One goal often espoused by hotel operators is gaining guests’ loyalty by delighting them. Strange as it sounds, however, delighting guests is table stakes in today’s saturated hospitality industry. As brands compete on ever finer margins of service and comfort, loyalty can no longer rest solely on satisfaction. Even as most hotel firms seek and achieve flawless execution, they cannot gain substantial differentiation. So what else moves the needle? A study recently published in the Cornell Hospitality Quarterly suggests a novel strategic lever: psychological ownership. In this research brief, we present the theoretical grounding of psychological ownership, summarize the empirical findings, and translate the insights into actionable strategies.