Dr Xuan (Lorna) Wang

China Ready! prepares students and independent learners to work in the hospitality and tourism industry for high-value tourism business coming from China to English-speaking countries. The book focuses on listening and speaking skills - essential skills for learners. This book's features include the following: Important cultural and social awareness factors for interacting with clients from China Vocabulary Real-life scenarios Situational role playing and interactive listening Experiential exercises to encourage learning outside the classroom. The book is aimed at students who have attained the Common European Framework Reference (CEFR) A2 level and will bring them up to the CEFR B2/C1 level or 汉语水平 考试 (HSK) 4/5.

The soundscape is a relatively neglected area of study in tourism and to a wider extent the service industries research. This paper examines the relationship between soundscape and tourist satisfaction from a tourist sensory experience perspective. Data were collected in a UNESCO world heritage site in China, which is well known for its unique soundscape. The structural equation model analysis shows that there is a significant correlation between soundscape satisfaction and tourist satisfaction. The analysis of the findings also suggests that sound preference has almost no influence on soundscape satisfaction and tourist satisfaction, while soundscape expectation has a strong influence on tourist satisfaction. This study extends tourism multisensory research by offering insights into the relationship between the soundscape perceptions and tourist satisfaction. The findings also make progressive contribution to destination management studies by validating the relationship between the soundscape and its effects on tourist satisfaction.

This paper analyzes the process of changing a competition-oriented room rate pricing approach into a company-wide value-based pricing process from the perspective of the resource-based view. From a sample of 33 hotels in 16 countries it evaluates data from 55 open-ended interviews, documentation and archival records. Employing systems methodology the study illustrates that pricing is an intra/inter-organizational activity involving cross-disciplinary processes at various hierarchical levels. It finds that changing to value-based pricing involves a remarkable level of especially intangible resources. The study identifies these resources and their impact, identifying how constraints and tensions influence the shift in pricing orientation. It suggests that pricing in a value-driven policy comprises a capability. Without this capability interpersonal realities and goal conflicts, most prominently between sales and revenue, are found to impose major effects on the alignment of functional levels, the change in pricing processes, and the degree to which these are really value-driven.

Purpose This paper aims to explore the links between revenue management and business‐to‐business (B2B) relationships and explains how revenue management can both support and damage B2B relationships. Design/methodology/approach A single case study method was employed to conduct qualitative research into a company and its key accounts. In‐depth data were collected from three divergent sources (company revenue managers, company account managers and nine of the company's key accounts) through semi‐structured interviews, observations and document studies. Findings The research findings reveal that from the company's perspective, managers acknowledge that revenue management has positively influenced the process of identifying and analysing key account activities and conducting contractual decision making with key accounts. However, from the key accounts' perspective, revenue management practices were found to have significant negative consequences which damage trust and undermine long‐term relationships and commitment. Research limitations/implications Although the research findings cannot be generalised to other service sectors because of the single‐case study research method, the implications of this study suggest that the impact of revenue management practice on B2B relationships should be further investigated in a wide range of organisational and industry settings. Practical implications The research findings confirm the long‐held assumption that revenue management can negatively affect B2B relationships. The benefits of revenue management primarily reward the company, whilst long‐term B2B relationship development suffers from the short‐term consequences of the company's opportunistic behaviour. Originality/value This paper bridges the gap in the literature between revenue management and key account management. It also explores the conceptual incompatibility between revenue management and a long‐term relational approach to B2B relationships and provides evidence to support this proposition.

Purpose – This study uses the theory of third places to understand how different kinds of social interaction in small hospitality businesses, such as restaurants and cafes, can enhance senior customers’ experience and alleviate their loneliness. Design/methodology/approach – The target population of this study was Hong Kong residents aged 60 or above. The sampling frame comprised respondents who visited a Cha Chaan Teng (that is, a Hong Kong-style tea restaurant) more than once a year. We distributed 500 questionnaires and collected 411 valid responses in 2016. We used structural equation modeling for data analysis. Findings – The results show that social interactions (service manner and need identification) with employees and other customers have a positive effect on senior customers’ experiences while the service manner of employees reduces senior customers’ loneliness. Originality/value – This study exhibits the respective contributions of social interactions with employees and those with customers to enhancing senior customers’ experience and alleviating their loneliness. This study’s new findings may serve as a foundation for future research on the relationship between social interactions, customer experience, and loneliness in third places.

Despite the increasing interests surrounding online consumer behavior in recent years, there is a paucity in the current literature that attempt to substantiate the relationship between online information search behavior and value-conscious search behavior. This study explores the antecedents that prompt value-conscious online search behavior in hospitality and tourism. Data were collected from 2,013 participants in the United Kingdom. The result shows that hotel information search frequency affects value-conscious search behavior, and that this effect is fully mediated by source familiarity and search attitude. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

This study investigates the effect of family involvement on family firms' entrepreneurial behavior through decentralization. Borrowing from agency theory and using a sample of 145 entrepreneurs, this study contributes to entrepreneurship literature by providing a fine-grained explanation about how a decision-making mechanism such as decentralization influences the relationship between family involvement and innovativeness, and risk taking of family firms. Furthermore, this study demonstrates the importance of considering heterogeneity of family firms and the focal role of decentralization in spurring up firm-level entrepreneurship.

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine franchisees’ business start-ups from an entrepreneurial perspective, adopting a process representative of entrepreneurship to examine opportunity identification and evaluation by franchisees and to analyse factors that influence this process. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative study was employed and data collected using semi-structured interviews with a sample of service industry franchisees in Macau. Findings The study identifies that social networks play a key role in opportunity identification and that franchisees’ goals influence the criteria used and information search activities undertaken while evaluating franchise opportunities. Research limitations/implications The study makes two contributions to franchise literature. It identifies that social networks can serve as substitutes for lack of prior knowledge in franchise opportunity identification. It also identifies the interrelated nature of franchisees’ goals based on the activities and criteria used to evaluate franchise opportunities, and the importance of relational criteria when franchisees lack prior industry knowledge. It therefore also contributes to franchise/entrepreneurship literature by identifying the interrelated nature of the factors contributing to the dynamics of franchise chain growth. Practical implications Franchisors should explore how to better use franchisees’ social networks and identify the longer term goals of prospective franchisees to support market penetration and franchise chain growth. Franchisees are advised to use independent information sources to evaluate franchise opportunities using goal-informed objectives and demand and relational criteria. Originality/value The study presents a more comprehensive understanding of franchisees’ decision-making process when joining franchise chains by identifying the activities undertaken and criteria used to identify and evaluate franchise opportunities.

This paper evaluates the main developments of revenue management (RM) over the past decade and discusses RM challenges and research prospects. It examines nine notable emerging themes: total hotel RM, big data analytics, distribution, rate integrity, RM and marketing strategies alignment, social media impacts on RM, RM system, applications of RM in non-traditional service sectors, and RM education and training. We argue that these developments have far-reaching implications for real-world RM practice and anticipate that the topic areas will continue to be popular for hospitality and tourism research in the foreseeable future.

Purpose - This study examines the influence of perceived city brand image on emotional attachment to the city. The study also compares the effects of perceived brand image of the city on the emotional attachment to the city across two groups: residents and visitors. Design/methodology - A total of 207 usable questionnaires were collected from 107 residents of the city of Bratislava, Slovakia, and 100 visitors to the city. Partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) method was used for data analysis. Findings - This study establishes that perceived city brand image significantly influences emotional attachment to the city. The study concludes that affective city image has greater impact on emotional attachment to the city among the residents than visitors. In contrast, the influence of cognitive city image on emotional attachment to the city does not vary across the two categories of residents and visitors to the city. Practical implications - City tourism marketers should focus on improving city brand images to enhance tourists’ emotional attachment to the city to promote repeat visits among visitors. Originality/value - This study contributes to improving understanding of the impact of perceived city brand image on emotional attachment to the city across the two groups, residents and visitors, using social exchange theory. Furthermore, the findings come from a relatively under-researched Central and Eastern European (CEE) region.

This study highlights the valuable role the hospitality industry can play in addressing a societal problem by studying how social interactions between elderly consumers and other customers influence the satisfaction and social well-being of the former. The data were collected from 268 elderly consumers in local coffee shops in the United Kingdom using a self-administrated questionnaire. The findings reveal that elderly customers’ interactions with other customers have a direct effect both on customer satisfaction and social well-being. They also show that social interactions with other customers have both direct and indirect effects on the social well-being of elderly customers. The study provides good evidence for how commercial hospitality settings can serve as a space for social exchange that helps to alleviate social isolation.

Purpose This paper aims to address an identified gap in hospitality literature. It examines hotel key accounts' perceptions towards revenue management practice and its impact on key account relationship development. Design/methodology/approach A qualitative research approach was adopted for the investigation through in‐depth interviews with account managers from an international hotel company and its key accounts from nine international companies across three main market segments: airlines, corporate and leisure. Findings The findings of this study show that revenue management practice has reduced relationship stability and the trust between hotels and their key accounts due to a number of reasons. These include: opportunistic behaviour such as unexpected contract rate increases and/or blocked room availabilities during high‐demand days; imposed contractual restrictions; and undisclosed cheaper rates being available via other distribution channels from the same hotel. Research limitations/implications The findings provide limited evidence of total commitment between the two parties and support the “states theory” of relationship development, which appears to be more applicable than the “stages theory” since the hotel key relationships did not necessarily follow a predictable stage‐by‐stage development process and any major incidents could lead to an abrupt termination of the relationship. The in‐depth research findings are limited to one international hotel company's key accounts, which cannot be generalized since it lacks the breadth required for comparability with other organisations. Originality/value This paper bridges the gap between revenue management and key account relationship management literature by providing an insight into the key clients' perceptions towards the effects that hotel revenue management practice has had on relationship development.

Key Account Management (KAM) and Revenue Management (RevM) have been widely practiced in the service industries for more than three decades, but the effects of RevM on KAM remain largely unknown. This paper addresses this neglected area of study in the marketing field by presenting a framework for KAM and RevM integration that aligns the potentially conflicting management priorities of the two. The study uses an international hotel company as a research context to investigate, first, how a long-term relational approach to KAM may have been affected by RevM short-term revenue maximization goals, and, second, how KAM could be facilitated by RevM through an integrated approach to yield optimization from perishable products and from key accounts. The proposed framework is the first attempt of its kind to amalgamate KAM and RevM, involving critical analysis to assess comprehensively the revenue and the relationship value of a key account.

On 30 April–2 May, 2015, an inaugural Revenue Management Education Workshop on teaching Revenue Management (RM) was held at the University of Delaware. Made possible through generous support from Hyatt, the initiative was launched by Prof. Dr. Zvi Schwartz in order to facilitate a dialog among a selected group of hospitality RM educators and key industry players including: major international hotel chains, RM related technology and service providers and leading hospitality educators from worldwide universities. This article summarizes key themes emerged from the discussion and highlights the main challenges currently faced by RM educators.

The concepts of customer relationship management (CRM) and revenue management (RevM) have been embraced by managers in the hospitality industry although, in practice, companies may find it difficult to accommodate both fully. This paper examines the compatibility between the two practices and discusses the possible management conflicts that occur from both account managers’ and revenue managers’ viewpoints. Findings gathered from an international hotel company reveal several causes of potential management conflicts including: management goals, management timescales, perceived business assets, performance indicators and management foci between CRM and RevM due to divergence occurring in managers’ priorities and in their approaches to achieving their individual set goals. These differences have rarely been comprehensively investigated in previous studies, yet are vital in integrating CRM and RevM practices.