Theoretical, empirical, and operational models in hotel location research

This paper aims to review past literature on hotel location models and evaluate the state of the art, as well as set out future directions. This study divides hotel location models into three major categories: theoretical models, empirical models, and operational models. Four theoretical hotel location models are reviewed and discussed, including the tourist-historic city model, the mono-centric model, the agglomeration model, and the multi-dimensional model. Based on previous literature, six empirical models and three operational models of hotel location are elaborated. Furthermore, some challenges related to hotel location studies are discussed, and future research directions are provided. In particular, we advocate the development of more sophisticated hotel location models and the use of Geographic Information System (GIS) in hotel location analysis. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.