VOL. 8, NO. 1/2026

Editorial

Read the editorial for this volume.

Beyond price: how platform power shapes demand allocation in online hotel channels

By Ling Ling, Timothy Webb, Zvi Schwartz

<p>Rate disparity remains a widely used but poorly understood pricing strategy in the hotel industry. While previous research generally assumes that lower prices shift demand toward less expensive channels, this study investigates whether such effects occur in practice. Using high-frequency booking and pricing data from five full-service hotels across multiple online travel agencies (OTAs), we analyze how rate disparity relates to the distribution of demand across channels. The findings show that the impact of price differences is limited, highly non-linear, and strongly dependent on contextual factors. Channel market power and hotel-specific characteristics seem to play a more significant role than price advantages under the observed conditions. Rate disparity reallocates demand across channels rather than increasing total demand within the sample studied, and its effectiveness varies across demand seasons and competitive environments. These results challenge the prevailing focus on price-based competition and suggest that platform dynamics and hotel attributes may play a more central role in distribution outcomes.</p>

Organizational maturity and artificial intelligence adoption in Romanian tourism: an empirical typology

By Jitka VOLFOVÁ, Kamila MATYSOVÁ, Vlad DIACONESCU, Andrada-Jawel ISTANBOULY

<p>As digital transformation accelerates and artificial intelligence (AI) becomes more accessible, tourism organizations display uneven adoption patterns. This study examines how Romanian tourism organizations cluster based on cultural-strategic profiles and whether objective demographic characteristics are associated with membership in specific maturity profiles. Using survey data from 325 Romanian tourism professionals, the article applies K-means cluster analysis to seven cultural-strategic dimensions: the four archetypes of the Competing Values Framework and the three dimensions of strategic agility. The resulting typology is validated with ANOVA tests on external variables, and associations with organizational demographics are analyzed using chi-square tests and binary logistic regression. The analysis identifies three ordered maturity profiles – Laggards (16.6%), Moderates (36.0%), and Leaders (47.4%)—with medium to large differences across AI adoption, technology-organization-environment (TOE) readiness, digital culture, strategic agility performance, and perceived digital transformation impact. None of the demographic predictors in the logistic model (organization size, geographic scope, respondent experience) significantly predicts Leader membership, and organization type is also non-significant in chi-square analysis. However, geographic scope and organization size have independent effects on actual AI adoption levels. These findings indicate that digital maturity in tourism is closely linked to cultural-strategic capability patterns, while objective resources do not determine profile membership. Given the cross-sectional and self-reported nature of the data, the results should be interpreted as associative rather than causal. The study has implications for policies and managerial interventions that integrate capability-building with measures addressing resource constraints, particularly in SME-dominated tourism contexts.</p>

Sustainable hospitality through circular economy: food waste management in the restaurant sector in Manila, Philippines

By Mitchell Borja, Antonino Alejandro

<p>This study examines how circular economy practices – reduce, reuse, recycle, and recover – predict environmental sustainability in Manila’s restaurant sector using a foundational, sector-wide exploratory survey approach. While the hospitality industry is a significant contributor to global food waste, there remains conceptual ambiguity between specific "environmental benefits" and long-term "environmental sustainability." A total of 150 establishments reported consistent adoption of the 4Rs. Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) validated the measurement model, with all standardized factor loadings exceeding the 0.60 threshold (ranging from 0.684 to 0.946), indicating strong construct validity. Multiple Linear Regression analysis confirmed positive and statistically significant predictive relationships between the 4Rs framework and environmental sustainability, explaining 81.2% of the variance (R² = 0.812), with the recover principle (β = 0.865) and the recycle principle (β = 0.832) emerging as the strongest individual predictors. The composite 4Rs score demonstrated the highest predictive strength (β = 0.901, p &lt; 0.001). The findings confirm that while individual circular practices provide immediate environmental benefits, sustainable outcomes are achieved through the holistic integration of the 4Rs into long-term operational frameworks. Given the exploratory nature of the study and existing sample imbalances across restaurant types, these results serve as an empirical baseline for the urban hospitality landscape in the Manila restaurant sector, providing novel evidence in the Philippine context. The study recommends that policy interventions and corporate initiatives prioritize structured recovery and recycling mechanisms to bridge the gap between theoretical circularity and environmental sustainability outcomes. Future research should expand across regions and employ mixed methods designs to enhance generalizability and contextual depth.</p>

Tourists' perceptions of smart tourism services in a Chinese theme park: an ipa-based study of ningbo fangte oriental dawn

By Hongfei Bao

<p>Smart tourism has become an important means of enhancing the competitiveness and service quality of theme parks. However, limited research has explored how visitors perceive the importance and performance of specific smart service components in Chinese theme parks. This study assesses tourists' perceptions of smart tourism services at Ningbo Fangte Oriental Dawn using a case study approach, a questionnaire survey, and the Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) framework. A total of 387 valid responses from actual park visitors were analyzed. The results indicate that contactless payments, electronic map updates, ticketing convenience, social media publicity, and intelligent parking were perceived as both important and satisfactory. In contrast, mobile tourism services, online ticket discounts, and visitor-flow diversion were placed in the "Concentrate Here" quadrant, highlighting areas that require managerial attention. The findings provide clear decision-making references for theme park managers to optimize operations and allocate resources effectively, offering valuable practical implications for aligning smart tourism service investments with tourists' perceived value</p>

Airports as tourism gateways: passenger perceptions and commercial revenue at Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport

By Adrian Cioranu, Gabriela Ţigu

<p>Airports have evolved from simple transit points into complex tourism gateways that shape the travel experience and generate significant non-aeronautical revenues. This study provides an innovative perspective by highlighting how each airport’s unique operating context affects the strategies available to airport managers for increasing non-aeronautical revenues while enhancing passenger satisfaction. The paper presents an empirical, passenger-based analysis by examining how passenger perceptions of terminal commercial offerings, perceived dwell time, travel frequency, airline type, and demographic factors influence commercial spending behavior at Bucharest Henri Coandă International Airport (OTP). A structured questionnaire based on the ACI Airport Service Quality (ASQ) framework was administered to 315 passengers, and the data were analyzed using Spearman correlations, chi-square tests, Mann-Whitney U tests, binary logistic regression, and MANOVA. The results show that perceptions of commercial space attractiveness correlate positively with overall airport experience valuation (ρ = 0.247, p &lt; 0.001), confirming the strategic importance of retail environments in airport tourism appeal. A counterintuitive finding indicates that passengers who perceive more available time after security are less likely to make purchases, suggesting that time pressure may trigger impulse buying at this airport. Travel frequency is the only globally significant predictor of post-security purchasing (p = 0.011), with occasional travelers showing a higher spending propensity than frequent flyers. Airline type (low-cost vs. full-service) has no statistically significant influence on purchasing behavior. The logistic regression model achieves an overall accuracy of 65.7%, demonstrating that perceptual and situational variables outweigh traditional traveler profile indicators in explaining airport consumer behavior. These findings have direct implications for airport managers, tourism planners, and commercial concessionaires seeking to optimize non-aeronautical revenue streams while enhancing the tourist passenger experience.</p>

Consumer evaluations of restaurants in Bolu on digital platforms: The Tripadvisor Case

By ELİF ASLAN

<p>This study examines user reviews of restaurants in Bolu on Tripadvisor. The research uses a qualitative approach and employs descriptive content analysis as the analytical method. A total of 274 user reviews from 10 restaurants that provided meaningful content and were posted between January and December 2025 were analyzed. The findings indicate that most reviews were positive, with taste being the most frequently emphasized dimension. Analyses of food and beverage offerings confirm the meat-based nature of Bolu cuisine, while local dishes such as mantı, gözleme, and soups strongly reflect the region’s gastronomic identity on digital platforms. Additionally, staff and service quality, atmosphere and ambiance, cleanliness and hygiene, and price–value perception were identified as key themes shaping the user experience. Overall, the results support the influence of digital user evaluations on restaurant image and consumer preference decisions, and demonstrate that both product quality and service performance in gastronomic destinations are perceived and evaluated through online platforms.</p>

Embracing intelligent hospitality: exploring Romanian consumers’ acceptance of AI and robotic technologies

By Andreea-Elena Nisipeanu, Antonio-Valentin Stoian

<p>This paper examines the role of robots in the hospitality industry through their large-scale implementation, highlighting several relevant issues. The integration of advanced technologies has become a key pillar of the hospitality industry, particularly in the tourism sector. In recent years, ongoing digitalization has led to significant transformations in the tourism ecosystem. Today, the hospitality industry serves as a dynamic testing ground and implementation site for smart technologies, especially service robots. The need to increase efficiency, personalization, and service flexibility according to tourists’ preferences has encouraged the adoption of intelligent technologies, whose acceptance varies depending on the cultural characteristics of each country. To explore the acceptance of robots and the intention to use them in hotels, this study integrates key theoretical and methodological elements, focusing on the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). Data were collected from a sample of 109 individuals in October 2025, and the hypotheses were tested using SmartPLS software. The model employed in this study shows that understanding and acceptance are influenced by perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness, and self-efficacy, each mediated by individuals’ attitudes toward adopting robots. This study contributes to understanding how to integrate robots and smart technologies within the hospitality industry, providing insights into strategies for integrating robots based on respondents’ opinions.</p>

The interactive role of managerial title and overall satisfaction on the job satisfaction of hotel kitchen staff

By Tuba Şahin Ören, V. Erdinç Ören, Çiğdem Mutlu

<p>This study examines whether managerial rank influences job satisfaction among hotel kitchen staff and whether this relationship is moderated by overall satisfaction. Data were collected from 148 employees working in various four- and five-star hotels across different regions of Turkey. The analysis was conducted using Hayes’ PROCESS Model 1, with managerial rank specified as a multi-categorical independent variable and dummy-coded with lower-level staff as the reference category. The findings indicate that managerial titles do not have a consistent direct effect on job satisfaction across all hierarchical levels. Similarly, the overall moderating effect of overall satisfaction on the relationship between managerial title and job satisfaction was not statistically significant. However, a closer examination of the interaction terms revealed a significant interaction effect, particularly for section chefs. This finding should be interpreted with caution, as it does not indicate a general moderating effect but rather suggests a role-specific pattern within the sample. Therefore, the results suggest that the dynamics of job satisfaction may vary across hierarchical levels; however, the evidence is limited to specific roles rather than indicating a consistent pattern across the entire model.</p>

A comparative analysis of selected shared dishes in Turkish and Egyptian culinary traditions

By Gül Seda AYDEMİR ÇELENK, Şevki ULEMA

<p>This study examines selected shared dishes in Turkish and Egyptian culinary traditions through a qualitative, recipe-based comparative analysis. Instead of comparing the two cuisines as a whole, the study focuses on five paired dishes representing key food categories: lentil soup, muhammara, stuffed zucchini, semolina cake, and fried dough dessert. Data were collected through document analysis of cookbooks, academic sources, and widely used culinary websites. The comparison used predefined analytical dimensions: ingredient composition, cooking techniques, flavoring patterns, texture characteristics, and cultural context. The findings show that the selected dish pairs share a recognizable structural foundation but differ in supporting ingredients, seasoning logic, fat usage, preparation practices, and sensory outcomes. These variations suggest processes of culinary adaptation and localization shaped by historical interaction, regional preferences, and available ingredients. The study contributes to comparative gastronomy by proposing a structured, dish-based framework for analyzing culinary similarity and difference across related food traditions.</p>