These case studies provide evidence of the contributions made by customers to the co-creation of innovation, a key feature of S-D Logic. In such situations, as Stefan et al. (2008) argue, customers are required to play new roles conditioned by certain key factors (Table 2). This interface with customers is important in a number of ways and as Sundbo (1997) points out innovation often focuses on a specific customer need. Within the hotel industry there is an emerging trend of customers being viewed as an operant resource in the co-creation process surrounding innovation, although this is not as yet the dominant paradigm in our sample (e.g hotels B, D, F, G and H do not engage in such a process).