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.

Thesis (DTech (Tourism and Hospitality Management))--Cape Technikon, 2003. / Many scholars in the social sciences, especially in the Hospitality industry have seen many changes over the years, based on research conducted in the workplace. Skills seem to be a popular research agenda. The literature is rich on how changes have occurred overtime in the hospitality industry workplace. With such a competitive environment this industry is functioning, it is important that entry level employees or current employees in the workplace possess a variety of non-technical skills. Once attained, these employees, will benefit the Hospitality industry, as happy clients / guests, will return, which will create a profitable workplace. It is vitally important that tertiary institutions pay specific attention to students and graduates, that they obtain non-technical skills, via co-operative education programmes, with a focus on the real employment world outside of education. This will equip them to find a job that could be satisfying and rewarding. Industry on the other hand should identify important non-technical skills and conduct on the job training, inducing such skills. The researcher found that the need for willingness to adapt and eagerness to learn was a consistent theme. The non-technical skills of communication, teamwork, initiative, problem solving and decision making were also highly valued. Respondents were dissatisfied with the quality of entry-level employees beginning their careers, especially graduates who lack non-technical skills. A need was seen for a long-term view of preparation of young people for work, beginning with parents and guardians, who should lay the foundations. Alongside them, educators should be fostering good attitudes and a love for learning, as well as lecturing verbal, numerical and other specific skills. Successful co-operative education programmes often could involve three key role-players, that of employers (managers / supervisors), students / graduates in this context and the tertiary institution they are studying at Technikon’s providing vocationally orientated co-operative education programmes, therefore need to continually examine what skills employers (managers / supervisors) consider to be important with regard to the skills required by students, entering the workplace. This research study revealed that there is a gap between the skills that students acquire in their formal studies and what employers (managers / supervisors) require. If this need is not recognised, the programmes, institution and students will suffer. The study is aimed at making a contribution towards co-operative education programmes in Hospitality and Tourism at technikons by identifying what non-technical skills the Border Technikon is not addressing. It was found that the skills not being adequately addressed fall in the non-technical skills category. The study identifies the non-technical skills required by employers (managers / supervisors) of Border Technikon Hospitality and Tourism students undertaking experiential learning.

Em tempos de uma cultura consumista e de corrida frenética por desenvolvimento a “qualquer custo”, o ser humano vem provocando inúmeros problemas ambientais. Nesse cenário, o turismo e a hotelaria ecologicamente responsáveis são altamente desejáveis, se estabelecendo como um segmento de mercado que pode ajudar na redução da impactação ambiental. No entanto, também pode ajudar a aumentar a sobrecarga que o ambiente natural já recebe, ao enviar turistas pouco responsáveis em destinos e hotéis ainda não planejados para trabalhar de forma mais ambientalmente sustentável. Percebe-se um interesse em sustentabilidade econômica, mas ainda pouco ambiental no segmento hoteleiro. Desta forma, o presente estudo se propõe a analisar meios de hospedagem em relação aos seus desempenhos organizacionais e suas práticas ambientais, considerando a seguinte pergunta de pesquisa: de que forma se estabelece a relação de práticas ambientais e desempenho organizacional na hotelaria da cidade de Porto Alegre? Para tal, foi realizada uma survey com os meios de hospedagem de Porto Alegre, analisando se existe e que tipo de relação há entre práticas ambientais e desempenho organizacional na hotelaria da cidade. As análises foram realizadas através de métodos estatísticos não-paramétricos. As práticas ambientais foram mensuradas em vinte indicadores e o desempenho organizacional foi analisado conforme embasamento nos sete critérios de excelência na performance do Baldrige National Quality Program (2009/2010). Os principais resultados apontam que existe uma relação de tendência positiva entre o uso de práticas ambientais e desempenho organizacional na hotelaria de Porto Alegre, ou seja, os meios de hospedagem que possuem mais práticas ambientais tendem a possuir melhores desempenhos organizacionais. / In times of a consumer culture and the frantic rush for development at any cost, the human being is causing several environmental problems. In this context, tourism and hospitality industry that are ecologically responsible are highly desirable, establishing itself as a market that can help in reducing environmental impact. However, it also can help increasing the burden that the natural environment already receives when sheltering many tourists that are not responsible in destinations and hotels that are not already planned to work in an environmentally sustainable way. There is an interest in economic sustainability, but still little interest in environmental sustainability in the hospitality industry. Being that so, the present study makes an analysis of hospitality industry regarding its organizational performance and environmental practices, considering the following research question: in which way environmental practices and organizational performance are established in the hospitality industry of Porto Alegre? To answer to this question, a survey was conducted in the hospitality industry of Porto Alegre, analyzing if there was and what was the kind of relation between environmental practices and organizational performance in the hospitality industry of the city. Analyses were carried out using nonparametric statistical methods. The environmental practices were measured in twenty indicators and the organizational performance was analyzed according to seven criteria of performance excellence given by Baldrige National Quality Program (2009/2010). The main findings point out that there is a positive trend between the use of environmental practices and organizational performance in hotels in Porto Alegre, that is, the lodging facilities that have more environmental practices tend to present the best organizational performances.

This research study analysed the role that experience played in the development of bar managers’ social competencies. Given the social nature of the bar environment, social competencies were perceived to be essential managerial competencies that enable bar managers to manage employees and consumers to ensure that employee and consumer satisfaction is maintained. The literature reviewed discussed the importance of managerial competencies and the composition of social competencies. Experience was conceptualized to develop an understanding of the informal learning method through which competency development occurs. Data was captured through face-to-face interviews, which were based on the Critical Incident Technique (CIT). The data was analysed using the open coding procedures of grounded theory. This research study proposed a process to explain how experience contributed to the development of social competencies. The proposed process, which is called the Social Competency Cache Development Process (SCCD Process), ultimately indicated that experience contributed to bar managers’ social competencies through a reflection process, the residues of experience, and through the familiarity of situations and results. This research study found that experience contributed to the development of bar managers’ social competencies within a process that established an awareness of unfamiliar social competencies or reinforced the effects of familiar effective social competencies. Experience was also found to promote the transition between novel situations and familiar situations, which in turn enabled bar managers to effectively assess social situations and select effective responses to social situations. Consequently, experience improved the probability of bar managers implementing effective social competencies to ensure employee and consumer satisfaction. In essence, experience shaped bar managers’ accumulation of social competencies by promoting the addition of new social competencies or the reinforcement of existing social competencies.

Submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Masters of Technology: Human Resource Management, Durban University of Technology, 2017. / The purpose of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of staff training on knowledge transfer and employee retention at Servcor Private Limited. Due to increasing levels of competition in staff training and growth opportunities in the Hospitality and Catering industry, Servcor Private Limited faced challenges in retaining its employees, as well as in ways of transferring knowledge. Employees at Servcor Private Limited in Zimbabwe were leaving in pursuit of world-class training and the opportunity for professional development offered in competing organizations, both within and outside the Hospitality and Catering industry. For this study, the target population equated to 240 employees and a sample size of n = 120 was considered as appropriate. The sample was selected by picking every odd number from the sample frame utilizing a systematic sampling technique under the ambit of probability sampling method. The data was analysed using the latest computerised Statistical Package for the Social Sciences 24.0 and the personal method was used to administer the questionnaire to all 120 respondents. Two questionnaires were discarded because the majority of questions were not answered and hence resulted in 118 responses. Therefore, a response rate of 98.3% was obtained. After the study was completed, the researcher solicited the services of a Post-graduate Librarian to run the TURNITIN Program to test the entire thesis for plagiarism which recorded 10%. The non-parametric tests were carried out to test hypotheses utilising the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 24 for Windows. The Pearson’s Chi-square and Spearman correlation tests were conducted for all fifteen formulated hypotheses to determine whether there was a statistically significant relationship between the variables. The key findings revealed that staff training was insufficient in the organisation and was not coping with constant changes in the surrounding. The findings indicated that respondents felt their superiors were not willing to teach them every aspect of their work. The findings also reflected that employees prefer on-the-job training. The researcher recommended that top management should increase the amount of investment on staff training in order to retain employees. The recommendations highlighted that should ensure that all the equipment and tools that are used for staff training are aligned with prevailing technology. The recommendations also highlighted that top management should promote a culture of knowledge transfer. The study concluded with suggestions for future research in this field. / M

M.Tech. / Employees in the events management and conferencing sectors in the tourism and hospitality industries are employed on either full-time and or temporary working arrangements, referred to as casualization. Traditionally, a full complement of employees would be present at hospitality venues; however, economic conditions, occupancy levels and consequently turnover, have dramatically changed, leading to venues only employing staff when they are needed. A South African survey (2010) reveals that most temporary employees are contracted from labour brokers, who in turn sell their skills and services to the events management and conferencing sectors, among others in the hospitality industry. This change was necessary to enable employers to only employ staff for busy periods. (Hickmore, 2011; Mosala, 2008)...

The purpose of this research was to determine the level of nutrition knowledge of students in four-year hospitality programs; their attitudes toward nutrition in general (general attitudes); and their attitudes toward its role in commercial foodservice (restaurant attitudes). Correlations between knowledge and attitudes and differences based on gender, age, college classification, and completion of a college nutrition course were also examined. Hospitality management majors in baccalaureate programs at three Texas universities completed 454 usable questionnaires. Although knowledge was not extensive, general and restaurant attitudes were positive. Knowledge was influenced by all factors except gender. General attitudes were influenced by gender, age, and classification. Only gender influenced restaurant attitudes. Knowledge was positively correlated with favorable attitudes.

The commercialization of hospitality established arguably the oldest profession. Historically small commercial hospitality establishments, known as inns in the western world, were of ill repute. Perhaps connected to their reputation, this category of accommodation facility has been seriously neglected as an area of academic inquiry, particularly from the perspective of the host. While there has been a huge growth in the interdisciplinary field of tourism studies in recent decades, little attention has been paid to the role of the host in the host-guest relationship at whatever level of analysis. This thesis seeks to redress the balance. Hospitality is a basic form of social bonding. This type of bonding, where a hierarchy between strangers is implicit (as with hosts and guests), may be termed ‘nexilitas’; nexilitas is a form of social bonding in liminal circumstances. To that extent it is comparable to ‘communitas’ which describes social bonding between equals in certain liminal circumstances. The difference is that nexilitas is a form of bonding between individuals in a complex power relationship. The host controls the hospitality space, but custom also empowers the guest with certain expectations, especially in the commercial context. The thesis identifies the various forms of hospitality – traditional ‘true’ or ‘pure’ hospitality, social hospitality, cultural hospitality and commercial hospitality – and discusses these critically in their historical and cross-cultural contexts, with emphasis on the perspective of the host. The passage of hospitality is then traced through the three phases of preliminality, liminality and post-liminality and discussed along the themes anticipation, arrival and accommodation and finally departure of the guest. While the historical and ethnographic review is mainly based on written histories and the experiences of other anthropologists as guests as well as ethnographers, the passage of hospitality draws on the multi-sited auto-anthropological experiences of the author, both as host and as ethnographer of contemporary South African hosts in small owner-managed commercial hospitality establishments.

The purpose of this research project was to explore the English communicative competency of management and supervisory level employees within the South Mrican hospitality industry. The Pro lit English Written Assessment, a competency-based assessment tool, was used to establish a relatively objective measure of the English communicative competency of nineteen managers and supervisors. Thereafter thirteen of these respondents were interviewed to determine their perceptions of their English communicative competency and the impact thereof on their work situation, as well as their perceptions of their learning needs and recommendations for intervention. The researcher selected a multi-method approach to the investigation and sought both quantitative and qualitative data. The assessment revealed that the English reading and writing ability of the respondents is distinctly lower than their recorded education level and inadequate in relation to the tasks they are expected to perform at work. The interviews indicated that the respondents are not aware of their lack of English communicative competency or the implications thereof. However, the respondents expressed important insights into the factors that should be taken into account when planning an educational intervention III an organization. These included the need to incorporate English second language learning principles, to treat the learner as an individual, to involve the learner in the decision-making process, to consider the practical concerns of the learner and to ensure that the programme content is appropriate. Recommendations for human resource practices and research in the hospitality industry are presented.

Increasing environmental awareness and an acceptance of accountability by the public and by businesses internationally and locally, could motivate organisations to adopt Environmental Management as part of their operations. The new direction the tourism and related industries are obliged to follow, in accordance with new government initiatives, will require responsibility in terms of the environment, management of the impacts these activities have on the environment and a commitment to the philosophy of sustainable development. Even though international standards and benchmarks for Environmental Management exist for the hotel industry, standards and guidelines do not yet exist for the South African environment. Furthermore, guidelines for an Environmental Management System in accordance with ISO 14001 have not yet been drafted for this industry, either internationally or locally. The aim of this study is to compile a guideline document for the implementation of Operational Environmental Management in accordance with the requirements of an ISO 14001 Environmental Management System. Three South African hotels, belonging to a local group of hotels but with international exposure, were researched as case studies to establish the impacts hotels may have on the environment. Literature on Environmental Management was studied to extract the requirements for Environmental Management, and combined with the requirements for the establishment of an Environmental Management System as prescribed by ISO 14001. The research confirmed that hotel activities, facilities and services impact on the environment. Environmental Management procedures previously documented for hotels have not been incorporated into an ISO 14001 Environmental Management System. The study successfully combined Environmental Management procedures for the environmental impacts identified for hotel activities, facilities and services with the procedures of establishing an ISO 14001 Environmental Management System. In summary, hotels have activities, facilities and services that impact significantly on the environment, but these significant impacts are site-specific. Detailed site-specific assessments should be undertaken when implementing this guideline for specific hotels, to establish the significance of each of the environmental impacts in relation to the site that is studied. Further studies should adapt this guideline document to the different accommodation types offered in the hospitality industry to ensure that an ISO 14000 Environmental Management System can be implemented at each of these accommodation types. / Dissertation (ML(Landscape Architecture))--University of Pretoria, 2004. / Architecture / unrestricted