Photo of Chekitan S. Dev
  • Faculty

Chekitan S. Dev

  • Singapore Tourism Board Distinguished Professor in Asian Hospitality Management
Email chekitan.dev@cornell.edu
Phone 607.592.5183
Office
252 Statler Hall
Website

Biography

Chekitan Dev is an award-winning teacher and internationally renowned thought leader on marketing and branding in the hospitality, travel, and tourism industries. At the Cornell Peter and Stephanie Nolan School of Hotel Administration, Professor Dev has taught courses on services marketing and brand management. As an expert witness, he has testified in deposition, trial, and at arbitration in numerous hospitality-related matters.

In his 40-year teaching career, Professor Dev has received consistently high ratings for his courses and seminars as well as multiple teaching awards from Cornell undergraduate students, graduate students, and eCornell.

An award-winning scholar, Professor Dev published his pioneering and ground-breaking books Hospitality Branding and Hospitality Branding Volume 2: New Insights and Case Studies (Cornell University Press), plus more than 150 articles in leading academic and practitioner journals, including the following FT50 journals: Journal of Marketing, Journal of Marketing Research, Production and Operations Management, Journal of International Business Studies, Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review. His publications have been cited over 9,000 times. Professor Dev and his co-authors have been recognized with the following awards for their work: a Best Service Research Paper (Runner-Up) Award from the AMA, a Best Paper (Runner-Up, Service Science Section) from INFORMS, a Van Nostrand Reinhold Research Best Paper Award from CHRIE, and the Overall Winner Award for Best Case Study from the Case Centre at the Cranfield School of Management (UK), and several others. In addition, Professor Dev received the John Wiley Award for “lifetime contribution to hospitality and tourism research” from CHRIE.

A regularly featured speaker at academic seminars and industry conferences, Professor Dev’s has presented his work at the Harvard Business School, UPenn’s Wharton School, University of Buckingham (UK), Glion Hotel School (Switzerland), Institut de Management Hotelier International (France), Institutet for Foretagsledning (Sweden), Institut fur Hotelmanagement (Germany), Haaga Institute (Finland), University of Antwerp (Belgium), Athens Laboratory of Business Administration (Greece), Gordon Business School (South Africa), Indian School of Business, National University of Singapore, Universidad Iberoamericana (Mexico), American Marketing Association, Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association, International Hotel and Restaurant Association, Caribbean Hotel Association, European Hotel Managers Association, and World Tourism Congress, and several others.

An active consultant, seminar leader, keynote speaker and expert witness, Professor Dev has served business, education and governmental organizations in over 40 countries on 6 continents. Clients include Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt, IHG, Accor, Disney, Crystal Cruise Lines, The Breakers Palm Beach, Select Restaurants, Deutsch Advertising, Mercer Management Consulting, Ernst & Young, IBM, Atlantis Bahamas, Ritz-Carlton Bali, One & Only Resorts, DeVere, Horwath, ExpoGourmand Chile, InterHotel Paraguay, Chandris Greece, Park Hotel Germany, LUX* Resorts Mauritius, Peninsula Hong Kong, Taj India, eHow Technologies China, YUM Brands Malaysia, NHV Hotels Japan, and others.

Professor Dev is a sought-after commentator on hospitality and tourism trends. He has been interviewed numerous times by the mainstream media including the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Washington Post, The LA Times, USA Today, The Economist, the International Herald Tribune, NBC, CBS, CNN, and several others. The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International selected Professor Dev as one of the “Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Hospitality, Travel and Tourism Sales and Marketing.”

Active in professional and community service, Professor Dev has served on dozens of committees at Cornell, on the editorial boards of multiple peer-reviewed journals, reviewer for several publications, the American Hotel and Lodging Association (AHLA) Chairman’s Marketing Task Force, and conducted several pro bono educational programs for local, national and international business and civic organizations.

Education

PhD Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1988
Enseignement Supérieur de Troisième Cycle (Master's degree) ESSEC Business School, 1985
Post-Graduate Diploma Oberoi Center for Learning and Development, 1981
BA University of Delhi, 1979

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Research

Awards

  • Top Business and Management Scientists in the U.S. (2026) Research.com
  • Top Ten Author (ranked 5th) (2025) Cornell University, Center for Hospitality Research
  • Cornell University's Delegate to the United Nations Conference on Tourism (2022)
  • Distinguished Speaker (2020) Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India
  • Distinguished Scholar (2020) Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research

Faculty Academic Areas

  • Marketing and Management Communication
  • Services Management

Expertise

  • Marketing
  • Branding
  • Ecommerce
  • Strategy
  • Hotels
  • Hospitality
  • Online Travel Agents (OTAs)
  • Tourism