Abstract

Hotel restaurants are widely considered to be under‐performing assets and hotel companies have sought to improve their financial performance in a number of ways including outsourcing to specialist restaurant companies. This article reports the findings of a study that explores the key dimensions of outsourcing through a series of semi‐structured interviews and group discussions with 55 key informants. The findings reveal five key dimensions to the outsourcing relationship: core competencies, brand compatibility, organizational culture, operational tension, and systems of review, evaluation and control. It is concluded that, whilst there is evidence that the outsourcing of hotel restaurants can offer substantial benefits for both hotel and restaurant companies, it is important that the relationship is treated as more than merely the contracting‐out of support services. The provision of food and drink is an important and integral part of the hotel product and the complexities of the relationship between the partners, particularly in terms of issues such as brand association, organizational culture and operational tension, should not be underestimated. The impact on consumer perceptions of the hotel product and consumer satisfaction should also be considered carefully.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to present grounded theory as an alternative approach for conceptualizing and modelling the consumer experience. The basic theoretical tenets of the grounded theory approach are contrasted with more traditional assumptions and methods used in consumer research. Design/methodology/approach -The approach is based on qualitative methods and a series of systematic ethnographic procedures, which along with the simultaneous processes of data collection and analysis, lead to the development of an inductive derived grounded theory of the visitor experience. In order to develop a model of the interactive experience of visitors to heritage sites, case studies are conducted at three World Heritage Sites in Thailand. Findings -The findings indicate that the grounded theory approach has the potential to reveal a rich and deep understanding of visitor experiences, including the ways that visitors interact with the site, their interpretation of the site, and the meaning of the site for them. Practical implications -It is suggested that the grounded theory approach can be a valuable tool in exploring the insights and meanings of visitors' experience and could be applied to future research in consumer behaviour. There are practical implications of this kind of research for the management of heritage sites in terms of visitor expectations, interactions and interpretations. Originality/value -This study has developed a model of the experience and interaction of visitors to Thai World Heritage Sites which could be applied to other heritage sites. It illustrates the theoretical and practical issues of grounded theory approach to exploration and inductive development "interactive experience" of visitors at heritage sites. This is a qualitative research approach that could be adopted for a range of experience based industries such tourism, leisure and hospitality.

The aim of this paper is to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the New Zealand hospitality industry, within the context of business longevity theory using an on-line qualitative survey of 11 senior industry executives representing 105 restaurant, café and take-away outlets. The findings reveal that despite financial loss, COVID-19 provided an opportunity to engage in strategic innovation through two basic approaches; one mediated by technology, the other by direct personal contact. This internal innovation, flexibility and responsiveness is consistent with the RBV theory of the firm and the inertia and change perspective of organizational Population Ecology theory. The practical implications relate to business longevity and the financial impact across the industry, however, COVID-19 also provided an opportunity for strategic innovation through technology and direct personal customer contact. Innovations were mediated by two government COVID-19 related initiatives - the wage subsidy scheme, and government business loans. The social implications are significant and include a renewed sense of ‘self’ reflecting the need for business survival. Renewal has invigorated participants to differentiate the hospitality industry and its contribution to the national economy from that of tourism. That renewal and vibrancy provides the perfect scenario for the wider sociocultural embrace of a return to normal life and regular business in Aotearoa New Zealand. The limitations of this study include the focus on restaurants, cafes and take-aways - a wider hospitality industry study would provide a more industry representative perspective. The study is also focused on New Zealand as a unique case study; this would not necessarily be representative of the global industry. The qualitative approach and small sample is a strength in terms of depth of analysis, but could be supplemented through a wider quantitative study.

Purpose Several review articles have been published within the Artificial Intelligence (AI) literature that have explored a range of applications within the tourism and hospitality sectors. However, how efficiently the applied AI methods and algorithms have performed with respect to the type of applications and the multimodal sets of data domains have not yet been reviewed. Therefore, this paper aims to review and analyse the established AI methods in hospitality/tourism, ranging from data modelling for demand forecasting, tourism destination and behaviour pattern to enhanced customer service and experience. Design/methodology/approach The approach was to systematically review the relationship between AI methods and hospitality/tourism through a comprehensive literature review of papers published between 2010 and 2021. In total, 146 articles were identified and then critically analysed through content analysis into themes, including “AI methods” and “AI applications”. Findings The review discovered new knowledge in identifying AI methods concerning the settings and available multimodal data sets in hospitality and tourism. Moreover, AI applications fostering the tourism/hospitality industries were identified. It also proposes novel personalised AI modelling development for smart tourism platforms to precisely predict tourism choice behaviour patterns. Practical implications This review paper offers researchers and practitioners a broad understanding of the proper selection of AI methods that can potentially improve decision-making and decision-support in the tourism/hospitality industries. Originality/value This paper contributes to the tourism/hospitality literature with an interdisciplinary approach that reflects on theoretical/practical developments for data collection, data analysis and data modelling using AI-driven technology.