This study investigated demographic characteristics of 240 Chamber of Commerce members in terms of their expectations for customer service in hotels. Subjects reported their age, gender, marital status, race, educational level, income level and ethnicity, and completed a 26-item questionnaire which measured expectations for customer service. Principal components analysis was used to reduce the 26 items to five dimensions of service quality, and multivariate analysis of variance was used to evaluate the effect of the demographic variables on those dimensions. Gender of the customer was found to have a significant effect on the combined dimensions of service quality; other variables were not significant.

The current contribution of the hospitality industry to South Africa’s GDP is estimated at 8.7% and this is targeted to increase to 9.4% by 2015. Yet, hospitality organisations in South Africa are under increasing pressure to remain competitive. One emerging school of thought links knowledge to competitiveness. Knowledge management has been the focus of much recent research, but there are few studies that investigate the potential competitive gains of knowledge in combination with IT, and even fewer within the context of the hospitality industry. The purpose of this paper is to examine the joint and independent effects of knowledge content, knowledge processes, and IT resources on the competitiveness of hospitality organisations. A research model was developed following a review of the literature. To test the model, a structured questionnaire was developed and a survey was conducted in hospitality organisations across South Africa. 112 Hospitality organisations participated from a sample of 656. Knowledge and IT together significantly and positively influence the financial performance of hotels. Results indicated that the acquisition, conversion, protection and application knowledge processes, knowledge content, IT infrastructure quality and IT capabilities significantly and positively affect market, financial, employee and customer performance, while knowledge sharing significantly and positively affects market, financial and employee customer performance. The mediating role of knowledge application on the relationship between knowledge processes and competitiveness was confirmed. The resulting models had adjusted R2 of .210 for market performance, .226 for financial performance, .118 for employee performance and .117 for customer performance. The findings of this paper benefit the hospitality industry by providing guidance to managers of hotels in their decisions to invest in knowledge management and IT to improve market, financial, employee and customer performance. An earlier version of this study’s research model and design was presented at the 12th annual Global Technology Management Association (GITMA) World Conference held in Las Vegas in June 2011. Citation: Cohen, J.F., Inward, K., Toleman, M. (2011). 'Knowledge Management, Information Technology Resources, and the Competitiveness of Hospitality Organisations' Twelfth Annual Global Information Technology Management (GITMA) World Conference, Las Vegas, USA, June 2011.

Thesis (MTech (Tourism and Hospitality Management))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2018. / Factors that impact female managers in career development in the hospitality industry The hospitality industry is growing fast with the result there is a demand for more employees to assist in the various aspects of the industry. Together with this there is a noticeable increase in the number of females occupying management positions within the industry. The phenomenon that women are still restricted in career advancement is still evident. Several Studies show that the number of women in managerial positions is unbalanced compared to the percentage of women in the workforce including the hospitality industry. What does it take for female managers to attain and retain managerial positions? What challenges or obstacles are female managers confronting that are hindering their career development? This research project presented the general profile of female managers in Cape Town’s five and four star hotels, and examined the different factors that impact the female manager’s advancement in career development within the hospitality industry. The purpose was to identity the different factors that hinder female manager’s career development in hospitality industry. And the factors formulated are social, personally, cultural, economical, and professional or industry related and evaluate what the hospitality industry is doing in promoting and encouraging women’s career advancement. The target population for this study was female managers in Cape Town’s five and four star hotels. The criteria used included all female managers, in different departments within the selected Cape Town’s five or four star establishments. The research design consists of self administered questionnaires sent to a sample of five and four star hotels. Ethical consideration was considered important in the process of the research study. The results demonstrate that there are different factors hindering women in maintaining, obtaining and sustaining managerial postions within the hospitality industry. The significance of the research study will assist the female managers and the industry identity the different factors that interrupt women’s career development in the industry and identity different and appropriate strategies to promote and enhance women’s progression in the hospitality industry.

More than 50% of the workforce in the United States is disengaged, costing U.S. organizations almost $355 billion annually. Engaged employees improve customer satisfaction, perform effectively, and are committed to organizational goals. Guided by Kahn's personal engagement theory, the purpose of this multiple case study was to explore strategies business leaders in the hospitality industry used to improve employee engagement for increased productivity. A purposive sample of 1 business leader each from 6 organizations in South Korea shared their experiences with the phenomenon of employee engagement. Data were collected through face-to-face semi structured interviews and by reviewing company position descriptions and human resource policies. Yin's data analysis method revealed prevalent themes of communication, recognition and rewards, and work environment. Leaders influence employee engagement through open communication, providing rewards or recognition as performance incentives, and creating a psychologically safe work environment. Implications of this study for social change include decreased physical and mental health costs for employees and organizations. Improving employee engagement in the hospitality industry can reduce absenteeism and increase organizational profitability, sustainability, and participation in community and social programs.

This thesis examines the shift from traditional on-site industry education (apprentice style learning) to tertiary education in academically-centred institutions, with particular emphasis on professional culinary education. With the deceptively seamless transition of numerous crafts and trades from their traditional apprentice/journeyman training and education schemes, into the tertiary education sector - from the late 1960s up until today - a crack had been created in the education process. The government had acknowledged that the possible 'confusion' and 'drop back' in traditional training schemes and apprenticeships had, to some extent, been a case of confusion or misinterpretation on the part of trade and industry and new trainees. Particularly, when the general comprehension of the 'newly' altered Education Act, New Apprenticeship Act and government-promoted shift of autonomous industry bodies to a centralised State controlled system had been largely ineffective, there was an observable decline in the traditionally mentored and educated crafts and trades. The investigation extends beyond the recent 'symptoms' of changing government Acts, extensively developing (global) tertiary education and evolving industry education responsibility to explore the deeper influences and controls of change which have brought us to where we are today. This exploration will cover a diversity of education history, government policy, industry renovation and significant world events which have changed the path of the modern journeyman and professional craft and trade education. Within the New Zealand context, little research has been found or published on this particularly involved theme [the Modern Journeyman and professional culinary education], which, by its absence has contributed to a wide chasm of unanswered enquiries and uncertainties, which now needs to be investigated. This treatise explores three key areas of 'power and control' within the arenas of politics, education and industry education. These are considered through the multi-perspective lenses of critical social science, existentialism and postmodernism. Specific attention is paid to the practical aspects of the evolving (culinary) Journeyman and the seemingly repetitive patterns of 'power and control' that have emerged from the multifarious disciplines and time-frames. Throughout the development of Western European education and the advancement of craft and trade (knowledge and practices), there has been a question of value, ownership and 'privilege' attached to who, how, where and what can be taught and learnt. And in many cases the State has either stepped in to regulate the process - as a matter of civil duty, or has taken over the process - as a form of social and ideological control. In the case of the Culinary Journeyman, the New Zealand tertiary system and the shifting authorities of professional knowledge and practice, the price which may eventually be extracted for the targeted control of education practice (mentored/apprenticed learning) and professional knowledge development, may be more than the cost of an admission to a professional tertiary cookery course in the future.

Based on a fourteen-month period of ethnographic research conducted in an Australian Coastal hotel, this thesis explores the issues of management in a flexible organization. Using a textual approach to the study of organizations, the thesis focusses on the customer service discourse, its constituents, and the processes of its symbolic (re-) production in the hotel studied. Using a variety of textual data-among them academic publications from authors as diverse as Foucault, Clegg, Haugaard, Ritzer and Castoriadis; various forms of fieldnotes; and detailed descriptions of ritual and ceremonial events - the thesis not only provides a vivid account of organizational life at the hotel, it also identifies aspects of the latter such as meetings, training and reward programmes, and customer response schemes, as disciplinary technologies applied to govern both employees and customers. Extending the considerations about the disciplinary qualities of the customer service discourse and linking them with the issues of new forms of control as recently debated in the larger field of organization studies, the thesis will identify the processes of imagination, normalization, and subjugation as central to the establishment of a new management doctrine: corporate culturism. This discussion will also reveal the essentially hybrid nature of control under this new doctrine and it will expose the process of managing meaning as fundamental to its constitution and endurance. Respectively, the thesis will identify the hotel studied as an organization that thrives on corporate culturism. As the thesis represents a contribution to the field of (organizational) ethnography, it will - by recurrently reflecting on some of the contemporary debates in the field- implicitly address status and practicability of empirical (ethnographic) research in a postmodern world. / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

This thesis is about the customer experience in hotels. The thesis evaluates the customer experience in relation to the antecedents of behavioural loyalty. Behavioural loyalty is evaluated in relation to customer satisfaction, brand trust and brand attitude. Customer satisfaction is also evaluated in relation to the antecedents of hotel performance, service quality and perceived value. The broad research underpinning this research is: How do consumers perceive and relate to luxury and first class hotel brands? The hotel industry is a large and highly diverse industry that includes a wide range of property styles, uses and qualities (Chon & Sparrowe, 2000; Go & Pine, 1995; Olsen, 1996; Powers & Barrows, 1999). The industry covers the spectrum of small, medium and large enterprises (Brotherton, 2003; Jones, 2002) and makes a significant contribution to national and international economies. The research incorporated data collection in three stages. The first stage was a qualitative study of consumers who self selected as first class or luxury consumers. The data from the focus groups were used to develop items for inclusion in a survey instrument. The focus groups data, together with information gathered from a literature review, were used to develop scales across a number of hotel performance dimensions. In addition scales were included in the survey instrument on customer satisfaction, perceived value, brand trust, brand attitude and behavioural loyalty. The second stage of the research was a pilot study with the survey instrument being distributed to a convenience sample. The data collected at this stage were used to purify and refine the survey instrument. The final stage was data collected from consumers in a number of Australian hotels. The resultant data set comprised 693 completed and useable responses. The data were examined using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses to confirm the hotel performance and other dimensions. The resultant dimensions showed good psychometric properties. A number of hypotheses were proposed in the thesis and examined using structural equation modelling. Although two hypotheses were rejected the resultant structural model showed strong relationships between the dimensions included. The research identified that service quality is a strong contributor to behavioural loyalty. The stronger pathway from service quality to behavioural loyalty was through customer satisfaction ( = 0.63) although the pathway through brand attitude ( = 0.22) was also significant. Both customer satisfaction and service quality had a significant effect on brand trust and service quality also influenced brand attitude. A number of recommendations for further research were made. These included the replication of this study in different geographic and industry contexts.

<p>The research explores the marketing strategies for Chinese local hotels after doing the comparative study and analyzing the operations of Accor and Jin Jiang based on the Marketing Mix theory. The improving strategies are varied, which includes the product, promotion, etc. Offering guidance for the whole Chinese local hotels are the ultimate objective of the research.</p>

The research explores the marketing strategies for Chinese local hotels after doing the comparative study and analyzing the operations of Accor and Jin Jiang based on the Marketing Mix theory. The improving strategies are varied, which includes the product, promotion, etc. Offering guidance for the whole Chinese local hotels are the ultimate objective of the research.

Abstract Title: Relationships management in hospitality industry, STF Svenska   Touristförening.   Level: Final assignment for Master Degree in Business Administration   Author: Aleksandr Shalimov , Calistus Godwin   Supervisor: Ernst Hollander   Date: 2013.01   Aim:  The aim of the research is to investigate STF relationships management strategy and networking ability. This research illuminates conceptual understanding of the STF’s network and relationships management strategy.    Method: In order to provide answers to the research question was used case study approach. Qualitative research method was applied, face to face interviews were conducted and in some cases email and telephone interviews was also used. Using cluster sampling, 9 people who have different backgrounds and relations to STF was interviewed. To properly analyze and present this complex relationships phenomenon, narrative approach was used, considered to be the most appropriate to work with, due to the huge amount of qualitative data.   Result &amp; Conclusions: The research showed the existence of complex relationships between STF (Svenska Touristförenengen) and different actors that are involved with STF within its market activities. Companies that are involved in the STF network, at the same time involved in the process of management of relationships, activities and network structure. Development of the network depends on the companies’ abilities to develop mutual relationships (network threads). This requires understanding of the company’s network and abilities to form network. The development of relationships management strategy is the core competence of the STF. In conclusion, looking at all the relationship that STF has built, it could be said that all have being focal to its network building but to a varying degree.  Moreover within applied the study, it was noticed that STF during its 125 years of existence, has facilitated the development of tourism, infrastructure, business, sports, education, and cultural life of the country. It has created and developed social and economic relations, and communication channels. STF plays the role of an initiator, originator, pioneer and cooperator, even as a fellow worker in creating national movements and new trends.   Suggestions for future research: The investigation has been started having in mind Relationships, Outsourcing and Networking theories as anchor theories to be used, but after a while, it turned out that Networking theory and Franchising theory could be used to investigate deeply into the relationships phenomenon with the actors in this case.  But still within the research, it was noticed that some aspects of franchising model was not working properly and sometimes do not meet both STF and Franchisee`s expectations. Therefore suggestion for closer and deeper investigations of relationships pattern between STF and its franchisees is recommended in order to facilitate the development of more viable, functional and effective ways of cooperation. Moreover triangulation is a strategy that increases the validity and reliability of research, so it could be considered for the further research.     Contribution of the thesis: Currently, under the influence of globalization in the social and economic environment, more and more attention is being paid to the study of various relationships and communications theories, for example the development of CRM, Outsourcing and Networking theories. This study involves a closer look on some aspects of the interaction of social and economic environment, particularly the development of social and business networks. The concept of STF could be used to develop other business ideas or even exported to emerging markets, base on a successful strategic implementation of the concept. STF pattern of activities shows that the creation of such organizations as STF and investigative related issues, may contribute to the development of the tourism industry both nationally and internationally. To STF and the Swedish Tourism Board, (tillvexverkert) researches could help in a lot ways by encouraging more research work to improve and better the already existing infrastructures, improve on the services and communications channels.   Key words: STF (Svenska Touristförening), Networking, Relationships, Hospitality Industry, Tourism, Association.