Prof. Dr. Thorsten Merkle

Work at ZHAW

Position

Head of Expert Group Hospitality and Service Management

Education and Continuing education

Education

• flight instructor FI(A)
  Flugschule Grenchen
  08 / 2022 - 12 / 2022
• commercial pilot CPL(A)
  alpaviation
  03 / 2019 - 07 / 2021
• PhD / Business and Management
  University of Gloucesterhire
  10 / 2011 - 03 / 2017
• Postgraduate Certificate in Higher Education
  University of Derby
  08 / 2013 - 10 / 2014
• MBA / international Management
  Europäische Fernhochschule Hamburg
  03 / 2008 - 09 / 2009
• Diplom Betriebswirt (FH)
  Hochschule Heilbronn
  10 / 1998 - 03 / 2002

Network

Membership of networks

• Institute of Hospitality: Member
• International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education (ICHRIE): Member
• Higher Education Academy (HEA): Fellow
• Washington State University: Granger Cobb Institute for Senior Living: Faculty Fellow
• Chairperson: CHRIE Special Interest Group: The Business of Ageing in Hospitality

ORCID digital identifier

ORCID ID: 0000-0001-8945-1438

Media presence

Magazin ARTISET

Projects

• Technologization and Digitalization in Swiss Residential and Nursing Homes / Deputy project leader / ongoing
• Catering concept Zollikerberg / Project leader / ongoing
• Food Waste Measure in Airline Catering / Deputy project leader / ongoing
• Zipp & Scan / Deputy project leader / ongoing
• Digitalisation and technologisation in care homes / Team member / completed
• Nudging for Sustainability / Deputy project leader / completed
• Improving the well-being of residents in care homes by making catering services more flexible with the help of technology / Team member / completed
• DIGINUT – Comprehensive Digitalisation of Patient Nutrition Uptake in Health Care / Co-project leader / completed
• DC4HC – Digital Competence for Healthcare / Project leader / completed

Publications

• Merkle, Thorsten,

  2025.

  The evolution of tourism, hospitality, and service management.

  In:

  Reference Module in Social Sciences.

  Elsevier.

  Available from: https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-443-13701-3.00602-2

• Merkle, Thorsten; Knaus, Dominik Lukas; Siegrist, Chantal,

  2023.

  An exploration of the service innovation gap in Swiss tourism.

  In:

  Ratten, Vanessa, ed.,

  Entrepreneurship Business Debates.

  Singapore:

  Springer.

  pp. 87-96.

  Available from: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-99-1071-7_6

• Golding, Philippa; Merkle, Thorsten,

  2022.

  Matching business travel with wine tourism : the case of the canton of Grisons, Switzerland.

  In:

  Dixit, Saurabh Kumar, ed.,

  Routledge Handbook of Wine Tourism.

  Routledge.

  pp. 395-408.

  Available from: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003143628-35

• Merkle, Thorsten; Tajeddini, Kayhan; Vlachos, Ilias; Keane, Jim,

  2020.

  Entrepreneurship within airside food and beverage outlet patronage : the creation of ecosystems using outlet context and passenger’s emotions.

  In:

  Entrepreneurship as empowerment : knowledge spillovers and entrepreneurial ecosystems.

  Bingley:

  Emerald.

  pp. 127-150.

  Available from: https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83982-550-720201010

• Merkle, Thorsten; Tajeddini, Kayhan; Mostberger, Sven; Rohner, Sarah; Schmid, Kira; Shaw, Eleanor,

  2019.

  Digital application : evidence from Zurich airport.

  In:

  Tajeddini, Kayhan; Ratten, Vanessa; Merkle, Thorsten, eds.,

  Tourism, Hospitality and Digital Transformation.

  London:

  Routledge.

  pp. 147-164.

  Available from: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429054396-9

• Schneider Stingelin, Colette; Merkle, Thorsten; Gerber, Nicole; Zigan, Nicole,

  2025.

  Residential and nursing homes : an exploratory study on the introduction and accompaniment of new technologies[poster].

  In:

  7th Digital Health Lab Day, Winterthur, Switzerland, 3 September 2025.

• Merkle, Thorsten; Diez, Karin; Kramer, Iris; Ottenbacher, Michael,

  2025.

  Zipp & Scan : revolutionizing patient belongings management in same-day surgery – a pilot study from Switzerland[paper].

  In:

  APacCHRIE 2025 Conference, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 27-30 May 2025.

• Merkle, Thorsten; Das, Sushanta; Seenivasan, Satheesh,

  2025.

  Passenger delight in liminal spaces : unveiling the dynamics of airport airside F&B[paper].

  In:

  APacCHRIE 2025 Conference, Chiang Mai, Thailand, 27-30 May 2025.

• Merkle, Thorsten; Pfenninger, Mirjam,

  2024.

  Using AI in business model development at Masters’ level – findings from a preliminary study in Switzerland[poster].

  In:

  International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education (ICHRIE) Global Conference, Montreal, Canada, 24-26 July 2024.

  ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften.

  Available from: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-31181

• Merkle, Thorsten; Jeanfavre, Elsa; Gerber, Nicole; Braun, Lisa; Kornsteiner, Tania; Umbricht, Benedikt,

  2023.

  Implementation of service robots in Swiss hospitals and hotels : an investigation of the barriers to use[poster].

  In:

  40th Annual European Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education (EuroCHRIE) Conference, Vienna, Austria, 3-6 October 2023.

  Winterthur:

  ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften.

  Available from: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-28843

• Merkle, Thorsten; Wrase, Isabelle,

  2023.

  Digitizing healthcare patient nutrition intake in Swiss hospitals[paper].

  In:

  Annual International CHRIE Summer Conference, Phoenix, USA, 19-21 July 2023.

• Gerber, Nicole; Merkle, Thorsten,

  2023.

  Improving residents’ wellbeing in senior citizen homes with more individualized food services[paper].

  In:

  IOP Conference Series: Earth and Environmental Science.

  CIB W070 Conference on Facility Management and Maintenance, Trondheim, Norway, 8-11 May 2023.

  IOP Publishing.

  pp. 12016.

  Available from: https://doi.org/10.1088/1755-1315/1176/1/012016

• Merkle, Thorsten; Knaus, Dominik; Siegrist, Chantal,

  2022.

  Addressing the service innovation gap : the case of a fast food chain[poster].

  In:

  39th Annual European Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education (EuroCHRIE) Conference, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands, 24-27 October 2022.

  Winterthur:

  ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften.

  Available from: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-26008

• Merkle, Thorsten; Knaus, Dominik; Siegrist, Chantal,

  2022.

  An exploration of the service innovation gap in Swiss tourism[poster].

  In:

  2022 Annual International CHRIE Summer Conference, Washington, D.C., USA, 3-6 August 2022.

• Merkle, Thorsten; Plüss, Till,

  2024.

  Organisationsformen des Facility Managements in Akutspitälern.

  Clinicum.

  2024(3), pp. 67-69.

  Available from: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-31486

• Merkle, Thorsten; Diez, Karin; Gerber, Nicole; Jeanfavre, Elsa,

  2024.

  Innovationsforschung im Bereich Gästeservice / Hotellerie in Spitälern.

  Wädenswil:

  ZHAW Zürcher Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften.

  Available from: https://doi.org/10.21256/zhaw-29836

• Wang, Xuan Lorna; Han, Dai-In Danny; Merkle, Thorsten; Ossola, Paola; Swanger, Nancy; Xu, Tracy,

  2024.

  Silver Economy and Hospitality 4 Good.

  In:

  41st Annual European Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education (EuroCHRIE) Conference, Doha, Qatar, 4-7 November 2024.

• Merkle, Thorsten,

  2024.

  Stellenwert Hotellerie.

  In:

  4. Schweizer Hotellerie-Symposium im Gesundheitswesen, Suhr, Schweiz, 22. Oktober 2024.

• Merkle, Thorsten,

  2021.

  Foodflow – und plötzlich ist alles digital.

  In:

  FM Perspektiven: FM Innovationen in HC digital, Wädenswil, 26. November 2021.

Affiliations

Current Affiliations

International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education: Special Interest Group Chair
International Council on Hotel, Restaurant, and Institutional Education (ICHRIE): The Business of Ageing in Hospitality SIG: Chair, Richmond
03 / 2025 - 08 / 2026

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