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Quality is a price determinant in most products. However, establishment of a quality evaluation for the consumer is not an easy proposition. In the hospitality industry, fortunately, room quality evaluation and price information are readily available for consumers from published consumer guides. The Mobil Travel Guide is one of the more popular sources of hotel information available to consumers. The Mobil Travel Guide awards "stars" based on the level of quality their investigators deem appropriate. To investigate the relationship between quality and price in the hospitality industry, this study analyzes hotel managements' pricing behavior before and after a quality rating change by the Mobil Travel Guide. Data is gleaned from the Guide in several provinces and states in Canada and the United States from the relatively stable economic growth period of 1991 through 1999. The results reveal that hotel organizations raised prices before gaining a "star" and lowered prices before losing a "star." The study concludes with a discussion of the implications of this pricing pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study was undertaken to identify employee recruitment and retention issues in the New Zealand hotel industry and how and if Strategic Human Resource Management (SHRM) took place. Questionnaires were sent to 67 human resource managers of hotels who maintained hotels in excess of 75 rooms and had associated food and beverage operations. In total this involved 4,886 rooms and 2,163 equivalent fulltime employees, geographically spread throughout New Zealand. While more hotel jobs are being created, results indicate the number of applicants to jobs and caliber of applicants is dropping. Housekeeping and food and beverage positions are the highest turnover positions while qualified chefs are difficult to find. Strategic human resource planning is only undertaken by 59% of hotels and the image of the hotel industry appears negative to the external labour market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]