Home/Research, translated

The advantage · Peer-reviewed research, translated

From the journal to the revenue meeting.

Rob has spent two decades studying why guests choose, spend and come back, with 30 published or accepted journal papers.1 Ethan has run the P&L those findings describe.4 The translation is the work: each engagement starts from what the research already knows and ends in a tool your team runs. Below, ten of the papers, each set beside the decision it changes.

Robert J. Kwortnik, Ph.D. · Cornell Nolan School of Hotel Administration since 20022 · Titles checked against Crossref where a DOI is shown3

Ethan Hawkes & Robert J. Kwortnik, Ph.D. · Reviewed

In brief

The question
What two decades of peer-reviewed work on how guests choose, spend and return says about the decisions on a cruise or hotel commercial leader’s desk.
The answer
Ten papers, each translated into the one decision it changes: loyalty, pricing, positioning, experience and onboard revenue, and the thesis that the decision sits between functions.
What to do
Start with the paper nearest your decision, read what it can and cannot support, then take the finding to the Evidence Base for what an operator would do with it.
301published or accepted journal papers, about four of them teaching cases
20022on the Cornell Nolan School faculty since; Associate Professor of Services Marketing since 2009
10×2named Teacher of the Year; developed Cornell’s elective on the global leisure cruise industry
17research-backed findings across 9 decision areas in the Evidence Base, eleven with Rob as co-author

Ten papers, each beside the decision it changes

Int. J. of Hospitality Management 71, 132–140 · 2018
Exploring behavioral differences between new and repeat cruisers to a cruise brand
Sun, Kwortnik & Gauri
doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2017.12.006

Decision · Loyalty

A second sailing is a different decision from a tenth.

Using more than a million reservation records from one brand, the paper finds repeat cruisers were less price sensitive, booked further ahead, lived closer to embarkation ports and chose longer cruises and better cabins than new cruisers, and that first-time repeaters differed from multi-time repeaters too. In a loyalty review that is the starting point: the benefit that moves a first-timer to a second sailing is not the benefit that keeps a repeat guest, and the program should be made to pay for each separately.

Finding in the Evidence Base → · Loyalty program ROI →
Int. J. of Hospitality Management 89, 102597 · 2020
Improving revenue performance with third-degree price discrimination in the cruise industry
Namin, Gauri & Kwortnik
doi:10.1016/j.ijhm.2020.102597

Decision · Pricing

Price who is booking, not only what and when.

In simulation on one operator’s booking data, latent-class segmentation and fare structures aligned to how segments perceive cabin value outperformed uniform category pricing. The magnitude is operator-specific and the result is directional, so we test it on your fares before anyone claims a number.

Finding in the Evidence Base → · Attribute-based pricing →
Journal of Travel Research 56(7), 941–956 · 2017
Categorizing cruise lines by passenger perceived experience
Li & Kwortnik
doi:10.1177/0047287516674602

Decision · Positioning and fare matching

Your competitive set may not be who you think.

Using J.D. Power survey data, passengers formed consideration sets around experience categories that differ from the types marketers use. If fare matching is anchored to cabin-class comparisons while guests decide along other dimensions, a line may be pricing against non-substitutes. It is stated-preference evidence, so we validate it against your actual switching data.

Finding in the Evidence Base → · Attribute-based pricing →
Production and Operations Management 26(5), 945–960 · 2017
Surprise, anticipation, and sequence effects in the design of experiential services
Dixon, Victorino, Kwortnik & Verma
doi:10.1111/poms.12675POMS College of Service Operations · Most Influential Service Operations Paper Award (2019)

Decision · Onboard revenue and experience

Anticipation is part of the product.

In controlled experiments, where a signature moment sits in a service sequence changed how the whole experience was evaluated in memory; a surprise placed late produced stronger evaluations than the same moment placed early. For the pre-cruise window that reframes the question: packages sold before sailing are not only revenue pulled forward, they shape what the guest expects on board, and the evidence model has to count both. Whether it moves fleet-level rebooking is a field test, not a given.

Finding in the Evidence Base → · The pre-cruise commercial window →
Journal of Service Research 11(4), 389–406 · 2009
Unifying service marketing and operations with service experience management
Kwortnik & Thompson
doi:10.1177/1094670509333595

The thesis · Why both partners

The decision sits between functions.

From a multimethod leisure-cruise case, the paper derives a service-systems model and proposes a service experience management function to unify marketing and operations around the guest’s experience. It is the reason both partners are in every room: the problem on a CEO’s desk is rarely inside one team, and the answer rarely is either.

Finding in the Evidence Base → · Guest Equity Architecture: one system, not three →
Int. J. of Research in Marketing 24(4), 324–335 · 2007
The role of positive emotions in experiential decisions
Kwortnik & Ross
doi:10.1016/j.ijresmar.2007.09.002Emerald Management Reviews Citation of Excellence

Decision · Promotions and pricing

Guests buy a feeling before they buy a fare.

The paper examines how positive emotion drives decisions about experiences. It is why we test a fare ladder against what guests value rather than only against what competitors charge, why framing the same economic value as a reward rather than a discount activates different psychology, and why a promotion that sells on price alone is leaving the stronger lever untouched.

Promotional incrementality →
Journal of Destination Marketing & Management 21, 100660 · 2021
Shore excursions of cruise destinations: product categories, resource allocation, and regional differentiation
Sun, Kwortnik, Xu, Lau & Ni
Cited from the CV; no DOI shown3

Decision · Destination product

Manage excursions as a portfolio, not procurement.

Across 3,259 excursion products in 458 ports of one line’s network, the paper identifies seven excursion categories, a core-periphery structure, and regional differences in type, positioning, duration and price. It is descriptive rather than causal, but for destination-intensive brands it supports managing the excursion catalogue as a product portfolio with attach, contribution and satisfaction read by category and region.

Finding in the Evidence Base → · Destination Vitality Index →
Int. J. of Hospitality Management 51, 15–18 · 2015
The effects of tipping policies on customer satisfaction: a test from the cruise industry
Lynn & Kwortnik
Cited from the CV; no DOI shown3

Decision · Service policy

A gratuity change is a commercial decision.

Using cruise-industry data, the paper tests the relationship between tipping-policy design and customer satisfaction and finds satisfaction differs across designs. If policy design moves satisfaction, gratuity changes belong with the other commercial decisions and deserve a controlled test, not an assumption of neutrality.

Finding in the Evidence Base →
Int. J. of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research · 2008
Shipscape influence on the leisure cruise experience
Kwortnik
Cited from the CV; no DOI shown3

Decision · Ship design and refurbishment

The ship is a brand attribute.

Interpretive research on how passengers experience and make sense of the physical ship environment: ambient conditions, layout, décor, size, facilities and social factors shaped pleasure and the meanings guests attached to brands. Design decisions usually driven by cost and capacity are also positioning decisions, which is where a shipscape audit against survey data earns its place in a newbuild or refurbishment case.

Finding in the Evidence Base →
Case Research Journal 27(Spring), 105–127 · 2008
Balancing cruise revenue sources: the case of Empress Cruise Lines
Ng & Kwortnik
Cited from the CV; no DOI shown3

Decision · Total revenue management

Ask three VPs what your most profitable guest looks like.

A teaching case in which an operator must allocate cabin inventory between casino players and leisure holidaymakers who differ in channel, pricing and the experience they want. It is not statistical evidence about the size of the gap, but it is the cleanest illustration we know of how segment-specific objectives pull ticket and onboard revenue apart, and why a shared total-guest-revenue metric is the first fix.

Finding in the Evidence Base → · The pre-cruise commercial window →

The full publication record is on Rob’s Cornell profile ↗. Research by others that we rely on, from customer equity to NPS, is in the Evidence Base with the same treatment.

How we read research

Reported, inferred, or assumed.

Where we cite research, we point to published work. Where we draw on operating experience, we treat it as experience and expect it to be tested. Every page says which is which.

Reported

What the paper found

Stated at the level the study supports: its setting, its sample, its method. A hotel experiment stays a hotel experiment. A simulation on one operator’s data stays directional.

H&K inference

What we think it means for cruise

Labeled as our inference wherever the paper did not study cruise, or did not study the decision on your desk. It is a hypothesis to validate with your guest data, not a finding.

To be tested

What your data has to show

A mechanism established in the lab earns a field test before it earns a budget. Each finding in the Evidence Base ends with what an operator would do, and how long it takes.

Book a review · 30 minutes · Both partners

Bring one live decision.

In 30 minutes with both partners, we will stress-test the question and tell you plainly whether deeper work is warranted, including “do not hire us” if that is the right answer.

The leader who owns the decision usually joins: the CEO, CCO, or head of Revenue, Finance or Loyalty. We reply within one business day. What happens next →

Your information is confidential. No mailing list, no drip sequence. If it is not a fit, we will tell you plainly.

Sources · Every numbered claim on this page

Cornell affiliation is for identification only
  1. [1]Robert J. Kwortnik, curriculum vitae, Cornell University, January 2026, sections “Academic Positions” and “Published or Accepted Papers”, linked from his faculty profile. About four of the 30 are teaching cases.
  2. [2]Cornell SC Johnson College of Business, faculty profile: Robert Kwortnik, Jr., business.cornell.edu/profiles/rjk34. Read 24 September 2026. Hawkes & Kwortnik is not affiliated with, reviewed, or endorsed by Cornell University.
  3. [3]Where a DOI is shown, the title, authors, volume and pages were checked against Crossref on 24 September 2026. Papers shown without a DOI are cited from the CV and the Evidence Base.
  4. [4]Ethan Hawkes, curriculum vitae, April 2026. Principal-reported and not independently audited.