No description available.

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Architecture

published_or_final_version / Architecture / Master / Master of Architecture

E.M. Statler was a revolutionary figure in the hotel industry. Between 1907 and 1927 the hotel empire that he built would set the model for both the business plan and architecture of many hotels that followed. Statler was the first to build his hotels around the idea of efficiency and economy. He was the first to provide private baths to every guestroom, no matter how small. He built his hotels with similar styles, allowing for mass purchasing of furnishings and a signature look.This thesis is a study of E.M. Statler, his ideas, the development of his hotels, and the architecture of those hotels. Although Statler's hotels would share many similarities based on his core beliefs on service, each one would be an improvement on the previous. Statler was constantly fine-tuning, and each hotel was the prototype for its successor. Through the study of their development, services, form, and layout, this thesis documents the evolution of Statler's ideas. / Department of Architecture

Thesis (MTech (Business Information Systems))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2016. / The aim of this research project was to determine what the degree of usability is of a sample of online reservation systems of Cape Town hotels. The literature has indicated that the main aim of website usability is to make the engagement process with a website a more efficient and enjoyable experience. Researchers noted that well designed, high-quality websites, with grammatically accurate content, create a trustworthy online presence. User-friendly sites also attract far more traffic. Previous research has also shown that a loss of potential sales is possible due to users being unable to find what they want, if poor website design has been implemented. Loss of potential income through repeat visits is also a possibility, due to a negative user experience. The research instrument that was employed in this research is usability testing. It is a technique used to evaluate product development that incorporates user feedback in an attempt to create instruments and products that meet user needs, and to decrease costs. The research focused on Internet-based hotel reservation systems. Only the usability was measured. Both standard approaches were used in this research project, in a combined quantitative and qualitative research design. In conclusion, the purpose of this research was to determine the degree of usability of specified Cape Town hotel online reservation systems. The outcomes of this study indicated interesting patterns in that reservation systems met user requirements more often than expected. However, the figures of acceptability obtained were still below the generally accepted norms for usability. The amount of time spent to complete a booking also decreased, as users worked on more than one reservation system.

This study examines the Single Room Occupancy Housing (SRO) stock of the City of Toronto and of the City of Vancouver. The term SROs refers to residential hotels and rooming houses. Rooming houses located in converted single family dwellings constitute the primary SRO form of Toronto. Residential hotels constitute the primary SRO form in Vancouver. This study examines the historical evolution of the SRO stock, the characteristics of the units, the socioeconomic characteristics of the residents, and the provincial and municipal policy relating to the SRO stock. SROs were the first form of accommodation for many immigrants and transient male workers. SRO units in rooming houses also housed couples and families during the first decades of the 1900's in both Toronto and Vancouver. A dire shortage of affordable rental housing forced families to live in overcrowded conditions in single rooms. SROs today house primarily two three of population. Those who live in single rooms permanently, those who live in single rooms because they cannot afford to rent an apartment, and those who live in single rooms temporarily. Contrary to what has been commonly assumed, residents of SROs are not transient. SRO residents, although they might move frequently, they do so because they continually face displacement. Evictions are common because of real estate market pressures. Many SRO units are being converted to other residential uses or demolished. The main group of SRO residents still consists of single older men, however, the percentage of women and of young men has increased among the SRO residents in recent years, especially in the case of the rooming houses of Toronto. The majority of SRO residents live on incomes which are well below of the poverty line (approximately, 50% of the poverty line). These residents pay 50% to 75% of their income on housing. SRO housing is an important component of the rental housing market of Vancouver and Toronto. SROs constitute the last housing resort before homelessness. However, with the exception of SRO units in social housing projects, SROs existing today in Toronto and Vancouver do not constitute an adequate form of accommodation. In most cases, the physical condition of the units is substandard and the rents are still very high for the average SRO resident. In Vancouver, SRO units are not fully recognized as part of the rental housing stock because they are not protected by provincial landlord and tenant regulation. The continued availability of SRO accommodation looks more optimistic in Ontario than it does in British Columbia. The main focuss of the housing policy of Ontario and Toronto towards the SRO stock has been to rehabilitate, to improve and to expand the SRO stock. In addition, Ontario has recently drafted legislation which protects the rental housing stock from demolition and conversion and it has extended security of tenure rights to the residents of rooming houses. On the other hand, the main thrust of the housing policy of the province of British Columbia and of the City of Vancouver towards the SRO stock has been to relocate SRO tenants in social housing units / Applied Science, Faculty of / Community and Regional Planning (SCARP), School of / Graduate

The history of California's Basque boardinghouses, or ostatuak, is the subject of this dissertation. To date, scholarly literature on ethnic boardinghouses is minimal and even less has been written on the Basque "hotels" of the American West. As a result, conclusions in this study rely upon interviews, census records, local directories, early maps, and newspapers. The first Basque boardinghouses in the United States appeared in California in the decade following the gold rush and tended to be outposts along travel routes used by Basque miners and sheepmen. As more Basques migrated to the United States, clusters of ostatuak sprang up in communities where Basque colonies had formed, particularly in Los Angeles and San Francisco during the late nineteenth century. In the years between 1890 and 1940, the ostatuak reached their zenith as Basques spread throughout the state and took their boardinghouses with them. This study outlines the earliest appearances of the Basque ostatuak, charts their expansion, and describes their present state of demise. The role of the ostatuak within Basque-American culture and a description of how they operated is another important aspect of this dissertation. Information from interviews supports the claim that the ostatua was the most important social institution among Americanuak during peak years of Basque immigration. Since a majority of the Basque sojourners who arrived before 1930 were unmarried, unable to speak English, and intended to return to the Old World within a decade of their arrival, the Basque-American often substituted his "hotel" contacts for his Old World family. At the ostatuak, he found a familiar language and cuisine, as well as an employment agency, a place to vacation, translating services, an occasional loan, explanations of his host culture, and new friends from old villages. This history of California's ostatuak is the first of its kind and encourages future research on Basque boardinghouses throughout the American West.

Design is a never-ending process. There are very few answers and very many questions. / Master of Architecture

The main purpose of this study was 1) to determine the current status of research and development activities in the foodservice industry, with precise emphasis on lodging and restaurant segments, and its supplier-- food equipment manufacturers, 2) to ascertain the perceived future need for research and development in the industries identified in number 1, and 3) to formulate major research thrusts for the 1980’s. The data for this study were collected between March and April of 1982 through questionnaires that were sent to 881 organizations in foodservice and related industries across the nation. A total of 231 respondents participating in the study which provide information on research and development activities, as well as demographic data. Frequency distribution of the tallied responses as the respondents answered the twenty-two questions in the questionnaire are reported. This provides a general overview of the samples demographically as well as the R & D profiles. The R & D profiles describe the industry segments in terms of their R & D expenditure, number of R & D staff members, the internal process of research projects from initiation to market introduction, the current level of activities in research and development activities, as well as their perceived research problems in the future. Six sets of hypotheses were established to determine the relationship between the R & D efforts and selected variables that were assumed to demonstrate a correlation with extensive efforts in R & D. T-test, Wilcoxon’s rank sum, analysis of variance, Jonkeere and Gamma tests were utilized to test these hypotheses whenever possible. The level of significance was set at 0.05. The results indicate that there were statistically significant differences in the level of business volume and the size of company among the total respondents and the intensity of the research and development efforts. / Master of Science

published_or_final_version / Urban Planning / Master / Master of Science in Urban Planning