Biography

Juan Luis Nicolau, PhD is the J. Willard and Alice S. Marriott Professor of Revenue Management in the Virginia Tech Pamplin College of Business. He has authored 2 books, 8 book chapters and more than 200 journal publications (over 180 of them are published in journals listed on the Web of Science’s Journal of Citation Reports), such as Strategic Management Journal, Omega: The International Journal of Management Science, Journal of Business Research, Economics Letters, Marketing Letters, European Journal of Operational Research, Journal of Travel Research, Annals of Tourism Research, Tourism Management, International Journal of Hospitality Management, Tourism Economics, Journal of Services Marketing or European Journal of Marketing. Before joining Virginia Tech, he was tenured Full Professor of Marketing and the Dean of the College of Economics and Business of the University of Alicante (Spain). He has received more than 25 research awards and recognitions. He is ranked in the top 1% of the World’s most cited authors since 2019 according to the Elsevier World Ranking of Scientists, listed among the world’s top-10 international researchers in tourism according to the ranking published in Journal of Global Hospitality and Tourism, and ranked 1st in the world among authors publishing in the Hospitality & Tourism Management journals listed in the Shanghai Ranking over the 2021–2025 period.

Research

Research Area

• Online reviews
• Choice models and decision making
• Firm value
• Revenue management
• Tourism marketing

Research Methods

• Discrete choice models
• Event study
• Econometrics

Publications that best represent my research

• Filieri, R., Christodoulides, G., & Nicolau, J. L. (2025). Emerging sources, formats, channels, devices, and audiences in modern eWOM communications, Psychology & Marketing, 42, 9, 2430-2443. https://doi.org/10.1002/mar.22239
• Jung, H., Sharma, A., and Nicolau, J.L. (2025). GenAI in tourism: Who wins, who loses?, Tourism Management, 114, 105357. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2025.105357
• Kim, Y. and Nicolau, J.L. (2025). Deploying popular culture for international expansion: Effect of operational strategies on hotel firms’ performance, Tourism Management, 107, 105060. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2025.105240
• Nicolau, J.L. (2025). When ChatGPT designs your trip: How GenAI adds a cognitive layer to smart tourism, Journal of Smart Tourism, 5, 4, 137-151. https://doi.org/10.1177/27652157251371101
• §  Shin, H., Sharma, A., Santa-Maria, M.J. and Nicolau, J.L. (2025). Rivalry and market value: Extending event studies to competitive analysis in tourism firms, Tourism Management, 113, 105352. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tourman.2025.105352
• §  Campayo-Sanchez, F., Mas, F. and Nicolau, J.L. (2025). All for one and one for all: the spillover effect of sports on hotel market value, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 132, 104388, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhm.2025.104388

Teaching

PhD

• HTM 6464 Research Foundations in Hospitality and Tourism Management

Undergraduate

• HTM 4454 Hospitality Revenue Management

Master

• HTM 5574 Revenue Management For Hospitality Services

PhD Supervision

• Yelim (Erin) Kim
• Hyojun Jung
• Hoyoung Shin

Graduated

• Abhinav Sharma
• James Raad
• Hyoeun Kim

Professional Engagement

Conferences

• Travel and Tourism Research Association (TTRA) 

Professional Experiences

• Associate Editor, Journal of Travel Research, since 2010
• Associate Editor, Annals of Tourism Research, since 2018
• Associate Editor, Tourism Economics, since 2018
• Associate Editor, Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, since 2018
• Associate Editor, Business Research Quarterly (formerly known as Cuadernos de Economía y Dirección de Empresas (CEDE)), 2012-2016, and since 2022
• Editorial Board member of Journal of Sustainable Tourism since 2021
• European Journal of Management and Business Economics, since 2024

Editor of special issues

Guest Editor of the special issue in Tourism Economics “Sports and Tourism: Economic Impacts”, 2019

Psychology & Marketing, 2022

Journal of Sustainable Tourism, 2022

Annals of Tourism Research, 2022

Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 2023

• Founding member, Alliance for Innovators and Researchers in Tourism & Hospitality (AIRTH), since 2017

Education

• PhD, College of Economics and Business, University of Alicante, 2002

Background

Honors and Awards

• Research Award for the best Spanish PhD thesis in tourism, Valencia Government, 2004.
• Research Award for the best marketing research project, ESIC Business School, 2004.
• 1st Prize in the Malaga Research Contest to the best tourism research project, Malaga Government, 2006.
• Valedictorian Doctorate Award, University of Alicante, 2007.
• "Outstanding Paper Award Winner" at the Emerald Literati Network Awards for Excellence 2008.
• Secondary award in Joan Oró’s Award to the scientific research divulgation, Catalan Association of Scientific Communication, 2008.
• "Highly Commended Award" at the Eirass 2009 Conference, Niagara.
• Award for the best research project in tourism in the International Tourism Trade Fair (FITUR), 2010)
• Unicaja Award to the best socioeconomic research project, Octubre 2010.
• Research Award of the Everis Fundation, 2011.
• “Journal Paper of the Year Award” (second), International Federation of IT and Travel and Tourism (IFITT), 2014 [Park, S., Nicolau, J.L. and Fesenmaier, D. (2013) “Assessing advertising in a hierarchical decision model”, Annals of Tourism Research, 40, 260-282]
• “Journal Paper of the Year Award” (third), International Federation of IT and Travel and Tourism (IFITT), 2014, [Nicolau, J.L. and Santa-María, M.J. (2013) “The effect of innovation on hotel market value”, International Journal of Hospitality Management, 32, 71-79].
• Spanish Government official research recognitions: He has obtained -on four occasions- the official recognition of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology for his international quality research over the past 24 years. This Ministry evaluates each researcher’s publications and determines the “official recognition” every six years. Periods: 1998-2003, 2004-2009,  2010-2015 and 2016-2021.
• He is included in the top-10 international researchers in tourism (2022) [Cao, Y., Jeon, J., Tang, L. R., & Wang, X. (2022). Revisit hospitality and tourism research rankings in six journals: Second decade of the new millennium. Journal of Global Hospitality and Tourism, 1(1), 1-15], and ranked 1^st in the top-10 international researchers in the field of destination choice in tourism research (2021) [Pandey, K., & Joshi, S. (2021). Trends in destination choice in tourism research: A 25-year bibliometric review. FIIB Business Review, 10(4), 371-392].
• Award for the best university professor of the year 2010 (Teaching Excellence Award) by the State Government of Valencia (Spain).
• Feiertag HTM Certificate of Teaching Award, 2020
• Annual Faculty Award for Excellence in Research (MVP Award 2020), Pamplin College of Business, 2020
• Annual Faculty Award for Excellence in Research (MVP Award 2021), Pamplin College of Business, 2021
• Iacobus Award of the European Union – European Regional Development Fund for his work on senior tourists, 2021.
• Alimara Award in Tourism Research, CETT-UB, Barcelona School of Tourism, Hospitality and Gastronomy, 2021, “for expanding the theoretical and practical knowledge of tourists’ behavioral patterns and their purchase decision processes.”
• Best paper award (1^st place), 90^th TOSOK International Tourism Conference, Shin, H., Kang, J., Sharma, A. and Nicolau, J.L. (2021), The value of vaccines passport policy for travel recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic: a multi-stakeholder perspective, July 2021.
• Pamplin College of Business Career Award for Research Excellence, 2021, in recognition of his exceptional career record of outstanding research, scholarly inquiry and investigations that have led to the development of new theories and empirical generalizations, and the application of such contributions to practice.
• Virginia Tech Alumni Award for Excellence in International Research, 2022, in recognition for “his outstanding contributions to international research at Virginia Tech and the very impressive and notably efforts throughout his entire career”.
• Annual Faculty Award for Excellence in Research (MVP Award 2022), Pamplin College of Business, 2022
• Best Paper award, Research and Innovation Conference, Yang, Y., Viglia, G., García, M. and Nicolau, J.L. (2021), “Competitors or complements: A meta-analysis on the effect of Airbnb on hotel performance”, University of Portsmouth, UK, 2022.
• Honorary appointment as Eminent Scholar at Kyung Hee University, Republic of Korea, 2023
• Annual Faculty Award for Excellence in Research (MVP Award 2023), Pamplin College of Business, 2023
• Career Award for Academic Excellence in Tourism Research by the University of Alicante, Spain, 2024

Previous Universities

• Tenured Full Professor of Marketing, Department of Marketing, Dean of the College of Economics and Business, University of Alicante, 1996-2017

Recommendations

Destination

• Mariola Mountains, Alicante, Spain – because of their people’s hospitality

Food & Drink

• Paella, rice, best to be enjoyed in the mountains of Alicante