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E-collaboration is a new strategy to compete in today's business world. Cooperation, collaboration, alliance and etc are the words companies are now focusing on. These companies are looking towards friendliness instead of hostility. This paper analyzes the previous literature on Internet, e-business, and collaboration, looking at the emergency of e-collaboration in the tourism industry. The applications of e-collaboration are often mentioned in the fields of international trading and e-business. The paper aims to apply those theories of collaboration, internet and e-business from other industries to tourism and hospitality industry. It also analyzes the e-collaboration situation in this particular area and tries to find a way to help today's tourism industry players to create and guide thriving e-collaboration strategies. E-collaboration provides a very efficient strategic option with low cost, easy access, large market, reputation and resources sharing. It brings geographically dispersed teams together, supporting communication, coordination and cooperation. But problems like unbalanced management and power between collaborators, unequal resource commitments, quality maintenance, culture differences exist in e-collaboration. In the end of the paper, the author highlights the advantages of e-collaboration and suggests the way to e-collaborate properly to contribute to strategic management.

Purpose This paper aims to explore the accommodation experience of customers in the budget hotel sector – a less explored but rapidly expanding sector in the hospitality industry. This study investigates the effects of such experience on customer behavior. Design/methodology/approach The study adopts a quantitative approach and draws on a comprehensive data set (N = 414) by using a quota sampling approach. The context of the study is the Chinese market, where budget hotels and the number of mass tourists (inbound and outbound) have increased tremendously. Findings This study identifies a behavioral pattern that differs from trends reported in prior studies. The finding shows that the relationship between customer experience and behavioral intentions is mediated by customer satisfaction, which similarly mediates the relationship between perceived value and behavioral intentions. Research limitations/implications The results provide significant implications for hoteliers in the budget hotel industry by calling for a differentiated marketing approach for this segment of customers. Furthermore, the study provides insights into the accommodation behavior of Chinese mass tourists. These findings can serve as reference for international budget hotel practitioners, especially those involved in hotels that target the increasing number of travelers from China. Originality/value The budget hotel sector is the first accommodation choice for many Chinese mass tourists. This study is the first to conduct a systematic exploration of the behavioral patterns of customers toward budget hotels in this context. Moreover, this study adopts a holistic approach by adopting an experiential view in measuring the overall experience of customers in budget hotels.

Working in hospitality establishments involves high levels of stress, partially due to the anti-social shift rotations and the high levels of emotional labor needed. Unmanaged stress often leads to psychological and even physical diseases, which harm both individual career development and hotel operations. Thus, it is of great importance to identify effective stress coping strategies to maintain a sustainable hotel work force. Stress coping behavior varies among different demographics and generations. Commonly used stress coping scales were established almost 40 years ago, and under the context of daily events, and may not be applicable in today’s hospitality context. Thus, this study was designed to investigate effective stress coping strategies among today’s hotel employees. Data were collected from 470 hotel employees in 37 cities in China. The results identified 12 effective coping strategies that fell under three dimensions: distraction, sharing, and self-indulgence. The findings contribute to scholarly knowledge of stress coping. Managerial implications are also discussed.