Globalising the hotel industry 1946–68: A multinational case study of the Intercontinental Hotel Corporation

Abstract

This article employs one case study, of Intercontinental Hotel Corporation, to examine the globalisation of the hotel industry between 1946 and 1968. The results show that the advent of multinational hotel development was characterised by the importance of government policies in shaping multinational expansion, whose trajectory was also closely related to the growth of the airline industry, underpinned by consumer demand change. This historical analysis illuminates capabilities specific to a firm as well as the entry mode and locations selected for international expansion as important factors in driving financial performance. Finally, this study contributes to the international business and business history literature by exploring international business development in the context of a small sample size and longitudinal approach.

Exploring the antecedents of sustainable tourism development

“…Recent historical work on tourism has focused on Hilton (Maclean et al, 2017), large multinational hotel development (Quek, 2012), heritage and ancestral tourism (Murdy et al, 2018), and ecotourism development (Jones and Spadafora, 2017). Nevertheless, historical analyses in hospitality and tourism remain relatively few (Heslinga et al, 2018).…”

A marketing research tool for destination marketing organizations' logo design

“…Their constant change of expectation, taste, and behavior (Quek, 2012;Doyle, 2002) complicates logo selection.…”

Political ideology and the discursive construction of the multinational hotel industry

“…We were attracted to HI by the pre-existing research interests of one research team member familiar with its longstanding hegemonic position within the hotel business. Although Intercontinental Hotels was the first mover as a hotel MNC (Quek, 2012), it was HI that led the way, its adoption and dissemination of numerous business innovations shaping policies and practices within the hospitality industry we know today. Our case selection was vindicated on gaining access to Conrad Hilton’s substantial personal and business records.…”

“…There is considerable variation within and between industries in the business models and practices of MNCs (Geppert et al, 2003a). In the hotel industry, the business model first propagated by HI and its rival Intercontinental Hotels remains the global industry standard (Dunning and McQueen, 1981; Quek, 2012). It is characterized by having multiple independently owned hotels managed under various types of contract by brand-owning MNCs, separating hotel ownership from management.…”