Research Question: How do online reviews influence purchase decisions among potential consumers within the Hotel Industry?  Purpose: The purpose of this research is to gain a deeper understanding about the impacts in which online reviews has on consumer behavior and their decisions to actively select and purchase service from different hotels. The authors are striving to find answers to whether online reviews obtaining information about positive customer experiences within the hotel industry has a noticeable impact on the decisions made by customers.  Method: In this study, a deductive comparative research approach will be used  Conclusion: The results concluded that both luxury and budget hotel bookers seem to have more usage for traditional word of mouth than electronic word of mouth. However, electronic word of mouth is still seen as an important tool which is widely used by both groups. It was evident that luxury consumers find customer reviews more valuable aligned with having more experience with online reviews, which may have an impact on their decision making when booking hotels online. Further on, it was also observed that the brand image of budget hotels is impacted more by online reviews among both segments, than luxury hotels' brand image.

To improve the quality of services delivered to customers, hotels can benefit from the experiences of manufacturing firms and employ quality and process improvement philosophies/tools with proven track records in the manufacturing industries. This article presents a framework which integrates the tools of Root Cause Analysis (RCA), Benchmarking (BM), Reengineering (RE) and Continuous Improvement (CI) within the context of a Rapid Assessment Methodology (RAM). Application of the framework is illustrated and the potential benefits a hotel can derive from the implementation of the framework are discussed.

I och med den teknologiska utvecklingen som sker i dagens samhälle blir hotellbranschen mer digitaliserad. Riskhantering får därför en större plats i organisationer som implementerar POS-system. Då dessa system konstrueras på många olika sätt och varierar i komplexitet bildas risker. Studien visar att det inte finns ett specifikt och korrekt tillvägagångssätt för att riskhanteringen ska bli fulländad. Hotellet behöver därför en övergripande strategi för hur risker ska hanteras för att överleva på längre sikt. Syftet med studien var att ta fram ett förslag på hur riskhantering kan organiseras vid ett byte av ett nytt POS-system samt ge författarna en förståelse för de risker som kan identifieras och hur dessa kan hanteras. För att uppfylla syftet undersöktes ett specifikt företags implementering av ett nytt POS-system och de risker som medföljde. Genom en kvalitativ undersökning visar studien att riskhantering handlar om att identifiera risker för att minska sannolikheten och dess konsekvens. Ett genomgående tema har visat sig vara att personalens engagemang är en tydlig risk i systembytet. Det leder till att ledningen blir en central del i att ge stöd åt personalen. För att lyckas göra detta i praktiken har studien resulterat i att riskidentifiering, riskvärdering, åtgärder och uppföljning är stegen för ett framgångsrikt införande. Nyckelord: Riskhantering, implementationsrisker, implementering, POS-system, molnbaserat system, hotellbranschen. / With the technological development taking place in today's society, the hotel industry becomes more digitized. Therefore risk management gets a bigger place in organizations that implement POS-systems. Since these systems is constructed in different ways and varies in complexity risks are formed. The study shows that there is no specific and correct approach for risk management to be accomplished. The hotel therefore needs an overall strategy for how risks should be managed in order to survive in the longer term.The purpose of the study was to produce a proposal on how risk management can be organized in the event of a change of a new POS system and give the authors an understanding of the risks that can be identified and how these can be managed. To fulfill the purpose, a specific company's implementation of a new POS system and the risks that were included were examined. Through a qualitative study, the study shows that risk management is about identifying risks in order to reduce the probability and its consequence. A common theme has been that the staff's commitment is a clear risk in the system change. This leads to the management becoming a central part of providing support to the staff. In order to succeed in this, the study has resulted in risk identification, risk assessment, actions and follow-up being the steps for successful introduction.Key words: Risk management, implementation risks, implementation, POS-system, cloud computing, hotel industry.

The hotel industry is characterized by high staff turnover rates and it seemingly struggles to keep its talented employees. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to identify central factors relevant for the development of Sustainable Talent Management in the hotel industry. To understand why employees in these departments either left or stayed with an organisation four different focus groups were conducted. The four focus groups consisted of 14 participants total who all either were or had been employed in the Swedish hotel industry as recently as three years prior to this study. Another criterion for participation was that they had to have been employed within one of the three departments with the highest annual staff turnover rates in Europe. Front of house, food and beverage or housekeeping. The data from the focus groups were analysed using a thematic analysis. It was concluded that sustainable talent management in the hotel industry should contain instances of retaining and developing talent in an organisation, whilst taking an internal social responsibility for parameters regarding employees’ health and factors that the organisation can control. As well as instilling a sense of purpose for the employees. While also viewing the employee as a form of human capital, valuing them for their knowledge and capabilities whilst also including them as the most important internal stakeholder. All without the intent of financial maximization. The reasons why employees within the stated departments left an organisation was predominantly due to job dissatisfaction with aspects such as a lack of safety through insufficient work-life balance, no clarity in what was expected of the employee and no work autonomy, issues with development including unclear career paths and a lack of advancement opportunities. Why these employees stayed were job satisfaction regarding the same aspects. What also emerged from the results was that the satisfaction of safety and development job aspects would outweigh the monetary aspects of employment. Indicating that loyalty to the organisation had been made through the creation of incentives to stay. If loyalty can be created through incentives to stay, then sustainable talent management actions could possibly lower the turnover rates in the hotel industry.

This paper analyzes how Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises, SMEs in the hotel industry implement strategic Corporate Social Responsibility, CSR through the lenses of leadership, decision-making, and communication. Additionally, this research explores how the implementation differs between small and large hotel companies. To answer these questions, researchers used a qualitative approach by conducting 15 semi-structured interviews with eight SMEs and seven large hotel companies. The Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis, IPA method was applied to analyze the gathered data. Research results demonstrate that hotel leaders in SMEs create a sustainability vision and lead the transition within their hotels. Leaders are mainly in charge of strategic decisions which are cascaded to all departments for operationalization. Moreover, dynamics between formal procedures shaping operational processes and informal organizational culture were identified. While formal elements shape goals and performance-tracking within organizations, informal elements ensure employees are aligned and committed to the sustainability vision. Formal documents and work procedures serve as guidelines for employees, but the informal aspect of leadership related to inspiring, engaging, and motivating employees is of even greater importance. Leaders motivate and engage employees by granting a high degree of autonomy in their work, allowing for mistakes to happen, valuing their efforts and contributions, and overall, fostering an open, trusting, and supportive organizational culture in their hotels. In conclusion, to successfully implement strategic CSR, a sustainable way of thinking must be developed that will ensure that all decisions and daily activities are in line with the sustainability vision.

This study examined how employees of the hotel industry perceived green practices. Data was collected from 220 employees working in eight green certified hotels in Orlando. Research results revealed that performance levels of green practices implemented by hotels were lower than the importance levels of those same green practices as perceived by hotel employees. The results of the study illustrated that (1) the employees' perception regarding green practices was not different than one of hoteliers in terms of importance and performance, and (2) employees weighted the green practices that were beneficial to them as more important than green practices that required their behavior change. Also, a positive correlation between organizational commitment and green practices detected in this study which suggests that hotel organizations may anticipate positive ramifications of green practices in relation to HR approach when they embrace green practices. Unfortunately, employees' green perceptions at work were not generalized by their demographic characteristics, yet a number of considerable results were garnered from this study. These were (1) employees in operational departments were more green conscious than employees in other departments, (2) generation X was critical about green performance by the hotels, and (3) minorities showed more green concerns than other ethnicities. This study suggests that hotels need to spend more time and effort in communicating their green practice to employees. Training to improve green practices should be versatile and job-specific with strategies developed to motivate the employees to engage in green practices. Overall, this study proposes for hotels simply deploying green practices is not enough. They should carefully plan their green practices by training and motivating employees.

The purpose of this study was to investigate how trust was built from three dimensions of source credibility in an electronic word of mouth space towards purchase intentions of a hotel stay. The chosen dimensions of Source Credibility that were investigated in the study was: Homophily, Expertise and Trustworthiness. The study aimed to see how consumers of hotel booking for a destination got affected and believed in electronic word of mouth for their intention to purchase a hotel stay via the internet. A quantitative method was chosen for this study with a questionnaire that was sent out to students on the programmes “Ekonomie Kandidat”, “Civilekonom” and “Fastighetsmäklare” at Luleå University of Technology. The questionnaire was also shared on the author's private Facebook page and sent to friends and family via messenger. The data was collected during one week and summarized in diagrams and a one-sample statistical t-test for the three dimensions of Source Credibility were run and are provided in appendix 1-3. The findings for this study shows that all three dimensions; homophily, trustworthiness and expertise impact trust in eWOM and can lead to purchasing intentions of a hotel stay. The trust towards an expert who works at a hotel (manager) did not seem to be trustworthy compared to previous customers who shared their opinions of a hotel online. It appeared clearly that previous customer reviews which provide a lot of information, repetitive reviews of customers and new reviews are seen as the most trustworthy for purchasing a hotel stay online. A recommendation to managers in the hotel industry and to those working with the review websites is therefore to categorize reviews so customers easily can pick from what they are searching for.

The Covid-19 crisis has had a profound impact on the global tourism industry, including theTurkish hotel sector. As hotels face unprecedented challenges, the adaptation of pricingstrategies becomes crucial for their survival and competitiveness. This thesis investigates theimpact of the Covid-19 outbreak on pricing strategies in the Turkish hotel industry and examinesthe strategies implemented by hotel managers to navigate this challenging period. Through a comprehensive research methodology, including interviews with hotel managers anddata analysis, this study aims to provide valuable insights into the pricing strategies adopted byhotels during the crisis. It explores the factors influencing the selection and effectiveness of thesestrategies and examines their relationship with the financial performance of hotels. The research objectives include assessing the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on pricing strategiesin the Turkish hotel industry, identifying the factors influencing the selection and effectivenessof hotel managers' strategies, exploring the relationship between these strategies and the financialperformance of hotels, and providing recommendations and guidelines for effective hotelmanagement. The results of this study make a valuable contribution to the current understanding of pricingstrategies in the hotel industry during times of crisis. By exploring the adaptation of pricingstrategies, this research provides new insights and practical implications for hotel managers.These findings aim to assist managers in formulating effective pricing strategies, ultimatelyenhancing the resilience and adaptability of the hotel industry. This research has important implications for both academia and industry, as it provides insightsinto the dynamics of pricing strategies in the context of a global crisis. By understanding thechallenges and opportunities faced by hotel managers during the crisis, this study contributes tothe broader understanding of hotel management pricing strategies in the hospitality sector.

In this thesis, applying an innovative postmodern equal-weight/sequential QUAN→PHEN Mixed-Methods Phenomenological Research (‘MMPR’) approach to study an Olympics’ impact within its two-cluster socio-demographic footprint forms its main contribution to knowledge. Facilitating between-methods triangulation is a novel eclectic pragmatic approach that is used to capture the richness of thematic data flowing from in-depth, open-ended interviews with most – 62 in all – senior Hoteliers spread evenly between distinct urban Metro-Vancouver and rural alpine-Whistler, whilst concurrently capitalizing on the availability of a unique BC Stats proprietary micro-municipal-level secondary data source, i.e., British Columbia’s ‘Additional Hotel Room Tax’ (‘AHRT’). Typically, traditional mono-method-positivist neo-classical economic syntheses are used to quantify an Olympic Games’ ex-ante or ex-post impact. This study’s findings confirm that such syntheses attempts, at the micro-municipal level, lead to inevitable dead-ends. At a sub-national level of micro-granularity, using available economic models is an impossible task due to the insurmountable practical problem of complete lack of, or paucity, of data. When applied to assess mega-events, such modelling is shown to lack credibility; models are insufficiently comprehensive or its users consciously engage in ‘shenanigans’ by force-fitting input/output to produce pre-ordained outcomes for political expedience and meeting agency interests. The ‘MMPR’ approach acknowledges and respects the established and ‘current-thinking’ paradigmatic epistemological and ontological perspectives. ‘Hotel Activity’, measured via ‘AHRT’, is substituted as a ‘Proxy’ for ‘Tourism’ following empirically establishing these three variables as highly correlated. Prevalent academic findings of negative impacts from Winter Olympics are not borne out. Phenomenological issues of ‘illusory correlations’ and ‘data saturation’ are addressed.

Developing a good strategy is important in today’s competitive and commoditized lodging market. A good strategy necessitates knowledge of what strategic actions can increase firms’ profits and maintain their profitability throughout market cycles. However, less research effort has been made to date to find and operationalize strategic actions of hotels that lead to higher performance. This dissertation empirically examines both short-and long-run strategic decisions of hotels and their consequences at the micro level, the result of which can be used to develop a good strategy ensuring sustainable success in business. The first part of this dissertation investigates the effect of conformity and differentiation on performance and performance risk of hotels, focusing on their long-run strategic tools—location, capacity, and quality. The second part of this dissertation examines the efficacy of hotels’ room rate discounts in performance recovery after a crisis, in which the price is a hotels’ short-run strategic tool. Using standard econometric methods and applicable variations, this dissertation found empirical evidence supporting hypotheses in both parts of the dissertation. / Tourism and Sport