A qualitative inquiry of DMO services to hotels: How valuable are they perceived?

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Journal of Destination Marketing & Management journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jdmm

Research paper

A qualitative inquiry of DMO services to hotels: How valuable are they perceived? ⁎

Tiziana Oggionni , Linchi Kwok The Collins College of Hospitality Management, California State Polytechnic University Pomona (Cal Poly Pomona), Pomona, CA, USA

A R T I C L E I N F O

A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Destination marketing organizations Hotels Perceived value Stakeholder theory Qualitative inquiry Business-to-business relationship

While it is clear that destination marketing organizations (DMOs) bring business to hotels by promoting the destination, the focus of this study is to investigate what DMO services are valued more (or less) by DMOs and hotels. A qualitative approach was adopted in this inquiry, where the primary data were collected through twophase semi-structured interviews with 14 industry practitioners working in DMOs or hotels. The first phase began with in-depth interviews with DMO representatives about the DMO services provided to hotels, using the interview protocol developed from a review of literature. An improved protocol was advanced with the DMOs’ inputs and then used in the second phase of the investigation to assess hotels’ evaluations on the DMO services received, as well as the areas that may need improvement. The data were analyzed with the content analysis method under seven services areas: membership management, training and education, data and research, lead generation, publication, networking opportunities, and cost sharing. In the end, the qualitative data collected in the two-phase interviews were further triangulated, leading to a development of a two-dimensional classification matrix of DMO services perceived by DMOs and hotels. The results reveal some discrepancies in regards to how DMOs and hotels value the DMO services, such as in lead generations as well as training and educational programs. Theoretical implications and specific practical recommendations for each of the seven service areas are provided to improve DMO services for hotels.

1. Introduction Defined as those organizations that are responsible for management and/or marketing of individual tourist destinations (UNWTO, 2004), DMOs are operated as nonprofit entities that promote the long-term success, as well as marketing and management of a destination by implementing effective tourism strategies that enhance visitors’ experience (DMAI, n.d.a.; DMAI, n.d.b.; Gretzel, Fesenmaier, Formica, & O’Leary, 2006; Pearce, 2015). Several, mostly conceptual, studies have reported and described the roles and tasks of DMOs (Choy, 1993; Lennon, Smith, Cockerell, & Trew, 2006; Longjit & Pearce, 2013; Pike, 2004; Presenza, Sheehan, & Ritchie, 2005; Ritchie & Crouch, 2003). Current literature, however, mostly focuses on the broad functions of DMOs and the different activities they perform to promote and support the destination as a whole. There is relatively little research investigating the specific services provided by DMOs to hotels. Additionally, stakeholder theory posits that various stakeholders of a business would put their own interests over those of others, resulting in different value perceived by different stakeholders (Donaldson & Preston, 1995). It is unclear what types of DMO services are valued

⁎

more (or less) by the two key stakeholders in a destination: DMOs and hotels. This investigation hence addresses three research questions that are expected to enhance the understanding of the more- and less-valuable DMO services provided to hotels: RQ1: What DMO services do hotels use? RQ2: How valuable and helpful do hotels perceive the services provided by DMOs? RQ3: What are the desirable new services that DMOs could provide to hotels? By answering the above research questions, the results shed light on what DMOs do to support hotels, in what areas they might have been working well (or not good enough) and why that is the case, as well as in what areas they could make improvement and how to achieve that goal, thus providing meaningful implications for a greater value-creation and foster a long-term success in the business-to-business (B2B) relationships between DMOs and hotels. From a theoretical perspective, this study examined DMO services from the perspectives of both DMOs and hotels within one research setting. The results from the two-phase

Corresponding author. E-mail address: [email protected] (T. Oggionni).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2017.11.003 Received 5 June 2017; Received in revised form 3 November 2017; Accepted 10 November 2017 2212-571X/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Oggionni, T., Journal of Destination Marketing & Management (2017), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jdmm.2017.11.003

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and managing a tourist destination, with the ultimate goal of enhancing the visitors’ experience. Marketing or promotion, in particular, is most frequently referred to as the primary area of research concerning DMOs (Borzyszkowski & Marczak, 2015). To achieve the goal of ensuring quality experience of visitors, however, DMOs are actually in charge of more than just marketing or promotional activities. According to Ritchie and Crouch (2003), the activities performed by DMOs can be classified into two major categories, namely 'internal' and 'external' managerial tasks (or programs). Even though the boundaries between the two groups of activities can be blurry, and some overlaps may occur, internal activities are predominantly those required to enable the DMOs to function administratively (e.g. definition of organizational by-laws, determination of committee structures, determination of budget/budgeting process, and organizational administrative procedures), including those that focus on the various elements of the destination itself ('inward-looking'). Such elements comprise stakeholders and membership organizations (membership management and publications), as well as communities (community relations) and visitors (publications). External tasks, on the contrary, are 'outwardlooking' and tend to communicate to the outside world (including other DMO stakeholders) about the functions of DMOs. External tasks focus on marketing (a huge component of DMOs activities that includes: promotion; the identification, measurement and monitoring of the destination awareness and image; destination branding; destination positioning, and market segmentation), visitor services, visitor management, information and research, finance and venture capital management, and resource stewardship (Ritchie & Crouch, 2003).

qualitative investigation add to the current understanding of the B2B relationship between DMOs and hotels, with an advancement of a twodimensional classification matrix of DMO services perceived by DMOs and hotels. Specific suggestions are made to DMOs based on the triangulation results under each of the specific DMO services provided; hotels may also be able to increase their awareness about the supports provided by DMOs. 2. Literature review This literature review first presents a brief discussion of the stakeholder theory as the theoretical foundation for this investigation. Secondly, an overview of DMO services is provided, followed by an indepth discussion of five categories of specific DMO services provided to hotels. These five areas of services were then used in developing the initial protocol for the interviews with DMO informants. 2.1. Stakeholder theory: the theoretical rationale for this investigation In 1983, Freeman introduced stakeholder theory to examine the various impacts that different stakeholders (e.g. owners, shareholders, managers, consumers, and business partners) have on an organization (Freeman, 1984). Generally, stakeholder theory posits that different stakeholders would pay particular attention to one or more aspects of a business operation for their own sake of interests or with a unique perspective according to their best interests (Donaldson & Preston, 1995; Mitchell, Agle, & Wood, 1997; Nunkoo & Ramkissoon, 2013). Stakeholder theorists recognize the differences among various types of players in an organization and encourage managers to identify who are the true stakeholders of the organization as well as what these stakeholders value the most (Donaldson & Preston, 1995; Mitchell et al., 1997; Todd, Leask, & Ensor, 2017). Since its introduction, stakeholder theory has been applied and tested in various aspects and have multiple implications, with three alternative focuses: descriptive/empirical, instrumental, and normative. The descriptive focus of stakeholder theory is used to describe and explain specific corporate characteristics and behaviors within the organization; the instrumental aspect helps to identify the connections – or lack of connections – between stakeholder management and the achievement of traditional corporate objectives; finally the normative focus assists in interpreting the function of the corporation (Donaldson & Preston, 1995). Today, stakeholder theory has been applied in studies of different industries, including hospitality (e.g. Liang, Law, Kam, & Denizci Guillet, 2014; Pérez & del Bosque, 2014), non-profit organizations (e.g. Van Puyvelde, Caers, Du Bois, & Jegers, 2012), and the tourism industry (e.g. Carr & Liu, 2016; Hardy & Pearson, 2017; Khazaei, Elliot, & Joppe, 2015; Theodoulidis, Diaz, Crotto, & Rancati, 2017; Waligo, Clarke, & Hawkinsc, 2015). Referring to stakeholder theory, DMOs and hotels, as two different but very important stakeholders of destination marketing and management, would possibly have different interests or hold different perceptions of the 'ultimate value' they are creating for a destination. While it is commonly believed that hotels can benefit from the services provided by DMOs, it is uncertain if hotels and DMOs place the same value on various types of DMO services that are provided to hotels, which becomes the focal interest of this qualitative inquiry.

2.3. DMO services provided to hotels 2.3.1. Membership management According to the Destination Marketing Association International surveys, about 41% of DMOs are membership based, and the number is expected to increase over the years (Borzyszkowski & Marczak, 2015). DMOs can obtain funds in different ways, such as through membership fees. Consequently, providing DMO programs will help DMOs justify the membership fees; members will then appreciate and value their inclusion into the network. Ritchie and Crouch (2003) emphasized the importance of keeping high enthusiasm among members, as it would assure a long-term stream of resources. According to Ritchie and Crouch (2003), DMO programs include three elements:

• Routine, ongoing programs: this element includes regular meetings and networking sessions that may benefit members. • Special area programming: this may involve guest speakers, strategic planning sessions, and visits to member facilities. • Membership development programs: they consist of education and

trainings that can be either periodic or systematic, as well as workshops and seminars on timely topics.

2.3.2. Training and education Zavattaro and Adams (2015) suggested DMOs used training and educational services as a means to justify the existence of their organizations. Kalbaska (2011) focused on DMOs’ usage of eLearning and pointed out that new technologies can be used not only to spread marketing messages to potential clients, thus attracting visitors to the destination, but also to coordinate all the partners and industries involved in the production and delivery of the tourist activities. Digital technologies can serve the scope and offer a full learning experience (eLearning) about a destination and its attractions in an extensive, structured, and modern way. Kalbaska (2011) found that DMOs worldwide almost doubled their online courses during a two-year timeframe and believed that training must be included as a valuable service provided by DMOs. Finally, a study by Borzyszkowski and Marczak (2015) emphasized the reciprocal benefits resulting from the collaboration between DMOs and the representatives of the educational

2.2. DMO services: an overview DMOs operate at various geographical and administrative levels, which may generally be distinguished in three main categories: national, regional/provincial/state, and local (or sub-regional) (Blain, Levy, & Ritchie, 2005; Ritchie & Crouch, 2003; Sheehan & Ritchie, 2005; UNWTO, 2004). Nevertheless, the nature of the role DMOs perform is similar across all three levels — that is to increase tourist visitations to a destination (Wang & Pizam, 2011). There is a consensus in academia that DMO activities are significantly helpful in developing 2

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sector in Poland; they asserted that such cooperation was highly beneficial, as it would generate professionally-prepared personnel working in the market of tourist services.

SERVICES PROVIDED BY DMOS TO HOTELS - Membership Managements - Training and Education - Data and Research - MICE Business Creation - Publications - Other Existing Services

2.3.3. Data and research Managing data and research is another significant aspect of DMOs’ role. Ritchie and Crouch (2003) identified two distinct flows of information that DMOs generate and manage: outward flows and inward flows. According to Ritchie and Crouch (2003), outward flows of information pertain to information that DMOs provide to external stakeholders, which is used to support stakeholders’ activities, and inward flows refer to all the information that DMO management should use to function more competitively and sustainably. In particular, inward flows are twofold: monitoring flows and research flows. Monitoring flows involve information collected on a continuous basis, such as tracking target markets, measuring of destination awareness, environmental scanning, evaluating visitors’ satisfaction, measuring the destination performance, as well as collecting information on competitors’ activities and competitive performance. Research flows, on the other hand, consist of information obtained periodically as the need arises, aiming at providing additional insights of specific managerial problems or concerns. In a B2B perspective, DMOs could support local hotels in providing data for a better comprehension of the market. For example, hotels often rely on DMOs for communication and regular information (Sheehan, Ritchie, & Hudson, 2007). Traffic volume data of a DMO website can also be used to predict the short-term demand for hotel rooms in a specific tourist area, suggesting DMOs can supply extremely valuable information to hotels (Gunter & Önder, 2016; Yang, Pan, & Song, 2014).

FUTURE TRENDS - Desirable New Services

RQ1 & RQ2

RQ3

Fig. 1. A visual diagram of the quality inquiry.

current literature. Fig. 1 depicts the constructs of interest and how they are related to the research questions. 3. Methodology Research methodology is often determined according to the purpose of the study and the research questions (Kwok, 2012). Given the exploratory nature of this current study, a qualitative approach is deemed appropriate, allowing the researchers to disclose the accurate and indepth information about what DMO services offered to hotels and how valuable such services are perceived by both DMOs and hotels. The overall research design was advanced according to Shenton's (2004) suggestions on how to conduct a trustworthy qualitative study that meets the four criteria of credibility, transferability, dependability, and confirmability raised by Guba (1981).

2.3.4. MICE business creation The MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Exhibitions) industry has become one of the key drivers of tourism destination development and can substantially generate incomes, employment, and foreign investments (Kotler, Bowen, & Makens, 2010). Interestingly, a study by Baloglu and Love (2005) discovered that DMOs’ support and services had a much smaller impact in attracting business from the MICE industry than what was expected. This area thus deserves more research attention because it could be alarming if such service turns out to have little impact on a destination despite DMOs’ efforts and investments in attracting the MICE business.

3.1. A two-step design We designed this qualitative study with two-phase semi-structured interviews for data collection. The first step included in-depth interviews with five DMOs representatives, who were asked about the overall services provided, using the interview protocol developed from our review of literature (Appendix A). The data from the first phase were then analyzed, and the preliminary results were utilized in helping revise the initial (but draft) interview protocol (Appendix B), which was planned to be used in the second phase of the research. Through this approach, it was possible to develop the finalized interview protocol (Appendix C) that was actually used in the second phase, allowing more specific insights to be gained from the nine hotel informants about the services provided by DMOs.

2.3.5. Publications Supplying printed materials is encompassed within the wider DMOs’ role of publication programs. As DMOs’ publication programs must serve both internal and external audiences, many DMO publications are produced for their members and the entire community (Ritchie & Crouch, 2003), including local hotels and restaurants. The nature of the publications varies, ranging from marketing materials to regular periodicals and newsletters (including e-newsletters) for stakeholders (Lee, Lee, & Jones, 2016). For example, DMOs often prepare neighborhood maps for hotels, which can be used to hand out to hotel guests as needed. This is a valuable service from a customer perspective and allows local hospitality companies to provide a better service to their guests.

3.2. Sampling procedures, data collection, and data analysis The criteria-based sampling procedure was adopted, as suggested by Teddlie and Yu (2007) to purposely select the informants working in Southern California: a top tourist destination in the US. The DMO informants were chosen based on the level of their DMOs (ranging from city, regional, to the state level). Likewise, the hotel informants were also chosen from various hotel segments in which they were working, thus representing a good mix of lodging products, in terms of class segments (as commonly used by Smith Travel Research, Inc. – STR), size, and type of hotel. The sample of hotel properties represented in the study was heterogeneous, including properties with a wide range number of rooms (from 74 to 683, with an average of 297 rooms) and meeting space ranging from 800 ft2 to 70,000 ft2 (on an average of about 20,500 ft2). Additionally, the sample crossed all market segments, from economy to luxury hotels, with upscale and upper-upscale hotels overrepresented. According to Teddlie and Yu (2007), such

2.3.6. Other existing services and desirable services Despite the attempt to describe the DMO services offered to hotels in a complete and exhaustive list, additional services may have been overlooked or not identified from the review of the relevant literature. Furthermore, there may be cases in which DMOs offer some specific services to certain hotels, upon the hotels’ request. Finally, new services may also emerge with the advancement of new technologies. In this investigation, we thus also want to see if we could possibly identify any 'other services' or 'desirable services' that have not been reported in 3

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criteria-based sampling procedure would allow researchers to identify and recruit the necessary informants that can represent a case in a qualitative study. All interviews were conducted over the telephone between November 2016 and February 2017, and lasted for about 40 min each. The confidentiality of the informants was guaranteed with the use of pseudonym/labels. To ensure completeness of the data and allow accurate direct quotation, upon authorization, the interviews were recorded (Leedy & Ormrod, 2013). The number of the informants was determined according to the suggestion of Fusch and Ness (2015), which stated that the richness and abundance of the data collected should dictate the rational of the sample size. In other words, the interviews were ended when repetitive responses from the informants began to be heard. Upon finishing all interviews, the recorded audit trails were firstly transcribed and analyzed. The overall word count of the 14 interviews totaled 32,500 words, averaging 2,400 for DMOs informants and 2,270 for hoteliers. Content analysis was then conducted to interpret the qualitative findings of the research, as suggested by Miles and Huberman (1994), Leedy and Ormrod (2013), and Schreier (2012). For each phase of the interviews, the specific steps recommended by Wang and Krakover (2008) were followed, those being:

Table 1 Descriptions of the DMO informants. Informant

D1 D2 D3 D4 D5

Position in the DMO

Meeting Sales Director for the Western Region Chief Marketing Officer President Vice President – Hotel Sales Director of DMO and Executive Relations

Years of experience In current position

In the industry

1.5

10

1.5 6 5 3

19 21 25 22

stakeholders can decide if a specific service is applicable to them. For example,

• 'Everything is pretty much available to everybody, but of course it • •

• Transcribe data and identify major ideas. • Define appropriate unit of analysis. • Develop categorization schemes. • Confirm categories. • Identify themes and use relevant theory if necessary for interpreta-

can be more applicable to some than others and so depending on the strategy and type and style of hotel and the class of hotel and all that.' (Informant D4 – 'D4' hereafter, p. 2) 'Generally, it's only those with that meeting space would receive our RFPs [Request For Proposals], so that's not all properties.' (D2, p. 2) 'All of the services are available to all hotels, […] but it's definitely up to them to determine what's a good fit.' (D1, p. 1)

DMOs’ representatives were not unanimous in regards to whether a service could be offered tailor-made for a specific hotel partner. Some of them (e.g. D3) stated very unequivocally that no discrimination can be made, and tied that to their own governance and management. In another case (D4), DMOs can be more flexible and work with their partners and evaluate opportunities case by case. Usually, that refers to assisting the hotel with specific promotions or support with commitments.

tion.

Finally, because the data were collected from different sources (DMOs and hotels), triangulation was performed. By doing so, agreements and discrepancies of how valuable was each of the DMO services perceived by DMOs and hotels can be revealed. 4. Findings

• 'If there's a hotel partner that brings something up in terms of as-

Following a similar fashion used by other researchers who conducted studies with a comparable methodology (Holloway, 1997; Kimbu & Ngoasong, 2013; Kwok, Adams, & Price, 2011; Ponterotto, 2006), the findings are presented as direct quotes, where informants’ responses are cited from the interview transcripts, including the label of a particular informant as well as the page number of the audit trail. A description of the informants is first presented. Some general considerations of DMO services are then presented, including how services are targeted and added to the overall offering available to hotels. Finally, a thorough discussion of each of the DMO services provided to hotels from both the DMOs and hotels’ perspectives is presented, including membership management, training and education, data and research, lead generation, publications, networking opportunities, cost sharing, other existing services, and desirable new services.

•

sistance that they want us to manage, the board needs to agree upon that; I can’t do something for one and not the other.' (D3, p. 2) 'There is an entire department, per definition the service department, that provides a whole list of what we call commitments or could be called the services if you will, but it could be transportation, events and venue selection, itinerary development, […] those type of services, are provided by this department.' (D4, p. 2–3)

4.3. Membership management 4.3.1. Insights from DMOs Clearly, due to their internal differences and their different spending power, DMOs develop various strategies to ensure that hotel partners fully appreciate the benefits of belonging. Some of the approaches include formal documents summarizing the benefits of being members (D4), dedicated sale force whose main responsibility is to seek out new partners and build a relationship with them, presenting the different options available (D1), and organizing periodic events (D2).

4.1. Description of the informants The data were collected from two pools of informants: five informants from DMOs (Phase I) and nine informants from hotels (Phase II). Table 1 lists the positions and experience of the subjects working in DMOs, operating both at state level and at city/local level, while Table 2 presents a description of the hotel informants. Each informant was labeled with a unique code to refer to them without disclosing their identity.

• 'We have the summary of benefits and there are various membership sites.' (D4, p. 2) • 'We have two individuals on our team who are in sales specifically •

4.2. DMO services for hotels Generally, DMOs do not seem to provide any services that are specific to hotels or certain hotels of a particular category or segment. It appears that no differences are made in terms of who receives what; 4

for our partners, so it's their job to go out and find organizations that will pay to be members of ours.' (D1, p. 1) 'We also have an annual meeting where we present the work that we have accomplished in the past year and kind of report back out to the community.' (D2, p. 2)

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Table 2 Descriptions of the hotel informants and the hotels they are working at. Informant

Position in the industry

Type of Hotel

Size of hotel (# guest rooms)

Size of meeting space

H1 H2 H3 H4 H5 H6 H7 H8 H9

Director of Sales Regional Director of Sales Senior Account Executive Director of Sales and Marketing Sales Manager General Manager Revenue Manager Director of Sales and Marketing Area Director of Sales and Marketing

Upscale boutique beach hotel Midscale to Upscale Ranging from Economy to Luxury Upper-upscale downtown hotel Midscale suburban with no F&B Upscale convention hotel Upper-upscale beach hotel Upscale convention hotel Luxury boutique city hotel

Over 100 Varies by property Varies by property Over 400 Over 100 Over 650 About 300 Over 350 Over 250

Over 2000 ft2 Varies by property Varies by property Over 15000 ft2 Less than 1000 ft2 About 70000 ft2 Over 20000 ft2 Over 35000 ft2 About 5000 ft2

4.4. Training and education

4.3.2. Insights from hotels From the hotel perspective, however, this aspect does not seem relevant or highly valued. A possible interpretation could lie in the fact that membership is the service given for granted. In other words, when a hotel partner is already using the services provided by a DMO, it is not necessary to explain what their membership benefits are. Some hotels noted that it was nice to know what the range of offering available was (H2 said 'I like to know what the options are,' p. 3). The most common approach that DMOs took was to introduce the organization and staff to the hotel partners and present the services that they can offer (H2). However, formal presentations are usually done once, at the beginning of the partnership, and they are rarely seen as ongoing programs.

4.4.1. Insights from DMOs DMOs were eager to share a number of different activities that they periodically put in place for their hotels, thus revealing the importance given to knowledge and learning. Programs are mainly related to destination training (D1), or they aim at improving the hospitality skills for specific markets (D4). Because the research was conducted in Southern California, a predominance of Chinese travelers can be detected, amounting to 11.6% of overall visitors in 2015 and officially becoming the second largest international market in Los Angeles County, behind Mexico (CBRE, 2016). To address this particular reality, DMOs’ efforts in terms of education are targeted toward the Chinese market. Sometimes DMOs do not have the means to develop successful educational programs on their own; nevertheless, they still see the value in this type of service, so they act as intermediary with larger organizations and promote (or even sponsor) third-party programs to their hotel partners (D3).

• 'A good CVB [Convention and Visitors Bureau] would reach out to the hotels and do the introduction.' (H2, p. 1) • 'They did a good job introducing them, so I know who does what, as opposed to what they can help us with.' (H1, p. 1) • 'That's usually done in the first meeting between the hotel and the

• • • • •

DMO […] at the very beginning of the process.' (H4, p. 1) Contrarily, DMOs are praised as good communicators, as operational messages are frequent and somehow informal and the DMOs are seen as a good reminder of what has been planned. Formal moments of communication were only noted from a few informants, in the form of monthly, quarterly, or annual meeting (H1, H8 and H9). Finally, brochures (mentioned by H5) and DMOs’ website (mentioned by H3) are also a good source used by hotels to get informed on what is available. 'They always send us emails, like “this is what we are doing,” “we are sending an incentive for this month” ... or “don’t forget you booked with xxx, that planner is getting a promotion.” So, they are good at communicating what's going on by email.' (H1, p. 2) 'We receive emails from the vice president of sales from the CVB, just advising us on any new promotions and anything that they’re currently working on, where they feel the hotel community needs to be aware of.' (H8, p. 1) 'There is a general monthly newsletter, so they communicate very consistently what's going on in the destination and the overall efforts that are affecting [the city] in general. […] They also do more one on one.' (H9, p. 1) 'A lot of times they’ll go ahead and do a quarterly meeting, at the convention center with all the hotels that are current partners, and during these quarterly meetings they’ll go and provide updates from […] any promotions that they are running, any advertising that they are conducting to sell [the city] and the surrounding area.' (H8, p. 1) 'What they do [during their annual meeting] is not only recapping the efforts and where the money goes and the success is, they kind of explain and educate the audience on why they do the things that they do, so it's extremely informative.' (H9, p. 1)

• 'We have a program [which] allows them to train their line level • •

employees to know more about just their hotel and have a little bit deeper knowledge so that we’re all telling the same story about the destination.' (D1, p. 1) 'We had to prepare those hotels to adequately service and accommodate the Chinese travelers. So we collaborated with a team of industry experts, and created our curriculum and then trained the hotels on, you know, sort of dealing with Chinese in the hospitality business.' (D4, p. 1) 'That [training program] is something that we would like our hotel partners to go to and we would pay for them to attend that meeting, to learn more about the culture and more about the Chinese guests. So training that come our way either from Visit California, or other Destination Management Organizations […], we would share that with our hotel partners.' (D3, p. 1–2)

4.4.2. Insights from hotels Despite the efforts shown from the DMOs side, there is only minimal response from hotels on the issue. The value of training and education is somehow recognized, although it is not among the most valuable services offered by DMOs, whose area of expertise, according to some hoteliers, is not 'training the hotel staff to serve or to perform' (H6, p. 1). Very few managers were able to recall any educational activities or were aware of any being offered at all (H1), and when something was indeed remembered, it had not been used (H5). Only in a couple of cases, the hoteliers were able to accurately cite educational activities offered by their DMO, such as the knowledge about a city or a region (H4 & H8) and making sales (H9).

• 'No, every hotel I’ve worked at has never gotten any of that opportunity.' (H1, p. 2) • 'I think they do offer some, but we personally don’t participate.' (H5, p. 1)

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• 'Obviously the DMO is going to have a deeper knowledge of the • •

destination then the hotel does, because that's their primary business.' (H4, p. 3) 'It's a very intensive class but it's certainly well worth. […] it really gives [hotel staff] an opportunity of knowing what's within the city and what is available to them and really help them to be able to' sell not only the hotel, but also the city as a destination. (H8, p. 1) 'They’ll come and conduct the training with the sales team on how to be most effective when responding to leads and things of that nature.' (H9, p. 1)

• •

4.5. Data and research 4.5.1. Insights from DMOs Managing data and research is a significant aspect of the DMOs’ role. This is also proven by the fact that some organizations devote a specific department (D4) or develop an ad-hoc department to do that (D1). It seems that DMOs are interested in further strengthening this service, by providing specific data to the properties about online website visitation and conversion booking, similarly to what was studied by Yang et al. (2014). Informant D1 explained the rationale behind the growing importance of data and research as a way to show value to hotel partners.

4.6. Lead generation 4.6.1. Insights from DMOs Literature suggests that generating MICE business is a big part of DMOs’ activities. Nevertheless, it appeared in our investigation that 'MICE business' has been replaced with 'lead generation' among DMOs. We hence report the relevant discussion among the informants under 'lead generation' rather than MICE business creation. Lead generation includes not only the specific direct sale effort (sending to hotels 'Request For Proposals' from meeting planners, thus 'connecting the buyer with the hotel', as Informant D2 explained), but also supporting the hotel partners throughout the selling process by offering side assistance aimed at facilitating the sale process and the consequent conclusion of the deal. Interestingly, some concerns were raised about the actual value of the leads generated, especially considering that such leads may not be unique. Business, in fact, can originate from different sources, such as the hotel sales department, or spontaneously from the potential clients themselves. Therefore, it can be hard to prove that the lead generated by the DMO is truly unique rather than a duplicate, thus not only not adding value for the hotel partner, but on the opposite, even generating an increased and unnecessary workload for them. Is there really always added value in lead generation, or the DMOs should rather focus their efforts, time, and budget on other activities to assist and support their hotel partners? One DMO representative (Informant D3) took the side of the hotel partners and pointed out this concern.

• 'We conduct an immense amount of research throughout the year that we pass along to hotels for free.' (D5, p.1) • 'We have a whole department which is essentially tourism insights •

•

and it's like a consumer-driven insights department which you could call research or behavior.' (D4, p. 2) 'We found that a lot of our hotel partners were looking to us to be that resource and to give them information about the destination, and the industry and things far more large scale; so we actually created a business intelligence department within the last five years and they are tracking a lot more information that we had in the past and then providing very detailed reports on a quarterly basis to all of our hotel partners.' (D1, p. 2) 'I think that DMOs are starting to move in the direction of using that [data and research] as how they show value, because lead generation is sort of become everyone's business – you know, with third parties and online resources, so that's one of the few ways that we sort of have exclusive rights of information and we can really show that value.' (D1, p. 2)

• 'We also facilitate the sale process by perhaps arranging for a site

4.5.2. Insights from hotels Hoteliers seemed pleased and overall valued the data and research sharing as an important service. Some managers stated that data are only provided once a year or whenever there is a change in the DMO marketing effort (H1 and H2). Informant H3 mentioned an 'industry update' in the form of a lunch meeting, during which the DMO shares a general overview of the industry. Informant H6 noticed the value of having an accurate description of the incoming visitors, which enables hotels to perform more efficient marketing efforts. Finally, informant H8 focused on the value of reports that are projected to the future of the destination, using the data as an indicator for future business and to make more accurate forecasts. Meanwhile, some hoteliers perceive this service only as a 'nice to have' from DMOs, because data and research may also come from alternative sources (H2 & H3).

•

•

• 'They have several speakers that talk about trends; they talk about • •

powerful it is! […] Data and research is important, because you do want to know that you are receiving the fair share in the market and that you are performing well.' (H7, p. 2) 'You […] get a good gauge as to how strong the current year and the following year or the year after that is going to be from their standpoint, and […] to see how the CVB is pacing is really a good indication of how strong your future is going to be.' (H8, p. 2) 'That service of data is not exclusively DMOs’ […]; they can get it through magazine, […] online resources and things like that, so it's not that only DMOs have access to that, but they usually put it in a good format and present at those conferences.' (H3, p. 2). The same informant, however, pointed out that the value coming from what the DMO is able to share, lies in the broader view of the entire area, thus making possible a comparison of the hotel performance not limited to only the property competitive set.

visit for that meeting planner, helping to host them in the destination, helping to organize their flights here, as well as, you know, kind of cooperating with the hotel sales staff and really serving as an extension of the hotel sales staff.' (D2, p. 1) 'We already got this lead, so for you [DMO] to be sending it to me [hotel] again, it's just making me have more work, because now I’ve got to respond to two people'. Then again, 'a lot of the hotel partners already get them, so why are we paying money for a sales person to work at the DMO when we already get 90% of the lead they send over?' (D3, p. 3) 'I think that the value that has been a challenge for us in the way that we do business now is showing value as a lead generator.' (D1, p. 2)

4.6.2. Insights from hotels Lead generation is highly regarded by all hoteliers, as it appears to be the most prevalent and utilized service among the ones provided by the DMOs (H2, H7 and H8), and even the main reason for becoming a partner in the first place (H4). Nevertheless, hotels seemed to be divided between those worried about duplicate leads and those not very much concerned, either because they never faced the issue (H5), it rarely happened (H6 and H8), or it is overcome by the overall benefits

statistics; they talk about performance of the area, meeting volume, occupancy, new developments and things like that.' (H3, p. 2) 'They provide us a lot of data in terms of who is coming to [the city], the demographics of the visitors coming to [the city], so both for leisure or for business and what country they come from, basically. That helps us to do our own marketing.' (H6, p. 1) 'Information is power, right? The more data you have, the more 6

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p. 2)

of an additional lead received (H7 and H9). According to H3, the risk of duplicate leads creates more of an inconvenience rather than a benefit for the hotel. On the contrary, some others still believed that the benefit of receiving a lead surpasses the eventual additional workload in case such lead is not unique. Facing duplicate leads would simply require more effort in organizing the leads from the hotel side, and can even be turned into an advantage, because the hotel would know that the client also contacted the DMO and therefore their interest is stronger (H7). Duplicate leads seem inevitable nowadays, so hotels should be able to turn them to their advantage. For this reason, they should even be perceived almost as opportunities even though that also means double efforts were made to win the client (H9). To address the issue of duplicated leads, some hoteliers suggested DMOs enhance the value of this service by focusing on a larger scale or reaching the markets that individual hotels would not be able to reach otherwise. By targeting a wider audience, maybe out of the state or even internationally, they could add value to the lead generation service and improve the quality of the relationship.

4.7.2. Insights from hotels Hoteliers were equally divided on the value of this service. Some of them agreed with DMOs’ opinion (H2, H3, H4, and H9). On the opposite side, not all hotels are quite ready to surrender paper (H1, H5 and H8). In particular, H8 emphasized that the value of this type of service lies not only in the information that it conveys to the guests, but also in the convenience of the material and its production.

• 'Quite honestly the customer doesn’t want it, […]. They don’t want a • •

• 'It's not super useful because the leads often duplicate. So, if I get a • •

• • •

lead directly to my property and then it get sent to the DMO, I get the same lead from the DMO. And now, I have the same lead twice. […] So the lead generation process to me is not as helpful.' (H3, p. 2) 'Very very important, because the more leads the better! […] Having the CVB and working closely with the CVB is productive because it's like a couple of extra sale people to your team.' (H7, p. 2) 'You are always going to have that, especially these day and age with technology. […]. So when you are looking at lead generation from a DMO, at least from my perspective as a DOSM, I’m not looking at ancillary, I’m looking at more a big picture. […] that's not a concern to me because we do need a lot of times to be pushing from both ends to get the lead into [the city] and then into my hotels, so, I do have a collaborative effort on that and I appreciate it, so lead duplicate is not a challenge, but it does happen.' (H9, p. 2) 'Destination related business development efforts are far more powerful than an individual hotel or an individual brand, because they are promoting the entire destination.' (H9, p. 2) 'They have sales managers that are not only selling in this area, but they have a sales team that is throughout the United States. […] it's very beneficial to hotels.' (H8, p. 2) 'They have a full sales effort to drive leads and they do regular sales missions all over the country and all over the world to generate that business.' (H9, p. 2)

•

•

4.8. Networking opportunities 4.8.1. Insights from DMOs While networking opportunities did not stand out in the literature review as a prominent service provided by the DMOs, all DMO informants emphasized it as a useful and valuable moment, where participants would get involved in the community and enlarge their network and general knowledge. A question was hence added about networking opportunities as an existing DMO service when the hotel informants were interviewed. 4.8.2. Insights from hotels Mixers were mentioned as powerful tools to strengthen DMOs partners’ connections as well as 'get exposed to more places' (H1, p. 2). Networking is generally perceived as an informal way to get information about the competitors and the overall industry (H1). In fact, they usually take place in different establishments and they are not limited to only hotel partners. Participants can be quite heterogeneous and include representatives from restaurants, bars, tourist attractions, museums, theaters, transportation operators, and everyone who can contribute to increasing the destination attractiveness to visitors and help make their experience memorable (H8). From the hotels’ perspective, the value of mixer events strongly lies in the attendance and the type of guests (H2). Additionally, they provide new insights and tools for the selling process (H1).

4.7. Publications 4.7.1. Insights from DMOs Some DMOs are very fond of their printed material, which is mostly Visitors’ Guides, or directories of the different establishments located in the destination. However, in the era of digitalization, everything can be found online, and clients can use mobile devices to supply what tourism booklets used to do in the past, as reflected in the opinions of some DMO representatives (D1 and D4).

• 'We traditionally had a destination guide, where we do a printed

• •

bunch of paper, so they ask not to print anything out for them and just email it or put on a flash drive.' (H2, p. 2) 'I don’t think paper is any useful these days. I personally don’t take any paper, I don’t want any paper, cause I would throw it anyway and most people do anyway. […] I think in general you get more value if you do it electronically because it's cheaper and it's easier to distribute.' (H3, p. 3) 'Digital is a much more effective approach for our hotel and our clients and seems to be the case for the market in general and the overall industry.' (H9, p. 2) 'Even though you think that prints are dead, when someone's at the front desk asking where to go to breakfast and you can hand them a list and a map, and say 'it's right around the corner here', even though they can plug in their phone, there's still a million people that want to see a map and a flyer. So right now it's still very beneficial.' (H1, p. 3) 'It's very useful when you have a group that is going to be staying in your hotel for multiple days – you know four or five days – and you can forward them a piece of collateral material that the CVB has, that gives your client and their attendees an idea as far as everything that can be offered in [the city].' (H8, p. 2)

booklet, they [hotel partners] can pay for additional visibility within that [...] but we have found that those are not popular as they once were, so we are moving more towards just digital copies of that, rather than print copy in hotels, because people just don’t use them, or they take them and then throw them out right away.' (D1, p. 1) 'I just don’t know that those have the value that they used to. If you would have asked me a few years ago, I would have said yes, that's a tremendous value, but I just think they are so disposable now, with the digital age.' (D1, p. 3) 'We have several other publications, but frankly we are getting away from print format, and really most of it, it is online and digital.' (D4,

• 'You might have people that are florist or somebody that sells pro• 7

motional products…. You know, you get a good mix of individuals from different businesses other than hotels.' (H8, p. 3) 'Really what the DMOs are supposed to do is network with clients, not necessarily with the hotels. I mean, yes, you want to meet different partners and know each other and stuff like that, but for me as a hotelier, if the DMO's hosting happy hours, cocktail hours

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• •

Additionally, financial incentives to book groups were mentioned (H7), such as:

something like that I might go, cause it's nice to hang out with other hoteliers, but really what I need is clients, right? I need client interactions, not necessarily with other hotels.' (H3, p. 3) 'They actually pool in both suppliers and clients to those events when possible, so it's a little bit more effective.' (H9, p. 3) 'It depends on the event and the people: some can be really great and then some can be completely useless.' (H2, p. 2)

• 'Let's say the room rate for this client is at $200; if that's a little bit

too much for them, then the CVB might say 'look, we’ll offer $20 for every room nights in the system'. So now the client only pays $180 and then the CVB pays us $20. So then we as a hotel still receive $200, but it makes us more competitive with the client.' (H7, p. 4)

Although enjoyable and potentially interesting, hoteliers also pointed out that these networking events are not mandatory, and people will only go if they think they are worth their time (H1 and H2). Hoteliers suggested DMOs integrate multiple purposes together drawing more participants and enhancing the value of the mixers. By combining different elements in one single event, DMOs can increase the value of the overall activity and make it more inviting (H3). Sometimes the education that can derive from a networking opportunity is spontaneous and informal (H5), and it is intrinsic to the industry (H4). In other cases, the DMO would plan a more formal moment of networking and join it to education and/or data sharing as well (H3).

Because these DMO services were only mentioned once by in the informants, we did not include these data in our triangulation analysis. Nevertheless, we believe it is still important to bring these services to our attention as it is possible some of them might evolve into a mainstream DMO services in the future. 4.11. The desirable new services As a concluding question, both DMOs and hoteliers were asked what is still lacking in their B2B relationship, if anything, but none of the informants was able to pinpoint unaddressed needs. Overall, therefore, the relationship appears healthy and valuable and hoteliers seem very satisfied with the services received. Only one informant (H2) expressed some frustration and suggested DMOs of different levels should do a better job in networking among themselves and learn from one another as a way of improvement.

• 'They can plan these events and mixers, but everyone's only going to • •

go if it's worth their time; they’re not mandatory, so if people are finding that they are useful and people are – you know- having a good time with them, then they’re going to come.' (H1, p. 5) 'Time is valuable, then when you take hotel sales people, if you take them off property for an event, you have to make sure that it's a good use of their time. So that's why I think the education comes in handy.' (H3, p. 4) 'They [the DMOs] usually have the meetings hosted by an activity or restaurants, so that activity would wine and dine us, because they want us to sell their activity. And they would always do a presentation, so I always learn something about the city […]. I always walked away very enlightened, so having a presentation, learning about whether there is a trade or a new meal or just something new that I can refer my client to.' (H1, p. 3)

• 'I wish they would talk to each other more, but honestly, that they network more, that they educate each other more, because it is kind of frustrating if you know I go to [one city] and they have an awesome CVB and then I go to [another city] and they have nothing.' (H2, p. 3)

4.12. Final remarks about the B2B relationship between DMOs and hotels Lastly, as a final remark, emphasis needs to be given on the two-way nature of the relationship. While this study shed light particularly on the services that DMOs can provide to hotel partners and the value that hoteliers attribute to them, the relationship is reciprocal and therefore it should be seen as such. Efforts are not only geared toward hotels’ advantage, but they aim at the interest of the destination as well and therefore benefits can be generated from hotels to DMOs too. Destination marketing organizations and hotels are equal partners, not users and suppliers and their relationship is not simply transactional. Consequently, to progress and achieve success, commitment is required on both sides.

4.9. Cost sharing The opportunity to share costs at trade shows and let hotels participate side by side with DMOs was also often mentioned during the first phase of the interviews. Hence, even though cost sharing was not identified or discussed in the literature review section, this item was added as an important existing service provided by DMOs when we interviewed the hotel informants in the second phase of our qualitative inquiry. In fact, hoteliers also pointed out that cost sharing is very valuable because it allows them to get exposure that otherwise they would hardly be able to afford.

• 'The partnerships are very engaged, and then it is a two-way com-

• 'Something [DMOs] should do more is help get our hotels in those •

trade shows, because some of them we don’t attend because the expense is so high.' (H1, p. 4) 'They would basically buy the booth [..] and then it's cheaper, you know, for us hotels to participate in some of those larger trade shows that maybe we couldn’t afford as a single hotel, cause they are really expensive.' (H3, p. 4)

•

4.10. Other existing DMO services

munication format, open communication, open to criticism. […] There's no one person, or one department or one organization that's going to make it successful, we have to absolutely collaborate together to better position the destination and to better accommodate the increased demand.' (D4, p. 5) 'It takes a lot of work on both sides for it to be a harmonious relationship, because – especially in an instance where you have someone who pay to be a partner – it becomes difficult to look at [the parts as equal] when someone is giving money and another is receiving.' (D1, p. 3)

5. Discussion

Besides the above services that were widely discussed among the informants, the following DMO services were also mentioned: online exposure (H2), advertising (D1), promotional services (offered in different formats such as digital videos featuring the properties, or bundle packages to push certain activities, products or group of products) (D4), transportation services and general support with site inspections, mainly by assisting meeting planners checking a specific destination (H3), and having DMO staff on property for large groups (H4).

Drawing from stakeholder theory, DMOs and hotels were recognized to be two important stakeholders of destination marketing/ management. As such, this paper has asserted that hotels and DMOs would place various perceived value on the different DMO services provided to hotels. The analysis yields some intriguing findings. In particular, as part of our triangulation analysis, a two dimensional 8

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this issue is to have DMOs focusing on making sales to the areas where hotels cannot normally reach. It appears that both hotels and DMOs need to get together to further address this issue. Lastly, it is possible to observe that both DMOs and hotels are acknowledging the shifting needs of publications. While printed materials are still needed and perceived with some value by some hoteliers, the big trend is to have more information published and released on digital media. Information that is available online can be expected to become more important to both DMOs and hotels in the near future. 5.1. Theoretical implications and recommendations First, this research supplies some contributions to the studies in DMO research. From a theoretical standpoint, the research findings further contribute to the body of knowledge and provide additional insights to current literature through an in-depth analysis of DMO services offered to hotels. Second, few studies addressed similar research questions from both the hoteliers and the DMOs’ perspectives within one research setting. The unique approach presented in this paper allows the data collected from the DMO informants to be triangulated with those collected from the hotel informants. Triangulation is an important measure that could enhance trustworthiness, and the results of triangulation can often provide a complete picture of a phenomenon being studied (Kwok, 2012). Furthermore, through triangulation, it was possible to develop a two-dimensional matrix to compare hoteliers and DMOs’ perceived value of the DMO services, which aims at highlighting the areas for improvement and future directions. Lastly, a research design was adopted involving two-phase semi-structure interviews, where the results from the first phase were firstly analyzed for a development of a more meticulous interview protocol used in the second phase of data collection. Future qualitative studies may also consider adopting a similar approach.

Fig. 2. Two dimensional classification of DMO services by both DMOs’ and hotels’ perceptions.

matrix was also developed to highlight the consistencies and discrepancies in the perceived value of the services analyzed based on the interpretations of the value perceived by the two different groups of informants (Fig. 2). It turned out that DMOs and hoteliers mostly did not agree on the DMO services in terms of perceived value. For example, while the informants of DMOs might perceive membership management, training and education, data and research, networking opportunities, and cost sharing with high value, hoteliers only showed high appreciation for cost sharing and mixed responses on training and education, data and research, and networking opportunities. Membership management was the least recognized item according to the hoteliers. This analysis also discovered two emerging constructs that were not revealed in the foregoing review of relevant literature, including networking opportunities and cost sharing. These services were both suggested in the first phase by DMO informants and then confirmed in the second phase by the hoteliers. Future studies on DMOs are thus encouraged to include these two areas of service in their analysis as well. Traditionally, literature suggests that generating MICE business is a big part of DMOs’ activities. Surprisingly, not only the term 'MICE business' has been replaced with 'lead generation' among DMOs, but some DMOs themselves also recognized the possible duplicated effort as what has been doing well by hotels themselves. Meanwhile, the issue of duplicate leads was also mentioned multiple times by hoteliers even though in general, hotels appreciate DMOs effort in promoting the destination for more leads. One suggestion made by hoteliers to solve

5.2. Practical implications This section makes some detailed recommendations to DMOs in Table 3 on how to improve their services under each of the DMO services being discussed with specific examples. Meanwhile, hoteliers may also benefit from the current research by increasing their awareness of the DMO supports that are available to them. Hoteliers are strongly encouraged to add more recommendations to Table 3 as they refer to the research findings, the two-dimensional classification of DMO

Table 3 Recommendations for DMOs to enhance the perceived value of the services offered. Areas of service Membership management

Recommendations

Specific Examples

open, constant, and two-way communication, including • Maintain all services offered (e.g., membership) as it is critical to fuel value of the partnership.

send periodical newsletters to highlight the available services or the • Tosuccessful stories of a member. To include hyperlinks to the webpage about members’ benefits and • responsibilities in various forms of newsletter. the value of DMOs’ training and educational activities. • ToTo promote provide value-added educational programs in other activities, such as • networking events or publications, in addition to newsletter and online

Training and Education

awareness of educational programs and encourage • Increase participation, considering also alternative delivery methods.

Data and Research

the perceived value of the data and research by sharing • Boost something unique and not-available in other resources.

priority to proprietary reports that hotels do not receive in other • Toways,givefocusing for example on the wider picture of the market, like in

the value of lead generation and reduce the risk of • Enhance duplicate leads by focusing on what the hotels cannot do. some effort from printed materials to publishing more • Allocate information on digital media.

focus the sale efforts in the areas that can hardly be reach by the • Toindividual hotels, such as for example internationally or out of the state. area directories online as well as on paper. • ToTo publish build a user-friendly and SEO (search-engine optimism) website to • attract internet traffic, with the possibility of passing the online traffic to

the challenge of scarce time availability of the hotel • Overcome partners. the benefits deriving from the cost sharing activities and • Maintain keep offering such opportunities to hotel partners, as they are much

hybrid events that involve more than one component at a time • Toandplan use multiple channels for the networking efforts. booths and space at trade shows and exhibitions. • ToTo share membered hotels to participate in promotional activities • withencourage a cost-sharing proposal in mind.

Lead Generation Publications

Networking opportunities Cost sharing

appreciated and valued.

9

training modules.

neighborhood, a city, and a greater metropolitan area.

the local hotels’ websites.

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B2B relationship between your organization and the hotels you are working with?

services to hotels, and the sample suggestions provided in the table. 6. Limitations and future studies

Questions for the description of the sample Title Years employed in the current position Years in profession Population served Number of hotel rooms served

The current study contains a number of limitations that should be acknowledged. First, because all informants were working in the Southern California region, caution is required in interpreting this study's results. Additionally, hotel informants in the sample were not asked to strictly evaluate the services provided by the DMO informants in the sample, thus the DMO services being discussed among the hotel informants might not necessarily correspond to the exact services listed by the DMO informants. The informants were selected with the explicit propose of ensuring the highest variety possible, on both pools; therefore different types of DMOs were contacted, as well as different categories of hotels that spanned from luxury to economy and all categories in between. It is worth noting that the categories were not equally represented in the sample either (e.g. no informants working merely for economy hotels were interviewed). We recommend future studies to consider developing a survey instrument from our qualitative data and survey a broad base of informants. The quantitative results can be further triangulated with the findings of this study to provide an even more thorough understanding of the B2B relationship between DMOs and hotels. In conclusion, a two-phase qualitative approach was adopted in this study to identify what DMO services are currently provided to hotels and how these services are perceived by DMOs and hotels. While we were able to report some intriguing findings, with a presentation of a two-dimensional classification of DMO services by both DMOs’ and hotels’ perceptions, future researchers are encouraged to conduct more confirmatory analyses to address different yet complementary research questions, which can add to the scholarly discussion of DMO services to hotels and possibly further extend stakeholder theory in studies about destination marketing and management.

Appendix B Preliminary Protocol for Hotel Informants

• Membership management: how do DMOs inform you about the services they provide for your hotel? • Training and education: what type of training do you receive from • • • • • •

Disclosures

DMOs? What educational programs do you participate in? How often are they offered? In what format? How useful is this service? Please explain Data and research: what type of data and research do DMOs provide to your hotel? How often? What format? How useful is this service? Please explain MICE BUSINESS CREATION MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) business creation: what support do you receive from DMOs with regard to MICE business? How useful is this service? Publications: what type of printed material do you receive from DMOs? How useful is this service? Please explain Others: what additional services do you receive (if any)? How useful are they? Please explain New services: if you could have additional services from DMOs, what would they be? Conclusion: is there anything else that you would like to add on this topic? Questions for the description of the sample Title Years employed in the current position Years in profession

The authors declared no conflicts of interest with respect to the authorship and/or publication of this article. Funding

Appendix C

This research did not receive any specific grant from funding agencies in the public, commercial, or not-for-profit sectors.

Finalized Protocol for Hotel Informants Appendix A

• What services do you receive from the DMO, in general? [let them

Protocol for DMO Informants

• What services does [the DMO - provide their name] offer to hotels in •

• • • •

general? (let them talk and then ask about the services not mentioned from lit review) What services does [the DMO - provide their name] target depending on the type of hotel which receives them? (let them talk in general first; then provide the hotel classification and ask if the DMO provides some specific services - or unique services - to certain types of hotel but not the others. Also, ask if they work especially close to one type of hotels rather than the others) What special services requested by a specific hotel does [the DMO provide their name] offer, if any? (in other words, ask if DMO provides services upon hotel specific request – as in 'tailor-made service') With whom does [the DMO - provide their name] typically interact (GM/Sales director)? In what capacity? What additional services hotels could benefit, but [the DMO - provide their name] does not currently offer? Any additional comment you would like to provide in regards to the

• • • • • 10

talk] From literature review, I was able to group the different services in some areas; I would like to go over those areas with you, to learn the hotel's perspective: Membership management: how DMOs informed you about the services they provide for your hotel? What kind of contacts, programs or communications are put in place to let you know what is available? Training and education: what type of training do you receive from DMOs? What educational programs do you participate in? How often are they offered? In what format? How useful is this service? Please explain Data and research: what type of data and research do DMOs provide to your hotel? How often? What format? How useful is this service? Please explain Lead generation (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions): what support do you receive from DMOs with regard to MICE business? How useful is this service? Please explain Publications: what type of printed material do you receive from DMOs? How useful is this service? Please explain

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• Networking opportunities: what type of networking opportunities • • • • •

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with other hotels, or other hospitality operators (restaurants, bars), or destination attractions (museum, theaters, amusement parks…) are provided by the DMO? How useful is this service? Please explain Have you ever attended an event hosted by the DMO that served more than one purpose? (i.e.: networking, and training, and learn about DMO's activities…) Based on what I learnt in the previous step of the research, sometimes DMOs offer discounts on trade shows participation, or transportation services or promotional videos…. Are you aware of any of those additional services? What is the value to you? Others: what additional services do you receive by the DMO (if any)? How useful are they? Please explain New services: if you could have additional services that are currently not offered by the DMO, for whatever reason, what would they be? Conclusion: is there anything else that you would like to share or add on this topic?

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T. Oggionni, L. Kwok Tiziana Oggionni graduated with an M.S. degree in Hospitality Management at Cal Poly Pomona. She also held a Graduate Degree in Business Management at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore di Milano (Italy).

Linchi Kwok is an Associate Professor at Cal Poly Pomona. He received an M.S. degree and a Ph.D. degree in Hospitality Administration at Texas Tech University, as well as an MBA at Syracuse University. Hisresearch interests include information technology, social media, and service operations.

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