CHR Research

Focused on the Industry

The Center for Hospitality Research offers a wide variety of accessible reports aimed at providing specific approaches for addressing industry issues. The reports are written by faculty researchers at the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration and elsewhere, with a goal of answering specific questions facing the industry. Based on their direct contact with industry leaders, CHR experts explain the implications of their studies for the reader’s benefit. All CHR reports are offered at no charge as a service to the industry.

The CHR also provides research grants to faculty across the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business who are researching topics of interest and importance to the hospitality, travel, and service industries. To see current funding opportunities, click the button below:

Current funding opportunities

Full Catalogue of CHR Reports

The full catalogue and a searchable database of nearly two decades of CHR reports, including industry tools and roundtable highlights, can be found in the CHR section of Cornell’s eCommons.

 


Submit a Manuscript

To submit a manuscript for publication, click the button below and select “Centers and Institutes, Hospitality Publications” from the publication list dropdown menu.

All submitted manuscripts must meet the submission guidelines outlined below. Manuscripts that do not meet formatting and content standards will not be accepted. Authors are strongly encouraged to engage an outside copy editor for assistance prior to submission.

Submit a Manuscript


Most Recent Publications

Below is a list of our most recent publications, as well as important industry publications. To read the full reports, click the link at the bottom of each summary.

Hotel

Hotel Brand Overload: The Coming Shakeout

by Chekitan S. Dev

Hotels are seeking to differentiate themselves in a “sea of sameness”. To continue growing, brands will increasingly have to use technology and also apply research and development to assess their brand concepts.

Read more about hotel brand overload

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Year Ends; Trend Continues

by Crocker H. Liu, Adam D. Nowak, and Robert M. White, Jr.

The price performance of hotels by region was worse this period than in the prior period, with only the Pacific and New England regions posting small single-digit gains.

Read more about hotel price trends

Chess

Leadership Style and Incentives

by Pablo Casas-Arce and Asís Martínez-Jerez

Worthwhile incentives are essential for a business’s success. The challenge is for hospitality firms to create incentives that work for both team leaders and team members.

Read more about incentives

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On the Frequency and Detail of Feedback

by Pablo Casas-Arce, Sofia Lourenço, and Asís Martínez-Jerez

Instant feedback has become a societal hallmark. Providing detailed feedback as frequently as possible should improve decision-making, but that may not always be the case.

Read more about detailed feedback

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Empowering Customer-facing Employees: Learnings from the Casino Industry

 by Asís Martínez-Jerez

A comparison of two different approaches to sales force empowerment through “comping”. A tight, point-by-point analysis of staff members’ comping decisions, and a looser, more general approach.

Read more about comping

AI

CHR Analytics Roundtable 2023

by Kelly McGuire and Emma Scher

Participants focused on the changes that will be wrought by the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence applications, such as Open AI and ChatGPT.

Read more about artificial intelligence

money

The Entry and Exit of Investors: Hospitality Transactions during the Covid Period

by Yifei Mao

Taking advantage of hotel price weakness early in the pandemic, private equity investors increased their market share.

Read more about transactions during Covid

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Higher Interest Rates Hinder Hotel Price Momentum

by Crocker Liu, Adam Nowak, and Robert White Jr

Expect to see an uptick in the price of large hotels in the next quarter, while prices for small hotels falter, based on our leading indicators of hotel price performance.

Read more about this forecast

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Sustainability in the Hospitality Industry

by Jeanne Varney

Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index (CHSB), a ten-year effort led by Greenview and published exclusively by the CHR to develop industry benchmarks for greenhouse gases, water use, and energy consumption.

Read more about Sustainability Benchmarking

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A Hybrid Approach to Short-term Rentals

by Robert Gregor

A small hotel in Lake George, NY promotes their property both through traditional hotel channels and by listing the property’s rooms on Airbnb.

Read more about hybrid advertisement

Arrow

Hotel Prices Continue to Lose Momentum

by Crocker H. Liu, Adam D. Nowak, and Robert M. White, Jr.

Based on leading indicators of hotel price performance, we can expect to see hotel prices continue to falter next quarter.

Read more about hotel pricing

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Global Hospitality, Travel, and Tourism Trends

by Chekitan Dev

A lively discussion with Hari Nair of Expedia Group around ten major travel trends in the changing world of hospitality, travel, and tourism.

Read more about changing travel trends

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Consolidating the $50 Billion U.S. Short-term Rental Market

by Philip Lólis, Mike Scott, and Clay Dickinson

With around $53.5 billion in gross booking value, or about 25 percent of the entire U.S. lodging industry, the STR market presents an enticing consolidation opportunity.

Read more about consolidating short-term rentals

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Implementation vs. Rewards of Tech Investment

by Hanover Research, FreedomPay, Center for Hospitality Research, and Worldpay

The global commerce landscape is amid massive disruption from political, technological, social, and economic perspectives and it all promises to impact the payment landscape in the coming years.

Read more about tech investment

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The Next 100 Years: Hospitality Guests of Tomorrow

by Chekitan Dev 

A panel discussion in which we look ahead to where the hotel and travel industry will be in the next 100 years.

Read more about guest trends

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Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index 2023

by Eric Ricaurte and Rehmaashini Jagarajan

Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking research reveals a general decrease in energy and water usage among the participating hotels. The decrease is largely associated with the pandemic.

Read more about the 2023 index

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Mixed Signals Portend Greater Uncertainty Ahead

by Crocker Liu, Adam Nowak, and Robert White Jr

Although hotels showed continued positive price momentum in all regions from the prior year (year over year), prices faltered in some regions from the prior quarter, especially in the Mid-Atlantic and to a lesser extent in the South Atlantic regions.

Read more about this forecast

Barbados

Barbados Tourism: Repositioning A Struggling Country Brand

by Chekitan Dev and Laure Mougeot Stroock

With a theme of “Sea. Sun. Sand.,” the Caribbean island nation of Barbados relies on its tourism industry as a source of foreign exchange. The question has become: what does Barbados needed to do to ensure the success of its tourism industry?

Read more about this case study

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Music Refrain: One More Time 

by Crocker Liu, Adam Nowak, and Robert White Jr

The price of hotels showed strength in all regions except the South Atlantic this quarter, with all regions except New England experiencing double-digit growth year over year. Looking toward the next quarter expect slower or declining price momentum for larger hotels but not necessarily for smaller hotels.

Read more about this growth

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Hotel Il San Pietro di Positano: Strengthening an Extraordinary Independent Brand 

by Chekitan Dev and Laure Mougeot Stroock

A new hospitality case study about a storied, independent Italian hotel, the Hotel Il San Pietro di Positano, leveraging its brand strengths to grow and remain competitive in its sixth decade of business.

Read more about this case study

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CHR Annual Report - 2021-2022 

by the staff of Centers and Institutes at the Cornell Nolan School

2021-2022 Annual Review, Center for Hospitality Research (CHR), Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration.

Read CHR's Annual report

Hotels

Long Small Hotels, Short Large Hotels 

by Crocker Liu, Adam Nowak, and Robert White Jr

The price of hotels showed particular strength in the Mid-Atlantic, Pacific, and West South Central regions, while other regions experienced positive growth albeit at a slower rate relative to the previous period.

Read more about this positive growth

Roundtable

Roundtable Recap: Driving Operational Excellence Through Analytics

by Emma Scher, and Kelly McGuire

The analytics function in hotels is still relatively new. While some hospitality companies began to build out an analytics function earlier, it has only been in the last ten to fifteen years that the majority of industry players have made investments in people and technology to support broader and deeper use of analytics in their organizations.

Read more about this roundtable

Taxes

Impact of Occupancy Taxes on the Sharing Economy 

by Jay Wrolstad, Yao Cui, and Andrew Davis

Efforts to collect occupancy taxes on Airbnb lodging listings, designed by public policy makers to regulate the homesharing market, have put individual hosts at a distinct disadvantage compared to commercial listings, rather than leveling the playing field as intended, new research shows.

Read more about occupancy taxes

headwinds

Heading into Economic Headwinds 

by Crocker Liu, Adam Nowak, and Robert White Jr

The price of hotels rose in all regions except the Mid-Atlantic this quarter. Hotel prices in the Mountain and South Atlantic regions reached new statistical highs, while hotel prices in the Pacific region continued to remain above their statistical high.

Read more about hotel prices

groundedness

Groundedness: Connecting Consumers with Place, People, and Past 

by Jay Wrolstad

Our fast-paced world keeps picking up speed, with digitization, globalization and mobility recognized widely as signs of progress and innovation—yet for many there is a growing desire to take a step back, catch their breath …

Read more about groundedness

Ides of March

Beware the Ides of March 

by Crocker Liu, Adam Nowak, and Robert White Jr

The price of large hotels fell while that of smaller hotels increased this quarter. On a regional basis, the MidAtlantic had the best quarterly gains, with the Pacific region also doing well, while the Midwest suffered price declines.

Read more about hotel prices

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12th Annual Sustainability Roundtable Highlights

by Aaron Adalja and Jeanne Varney

The Center for Hospitality Research at the Nolan School hosted this sustainability focused Roundtable and participants reported robust and meaningful work being accomplished.

Read more about sustainability

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Shifting Loyalties: Where Has All the Love Gone?

by Carolyn Corda, MPS ’89

Consumers’ connection to their preferred brand has frayed during the pandemic-driven downturn in travel. CHR board member company Adara looks to the future of data collection and ethically-sourced intelligence to create a bond of genuine brand loyalty.

Read more about shifting loyalties

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Converging Towards Normalcy 

by Crocker Liu, Adam Nowak, and Robert White Jr

Hotel prices continue to converge toward pre-pandemic levels. Gains posted were smaller relative to the previous quarter but higher year over year. Hotels in both gateway and non-gateway cities continue to exhibit positive performance, with hotels in non-gateway cities posting greater gains.

Read more about hotel prices converging toward pre-pandemic levels

Cover image of CHR Annual review

CHR Annual Report - 2020-2021 

by the staff of Centers and Institutes at the Cornell Nolan School

2020-2021 Annual Review, Center for Hospitality Research (CHR), Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration.

Read CHR's Annual report

Image of hotel bedroom

Understanding Human Resource Practices and Outcomes in Franchise Businesses 

by Tashlin Lakhani

Franchise businesses are an essential and growing part of the U.S. economy, accounting for nearly 800,000 establishments, 9 million jobs, and $800 billion in output annually. The importance of franchising is particularly evident in hospitality.

Read more about franchise businesses

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Pole Vaulting to New High 

by Crocker Liu, Adam Nowak, and Robert White Jr

Hotel prices continued to gain ground during the recent quarter, regaining losses incurred during the pandemic. Prices in all regions are reverting to their long-term average, with hotels in the Pacific and South Atlantic regions rising above their standardized average.

Read more about hotel price gains

Shanghai skyline

Case Study: Real Estate: Private Equity Investment in Shanghai 

by Peng Liu and Terence Loh

In this case study, you are a consultant engaged to assess whether to invest in Project Innov Star, a Class A office project in Zhangjiang Shanghai, which currently is stalled.

Read more about private equity investment in Shanghai

check

Check Please! How Restaurant, Retail and Hospitality Businesses are Managing Cybersecurity Risks

by FreedomPay and Center for Hospitality Research (CHR), Cornell University

This report illustrates the challenges, opinions and actions merchants of all sizes are facing and how cybersecurity is being tackled and prioritized as the world shrinks, and hackers and consumers become savvier.

Read more about cybersecurity

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Social Listening to Create Bespoke Customer Experiences: Best Practices for Hospitality Operators

by Kathryn LaTour and Ana Brant

Social listening involves using the information customers post publicly to better personalize their experience.  In this paper the process Luxury Hotel Company X embarked on to harness social media postings to better manage their experience in real-time is described.

Read more about social listening

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Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index 2021: Carbon, Energy, and Water

by Eric Ricaurte and Rehmaashini Jagarajan

The annual Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking study, published for the eighth consecutive year, finds a general reduction in energy and water usage among the participating hotels over the past three years (2017 -2019).

Read more about this benchmarking study

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Finding the Balance Between Driving Revenue & Managing Costs

by Ira Vouk

CHR hosted a virtual roundtable called Finding the Balance Between Driving Revenue & Managing Costs challenging the industry’s long standing practice of managing top line room revenues.

Read more about this roundtable

green

Establishing the road to a global consumer recovery in the era of COVID-19

Deloitte State of the Consumer Tracker; Deloitte Insights

To better understand changing consumer sentiment and behavior in relation to COVID-19, check back each month to play with this interactive dashboard.

Read more about global consumer recovery

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Keen but cautious - US leisure travel in the second summer of COVID-19

by Peter Caputo, Anthony J. Jackson, Ramya Murali, Maggie Rauch; Deloitte Insights

Survey data reveals that after more than a year of living with the threat of a deadly virus, the US traveler is upbeat, yet cautious about summer travel in 2021.

Read more about US leisure travel

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Second Quarter 2021: Are We There Yet?

by Crocker Liu; Adam Nowak, Robert White Jr.

Looking toward the next quarter, our leading indicators of hotel price performance indicates that positive price momentum should continue to exist for both large and small hotels.

Read more about hotel prices rebounding

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Gender Diversity and Inclusion Report

By Aptamind & World Tourism Forum Lucerne

This report highlights the glaring gaps in the travel and tourism sector especially in the C-suite and executive roles and also highlights what leaders can do to deliver on gender diversity.

Read more about gender diversity and inclusion

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Consumer Perceptions of Restaurant Delivery Fees

By Sheryl Kimes and Chaoqun Chen

As a substantial number of restaurants have implemented pickup and delivery as a large part of their business, restaurant operators must consider customers’ reactions to the structure of pickup and delivery charges.

Read more about restaurant pickup and delivery

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Sustainability in the Era of COVID-19

By Aaron Adalja and Jeanne Varney

The 11th annual Center for Hospitality Research Sustainability Roundtable took on a distinctively different format, a virtual webinar format.

Read more about the sustainability roundtable

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Customer Engagement: The Key to Long-term Loyalty and Impact

By Christopher Anderson and Saram Han

In a series of studies using data from a well-known hotel chain and a customer feedback software company, we illustrate the long-term impacts of guest engagement.

Read more about customer engagement

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A Glimmer of Hope Amidst a Hemorrhage

By Crocker Liu, Adam Nowak, and Robert White Jr

Prices of hotels along the east coast continue to drop, although the rate of decline has moderated. Hotels on the west coast enjoyed positive price momentum, both on a quarter-over-quarter or year-over-year basis.

Read report number 37 of the index series

fish

Is It Time for Bottom Fishing?

By Crocker Liu, Adam Nowak, and Robert White Jr

The prices of hotels in all regions continue to hemorrhage, with hotels in the Middle Atlantic and South Atlantic regions particularly hard hit.

Read report number 36 of the index series

2

Center for Hospitality Research Annual Report 2019-2020

by the staff of Centers and Institutes at the Cornell Nolan School

2019-2020 Year in Review. Despite this year’s challenges, CHR has accomplished a great deal thanks to the hard work of our dedicated staff and the generous support of our advisory board members. We invite you to look back at our events and achievements.

Read more about CHR's annual report

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Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index 2020: Carbon, Energy, and Water

By Eric Ricaurte and Rehmaashini Jagarajan

The seventh annual Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking study includes data from considerably more hotels than last year. While the bulk of the data still come from hotels in the United States, the study also recorded a greater international participation, with 55 nations and 20 international hotel chains represented.

Read more about hotel sustainability

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Case Study: Building a Heritage Hospitality Brand with Neemrana Hotels

By Chekitan Dev and Laure Stroock

Step into the shoes of Aman Nath, founder and co-chairman of Neemrana Hotels, one of the most successful heritage hospitality brands in India. Since the company began operating in 1993, the Indian hospitality industry has changed dramatically—notably, the luxury/upper upscale segment has become more crowded with domestic and foreign brands, and there’s a growing demand for experiential travel to destinations off the beaten path. Along with CEO, Sonavi Kaicker, Aman will need to position the company to capitalize on these changes to the market, so the Neemrana Hotels can survive and thrive.

Click here to see solutions sent in by alumni, students, and hospitality experts.

Read the full case

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Pre- and Post-COVID Travel Preferences

By Linda Canina and Nicole McQuiddy-Davis

COVID-19 has disrupted travel and the hospitality industry like no other historical event. As travel slowly resumes in the US under strict government guidelines, our survey results suggest that travel-related businesses like hotels are now serving a more cautious guest who appreciates mask wearing, social distancing, and increased cleaning.

Read more about travel survey results

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Managing a Wine Cellar Using a Spreadsheet

By Gary Thompson

This report describes the many spreadsheet-based analyses in this tool that can assist an individual, restaurant, or bar in managing a wine cellar.The Wine Cellar Management Tool Version 4, which is available at no charge from The Center for Hospitality Research at Cornell University, does not require actual knowledge of how to construct a spreadsheet. It does require diligent data entry regarding wine purchases and withdrawals.

Read more about this wine cellar tool

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Duty of Care Benchmarking Tool

By Cathy Enz and Gary Thompson

For any organization, “Duty of Care” is the obligation to avoid or diminish any reasonably foreseen harm to customers and employees resulting from exposure to the coronavirus that causes COVID-19. Formalizing rules, procedures, standards, processes, and guidelines serve as a compliment to managerial oversight and help companies run smoothly with improved efficiency and coherence in Duty of Care activities.

Read more about the duty of care

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Crowdfunding for Hospitality Ventures

by Elena Belavina

This research brief provides guidance for entrepreneurs on the benefits and effective use of crowdfunding for hospitality ventures

Read more about crowdfunding for hospitality ventures

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Disaster Recovery Priority Ranking Tool

by Cathy Enz and Gary Thompson

The Disaster Recovery Priority Ranking tool is a spreadsheet-based decision-making tool designed to help managers apply a set of evaluation criteria to a variety of recovery-focused strategic initiatives.

Read more about this disaster recovery priority ranking tool

Beach Enclave

Cornell Hospitality Case Study Challenge: Creating a Luxury Villa Resort Brand

Imagine you’re the CEO of Beach Enclave, a company that operates a luxury resort on Turks and Caicos Islands. You’ve just purchased three acres of beachfront property to expand your resort. With three possible choices of how to proceed, how do you ensure your decision makes sense financially and aligns with your existing branding strategy?

This is the scenario co-authors Chekitan Dev, professor of marketing at the Nolan School, and Laure Stroock, research associate, propose in their new case study challenge: “Beach Enclave Turks & Caicos: Creating a Luxury Villa Resort Brand.”

Click here to see solutions sent in by students, alumni, and hospitality experts.

Read the full case

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Do Dual-Branded Hotels Outperform Single-Branded Hotels?

By Chekitan Dev and Eva Steiner

Dual branding of hotels has become a growing industry practice. Beyond the potential marketing benefits of the dual-branding strategy, this paper tests whether dual-branded hotels operate more efficiently than comparable single-branded hotels (and therefore deliver better bottom-line results).

Read more about dual-branding

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Equipment Purchases: Putting a Number on It

by Pamela C. Moulton and Yifei Mao

When hospitality managers price out potential new or replacement equipment, they generally can choose among several different models that could do the job. Sometimes a particular model is a standout, but more often the comparison involves each model’s up-front costs, ongoing running costs, and expected useful life, as well as each machine’s specific features. However, […]

Read more about equipment Purchases