This study is an investigation into women receptionists' experience in the provision of accommodation in the contemporary hospitality industry. It uses a phenomenological and interpretative inquiry to 'illumine' this experience and offer plausible insights. The guiding research questions are: What is the experience of hospitality reception practice like? What sense do receptionists make of their experience? What is the significance of the experience in the light of sociological discourses? What are the implications of their experience for practice and professional development? / The experience of hospitality reception practice is given through an 'expressive' based phenomenological approach that portrays the experience through narrative, poetry and metaphor. The portrayal composed of reflective accounts of ten episodes of practices that are typical of hospitality reception work. The personal episodes are situated within different social, cultural, personal and occupational settings. These accounts of the practice are then interpreted for meanings, juxtaposed to unravel themes and discussed for their significance and implications. The discussion of significance involves examining the themes through the discourses of culture, feminist theory, power and labour relations, consumerism and notions about the home environment. The themes are then considered in terms of implications for practice and professional development. / The study shows the conversional nature of hospitality reception work, which invites 'strangers' to become 'guests'. This means to carry out practices which invite these strangers to be compliant, disarmed, integrated, valued, pampered and enriched guests. There are also other conversional challenges, such as inviting prudent guests to be generous spenders, travellers to be vacationers, and visitors to be tourists. Receptionists and guests also often expect to form meaningful personal connections with each other which can enrich their experience further. / Receptionist is the human face of the company. As the go-between for management and guests there is an element of being the meat in the sandwich. Reception work has also been interpreted as jujitsu of control and power. The context of the work has been described as highly pressured, uncertain, chaotic, stressful and challenging in which the work is experienced in peaks and valleys. The requirement for receptionists to perform a fine balancing act, where they are expected to juggle, synthesise and accommodate many tasks is also illuminated. The seamless multiplex relations of receptionists and the effect of competing priorities are also highlighted. One of the important elements in the experience is the way in which the industry, by employing well-presented, young attractive women receptionists has implicitly sexualised the interaction, exposing receptionists to a risk of sexual harassment. Another significant element in the experience is management's lack of support for and appreciation of receptionists who are the 'flak catchers' of the organisation. / Thesis (PhD)--University of South Australia, 2007.

Thesis, PlanB (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Stout, 2005. / Includes bibliographical references.

Ce travail s’inscrit dans une démarche d'enseignement du portugais langue étrangère centrée sur l’enseignement de la langue à des apprenants non natifs ayant des besoins communicatifs pour agir en situation professionnelle. A partir d’un corpus de données orales sur le portugais parlé par des réceptionnistes d’hôtel au Portugal, nous avons mené un travail de description linguistique de ce genre discursif, en nous focalisant sur les aspects pragmatiques et discursifs : les actes de langage, la modalisation et les formes d’adresse. Cette analyse a débouché sur un travail de conceptualisation didactique pour l’enseignement du portugais de l’hôtellerie. Elle envisage les compétences générales et communicatives (discursives, stratégiques, interculturelles et linguistiques) que les apprenants non lusophones doivent acquérir au niveau B1 du CECR. Notre travail se termine par la présentation de pistes didactiques utiles pour l’enseignant du portugais de l’hôtellerie : l’enseignement par le genre et par la tâche et une perspective actionnelle centrée sur l’unité didactique. / This work focuses on the teaching of Portuguese as a foreign language by taking into account the teaching of Portuguese to non-native learners who require the language for professional purposes. It draws upon a spoken corpus of European Portuguese used by hotel receptionists in order to explore the pragmatic and discursive phenomena present in this discursive genre. The phenomena analysed include speech acts, modalisation and the address system. Following this linguistic analysis, teaching conceptualisation work was undertaken with regard to the teaching of Portuguese in the hotel industry. This conceptualisation includes the general and communicative (discursive, strategic, intercultural and linguistic) competencies required at the B1 level of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). The research is concluded by a presentation of teaching proposals related to teaching Portuguese in the hotel industry such as discursive genre and task teaching or an action-oriented approach focussed on the didactic unit.

Quality is critical to private security personnel employed as receptionists in many organisations, as it plays a vital role in improving organisational productivity. The main objective of the research was to investigate the quality of reception services provided by security personnel to organisations in the Johannesburg area as benchmarked against the appropriate service quality evaluation methodologies when modelling the impact of service quality on satisfaction and loyalty. A questionnaire was used and semi-structured interviews were conducted in a focus group with key informants (business owners, managers and ordinary people) who could provide valuable information for use in the study. The focus group consisted of eight respondents. The sample consisted of 200 participants scattered in seven regions on sites that are managed by Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo (JCPZ). The selection of the 200 participants was random and included JCPZ employees. Primary research shows that the majority of the respondents ranked indicators of service quality below acceptable level; however, customers‘ tastes and preferences constantly change and evolve, as do the number of security companies. Thus such companies should improve conditions in the area of service quality if they want to stay competitive. To remain competitive, the security companies as well as the clients need to analyse customers' expectations and perceptions of the service quality of front office staff, who in this case are often security/guarding personnel. For customer organisations, the empirical findings can be used to develop a framework of service quality indicators, which can be used for monitoring and benchmarking service quality. For organisations, the findings can be used for resource-allocation decisions pertaining to improved service quality, customer satisfaction and ultimately intentions. The study concludes that the quality perceptions of services rendered by security personnel as receptionists are important for customer satisfaction and that quality dimensions are important for clientele management - arguably one of the most important aspects of service quality management. / Business Management / M. Tech.