Rob Kwortnik, associate professor of services marketing, joined Cornell’s faculty after earning his Ph.D. in Business Administration from Temple University in 2003. He also earned a BA in Journalism from Temple and an MBA from California State University, Northridge. Kwortnik’s research focuses on consumer behavior in service contexts, with special attention to service experience management. He has published in the Journal of Marketing Research, Journal of Service Research, The International Journal of Research in Marketing, and the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, among others. He has been honored eight times as a Teacher of the Year by students at The Hotel School. Prior to his career in academics, Kwortnik held several professional positions in marketing and was a travel industry consultant. He is a recognized expert on the leisure cruise industry.
Implementing Brand Strategy Through Digital MediaCornell Course
Course Overview
Hospitality marketing is fast shifting from traditional media to digital forms (e.g., social media, video, website and search, plus mobile applications). New-media technologies have changed the ways consumers experience and value a product or service. So how can you draw on these technologies to enhance your operations and provide distinct customer value? And how can you be sure your efforts in new media are producing tangible returns?
In this course, you'll examine innovations and trends in new media, and ways to leverage them to your brand's advantage. You will consider how new media can improve your marketing efforts by managing customer expectations and enhancing the consumer experience, and you'll discuss how to measure the success of those efforts. You'll also determine what organizational considerations will allow you to better leverage the evolving impact of new media and plan the future structure and role of your organization in this important area.
Explore this content through a mix of input from hospitality industry experts, hands-on practical activities, and the presentation of sound principles by Cornell faculty. Experience the content through the use of a fictional hotel case study with valuable feedback provided by your online instructor and peers.
You are required to have completed the following course or have equivalent experience before taking this course:
- Marketing the Hospitality Brand Through Digital Media
Key Course Takeaways
- Control and meet customer expectations
- Enhance customer value
- Enable real-time customer-service recovery measures
- Respond appropriately in service-recovery scenarios
- Evaluate financial and customer performance metrics
- Sustain organizational success amid technological change
- Organize your firm for long-term competitiveness
How It Works
Course Length
Effort
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Course Authors
Dr. Carroll is a Clinical Professor (ret.) at the School of Hotel Administration. For more than twelve years he has taught economics, pricing and marketing distribution courses at the undergraduate, graduate and executive education level. He holds a B.A. degree in economics from Rutgers, an M.S. in labor studies from the University of Massachusetts, and a Ph.D. in economics from Penn State.
As CEO of Marketing Economics, a consulting firm specializing in travel industry pricing, distribution, yield management and strategic planning, Dr. Carroll works with a variety of clients including global distribution systems, hotel service companies and travel intermediaries. He also works closely with PhoCusWright, Inc., a travel industry research, consulting and publishing company, and has written a number of reports and articles, including a report covering the evolution of hotel distribution and its impact on major chains and intermediaries.
For over 25 years Dr. Carroll held a variety of senior positions in the travel industry. He was the Division Vice President for Global Marketing Planning at Hertz where he was responsible for global pricing, yield management, marketing information systems, and counter sales. He implemented the first decentralized yield management system in the car rental industry and a comprehensive Executive Information System (EIS) that gained national recognition. Following Hertz, Dr. Carroll served as the Global Vice President for Reed Elsevier’s Travel Group which included responsibility for Travel Weekly, the Hotel and Travel Index, the Official Hotel Guide, and the Official Meetings and Facilities Guide. He was also responsible for production and data base systems and the migration of information products to electronic distribution.
Prior to his work in the travel industry, Dr. Carroll was an assistant professor of economics at Drew University where he taught courses in econometrics, public finance, labor and environmental economics. He also served as a member of the economics staff at AT&T where he was an expert witness before state regulatory bodies and prepared filings on pricing and forecasting with the Federal Communications Commission.
Dr. Carroll has written numerous academic and popular-press articles on economics and travel industry topics.
In addition to his business and academic career, he is a retired U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel and was a university lacrosse coach for over 10 years.
Who Should Enroll
This course is designed for hospitality professionals who are involved in revenue-generating roles at the property or corporate level, and marketing and sales personnel with minimal experience in online and new media marketing.