The guided tour industry has undergone drastic changes in China along with the socio-economic, demographic, and technological developments of the past decades, leading to new demands on the tour guide profession. The COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated the changes. Yet little is known regarding how the tour guides’ roles have evolved. This study aims to fill this gap through exploring new roles and services undertaken by tour guides, drawing on qualitative data (in-depth interviews) from both tour guides’ and tourists’ recent guided tour experience in China. The findings demonstrate a continuum of roles of the guides, ranging from “the serving roles” to being “the ones who facilitate changes.” Five main driving forces were identified, namely: the tourists’ customization needs, demographic change, rapid ICT development, increased special interests, and the pandemic and tourists’ favor in remote destinations. Instead of expecting serving roles only, the Chinese tourists now welcome roles that can foster positive changes, reflecting Chinese tourists’ motivational shift to having eudaimonic experience through traveling.

For the first time in China, blind box concept has been applied to tourism marketing, and it has attracted tremendous attention. Guided by cognitive appraisal theory and information gap theory, this study investigates the behavioral psychology of tourists in embracing or avoiding this form of tourism product. By integrating stimuli, emotional arousal (novelty, mystery, curiosity, and risk perception), and behavioral intention in the testing model, a survey with 343 valid answers leads to important findings of the paradoxical role of information gap (raising perceived novelty, perceived mystery, and curiosity but increasing risk perception simultaneously). In addition, there is a moderating role for curiosity in the application of the blind box concept to tourism products. Implications are discussed.

Purpose: This study aims to investigate Generation Z’s perception of and experience with restaurant service robots. Design/methodology/approach: Established on the servicescape theoretical framework and following Zaltman Metaphoric Elicitation Technique, 34 in-depth interviews were conducted with Generation Z consumers. Findings: The results showed that Generation Z consumers had a generally positive attitude toward the usage of service robots in restaurants. Research participants also indicated aspects that can be improved: the service robot’s appearance design and functionality, and the human service facilitating the robotic service process. Research limitations/implications: This paper provides a holistic understanding of the Generation Z’s mind maps about robot service restaurants presenting practical suggestions for restaurants. Practical implications: This research offers an in-depth understanding of how the young consumption power perceives and expects the innovative service robots employed in restaurants. The research findings provide industry practitioners with timely guidelines to improve the usage of robotic services in restaurants to satisfy the emerging consumer group of Generation Z. Originality/value: The current research contributes to the servicescape literature by extending this long-standing theory to the emerging robotic service contexts for updating discoveries. Particularly, the study focuses on the young consumers of Generation Z, shedding lights on the generational cohort research.

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the accommodation experience of customers in the budget hotel sector – a less explored but rapidly expanding sector in the hospitality industry. This study investigates the effects of such experience on customer behavior. Design/methodology/approach: The study adopts a quantitative approach and draws on a comprehensive data set (N = 414) by using a quota sampling approach. The context of the study is the Chinese market, where budget hotels and the number of mass tourists (inbound and outbound) have increased tremendously. Findings: This study identifies a behavioral pattern that differs from trends reported in prior studies. The finding shows that the relationship between customer experience and behavioral intentions is mediated by customer satisfaction, which similarly mediates the relationship between perceived value and behavioral intentions. Research limitations/implications: The results provide significant implications for hoteliers in the budget hotel industry by calling for a differentiated marketing approach for this segment of customers. Furthermore, the study provides insights into the accommodation behavior of Chinese mass tourists. These findings can serve as reference for international budget hotel practitioners, especially those involved in hotels that target the increasing number of travelers from China. Originality/value: The budget hotel sector is the first accommodation choice for many Chinese mass tourists. This study is the first to conduct a systematic exploration of the behavioral patterns of customers toward budget hotels in this context. Moreover, this study adopts a holistic approach by adopting an experiential view in measuring the overall experience of customers in budget hotels.

Working in hospitality establishments involves high levels of stress, partially due to the anti-social shift rotations and the high levels of emotional labor needed. Unmanaged stress often leads to psychological and even physical diseases, which harm both individual career development and hotel operations. Thus, it is of great importance to identify effective stress coping strategies to maintain a sustainable hotel work force. Stress coping behavior varies among different demographics and generations. Commonly used stress coping scales were established almost 40 years ago, and under the context of daily events, and may not be applicable in today’s hospitality context. Thus, this study was designed to investigate effective stress coping strategies among today’s hotel employees. Data were collected from 470 hotel employees in 37 cities in China. The results identified 12 effective coping strategies that fell under three dimensions: distraction, sharing, and self-indulgence. The findings contribute to scholarly knowledge of stress coping. Managerial implications are also discussed.