M.Comm. / South Africa has become an accepted tourist destination since the 1994 general elections and the successful presentation of the 1995 Rugby World Cup event. The increase in the number of overseas visitors is reflected in higher arrival figures at our airports. Overseas tourists initially booked into the higher star rated hotels, but this trend quickly changed when they indicated a preference for the smaller hotels and the more personalised guesthouses. The recent establishment of hotels of well known world brands such as Hilton, Hyatt and others saw an increase in supply. These hotels were established with their links to the global reservation networks through which their reservations are accepted. The South African lodging industry now has to cope with management of the changes in demand in the face of world-wide computerised distribution. The guesthouses, smaller hotels and resorts tend to still utilise the printed media, mail or telephone bookings to communicate with prospective tourists. Although information technology is improving and becoming more accessible, only a few of the bigger South African hotel groups have utilised it to improve productivity and efficiency and to manage demand. A number of central reservation systems are in operation elsewhere in the world which allow the participants to present their establishments through the global travel agent networks such as Galileo and Worldspan. Trends in distribution of the lodging industry make it imperative to participate in such a system or face isolation from the world of tourism. The aim of this study is to establish the need for an integrated computer-based central reservation system for the smaller lodging establishments in South Africa. Depth interviews were conducted with a selected number of experts in the industry and the most important results of this empirical research were: The South African government has effectively withdrawn from the development of the tourism industry. The South African banks should be approached to establish such a system since they have proven expertise and knowledge of the operations of similar systems and would be in a position to make adequate funds available to allow the system to succeed. The system should be established with the capacity to link into world-wide distribution systems such as Galileo. The travel agents should be the first group to have access to this system since they are accepted as the driving force when implementing new solutions in the industry. Access through the Internet could follow. The cost of making a reservation at a lodging establishment is for the account of the hotel or guesthouse. The cost of accepting reservations from overseas tourists must be negotiated to be within the affordable range of the smaller lodging establishments. The establishment

D.Phil. / Tourism is currently the world’s fastest growing economic activity. It has also been registered as a great agent for general economic change, creating significant impact in the other sectors of economic growth. Developing countries such as Kenya and other African countries now consider tourism as a passport for development as it does not need expensive investment to initiate and operate as a national business. As a result of all these factors much attention has turned to systematic marketing of tourism with countries competing with one another in pursuit for the world’s tourists. This study was motivated by the need to create parameters that can elavate the competitiveness of a tourist destination. The general purpose of this study was to establish how hotel quality exert influence that may positively or negatively impact on destination marketing and how this can be appropriated to bolster destination popularity. The purpose was to initiate the formulation of a structured, integrated conceptual framework for hotel product/service, quality based on the normative quality expectation of the tourists and hotel operators’ strategic quality designs. A descriptive quantitative research design was used to establish the secondary objectives and to assess the five propositions that were developed for the study. Tourists and hotel operators in two major tourist provinces of Kenya were used to obtain information regarding normative and perceptive hotel product/service quality. Destination Marketing Managers employed by the only destination marketing organisation, Kenya Tourist Board (KTB) were also surveyed to provide insight on Kenya’s destination marketing strategies. They gave a position outline on the level of strategy integration as exhibited by both hotel operators and other destination management organisations in marketing Kenya’s tourism. The study established that the major attraction for tourists coming to Kenya is the unique wildlife safari, beach tourism and the natural scenery. However, it was further established that the hospitality of the Kenyan people contributed greatly in making tourists choose Kenya, and that hotel product/service quality would play a significant role in a tourist’s choice of destinations to visit as well as in repeat visits. The study also found that hotel operators and other destination management organisations neither share nor operate on a common vision as they endeavour to build destination competitiveness for Kenya. The study therefore proposed an integrated framework that may be utilised to build destination competitiveness so that the economic potential of tourism is maximised in Kenya.

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“There is a problem in the workplace…It is a problem of values, ambitions, views, mind-sets, demographics, and generations in conflict. The workplace you and we inhabit today is awash with the conflicting voices and views of the most age- and value-diverse workforce this country has known since our great-great-grandparents abandoned field and farm for factory and office” (Zemke, Raines & Filipczak, 2000, p. 9). The opening quotation encapsulates the popular belief among management practitioners that substantive and meaningful inter-generational differences exist in work values among the members of current workforce. Despite this practitioner interest and debate, systematic empirical research either to confirm or refute popular claims has, until recently, been lagging. Moreover, the few academic studies on this topic have largely focused on the US context and research from other countries, particularly non-English speaking, is scant. The aim of this study is to fill this vacuum by investigating the nature of work values across the prevalent generations of workers within the relatively unexplored cultural context of Greek hotel organisations. Building upon Schwartz’s (1994) theory of basic values and Vincent’s (2005) culture-specific approach of generational identity formation, this study proposes a values-based framework for studying generational differences in the workplace. The framework includes four types of work values namely extrinsic, intrinsic, prestige and social and three age-based generational groups; the Divided generation (1946-1966), the Metapolitefsi generation (1967-1981) and the Europeanised generation (1982-1996). The framework assumes that age-based generational identity is a culture specific phenomenon comprised of a distinctive set of values. The expectations and motivations towards work are shaped by this set of values, which emerged as a product of a living through experience from the successive entry into adulthood and endure as the members of each generation travelling through time together. In addition, generational boundaries are determined by revolutionary events that are contingent on the specific cultural context in which they became meaningful. The study assessed the concept of work values with a novel scale, designed to succinctly measure the four underlying work value types that were consistently observed in previous research. The proposed work values model was tested using a multiple triangulation approach with two samples and two methods of analysis across two studies. In study 1, the work values scores were collected by 303 workers in 7 year-round hotel establishments operated in the region of Macedonia and analysed with exploratory factor analysis. In study 2, the work values scores were collected by 304 workers in 7 seasonal hotel establishments from the same region and analysed with confirmatory factor analysis. The results of study 2 confirmed the outcome of study 1. More importantly, the analysis revealed that compared to theory driven alternatives, a second-order model, comprised of a general work values factor with four latent factors – intrinsic, material, power and affective work values, best fitted the data. This model helps to show how various types of work values fit together into a cohesive whole, allowing HR researchers and practitioners to identify broader patterns and trends in work values to improve HR interventions. Furthermore, multivariate analysis of variance among the entire sample (607 hotel workers) revealed significant generational differences in three types of work values (intrinsic, prestige and social), even when the effect of gender (male vs female) and operational pattern (seasonal vs year round) was taken into account. Some of the most complex challenges facing human resource professionals in contemporary organisations such as conflict, transferring of knowledge as well as retention of talents are often associated with these differences. Knowledge about the work values of each generation cohabiting current workplace can help organisations in creating practices that foster inter-generational synergies and comfort in the workplace. This in turn will allow them to narrow the social distance represented by the “generation gap”, an impediment to the effectiveness of even the most sophisticated human resource practices.

Please note: creative writing theses are permanently embargoed in OpenBU. No public access is forecasted for these. To request private access, please click on the lock iconand filled out the appropriate web form. / A collection of short stories / 2999-01-01T00:00:00Z

El presente trabajo de investigación se titula: “Plataformas digitales y su participación en la ocupabilidad en hoteles 3 estrellas en Miraflores - Lima, 2018”, el cual se realizó con el objetivo de determinar si las plataformas digitales participan en la ocupabilidad en hoteles de la categoría tres estrellas en Miraflores, uno de los distritos más turísticos de Lima. El mismo que tiene un enfoque cualitativo y tipo de investigación descriptiva-exploratoria porque está basado principalmente en observación directa y entrevistas semiestructuradas a administradores de hoteles tres estrellas en Miraflores, turistas, funcionarios en el sector hotelero, especialistas en plataformas digitales, e-commerce y usuarios de plataformas digitales hoteleras de quienes se ha obtenido información actual del escenario de economía global y local. Esta investigación es de suma importancia para el sector hotelero de lujo y upscale que no es ajeno al uso de estas plataformas y se benefician de estas interacciones atrayendo a clientes y potenciales clientes que basan su elección de reserva en la información, imágenes y/o videos en alta calidad de los detalles que presentan las habitaciones y áreas del hotel que visualizan en la web, evitando los intermediarios. / This research paper is entitled: "Digital platforms and their participation on occupability in 3 star hotels in Miraflores - Lima, 2018", which was carried out with the objective of determining whether digital platforms influence hotel occupability of the three star category in Miraflores, one of the most touristic districts of Lima. The same one that has a qualitative approach and type of descriptive-exploratory research because it is mainly based on direct observation and semi-structured interviews with administrators of three-star hotels in Miraflores, tourists, officials in the hotel sector, specialists in digital platforms, e-commerce and hotel digital platform users from whom current information has been obtained from the global and local economy scenario. This research is of paramount importance for the upscale and upscale hotel sector that is no stranger to the use of these platforms and benefits from these interactions by attracting customers and potential customers who base their choice of reservation on information, images and / or videos. In high quality of the details presented by the rooms and areas of the hotel that are displayed on the web, avoiding intermediaries. / Tesis

The convention hotel emerged as a distinct building type in the years of the Second World War and its aftermath. The earliest examples of convention hotels were distinguished from their pre-war counterparts by the design of their meeting facilities and the layout of public areas. In these projects, new techniques in architectural design were used only where they were critical to hotel operation. As the number of hotels increased in the fifties, competition for business required new approaches to design. For some hotel companies, the policy was to improve a hotel's capability for handling groups in order to attract sizable conventions to the property. In resort cities, hotel operators found that innovations in style and decor enhanced popular appeal, thereby increasing business. In the late fifties and early sixties, the participation of developers and corporations outside the hotel industry in building new properties brought about an increasing diversity. In the projects, design was based on potential profitability regardless of traditional hotel principles. At the same time, the inclusion of convention hotels in large-scale urban developments called for innovations in site planning and expansion of public amenities. While these hotels and their predecessors of the fifties rarely displayed architectural excellence, their contribution to guidelines for modern hotel design was critical to later, more spectacular developments of the building type. One project of the late sixties, the Hyatt Regency Atlanta, dramatically explored the potential of new approaches to hotel architecture. The astounding design of the public spaces, the integration of the hotel with surrounding development, and the hotel's subsequent popularity have served to transform this commercial building type into significant public architecture. The success of the. Atlanta Hyatt has led to a repetition of the concept by the hotel company, while inspiring new experiments by the architect. In the early seventies, a series of hotels of remarkable design opened in the United States. Their public appeal confirmed the value of good architecture to the successful operation of a hotel. Hotel professionals were forced to reconsider the necessary elements of hotel design, while architects were encouraged to re-examine the possibilities inherent in this commercial building type.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / The aim of the study is to assess the impact of robot service on hotel guest experiences. Application of technology in tourism and hospitality services is growing each day. Using robots in hospitality establishment is becoming more and more popular, mainly because it can help cut down the labor costs, increase efficiency and reduce human contacts. Very few studies, however, have been done on examining customer experience regarding robots used in the hotel. Social media sites such as TripAdvisor are popular platforms where people share their first-hand experiences. Hence, this study focuses on studying the reviews of robotic hotels. Using the software Leximancer, reviews were studied and categorized in different themes to understand if the presence of the robot would create positive or negative experience for customers. The sample of the study included total of 2383 reviews related to robotic hotels from TripAdvisor from January 2011 to October 2020. The findings highlighted the major themes as Room, Robot, Hotel and Staff and their relationship with the ratings. It also provided insights into the contribution of robot service to consumer’s hotel experiences. / 2021-12-01

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the relative efficacies of a set of organizational support mechanisms and personality traits in predicting frontline employees' service recovery and job performances. Design/methodology/approach Data were gathered through selfadministered questionnaires. A sample of 723 frontline hotel employees in Turkey serves as the study setting. Findings The study results show that organizational support is more effective in differentiating between high and lowperforming frontline employees in the case of service recovery performance. However, job performance overall is more susceptible to the influences of personality traits. Research limitations/implications Replication studies in other regions of Turkey and other countries among frontline employees in the hotel industry as well as other service settings would broaden the database for further generalizations. Including other organizational support mechanisms (e.g. technology support) and personality traits (e.g. customer orientation) would shed further light on our understanding of the relative roles of organizational support and personality traits in predicting frontline employee performance. Practical implications In addition to providing organizational support to their employees, hotel managers should recruit individuals with the relevant personality traits for frontline service jobs. Using these strategies in tandem increases the likelihood of having highperforming employees. Social implications From a macro standpoint, implementation of the strategies discussed here will benefit the hotels in Turkey which are in stiffening competition with their counterparts. Originality/value The study adds to the body of knowledge by investigating simultaneously the relative efficacies of organizational support and personality traits in predicting service recovery and job performances of frontline hotel employees in a developing economy.

Environmental management and sustainability have been recent important issues in the hospitality industry. The hotel industry, as a main sector of the hospitality industry, has benefited from environmental initiatives through improving corporate image and increasing resource and energy efficiency. Among various environmental issues that have been addressed in the hotel industry, managerial influence on environmental management is rarely investigated. The purpose of this study was to examine the current state of environmental management in the hotel industry. Further, this study also determined a relationship between top managers' personal environmental attitudes and organizational involvement in environmental management practices. To achieve the purpose of this study, this study examined currently adopted green practices, top managers' environmental attitudes, and their perception of advantages derived from environmental management. Hotels that participated in this study showed greater involvement in energy management, water conservation, and waste management practices than hotels examined by previous research in different geographical areas. The results of this study showed a correlation between top managers' environmental attitudes and organizational involvement in environmental management. It was also found that top managers' environmental attitudes were positively related to their perceived advantages of environmental management. These findings present various managerial and theoretical implications for related organizations and hotel management companies. The hotel industry should keep promoting green hotel practices to reduce negative impacts on the valuable environment and increase operational efficiency. In order to promote environmental management in the hotel industry, related organizations, governments, and stakeholders need to focus on raising top managers' environmental awareness as well as providing information on successful cases of environmental management. / Master of Science