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Boutique hotels reflect a nascent phenomenon in the literature and in the accommodation sector. As a result, they are void of governmental classification and regulation. Concurrently, they lack any form of operational definition. The purpose of this paper is to address these limitations by identifying the core attributes found to define boutique hotels.

To fulfil the purpose of this paper, the authors conducted a systematic literature review on Web of Science. This resulted in an analysis of 33 peer-review articles published from 1994 to 2022.

The findings of this review revealed that boutique hotels are defined by eight core attributes; these are (1) multiple ownership structures, (2) situatedness in a historic premises, (3) strategic locations, (4) thematized internal décor, (5) experience design, (6) high levels of personalization, (7) novelty in service provisions and (8) niche marketing strategies.

For policymakers, this paper may be used as a reference point to establish designated classification systems for boutique hotels. For practitioners, this paper may be used as a source of inspiration and benchmark to establish boutique hotels which align to the criteria highlighted in this paper. For scholars, this paper proposes an operational description of boutique hotels and novel areas for future research.

This paper represents one of the initial efforts undertaken by researchers to unify the literature on boutique hotels.

A visual sweetness scale with an arrow pointing to a specific sweetness level is now required on all labels of AOC Alsace. The sweetness scale makes it easier for consumers to understand what is in the bottle. What is less clear, however, is whether such labeling is always effective. To fill this gap, the current research paper aims to examine the positive and negative effects (double-edged effects) of a visual sweetness scale and identify the boundary condition.

Two studies were conducted using a 2 (cue type: scale vs text) by 2 (consumer type: novices vs experienced wine consumers) between-subjects, quasi-experimental design.

The double-edged effects are only significant among wine novices. Specifically, though wine novices are more likely to purchase wine with a sweetness scale (vs text) due to perceived diagnosticity (Study 1), they are unwilling to pay more due to low perceived quality (Study 2).

The study findings provide practical implications for wine producers, marketers and restaurants regarding when and how to use the sweetness scale on wine labels and wine service.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is the first to reveal the impact of visualizing wine style on wine labels. More importantly, while most previous research demonstrates the positive effects of using visual cues, this research sheds light on its drawbacks and examines the underlying mechanisms.

Hiring employees with criminal records has become a heightened topic of conversation for hospitality practitioners. The labor shortage in the hospitality industry has increased consideration for individuals impacted by the justice system, bolstered by programming such as second-chance vocational training programs. However, hospitality practitioners with second-chance employment practices have had challenges managing the multiple stakeholder relationships to employ and retain justice-impacted employees. The purpose of this paper is to aid practitioners in the hospitality industry with an innovative and inclusive hiring practice with timely implications in the United States.

This paper will emphasize the correctional system actors, community-based partners, and justice-impacted employees as salient stakeholders in such hiring contexts. Employing a stakeholder theoretical perspective, we outline a stakeholder map for hospitality practitioners with fair chance hiring practices to better understand second-chance employees.

Organizations do not sit on the periphery of a community; they are interconnected with the community in many direct and indirect ways. Past research has yet to identify a relationship between stakeholder theory and second-chance employment when the stakeholders involved in this employee population are arguably extended. By providing a stakeholder mapping process second-chance employment context, the interwoven actors’ needs can be more holistically assessed.

In America, individuals with a criminal record are often a forgotten and stigmatized labor pool. With this paper, we aim to break down barriers of bias while encouraging the narrative toward true Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) hiring practices. Multiple stakeholder management is often an organizational challenge, and by providing this framework, we provide guidelines to practitioners while highlighting the opportunity for community leadership. To that end, we provide guidelines for hospitality practitioners intending to increase justice-involved employee retention through stakeholder relationship management.

The purpose of this study is to examine institutional quality’s absorptive capacity in African countries’ remittances-finance nexus.

A balanced panel data set of thirty African countries between 2000 and 2022 is used for the study. The study adopts an augmented mean group (AMG), method of moment quantile regression (MMQR) and two-step system generalized method of moment (2SGMM) as the estimation techniques due to the nature of the data set.

The findings of the direct effect reveal that remittances do not constitute the growth of financial development, while institutional quality promotes the growth of financial development in the long. The moderating effect of institutional quality in the linkages shows that the interactive term of institutional quality and remittances has a significant positive effect on financial development in the region. Hence, institutional quality moderates the impact of remittances. These results are robust to different proxies of financial development and estimates obtained from MMQR and 2SGMM.

This study, therefore, suggests that institutional quality is essential in the linkages between remittances and financial development. Hence, remittances should be seen as one of the instruments that can be used to develop the financial sector rather than survival mechanisms for households.

This study contributes to the literature by unearthing the absorptive capacity of institutional quality in the nexus between remittances and financial development in African countries, which extant studies have neglected.

Integrating e-learning into higher education institutions (HEIs) is a complex process. Several universities had tried to impart learning online, especially amid the spread of COVID-19. However, they failed miserably due to the many barriers to online learning platforms’ delivery and acceptance. This study aims to explore the barriers and facilitators in adopting e-learning in HEIs of Pakistan by taking the perspective of key stakeholders involved in the management and administration of HEIs.

The authors recruited participants using purposive and snowball sampling. Interviews were conducted from a variety of participants, including academicians, administrators and information technology (IT) personnel. Data recorded was transcribed into verbatim and then analyzed using thematic analysis.

The analysis identified barriers and facilitators to the e-learning implementation. Barriers included lack of resources and training, lack of infrastructure, inadequate e-learning policies, absence of positive mindset among teachers and students and reservations and concerns about e-learning of parents and teachers. By contrast, facilitators included prior training and awareness (provided by HEIs regarding e-learning), the assistance of government and regulatory bodies (in terms of policy and training on e-learning), the role of IT (in development and implementation of online learning system) and good computer knowledge and skills of students and faculty. Moreover, respondents believed that teaching subjects online requires the availability of proper and complete gadgets, but these were hardly available due to high demand. Finally, the academicians and administrators believed that e-learning is indispensable in health emergencies such as COVID-19 and similar events ahead.

For the HEIs to sustain and grow, the adoption of e-learning is fundamental. Therefore, the government should provide the essential infrastructure for the HEIs to deploy e-learning modules, train faculty and ensure the availability of necessary equipment (e.g. network) and gadgets to faculty and students. From a theoretical perspective, the study provides a framework for similar future studies in other emerging markets, whereas practical implications of the study can assist the governments and HEIs of emerging markets in implementing the e-learning modes of education in times of health emergencies, such as COVID-19.

What is the impact of workers' tattoos and piercings on hospitality work? While body-art is prohibited in some hotels, it is encouraged in others. Also, an even more ambiguous situation arises when body-art is neither accepted nor prohibited, depending on labour market conditions and managers' individualistic preferences. In this chapter, we explore how this ambiguity imposes challenges on employment and career planning. We first seek to understand how managers' perceptions and decisions concerning worker body-art change in different hotel categories. To do so, we draw on interviews with 25 General and Human Resource Managers in 18 upper market hotels, three lifestyle boutique-hotels and four luxury hotels. Then, we offer pragmatic suggestions on career planning.

There is widespread concern about low adherence to clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) and the low adoption of new medical technologies. To assist the regulatory response, we propose benchmarking clinical practice on the lower bound on the probability that a recommended treatment/new technology achieves a better outcome. This inequality–probability bound can be estimated from marginal outcome distributions. We illustrate the approach by comparing Swedish cardiologists' adoption of drug-eluting stents (DESs) with the inequality–probability bound on this technology improving outcomes. A substantial fraction of cardiologists are below the benchmark.

This article introduces SigBERT, a novel approach that fine-tunes bidirectional encoder representations from transformers (BERT) for the purpose of distinguishing between intact and impaired structures by analyzing vibration signals. Structural health monitoring (SHM) systems are crucial for identifying and locating damage in civil engineering structures. The proposed method aims to improve upon existing methods in terms of cost-effectiveness, accuracy and operational reliability.

SigBERT employs a fine-tuning process on the BERT model, leveraging its capabilities to effectively analyze time-series data from vibration signals to detect structural damage. This study compares SigBERT's performance with baseline models to demonstrate its superior accuracy and efficiency.

The experimental results, obtained through the Qatar University grandstand simulator, show that SigBERT outperforms existing models in terms of damage detection accuracy. The method is capable of handling environmental fluctuations and offers high reliability for non-destructive monitoring of structural health. The study mentions the quantifiable results of the study, such as achieving a 99% accuracy rate and an F-1 score of 0.99, to underline the effectiveness of the proposed model.

SigBERT presents a significant advancement in SHM by integrating deep learning with a robust transformer model. The method offers improved performance in both computational efficiency and diagnostic accuracy, making it suitable for real-world operational environments.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between wine tourism experiences (i.e. winescape, winery service quality, winery brand differentiation and tourist motivation) and tourist behavioral intentions (satisfaction, loyalty and revisit intention) from both demand and supply perspectives in Ningxia, China, by using the SERVQUAL model and the self-determination theory.

The research comprises two studies with an exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach. Study 1 adopted semi-structured interviews with winery owners and managers to explore the factors related to wine tourism experiences that influence tourists’ tourism experience. The results from the Study 1 leads to Study 2, which used a survey to explore wine tourist experiences and their behavioral intentions

This study provided important information regarding the factors that influence wine tourists experience in Ningxia wine region from the perspectives of supply and demands sides. Frist, this study confirmed the various factors influence wine tourism experiences in Ningxia based on the results from Study 1 (supply perspectives). Second, by further investigation in the Study 1, this study integrates the SERVQUAL model and the self-determination theory as fundamental theoretical frameworks in Study 2 to analysis the tourist perspectives. Third, as results, the authors finally confirmed the theoretical frameworks of wine tourism in Ningxia based on dual supply-demand perspectives.

The integration of multiple research approaches enriches the research findings and provides a more robust understanding of the wine tourism experiences in Ningxia.