Publications

February 1981 (Revised May 1988)
Case

Marriott's Rancho Las Palmas Resort

Management of a resort hotel near Palm Springs is reviewing the hotel's performance nine months after opening and planning a marketing strategy for 1980. Of particular concern is the strategy to adopt during the shoulder and off-seasons when demand for the product is... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Accommodations Industry

18 Jun 2018
News

Why It Pays to Break the Rules at Work

December 2002 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Four Seasons Goes to Paris: '53 Properties, 24 Countries, 1 Philosophy'

By: Roger H. Hallowell, David Bowen and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Illustrates how Four Seasons manages hotels in countries with strong and distinct national cultures. Focuses on how the chain meets its exacting service standards in a variety of settings worldwide, with special attention on France. View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Global Range; Global Strategy; Standards; Accommodations Industry; Paris

2018
Working Paper

The Welfare Effects of Peer Entry in the Accommodation Market: The Case of Airbnb

By: Chiara Farronato and Andrey Fradkin

We study the effects of enabling peer supply through Airbnb in the accommodation industry. We present a model of competition between flexible and dedicated sellers - peer hosts and hotels - who provide differentiated products. We estimate this model using data from... View Details

Keywords: Peer To Peer; Digital Platforms; Market Entry and Exit; Competition; Accommodations Industry

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February 2011
Supplement

Dataset for "Slots, Tables, and All That Jazz: Managing Customer Profitability at the MGM Grand Hotel" (CW)

By: Dennis Campbell and Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez

Datasets of gaming and hotel customers to perform analysis for the case. View Details

Keywords: Analytics and Data Science; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Las Vegas

June 1989 (Revised May 1993)
Case

Fairfield Inn (A)

By: James L. Heskett

The Fairfield Inn, an economy hotel venture by the Marriott Corp., has developed a novel method for selecting and measuring the performance of its hotel personnel that fits the company's strategy. Because it faces the need to grow rapidly, questions have arisen as to... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Invention; Growth and Development Strategy; Franchise Ownership; Performance Evaluation; Corporate Strategy; Accommodations Industry

February 2018 (Revised October 2020)
Case

The Marriott-Starwood Merger: Navigating Brand Portfolio Strategy and Brand Architecture

By: Jill Avery, Chekitan S. Dev and Laure Mougeot Stroock

In September 2016, Marriott completed its $13.3 billion acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, which added 11 brands to its already robust 19 hotel brand portfolio. Tina Edmundson, Marriott's global brand officer, was charged with making sense of the brand portfolio... View Details

23 Sep 2014
HBS Seminar

Mariano Tappata, Sauder School of Business, University of British Columbia

24 May 2022
Blog Post

Get to Know 2022 Class Day Student Speaker Peter James Kiernan

graduation ceremonies. It is planned and conducted by a committee of second-year MBA students. An Albany, NY, hotel room was not where Kiernan had expected to spend winter break his first year at Harvard Business School. But it was where... View Details

March 2024
Teaching Note

Sonder Holdings Inc.: Using Technology to Solve Hospitality's Frictions

By: John A. Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 922-039. Digital disruption is challenging the hospitality industry. Traditional hotels face competition from platforms, most visibly Airbnb but also the homeshare divisions of online travel agencies such as Expedia and Booking.com, that... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Disruptive Innovation; Competition; Market Participation; Accommodations Industry

14 May 2012
News

Learning curve

Profile

Lisa Cousins

achieve. I entered HBS open to a variety of paths, and when I attended the introductory meeting for the Hospitality & Travel Industry Club, it became clear to me right away that the hotel industry was where I was meant to be - I was... View Details

Keywords: Services; Entertainment / Media

June 2022
Article

The Welfare Effects of Peer Entry in the Accommodation Market: The Case of Airbnb and the Accommodation Industry

By: Chiara Farronato and Andrey Fradkin

We study the effects of enabling peer supply through Airbnb in the accommodation industry. We present a model of competition between flexible and dedicated sellers—peer hosts and hotels—who provide differentiated products. We estimate this model using data from major... View Details

Keywords: Peer To Peer; Airbnb; Digital Platforms; Market Entry and Exit; Competition; Accommodations Industry

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October 1986 (Revised June 1988)
Case

Americana (A)

Americana Hotels decides to lease a resort hotel on Jamaica's north coast from the Jamaican government. Management must decide whether to operate it as a traditional resort, or as an all-inclusive, club-type resort, similar to those operated by Club Med. The... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Accommodations Industry; Tourism Industry; Jamaica

December 2002 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Wyndham International: Fostering High-Touch with High-Tech

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Gabriele Piccoli

Examines a hotel chain's attempt to use information technology to achieve market dominance and build customer loyalty during a period of global industry decline. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Competitive Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Accommodations Industry

July 2015 (Revised October 2016)
Case

China Lodging Group (A)

By: Tatiana Sandino, Shelley Xin Li and Nancy Hua Dai

This case study explores the challenges of aligning middle management interests with company goals as a company navigates rapid growth in a dynamic industry. China Lodging Group, a Chinese hotel chain that opened about 2,000 hotels during its first decade in business,... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Business or Company Management; Growth Management; Balanced Scorecard; Accommodations Industry; China