Chekitan Dev is an internationally renowned scholar and thought leader on marketing and branding in the hospitality, travel, and tourism industries. As an expert witness, he has testified in deposition, at trial, and at arbitration in numerous hospitality-related matters, both in the United States and internationally, including multiple cases involving hotel owner–brand relationships and the online travel industry.
Professor Dev has consulted on marketing and branding to major corporations. He has more than 40 years of experience analyzing an array of issues involving hotels, travel, and tourism. Professor Dev’s recent research has focused on how branding and rebranding affect both public perception and profitability in the hospitality industry. In particular, he has assessed key drivers of profitability and customer loyalty, including branding, digital marketing, and consumer service. Professor Dev has also evaluated brand portfolio strategy in the context of hotel mergers.
An award-winning author, Professor Dev wrote “Hospitality Branding” (Cornell University Press), as well as over 100 articles in leading academic and practitioner journals, including the Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Marketing Research, and Harvard Business Review. He has coauthored multiple case studies for Harvard Business School and in 2019 received the overall winner award for best case study from the Case Centre at the Cranfield School of Management (UK). The American Marketing Association recognized Professor Dev and his coauthors as finalists for the Best Service Research Paper of the Year Award for their article “Return on Service Amenities” (Journal of Marketing Research, 2017).
Professor Dev is a sought-after commentator on hospitality trends. He has been interviewed numerous times in the mainstream media, and his research has been featured in The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, and the International Herald Tribune, among others. The Hospitality Sales and Marketing Association International (HSMAI) has selected Professor Dev as one of the “Top 25 Most Extraordinary Minds in Hospitality, Travel and Tourism Sales and Marketing.”
At Cornell’s Nolan School of Hotel Administration, Professor Dev teaches courses on brand and marketing management.