Andrea Guizzardi

Internal and locational factors affecting hotel industry efficiency: evidence from Italian business corporations.

This paper investigates whether and how the competitive delay of the Italian hotel industry is influenced by the level of business corporation efficiency. A stochastic frontier production approach is proposed in which technical inefficiency is specified as a function of the internal and locational factors in a firm. The model is estimated on a balanced panel of tourism business corporations observed during 1998–2005. Estimates show that the competitive gap in the Italian accommodation system is not a result of poor business corporation performance, and the importance of location, human and immaterial capital is assessed as (in)efficiency determinants. The authors then suggest policies to improve the Italian tourist industrys competitiveness.

Improving performance measurement and benchmarking in the accommodation sector

Purpose – The aims of the paper are to evaluate the relevance of environmental factors (seasonality, size and quality) on hotels’ performance and benchmarks; to measure the bias in efficiency resulting from a failure to control for these sources of heterogeneity; and to propose some managerial policies to handle for environmental heterogeneity. Design/methodology/approach – The sample is constituted by 2,705 hotels operating in Emilia-Romagna (Italy). The metafrontier approach is used to identify the different production processes and measure technical efficiency scores. Findings – Different production processes exist among accommodation firms due to environmental features; not considering heterogeneity in technological sets produces high levels of bias in the efficiency measurement, albeit the ranking of hotels tends to be fairly consistent; the star rating is the primary source of efficiency bias followed by seasonality, while size has a minor impact. Research limitations/implications – Future research ...

Measuring underreporting in accommodation statistics: evidence from Italy.

The aim of this paper is to provide a new measure of the underreporting of accommodation statistics in Italian domestic tourism. The analysis employs information from different official surveys. Following the Eurostat recommendations, we compare the Italian trips and holidays surveys and the movements in accommodation establishments, the two major official sources on tourism in Italy and on the activities of persons travelling, respectively. The analysis shows that demand-side estimates exceed accommodation statistics by 16%, on average, over the period 2007–2009 and that the underreporting rate is variable over time. The results highlight the need to explicitly consider this measurement error when analysing the tourism business cycle, forecasting tourism flows and defining tourism policy.

Environmental impacts and certification: evidence from the Milan World Expo 2015

Purpose This study aims to examine residents’ perceptions of environmental impacts and certification for the Milan World Expo 2015 as well as their overall attitude toward the mega-event. Design/methodology/approach A survey of Milan residents based on a convenience sample led to 221 useable questionnaires. Findings Residents perceived that the Expo will have minimal negative and positive environmental impacts. A minority of residents were aware of the environmental certification of the event. The less agreeable residents were with the perceived negative environmental impacts of the event, the more agreeable they were that a certification of event sustainability should limit the damage to the natural environment. Residents’ perceptions of the certification were positively related to their overall attitude toward the event. Research limitations/implications The findings cannot be generalized to other mega-events but have several managerial implications in relation to the need for information provision to residents and better communication of the certification by event organizers and planners. Originality/value Despite rising concerns about environmental issues related to hosting mega-events, there is no research on perceptions of a certification of event sustainability by residents.

Internal Features and Agglomeration Externalities for the Hotels’ Competitiveness in Emilia-Romagna

The debate on the relationships among firm performance, heterogeneity, and agglomeration began many decades ago. Since the work of Penrose (1958), firm heterogeneity in resources and competences has been employed to explain the achievement of different levels of profitability. Wernerfelt (1984) demonstrates that the partial interfirm mobility of the different resources and capabilities are central in explaining the maintenance of competitive advantages. Moreover, the relationship between agglomeration (localization and urbanization) and productivity has spurred a vast amount of research (Rosenthal and Strange, 2004), thus providing extensive evidence of increasing returns to urban density and industry size for manufacturing industries. Focusing on different manufacturing sectors, the Italian Office of Statistics (ISTAT) has recently evidenced strongly heterogeneous dynamics in firm productivity, especially among firms belonging to different spatial clusters (ISTAT, 2014).

Rating hotel quality for corporate business travel departments

Purpose The present study aims to suggest a new approach to hotel quality rating, specifically designed for the business travel segment, where the evaluation of surveyed consumers (business travelers) does not necessarily reflect the priority of customers (corporate travel departments [CTDs]). Design/methodology/approach Preliminarily, the authors defined key areas (domains), exploring what was done by quality certifiers recognized worldwide. Then, each domain quality was considered as a latent variable measured by a set of observable attributes (sub-domains) surveyed by a professional assessor. A continuous, fine-grained, composite indicator (CI) for quality was finally obtained by a weighted average of the domain (latent) quality measures. Weights were endogenously determined by data envelopment analysis. Findings The suggested CI shows both the existence of large quality disparities within the same star rating and a relevant bias in the internet reviews. A “soundproofed” room, a front desk open 24 h with sufficient staff and an adequate urban context are necessary features of any business hotel. Research limitations/implications Data came from a professional assessor’s database; therefore, the authors could only consider a three-domains measurement model. The database is mainly composed of three- and four-star hotels in Italy; nonetheless, these accommodations are the most widespread in the Italian corporation hotel programs, preserving the practical utility of the results. Originality/value This study provides a transparent (replicable) evaluation protocol that is of potential use in the most popular models for quality measurement; any assessor can use it to underline its impartiality to CTD and assessed hotels.

Accommodation industry or accommodation industries? Evidence from the analysis of production processes.

Production processes heterogeneity is largely recognized in tourist accommodation industry, but few empirical evidences have been reported in the literature either on the extent of the heterogeneity or on its determinants. The aim of this study was to investigate the role of environmental features in affecting heterogeneity of accommodation production processes. Using a novel administrative data-set of hotels in Emilia Romagna (ER), we estimate stochastic frontier production functions for different hotel clusters, defined by simultaneously considering seasonality, quality (star rating), and size. Results show a relevant heterogeneity due to these environmental factors, that is different hotel industries exist in ER. From a policy perspective, the analysis evidences the need to develop targeted interventions to different clusters of productive structures.

A methodological approach to the comparison of municipal balance-sheet figures

In the comparison of municipalities balance sheets figures, the per-resident ratios lose some of their relevance as indicators of municipal expenditure or taxation behaviour. At this level of spatial disaggregation, the resident population is generally not in a direct relationship with balance sheets figures; the problem is evident especially for those municipalities with significant flows of non-residents, demanding and paying for services. The paper provides a frame of reference within which the measurement of municipal behaviour is conditioned to the approximation of the unobserved “real” size of each individual municipality. The joint use of several types of information about the structure of municipalities yields composite indicators of greater statistical relevance than the usual indicators based on the residential population alone.

The Influence of Place Attachment and a Certification of Event Sustainability on Residents’ Perceptions of Environmental Impacts and Event Support: An Abstract

Hosting events has become an important tool in stimulating tourism development for local communities. A growing corpus of studies examines different ways of evaluating the environmental sustainability of events using concepts such as the ecological footprint, event greening, and event legacy planning. Existing studies on the environmental impacts of mega events do not consider how residents perceive a certificate of environmental sustainability (CES) and whether such perceptions have an impact on how they evaluate the environmental impacts of the event. Also, despite some studies examining the relationship between tourism impacts and place attachment, no studies have yet established whether place attachment of residents accentuates or attenuates perceptions of environmental impacts of a mega event and the perceived benefits of a CES.

Best buy: what does it mean in corporate travel?

Corporate travel departments manage travel costs prescribing best buy decisions. With reference to flights, the crucial choice concerns the fare. As the difference in price can be great, it might seem convenient to always purchase the cheapest ticket, neglecting that the more expensive a fare, the lower the cost of change or cancellation. We define “best buy” minimizing the expected global cost of flights, whence estimating the probability distribution of travellers’ behaviour is necessary. Variables useful to this aim are detected. This statistical approach can improve the efficiency of corporate policies, leading to diversified purchasing strategies.