Free vs. Paid Listings: How Hotels Can Optimize Google Hotel Finder
by Frances
This experiment identifies when Google Hotel Finder’s organic link is enough and when paid placement meaningfully boosts demand, direct bookings, and revenue.
CHR Research
Focused on the Industry
The Center for Hospitality Research offers a wide variety of accessible reports aimed at providing specific approaches for addressing industry issues. The reports are written by faculty researchers at the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration and elsewhere, with a goal of answering specific questions facing the industry. Based on their direct contact with industry leaders, CHR experts explain the implications of their studies for the reader’s benefit. All CHR reports are offered at no charge as a service to the industry.
The CHR also provides research grants to faculty across the Cornell SC Johnson College of Business who are researching topics of interest and importance to the hospitality, travel, and service industries. To see current funding opportunities, click the button below:
Current funding opportunities
Full Catalogue of CHR Reports
The full catalogue and a searchable database of nearly two decades of CHR reports, including industry tools and roundtable highlights, can be found in the CHR section of Cornell’s eCommons.
Submit a Manuscript
To submit a manuscript for publication, click the button below and select “Centers and Institutes, Hospitality Publications” from the publication list dropdown menu.
All submitted manuscripts must meet the submission guidelines outlined below. Manuscripts that do not meet formatting and content standards will not be accepted. Authors are strongly encouraged to engage an outside copy editor for assistance prior to submission.
Most Recent Publications
Below is a list of our most recent publications, as well as important industry publications. To read the full reports, click the link at the bottom of each summary.
CHR Annual Report - 2024-2025
by the staff of Centers and Institutes at the Cornell Nolan School
2024-2025 Annual Review, Center for Hospitality Research (CHR), Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration.
Driving Generational Change in Climate Action for Travel and Tourism Education Worldwide
by Megan
This report synthesizes insights from a 2024 Climate Week NYC roundtable on how training and education can build climate-action expertise and address critical capacity gaps across the travel, tourism, and hospitality sectors as they confront the climate crisis.
How Can the Travel and Tourism Industry Catalyze a More Sustainable and Resilient Food and Beverage Supply Chain?
by Aaron Adalja
This report distills lessons from a 2024 Climate Week NYC session focused on rethinking how climate literacy, workforce training, and education systems must evolve to prepare the travel and tourism sector for a climate-constrained future.
Climate Action Needs to Drive Destination Planning—Why Isn’t It?
by Megan Epler Wood, Ante Mandić, O’Shannon Burns, Mark B. Milsten.
This report examines why climate considerations remain inconsistently embedded in destination planning, highlighting the disconnect between climate policy commitments and on-the-ground implementation by tourism authorities and destination organizations.
Operational Characteristics that Support Tipping
by
This research shows that tipping is likely to expand only in occupations that share key traits of traditionally tipped jobs, suggesting most non-tipped roles will face resistance unless they closely resemble tipped work and tailor how and why tips are requested.
How Fostering “Room Ownership” Can Boost Guest Loyalty
by Y. Rin Yoon and Shu, Suzanne Shu
This research shows that guest satisfaction alone is no longer enough to drive hotel loyalty, and that fostering psychological ownership offers a powerful, actionable way for hotels to differentiate and strengthen repeat patronage.
CHR Annual Report - 2023-2024
by the staff of Centers and Institutes at the Cornell Nolan School
2023-2024 Annual Review, Center for Hospitality Research (CHR), Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration.
Global Hospitality Leadership: Insights from Asia Pacific
by Chekitan S. Dev
This conversation explores how Marriott Asia Pacific’s leadership strategy balances the needs of owners, associates, and customers while positioning the company to capitalize on the region’s rapid growth.
The State of Gender Equality in the Travel and Hospitality Industry
by the Center for Hospitality Research
This report examines the state of gender diversity and equity in the travel and hospitality industry, presenting industry-wide research and practical solutions to address persistent gaps in advancement, pay, and leadership.
Distortionary Effects of PPP Loans on Business Competition: Evidence From the Hotel Industry
by Alexei Tchistyi and Eva Steiner
While the Payroll Protection Program (PPP) was a key part of the goverment’s Covid response, the unintended consequence was the distortion of business
competition.
Renegotiation Commercial Loans: Getting a Discounted Payoff Is Possible But Complicated
by Sean Flynn, Andra Ghent, and Alexei Tchistyi
Foreclosure is not the only option for a troubled loan. Can agreeing on a discounted payoff make the best of a diffiult situation for both borrower and lender?
Hotel Brands’ Competitive Performance Mapping: A New Way to Identify Strong, Troubled and Weak Brands (copy)
by Ashley Ellsworth Bird and Chekitan Dev
A new method of competitive performance mapping, ranking hotel brands’ performance based on the following four measures: revenue per available room, cumulative average growth rate, guest satisfaction, and franchise-fee data.
Sustainability in Focus: 2022 and 2023 Cornell Sustainability Roundtables
by Aaron Adalja and Jeanne Varney
A recap of the 2022 and 2023 Sustainability Roundtables hosted by the Center for Hospitality Research.
Large Hotels Reach a New Statistical Low
by Crocker H. Liu, Adam D. Nowak, and Robert M. White, Jr.
Hotels in gateway cities experienced a reversal, exhibiting better performance than hotels in non-gateway cities this quarter. Expect to see a rise in the price of large hotels and a decline in prices for small hotels next quarter.
Successful Service Branding: Lessons for Hospitality Managers
by Chekitan S. Dev and Ming-Hui Huang
Empirical study discovering and analyzing three factors — service quality, service personalization, and service relationships — to reveal how service brands succeed.
Proposed Tax Provisions under H.R. 7024: Financial Implications for the Hospitality Industry
by Jessica Brady, Gizem Kilic, and Michael T. Paz
Focusing on three tax incentives proposed under the title “American Innovation and Economic Growth,” applicable to the hospitality industry.
Hotel Brand Overload: The Coming Shakeout
by Chekitan S. Dev
Hotels are seeking to differentiate themselves in a “sea of sameness”. To continue growing, brands will increasingly have to use technology and also apply research and development to assess their brand concepts.
Year Ends; Trend Continues
by Crocker H. Liu, Adam D. Nowak, and Robert M. White, Jr.
The price performance of hotels by region was worse this period than in the prior period, with only the Pacific and New England regions posting small single-digit gains.
Leadership Style and Incentives
by Pablo Casas-Arce and Asís Martínez-Jerez
Worthwhile incentives are essential for a business’s success. The challenge is for hospitality firms to create incentives that work for both team leaders and team members.
On the Frequency and Detail of Feedback
by Pablo Casas-Arce, Sofia Lourenço, and Asís Martínez-Jerez
Instant feedback has become a societal hallmark. Providing detailed feedback as frequently as possible should improve decision-making, but that may not always be the case.
Empowering Customer-facing Employees: Learnings from the Casino Industry
by Asís Martínez-Jerez
A comparison of two different approaches to sales force empowerment through “comping”. A tight, point-by-point analysis of staff members’ comping decisions, and a looser, more general approach.
CHR Analytics Roundtable 2023
by Kelly McGuire and Emma Scher
Participants focused on the changes that will be wrought by the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence applications, such as Open AI and ChatGPT.
The Entry and Exit of Investors: Hospitality Transactions during the Covid Period
by Yifei Mao
Taking advantage of hotel price weakness early in the pandemic, private equity investors increased their market share.
Higher Interest Rates Hinder Hotel Price Momentum
by Crocker Liu, Adam Nowak, and Robert White Jr
Expect to see an uptick in the price of large hotels in the next quarter, while prices for small hotels falter, based on our leading indicators of hotel price performance.
Sustainability in the Hospitality Industry
by Jeanne Varney
Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index (CHSB), a ten-year effort led by Greenview and published exclusively by the CHR to develop industry benchmarks for greenhouse gases, water use, and energy consumption.
A Hybrid Approach to Short-term Rentals
by Robert Gregor
A small hotel in Lake George, NY promotes their property both through traditional hotel channels and by listing the property’s rooms on Airbnb.
Hotel Prices Continue to Lose Momentum
by Crocker H. Liu, Adam D. Nowak, and Robert M. White, Jr.
Based on leading indicators of hotel price performance, we can expect to see hotel prices continue to falter next quarter.
Global Hospitality, Travel, and Tourism Trends
by Chekitan Dev
A lively discussion with Hari Nair of Expedia Group around ten major travel trends in the changing world of hospitality, travel, and tourism.
Consolidating the $50 Billion U.S. Short-term Rental Market
by Philip Lólis, Mike Scott, and Clay Dickinson
With around $53.5 billion in gross booking value, or about 25 percent of the entire U.S. lodging industry, the STR market presents an enticing consolidation opportunity.
Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking Index 2023
by Eric Ricaurte and Rehmaashini Jagarajan
Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking research reveals a general decrease in energy and water usage among the participating hotels. The decrease is largely associated with the pandemic.