hong kong polytechnic university

When Beauty Signifies Quality

POLYU’S SCHOOL OF HOTEL AND TOURISM MANAGEMENT | July 30, 2019

July 30, 2019 -- When making hotel bookings online, potential guests’ expectations of service quality are influenced by the aesthetics of the hotel’s website, according to Dr. Ksenia Kirillova and Ms. Janelle Chan of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. In a recent experimental study the researchers manipulated the level of attractiveness portrayed by a hotel website’s photos to examine how aesthetics influenced perceptions of quality and intention to book. Their results provide important insights into how hotel managers can use visually attractive images to stimulate positive percep...

What Price Loyalty?

July 1, 2019

Loyalty programmes have long been a feature of the hotel sector, but little evidence has traditionally supported whether they represent an operationally and financially beneficial form of investment. Yet a recent study by Dr Dan Wang of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and her co-researchers provides strong evidence that hotels are justified in making such investments, and provides suggestions for how hotels can further capitalise on the benefits. The researchers begin by highlighting the longevity of loyalty programmes – they were introduced almost forty years ago with American Ai...

PolyU Study Finds the State Isn’t That Great

May 30, 2019

30 May 2019 -- Types of ownership can be crucial determining factors in hotel firm performance. Indeed, domestic and international institutional shareholders have different effects on the performance of hotel firms in China, according to Dr Henry Tsai of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and his co-researchers. In a recent study, the researchers found that firms with high levels of state ownership performed poorly in terms of future growth potential, but the effects of domestic and international shareholders were rather more complex. China's hotel industry has grown tremendously in...

SHTM Joins Hands with China Outbound Tourism Research Institute to Offer New Online Training Programme for the Chinese Outbound Tourism Market

School of Hotel and Tourism Management | May 14, 2019

14 May 2019 -- The School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and the China Outbound Tourism Research Institute (COTRI) are joining hands to offer a new online training programme – the China Tourism Training (CTT). Aiming to become the Global Standard training in Chinese outbound tourism market, the CTT will offer five different tracks for tourism service providers. According to COTRI's forecast, 180 million trips will originate from Mainland China in 2019. With such large number, the market is obviously more and more fragmented, and different tourism service providers would need ...

PolyU Study Revealed Mainland Chinese Visitors’ Motivations for Shopping

PolyU’s School of Hotel and Tourism Management | March 25, 2019

Mainland Chinese tourists visiting Hong Kong tend to visit different shopping outlets to buy luxury goods according to their different motivations, conclude Dr Sam Kim of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and his co-researchers. In a recently published study the researchers revealed that mainland tourists who shop for luxury goods are motivated by "materialism, a desire for social status or to conform with others", and these differences in their nature influence not only what they buy, but where they buy. Shopping is a major driver of tourism worldwide, and cities such as Las Vegas, D...

PolyU Launches SHTM+ICON Consultancy to Drive Innovation and Knowledge Transfer in Global Hospitality Sector

November 5, 2018

(5 November 2018) The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) announced the launch of the SHTM+ICON Consultancy to offer professional hospitality-related consultancy services to the industry worldwide. The brand-new Consultancy demonstrates a successful combination of the research prowess of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) of PolyU with the practical experience and endeavor of Hotel ICON. The Consultancy is the SHTM's another novel endeavor to achieve its mission in engineering knowledge transfer to the hospitality industry and other education institutes. Knowledge transfer includes management know-how, creative solut...

PolyU School of Hotel and Tourism Management to Collaborate with China Outbound Tourism Research Institute in Education and Research

September 4, 2018

The School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) and China Outbound Tourism Research Institute Ltd. (COTRI) have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) today (4 September 2018) to promote collaboration in tourism education and research. COTRI is a research institute headquartered in Hamburg, Germany, which provides support for strategic and sustainable developments of varied segments of the Chinese outbound market. Established in 2004, it offers organisations and institutions with customised services in research and consulting, quantitative and qualitative data and analysis, training ...

PolyU Study Evaluates Airbnb – Friend or Threat?

August 21, 2018

Home rental sites such as Airbnb do not yet represent a threat to Singapore's budget hotel operators, although the market is under considerable pressure from new entrants, according to a study by Professor Brian King and Edward Koh, student of the Doctor of Hotel and Tourism Management (D.HTM) programme, of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). Their findings, however, suggest that the threat posed by the rapidly growing home rental market could intensify unless the government introduces regulations to "level the playing field" in the near future. Technology has generated "hug...