Cornell Research Briefs Examine Franchising, Priceline, and Tipping

New Series from Cornell Center for Hospitality Research Presents Capsule Research Findings

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. February 08, 2010

ITHACA, NY February 5, 2010 - The Cornell Center for Hospitality Research announces a new publication series that will present a digest of research information for the hospitality industry and related service businesses. The series, Cornell Hospitality Research Briefs, will present executive summaries of research published in peer-reviewed research journals by the faculty of the Cornell School of Hotel Administration, and CHR research fellows and affiliates.

The first three Research Briefs look at the interrelationship of franchisors and individual hotels, how hotels can use Priceline.com to best advantage, and how racial differences affect tipping practices. All three Research Brief summaries are available at no charge at:

http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/chr/pubs/researchbriefs/.

The brief written by Cornell's Chris Anderson explains how he has developed a model designed to help hotels determine how many rooms to release to Priceline.com and what rates to charge. As detailed in "Setting Prices on Priceline," published in Interfaces, Anderson shows how to use Priceline's reports to interact with the site. He cites the example of a Kimpton Hotel which improved rate and sales using his model.

The research brief written by Chekitan Dev, also of Cornell, presents an examination of the relationship of franchisors and individual hotels, which shows the importance of brand-specific investments, or the capital expenses required for franchise-related items. The study, "Brand-Specific Investments, Intra-Brand Relationships and Performance of Hotel Firms," was written by Dev, along with James Brown and Jody Crosno, of West Virginia University. Published in the Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, their study highlighted the fact that a close association between the hotel operator and the brand will result in better overall financial performance for both.

A study of tipping practices, "Consumer Racial Discrimination in Tipping," published in Journal of Applied Social Psychology, was written by Cornell's Michael Lynn and four colleagues. The study found that both black and white restaurant customers tipped white servers more than they did black servers—regardless of service levels. That may mean that restaurateurs are inadvertently violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

The full articles may have restricted access, as determined by their publishers. They are as follows: Setting Prices on Priceline, Interfaces (interfaces.journal.informs.org/cgi/content/abstract/39/4/307); Brand-Specific Investments, Intra-Brand Relationships and Performance of Hotel Firms, Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice (www.jmtp-online.org); and Consumer Racial Discrimination in Tipping, Journal of Applied Social Psychology (www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119392184/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0).

Meet and interact with Professor Anderson, an active member of the executive education faculty at the School of Hotel Administration, when he presents sessions in the Professional Development Program: http://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/industry/executive/pdp/.