Hotel rating refers to the process where the comfort and services of a hotel are assessed and classified, usually in five categories, using stars as symbols. Conventional hotel rating systems are generally operated by governments or independent parties. However, with the growth of social media and customer-review sites, guest review platforms became an important source of information. The main aim of this study is to establish whether guest feedback can determine hotel ratings more accurately than conventional methods and whether a social media platform such as TripAdvisor can provide the necessary data to do so. The customer-review website, TripAdvisor, has grown rapidly and made a strong impact on the tourism and hotel industry. This study identifies the nature of TripAdvisor, its reliability, how its ratings compare with conventional ratings, and what criteria are used in guest reviews on TripAdvisor when assessing the quality of a hotel. These findings were triangulated with findings from the conventional rating systems of the 11 destinations that were sampled for this study to identify the value of TripAdvisor. Two samples were taken from TripAdvisor of 110 and 33 hotels, respectively. From the latter, ten guest reviews were gathered and analysed per hotel, resulting in a total of 330 reviews that were analysed. The study’s findings indicate that TripAdvisor is the largest guest feedback platform for hotels and its data can be considered to be reliable. The TripAdvisor ratings were not connected to the conventional ratings of the sampled hotels. The criteria used in TripAdvisor reviews focused more on service delivery than on the objective tangible elements used in most hotel rating systems. The rich context found in most guest reviews makes the information presented on TripAdvisor valuable. There is no evidence that conventionalrating system controls are linked to the comments found in TripAdvisor reviews. The results facilitated the identification of the delight and frustration factors in services marketing for the hotel industry. A new theory to include guest feedback in hotel ratings is developed and proposed. The study further presents two future scenarios, the most likely one of which predicts the demise of conventional rating systems as a result of the success of guest feedback platforms such as TripAdvisor.

Problems and perceptions of crime and security have grown dramatically in recent decades. Organisations feel the need to protect their investment, their employees and the general public from crime. There are not sufficient public police to provide adequate response and protection to businesses; therefore, private security agents have grown in number as a response to this perceived need. This thesis examines private security and surveillance in the hotel industry. There is a general introduction to contemporary security issues in society. The specific nature of these problems is examined within the context of the hotel industry. These issues are analysed in relationship to recent scholarly literature. Since so little has been written about problems of security in the hotel industry, it was decided to conduct in-depth interviews, using multiple case studies and field observations. The thesis examines issues of security in seven major hotels in Australia. Although there are many alternative ways that security can be organised, this thesis examines the application of a differentiated model of security as contrasted to an imbedded model in which all employees are involved with security procedures.

The present study investigated the potential of personal values to segment business traveler markets in the hospitality industry. The study was conducted both in the U.S. and Korea. Mail surveys were sent to a random sample of one-thousand business travelers in each country. Two hypotheses were tested to examine the relationship between personal values and hotel choice criteria, and two other hypotheses were tested regarding cultural differences of personal value structures and hotel choice criteria. In the U.S. sample, two major value groups were identified with distinct hotel choice criteria whereas three value groups were found in the Korean sample. In the both samples, respondents' value structures appeared to be related to the importance of hotel choice criteria. Consumer groups with homogeneous value structures seemed to have similar needs and wants regarding hotel services. The influence of personal values on hotel choice criteria was identified across cultures. However, the specific value-to-choice criteria relationship appeared to be culture dependent, preventing generalization of value-choice criteria relationships across cultures. Results revealed considerable cross-cultural differences relative to consumers' value structures and hotel choice criteria. Findings of the present study suggested that personal values hold potential for market segmentation in the hotel industry both in the domestic and international market. Several implications regarding existing consumer behavior theory and application to marketing management practices in the hospitality industry were investigated. / Ph. D.

Submitted by Maria Suzana Diniz (msuzanad@hotmail.com) on 2015-04-27T12:32:21Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 5570317 bytes, checksum: 4e81b5c3c090e85d86445e19694d1bc2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-04-27T12:32:21Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 5570317 bytes, checksum: 4e81b5c3c090e85d86445e19694d1bc2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-04 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The present study aims at confirming the possibility of quantitative and impersonal accessibility of the buildings for persons with disabilities. The importance of this issue can be highlighted mainly by the global movement for social inclusion of the disabled and the growing elderly population, who are prone to physical disabilities. After proceeding literature review, we analyzed various methods of evaluating accessibility at use in Brazil and other countries, in order to learn about their methodologies and results. We have come to the conclusion that the approach was largely qualitative and grounded in the moral judgment of the evaluators, not allowing the comparison between the compliance of the physical means of accessibility and technical standards or between the buildings analyzed. After this conclusion, we examined the pros and cons of the methods under analysis, proposing a new method, based on the Brazilian technical norms of accessibility and a quantitative structure. The method herein proposed was applied to measure the accessibility of the hotels on the coastline of the city of João Pessoa, who host a considerable number of aged guests. The choice of hotels as a target for evaluation is linked to the emblematic character they have in terms of life quality and cultural development of the elderly and disabled guests in general. The result found shows that, through a numerical indicator, it is possible to evaluate quantitatively and impersonally the degree of accessibility of buildings, allowing comparison and indication of improvement measures. / O presente trabalho buscou comprovar a possibilidade de avaliar, quantitativa e impessoalmente, a acessibilidade ao ambiente construído por parte de pessoas portadoras de necessidades especiais. A importância do tema pode ser ressaltada, principalmente, pelo movimento mundial para a inclusão social do deficiente e pelo crescimento relativo da população de idosos, que se constitui em faixa etária predisposta a deficiências físicas. Através de levantamento bibliográfico, foram analisados vários métodos de avaliação da acessibilidade utilizados no Brasil e em outros países, com o intuito de conhecer suas metodologias e os resultados. Constatou-se que a abordagem, predominantemente qualitativa e calcada no juízo de valor dos avaliadores, não possibilita a comparação da conformidade dos meios físicos de acessibilidade com as normas técnicas ou entre as edificações avaliadas. A partir dessa constatação, foram considerados os aspectos positivos e negativos dos métodos analisados e se propôs um novo método, calcado na normativa técnica de acessibilidade brasileira e numa estrutura quantitativa. O método proposto para mensurar a acessibilidade foi aplicado em hotéis da orla marítima da cidade de João Pessoa, que apresentam uma frequência importante de pessoas idosas. A escolha de hotéis como alvo da avaliação se deve ao seu caráter emblemático, em termos de qualidade de vida e de desenvolvimento cultural dos idosos e dos deficientes em geral. O resultado encontrado demonstrou que, através de um indicador numérico, é possível avaliar, quantitativa e impessoalmente, o grau de acessibilidade das edificações, permitindo a comparação e a indicação das medidas de melhoria.

Submitted by Maria Suzana Diniz (msuzanad@hotmail.com) on 2015-05-19T13:39:37Z No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 5570321 bytes, checksum: 5993e77821c410f8962afcc235c74f76 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2015-05-19T13:39:37Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 arquivototal.pdf: 5570321 bytes, checksum: 5993e77821c410f8962afcc235c74f76 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-11-04 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The present study aims at confirming the possibility of quantitative and impersonal accessibility of the buildings for persons with disabilities. The importance of this issue can be highlighted mainly by the global movement for social inclusion of the disabled and the growing elderly population, who are prone to physical disabilities. After proceeding literature review, we analyzed various methods of evaluating accessibility at use in Brazil and other countries, in order to learn about their methodologies and results. We have come to the conclusion that the approach was largely qualitative and grounded in the moral judgment of the evaluators, not allowing the comparison between the compliance of the physical means of accessibility and technical standards or between the buildings analyzed. After this conclusion, we examined the pros and cons of the methods under analysis, proposing a new method, based on the Brazilian technical norms of accessibility and a quantitative structure. The method herein proposed was applied to measure the accessibility of the hotels on the coastline of the city of João Pessoa, who host a considerable number of aged guests. The choice of hotels as a target for evaluation is linked to the emblematic character they have in terms of life quality and cultural development of the elderly and disabled guests in general. The result found shows that, through a numerical indicator, it is possible to evaluate quantitatively and impersonally the degree of accessibility of buildings, allowing comparison and indication of improvement measures. / O presente trabalho buscou comprovar a possibilidade de avaliar, quantitativa e impessoalmente, a acessibilidade ao ambiente construído por parte de pessoas portadoras de necessidades especiais. A importância do tema pode ser ressaltada, principalmente, pelo movimento mundial para a inclusão social do deficiente e pelo crescimento relativo da população de idosos, que se constitui em faixa etária predisposta a deficiências físicas. Através de levantamento bibliográfico, foram analisados vários métodos de avaliação da acessibilidade utilizados no Brasil e em outros países, com o intuito de conhecer suas metodologias e os resultados. Constatou-se que a abordagem, predominantemente qualitativa e calcada no juízo de valor dos avaliadores, não possibilita a comparação da conformidade dos meios físicos de acessibilidade com as normas técnicas ou entre as edificações avaliadas. A partir dessa constatação, foram considerados os aspectos positivos e negativos dos métodos analisados e se propôs um novo método, calcado na normativa técnica de acessibilidade brasileira e numa estrutura quantitativa. O método proposto para mensurar a acessibilidade foi aplicado em hotéis da orla marítima da cidade de João Pessoa, que apresentam uma frequência importante de pessoas idosas. A escolha de hotéis como alvo da avaliação se deve ao seu caráter emblemático, em termos de qualidade de vida e de desenvolvimento cultural dos idosos e dos deficientes em geral. O resultado encontrado demonstrou que, através de um indicador numérico, é possível avaliar, quantitativa e impessoalmente, o grau de acessibilidade das edificações, permitindo a comparação e a indicação das medidas de melhoria.