Purpose: Adopting a socio-spatial approach, this study develops a consumer-centric conception of service experience customization. In contrast to existing service customization research, which has focused on company-centric approaches, the purpose of this paper is to examine the practices through which consumers use, abuse, subvert, transform, or complement organizational resources to construct their consumption experiences. Design/methodology/approach: The empirical context for this study is a Meetup group: a consumer network organized around members’ shared interests and activities in theme parks. The research utilized participant observation of members’ face-to-face activities during two years and over 80 events, interviews with key informants, and content analysis of online interactions. Findings: The findings outline how consumers interact across physical and virtual spaces utilizing technologies and material objects. The data are used to propose a new consumer-centric conceptualization of experience customization, distinguishing between three modes: collaborative co-production, cooperative co-creation, and subversive co-creation. Originality/value: It is argued that the three modes of customization provide a way to understand how consumers mobilize and (re)deploy organizational resources to create experiences that may complement existing service propositions, but may also transform them in ways that challenge the service provider’s original goals and expectations. Furthermore, this study identifies the factors that shape which modes of customization are possible and how they are enacted. Specifically, the discussion examines how experiential complexity, governability, the compatibility of consumer and organizational practices, and the collective mobilization of resources may determine the scope and form of customization.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the trend toward purchasing locally grown food and evaluate if tourists visiting Hawai'i are willing to pay more for locally produced foods that are more ecologically sustainable.Design/methodology/approach: A research questionnaire was developed in order to investigate the attitudes and behaviors of tourists from the continental United States visiting Hawai'i in purchasing locally grown food in Hawai'i. The final sample includes 454 valid survey responses collected via Momentive, a market research services company.Findings: According to the findings of this study, there are economic prospects to expand the use of locally cultivated food into the tourists' experience, as well as a willingness for tourists to support these activities financially. The Contingent Valuation study revealed that tourists from the continental United States were ready to pay a higher price to purchase food that is locally grown, signifying that tourists to Hawai'i are willing to aid the local agriculture business by increasing their restaurant/hotel meal bill, which will help Hawai'i become a more sustainable tourist destination.Research limitations/implications: While tourists from the United States mainland, which is the “an islands” top tourist market, have agreed with paying extra or an additional fee for locally grown food products, this study might not accurately represent the attitudes and behaviors of international tourists visiting Hawai'i. Future research should focus on the international tourist markets which may have different social norms or cultural differences thus could provide a broader spectrum of the current study's findings.Originality/value: The results of this study provided quantitative evidence that tourists from the United States are interested in purchasing locally grown food items in Hawaii in addition to their willingness to pay an additional fee for these locally grown food products at a restaurant or a hotel dining room, thus addressing a gap in the tourism research.

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to problems and upheaval throughout the higher-education sector, with university campuses ceasing face-to-face instruction and with assessments shifting to an online model for a few years. As a result, the pandemic prompted educators to teach online, utilizing online lectures, narrated power points, audio snippets, podcasts, instant messaging, and interactive videos, whereas traditional universities had primarily relied on in-person courses. Evaluations, which included assignments and multiple-choice questions, were conducted online, forcing lecturers to reconsider how deliverables were set up to prevent students from having easy access to the answers in a textbook or online. Learning from college students’ experiences throughout this time period will assist higher-education stakeholders (administration, faculty, and students) in adapting future online course delivery selections for higher education. In this study, we investigated the experiences of students learning from a distance, as well as aspects of their learning. We provide recommendations for higher education. The COVID-19 pandemic has clearly resulted in the largest distance-learning experiment in history.

The increasing complexity of tourism and sustainability offers opportunities and challenges among diverse stakeholder perspectives. The need for sustainable and nature-based approaches exists throughout the growing body of literature from among a number of dimensions and measures. One of the overarching goals of the paper is to examine whether tourists will choose a destination or hotel that is actively working to improve the environment while examining how Hawaii’s tourism is nature-based as well as other measures of sustainability while enjoying a slice of paradise in the Hawaiian Islands. This study explores tourism sustainability concerns in Hawaii, such as the influence of the tourist sector on the environment and will address if Hawaii should be recognized as a sustainable tourism destination. A survey instrument was developed where 454 respondents participated. According to the findings of this research, tourists visiting Hawaii support environmentally sustainable tourism practices leading towards a more sustainable tourist destination.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to analyze the theory and implementation of dual branding. The authors explore whether dual branding is a positive choice for two hotel brands belonging to the same firm and operating under the same roof, in this case, a Wyndham and a Wyndham Garden branded property.Design/methodology/approach: A case study methodology was employed. In-depth interviews were conducted with managers regarding their decisions and implementation of a dual branding strategy.Findings: The authors reveal the organizational, operational, technical, marketing, financial, economic and technological challenges experienced before, during and after the dual branding transition. Moreover, they reveal the results of the implementation and its consequences to the hotel and its customers. A conceptual model is presented with the goal of assisting and facilitating the investigation, analysis, choice and implementation of dual branding by hoteliers.Originality/value: The present research expands the existing body of knowledge, bridges the theory and practice of branding in the lodging sector, advances dual branding theory and provides insightful implications for scholars and managers alike.

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is increasingly used in travel planning, yet limited research has examined how travelers evaluate AI-generated travel recommendations as an information source. This study examines travelers’ evaluations and behavioral intentions toward such recommendations, extending and contextualizing the Word-of-Machine (WOMa) perspective within tourism using an Information Adoption Model (IAM)-informed framework. An online survey of 485 U.S. respondents with prior experience using AI for travel planning measured trust, perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, information presentation, and behavioral intention. Respondents generally evaluated AI-generated travel recommendations favorably, and all four predictors were positively associated with behavioral intention. The regression model explained 84.5% of the variance in behavioral intention (R² = 0.845), while demographic differences were observed, particularly across household-income groups. The study contributes to tourism research by extending the WOMa perspective to AI-generated travel recommendations and examining the factors associated with travelers’ willingness to use them. Practically, the findings highlight the importance of useful, trustworthy, clearly presented, and easy-to-use AI recommendations, while maintaining opportunities for verification and human judgment.