Steven A. Carvell

Lodging Demand for Urban Hotels in Major Metropolitan Markets

Analyzing urban hotel properties located in major metropolitan markets during the 1989 to 2000 period, this study provides empirical evidence that various measures of current income, expectations of future income, the own price, and the price of substitutes, are statistically important factors influencing lodging demand at the property level. This study examines the relationship between lodging demand and these economic factors at the property level using a large cross section of properties and a long time horizon. The results show that income elasticities computed at the property level are significantly lower than those computed using aggregate lodging data. The results also show that the magnitude of the impact of GDP on lodging demand is similar to the magnitude of the sum of disposable personal income and corporate income. The relative magnitude of the impact of each of these economic factors on lodging demand varies across lodging market segments.

A Comparison of Static Measures of Liquidity to Integrative Measures of Financial and Operating Liquidity: An Application to Restaurant Operators and Restaurant Franchisors

ABSTRACT The results presented in this paper show that integrative financial and operating measures of liquidity provide investors and creditors with information beyond that provided by static measures of short-term liquidity such as the current and quick ratios. Using a sample of restaurant firms over the period 1994–2003, our analysis shows dynamic measures of liquidity provide a drastically different view of short-term solvency than those produced from the static measures. Static measures of liquidity imply that restaurant companies are not liquid. However, when evaluated under this integrative framework, restaurant companies were shown to be more liquid than their current and quick ratios implied. Thus, financial analysts, creditors, and managers should evaluate both static and dynamic liquidity measures when evaluating the short-term financial liquidity and short-term credit worthiness of firms. In addition, careful attention should be paid to both financial and operating measures of liquidity to establish what changes, if any, have occurred in a companys liquidity position over time. This is an important finding for managers and investors in all industries, since short-term illiquidity implies a high risk of default if the banks refuse to refinance all or part of the debt. This in turn may affect the cost of short-term financing and result in an impact on their overall financing costs and required returns from equity investors.

A Comparison of the Performance of Brand-Affiliated and Unaffiliated Hotel Properties

Research has shown that performance differences exist between brand-affiliated hotels and unaffiliated properties. However, the extant empirical results are mixed. Some research has shown that brands outperform unaffiliated hotels on various metrics, whereas other research has shown the opposite. This article analyzes this issue using a matched-pair approach where we compare the performance differences of brand-affiliated and unaffiliated properties between 1998 and 2010. The matched-pair approach ensures that local competitive conditions as well as hotel characteristics are the same across the comparison pair. In addition, all potential omitted-variable bias and model misspecifications are avoided. Thus, to address our research question, we compare branded hotels with unaffiliated properties that are identical in age, market segment, location, and duration of operation, as well as having a similar number of rooms. Our analysis shows that performance differentials are present, albeit not systematic. We found no consistent advantages in all segments for either the affiliated hotels or the comparable unaffiliated properties, taking into account our comparison factors. That said, the methodology of our approach yields results that are more informative to the affiliation choice of owners and to the growth strategies of hotel brand–owner companies than those of previous empirical studies.

Checking the Checks: A Survey of Guest-Check Accuracy

Inaccurate guest checks represent lost revenue. And the frequency of check errors is higher than many restaurateurs might think.