Brand loyalty development is an important part of a company‘s marketing strategy. Empirical data on the influences of brand loyalty in the South African hospitality industry is non-existent. Moolla and Bisschoff developed an empirical tool for measuring twelve influences of brand loyalty in, originally, the fast moving consumer goods (FMCG) industry. The model has since been validated and the reliability of the data confirmed for various industries such as agri- business, banking and pharmaceutical industries. The twelve influences the model test are; customer satisfaction, culture, brand performance, brand relevance, relationship proneness, brand affect, repeat purchase, perceived value, commitment, involvement, switching cost and brand trust. An adapted Moolla and Bisschoff model is employed in the hospitality industry, and more specifically the hotel sector, which aims to determine the role each influence plays on brand loyalty. Questionnaires were distributed to guests at various branded hotels in South Africa of which 187 patrons responded positively. The Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measure indicated sample adequacy and suitability for factor analysis, where after the questionnaire was validated and the data found to be reliable. According to the respondents‘ perceptions, customer satisfaction is regarded as the single most very important brand loyalty influence in the hospitality industry. Brand trust, repeat purchase, involvement, perceived value, relationship proneness, brand affect, brand relevance and brand performance can also be seen as important factors. Switching cost, commitment and culture were not considered to be very important brand influences. Sub-factors were identified for the influences of perceived value and relationship proneness. A new conceptual framework for brand loyalty in the hospitality industry was therefore suggested. The results of this study concluded that the adapted Moolla and Bisschoff model is indeed a valuable tool for measuring brand loyalty influences in the hospitality industry. This study also contributed to the knowledge base regarding brand loyalty of the South African hospitality industry in South Africa. / MBA, North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2015

Published Article / Problem-based learning (PBL) is a learner-centred strategy that can be used to achieve the objectives of Outcomes Based Education (OBE). The Hospitality management program has no evidence of a fixed learner-centred didactic approach such as PBL, E-learning or Resource-based learning (RBL). In considering PBL, we raised questions: Why PBL? To what extent are staff and learners prepared for PBL? What are the characteristics of the curriculum when implementing PBL etc? This paper highlights these and other questions. The outcome shows that principles of PBL are extremely applicable to Hospitality but that timetabling within the program is a concern.

Marknadsföring är ett viktigt verktyg att använda sig av för att locka konsumenter till att köpa hotellens produkter. Det finns ett antal olika sätt att åstadkomma detta. Syftet med uppsatsen var att undersöka olika marknadsföringssätt som kan vara gynnsamma inom dagens hotellverksamheter. Senare diskuterades det kring bakgrunden och resultatet. Här belystes det att segmentering av marknad är viktigt för att kunna möta olika kundgrupper på bästa sätt. Här framkom även att marknadsföringsmixens olika delar går att koppla till varandra. Ytterligare diskuterades det kring word-of-mouth och att det beror på flera faktorer om gästen ska bli nöjd med hotellet. Gynnsamma marknadsföringssätt som ett hotell kan nyttja är marknadssegmentering, marknadsföring baserad på den förlängda marknadsföringsmixen samt spridning av positiv word-of-mouth, där kundnöjdhet är ett centralt tema. / B-uppsatser

<div> <p>Employee turnover is widely recognized as a concern for hospitality employers. Therefore, strategies are needed to attract and retain workers. Organizational newcomers are vulnerable to job stressors that lead to burnout and turnover. However, organizational socialization facilitates employee learning and adjustment, which subsequently reduced turnover intentions. The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of organizational socialization tactics on the domains of socialization learning and on organizational commitment in the hotel industry. The study also investigated th­e influence of socialization tactics and learning on turnover intentions. Additionally, the study explored content, context, and social aspects of organizational socialization tactics used by hotels to facilitate employee learning. ­­The study utilized a mixed methods approach including survey data from employees of upper midscale and upscale hotels in the Midwest, and interviews conducted with a convenience sample of survey participants. Empirical analyses were conducted using descriptive statistics, t-tests, analyses of variances, and regression analyses. Thematic analysis was used for interview transcripts. Findings indicate higher perceived levels of institutionalized organizational socialization tactics do positively impact the four domains of socialization learning – training, understanding, coworker support, and future prospects. Higher levels of two socialization learning domains, coworker support and future prospects, positively impacted organizational commitment. Institutionalized socialization tactics and the socialization learning domain of future prospects were negatively associated with turnover intentions. Interview findings enhanced survey data on organizational socialization tactics in the hotel industry. There was a higher prevalence of individual and informal learning, and employees have limited awareness of sequential steps or fixed timetables. Employees engaged in observational learning related to job duties from coworkers, and observation of customer service skills from their supervisors. The study also found employees are learning interpersonal skills from guest interaction, including how they can integrate guest feedback into their organizational roles. The study demonstrates the positive influence of institutionalized organizational tactics on employee learning in the hotel industry and provides further context on socialization tactics from an employee perspective. Implications, limitations, and recommendations for future study are discussed. Practitioners are encouraged to engage in institutionalized socialization activities. Employers can also cultivate an organizational climate that enhances hands-on learning by adopting socialization activities that enhance employee self-efficacy and encourage relationship building between coworkers. </p> <p> </p> </div> <br>

Dentre as estratégias utilizadas pelas organizações, inclusive prestadoras de serviço, no intuito de fazer frente à concorrência e manter-se competitivas no mercado, encontra-se a busca constante da inovação. Muito já se estudou sobre inovação em indústrias manufatureiras. Utterback (1994) estudou diferentes indústrias, incluindo as de bens não-montados (como o vidro), no intuito de compreender como se dá o processo de inovação e como acontece o design dominante. Henderson e Clark (1990) buscaram compreender os tipos de inovações possíveis a partir dos componentes do produto e das ligações entre esses componentes. Pavitt (1984) propôs uma taxonomia para inovação nas indústrias considerando a sinergia entre as organizações. Também no setor de serviços são encontrados estudos sobre inovação, propondo classificações genéricas, principalmente a partir das mudanças tecnológicas e/ou integradoras. Haja vista os estudos de Barras (1986), Shostack (1987), Gallouj e Weinstein (1997), Miozzo e Soete (2001), entre outros. Mas esses estudos não consideram uma análise longitudinal das empresas prestadoras de serviços, nem buscam compreender como acontece a dinâmica dessas inovações ao longo do tempo dentro dessas organizações. A importância do setor de serviços na economia brasileira tem aumentado gradativamente, tornando esse um tema de grande relevância. Dentre os serviços em expansão, o turismo destaca-se pelo fato de ser um fenômeno social e estar ligado a diversas atividades, desde transporte, hospedagem e alimentação, até diversão. Considerando-se que o setor do turismo tem crescido enormemente nos últimos anos e a indústria hoteleira é parte importante que compõe a infra-estrutura do citado setor, torna-se pertinente um estudo teórico-empírico da indústria hoteleira. Assim, a partir da percepção do crescimento do papel dos serviços na economia, da importância da inovação para a competitividade nesse setor e do foco na indústria hoteleira, bem como o reconhecimento de dois modelos bastante aceitos no meio acadêmico para análise dos serviços, quais sejam o modelo do “Ciclo Reverso" de Barras (1986) e o modelo de classificação das inovações em serviços tendo em conta as competências e as técnicas empregadas de Gallouj e Weinstein (1997); a presente pesquisa apresenta as limitações dos citados modelos com base no estudo de casos múltiplos realizado em uma organização da indústria hoteleira e propõe ajustes aos modelos, considerando os resultados obtidos com a pesquisa. O estudo foi predominatemente qualitativo, com corte longitudinal e, além do método de estudo de caso, análise de dados retrospectivos; os dados foram obtidos através de entrevistas em profundidade, operacionalizadas por meio de roteiro semi-estruturado, e analisados por cruzamento com a teoria em conformidade com o modelo de Eisenhardt (1989). Os resultados obtidos demonstram que o modelo de Barras (1986), conforme este estudo, deve considerar a dinâmica entre as inovações tecnológicas implantadas nas organizações, pois as interações advindas desta dinâmica, não somente o seqüenciamento de cada inovação separadamente, também podem gerar melhoria na qualidade do serviço prestado ou inovação nos serviços. Em relação ao modelo de Gallouj e Weinstein (1997), a pesquisa aponta para a necessidade de inserção de mais dois fatores para análise das inovações dos serviços prestados: além das competências do cliente, das competências do prestador de serviços e da tecnologia do prestador de serviços, é marcante a influência das competências e da tecnologia do intermediário na prestação do serviço final em hotelaria. Assim sendo, este estudo contribui, empiricamente, analisando a dinâmica da inovação na prestação de serviços hoteleiros e, teóricamente, na proposição de adequação dos modelos utilizados, quais sejam, Barras (1986) e Gallouj e Weinstein (1997). / Among the strategies used by organizations, including service organizations, with the intention to be competitive in the market and in front of competitors, there is the constant search for innovation. The studies focused on innovation in the manufacturer sector are traditional and numerous. Utterback (1994) studied different industries, including the non-assembled industries (like the glass industry) in order to understand how the process of innovation is and how the dominant design happens. Henderson e Clark (1990) developed a framework for defining innovation from the analysis of two dimensions, the core concepts and the linkages between core concepts and components. Pavitt (1984) proposed a taxonomy for innovation in industries considering the synergy among the organizations. In the service sector there are innovation studies too, proposing generic classifications, mainly from the technology changes and/or integrative changes. There are studies like Barras (1986), Shostack (1987), Gallouj & Weinstein (1997), Miozzo & Soete (2001), among others. But these studies do not consider a historical analysis of the service organizations, neither try to understand how the dynamic of these innovation works in an organization time line. The importance of the service sector in the Brazilian economy is gradually increasing, becoming a very important theme. Among the services in expansion, the tourism stands out because it is a social phenomenon associated with different activities, like transportation, hospitality, food and entertainment. Considering the tourism sector is growing a lot in the last years and the hospitality industry is an important part that compounds the infra-structure in this sector, a theoretical and empiric study in the hospitality industry is pertinent. In this manner, starting from the increasing role of the services in the economy, the importance of innovation for the competitiveness in this sector and the focus in the hospitality industry; as well as the recognition of two frameworks much accepted in the Academy for analysis of service, that are the “Reverse Cycle" framework of Barras (1986) and the framework for service classification of Gallouj & Weinstein (1997); this study presents the limitations of these frameworks analyzing multiple case studies that were done in an organization from the hospitality industry and propose adjustments to the frameworks from the results of the research.

America is a nation of immigrants, yet immigration continues to be a troubling issue for the nation as immigrants face a variety of challenges to settling into life in the United States of America. In facing these challenges, immigrants look to the church as they have traditionally done, for relief and support. This study gathers and reflects on the experiences of a group of Ghanaian immigrants and their host congregations to compare their experiences of the church. In particular, it focuses on the experience of Ghanaian immigrants in United Methodist congregations in the Northeast, asking how immigrants experience congregational practices in comparison with the experience of long time members of the same congregations and what ecclesiologies are enacted or embedded within those expectations and practices. The study also asks how these ecclesiologies support or thwart Wesleyan convictions on hospitality and inclusion and how congregational practices can be transformed to become more Wesleyan and more liberative. The study proposes new and expanded ministry practices that position the church to respond to and learn from immigrants first within the church itself, and then within the wider society. While the study focuses on Ghanaian immigrants in particular, it points to implications for the welcome and reception of African immigrants more broadly into communities of faith in America. The results of this study of Ghanaian- influenced congregations may also have implications for the treatment of newer immigrants from across the globe. The question of the treatment of immigrants by the church is approached through a methodology that combines elements from Juan Luis Segundo's "hermeneutic circle" and Don Browning's strategic practical theology, and it utilizes the ethical methodology of Gustavo Gutiérrez, which parallels the reflexive movement of Browning's practical theological method. It describes the crisis that exists in three congregations with large numbers of Ghanaian immigrants, reviews current hospitality, worship and ministry practices, and sources of faith to reveal newer more appropriate practices that address the crisis, resolve the tensions that exist, and point to new ways of living in community.

Colour energy and wellbeing in the context of architecture and design are underestimated in terms of the value they bring to design, branding and real estate development in all sectors, ranging from residential to corporate projects, including the hospitality and luxury industry. Colour, with a particular focus on its latent energy, has not yet been sufficiently explored, researched or discussed, and remains one of the great mysteries of perception. Colour is essential for life and survival, and reaches far beyond art and the decoration of space. The sensation of colour, as an expression of the sense of sight, influences wellbeing and is connected to deeply embedded themes and patterns on emotional, cultural, or personal levels, through which it impacts on wellbeing, health, and decision-making in essential ways, not least because vision has replaced odour as the most essential sense for survival. The majority of all conscious and unconscious decisions are affected by notions of colour, a discipline of constant debate in both art and science. Architecture is somewhere in between, and practising architects are expected to provide the client with individual solutions based on informed decisions. When they do this, however, basing their decisions on experience, unspecified knowledge and intuition, they are often perceived as arrogant. Architecture and the design of space are a constant concern for everyone. The desire to build a home, a temple or a public building in a three dimensional environment is a fundamental urge and as old as mankind itself. Yet perhaps because of these strong impulses, the complexity of creating space is often underestimated. Our body records millions of impressions per minute across all five senses. The five senses keep us alive; they warn, nurture, and alert us, and human perception is based on receiving the vibrations caused by energy fields. These sensory vibrations are directly linked with the human body and it is through them that experiences like I am feeling good in this space and even unconscious memories are triggered. Clients may expect the architect to know everything about the perception of space. Architecture, however, is a very complex matter, and in most academic programs little or no time is allowed for the in-depth study of perception, psychology, colour energy, or wellbeing. Even architecture and interior design are often conflated, and treated as one combined subject rather than two complementary disciplines. What is most striking is that colour is often ignored in Western architecture. Furthermore, there is a bias in the literature and education of the West when compared to the holistic approach in the East. In the Orient, holistic means body, spirit and soul. In the Occident, in contrast, it means body, mind and brain. Spirit and soul are missing. And although the sense of something missing becomes more evident in the West, research fights shy of spirit and soul, and leaves unaddressed questions like: 1. What is the relation of colour energy, wellbeing and space in the Occident and Orient? 2. Why is colour not used more often and more instrumentally to improve wellbeing and influence perception? 3. Where do the inhibitions and obstacles come from that prevent occidental architecture and design from reflecting and applying ancient oriental knowledge and belief to colour healing, health, and wellbeing? As a colour theorist, architect and designer I propose that colour energy offers effective principles that provide an invaluable source for informed architectural decisions, which are genuinely independent of subjective taste or contemporary fashion trends, and that enable a truly holistic approach. This research proposes that wellbeing is both timeless and priceless and that wellbeing, health and perception can be stimulated by colour energy.

The question of sexual difference is missing from Maurice Merleau-Ponty's existential phenomenology and from Jacques Derrida's theory of hospitality. I address these gaps by using a feminist phenomenological perspective to read modernist representations of the “hostess”. I argue for a broadened understanding of “hosting” that encompasses how women use their lived bodies to tend to the social and physical needs of other lived bodies. In chapter one, I use Virginia Woolf's work to discover the “perfect” party‐giving hostess. I suggest that the heroic hosting of party‐giving is predicated on a more habitual, daily form of hosting. In the subsequent chapters, I explore the developmental stages in the life of the hostess. In chapter two, I read Woolf and Merleau--‐Ponty in tandem to witness the initiation of the hosting mentality in the childhood home. In chapter three, I close read descriptions of adolescent girls dancing in Virginia Woolf, Elizabeth Bowen, and Katherine Mansfield alongside the work of Iris Marion Young, to reveal the objectification of young female bodies as “future hostesses”. My fourth chapter focuses on maternal hospitality. Inspired by Luce Irigaray, I argue that D. H. Lawrence, James Joyce, and Merleau‐Ponty problematically appropriate maternal hospitality. Mina Loy contributes a female modernist perspective of the lived bodily experience of childbirth. In my final chapter, I discuss hospitality and death. With James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, and Virginia Woolf, I explore the “funeral‐giving hostess”. Finally, I conclude with a discussion of “hosting‐after‐death” as a way to describe the bodily and social care that women perform, or fail to perform, for what I term “lived dead bodies” in Lawrence's work. Throughout, I contend that failing to adequately recognise women's habitual and heroic hospitality devalues the important work that women perform for other bodies throughout their lives. In doing this, I carve a space for the hostess within traditional discourses of hospitality, and I develop the discussion of female‐bodies‐in‐situation that Merleau‐Pontian phenomenology lacks.

The purpose of the study is to investigate the hotel manager’s reaction to the increasing electricity rates in the City of Miami.

[No abstract included]