By: Dr. Yinghua Huang & Dr. Jie Gao
Student Research
A team of five undergraduate students, advised by Dr. Yinghua Huang at the Department of Hospitality, Tourism, and Event Management (HTEM), ranked in 9th place in the 2020 STR Virtual Student Market Study Competition. The international competition was hosted by Smith Travel Research Global (STR), the leading data analytics provider for the lodging industry. This year, 36 undergraduate and 13 graduate teams, representing 43 schools from 17 countries, participated in this global competition. Ten undergraduate teams and five graduate teams made it to the finals. Our SJSU undergraduate team is among the four finalists from U.S, while other six undergraduate teams are from other countries. Our student team participated in the finalists’ online presentation contest on Nov. 21, finishing in 9th place. Virginia Tech ranked in the 1st place among all undergraduate teams, followed by Michigan State University and Hong Kong Polytechnic University.
This is the third time that Dr. Yinghua Huang advised a team of HTEM students to participate in the global competition. Our team consists of Phuc Dinh, Jaewan Son, Mehdi Karamloo, Jyoti Lama, and Jiaxin Liu. The students devoted great efforts in summer and this Fall semester to conduct an extensive analysis of hotel performance in Santa Clara County. The students examined the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on local hotel business performance and identify some post-pandemic trends for hotels in the Silicon Valley market. Our students shared that the whole process of participating in the competition helped them to improve skills in data analytics, story-telling, data-visualization, and teamwork. Notably, all teamwork, collaboration, and the competition itself were done virtually. A team member Phuc Dinh said, “This is such a rewarding experience! I have learned so many things that I can apply in my career!”
Student Chapter Award
The Hospitality Financial and Technology Professionals (HFTP) SJSU student chapter recently received the 2020 HFTP Membership Award by HFTP Global. The HFTP is an international organization for the finance and technology segments of the hospitality industry, with thousands of members across the world. The organization is headquartered in Austin, Texas, and consists of dozens of professional chapters and student chapters worldwide. Dr. Yinghua Huang established the HFTP SJSU student chapter in 2012, and this is the third time the student chapter received an annual student chapter award. This year, the Chapter Membership Award recognized a chapter that exceeded serving the needs of its chapter membership during the COVID-19 pandemic. The SJSU student chapter was selected for its outstanding support and service to student members. Since the HTEM department moved to an online teaching mode, the student chapter officers organized several virtual events for the faculty and students in the Spring semester. The student chapter officers carefully planned and coordinated their virtual events and provided various opportunities for their members to exchange ideas and support each other. The chapter also demonstrated great adaptability and resilience in supporting their student members. The student chapter officers said that they learned different types of event planning tools that numerous companies are using in the real-world. They felt very proud to receive the 2020 Chapter Membership Award.
Faculty Research
Dr. Yinghua Huang and Dr. Jie Gao conducted a series of studies in order to examine the impacts of COVID-19 pandemic on individuals and their coping strategies in the context of hospitality and tourism. They presented their findings at the 39th Annual Virtual Conference of International Society of Travel and Tourism Educators (ISTTE) in October, 2020. Dr. Huang and Dr. Gao first looked at the life of US college students majoring in hospitality and their coping strategies. Major stressors were identified in their college life amid the COVID-19 pandemic, including academic study, family, financial situation, social relationships, career development, and health concerns. Hospitality students reported being negative at the beginning of the pandemic outbreak, but some of them gradually clammed down. They hope for higher-quality online teaching and learning experiences, and to receive more assistance to find an internship or job. Dr. Gao and Dr. Huang also examined individuals’ emotional experiences and stress during the COVID 19 pandemic, and strategies they have used to regulate emotions and cope with stress, as well as explored the role played by staycations in the process of stress coping. Results suggested that staycations have become a new trend in COVID-times, because of the reduced stress related to organizing a trip, allowed carrying out unusual activities (e.g. visit the permanent collections of museums, play sports in the nearby parks), re-discovered the beauty of a city or region, allowed people to learn how to take advantage of the present moment, and promoted the local economy.