstand very high pressures exceeding 6 kp/cm², reaching up to 18 kp/cm². Although the initial installation cost is €15,462.18 lower, the elevated placement of the tanks increases maintenance and replacement costs. Therefore, after a 50-year service life, total construction and maintenance costs are €17,366.82 higher. This additional cost is recovered within 1.93 years, yielding cumulative savings of €527,106 over the building’s lifespan. Finally, the study quantifies the associated environmental benefits, demonstrating an annual reduction of 24,335.03 kg CO₂eq in carbon emissions, a novel contribution to the existing literature on this topic. Full article

Although research on hotel service robots has been continuously increasing, the existing literature still lacks a systematic exploration of the multiple concurrent mechanisms involved in the formation of user experience. Based on the theory of value co-creation, this study first extracted the key service robot attributes that affect user experience by analyzing 3200 online user notes from the Chinese platform Xiaohongshu. Then, using 433 valid questionnaires, it employed SEM and fsQCA to examine the influence mechanism of service robot comprehensively attributes on user experience. The results of the SEM study showed that the attributes of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, anthropomorphism, and service remediation ability of service robots positively influenced customers’ willingness to co-create value, thereby further enhancing the user experience. The perceived privacy risk attribute did not significantly affect customers’ willingness to co-create value. The fsQCA analysis further identified multiple effective configurations, including antecedent configurations with high customer willingness to co-create value, high usage intention, high satisfaction, and high forgiveness intention as outcome variables. This study, through a combination of methods, revealed the complex experiences users encounter during interactions with service robots and regarded customers’ willingness to participate in value creation as a front-end psychological mechanism, providing a new theoretical perspective on the value co-creation process in human–machine collaboration. At the same time, this study, from the user perspective, provided strategies for optimizing user experience and service deployment for Chinese hotel managers. Full article

This article solves the anomalies’ operational detection in the network traffic problem for cyber police units by developing an adaptive neural network platform combining a variational autoencoder with continuous stochastic dynamics of the latent space (integration according to the Euler–Maruyama scheme), a continuous–discrete Kalman filter for latent state estimation, and Hotelling’s T² statistical criterion for deviation detection. This paper implements an online learning mechanism (“on the fly”) via the Euler Euclidean gradient step. Verification includes variational autoencoder training and validation, ROC/PR and confusion matrix analysis, latent representation projections (PCA), and latency measurements during streaming processing. The model’s stable convergence and anomalies’ precise detection with the metrics precision is ≈0.83, recall is ≈0.83, the F1-score is ≈0.83, and the end-to-end delay of 1.5–6.5 ms under 100–1000 sessions/s load was demonstrated experimentally. The computational estimate for typical model parameters is ≈5152 operations for a forward pass and ≈38,944 operations, taking into account batch updating. At the same time, the main bottleneck, the O(m³) term in the Kalman step, was identified. The obtained results’ practical significance lies in the possibility of the developed adaptive neural network platform integrating into cyber police units (integration with Kafka, Spark, or Flink; exporting incidents to SIEM or SOAR; monitoring via Prometheus or Grafana) and in proposing applied optimisation paths for embedded and high-load systems. Full article

For the sustainable development of the service industry, the industry’s resources must be allocated efficiently so that productivity can be steadily improved. Accurate measurement of productivity is very important for the sustainable growth of the industry because it can be used as basic information for optimizing resource allocation, but in the service industry, it is difficult to accurately reflect consumer feedback due to simultaneity of service. This study aims to overcome these limitations and present a new service productivity measurement model. To this end, we set service quality as an intermediate and used two-stage network DEA, which can better reveal the impact of service quality in productivity than existing DEA models. The subjects of the study were 57 hotels, and they were analyzed according to service level. The analysis revealed that 2- and 3-star hotels with relatively low service levels were efficiently using the given resources to create service quality but were unable to effectively generate sales due to low unit prices. However, 4- and 5-star hotels with relatively high service levels received low service quality evaluations compared to the given resources and effectively generated sales through high per-guest prices. This study has academic significance in that it empirically demonstrated that including service quality as an intermediate is a more effective method for measuring productivity in the hotel industry. In addition, this study suggests practical implications in that high-star hotels need to allocate appropriate resources to improve service quality, and low-star hotels need an appropriate price strategy that is in line with service quality. Full article

Building projects as sub-sect of construction projects are complex and different in design and performance attributes. The prominent classes of building projects are high-rise residential buildings, hospitals, hotels, general offices, retail buildings/malls, educational institutions, and warehouses. In this study, building projects have been classified based on their end use. Complexities vary between construction projects and within various types of building projects, as well as across regions and countries. Understanding the sources of complexity is imperative to strategize their successful development. This research paper attempts to identify the sources of complexities using the design and performance attributes of seven prominent building types. A survey was conducted through experienced architects and construction professionals (the mean years of experience being approximately 13.88 years) over 34 different attributes or parameters under six categories. These attributes have been shortlisted from past research work by various authors, and the pilot study for this project. The Kruskal-Wallis Test was used to calculate the mean ranking and to confirm that the medians of each building type were not the same when compared against each attribute, irrespective of the level of complexity. Using data analysis and the mean ranking scores as a representation of relative complexity, primary sources of complexity in each class of buildings have been identified and listed. The results indicate that hospitals (as a building typology) are relatively the most complex building facilities in terms of design and performance attributes, showing the highest mean ranking towards 16 attributes (with only one shared ranking). Hospitals are followed by retail/malls (10 with one shared ranking), hotels (3), high-rise residential buildings (4), educational institutions (2), general offices (0), and warehouses (0). Strategies to manage these attributes have been proposed for each building typology so that the risks emanating from the complexities of these building projects can be mitigated and effectively managed at the design stage. Full article

Psychological and neuroscientific research reveals that individuals perceive the external world through two distinct systems: the conscious rational system and the unconscious experiential system. This paper examines the formation of customer experiences in theme hotels from both conscious and unconscious perspectives, aiming to foster innovation and sustainable development in the hospitality industry by enhancing the emotional connection between customers and theme hotels. Employing a dual-perspective framework, the study utilizes semi-structured in-depth interviews to investigate the conscious perspective and the Zaltman Metaphor Elicitation Technique (ZMET) for the unconscious perspective. This paper selected five mid-to-high-end theme hotels located in first-tier cities in China and interviewed 20 guests who had stayed at these hotels. Findings indicate that while both perspectives initiate from the same triggering process, they differ significantly in their modes of information processing and experiential manifestations. Key differences between the two perspectives are evident in three main areas: the malleability of memory, the complexity of emotions, and the directionality of behavior. These insights not only broaden the theoretical understanding of customer experience but also contribute to the sustainable growth of the hotel sector by proposing innovative approaches to enhance customer experience. Full article

Construction professionals work in silos and use traditional design and construction methods. The growing demand for rapidly built and high-quality construction is making off-site manufacturing mainstream. Studies have shown that collaboration among all stakeholders is a necessary component for success in the construction of such buildings. This multidisciplinary study of an existing concrete hotel aims to explore an alternative structural design in mass timber or volumetric modular construction. To this end, the reinforced concrete floor plan of Club Med de Charlevoix in Quebec, Canada, was used as a benchmark for two different structural systems. The first strategy investigated CLT (cross-laminated timber) and glulam columns to replicate the reinforced concrete system (column–slab), while the second involved maximum prefabrication (volumetric modular construction). Both mass timber and volumetric modular strategies can lead to a smaller carbon footprint. The main conclusion is that the plan should be designed from the outset to be either traditional or prefabricated since major changes are required if the choice is made to switch from one system to the other. Moreover, when structural systems maximize off-site construction, such as volumetric modular construction, the various professions need to be included during early planning. This is necessary to avoid task duplication and prevent the neglect of considerations such as manufacturable dimensions and partition organization. Full article

Due to the ecologically unfavorable state of the living world, any formal commitment made by the accommodation sector for the practical implementation of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies needs to be followed up by a credible plan, courageous action, and an attentive monitoring and reporting phase. Only in this way can high-end hotels in cities emerge as regenerative sustainability (RS) hubs and better amalgamate whole life-cycle thinking and economic performance in their day-to-day activities. This paper provides a detailed literature review of the ongoing transformation of the hospitality sector toward the RS paradigm, which is a concept that underpins Hortel’s business model. Hortel is then contextualized as the first example of an eco-innovative turnkey business-to-business (B2B) service for a high-end hotel with an annexed restaurant. Hortel implemented nature-based solutions adapted to the hospitality sector in order to contribute to local urban biodiversity and bring hotel clients closer to nature through biophilic tactics. Services like Hortel can support, with today’s resources and competences, hotels that are putting at the core of their business model planetary health and societal well-being. It also includes the description of the prototype built at Four Points by Sheraton Catania, the monitoring phase that lasted between 2016 and 2017, and other strategic business-related initiatives. This paper also contributes to the advancement of the literature discussing regenerative business models, which to date has been a largely unexplored aspect of hospitality. Full article

Even before the outbreak of the pandemic, new working environments were considered an important trend in the office landscape, accompanied by modern office coffee solutions and catering concepts. Changes within the office environment have now accelerated further, influenced by factors such as progressive digitization, contactless work processes, home offices, open or co-working spaces and changing employee expectations. In the context of getting people back to work from home offices, the availability of coffee and food solutions has a central meaning (gained prominence of 33% (YouGov/Sodexo Study 2023) as a competitive advantage). The communal act of coffee breaks or gathering around coffee machines encourages informal networking, idea sharing and team building, thus fortifying the social fabric of the workplace. Research indicates that coffee consumption can enhance cognitive functions such as alertness, attention and memory, thereby positively impacting productivity and problem-solving capabilities for effective teamwork and interpersonal interactions. Furthermore, the provision of high-quality coffee options by employers not only reflects a commitment to employee well-being, but also serves as a tangible expression of the corporate culture and values. Requirements for modern vending concepts are evolving. It is not only the classic office environment that is subject to major changes; innovative solutions must also be found in the canteen/catering and hotel sectors in order to adapt to the new conditions. What this means for office coffee service and vending services in offices and businesses will be illustrated in this presentation under the motto “This is where New Work meets New Retail”. To this end, new to-go concepts from the out-of-home market will be presented, as well as innovations and modern solutions from the classic vending industry. Full article

Email marketing plays a key role in business communications and is one of the most widely used applications by consumers. The literature review points to several determinants that, when applied, increase the open rate of newsletters. This research evaluates the impact of six determinants of persuasion on the opening rate of a newsletter in the hotel industry. The determinants are the day of sending, the time of sending, subject line personalization, scarcity appeal, curiosity appeal, and authority figure. The chosen methodology focused on real experiments, using a high-end luxury hotel, and the respective customer database. The newsletter was sent to the subscriber list, where one part received the control and the other part received a variant with the test version. Ten A/B tests were conducted for each determinant. The results obtained were not in line with what is indicated in the literature review. Although the literature review yielded results that showed that the application of determinants increased the open rate of newsletters, this study obtained findings to the opposite and did not confirm what was prescribed by the reviewed literature. The results of the A/B tests were conclusive and revealed that the determinants did not increase the open rate of newsletters. Full article

Recently, emissions and the energy use of the building and construction sector globally increased. Therefore, energy retrofit processes and reducing the energy consumption of buildings are increasingly often discussed by the academic community, industry, and end-users. The application of high-performance technologies and highly insulating materials results in a low energy demand in newly constructed buildings. A crucial challenge is to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings. The article presents an energy analysis of the reconstruction of a historic building adapted to hotel functionality. Based on the available information on the design of the facility, and the annual demand for cooling and heating energy, simulations of the energy performance were carried out. The proposals to exchange the heat source and replace the existing systems were simulated and assessed. Three different retrofit options were analyzed, including the replacement of the air handling unit (variant 1—v1), bathroom fixtures (v2), and, in the last scenario analyzed (v3), the above-mentioned activities and the usage of tri-generation units. As the results show, such solutions allow for the reduction in final energy consumption of 20%, to 73% regarding the baseline variant. Full article

In organizations, unethical behaviors are pervasive and costly, and considerable recent research attention has been paid to various types of workplace unethical behavior. This study examines employees’ behaviors that are carried out for the benefit of one’s family but violate societal and organizational moral standards. Drawing upon the self-maintenance and bounded ethicality theories, this study examines the engagement of unethical organization behaviors (UOB) in the name of the family during the COVID-19 pandemic. It examines the influence of job instability and the mediating role of family financial pressure and family motivation. A total of 770 employees in hotels and travel agents in Egypt were targeted, and the data were analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results posit that perceived risk of job insecurity predicts engagement in unethical organizational behaviors, while intentions of UOB increase by high family motivation and financial pressures. Toward the end of this paper, a discussion on the theoretical and practical implications and are presented. Full article

The economic disaster precipitated by the pandemic of COVID-19 changed people’s perceptions of ordinary job stability and elevated it to an ultimate high level. To avoid being laid off, employees who are concerned about job stability may engage in unethical activities in the name of their employer. In this study, the influence of job instability on unethical organizational behaviour (UOB) was investigated through the mediating role of family financial pressure and distributive injustice. Perceptions of 830 employees working in hotels (5-star and 4-star) and travel agencies (Category A) were explored and further analyzed using structural equation modelling. The results asserted that family financial pressure and distributive injustice partially mediated the effects of job insecurity on UOB. Important insights on theoretical and practical implications were further deliberated towards the end of this study. Full article

As people increasingly make hotel booking decisions relying on online reviews, how to effectively improve customer ratings has become a major point for hotel managers. Online reviews serve as a promising data source to enhance service attributes in order to improve online bookings. This paper employs online customer ratings and textual reviews to explore the bidirectional performance (good performance in positive reviews and poor performance in negative reviews) of hotel attributes in terms of four hotel star ratings. Sentiment analysis and a combination of the Kano model and importance-performance analysis (IPA) are applied. Feature extraction and sentiment analysis techniques are used to analyze the bidirectional performance of hotel attributes in terms of four hotel star ratings from 1,090,341 online reviews of hotels in London collected from TripAdvisor.com (accessed on 4 January 2022). In particular, a new sentiment lexicon for hospitality domain is built from numerous online reviews using the PolarityRank algorithm to convert textual reviews into sentiment scores. The Kano-IPA model is applied to explain customers’ rating behaviors and prioritize attributes for improvement. The results provide determinants of high/low customer ratings to different star hotels and suggest that hotel attributes contributing to high/low customer ratings vary across hotel star ratings. In addition, this paper analyzed the Kano categories and priority rankings of six hotel attributes for each star rating of hotels to formulate improvement strategies. Theoretical and practical implications of these results are discussed in the end. Full article