Domestic midscale chain hotel brands' effectiveness in research and development: An exploratory study

Abstract

While many midscale chain hotel brands in China's domestic market have developed rapidly since 2010, it is still unclear how a new midscale chain hotel brand can be most effectively researched and developed. Drawing from resource‐advantage theory, this study aimed to understand the effectiveness of six key attributes of new domestic midscale chain hotel brands and map them onto a research and development (R&D) competitive position matrix. The results show that the actual R&D process lasts beyond the opening of the first hotel of the new brand and requires a further 2‐year maturation period. This study contributes to the literature by creating a maturation system that could play a key role in the effectiveness of the R&D underlying a chain hotel's brand development. It also provides a compelling tool for monitoring the effectiveness of domestic midscale chain hotel brands' R&D.