Luxury implies indulgence, hedonic pleasure and access to resources in abundance. Sustainable development, on the other hand, encourages modifying human behaviour towards a lower rate of resource consumption. For years these two concepts were regarding as contradicting, so much so that they were rarely mentioned within the same sentence of any kind. However, this view has been undergoing a dramatic turnaround ever since the dawn of the new millennium, and a new expression was conceived - sustainable luxury. This phenomenon has a complex and far-reaching mission and has been gaining momentum in recent years. My qualitative study aims to find out whether sustainable luxury is achievable in real-life businesses, particularly for hotel operations. It is firstly reviewed as an emerging concept through literature and desktop research. Next, its practicality is investigated on four luxury branded hotels in Hong Kong. It is found that sustainable luxury is currently a popular de facto expression used by the luxury sector to describe the attitude and effort towards integrating sustainability in the design and production of luxury products and services. Although it was yet to be established academically as a concept, a cornerstone report “Deeper Luxury” produced by World Wide Fund (WWF) in 2009 promulgates an overarching principle that the luxury sector has the duty to edit and influence consumer’s consumption choice and behaviour. A holistic action plan specifically tailored at the luxury sector is provided in this report and it is adopted as the assessment framework for my investigation. Details are construed to suit hotel operations and a set of scoring criteria is developed to facilitate a structured assessment. My investigation reveals a stark contrast that at present, sustainable luxury in urban luxury branded hotels is practical at the ‘back of the house’ areas while limitation lies in the areas related to the ‘front of the house.’ Engaging customers is found to be the single biggest challenge while both innovation and external collaboration are proven to be valuable means for the subject matter. Coordinating effort with the corporate office is also essential. The owner could either be the key driver or barrier for sustainable luxury. Furthermore, external infrastructure and support is vital. The study brings to my conclusion that the overriding factor for sustainable luxury to be achievable in real-life businesses is the existence of the right mindset, a mindset that believes in the co-existence of luxury and sustainability. / published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

There are many factors affecting the hotel energy consumption, such as hotel classifications, floor area, numbers of guest rooms, nos. of room guests, mix of guest segments, level of occupancy (guest nights), scale of meeting facilities, laundry, retails operations, building features, facilities features, fuel mix, year of construction, year of retrofit, numbers of staff, weather conditions, management arrangement, etc. In Hong Kong and Singapore, the traditional method of benchmarking by Energy Use Index (EUI) per particular factor however was not able to effectively analyze such multiple inputs and multiple outputs environment. From the previous research papers, the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) was applied for the hotel management study in other countries recently, such as Portugal, Africa, Italy, Taiwan and Korean. Recently, the application of DEA to building energy analysis was only limited to residential buildings in US, government buildings in Taiwan, and hotel buildings in Turkey. The study provides a simple and basic DEA model (CCR-I CRS) for the evaluation of hotel energy consumption analysis of a sample hotel in Hong Kong for the tourism /hospitality industry. The DEA model was established with multiple input variables (electricity, Towngas, water, outdoor temperature and relative humidity) and multiple output variables (numbers of room nights, numbers of room guests, and numbers of food & beverage cover). The models successfully identifies the relative efficiencies of efficient decision-making units (DMUs) and inefficient DMUs, therefore the potential of saving areas are shown for further improvement action by hotel management strategic planning. Benchmarks are provided for improving the operations of poor-performing DMUs – months and F&B outlets respectively. Several interesting and useful managerial insights and implications from the study are discussed. Peer groups and slacks were identified among the efficient operations for the inefficient DMUs to adjust themselves in order to reach the efficient frontier. The study suggests a framework which enables the hotel management to develop a strategic action plan with energy conservation measures in different priorities. At the end, the hotel will be able to deliver a high degree of guest service standard and at the same time to preserve the environment by reducing the energy consumption. It is concluded that my area of study is a fit to “the gap”. The end results will form the extension of overseas researches and the foundation of the local researches in this knowledge area. / published_or_final_version / Environmental Management / Master / Master of Science in Environmental Management

published_or_final_version / Business / Master / Master of Philosophy

This thesis examines the important and topical issue of food safety among member states of the European Union. After tracing the development of related legislation, a review of the literature focuses on its management within the European hotel industry. In attempting to account for differences in attitudes and practice towards food safety, the study explores the respective application oftwo opposing theoretical positions. The first, known as divergence theory, which tends to equate culture with nationality, maintains that variation is attributable to inter-country differences in norms and values. The second, convergence theory, argues that culture is more appropriately understood in the organisational sense as functioning at the corporate level of the hotel. Hence, under the latter perspective, an explanation of variance is more likely to be derived from differences in type or ethos of hotel (whether chain or independent) and the ways that they are structured according to mode ofoperation, size and hierarchy. After outlining the methodological difficulties of carrying out a comparative study capable of resolving the foregoing dilemma, the empirical section takes place in two major stages: (1 ) a canvassing of expert opinion, with a view to filling gaps in knowledge of the legislation and its implementation; and (2) the conducting of a sample survey among hotel personnel in a number of EU member states (this stage being preceded by a small, two-phase pilot investigation). In order to contrast the rival theories statistically, the data from the survey are analysed by a series of relevant independent variables and tested for significance. Although there are acknowledged limitations on the degree of generalisation that can be claimed, by and large the convergence theory is upheld. A summary of the findings is provided and a number of implications for the future of food safety legislation in the EU are highlighted.

The hotel industry in Taiwan has suffered from high turnover rates for many years. High turnover rates reduce productivity and drain hotel profits. Though the hotel industry tends to live with high levels of employee turnover, high turnover need not be accepted as an inherent characteristic of the industry. Hotel managers should learn why employees leave hotels and take effective actions to retain them. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2006.

Consumers (travellers) choice behaviours and preferences towards different kinds of hotels are of critical importance in tourism and hospitality management. Only by better understanding consumer behaviours and choices can managers design products and services more valuable and attractive. Although considerable research has been done on consumer behaviours, little is known about travellers choice behaviours towards different kinds of hotels (no-star/star hotels) in the Chinese context. Due to the intensified competition and vigorous growth of foreign luxury hotels in Shanghai, the managers of economy hotels (non-star hotels, or motels) badly need marketing strategies to strengthen their competitive advantages and safeguard their essential market share. With the booming of tourism in China, economy hotels will play an increasingly key role in competitive market. / Thesis (DBA(DoctorateofBusinessAdministration))--University of South Australia, 2005.

The hospitality and tourism industry is an increasingly important part of the New Zealand economy, contributing almost nine percent of the Gross Domestic Product in 2008. One of the key concerns regarding this part of the economy is the impact of a tight labour market and intense skill shortages on its ability to maximise returns from tourists. Labour turnover rates have been extremely high in the hospitality sector over the past few years and this has contributed to the intense labour market pressures affecting this industry. Hotels have suffered particularly high turnover rates in the past few years and exit interviews have been one of the tools that Human Resource Managers used to try and gain data about employee reasons for leaving. This study looks at exit interviews as a source of data on the causes of labour turnover in two New Zealand hotel chains. The aim of this study was to analyse hotel exit interview data in order to identify significant patterns that might illuminate the causes and potential moderating factors of labour turnover in New Zealand hotels. In addition, the study aimed to analyse the processes used to gather exit interview data in order to evaluate the efficacy of exit interviews and see if any practical recommendations could be made regarding the use of exit interviews to address labour turnover. A qualititative, triangulated research methodology was applied in order to analyse the data generated from over 4500 exit interviews, from 17 hotels, in two New Zealand hotel brands. The interviews cover six years of exit interview gathering. In addition, in depth semi-structured interviews with six hotel Human Resource Managers were used to gain insight into the practice and perceptions around exit interviews. The study found that despite considerable application of time and resources, hotels gain very little benefit from the exit interview process. Several issues are identified as bringing the efficacy of exit interviews into question, including power imbalance between interviewees and interviewers, language and cultural concerns, and the impact of psychological contract breaches on the employment relationship. In addition, the study found that even when opportunities for organisational improvement did arise from exit interviews, little or no action was taken by the hotels in question. The study concludes that there is insufficient benefit to the hotels given the costs of exit interviews and suggests that other forms of employee feedback, such as engagement surveys may be more efficacious in addressing labour turnover.

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1992. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 238-241).

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 2009. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 29-31).

Thesis (M.S.)--Rochester Institute of Technology, 1991. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 86-93).