Hospitality Marketing: A Retrospective Analysis (1960-2010) and Predictions (2010-2020)

Abstract

Looking at the evolution of marketing as recorded in the pages of the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly , one sees a continual increase in the complexity of the marketing issues for the hospitality industry. Each decade’s articles have been marked by an emphasis on a particular aspect of marketing, generally representing the leading edge of marketing research and thinking. The 1960s, for instance, was the decade of promotion, with numerous articles explaining how to respond to increased competition with an intentional marketing program. The 1970s saw the development of new lodging products and the beginnings of market research, with a greater focus on the customer and on continual product development. The explosion of brands and product tiers in the 1980s ushered in an era of brand management, and the decade also saw the initial lodging industry applications of revenue management, adapted from the airline industry. Following the brutal shakeout of the early 1990s, the lodging industry turned to customer satisfaction and loyalty as key elements of operations, with numerous articles examining ways to measure and manage customer satisfaction. The eruption of the internet dominated the first decade of the twenty-first century, as hospitality companies and guests alike sought to understand how to use this amazing tool. Going forward, the 2010s will continue the changes wrought by electronic media, most particularly the eclipse of printed media and the rise of social media.