The purpose of this study is to gain insight into factors that contribute to the success in high contact new service development (NSD) projects.

Data were collected via questionnaires from hospitality managers knowledgeable about NSD in their organization (sample size =183; response rate 38.1 percent). Discriminant analysis was used to identify the factors that are responsible for successful high contact NSD projects in the hospitality industry.

Research results indicate that seven factors play a distinctive role in the outcome of high contact NSD: market attractiveness, strategic human resource management, market responsiveness, empowerment, training of employees, employee commitment and marketing synergy.

This study was conducted in only one industry (hospitality) and one country (Germany) and included only the views of managers.

This study outlines the importance of human resource management factors in high contact NSD success. Findings from previous NSD success studies in low contact service industries have been only partly confirmed.

This study expands the scope of NSD research.