Over the past several years, some hotels in St. Lucia, Caribbean have experienced declining occupancy rates and revenues. The failure of general managers of large hotels on the island to increase and sustain occupancy levels may threaten the economic stability of the island. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies that general managers from 3 large hotels on the island in St. Lucia have used to increase and sustain occupancy levels in their hotels. The general managers selected for each case had over 15 years of experience in managing large hotels in St. Lucia. The conceptual framework applied in this study was system theory. Data were collected from hotel general manager interviews, review of government gazettes, select social media sources, and personal hotel property observations. The results of the interviews were analyzed and coded. Review of documents and property observations provided supporting information that corroborated the findings of the interviews. Methodological triangulation and member checking were used to interpret and analyze the data. At the conclusion, the following 4 theme collations were identified: marketing, air transportation, guest experience, and product development. The conclusions yielded that increased occupancy rates were dependent on the alignment of the hotel operational model, the services provided, and meeting customer expectations. Implications for social change include the possible creation and sustaining of new jobs in the hotel sector as well as in other possible sectors, such as construction, financing, and material supplies.

Cette recherche exploratoire s’articule autour du concept d’expérience client et de sa mémorisation dans le contexte de la restauration gastronomique, spécifiquement dans les restaurants des Grands Chefs Relais & Châteaux. Cette thèse a pour objectif de comprendre ce qui constitue une expérience de repas gastronomique via l’étude des éléments mémorisés par les clients. Un dispositif méthodologique en trois temps est mis en place : deux phases d’entretiens qualitatifs (n=65) et une phase quantitative (questionnaire administré en ligne, n=1855). Les échantillons sont structurés autour du critère de langue (francophone, anglophone et germanophone) et de la fréquence de consommation. L’analyse des données collectées permet de dégager d’une part les rubriques qui composent l’expérience mémorisée par les clients, d’autre part de mesurer l’influence de la familiarité individuelle sur l’interprétation des composantes de l’expérience de repas. Ce travail aboutit à l’élaboration d’un outil opérationnel à destination des Grands Chefs et des managers de restaurants. / This research is integrated into the guest experience concept and its memorization in the area of Grands Chefs Relais & Châteaux’ restaurants. This thesis aims to understand the constitution of a gourmet meal experience according to guests’ memories. A three-step methodological approach is set up: a double qualitative phase (interviews, n=65) and a quantitative phase (on-line questionnaire, n=1855). Samples are structured regarding languages (French, English and German) and consumption frequency. Data analysis permits to identify categories describing a meal experience as memorized by guests, and to measure the influence of individual familiarity on the interpretation of experiential components. This work leads to the elaboration of an operational tool dedicated to Grands Chefs and restaurant managers.

Consumers in the UK are spending about three days of waiting in queues every year. The majority of the French consumers would choose another business if it offered faster service. Research on current waiting times are therefore focusing on finding solutions to reduce consumers wait by reducing perceived waiting time and the dissatisfaction that arises with queues. The purpose of this study is to find out how to make the queues at the theme parks more fun with interactive digital technologies and the impact these have on the guest experience. A survey is carried out to find out how mobile usage looks at amusement parks today and how the respondents place themselves against the integration of interactive digital technologies in amusement parks. Even an interview, with the leader of the world's first synchronized queue entertainment the Helix game, is implemented. Theories show that one can reduce the perceived waiting time by introducing new environmental stimuli and fill the time with various activities that visitors can be consumed by. Thus increases the guest experience and the queues are less boring and time-consuming. One way of doing this is to incorporate mobile digital interactive techniques, which respondents would like to see more of. / Konsumenter i Storbritannien spenderar ungefär tre dagar på att vänta i köer per år. Majoriteten av de franska konsumenterna skulle välja en annan affär om den erbjöd en snabbare service. Forskning gällande väntetider fokuserar därför på att hitta lösningar för att minska konsumenternas väntan genom att reducera uppfattad väntetid och på så sätt minska missnöjet som uppstår med köer. Studiens syfte är att ta reda på hur man kan göra köerna på nöjesfält roligare med hjälp av interaktiva digitala tekniker och vilka effekter dessa har på gästupplevelsen. En enkät har genomförts för att ta reda på hur mobilanvändandet ser ut på nöjesfält idag samt hur respondenter ställer sig mot integreringen av interaktiva digitala tekniker på nöjesfält.  Även en intervju med projektledaren för världens första synkroniserade kö-underhållning, Helix-spelet, genomförs. Teorier visar på att man kan minska de uppfattade väntetiderna genom att introducera nya miljöstimulanser samt fylla tiden med olika aktiviteter som besökarna kan uppslukas av. Då ökar man gästupplevelsen samt gör köerna roligare. Ett sätt att göra detta på är att integrera mobila digitala interaktiva tekniker vilket respondenterna vill se mer av.