April 14, 2016
Neilson and Lee Receive Sawtooth Grant Award
Sara Neilson
Sara Neilson, a graduate assistant enrolled in the MS in Sustainable Tourism program, has received a Sawtooth Grant Award. This robust research tool will be used in uncovering guest preferences of breakfast menu during hotel stay under the direction of Dr. Jenna Lee, assistant professor in the School of Hospitality Leadership.
About the Grant
Sawtooth Software provides marketing research solutions for companies. The software helps companies design, collect, and analyze marketing research survey data, best known for a marketing research technique called Conjoint Analysis. Conjoint Analysis may be used to investigate what features a new or existing product should have and how it should be priced.
Jenna Lee, PhD
Sawtooth Software has established a software grant that allows Masters and Ph.D. students the opportunity to use Sawtooth Software products for their research. Sawtooth Software grants full access to all necessary products to the grant recipient. The grant is available to any Masters or Ph.D. student enrolled in an accredited institution.
About the Research Plan
Research Title: Guest Preferences of Breakfast Menu during Hotel Stay
When it comes to breakfast menu items, it is critical to identify the wants and needs of guests. However, there is dearth of studies focusing on which food and beverage items a hotel should decide to include at the breakfast bar especially as it is offered as a complimentary. What happens if a hotel has to pull back a few items from the breakfast bar, which items can be omitted without causing a complaint from guests? The purpose of study is to explore guest preferences on breakfast items as it is offered as a complimentary breakfast during hotel stay. This study will provide an overall picture of how hotel managers react to situations where price adjustments are needed and how they collect and interpret the relevant information when making discounting decisions. For data analysis, choice-based conjoint (CBC) experiments is the preferred method for this study to gain a better understanding of the decision-making processes with regard to breakfast menu. The CBC survey method entails presenting respondents with several hypothetical scenarios with various combinations of information attributes.