Innovation in hospitality and tourism industries

Over the past few decades, services have played a critical role in the economies of most industrialized nations (Song et al., 2009). Innovative technologies and business models have transformed the service environment (Sorescu et al., 2011). Service innovation “introduces something new into the way of life, organization, timing and placement of what can generally be described as the individual and collective processes that relate to consumers” (Barcet, 2010, p. 51). Research in service innovation has evolved from a generic perspective to a demarcation perspective, portraying it as something that should be differentiated from product innovation and, finally, shifting into a synthesis perspective (Carlborg et al., 2014). The synthesis perspective emphasizes the necessity of an integrated approach to innovation that considers both technological and non-technological aspects.