A brainstorming exercise to produce an MBA proposal prototype and a synopsis form: collaborative marketing for the hotel sector
I am a part-time MBA student in Hong Kong currently
learning to do my dissertation project. I have a crude research theme which is
"formulating collaborative marketing strategy to improve the business
performance of the Hong Kong luxury hotel sector". I am also interested in
considering the following key words for my concrete research theme formulation:
pragmatism, exploratory research, collaborative marketing, and hotel consumer
behaviours. Could you suggest 4 concrete research themes for me to consider
based on the crude research theme and the key words.
Your crude theme
can be narrowed by specifying the type of collaboration, the
consumer-behaviour mechanism, and the business-performance outcome.
Since pragmatism focuses on solving a practical problem through the methods
that best answer the research questions, an exploratory sequential
mixed-methods design would fit your intended MBA project well.
1. Hotel–attraction collaboration
Proposed theme
Exploring how
collaboration between luxury hotels and tourism attractions can influence
consumer engagement and business performance in Hong Kong
Possible focus
This study could
examine partnerships between luxury hotels and attractions such as museums,
theme parks, cultural venues, shopping districts, restaurants, or cruise
operators.
Possible research questions
·
What forms of hotel–attraction
collaboration are currently used in Hong Kong?
·
How do consumers perceive the
value and attractiveness of these collaborations?
·
How might such collaborations
influence booking intention, length of stay, customer spending, and hotel
loyalty?
Suitable methodology
Begin with
interviews with hotel marketing managers and tourism partners, followed by a
questionnaire measuring perceived value, destination appeal, booking intention,
and loyalty. This is a practical and manageable exploratory-sequential design.
2. Collaborative digital marketing and consumer
engagement
Proposed theme
Exploring how
collaborative digital marketing among Hong Kong luxury hotels influences
consumer engagement and hotel business performance
Possible focus
The research could
investigate collaborations involving hotels, airlines, travel platforms,
influencers, luxury retailers, restaurants, or social-media content creators.
Possible research questions
·
Which collaborative digital
marketing activities are perceived as credible and attractive by luxury-hotel
consumers?
·
How do perceived authenticity,
exclusivity, and usefulness affect consumer engagement?
·
Does consumer engagement
influence booking intention, online recommendations, and repeat purchase
intention?
Suitable methodology
Conduct
exploratory interviews with hotel marketing professionals and digital partners,
then develop a consumer survey. Key variables could include perceived
authenticity, brand fit, consumer engagement, booking
intention, and electronic word-of-mouth.
This theme is
particularly relevant because collaboration-oriented communication is being
examined in luxury hospitality, although recent research suggests that
consumers may respond differently depending on the communication strategy and
their perception of luxury.
3. Hotel–luxury-brand co-branding
Proposed theme
Exploring the
effect of luxury hotel and luxury-brand co-branding on consumer perceptions and
business performance in Hong Kong
Possible focus
The collaboration
could involve luxury hotels partnering with fashion brands, jewellery
companies, premium restaurants, wellness brands, or luxury automobile
companies.
Possible research questions
·
What factors determine whether
consumers perceive hotel–luxury-brand collaborations as credible?
·
How do brand fit, exclusivity,
perceived prestige, and customer experience affect consumer attitudes?
·
To what extent can co-branding
improve willingness to pay, booking intention, customer loyalty, and brand
differentiation?
Suitable methodology
Use
semi-structured interviews to identify important dimensions of successful co-branding,
followed by a questionnaire or scenario-based experiment. Respondents could be
shown examples of hotel–brand collaborations and asked to assess perceived
luxury, attractiveness, trust, willingness to pay, and booking intention.
This theme offers
a relatively clear conceptual model:
Brand fit and exclusivity→Perceived luxury and value→Booking intention and willingness to payBrand fit and exclusivity→Perceived luxury and value→Booking intention and willingness to pay
4. Collaborative personalisation of luxury hotel
experiences
Proposed theme
Exploring how
collaboration between luxury hotels and external service providers can create
personalised consumer experiences and improve business performance in Hong Kong
Possible focus
This theme would
examine collaboration with spas, restaurants, wellness providers, cultural
organisations, transport companies, personal shoppers, and concierge-service
providers.
Possible research questions
·
What types of collaborative
services do luxury-hotel consumers value most?
·
How does personalisation
affect perceived service quality, satisfaction, and emotional attachment?
·
How can collaborative service
design improve customer retention, spending, and positive word-of-mouth?
Suitable methodology
Interview hotel
managers and selected service partners to explore existing practices and
challenges. Follow this with a consumer focus group or survey to identify which
collaborative experiences are most attractive to different customer segments,
such as leisure travellers, business travellers, affluent local residents, and
international visitors.
This theme may be
especially suitable if you want to connect collaborative marketing with
customer experience, relationship marketing, and consumer behaviour rather than
focusing only on promotional campaigns.
Recommended choice
For a four-month
MBA dissertation, I would recommend Theme 3: hotel–luxury-brand
co-branding. It has:
·
A clearly defined form of
collaboration.
·
Strong relevance to the luxury
positioning of Hong Kong hotels.
·
Measurable consumer-behaviour
variables.
·
A realistic mixed-methods
design.
·
A direct connection to
business outcomes such as willingness to pay, booking intention, loyalty, and
brand differentiation.
A refined final
title could be:
An exploratory
study of how luxury hotel–brand co-branding influences consumer perceptions and
business performance in Hong Kong: A pragmatist mixed-methods approach
In this
formulation, pragmatism is the research philosophy, exploratory
research is the initial research purpose and design, hotel–brand
co-branding is the specific form of collaborative marketing, consumer
perceptions and behaviours are the explanatory mechanisms, and business
performance is the practical outcome. Exploratory sequential research
is appropriate because qualitative findings can first identify relevant
consumer and managerial factors, which can then be measured through a
questionnaire.
I now choose theme
1 for my dissertation project work. Please provide some information on the
following areas of study: (1) some relevant research issues, (2) some Hong Kong
public media-reported issues, and (3) 3 relevant academic theories to use (also
provide references in Harvard reference format).
Theme 1 can be
developed into the following dissertation focus:
Exploring how
collaboration between Hong Kong luxury hotels and tourism attractions
influences consumer engagement and hotel business performance
The study could
examine partnerships with theme parks, museums, cultural venues, shopping
districts, restaurants, sporting events, and other visitor attractions.
1. Relevant research issues
A. Collaboration does not automatically create
value
A hotel and
attraction may collaborate through joint packages, cross-promotions, bundled
tickets, loyalty-programme benefits, or shared digital campaigns. However, the
partnership may fail if the two brands have different target customers, service
standards, brand images, or commercial objectives.
A central research
issue is therefore:
What factors
determine whether hotel–attraction collaboration creates value for both the
consumer and the participating organisations?
Relevant factors
could include:
·
Strategic fit between the
hotel and attraction.
·
Compatibility of brand image
and service quality.
·
Complementarity of the
customer segments.
·
Trust and commitment between
partner organisations.
·
Perceived fairness in revenue
sharing and customer referrals.
·
Quality of communication and
data sharing.
·
Operational coordination
across the customer journey.
B. Consumer perceptions of collaborative packages
Consumers may
value a hotel–attraction package because it provides convenience, exclusivity,
savings, or a more complete destination experience. However, they may also
perceive the package as complicated, excessively commercial, or poor value if
the attraction is not relevant to their travel purpose.
Possible
consumer-behaviour variables include:
·
Perceived value.
·
Perceived convenience.
·
Perceived authenticity.
·
Perceived exclusivity.
·
Brand trust.
·
Perceived service quality.
·
Booking intention.
·
Intention to recommend.
·
Intention to revisit Hong
Kong.
·
Willingness to pay.
This is consistent
with service and tourism research that views customers as participants in the
creation and use of value rather than merely passive recipients of a hotel
service.
C. Effects on hotel business performance
“Business performance”
should be defined carefully rather than treated as a broad general concept. For
an MBA dissertation, you could measure it through either actual organisational
indicators or consumer-based performance intentions.
Possible
organisational indicators include:
·
Occupancy rate.
·
Average daily rate.
·
Revenue per available room.
·
Length of stay.
·
Restaurant and ancillary
spending.
·
Direct bookings.
·
Cross-selling and referral
volume.
·
Customer acquisition cost.
·
Repeat visitation.
If access to hotel
performance data is unlikely, the research could measure perceived or intended
outcomes, such as booking intention, willingness to pay, customer loyalty,
recommendation intention, and intention to extend a stay.
D. Short visits and changing visitor spending
patterns
Hong Kong’s
tourism recovery has not necessarily translated into stronger hotel pricing
power. Publicly reported data indicate that visitor numbers and hotel occupancy
have improved, while average room rates, length of stay, or visitor spending
remain important concerns. In 2025, Hong Kong recorded nearly 50 million
visitors, but the average length of stay was reported at approximately 3.1
nights, while the average hotel room rate was about HK$1,300.
This creates a
strong research problem:
Can
hotel–attraction collaboration encourage visitors to stay longer, spend more,
and select a luxury hotel rather than simply visit Hong Kong for a short trip?
E. Balancing international and Mainland Chinese
markets
Hong Kong luxury
hotels may need to attract several segments with different expectations,
including Mainland Chinese visitors, long-haul tourists, regional visitors,
business travellers, affluent local residents, and family leisure travellers.
A collaborative
package that appeals to a family visiting a theme park may not appeal to a
business traveller or luxury leisure traveller seeking cultural experiences.
Your research could therefore examine whether the effectiveness of
collaboration varies according to:
·
Visitor origin.
·
Travel purpose.
·
Age and income.
·
Previous experience of Hong
Kong.
·
Length of intended stay.
·
Interest in culture, shopping,
food, sports, or entertainment.
F. Measuring collaboration beyond promotion
A possible
weakness in existing hotel marketing research is that collaboration is
sometimes treated simply as joint advertising. Your dissertation could
distinguish between different levels of collaboration:
1.
Promotional
collaboration: joint advertising or
social-media campaigns.
2.
Product
collaboration: hotel-and-attraction
packages or bundled tickets.
3.
Distribution
collaboration: shared booking channels and
travel-platform arrangements.
4.
Experience
collaboration: an integrated itinerary or
connected customer journey.
5.
Data and loyalty
collaboration: shared customer insights,
membership benefits, or referral systems.
This distinction
would make your research more analytical and less descriptive.
2. Hong Kong public media-reported issues
The following
issues can provide a practical background for your problem statement. They
should be used as industry context, not as substitutes for academic
evidence.
Issue 1: Visitor growth but pressure on hotel rates
Hong Kong’s
visitor numbers have recovered strongly, but media reports have highlighted a
difference between occupancy performance and pricing performance. One report
stated that hotel occupancy averaged around 85% in 2024, while average daily
rate declined by 4.3% year on year and RevPAR remained below its 2018 peak. The
same report noted that luxury hotels had recovered more strongly than
lower-tier properties.
This supports a
research argument that attracting more visitors is not sufficient. Luxury
hotels may need partnerships that increase the value of the total visitor
experience and justify premium pricing.
Issue 2: Shorter stays and lower spending from some
markets
The Hong Kong
Tourism Board has reported that visitors are increasingly interested in
immersive experiences involving local culture, arts, entertainment, food, and
theme parks. At the same time, average length of stay and spending patterns
differ across visitor segments.
This creates a
practical opportunity for research into whether hotels can collaborate with
attractions to create multi-day itineraries rather than selling accommodation
as an isolated product.
Issue 3: Cross-sector tourism collaboration is
becoming a policy priority
Hong Kong’s
tourism authorities and industry organisations have publicly promoted
cooperation among hotels, attractions, sports venues, cultural organisations,
shopping destinations, and transport or payment platforms. For example, public
reporting described a tourism partnership involving the Hong Kong Jockey Club
and China Tourism Group to include Hong Kong racecourses in travel itineraries.
Another report
described proposals to open venues such as TVB City, the HSBC main building,
and the Star Ferry engine room as tourism attractions, reflecting an interest
in cross-sector tourism cooperation.
These developments
suggest that collaboration is not only a private marketing decision; it is also
connected to Hong Kong’s broader destination-marketing strategy.
Issue 4: Integrated “traveltainment” products
Hong Kong
Disneyland and New World Development have been reported as collaborating on a
Lantau “traveltainment” hub involving retail, dining, entertainment,
transportation, and tourism products. The partnership included potential links
between the theme park and the 11 SKIES development, as well as marketing
through loyalty-programme networks.
This is directly
relevant to your proposed study because it illustrates how attractions and
commercial partners can combine separate offerings into a broader destination
experience. Your dissertation could investigate whether luxury hotels should
participate in similar ecosystems.
Issue 5: Data-sharing and smart tourism
Public reporting
has also described discussions between the Hong Kong Tourism Board, payment
platforms, service providers, and travel websites concerning tourism-related
data and market analysis. The objective is to improve visitor intelligence,
itinerary planning, and tourism promotion.
This raises an
important research issue concerning the benefits and risks of data-based
collaboration:
·
Can shared data improve
personalisation and targeting?
·
Are hotels and attractions
willing to share customer information?
·
How should privacy, consent,
and data ownership be managed?
·
Does data sharing improve the
consumer experience or create concerns about surveillance?
3. Three relevant academic theories
Theory 1: Service-Dominant Logic
Service-Dominant
Logic views value as something created through interactions among firms,
customers, partners, and other actors. A hotel does not create the entire
visitor experience independently; value may emerge through the combined
experience of accommodation, dining, transport, culture, entertainment, and attractions.
This theory is
useful because your research concerns a network of hotels, attractions,
consumers, and destination organisations rather than a single company. It can
help you examine how collaborative packages create value through convenience,
access, personalisation, and experience integration.
A possible
application is:
Hotel–attraction collaboration→Value co-creation→Customer experience→Booking intention and loyaltyHotel–attraction collaboration→Value co-creation→Customer experience→Booking intention and loyalty
Service-Dominant
Logic has been widely used to explain customer participation and value
co-creation in hospitality and tourism.
Key reference
Vargo, S.L. and
Lusch, R.F. (2004) ‘Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing’, Journal
of Marketing, 68(1), pp. 1–17.
You could also
cite the later development of the framework:
Vargo, S.L. and
Lusch, R.F. (2008) ‘Service-dominant logic: Continuing the evolution’, Journal
of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36(1), pp. 1–10.
Theory 2: Stakeholder Theory
Stakeholder Theory
argues that organisations should consider the interests of parties that affect
or are affected by their activities. In your research, relevant stakeholders
include:
·
Luxury hotels.
·
Tourism attractions.
·
Visitors and hotel guests.
·
Hong Kong Tourism Board.
·
Travel agencies and online
travel platforms.
·
Transport providers.
·
Local communities.
·
Government and tourism
authorities.
·
Retailers, restaurants, and
event organisers.
This theory is
useful for analysing the organisational and managerial side of collaboration.
It can help you investigate conflicting objectives, such as a hotel seeking
higher room revenue while an attraction seeks higher visitor attendance, or a
public tourism body seeking destination-wide benefits rather than the
commercial success of one firm.
Possible research
questions derived from Stakeholder Theory include:
·
Which stakeholders are most
important to successful hotel–attraction collaboration?
·
What benefits and risks do
different stakeholders perceive?
·
How are costs, customer data,
and revenue distributed?
·
What governance mechanisms are
needed to maintain trust and commitment?
Key references
Freeman, R.E.
(1984) Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston, MA:
Pitman.
Freeman, R.E.,
Harrison, J.S., Wicks, A.C., Parmar, B.L. and de Colle, S. (2010) Stakeholder
theory: The state of the art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Theory 3: Stimulus–Organism–Response Theory
The
Stimulus–Organism–Response model is particularly suitable for studying hotel
consumer behaviour. It proposes that an external stimulus influences a
consumer’s internal evaluation, which then leads to a behavioural response.
Applied to your
topic:
·
Stimulus: hotel–attraction package, joint promotion,
exclusive access, price bundle, or integrated itinerary.
·
Organism: perceived value, trust, excitement, authenticity,
convenience, and perceived luxury.
·
Response: booking intention, willingness to pay, longer
intended stay, recommendation, or revisit intention.
A possible
conceptual structure is:
Collaborative marketing stimulus→Consumer perceptions and emotions→Behavioural intentionCollaborative marketing stimulus→Consumer perceptions and emotions→Behavioural intention
This theory is
useful because it links the characteristics of the collaboration to measurable
consumer outcomes. It also allows you to investigate why the same partnership
may appeal to one customer segment but not another.
Key references
Mehrabian, A. and
Russell, J.A. (1974) An approach to environmental psychology.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Kim, W.G., Lee,
Y.-K. and Yoo, Y.-J. (2006) ‘Predictors of relationship quality and
relationship outcomes in luxury restaurants’, Journal of Hospitality
& Tourism Research, 30(2), pp. 143–169.
For hotel and
tourism applications, consumer engagement and service evaluations have also
been linked to outcomes such as brand trust and behavioural intention.
Recommended theoretical combination
The three theories
can be combined without making the dissertation excessively complicated:
|
Research
level |
Theory |
Main
purpose |
|
Inter-organisational level |
Stakeholder Theory |
Explain why hotels and
attractions collaborate and how interests are managed |
|
Service and destination
level |
Service-Dominant Logic |
Explain how partners and
consumers co-create value |
|
Consumer level |
Stimulus–Organism–Response
Theory |
Explain how collaborative
marketing affects consumer perceptions and behavioural intentions |
A possible
integrated framework is:
Stakeholder alignment and collaboration quality→Value co-creation and perceived value→Consumer experience and trust→Booking intention, willingness to pay, loyalty and longer stayStakeholder alignment and collaboration quality→Value co-creation and perceived value→Consumer experience and trust→Booking intention, willingness to pay, loyalty and longer stay
For a part-time
MBA dissertation, I would recommend using Stakeholder Theory as the
main organisational theory, Service-Dominant Logic as the
value-creation theory, and Stimulus–Organism–Response Theory as the
consumer-behaviour framework. This combination connects managerial
practice, partnership design, customer behaviour, and business performance.
Possible refined dissertation title
Exploring how
hotel–attraction collaboration creates customer value and improves business
performance in Hong Kong’s luxury hotel sector: A pragmatist mixed-methods
study
Harvard-style media references
The Standard
(2025) ‘Sharing data with govt? Talks with payment firms underway: Tourism
chief’, The Standard, 4 June. Available at: The Standard (Accessed:
8 August 2026).
The Standard
(2023) ‘Disney and NWD link up for Lantau fun plan’, The Standard,
8 September. Available at: The Standard (Accessed:
8 August 2026).
The Standard
(2025) ‘Hong Kong visitor numbers rise 12pc in 2025, hotel tax revenue hits
$770m’, The Standard, 1 April 2026. Available at: The Standard (Accessed:
8 August 2026).
The Standard (2026)
‘HKJC drives tourism with inaugural Tourism Cup, showcases partnership with
China Tourism Group’, The Standard, 10 June. Available at: The Standard (Accessed:
8 August 2026).
Harvard-style academic references
Freeman, R.E.
(1984) Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston, MA:
Pitman.
Freeman, R.E.,
Harrison, J.S., Wicks, A.C., Parmar, B.L. and de Colle, S. (2010) Stakeholder
theory: The state of the art. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Mehrabian, A. and
Russell, J.A. (1974) An approach to environmental psychology.
Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Vargo, S.L. and
Lusch, R.F. (2004) ‘Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing’, Journal
of Marketing, 68(1), pp. 1–17.
Vargo, S.L. and
Lusch, R.F. (2008) ‘Service-dominant logic: Continuing the evolution’, Journal
of the Academy of Marketing Science, 36(1), pp. 1–10.
Some additional information I provide are: (1) I am
particularly interested in research issues 1 and 2; (2) I am particularly
interested in Hong Kong public media-reported issues 2 and 4; and (3) I am
interested in my chosen concrete research theme because I had worked in the
Hong Kong hotel sector for 8 years and still have quite some friends who are my
ex-colleagues in the hotel sector. With that could you suggest a dissertation
proposal to me with the following information elements: dissertation title, an
overall research theme, 4 research objectives, 3 research questions, the
researcher positionality an overall research methodology, 3 primary research
methods (i.e. semi-structured interview and opinion questionnaire survey with
my friends, 1 secondary data analysis, a brief project timeline (for this
four-month part-time dissertation project).
Your professional experience and
access to former colleagues provide a strong basis for a pragmatist, exploratory dissertation.
However, you should avoid studying only your personal friends; instead, use
them as initial contacts and recruit a broader purposive sample of former
colleagues from different hotel departments and job levels.
Proposed
Dissertation Proposal
1. Dissertation title
Exploring how
hotel–tourism-attraction collaboration can enhance customer value and business
performance in Hong Kong’s luxury hotel sector: A pragmatist mixed-methods
study
A shorter alternative is:
Hotel–tourism-attraction
collaboration and luxury hotel performance in Hong Kong: An exploratory
mixed-methods study
2. Overall research theme
This study will explore how Hong
Kong luxury hotels can collaborate with tourism attractions to create more
attractive and integrated visitor experiences.
The research will focus on two
related issues:
1. Whether
collaboration can create additional value for hotel guests through convenience,
exclusivity, experience integration, and improved destination appeal.
2. Whether
collaboration can address practical industry concerns such as short visitor
stays, relatively stable visitor spending, and strong competition among hotels.
This is a timely issue because
Hong Kong recorded 23.19 million overnight visitors in 2025, but their average
stay fell from 3.2 to 3.1 nights. Average per-capita spending was approximately
HK$5,503, broadly similar to the previous year. This suggests that increasing
visitor numbers alone may not guarantee longer stays or stronger hotel
revenues.legco.gov
Your study can investigate
collaboration with:
·
Theme parks and entertainment venues.
·
Museums and cultural attractions.
·
Shopping and dining districts.
·
Sports and event venues.
·
Heritage and local-experience providers.
·
Cruise, transport, and airport-related attractions.
The study could be underpinned by
Service-Dominant Logic, Stakeholder Theory, and the Stimulus–Organism–Response framework.
These theories would respectively explain value co-creation,
inter-organisational cooperation, and consumer responses to collaborative hotel
packages.
3. Research objectives
Objective 1: Identify current collaboration practices
To explore the forms, purposes,
and perceived strategic value of existing or potential collaborations between
Hong Kong luxury hotels and tourism attractions.
This could include joint
promotions, hotel-and-attraction packages, preferential access, shared loyalty
benefits, cross-referrals, integrated itineraries, and joint digital marketing.
Objective 2: Examine consumer perceptions
To investigate how hotel guests
and potential visitors perceive the value, convenience, authenticity,
exclusivity, and attractiveness of hotel–attraction collaborative offerings.
The survey could measure whether
consumers believe that collaboration:
·
Makes trip planning easier.
·
Provides better value for money.
·
Enhances the luxury-hotel experience.
·
Encourages them to visit attractions.
·
Makes them more likely to book a hotel.
·
Encourages them to stay longer.
Objective 3: Analyse organisational and partnership
challenges
To examine the managerial,
operational, and relationship challenges that may affect the success of
hotel–attraction collaboration.
These challenges may include:
·
Different organisational objectives.
·
Poor brand fit.
·
Unequal distribution of costs and benefits.
·
Revenue-sharing disagreements.
·
Inconsistent service standards.
·
Limited customer-data sharing.
·
Difficulties coordinating bookings and customer service.
·
Concerns about reputational risk.
This objective is especially
important because a collaboration does not necessarily create value merely
because two well-known organisations cooperate.
Objective 4: Develop practical recommendations
To develop a practical framework
and recommendations for Hong Kong luxury hotels seeking to use
tourism-attraction collaboration to improve customer value and business
performance.
The recommendations could
address:
·
Partner-selection criteria.
·
Suitable customer segments.
·
Collaborative product design.
·
Communication and promotional channels.
·
Performance indicators.
·
Partnership governance.
·
Customer-data and privacy considerations.
4. Research questions
Three research questions are
sufficient for a focused four-month dissertation:
RQ1
What forms of collaboration
between Hong Kong luxury hotels and tourism attractions are perceived by
hotel-sector professionals and consumers as most valuable and strategically
appropriate?
This question addresses the type
of collaboration and the characteristics of a suitable partner.
RQ2
How do consumers perceive
hotel–tourism-attraction collaborations in terms of value, convenience,
authenticity, exclusivity, and their intention to book, extend their stay,
spend more, or recommend the hotel?
This question focuses on hotel
consumer behaviour.
RQ3
What organisational and
operational factors enable or hinder hotel–tourism-attraction collaboration
from improving customer experience and hotel business performance?
This question connects consumer
value with managerial implementation and performance.
5. Researcher positionality
You could describe your
positionality as follows:
The researcher is a part-time MBA
student who previously worked in the Hong Kong hotel sector for eight years and
maintains professional relationships with former colleagues currently working
in the industry. This insider experience provides valuable contextual
understanding of hotel operations, marketing practices, customer expectations,
and inter-organisational relationships. It also facilitates access to relevant
industry participants who may be difficult for an external researcher to
recruit.
However, your insider position
creates several risks:
·
You may make assumptions based on your previous hotel
experience.
·
Former colleagues may provide socially desirable answers.
·
Participants may feel pressure to support your research.
·
Personal relationships may affect recruitment and
interpretation.
·
Confidential commercial information may be disclosed
unintentionally.
·
You may overemphasise hotel-sector perspectives and
underrepresent consumers or attractions.
You should manage these risks by:
·
Explaining clearly that participation is voluntary.
·
Avoiding recruitment of anyone who directly reports to
you or depends on you.
·
Using an information sheet and informed-consent form.
·
Anonymising participants, hotels, attractions, and job
titles where necessary.
·
Keeping personal opinions in a reflexive research diary.
·
Distinguishing participants’ views from your own
professional assumptions.
·
Comparing interview findings with questionnaire and
secondary-data evidence.
·
Reporting contradictory findings rather than selecting
only supportive responses.
Your positionality is therefore
not simply an advantage or a limitation. It is a research resource that must be
handled transparently and reflexively.
6. Overall research methodology
Research philosophy
A pragmatist
philosophy is appropriate because the project is intended to
solve a practical business problem: how luxury hotels can use partnerships with
attractions to enhance customer value and performance.
Pragmatism allows you to use
qualitative and quantitative evidence where each method is most useful. For
example, interviews can identify partnership problems that you did not
anticipate, while the questionnaire can examine whether those issues are
important to a wider group of consumers.
Research approach
The study should use an exploratory sequential mixed-methods design:
1. Conduct
interviews with hotel-sector professionals.
2. Use
interview findings and literature to design the questionnaire.
3. Analyse
consumer responses.
4. Compare
both forms of primary data with secondary tourism and hotel-sector information.
5. Develop
practical recommendations.
This approach is suitable because
the research problem is exploratory and the relevant dimensions of
collaboration—such as convenience, authenticity, brand fit, or exclusivity—may
not be fully known at the beginning.
Research design
A feasible design is:
·
Qualitative phase:
approximately 8–12 semi-structured interviews.
·
Quantitative phase:
approximately 100–150 valid questionnaire responses.
·
Secondary-data phase:
analysis of tourism statistics, hotel reports, public media reports,
collaboration announcements, and relevant company or institutional documents.
The study should be positioned as
an exploratory investigation rather than a definitive test of whether
collaboration causes higher hotel revenue. Unless you obtain actual hotel
performance data, it is more academically defensible to measure perceived business performance,
booking intention, willingness to pay, loyalty, recommendation intention, and
intention to extend a stay.
7. Three research methods
Strictly speaking, interviews and
questionnaires are primary
research methods, whereas secondary-data analysis is a secondary research method.
For your proposal, you can present the three methods as the three main evidence
sources.
Method 1: Semi-structured interviews
Participants
Interview approximately 8–12
people, including:
·
Former hotel marketing or sales managers.
·
Front-office or guest-relations managers.
·
Revenue or commercial managers.
·
Events or partnership managers.
·
Hotel general managers or department heads.
·
Employees with experience working with attractions or
destination partners.
You can begin with former
colleagues but should use purposive sampling to include different roles and
levels of experience.
Topics
The interview guide could
explore:
·
Existing hotel–attraction partnerships.
·
Reasons for entering into collaboration.
·
Perceived customer benefits.
·
Suitable and unsuitable attraction partners.
·
Brand-fit concerns.
·
Difficulties in coordination.
·
Revenue-sharing and cost-sharing issues.
·
Data-sharing and privacy concerns.
·
Performance indicators.
·
Ways collaboration could encourage longer stays or higher
spending.
Analysis
Use thematic analysis. Possible
themes may include:
·
Strategic fit.
·
Value co-creation.
·
Customer experience.
·
Partnership trust.
·
Operational integration.
·
Commercial performance.
·
Risk and governance.
Method 2: Opinion questionnaire survey
Participants
The survey should not be limited
to your friends. Your former colleagues may be appropriate for the interviews,
but the questionnaire should ideally target:
·
Hong Kong residents who have stayed in a luxury hotel.
·
Visitors who have recently travelled to Hong Kong.
·
Potential luxury-hotel customers.
·
People with experience purchasing hotel-and-attraction
packages.
A sample of approximately 100–150
usable responses is realistic for a part-time MBA project, although the final
target should follow your university’s research-methods requirements.
Questionnaire content
The questionnaire could present a
short hypothetical scenario, such as:
A five-star Hong Kong hotel
partners with a major cultural or entertainment attraction. Guests who book a
two-night stay receive priority admission, a tailored itinerary, and a combined
hotel-and-attraction package.
Respondents could rate the following
on five-point or seven-point Likert scales:
·
Perceived value.
·
Convenience.
·
Authenticity.
·
Exclusivity.
·
Brand fit.
·
Trust.
·
Perceived service quality.
·
Booking intention.
·
Willingness to pay.
·
Intention to extend the stay.
·
Intention to recommend.
·
Intention to revisit.
The questionnaire should also
collect basic segmentation variables such as age group, place of residence,
travel purpose, previous Hong Kong visit, and preferred type of attraction.
Analysis
For an MBA dissertation, you
could use:
·
Descriptive statistics.
·
Reliability testing using Cronbach’s alpha.
·
Cross-tabulation by customer segment.
·
Correlation analysis.
·
Mean comparisons between different types of attraction.
·
Multiple regression if your sample size and statistical
knowledge are sufficient.
Avoid claiming that the results
represent all Hong Kong tourists if the survey uses convenience or snowball
sampling.
Method 3: Secondary-data analysis
You could analyse:
·
Hong Kong Tourism Board visitor-arrival and
length-of-stay statistics.
·
Tourism-sector and hotel-industry reports.
·
Annual reports of selected luxury hotel groups.
·
Public announcements of hotel–attraction collaborations.
·
Hong Kong public media reports.
·
Hotel and attraction websites.
·
Publicly available package offers and promotional
campaigns.
·
Online reviews discussing hotel-and-attraction
experiences.
A particularly useful case is the
reported collaboration between Hong Kong Disneyland and New World Development.
The partnership involved retail, tourism products, promotional activity,
transportation possibilities, and access to New World’s loyalty-programme
ecosystem. This could be used as an illustrative case of destination-level
collaboration, although it should not be treated as evidence that the
collaboration itself caused improved hotel performance.thestandard+1
The secondary-data analysis can
help you:
·
Establish the industry context.
·
Identify common types of collaboration.
·
Compare stated partnership objectives with actual
offerings.
·
Track visitor length-of-stay and spending concerns.
·
Triangulate findings from interviews and surveys.
8. Proposed conceptual framework
A simple conceptual framework
could be:
Collaboration quality→Perceived value and customer experience→Consumer behavioural intentions→Perceived hotel performance\text{Collaboration
quality} \rightarrow \text{Perceived value and customer experience} \rightarrow
\text{Consumer behavioural intentions} \rightarrow \text{Perceived hotel
performance}Collaboration quality→Perceived value and customer experience→Consumer behavioural intentions→Perceived hotel performance
Independent or explanatory factors
·
Brand fit.
·
Partner reputation.
·
Collaboration design.
·
Convenience.
·
Exclusivity.
·
Authenticity.
·
Integration of the hotel and attraction experience.
Mediating factors
·
Perceived value.
·
Trust.
·
Customer engagement.
·
Satisfaction.
·
Perceived luxury.
Outcome variables
·
Booking intention.
·
Willingness to pay.
·
Intention to extend stay.
·
Intention to recommend.
·
Intention to revisit.
·
Perceived hotel revenue and occupancy potential.
You should avoid including too
many variables. For a four-month project, selecting four or five central
constructs would be more manageable.
9. Four-month project timeline
|
Period |
Main activities |
Outputs |
|
Weeks 1–2 |
Confirm
topic, review literature, refine research gap, finalise research questions
and conceptual framework |
Approved
proposal and preliminary literature review |
|
Weeks 3–4 |
Develop
interview guide, questionnaire, participant information sheet, consent form,
and ethics submission |
Research
instruments and ethics application |
|
Weeks 5–7 |
Conduct
semi-structured interviews with former colleagues and other hotel
professionals |
Interview
recordings, transcripts, and initial codes |
|
Weeks 8–9 |
Conduct
thematic analysis and use findings to refine the questionnaire |
Interview
themes and final survey instrument |
|
Weeks
10–12 |
Distribute
and collect the questionnaire |
Completed
survey dataset |
|
Weeks
10–12 |
Collect
and analyse secondary data, including tourism statistics, media reports,
hotel reports, and collaboration cases |
Secondary-data
evidence table |
|
Weeks
13–14 |
Analyse
questionnaire results and integrate findings from all three methods |
Statistical
results and triangulated findings |
|
Weeks
15–16 |
Write
discussion, recommendations, limitations, conclusion, edit, proofread, and
submit |
Completed
dissertation |
The timeline intentionally
overlaps data collection and secondary research. This is necessary for a
four-month part-time project and allows your interview findings to inform the
questionnaire rather than treating all methods as completely separate.
Suggested final proposal formulation
Title
Exploring how
hotel–tourism-attraction collaboration can enhance customer value and business
performance in Hong Kong’s luxury hotel sector: A pragmatist mixed-methods
study
Central argument
Hong Kong’s visitor numbers have
recovered, but average overnight stays remain relatively short at approximately
3.1 nights, while visitor spending has remained broadly stable. Collaboration
between luxury hotels and tourism attractions may provide a way to create more
integrated visitor experiences, encourage longer stays, and strengthen the
value proposition of luxury accommodation.legco.gov
Your eight years of hotel-sector
experience give you valuable access and contextual knowledge. The strongest
design, therefore, is not to rely only on personal contacts but to combine
insider interviews, a broader consumer survey, and secondary analysis of Hong
Kong tourism and collaboration evidence.
Selected Harvard-style references
Freeman, R.E. (1984) Strategic management: A stakeholder approach.
Boston, MA: Pitman.
Mehrabian, A. and Russell, J.A.
(1974) An approach to environmental
psychology. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Vargo, S.L. and Lusch, R.F.
(2004) ‘Evolving to a new dominant logic for marketing’, Journal of Marketing, 68(1), pp.
1–17.
Vargo, S.L. and Lusch, R.F.
(2008) ‘Service-dominant logic: Continuing the evolution’, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science,
36(1), pp. 1–10.
Hong Kong Tourism Board (2026) Hong Kong visitor arrivals in 2025.
Available at: Hong Kong Tourism Board
(Accessed: 8 August 2026).
Hong Kong Legislative Council
(2026) Visitor spending and average
length of stay. Available at: Legislative Council (Accessed: 8
August 2026).
The Standard (2023) ‘Disney and
NWD link up for Lantau fun plan’, The Standard,
8 September. Available at: The Standard (Accessed: 8 August
2026).
Please highlight the following information elements from
the dissertation proposal and related information to produce a proposal
application form (a synopsis form) in less than 400 words (the dissertation
title [item 1] and reference list [item 6] are not included in the word count):
1. Project title; 2. Project background: 2.1. A research theme statement, 2.2.
Academic context: 2 main research issues, 2.3. Public and business context: 2
public media-related issues 2.4 The researcher's positionality; 3. Research
objectives and questions; 4. The research methodology: 4.1 Research philosophy
and research approach to use, 4.2 2 primary research methods to use; 4.3. 1
secondary research method to use; 5. Literature review: 2 academic
theories to use; 6. A reference list.
1. Project title
Exploring how hotel–tourism-attraction collaboration can enhance customer
value and business performance in Hong Kong’s luxury hotel sector: A pragmatist
mixed-methods study
2. Project background
2.1 Research theme statement
This
project explores how collaboration between Hong Kong luxury hotels and tourism
attractions can create integrated visitor experiences, encourage longer stays,
and improve hotel business performance.
2.2 Academic context
Two
main research issues are examined:
·
How collaboration can create
consumer value through convenience, authenticity, exclusivity, perceived value,
and improved customer experience.
·
How brand fit, partnership trust,
operational coordination, revenue sharing, and customer-data management
influence the success of hotel–attraction collaboration.
2.3 Public and business context
Two
relevant public-media issues are:
·
Hong Kong’s visitor numbers have
recovered, but the average overnight stay remained relatively short at
approximately 3.1 nights in 2025, creating pressure to encourage longer stays
and higher visitor spending (The Standard, 2026a).
·
Reported partnerships such as the
Hong Kong Disneyland–New World Development “traveltainment” initiative show
increasing emphasis on integrating attractions, retail, dining, transport, and
tourism experiences (The Standard, 2023).
2.4 Researcher positionality
The
researcher previously worked in Hong Kong’s hotel sector for eight years and
maintains professional relationships with former colleagues. This insider
position provides industry knowledge and participant access, but may create
assumptions or response bias. Reflexive journaling, informed consent,
confidentiality, purposive sampling, and triangulation will be used to manage
these risks.
3. Research objectives and questions
The
objectives are to:
1. Identify valuable forms of hotel–attraction
collaboration.
2. Examine consumer perceptions and behavioural
intentions.
3. Explore organisational and operational
barriers.
4. Develop practical recommendations for luxury
hotels.
Research
questions:
1. Which hotel–attraction collaborations are
perceived as most valuable?
2. How do such collaborations affect perceived
value, booking intention, willingness to pay, and intention to extend a stay?
3. What factors enable or hinder their
contribution to customer experience and hotel performance?
4. Research methodology
4.1 Philosophy and approach
A
pragmatist philosophy and exploratory sequential mixed-methods approach will be
adopted.
4.2 Primary research methods
·
Semi-structured interviews with
approximately 8–12 hotel-sector professionals, including former colleagues.
·
Opinion questionnaire survey of
approximately 100–150 hotel guests or potential visitors.
4.3 Secondary research method
Documentary
analysis of tourism statistics, hotel reports, public-media coverage, and
hotel–attraction collaboration cases.
5. Literature review
The
study will use:
·
Service-Dominant Logic to
explain value co-creation among hotels, attractions, and consumers.
·
Stakeholder Theory to
analyse partner interests, trust, coordination, and governance.
6. Reference list
Freeman,
R.E. (1984) Strategic management: A stakeholder approach. Boston, MA:
Pitman.
The
Standard (2023) ‘Disney and NWD link up for Lantau fun plan’, The Standard, 8
September. Available at: https://www.thestandard.com.hk/news/article/55964/Disney-and-NWD-link-up-for-Lantau-fun-plan
(Accessed: 8 August 2026).
The
Standard (2026a) ‘HK’s average overnight visitor stay shortens by 0.1 night
despite rise in numbers’, The Standard, 1 April. Available at:
https://www.thestandard.com.hk/news/article/328325/HKs-average-overnight-visitor-stay-shortens-by-01-night-despite-rise-in-numbers
(Accessed: 8 August 2026).
Vargo,
S.L. and Lusch, R.F. (2004) ‘Evolving to a new dominant logic for
marketing’, Journal of Marketing, 68(1), pp. 1–17.
What is the estimated word
count figure of this synopsis form?
The
synopsis form contains approximately 360 words, excluding:
·
The project title.
·
The reference list.
·
The section headings, if your
institution does not count headings.
It
is therefore within the required 400-word limit, with an estimated margin of
approximately 40 words.
No comments:
Post a Comment