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Inès Blal

Dr Inès Blal

Dr Inès Blal

Associate Professor

Expertise

  • Strategic management for the hospitality industry
  • Social entrepreneurship
  • Management in Higher Education

Biography

Dr. Inès Blal is an Associate Professor in hospitality strategy and impact entrepreneurship, specializing in restaurants and small hotels. Her work focuses on food and hospitality ventures and business models that combine economic performance with social impact.

As former Dean of EHL and co-founder of the EHL Institute for Nutrition R&D, she works at the intersection of research, education, and practice on impact-driven hospitality strategies. She collaborates on research projects and advises organizations seeking to design and scale sustainable food and hospitality concepts. She is the curator of the new Impact Hospitality and EHL knowledge platform, which highlights impact-driven hospitality ventures worldwide, and serves on the executive committee of EHLsmile.

Awards

Michael D. Olsen Outstanding Alumnus Award (2018)
EHL Researcher of the Year (2013)
Winner of the Outstanding Doctoral Research Award in the Hospitality Management (2009)

Education

PhD in Strategic Management for the Hospitality Industry, Pamplin Business School, Virginia Polytechnic and State University, Blacksburg, USA
Master's Degree in Hospitality Management, EHL

Courses Taught

BACHELOR OF SCIENCE IN INTERNATIONAL HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT
• Corporate Strategy
• Impact Entrepreneurship

Teaching Location

EHL Campus Lausanne
Academic Publications

Academic publications from Inès Blal

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Article

The differential effects of the quality and quantity of online reviews on hotel room sales

While it is generally accepted that hotel reviews and ratings posted on travel websites drive hotel sales and revenue, the effects of reviews can be parsed into volume (the number of reviews about a hotel) and valence (the ratings in those reviews)....

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Article

Airbnb’s effect on hotel sales growth

Disruption of existing industries by peer-to-peer sharing economy platforms, like Airbnb, has received extensive media attention primarily regarding the regulatory and the social aspects of the sharing economy. In this paper, we examine the...

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Article

The asset light model : a blind spot in hospitality research

This research note raises the question of the lack of critical appraisal of the asset light model. Its purpose is to trigger an in-depth exploration of the determinants of performance of the implementation of such decision. To explore our argument,...

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Article

What is happening in Paris ? Airbnb, hotels, and the Parisian market : a case study

Airbnb has been the subject of heated discussions among tourism and hospitality scholars. In order to understand the true impact of P2Psharing on the tourism and hospitality landscape, it is important to understand that market in detail first....

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Article

The importance of micro-location for pricing real estate assets : the case of hotels

Traditionally, hedonic pricing studies focusing on commercial real estate control for spatial effects with macro-location dummy variables, for example, at the MSA or submarket level, and predominantly rely on OLS regression. This approach ignores...

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Article

The asset-light strategies and the dividend puzzle; international evidence from the hospitality industry

This study investigates the impact of the asset-light strategy on dividend policy using a sample of large international publicly-listed companies (399 firm-year observations) operating in the hotel and restaurant industry over the 2006–2018 period....

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Article

Cross-dimensional measures of asset lightness and fee orientation in lodging groups

This study proposes cross-dimensional measures of the degree of implementation of the lodging industry’s asset- light & fee-oriented (ALFO) strategy. We apply a common factor analysis to measure the degree of implemented ALFO strategy on a sample of...

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Article

The role of brand authenticity for higher education institutions

Higher education institutions (HEIs) engage more and more in branding activities to sustain an advantage in an increasingly high competitive environment. In such a pressing managerial context, research on brand management in the specific context of...

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Article

Emotional intelligence matters in hospitality education: contributions of emotional intelligence, fluid ability, and personality to hospitality grades

Introduction: According to recent meta-analyses, emotional intelligence can significantly predict academic performance. In this research, we wanted to investigate a particular group of students for which emotional intelligence should be crucial....

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Journal publications

Girardin, F., Blal, I., & Lunardo, R. (2023). The role of brand authenticity for higher education institutions. Journal of Marketing for Higher Education, 34(2), 1056–1076.

Lussi, S., Masset, P., Weisskopf, J.-P., & Blal, I. (2023). Cross-dimensional measures of asset lightness and fee orientation in lodging groups. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 109, 103391.

Völker, J., Blal, I., & Mortillaro, M. (2023). Emotional intelligence matters in hospitality education: contributions of emotional intelligence, fluid ability, and personality to hospitality grades. Frontiers in Psychology, 14, 1148863.

Das, P., Freybote, J., & Blal, I. (2020). The importance of micro-location for pricing real estate assets: The case of hotels. Journal of Real Estate Portfolio Management, 26(1), 57-73.

Poretti, C., & Blal, I. (2020). The asset-light strategies and the dividend puzzle: International evidence from the hospitality industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 91, 102639.

Blal, I., & Bianchi, G. (2019). The asset light model: A blind spot in hospitality research. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 76, 39-42.

Heo, C., Blal, I., & Choi, M. (2019). What is happening in Paris? Airbnb, hotels, and the Parisian market: A case study. Tourism Management, 70, 78-88.

Blal, I., Singal, M., & Templin, J. (2018). Airbnb’s effect on hotel sales growth. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 73, 85-92.

Blal, I., & Sturman, M. (2014). The differential effects of the quality and quantity of online reviews on hotel room sales. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 55(4), 365-375.

Blal, I., & Graf, N. (2013). The discount effect of non-normative physical characteristics on the price of lodging properties. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 34, 413-422.

Blal, I. (2011). The role of middle management in the execution of expansion strategies: The case of developers' selection of hotel projects. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 30(2), 272-282.