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Volume 31, Issue 2 (2013) FIU Hospitality Review v.31 i.2

Forward and Call to Action

The hospitality industry has undergone radical transformations in the past three decades. Since the 1980s, technological advancements have been transforming the hospitality industry. Global Distribution Systems (GDS), Computer Reservation Systems (CRS), developments on the Web, advanced Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software and many other advances have changed the way hospitality companies conduct business. Their implications for research have also been tremendous. We can see a clear pattern that in recent year that hospitality research has improved in terms of methodology and statistical procedures. Earlier empirical research studies mainly included descriptive statistics. However in the past years we can observe that more sophisticated methods are being used such as SEM and PLS with the help of software such as LISREL, AMOS, and MPlus. Most of current research in the hospitality is empirical and they tend to deploy primary field surveys in a variety of areas such as marketing, consumer behavior, food science, accounting, finance, human resources, information technology, strategic management, entrepreneurship, pricing, psychology to name a few.  Hospitality researchers are now investigating a range of phenomenon, using diverse data and methods, producing new forms of scholarly output, and engaging in innovative new forms of research and publication. This call to action specifically focuses at the progress in information technology research in hospitality literature.

     Uncovering ever changing needs of contemporary traveler needs and trends is important for hospitality research. We, as researchers need to explore the unknown and unseen and utilize creative and innovative research approaches. Contemporary travelers are always connected. Hotel bookings from the Internet and mobile devices are on the rise. They use more devices across a common set of platforms to help decision making process, purchase, WOM behaviors and so on. Marketing research shows that the amount of time people spend on a mobile device is growing rapidly, at 14 times the rate of desktop usage. Mobile is becoming a more prominent channel for commercial transactions. Social media usage is still growing, presenting a great potential for both practitioners and academia. Hashtags also open up new opportunities.  Research studies indicate that photos make up half of news feed stories in social media. Therefore, visual interactions with branded content on social media will create research opportunities.

Call to Action:

  1. Conduct research studies to investigate the differences among e-commerce of products vs. services. 
  2. Work on continual study of online customer experiences by adopting theories from multidisciplinary perspectives. 
  3. Collaborate with researchers in other fields.
  4. Carry on research that combines a theoretical foundation with research questions that have value both to the industry and to the body of knowledge.
  5. Focus on emerging areas such as
    • e-commerce and market intelligence
    • Recommender systems 
    • Social media monitoring
    • Social and virtual games 
    • Gamification
    • Impact of customer generated content

Full Issue

Articles

PDF

Research Note: Biometric Technology Applications and Trends in Hotels
Anil Bilgihan Dr., Ersem Karadag, Cihan Cobanoglu, and Fevzi Okumus

PDF

Private Club Financial Performance
Raymond S. Schmidgall Ph.D., CPA and Agnes DeFranco

PDF

Characteristics of US Graduate Hospitality Programs
Hubert B. Van Hoof, Luorong (Laurie) Wu, Lu Zhang, and Anna S. Mattila

PDF

Hotel Guest e-questionnaires: Implications for Feedback and Relationships
Alfred Ogle, Nadine Henley, Michelle Rowe, Sybe Jongeling, and Stephen Fanning

Publisher:

Mike Hampton, Dean, Florida International University

Editor in Chief:

Randall S. Upchurch, Associate Dean-Academics, Florida International University

Managing Editor:

Catherine Curtis, Assistant Professor, Oklahoma State University

Communications Editor:

Nathan Dodge, Assistant Director, Florida International University

Editorial Board:

Barbara Almanza, Professor, Purdue University

Mark Bonn, Professor, Florida State University

Robin DiPietro, Associate Professor & Director of the IIFRE, University of South Carolina

Chekitan Dev, Professor, Cornell University

Nicholas Hadgis, Dean, Widener University

Kimberly Harris, Professor, Florida State University

Leonard Jackson, Associate Professor, University of Memphis

Michael Kasavana, Professor, Michigan State University

A.J. Singh, Associate Professor, Michigan State University

Sandy Strick, Director of Graduate Studies, University of South Carolina

Hubert Van Hoof, Professor, The Pennsylvania State University

Technical Assistant Editor:

Dale Gomez, Director, University Computer Systems, Florida International University


The FIU Hospitality Review is published by the Chaplin School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, Florida International University, North Miami, Florida. International
Standard Serial Number: ISSN 0739-7011.

Contents © by FIU Hospitality Review. The reproduction of any artwork editorial or other material is expressly prohibited without written permission from the publisher, excepting the one-time educational reproduction which is allowed without express permission. All rights reserved. Copyright © 2013.

Editorial policy: FIU Hospitality Review does not accept responsibility for any of the views expressed in its pages. Rather, the editorial board accepts the responsibility for providing an open forum for a broad range of views to be expressed. Articles do not represent a consensus of opinion; some ideas presented are in open disagreement with others, and no reader should be able to agree with all ideas expressed.

Unsolicited articles, essays, or other materials may be transmitted electronically to: http://digitalcommons.fiu.edu/hospitalityreview