carlos martin-rios
Unlocking Sustainable Strategic Renewal After Covid-19: Opportunities for Hospitality
Carlos Martin-Rios | April 21, 2020
By Carlos Martin-Rios Many nations, companies and individuals were still reeling from the negative effects of the financial crash that began in 2007, when Covid-19 struck affecting many economies, especially those related to the service industries. Tourism and hospitality are often among the first and hardest hit by turmoil. Families refrain from making superficial expenses. Corporations slash travel expenses. Long-haul tourism shrinks and gives way to short-haul destinations, if any. Most consumers become savvier spenders and turn away from high-end services (upscale hotels, cruises, personal shoppers, club memberships and other positiona...
Industry Report: Innovation Strategy in Practice
Dr Carlos Martin-Rios | April 22, 2019
How do global hospitality businesses tackle innovation? The Hospitality Innovation Report analyzes how different innovation strategies contribute to generating competitive advantages for hospitality businesses. By Dr. Carlos Martin-Rios The Hospitality Innovation Industry Report, authored by EHL Associate Professor Dr. Carlos Martin-Rios, is based around a comprehensive model reviewing combinations of technological and non-technological innovations and analyzes how different innovation strategies contribute to generating competitive advantages for hospitality businesses. Dr. Rios has been tracking hospitality innovation for the past sev...
4 Reputation Management Challenges Every Hotel Manager Faces
Dr. Carlos Martin-Rios | May 29, 2018
By Dr. Carlos Martin-Rios Today, hotels are greatly dependent on a limited number of reservation platforms. A significant feature of these platforms is guest evaluations, which are transformed into ratings and rankings. Consumers pay growing attention to user-generated content and a hotel's position in comparison to competitors can have a significant impact on demand for bookings. As a consequence, reputation management is becoming increasingly crucial for hotel managers. But what exactly is the impact of guest evaluations on a hotel's performance? How do hotel managers cope with negative online reviews? And what are the main challenges...
Disruptive Innovation in Hospitality: Are We There Yet?
June 8, 2017
By Dr. Carlos Martin-Rios Society both likes and fears the concept of disruptive innovation. We like to experience new ways of traveling and creativity in cooking dishes; at the same time, we may be somewhat anxious or even afraid of getting into a self-driving car or eating something cooked by a robot chef. The term 'disruption' is widely used by the media to denote a form of breakthrough that takes place in rapidly-changing markets. It can mean different things to different people, along a continuum from incremental change to radical transformation. According to conventional wisdom, a provocative marketing campaign may be seen as 'dis...
Unlocking a Hotel Innovation Strategy
Carlos Martin-Rios | February 15, 2017
By Carlos Martin-Rios, Assistant Professor of Innovation and Human Resources at EHL and Sabina Savatin, Student at École Hôtelière de Lausanne It is human nature to always look for a better, more enhanced experience. Arguably, innovation is the key idea that is shaping corporate life, or even defining the actual corporate mission. Hospitality firms are not indifferent to the changes occurring at the level of their competitors, the fast-paced market, or emerging technology breakthroughs. Yet, as we have argued before in previous articles, the bulk of the hotel industry is somehow lagging behind. There is however a lea...
Innovation in Hospitality Management
Carlos Martin-Rios | January 18, 2016
By Carlos Martin-Rios Hotels face a life-threatening competitor that might forever change the industry landscape, at least the landscape as we know it today. Competition is coming from for-profit firms that generate the bulk of their revenues from exploiting the growing (and hence attractive) world of collaborative consumption: online, peer-to-peer marketplaces of bed-sharing. This business model jeopardizes the industry and millions of jobs. Online intermediary firms (such as Airbnb) are examples of disruptive innovations and, as such innovators, they might shape the present and the future of the industry. Disruptive innovation occurs ...
