Hotel franchise agreements and the psychological contract

This qualitative research study explores the hotel franchising relationships and the psychological contract and develops a model of success factors of hotel franchising relationships. There is a rich franchising literature but little work that focuses on hotels. Three main issues on hotel franchising relationships are identified i.e. hotel franchising triggers; psychological contract and hotel franchising; hotel franchising lifecycle and phases. Various authors have highlighted the importance of managing franchising relationship and applying a systematic approach to evaluate it at regular intervals. Existing franchising lifecycle models and psychological contract models have also been criticized as in need of updating to design a comprehensive model of the success factors of the hotel franchise relationship.A multiple case study approach was adopted involving document analysis and semi-structured interviews with hotel franchisors and a number of their franchisees to explore how hotel franchisors and franchisees approach the issues of hotel franchise lifecycle phases and psychological contract. This study explores the nature of the relationship between franchisor and their franch