FROM THE DIRECTOR

Welcome from Cornell's Center for Hospitality Research and thank you to CHR Advisory Board members for a productive spring board meeting, leading into an outstanding HEC weekend. The board heard a series of short research presentations from research active students - undergraduate, MS and PhD students as well as presentations on work in progress from faculty. 

We are starting to plan our fall board meeting in New York.  As part of the meeting this year we will have a one day research symposium - for which we will be sending out information soon on the symposium as we look to assemble panels and talks.  We will be reaching out shortly with more details!
 
Organizational Downsizing: How Communication Networks Connect with
Employee Performance

When an international hotel firm eliminated about one-quarter of the positions at its corporate headquarters, it opened a window into the turbulence that downsizing survivors experience in establishing new networks. This study shows the effects of a corporate downsizing on existing communication networks and on the employee performance that those networks support. It is in management’s interest to foster development of restored communication networks following a downsizing, because workers who feel they receive adequate job-related information are also stronger performers. More>>
Robots: Hotel Customers Like Them (Mostly)!

When Captain Kirk or Mr. Spock needed information, they would hail the Enterprise‘s computer, and the computer would respond to their request. In 1966, that was an amazing piece of science fiction. Now, with Siri, Alexa, and other devices with artificial intelligence, we all are figuratively standing on the bridge of the Enterprise, speaking to devices that are “listening” to us and fulfilling our simple requests. As the Internet of things grows, robots and other devices using artificial intelligence can handle a growing list of tasks, such as turning up the heat or air conditioning before a homeowner arrives from work, ordering a pizza delivery (and maybe unlocking the door for the delivery person), or playing Lion King soundtrack when they need some music. And in hotels, we now have physical machines powered by artificial intelligence and we have “robot rooms.” More>>
Living without OTAs-A Summary of the Performance Impacts Resulting from the OTA Delisting of Columbus, Georgia

A four-year period during which hotels in Columbus, Georgia, were delisted by online travel agencies—and subsequently relisted—created a natural experiment that allows comparison of hotel performance before, during, and after the delisting period. This report summarizes two already published analyses of the hotels’ performance and then extends one of those analytical approaches to develop a more comprehensive picture of revenue outcomes. An initial study compared changes in room-nights sold by Columbus’s hotels with those in neighboring Phenix City, Alabama, which undoubtedly absorbed a substantial amount of Columbus’s lost OTA business. More>>

Cornell Hospitality Research Summit (CHRS) Series: Hospitality Technology Disruption
 
The Center for Hospitality Research is pleased to announce the first in a series of four videos from the Cornell Hospitality Research Summit, attended by Klaus Kohlmayr, chief evangelist with IDeaS - a CHR Corporate Member.

While we are in the midst of a significant transformation, powered by technology and changing consumer behaviors, significant silos and fragmentation exist, which are limiting evolution. Watch as we dive into more detail surrounding what to expect for hoteliers in the future. More>>
2018 CHR Reports Compendium

The 2018 CHR Compendium provides a summary of all the Cornell Hospitality Reports published by the faculty of the School of Hotel Administration in the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business in 2017. The compendium also includes articles published in the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, the school’s journal of applied research. Sorted by topic, the reports and articles contain direct implications for hospitality executives and those in related industries. CHR Reports are available for download at no charge. More>>
Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index 2017: Energy, Water, and Carbon

This report presents the results of the fourth annual Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking (CHSB) study, an update to last year’s CHSB2016 study, which was undertaken as a collaborative effort of the Cornell University Center for Hospitality Research, hotel participants, Greenview, and an industry advisory group. This report with historical trends and its accompanying index are intended to advance the knowledge base and data sets for benchmarking activities relating to energy, water, and greenhouse gas emissions for the industry’s benefit. The data sets remain freely available for download from the Cornell Center for Hospitality Research. This fourth study builds on the framework, expands the data set’s geographical coverage, presents historical trends across three years of similar data, and provides enhanced benchmarks and metrics – including a pilot of measures from the Hotel Water Measurement Initiative and percentage of energy generated from renewable sources – with an 80% increase in the global data set and adding segmentation by asset class and number of stars in the accompanying index. More>>
 
CHR Welcomes New Advisory Board Members
Dan Skodol, MMH '04
Dan Skodol '04

Dan Skodol is Vice President of Revenue Analytics at Rainmaker.  Dan joined Rainmaker in 2013 with over ten years of Revenue Management experience in gaming, hotels, multifamily real estate, and airlines.  He is responsible for researching and designing enhancements and innovations within Rainmaker’s hospitality product suite, as well as supporting thought leadership topics and studies via analytics. 

Dan previously held Director of Revenue Management roles for two casino organizations in Atlantic City, and Archstone Communities.  He holds a BA from Yale University and a Master of Management in Hospitality degree from Cornell.  Dan and his wife reside in Denver, CO with their three year old son and enjoy skiing, hiking, and travel.

 
 
 
John W. Spencer
John W. Spencer

John Spencer is a Senior Management Director at Accenture. He brings a wealth of shared services and business process outsourcing experience, having spent over 20 years in consulting across a variety of industries and technical disciplines. He is currently the global hospitality leader for Accenture, responsible for hotels, cruise, and casino clients.

Spencer's expertise is in business transformation and process outsourcing across various functions, including finance and administration, human resources, procurement, and customer relationship management. He has led global process transformation and business process outsourcing projects at Intercontinental Hotels Group, Hertz, Campbell Soup, P&G, Nestle, Sara Lee, Coca-Cola, Unilever, American Airlines, CVS, Royal Bank of Canada, and Saint-Gobain, among others. His industry expertise is primarily in the products sector, including consumer goods, retail, travel and transportation.
 
Upcoming Events
April 26


 
Cornell Hospitality Thought Leadership

April 26, 2018
1:30 pm - 4:30 pm
September 7

September 7, 2018
 
 
For more information, contact Carol Leitch-Zhe | Program Manager
caz9@cornell.edu | 607.254.4504

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