Cornell Hotel & Restaurant Administration Quarterly

Browse past and current articles from this publication.

Progress report: the Center at fifteen.(From the Center)
The Center for Hospitality Research, publisher of this journal, is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary this year. Though we will note this occasion at the Cornell Hotel Society's annual New York H . . .

Looking back, looking ahead.(From the Editor)
This issue, the November issue, completes volume 48 of the Cornell Quarterly (CQ), and it also completes my first year as the editor. I would like to use this editorial to bring to light some of the . . .

Internet hotel reservations: the "terms and conditions" trap.(Hotel Marketing)
Hotel guests who make reservations via hotel companies' websites are parties to a contract. In that context, most hotels' websites contain a notice of the terms and conditions of using the website t . . .

How organizational standards and coworker support improve restaurant service.(Restaurant Marketing)
Servers' perceptions of the support of coworkers in their restaurant, the existence of standards in their restaurant, and the extent of their guest orientation are all related to customers' reported . . .

Perceptions of Chinese hotels.(International Focus)
Although China's one- and two-star hotels are fulfilling guest expectations in the core functions of comfortable beds and clean rooms, a survey of 941 Chinese travelers found that guests otherwise g . . .

Taiwan's hotel rating system: a service quality perspective.(International Focus)
An analysis of Taiwan's new hotel rating system shows an imbalance among the five service-quality factors used in the SERVQUAL framework, which is often applied to quality assurance assessments. Alt . . .

Cuba at the crossroads: the role of the U.S. hospitality industry in Cuban tourism initiatives.(CQ Cases)
The long-standing U.S. embargo on travel to Cuba has made life difficult for the Cuban people without achieving its stated purpose of regime change. Supported for many years by the erstwhile Soviet . . .

Toward an understanding of the tourism potential in Cuba.(CQ Cases)
The U.S. embargo on Cuba has been a failure in its stated goal of regime change, and Cuba has found ways of earning foreign exchange that do not involve the United States. As Cuba's tourism industry . . .

Tourism and the transformation of Cuba--revisited.(CQ Cases)
Even if the United States ended its embargo on Cuba, the island's command economy might be a hostile environment for U.S.-based hotel operators. Additionally, Cuba's hotel managers might not welcome . . .

The challenge of Cuban tourism: a commentary on "Cuba at the crossroads".(CQ Cases)
While there is no question that U.S. tourism interests are missing the growth potential of Cuba's tourism industry, there is also no reason to believe that Cuba's existing operators would welcome U. . . .

Barometer of hotel room revenue: a regular service of Smith travel research.(STATISTICAL SNAPSHOTS)
Room revenue in the U.S. lodging industry in the second quarter of 2007 was 7 percent higher than it was during the same period in 2006 and slightly (0.3 percent) more than the amount expected on th . . .

Internet hotel reservations: the "terms and conditions" trap.(HOTEL MARKETING)
A review of U.S. case law finds that the web-based approach used by most hotel companies to alert customers to the terms and conditions for making an internet reservation might not hold up in the ev . . .

How organizational standards and coworker support improve restaurant service.(RESTAURANT MARKETING)
A model examining the relationship between restaurant employees' reactions to their work environment and their jobs as service providers and guest satisfaction was tested among twenty-five restauran . . .

Perceptions of Chinese hotels.(INTERNATIONAL FOCUS)
The evaluations of 941 respondents who had recently stayed in a Chinese hotel revealed that guests' satisfaction with the hotels were influenced by hotels' star ratings. By comparing the importance- . . .

Taiwan's hotel rating system: a service quality perspective.(INTERNATIONAL FOCUS)
This study applies content analysis to compare four hotel rating systems, in the United Kingdom, United States, China, and Taiwan as well as to compare the evaluating methods and service-quality mea . . .

Cuba at the crossroads: the role of the U.S. hospitality industry in Cuban tourism initiatives.(CQ CASES)
The U.S. embargo has clearly been costly to the Cuban people, in terms of their health and well-being. Based upon the first author's firsthand, informal personal interactions with the Cuban people, . . .

Toward an understanding of the tourism potential in Cuba.(CQ CASES)
The author argues that the U.S.-led boycott of and travel ban to Cuba has been abandoned by most other nations, to the detriment of U.S. interests. Rather than continue the boycott, opening tourist . . .

Tourism and the Transformation of Cuba--revisited.(CQ CASES)
Changes in Cuba's tourism industry will be slow to come, if they come at all, because the Cuban people have become acclimated to a command economy. Moreover, those who work in Cuba's hospitality ind . . .

The challenge of Cuban tourism: a commentary on "Cuba at the Crossroads".(CQ CASES)
Prospects for opening joint ventures in Cuba by U.S. hotel operators remain dim, despite inevitable changes in the island's government. Expatriate Cubans remain adamantly opposed to the current regi . . .

Acknowledgment of Ad Hoc and Practitioner Reviewers.
Ad Hoc Reviewers: Lerzan Aksoy, Koc University, Turkey Srikanth Beldona, University of Delaware, USA Angelo Camillo, University of Denver, USA Bill Carroll, Cornell University, USA Wilco Chan, Sch . . .

Using new brain science to address the quarterdeck dilemma.(analysis of archetypes)
Marketing the Quarterdeck may be a matter of touching on the emotions of current and potential customers. Keywords: qualitative research; archetype; memory; emotion; metaphor; childhood; sensory . . .

Driving demand for the Quarterdeck: a commentary.(management of seasonal resorts)
The situation of steeply seasonal resorts, such as Nova Scotia's Quarterdeck Beachside Villas and Grill, requires innovative thinking. For the Quarterdeck, this would include finding ways to shift d . . .

Driving demand for the quarterdeck: A case study.(management of seasonal resorts)
The Quarterdeck Beachside Villas and Grill is a small property that faces an all too common set of challenges, most of them stemming from steep seasonality. Located on Nova Scotia's south shore, the . . .

Ability versus personality: factors that predict employee job performance.(analysis of restaurant management)(Statistical data)
All hospitality operators want employees who can learn their jobs quickly and have personality traits that allow them to maintain their performance over time. Unfortunately, it is not always possibl . . .

Importance-performance analysis of guest technologies in the lodging industry.(analysis of hotel management)(Statistical data)
An assessment of how hotel guests view in-room technology compared the importance of those technologies to how they perform. Based on 265 responses, this importance-performance analysis indicates th . . .

Guest satisfaction and restaurant performance.(analysis of restaurant management)
This study demonstrates a methodology to quantify the links between customer satisfaction, repeat-purchase intentions, and restaurant performance. Using data from a national restaurant chain, the au . . .

"Know before you serve": developing a food-allergy fact sheet.(analysis of restaurant management)
Given the potential severity of allergic reactions to certain foods, restaurant operators and staff need to know how to prevent guests from eating what could be fatal food. When the state of New Jer . . .

Using childhood memory elicitation to gain insights into a brand at a crossroads; the In-N-Out burger situation.(analysis of res
The regional In-N-Out burger chain is at a crossroads. With the passing of its matriarch, a new generation of owners is considering speeding up the company's growth, franchising the company, and exp . . .

The effect of meal pace on customer satisfaction.(analysis of restaurant management)
Restaurant operators who seek to increase table turns during peak periods may want to speed up the meal's pace. However, excessive speed may make customers feel rushed. A survey of 218 respondents f . . .

Barometer of hotel room revenue: a regular service of smith travel research.(Statistical table)(Financial report)(Brief article)
Room revenue in the U.S. lodging industry in the first quarter of 2007 was over 6 percent higher than during the same period last year but more than 2 percent less than the amount that would be expe . . .

Roundtables focus on key issues in hotel finance, marketing, and law.(research of hospitality industry)
The Spring 2007 Roundtable season at the Center for Hospitality Research was a strong one, with research presentations and discussion that is absent at conferences elsewhere. This past May we held t . . .

The risk to the American fast-food industry of obesity litigation.(LEGAL ISSUES)
This article examines the problem of obesity in the United States, the role fast food is believed to play in obesity, and the prospects of legal claims against quick-service operations for obesity-r . . .

Online consumer privacy: an analysis of hotel company behavior.(INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY)
Technology gives Web site hosts a heretofore unprecedented ability to collect detailed information about customers who visit their sites and to use that information to customize subsequent interacti . . .

Developing in-house careers and retaining management talent: what hospitality professionals want from their jobs.(HUMAN RESOURCE
One of the primary challenges the hospitality industry faces continues to be high levels of turnover. In this study, the authors examine turnover intentions of one of the most critical groups of emp . . .

Customers' perceptions of best available hotel rates.(HOTEL MANAGEMENT)(Survey)
A study of 153 travelers in three airports (Dallas, Pittsburgh, and Ithaca) found that respondents held a generally negative view of hotel companies' pricing policies. The respondents were asked spe . . .

Invoking social norms: a social psychology perspective on improving hotels' linen-reuse programs.(HOTEL MANAGEMENT)
Social psychology theory can be applied to such mundane purposes as encouraging guests to reuse their washroom towels. In contrast to the appeals now in use to persuade guests to reuse their towels, . . .

Visual methods: using photographs to capture customers' experience with design.(GUEST SATISFACTION)
Traditional guest feedback methods such as surveys or mystery shopping are not ideal for collecting information about customers' reactions to a hotel's physical design. Because design is a visual me . . .

Barometer of hotel room revenue: a regular service of Smith travel research.(STATISTICAL SNAPSHOTS)(Statistical data)
Room revenue in the U.S. lodging industry in the fourth quarter of 2006 was over 7 percent more than in the same period last year and more than 1 percent above the amount expected on the basis of pa . . .

Appreciation and anticipation.(From the Editor)(Editorial)
This May 2007 issue of Cornell Quarterly is the first one for which I am fully responsible. Although I was named editor of the Quarterly last year, my predecessor, Michael Sturman, kindly continued . . .

May: a month of Roundtables.(From the Center)(Center for Hospitality Research)
Springtime in Ithaca means the snow may melt, graduating seniors may leave Ithaca, and the Center for Hospitality Research will hold three Industry Roundtables. The Center's Roundtables are forums t . . .

A timely product innovation.(allergy-friendly rooms)
The reason for converting rooms to the Pure Allergy Friendly concept is the same reason that the product was developed in the first place. That is, customers are demanding the product. Hotels that h . . .

Tackling the investment decision as a "newsvendor problem".(CQ CASES)
While the simulation analysis presented in the "Case Study of Pure Allergy-Friendly Rooms" offers a richness of data, the classic "newsvendor analysis" is a simpler approach to determining how many . . .

A simulation-based optimization approach for investment decisions: a case study of pure allergy-friendly rooms.(CQ CASES)
The complexities of modeling the financial outcomes of a hotel's development decisions are highlighted by a case study of the decision to convert regular rooms to allergy-friendly rooms. Among other . . .

Table-games revenue management: applying survival analysis.(CASINO MANAGEMENT)
Table games fulfill the classic criteria for revenue management. That is, table games are a perishable product with a low variable cost but a high fixed cost along with a relatively inflexible suppl . . .

The combined effects of the physical environment and employee behavior on customer perception of restaurant service quality.(RES
While a restaurant probably will not survive if its food is poor, restaurant customers use a wide variety of clues to determine their final assessment of the restaurant and the meal it served. Those . . .

Employment discrimination in the restaurant industry.(RESTAURANT MANAGEMENT)
With its high emotional content and close working quarters, the restaurant industry is a frequent target of discrimination claims. A discrimination database maintained by the authors from claims rec . . .

Understanding customer-derived value in the timeshare industry.(TIMESHARE MARKETING)
Focus-group interviews with timeshare owners have identified twelve factors from which the owners derive value from their investments. Five of those factors, convenience, location, relaxation, socia . . .

Global brand expansion: how to select a market entry strategy.(HOTEL MANAGEMENT)
To reduce the risks inherent in international expansion, hotel companies must decide the appropriate balance between maintaining their own control or permitting local control of the physical assets, . . .

Barometer of hotel room revenue: a regular service of Smith Travel Research.(STATISTICAL SNAPSHOTS)(Financial report)
Room revenue in the U.S. lodging industry in the third quarter of 2006 as almost 7 percent above the same period last year but nearly 3 percent less than the amount expected on the basis of past tre . . .

Education: the two-way street.(Editorial)
I took over as the editor of Cornell Quarterly as of July 1, 2006, and so far it has been an enriching academic experience for me. This event marked a transition for me as well as for many of my col . . .