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The purpose of this study is to determine the effect of toxic leadership perception, leader-member exchange, job stress and emotional exhaustion to predict organizational citizenship behavior of hotel employees. The study is conducted with 623 participants from four and five-star hotel firms in Alanya which is among the top destinations in Turkey. Decision tree analysis is applied to determine the variables that decisive predicting organizational citizenship behavior of the employees. The external validity of the results obtained with the decision tree model is tested with artificial neural networks. The analysis showed that the most significant variable to predict employee organizational citizenship behaviors is leader-member exchange. Findings are discussed in terms of theoretical and practical implications for hospitality literature and sector practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study intends to examine the influence of hotel frontline employees' job crafting on their work role performance via the mediating role of work engagement. This study also puts forward the role of leader-member exchange (LMX) as a moderator between job crafting and work engagement. A survey was conducted among 310 hotel frontline employees and their 42 managers/supervisors working in the hotels of Uttar Pradesh, India. The study findings demonstrated a positive and significant nexus between job crafting and work role performance of hotel frontline employees via work engagement. The results also revealed that LMX, as a moderator, strengthens the job crafting-work engagement relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relationships between underwater hotel attachment, experiential service outcomes, experiential relationship investment and intention to stay. To test the model, empirical data was collected from 515 tourists at one underwater hotel in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates. The analysis results contribute to the services marketing theory by providing additional insights into the dimensions of underwater hotel attachment, the dimensions of experiential service outcomes, experiential relationship investment and intention to stay. The results of this study will also assist underwater hotel management in developing and implementing market-oriented service strategies to increase the dimensions of underwater hotel attachment, the dimensions of experiential service outcomes and experiential relationship investment and create intentions to stay. The theoretical and managerial implications of these results are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to understand the mediation effects of two-way communication between the relationship of leadership styles (servant and transformational) and subordinate-level work engagement. In a cross-sectional survey, 391 hospitality employees participated from the Bangladesh hotel industry. Results indicate that both leadership styles significantly affect subordinate-level work engagement. Two-way communication plays an intermediary role in the link between servant leadership and work engagement, but not for transformational leadership. Thus, our findings contribute to leadership development by investigating the mediation effects of two-way communication between two prominent leadership styles and subordinate-level work engagement, drawing on the social exchange theory. The novelty is demonstrated by exploring the difference between servant and transformational leaders in their approaches to motivating and boosting work engagement. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the effect of perceived corporate social responsibility (CSR) performance on hotel employees' behavior, as reflected in their attitude and satisfaction. Understanding employees' reaction to and perception of hotel CSR is essential before exercising effective CSR practices with customers. This study indicates that the social/philanthropic and ethical domains of hotel CSR enhance employees' attitude and satisfaction with working for this CSR-implementing hotel and their behavior (organizational citizenship, pro-social, and pro-environmental behaviors) within an organization and society. However, environmental, legal, and financial domains do not significantly affect attitude toward CSR-implementing hotel. In addition, the hotel employees' organizational tenure partially moderates the relationships among the proposed constructs. This study is the initial empirical attempt to understand hotel employees' responses to hotel CSR. It provides insights and practical suggestions into human resource departments for maximizing the effectiveness of CSR implementation in the hotel industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates the inter-relationship among the different dimensions of organizational culture, for example, group, hierarchical, rational and development. Furthermore, it explores how these four dimensions influence the development of hotel's agility. Perceptual responses collected from 186 hotel managers were analyzed using partial least squares in SmartPLS 2.0.M3. Furthermore, we also tested the robustness of the path coefficients by comparing them with OLS regression coefficients. Findings showed support for most of our hypothesized associations. Group, rational and development cultures are prominent enablers of hotel's agility. Furthermore, rational culture is a prominent enabler for group and development culture. While hierarchical culture was posited as a negative factor for the development of other cultural dimensions and hotel's agility, the path coefficients were insignificant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the influence of job-client gender context and personal characteristics on sexual harassment vulnerability of hotel employees in Accra, Ghana. Data for the study were solicited from 583 employees working in 55 hotels and analyzed using descriptive statistics, Chi-square test of independence and Kruskal-Wallis tests. Result of the study indicates that young and unmarried front office and food and beverage female employees are relatively predisposed to sexual harassment in hotel workplaces. Sexual harassment victimization in the hotel workspaces is associated with daily routine activities of employees as well as demographic characteristics whereas job-client gender context appears limited in explaining the sexual harassment vulnerability of hotel employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the importance of cross-cultural competency in the hospitality and tourism industry, minimal information is available regarding its antecedents and consequences. Accordingly, by uniquely adopting and integrating experiential learning theory and a cultural competency model, the present study explored the mechanisms that underlie cross-cultural competency, international experiences, and self-efficacy. The hypothesized relationships were tested via partial least squares–structural equation modeling using survey data from hotel employees. Results showed that the international experiences of employees positively predicted their cross-cultural competencies (i.e., metacognitive, cognitive, motivational, and behavioral dimensions). Moreover, motivational and behavioral competencies fully mediated the relationship between international experiences and self-efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This study attempts to explore and identify critical ethical incidents encountered by senior managers employed in international hotels in Taiwan. Design/methodology/approach: An in-depth interview was conducted to collect data from 22 senior managers. By using the critical incident technique (CIT) to analyze the interview data, 161 critical ethical incidents were identified and discussed. Findings: The analytical results show that the identified ethical incidents can be divided into 3 main categories, 7 sub-categories, and 13 underlying factors. The main and sub-categories include: (1) personal issues: personal integrity, executive leadership, and customer equity; (2) organizational issues: corporate integrity, organizational climate, and cross-cultural management; (3) external issues: customer integrity. Practical implications: Currently in Taiwanese hotels, ethics are not generally emphasized by management. The results of this research can contribute to hospitality ethics research and provide suggestions for ethics education and employee training in the hospitality industry. Originality/value: This study investigates critical ethical issues that exist in the hospitality workplace, with a focus on critical ethical concerns confronted by employees and managers in the hotel industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

College athletic competitions draw spectators increasing demand hotel stays during home games. The current study focuses on demand for hotel rooms generated from home games for college football. The current study uses ten-year hotel revenue data from STR for a major campus town with a nationally ranked NCAA football team. This study followed a two-tier approach regarding the location of the hotel with reference to the stadium. Primary Zone defined as a three-mile geographic zone around the football stadium; Secondary Zone defined as an area between 3 and 20 miles from the stadium. Results from this longitudinal study indicated NCAA football rankings have a significant effect on hotel ADR and Occupancy rates. Interestingly win and loss records of football teams have no effect on hotel ADR and Occupancy. As expected, in the Primary Zone (3 miles from stadium), hotels experience higher ADR and Occupancy during home games. However, this effect gradually fades as the distance to the hotel from the stadium increases. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hotel management agreement is a common, but arguably at times misunderstood, hotel operating structure. This study has sought to explore how both owners and hotel management companies ("operators") perceive aspects of ownership in managed hotels. In-depth interviews were held with both operator and owner executives and it was found that, even though interviewees appeared to be aware of the nature of the relationship established by a hotel management agreement, in practice operators in particular use a working definition of the model that is more akin to a lease. Misunderstandings of the hotel management agreement can cause confusion as to where risks and responsibilities lie. Based on these findings, we argue that ownership of the operating business, in addition to that of the hotel's real estate, deserves to be more explicitly acknowledged and addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smell is considered to be the sense that is most closely attached to emotional reactions. This makes scent in the hotel environment an important atmospheric variable to study, because fragrances are expected to increase the likelihood of producing an emotional reaction from consumers. Capitalizing on smell's ability to cue memories and conjure up emotions, the purpose of this research is to examine the emotional states evoked by various hotel scents in a hotel business in Hong Kong that uses scent throughout its premises. More specifically, this study intends to make a connection between the emotional states evoked by the hotel scents and how hotel businesses can make use of their guests' emotional responses. Scent marketing is an overlooked subject in hospitality and tourism research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourists’ emotions are seldom studied with respect to their place attachment, particularly in the context of casino hotels. To understand the role played by positive emotions in place attachment and satisfaction, this study attempts to identify the dimensions of positive emotions of casino-hotel visitors, followed by the examination of relationships between positive emotions, place attachment, and satisfaction. The survey results revealed the significant and positive impacts of positive emotions on place attachment, satisfaction, and revisit intention. Particularly, the “light pleasure” emotions were found to have a stronger impact on casino-hotel visitors’ satisfaction than other constructs in the model. The findings also lead to managerial implications and suggestions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Advances in information communication technology (ICT) has seen many hotels invest huge sums of money in ICTs to enhance their performance. However, this has never been the case for most hotels in economically developing countries due to poor ICT implementation. This study sought to establish how ICT-related management practices influence actual ICT application by hotels in Kenya. A total of 194 hotel managers drawn from 36 hotels were surveyed. The data collected was analyzed quantitatively. The outcomes show that though operational management and human resource management practices significantly predict actual ICT application, HRM practices have the biggest effect in explaining the variance in actual ICT application. The study finding offer insights to best management practices and how they influence actual ICT use in hotels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of the present study was to determine the learning culture factors important to high levels of knowledge usage at work among hotel managers. Hence, 121 managers from 41 hotels on the island of Jamaica were surveyed and the data analyzed using correlational analysis. The researchers found that as learning culture at work strengthened, so did the extent to which the hotel managers used knowledge acquired from their education, training, experience, and networking to solve problems and innovate on the job. The researchers also found six learning culture characteristics important to high levels of knowledge usage among the managers, with the most noteworthy being interdepartmental collaborations. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This study aims to explore consumers’ preference whether to bring their own tablets or use those provided by hotels, their expectations of hotel tablet apps, and antecedents of their behavioral intention toward hotel tablet apps. This study applied an extended model of the unified theory of acceptance and use of technology to understand consumers’ perceptions of tablet apps. By surveying 1,034 customers, this study found the respondents were more likely to utilize some tablet app features over others and revealed five key antecedents of customers’ behavioral intentions toward hotel tablet apps. The findings will help operators make informed decisions to maximize the benefits of tablet technology investments. The theoretical framework of this study provides a benchmark for other researchers to further investigate this field. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the non-equity entry mode choices of service firms is relatively limited. We use transaction cost economics and organizational capability perspectives to examine the determinants of choosing between franchising and management contracts in the hotel industry. In our analysis of four international hotel organizations operating in New Zealand, we found that both asset specificity and imperfect imitability helped in explaining the choice between franchising and management contracts. Behavioral uncertainty and host country management capabilities explained the entry mode choice of some hotel organizations but were not applicable for others that entered New Zealand via international strategic alliances or used strata titles. Finally, environmental uncertainty and the development of New Zealand’s business environment had a limited effect on choosing between franchising and management contracts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to gather information about the determinants and characteristics of the owners/managers of small- and medium-sized hotels (SMSHs) and identify various issues in starting up and operating businesses in the United Arab Emirates. The results of this study reveal that the majority of the owners/managers of SMSHs in the United Arab Emirates are male, young and middle age, and relatively new to the tourism industry. The motivations for the business ventures of the entrepreneurs include wanting to be financially independent, become one’s own boss, involvement in family business and the opportunities of the hotel business. Among the key business challenges highlighted by the owners/managers of SMSHs are stiff competition in the hotel industry, increased operating costs, reduced demand, and lack of skilled employees. Several key strategies have been employed to face these challenges. These include offering competitive pricing, improving the marketing and channels of promotion, enhancing the quality of service and providing superior customer service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study measures the congestion efficiency of 69 international tourist hotels (ITHs) in Taiwan between 1998 and 2009. Out of 69 ITHs, 62 faced a congestion situation and the number of guest rooms and total floor spaces of the catering divisions are the main congesting factors. The distance to a mass rapid transit station, pick-up service, and established years have significantly negative effects on congestion efficiency of ITHs, while the distance to nearest airport has a significantly positive impact on efficiency. American and Japanese tourists, independent ownership, and rural location significantly help improve an ITH’s efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this study is to identify which sustainable hotel practices guests would be most satisfied with, and what motivates guests to participate in these practices. In addition, the study tested for differences that may exist due to the sociocultural backgrounds of respondents, and whether they are willing to pay a premium for an environmentally friendly hotel. Data was collected in a popular tourist destination in Mexico. An analysis on satisfaction ratings revealed only minimal differences between demographic groups, which suggests that sustainable hotel practices are attractive beyond a niche market. Furthermore, Mexican and American respondents reported different views of environmentally friendly hotels, with Americans exhibiting more concern with functional aspects of sustainability, while Mexican guests were more familiar with emotional aspects of conservation. The study concluded that management should consider the sociocultural backgrounds, of their guests and may have to engage in efforts to educate guests about the benefits of balancing social responsibility with guest service expectations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this article is to understand the influence of hotel service quality and corporate image on tourism customer loyalty. Data were collected from tourists at several sight-seeing locations in Mauritius. The study sample comprised guests of various hotels in Mauritius who were randomly approached and invited to participate in a survey on the hotel's services. The study findings suggest that it is the quality of service and the corporate image of the hotel that jointly influence tourism customers' loyalty. Although the study findings do not indicate a direct relationship between service quality and loyalty, it is the consistent quality of service that creates and sustains the image of the hotel which, ultimately, results in tourism customer loyalty. This would therefore suggest that tourism customer loyalty is dependent on a hotel's ability to consistently deliver service quality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the present study was twofold. First, it aimed to determine what business travelers in two international hotels in Cairo, Egypt, the first being 5 stars and the second 4 stars, believed were the factors influencing hotel selection and their importance. Second, this work aimed to ascertain the extent of congruence between business guests on attributes that feature in hotel selection. Results showed that business travelers at the 5-star hotel assigned top importance to the attribute “accuracy of wake-up call”, whereas their counterparts at the 4-star hotel identified “security and safety of room” as their most important factor in hotel selection. The independent samples t-test identified statistical significant differences on 50 attributes between both sets of respondents. The eta-squared value was calculated to examine the magnitude of such differences. Despite the difference in hotel star rating, research findings did not reveal a large statistical difference on all attributes. However, a large statistical difference was discovered between respondents on 21 attributes; a moderate difference on 25 attributes and; a small difference on 4 attributes. The results of this study could equip accommodation managers with a better insight into the actual needs of business guests, the issue that could lead to their satisfaction and improve customer service. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As more hotel companies progressively internationalize their operations, the composition of their top management teams becomes more diversified. This necessitates the understanding of whether variations in strategic behavior and philosophy among these executives exist, which can be partially explained by differences in their national cultures. This article investigated the potential influence of masculinity on strategic behaviors by comparing hotel executives from three countries, the U.S., Thailand and Turkey. The findings indicated that executives associated with masculine cultures tended to use less involvement of others and less rationality in strategy development than their counterparts from feminine cultures. No differences were found regarding emphasis on content of strategic goals and openness to strategic change. Managerial implications and directions for future research are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The hospitality industry offers services to consumers around the clock, every day of the year. Lodging managers, in particular, are required to work long hours in a highly unpredictable and stressful environment. Consequently, a successful career in hotel management leaves little time for outside activities which often leads managers to leave such positions or the industry altogether. The purpose of this study is to explore the coping strategies used by lodging managers who have a successful balance between their work and personal lives. Eight coping strategies are identified by interviewing 15 lodging managers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes that efficiency of hotel organizations could be improved by integrating service-oriented operations with project management principles. Such integration would instill innovation, proactive attitudes and regulated risk-taking needed to pursue ongoing improvement and proactive response to change. By managing each change as a project, embedded in smoothly running operations, hotels would extend their life span by continuously reinventing themselves. The implementation of such strategic shift would necessitate reliance on empowered staff, placed in a flexible environment that engenders favorable climates for service, innovation, and strategic human resources (HR). The end result is synergy achieved through a complementary mix of service and project management cultures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents cost effective guidelines to assist hotels of all sizes with the usage of electronic data interchange (EDI) in the Internet e-business era. The evolution of web-based EDI makes it easier for hotels of all sizes to support their business processes with traditional EDI technology, but without the extensive capital outlay in computer hardware and software. This is an attempt to encourage investment in basic EDI technologies before implementing more sophisticated applications. The focus is to allow hotels of all sizes to improve their competitive advantage with successive EDI technological advances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past decade has witnessed increased scholarly interest in the effects of human resource systems on organizational performance. However, the focus has now shifted towards the nature and causes of these outcomes. Consequently, a consensus is emerging that informed understanding of the interaction between organizational strategy and human resources will be significant in accounting for these empirical outcomes. A cursory glance at the human resource practices in Kenyan hotels suggested limited evidence of the use of functional flexibility and greater reliance on numerical flexibility. In Kenya, there is no readily available record of empirical research done on choices of employment systems along criteria similar to functional and numerical flexibilities. This study is aimed at investigating the relationships between human resource systems, competitive strategies, and business performance in the Kenyan hotel industry. The research was conducted in Nairobi and Mombasa whereby the population mainly comprised managerial and non-managerial employees drawn from the hotels selected in the aforementioned cities. Purposive sampling was used to select hotels while stratified sampling was applied to obtain 160 participants to whom questionnaires were administered. Data was analyzed using chi-square goodness of fit test, Kruskal-Wallis one-way analysis of variance, and descriptive statistics. The research revealed that functionally flexible human resource systems in conjunction with differentiation strategies are associated with high organizational performance, whereas numerically flexible human resource systems and cost reduction strategies are linked with low organizational performance. Additionally, the research equally found out that independent hotels pursued numerically flexible human resource systems in conjunction with cost reduction strategies whereas chain hotels applied functionally flexible human resource systems and differentiation/focus strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study proposed a comprehensive model applicable to hotel electronic distribution management. It was guided by three well-founded theories: contingency theory, information-adoption theory, and channel-power theory. We evaluated environmental and organizational determinants of electronic distribution strategy and their relationship with its consequences using the linear structural path modeling. Among 12 posited hypotheses, 8 were supported by the sample. Slack, investment, and innovativeness had significant effects on the Internet distribution strategy, while top management involvement did not. Constructs identified as consequences of the electronic distribution channel strategy were confirmed in the hotel electronic channel context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Serious concern by hoteliers pertaining to how managers' perceptions of environmental uncertainty may influence the incidence and scope of environmental scanning in the company's strategy formulation process has not been matched by appropriate research in the area. It has been argued that objective measures of the instability, or volatility associated with the heterogeneous and diverse hospitality business environment may be less strongly related to the strategy-making process than subjective perceptions to which managers respond. The findings here suggest that hotel executives perceive higher levels of hostility, dynamism, and complexity in the task environment when compared to the remote environment and tend to scan the environment with greater frequency and more broadly in response to increased uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Top executives from four major multinational lodging corporations were interviewed on corporate strategies to identify key strategic drivers for creating value in the global lodging industry. In the face of greater environmental uncertainty, global competition, and technological change, it is imperative that multinational lodging firms develop strategies for protecting their domestic franchises and expanding internationally. The findings reveal shifts in current business models, strategies for changing brand architecture, searches for profitable new markets, commoditization and differentiation of the product, and development of customer-centered functional strategies. Implications of these strategic changes for the lodging industry are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effectiveness of revenue management systems has diminished in recent years due to the systems' inability to address the increasing complication of online deal-seeking behavior. To restore their efficiency, one must first understand the changes in advanced-booking behavior and their implications. This study expands the consumer booking model by addressing the impact of time-before-the-date-of-stay and exploring the implication for the hotel's pricing/marketing strategies. The findings underscore the urgent need for empirical research on timing by showing that the predictions of the advanced-booking model, and consequently the effectiveness of RM systems, depend on the actual patterns over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reports on a study investigating Management Accounting (MA) applications and practices in Greek hotels. Relevant bibliography indicates the way in which MA supports management decision-making: Costing systems aim to analyze revenue centers, and are structured according to marginal costing principals. MA makes extensive use of budget and performance measurement techniques to support operational and strategic decisions. In the present study, a sample survey was carried out by means of a structured questionnaire. The findings indicate that Greek hotels make use of MA techniques in all of the above ways, but also reveal a number of differences, such as the application of full costing methods. This in turn has implications for the criteria used to evaluate managers' performance, as well as for the information used in making pricing decisions. Moreover, budget design is more flexible than that used in other fields, while benchmarking is not so popular. The study's findings reveal that hotel size and sales mix structure affect some MA practices, while the use of specific MA methods and techniques determines the emphasis placed on the application of others. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to examine the effect of self-efficacy on job performance, job satisfaction, and affective organizational commitment using data collected from employees in three-, four-, and five- star hotels in Northern Cyprus as its setting. The research hypotheses were tested using LISREL 8.30 through path analysis. The model test results demonstrated that self-efficacy is a significant determinant of job performance. This study, however, failed to find a significant positive association between self-efficacy and job satisfaction. Although not hypothesized, the results of the present study revealed that job performance mediates the impact of self-efficacy on job satisfaction. In addition, the results of the path analysis showed that self-efficacy is among the significant predictors of affective organizational commitment. The model test results provided empirical support for the rest of the hypothesized relationships. Specifically, the path-analytic findings indicated that job satisfaction exerts a significant positive influence on affective organizational commitment. The model test results also demonstrated that job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment are negatively associated with intention to leave. Discussion of the results, implications for hotel managers, and future research directions are presented in the study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines hotel renovation practices within the context of new product development. It reports the results of qualitative empirical research on the renovation practices adopted by three star hotels, and the perception of owners/operators in that sector. This paper reports the findings from interviews with three star hotel owners. These indicate that there is an unwritten and informal process for renovation in three star hotels. in general, the scale and nature of renovations are limited in these hotels due to insufficient finances. The findings seem to indicate that three star hotel owners do not use renovation as a marketing tool due to external factors. Owners believe that these factors are most likely to be the same problems faced by three star resort hotels throughout Egypt because the rules and ethics of hotel business are almost the same all over Egypt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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 research investigates guests' perceptions of the process of booking hotel rooms, To test the hypothesis that guests experience stress during the booking process, 224 guests in two hotels in New Zealand were asked about their experiences when making hotel reservations. The results of a qualitative analysis show that many travellers do find the process of hooking accommodation uncomfortable and stressful. Fifty-five percent of guests expressed dissatisfaction with some aspect of the hooking process. Lack of information about the hotel and its services were quoted most often as the critical factor, closely followed by dislike of the price negotiation process. [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]

The authors examined the degree of discrepancy between customers' perceptions and expectations for hotel service quality. This research finds that customers have negative disconformation, that is, the degree of expected service quality is higher than the perceived service quality. Nevertheless, the findings show high customer satisfaction. The authors report that this phenomenon is explained by the notion that service value plays a key role as a mediating variable in the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this case study was to analyze and compare the total quality management (TQM) practices of three luxury hotels. Leadership, guest and market focus, and information and analysis emerged as the three most significant TQM factors successfully implemented in these three hotels. The human resource focus factor was less successfully integrated into these hotels' operations. Although the three hotels claimed that they managed their processes effectively, these processes were not as well-designed or complex as in many other quality-conscious companies. Strategic planning emerged as one of the most difficult factors to implement. The general managers interviewed argued that these six factors contributed positively to their hotel's business results. Managerial and research implications are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Explains how value-based performance measures may be used to increase the efficiency, effectiveness and profitability of hospitality establishments in the U.S. Examples of commonly used traditional financial measures; Findings from a survey of hotel managers that support the potential value of economic value added-type measures to hotel management; Suggestions for implementation.