Contrary to the conventional wisdom, the study described in this report calls into question the principle that the best way for a brand to ensure that an affiliated hotel conforms to standards is to own that property.

Instead, a comparison of opportunistic behavior at 49 brand-owned hotels with that of 247 hotels owned by a third party found that the brand-owned hotels report higher levels of opportunism on the part of hotel managers directed at brand headquarters.

The study also revealed conditions that tend to limit opportunism, which is defined as using guile to pursue self-interest.

Opportunism is limited when it is easy to monitor hotel performance, and when the brand is able to use opportunism as a form of retaliation.

On the other hand, contrary to expectations, the study found no effects of ownership when combined with either emphasis on relational norms or transaction-specific assets to limit hotel opportunism.

Ironically, the data indicate that having a third-party owner involved in the arrangement tends to stifle opportunism in the individual property.

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Dr. Chekitan S. Dev is associate professor of strategic marketing and brand management at the School of Hotel Administration. Recognized as a leading authority on strategic marketing and brand management, Dr. Dev’s award-winning research has been published in several peer reviewed journals, including the Journal of Marketing and Harvard Business Review. He has won all major hospitality research awards including the 2002 John Wiley & Sons award for lifetime contribution to hospitality and tourism research. Additionally, he has received several teaching excellence awards. A former corporate executive with Oberoi Hotels & Resorts, he has served corporate, government, education, advisory and private equity clients in over 35 countries on five continents as consultant, seminar leader and expert witness. Professor Dev was selected as one of the "Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Sales and Marketing" for 2009 by The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI). Dr. Dev has been interviewed on hospitality and travel trends by TIME, Newsweek, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Los Angeles Times, The International Herald Tribune, NBC Nightly News and National Public Radio.