Hospitality Industry

Competencies are probably one of the most popular study subjects in scholarly hospitality research. Even though numerous scholars have attempted to identify competencies required in the hospitality industry, there is a need to further study and better understand competencies necessary for managerial-level positions. Thirty competency statements were included in the survey, falling into five competency domains. Data were collected via a representative sample of hospitality professionals in hotel establishments in Cyprus. The findings that emerged from the present study show that the industry has a strong preference to hire people with “soft” people management skills and strong practical professional skills.

Purpose – Validation of the Human Resource Management (HRM) practices used by Portuguese hotels, their degree of importance, and the alignment between their strategic dimension and their operational implementation. Design – The study was developed using quantitative analysis, supported by a questionnaire shared with top managers of hotel companies in the Portuguese Hotels national register. Methodology – The HRM practices integrated in the study were the result of those identified in the literature review, the global HR barometer developed by the Michael Page company, and the HRM practices integrated in the Label Pro HR project, developed by the Mediterranean Federation from Human Resources in association with HRM Associations and European higher education institutions. Findings – In Portugal, HRM in the hotel industry is beginning to be understood as a way to achieve competitive advantage. 92,7% of the top managers in our sample reported that the existence of an HR department grant...

The aim of this paper was to compare nicotine concentration in 28 hospitality premises (HPs) in Florence and Belluno, Italy, where a smoking ban was introduced in 2005, and in 19 HPs in Vienna, Austria, where no antismoking law entered into force up to now. Airborne nicotine concentrations were measured in the same HPs in winter 2002 or 2004 (pre-ban measurements) and winter 2007 (post-ban measurements). In Florence and Belluno, medians decreased significantly (P < 0.001) from 8.86 [interquartile range (IQR): 2.41-45.07)] before the ban to 0.01 lg/m 3 (IQR: 0.01-0.41) afterwards. In Austria (no smoking ban) the medians collected in winters 2004 and 2007 were, respectively, 11.00 (IQR: 2.53-30.38) and 15.76 lg/m 3 (IQR: 2.22-31.93), with no significant differences. Measurements collected in winter 2007 in 28 HPs located in Naples, Turin, Milan (0.01 lg/m 3 ; IQR: 0.01-0.16) confirmed postban results in Florence and Belluno. The medians of nicotine concentrations in

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effectiveness of social couponing campaigns for hotels. In particular, the perceived effectiveness related to four specific objectives is explored (acquiring and retaining new customers, building brand awareness, balancing seasonality and stimulating demand among existing customers).

Design/methodology/approach
– A questionnaire-based survey was conducted that involved 108 hotels, each of which has run at least one social couponing campaign through Groupon in Italy. The importance-performance approach was applied to analyze the data.

Findings
– Overall, the perceived effectiveness of social couponing for hotels is quite low. Social couponing is useful to increase brand awareness but does not encourage customer behavioral loyalty. Larger hotels can successfully use this marketing tool to balance demand seasonality.

Research limitations/implications
– The sample size is limited but includes approximately one-fourth of all Italian hotels that have run social coupon campaigns through Groupon. Only social couponing campaigns run through one daily deal site (Groupon) in one country (Italy) were considered.

Practical implications
– Social couponing is not perceived as equally effective for all hotels. This study provides hotel managers with suggestions for deciding whether to allocate a share of their marketing resources to social couponing.

Originality/value
– To the authors’ knowledge, this is the first paper to present field data to complement the available theoretical knowledge on social couponing for hotels.

Focusing on employee retention is vital to increase organizational performance and strengthen a nation's economy. Employee turnover leads to high unemployment and slow economic growth around the globe. The purpose of this study was to explore the reasons and motivating factors that cause employees to remain in hospitality despite the high turnover rate in the industry. The data for this study were collected using semi-structured interviews, conducted with hospitality employees in South Florida. The study employed a qualitative phenomenological method to acquire the lived experiences of participants. The findings were in accord with the employee retention approach. The findings revealed that creating a good working environment including management support, reward, and incentive programs would lead to employee retention in the hospitality sector.

Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to assess whether travel agencies that implement comprehensive marketing performance assessment systems (MPASs) enjoy superior overall performance. Drawing on the Knowledge-Based View, we propose and test a model demonstrating that the relationship between MPASs and overall performance is fully mediated by the depth of market-related knowledge absorbed by the travel agency.

Design/methodology/approach
A survey was administered to a sample of Italian travel agencies; 171 complete questionnaires were received. The suggested relationships were assessed using a covariance-based structural equation modeling approach, including the estimation of both the measurement model and the structural model. 

Findings
The findings indicate that the implementation of sophisticated MPASs has a significant and positive effect on performance and that this relationship is fully mediated by the depth of market-related knowledge absorbed by the travel agency. In addition, the results highlight that the number of marketing metrics monitored by the travel agency has no effect on its performance.

Research limitations/implications
The specific features of the travel agency sector in Italy include a remarkable level of fragmentation. The cross-sectional design does not permit an assessment of the medium-term effects of the adoption of an MPAS.

Practical implications
Travel agencies selecting proactive marketing strategies can particularly benefit from the adoption of sophisticated MPASs. Suggestions are provided to assist managers in designing their MPAS.

Originality/value
This study enriches the field’s knowledge about marketing performance measurement and proactive marketing strategies and indicates that the implementation of well-designed marketing performance assessment systems improves a firm’s overall performance. It also explains the knowledge-related processes that produce this positive effect.

Social media has changed the way tourists seek and exchange information, resulting in changes in the management of tourism businesses including hospitality facilities. Guest reviews and comments have had an impact on the reputation of organisations, both positive and negative. Websites with user-generated content spread this information to other tourists through the evaluation of service provided and thereby influence the decision of new visitors. Accordingly, this research sought to identify the correlation between overall satisfaction and the evaluation criteria used on a website. For this, we analysed 660 reviews (236 of three-star hotels, 125 of four-star hotels and 299 of five-star hotels) on TripAdvisor, containing independent reviews including overall satisfaction, value (cost-benefit), location, sleep quality, rooms, cleanliness and service. Results showed a strong correlation of overall satisfaction with the criteria of room, service provided and cost-benefit

The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) on customer loyalty in the hotel industry. The study was conducted at the Golden Tulip hotel, Accra. The objectives of the study were to determine if (CRM) has an impact on customer loyalty, to determine if the practice of effective CRM in organisations leads to a long or short term financial impact, to find out the extent or degree to which effective CRM leads to customer satisfaction and to assess if the services provided by the hotel meets the needs and wants of customers. Questionnaires were administered to both individual and corporate clients of the hotel and the result of this was analyzed. The results showed that 46.3% of the respondents were females whilst 53.3% were males. Most of the respondents had heard about the hotel from newspaper advertisements (40%) and referrals from people who had used the hotel (30%). 80% of the respondents were willing to refer to the services of the hotel to other people whilst 90% of them were satisfied with the services at the hotel. The accommodation and catering facilities were mostly patronized. The perception among respondents about the hotel was good since they gave a positive review of the services. Most of the respondents agreed that they would come back to the hotel. The corporate clients were also satisfied with the services provided at the hotel with 20% having used the hotel for up to 4 years. The corporate clients said they would use the facility again, thus, customer loyalty existed among these clients as well as, the individual clients. It is recommended that the hotel improves the cooling system in the conference room and provide better business centre facilities to attract more customers.

The current study investigates the impact of several disasters and crises on Malaysian’s hospitality and tourism industry. This
study aims to review some attempts to investigate the impact of disasters, how emergency planning could mitigate these impacts,
and how to recover from it. Furthermore, it will review the governmental statistics and Malaysia`s growth rate during several
man-made and natural disasters. This study evaluates the contribution of the Gross domestic product (GDP) in the Malaysian
economy, then discusses its effects on tourist arrivals to Malaysia and analyse the occupancy rate during the disasters. The
findings identify that hospitality and tourism sector in Malaysia has been affected by several natural and human made disasters.
Most of the industry businesses reported a reactive preparedness rather than proactive emergency planning, with relying on the
government planning to recover shortly from disasters. Strategies like increasing service quality, hotel renovation, tax reduction,
cheap tour packages, and the important role of media should be used to recover from disasters. Unfortunately, emergency
planning for the disaster has been a dereliction by industry key players.

Hotel booking decisions are increasingly influenced by consumer feedback available on social media sites. Using data submitted by customers on TripAdvisor, this study analyzes the customer satisfaction ratings posted for 2,211 hotels. The study provides four key contributions to our knowledge on this subject. Firstly, a comparative analysis was conducted of customer ratings for hotels located on the Spanish coast and Portugal's southern coast. Secondly, significant differences were found in the number of comments and average online review ratings, which showed a correlation to the tourism destinations' geographical locations. Thirdly, the study found that customers tend to rate their hotel experiences positively. Fourthly, the customers' overall level of satisfaction with a hotel tends to increase proportionately based on the number of customer feedback comments posted for that hotel. Consequently, one of this study's findings is that hotels should encourage their customers to post comments on customer review websites to balance out any negative feedback.

As part of a Europe-wide project the amount of exposure to environmental tobacco smoke (ETS) in public places like schools, restaurants, and public transport facilities was investigated. Three methods were applied: nicotine passive samplers (with a filter treated with sodium bisulphate), the same filters with an active sampling device, and the measurement of fine particles' active surface by unipolar diffusion charging. Settings were selected where either high or low ETS concentrations were expected and where non-smokers would have to stay or at least to pass by. Highest ETS concentrations were found in discos (mean nicotine concentration 154.4 maximum 487.1 mg/m 3 ) and intermediate concentrations in restaurants with no significant difference between smoking (21.3 AE 6.1 mg/m 3 ) and nonsmoking areas (23.3 AE 15.9 mg/m 3 ) but on average higher values in restaurants with no separation between smoking and non-smoking areas (38.0 AE 60.6 mg/m 3 ). Concentrations usually below 10 mg/m 3 were found in transport facilities (8.9 AE 8.0 mg/m 3 , maximum 20.6 in the restaurant section of a railway station's waiting room) and in schools (3.0 AE 4.6 mg/m 3 ). In hospitals ™problem spots∫ were sought and so concentrations from very low to as high as 45.1 mg/m 3 next to a smoking area with no physical barrier or separation and 47.7 mg/m 3 inside a smoking room could be documented (21.4 AE 39.3 mg/m 3 ). The fine particle's surface correlated well with the nicotine concentration (r 0.8; p < 0.001). Only in one instance (in a pizza restaurant on a busy road with heavy duty diesel traffic and the sampling spot next to the pizza stove) high concentration of fine particles was detected without high nicotine. Tobacco smoke is a key source of indoor fine particles. Health policy must intervene to change the situation found at present in many public places in Austria.

The goal of this paper is to analyze the effects of ICT on firms’ competitiveness, as well as on their level of innovation, productivity and on the market share depending on the
tourism area: Accommodation, Gastronomy and Travel Agencies. On the whole, it has been proved that the use of diverse ICTs has little effect on the level of competition as well as on increasing productivity, while in general, they have a positive effect on increasing the market share of the firms.

This paper aims to identify major emergencies that have the potential to place Malaysian hotels in emergency and disaster situations. It is also the purpose to investigate hotel preparedness for emergencies and how they manage and overcome emergencies when they occur. It is the hope that we reveal their limitations and factors which influence successful emergency planning which may adopt an emergency management plan in Malaysian hotels. Face-to-face interviews with managers from three, four and five star hotels of local, regional and international backgrounds in Kuala Lumpur, Subang, and Putrajaya were undertaken. The results revealed that Malaysian hotels are exposed to a wide range of natural and man-made disasters. Malaysian hotels lack proactive emergency planning with many constraints which impede successful emergency planning for disasters in the Malaysian hotel industry. It is the emphasis that the relevant authority’s roles demonstrate emergency management to hotels in order to convince them to adopt such practices. Therefore, they may be able to cope with emergencies effectively.

As successful tourism firms invest heavily in marketing to defend or improve their competitive position, they increasingly need to measure their marketing performance. Previous studies related to tourism have largely focused on financial and operational performance, but the marketing perspective has been largely overlooked. Drawing on an in-depth investigation involving 12 hotel chains, 8 travel agencies and 8 tour operators, this study provides an overview of the state-of-the-art marketing performance measurements among some of the leading tourism firms in Italy. Several issues and unanswered questions are also identified.

The Western hospitality industry experiences a shortage of skilled professionals due to a poor image and competition from other sectors. Employer branding, which is used as a human resources strategy to differentiate brands, has the potential to deal with some of the problems. An employer brand is closely connected to a company"s corporate and customer brands. Elements include attractiveness to outsiders, engagement and retention of talent. For this research, 23 senior hospitality decision makers were interviewed. The interviewees acknowledged the current problems in the hospitality industry. The majority had heard about employer branding but only a few had started to implement it. Some conceive employer branding as "job advertisement pimping" instead of being a strategy. Based on the interviews and the literature, a number of suggestions were formulated to implement employer branding.

Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to define preconditions and integration capabilities of the mobile business in supply chain management (SCM) in the hospitality industry via mobile devices and mobile applications. The aims of this paper are to reflect on what mobile technology has to offer and to draw attention to the role of mobile applications and their use in the SCM. Although mobile technologies are present in almost all areas, they are not used to their full potential.
Design -The paper defines the concept of supply chain management in the hospitality industry and provides information about benefits of its successful implementation. Furthermore, this paper highlights the role of mobile technologies and mobile applications in supply chain management in the hospitality industry that bring numerous benefits starting with cost reduction, increased functionality, productivity, efficiency and ending up with satisfied users of logistics products in the hospitality industry.
Methodology/approach - Based on an extensive literature review, the authors propose new solutions, such us "Bring Your Own Device" (BYOD) in the field of mobile business. Therefore, this paper attempts to investigate the possibilities offered by mobile technologies in the SCM.
Findings - The paper introduces new trends in the field of mobile technology and emphasizes their importance and the impact in the management of modern supply chain. Furthermore, the findings in this paper may be useful in developing mobile solutions for SCM in the hospitality industry.
Originality - This article provides useful insights for all participants in supply chain to better understand the benefits of the application of mobile technologies and mobile applications in the management of modern supply chain. The paper can also serve as a basis for further research in the area of application of mobile technologies in creating logistics products in the hospitality industry.
Keywords: supply chain management, hospitality industry, mobile technologies, mobile apps

The tourism and hospitality education is a branch of the overall tourism and hospitality industry that is dedicated to providing the industry with well educated, adequately trained, and committed workforce. The Tourism Department at the College of Arts and Social Sciences (Sultan Qaboos University), Oman, has been providing the Omani society with undergraduate tourism and hospitality educational services since Fall 2001. Even though Tourism Department graduates are not facing any employment concerns, fluctuation in the number of enrollees and graduates, however, has been a significant characteristic since the inception of the program. Due to cultural and societal issues, and market needs, the program specializations and study plans were changed and amended. To assure sustainability of the program, several tactical and strategic decisions have been made, notably that the program has received accreditation from two prestigious international accreditation institutions (UNWTO-TedQual certification and the Agency for Quality Assurance through Accreditation of Study Programs-AQAS), which mark two major milestones in the educational journey of the Tourism Department.The current study, thus, aims to provide a tourism and hospitality education management model based on the Tourism Department of Sultan Qaboos University experience. To achieve this aim, the following objectives were identified: to analyze students in-graduates out matrix, to assess graduates' employment trends, and to demonstrate the department educational and management framework. This study sheds light on the educational model created and followed by the Tourism Department, in an effort to provide a tourism and hospitality education management model, that would help educators and administrators of tourism and hospitality academic programs.

Many Singapore polytechnic students are not keen to join the hospitality line even after being enrolled in a 3-year hospitality program. Many students find the nature of the job too stressful and strenuous. Students have also cited reasons such as long working hours, shift work, dealing with unpredictable circumstances in the job environment and having lower starting remuneration as compared other industries (K. Ong, personal communications, June 16, 2010). Other perceived qualitative reasons that have been given by students for not joining the industry would be the semi-professional nature of the hospitality industry as compared to other industries such as education, law, engineering and business-related industries (Khan, 1992). Students especially from a semi-traditional Asian-Singapore context are not encouraged to join the hospitality line because their parents do not support their decision as the jobs in this industry is seen as one which is &#39;servitude&#39; and have little ...

The present study is to investigate the various factors that are affecting high attrition rate in hospitality industry. The type of research employed for the present study was descriptive and survey method approach. The data were collected on both primary and secondary sources from Country inn & Suites hotel and resorts, Sahibabad. A study conducted by an industry chamber located in New Delhi reveals that the attrition rate in the hospitality industry in India is set to double to nearly 50 per cent by 2010, up from the earlier 25 per cent growing at an alarming rate of 10 per cent per annum. Country inn & Suites hotel and resorts, Sahibabad is currently facing attrition at an alarming rate of 7.1 % where 5% is considered to be average and 2-3 % is considered good. The Primary data comprises of questionnaire and interview method undertaken to collect the data from the employees and the secondary data was picked up from the company records of attrition during past 6 months from December 2010 to May 2011, which contributes to a total of 202 separating employees. The total 30 sample was collected through purposive sampling technique as primary data. The result was showed that the lack in salary, compensation, better opportunities and departmental issues were the major reasons behind the problem of attrition in the company.

This paper's purpose was to identify the key sources when formulating competitive advantages of hotel chains. The research assessed the financial activities performance included in annual hospitality industry reports and on their official websites; questioning of loyal and potential customers; the five-point Likert scale and the Pearson correlation coefficient were applied to understand the possible consumer reaction to a certain competitive advantage or its absence. The paper confirms the effectiveness of key sources used by management to win and retain competitive advantages: despite strong dependence on the economic cycle phase etc., after the devastating crisis of 2007, 2008, but also to achieve sustainable growth. All the networks examined over the last decade have expanded their presence in international markets, diversified the portfolio of brands, increased the number of jobs and profits. It was also proved that the opinion of the final consumer is still not sufficiently taken into account in the assessment of the Pearson correlation coefficient (the latter allowed the authors to propose their own definition of the competitive advantage in the industry). The paper attempts for the first time to consider the competitive advantages of hotel chains from the point of view not only of theorists and business practitioners, but also with the view of the opinion of the services consumer; there were identified the discrepancies, which consideration would allow to increase the level of guest satisfaction and, accordingly, the efficiency of the hotel business. In future papers, the authors plan to verify the existence of a correlation between the degree of guest loyalty to a particular hotel network and the main financial results of its activities.

This paper explores the current HRM practices employed in the international hospitality industry. More specifically it investigates four key HRM areas regarding the work of General Managers (GMs) in luxury (4 and 5*) hotels in Greece namely: recruitment and selection; training and development (focused in managerial competencies); performance evaluation; networking and communication.

The increasing liberalisation, privatisation and globalisation (LPG) combined with an ever increasing shortage of professional manpower and advances in technology has resulted in large scale changes to human resource management practices throughout the world and Asia-Pacific region firms are unlikely to be immune from these challenges. An exploratory study was conducted with hospitality multinational enterprises (MNEs), based in India to assess their human resource management practices and comparing these practices with foreign multinational enterprises (MNEs) operating in India. A key aim of the study was to establish if the human resource management practices of MNEs that operate in the important hospitality industry, are aligned with global practices. Using data collected from hospitality multinational enterprises located in India, we compare the two groups on specific HRM practices. The aim is to show how HRM practices of Indian MNEs differ from those of foreign MNEs and examine the extent and the way these HRM practices reflect firm specific factors such as nationality, age (years), number of employees and industry sector. The empirical results indicate that HR practices in India reflect firm-specific factors to a great extent. Moreover, they imply that in some areas MNEs have realised a considerable degree of adaptation, embracing practices that are in line with the Indian environment. A salient focus of the study is to assess if globalised foreign owned MNEs are more likely to align their HRM practices with global trends rather than with the practices employed by locally owned MNEs. The findings are discussed in terms of implications for HR practitioners, particularly those in Indian.

Abstract: Relationship marketing is a post modern development that has seen the practice of marketing evolving from a medieval production orientation in the early 1900s, when demand for goods and services exceeded supply to a period where organizations regardless of their sizes, nature of business and organizational objectives, have realized the strategic importance of entering into long term relationships with various stakeholders as a means of enhancing profitability. This research aimed at examining the extent to which Hotels and Lodges in Masvingo engage relationship marketing strategies at all the three tier levels as a means of fostering sustainable competitive advantage (SCA). A cross sectional descriptive research design was used to unravel the relationship between RM and customer retention. A drop and pick survey technique was administered on 51 respondents, comprising managers and section supervisors selected from firms in the sectors, using a structured undisguised questi...

Despite the growing concern for Environmental Management Systems (EMS) in the hospitality industry, the relationship between institutional pressures and environmental management implementation is rarely examined in the small- and medium-scale enterprise hotels (SMEHs) context. Concerning the impact of tourism activities on the environment has been increasing; unfortunately, many hotels are unwilling to develop an EMS, probably due to a lack of resources and knowledge. Little attention has been devoted, especially among the SMEHs in Malaysia. The primary purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of institutional pressures on the SMEH environmental management implementation in addition to determining the manager’s commitment as mediating factor. Quantitative research was conducted in this study to establish how managers deal with specific situations using the environmental management system. A total of 313 managers were randomly selected from a total of 1695 registered SMEH...

The purpose of this study was to explore the sources of pride in the workplace on hospitality employees in various careers. Taking a qualitative approach, in-depth interviews were conducted, 29 employees were selected via purposive sampling. Through the content analysis, the sources of pride in the hospitality workplace were identified and were found to be consistent with previous literature, namely a four-fold classification system consisting of: pride in work, pride in organization, pride in membership in their sections and individual pride. The findings of this study could assist human resource professionals or supervisors in understanding the sources of pride in employees, as well as the direction for building pride in the hospitality careers.

Benchmarking predstavlja potragu za najboljom praksom u određenoj grani industrije. To je postupak koji se temelji na uspoređivanju vlastitih dimenzija s onim poduzecima koja zaslužuju biti mjera vrijednosti. Primjena benchmarkinga u svjetskom hotelijerstvu ima vrlo dugacku tradiciju. Prve forme benchmarking statistike bilježe se jos davnih 1930ih godina. Osnovna pretpostavka primjene benchmrkinga u hotelijerstvu je primjena standarda USALI. Danas u svjetskom hotelijerstvu postoji velik broj raznih publikacija u okviru kojih se objavljuju ostvareni rezultati poslovanja u hotelijerstvu, koji pojedinim hotelima mogu poslužiti u svrhu benchmarkinga. Kljucni pokazatelji koji se u ovom clanku predstavljaju na uzorku hotela u Hrvatskoj i Sloveniji, clanovima CrossBench projekta su stupanj iskoristenja kapaciteta, prosjecna cijena sobe, RevPAR i TRevPAR. Uz pomoc analize omeđenih podataka (Data Envelopment Analysis – DEA) izracunata je i efikasnost hotela u Hrvatskoj i Sloveniji. Povzetek ...

Electronic business (E-business) is a process of conducting business through the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT), specifically the Internet. As a result of the current proliferation of ICT, e-business as well as other electronic applications and activities have globally sprung up and many companies and organizations in Ghana are realizing their importance and necessity. Over the past few years, the hospitality standards for hotels, restaurants and tourism operations in Ghana have improved. This has enabled the harmonization of hotel and restaurant licensing standards in West Africa, which is part of the Revised Treaty of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). Using relevant literature, this paper describes the importance of adopting e-business in the hospitality industry of Ghana with a focus on its benefits and challenges in such an industry. Additionally, the paper ascertains the relevance of the Technology Acceptance Model 2 (TAM2) in the ho...

ABSTRACT: Defining and measuring organizational culture (OC) is of paramount importance to organizations because a strong culture could potentially increase service quality and yield sustainable competitive advantages. However, such process could be challenging to managers because the scope of OC has been defined differently across disciplines and industries, which has led to the development of various scales for measuring OC. In addition, previously developed OC scales may also not be fully applicable in the hospitality and tourism context. Therefore, by highlighting the key factors affecting the business environment and the unique characteristics of hospitality industry, this paper aims to align the scope of OC closely with the industry and to put forth the need for a new OC scale that accurately responds to the context of the hospitality industry.

In his latest edited book, entitled Slavery and Liberation in Hotels, Restaurants and Bars, Conrad Lashley tackles a very complex subject matter very much relevant in today’s world.

This is a thought-provoking book that students, academics and practitioners will appreciate and value worldwide. Working in hotels, restaurants, and bars is not always as rosy as the industry portrays. Sometimes behind the employees’ hospitableness and bright smiles lies a lot of sadness, misery and oppression.

Companies working in a competitive environment are increasingly facing challenges in attracting and retaining customers. In this regard, companies try to create superior value for customers compared to competitors and in return, expect customers to participate in creating value for the company. But customers are different and use different relational models to interact with companies, which affect the amount and type of engagement they make in creating value for companies. Therefore, in the present article, we look at the extent to which customer relational models influence their engagement in creating value for hotels, and each customer involved in the creation of what kind of value. To this end, loyal customers of five-star hotels in the northwest of the country were selected as the statistical population and 533 customers participated in the research by completing the questionnaire. A convenience sampling method was used to select the statistical sample. In terms of the aim of the research, this is applied research and in terms of methodology, this is casual research. The research hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling technique and AMOS software. Findings show that customers who use a non-social relational model in their interaction with the hotel participate in creating three types of value (lifetime value, influence value, and knowledge value) for the hotel and customers with relational models of communal sharing and equality matching create value for the hotel, through knowledge and impact on others respectively in addition to providing a lifetime value. Ultimately, customers with market pricing models create value for the hotel only by offering their lifetime value.

Hospitality industry is one of the most dynamic industry. Guests enjoy their stay in hotels just because of high level of energy among its employee. This industry personnel are also known as most disciplined ones with reference to other sectors. The employee in hotels and other accommodation sectors are working in a set hierarchial structure of the organization. In every department, the career opportunity for working employees is their desired goal. They want to see working themselves on higher level on their every present situation. Apart from this, employees keep themselves motivated from other multiple reasons. If they don’t find in the state of lacking in terms of motivation and career opportunity in their job, they start thinking to shift from one job to another. The hospitality industry in Uttarakhand is also facing challenges regarding employee retention. Retaining the competent employee in organization is considered as a significant task for the managers. Employees leave their organization due to multiple reasons, which they generally don’t want to discuss with their managers. Sometime, even they don’t know why they intend to change their organization. Frequency of changing the job and shifting from one organization to other is a known tendency among young employee. In this research paper, the emphasis has been done on the various factors associated with employees’ attrition related to motivation and career opportunities in hospitality industry of Uttarakhand. A comparative study has been done in Garhwal and Kumaon region of the state to know about the HR strategies adopted by hospitality industry in Uttarakhand regarding factors related to motivation and career opportunities. For this study, the hotels in both of regions have been identified for primary data collection and these hotels are ranging from three-star category and above. A set pattern of questionnaire as a research tool has been developed to assemble the data. Then the data-analysis has been done to find the conclusion that how motivation and career opportunities in hospitality industry is playing the significant role.

Purpose - Information flows in the supply chain are a prerequisite for effective management, and successful performance is based on good connections between all the participants in the chain, regardless of communication levels. They are the basis for monitoring the flow of all logistics processes, but also for controlling them. The purpose of this paper is to consider the importance and role of information and to define the possibilities, assumptions and modalities of information technology (IT) tools in hospitality supply chain management.
Methodology - Based on the relevant scientific literature, the paper compares individual IT tools, reviews the components of IT tools, and analyses the functionality of IT tools from the stakeholders' point of view in supply chain management in hospitality. The paper points out the importance of IT in supply chain management and provides a sort of classification of modern technology solutions currently used in the supply chain through the conceptual model of IT tools in hospitality.
Findings - Information exchange is a strategy for achieving compliance of all functions of the supply chain participants. All available information does not necessarily represent useful information. One of the most common difficulties in the effective use of available information is the ability to absorb, process and correctly evaluate the total amount of information available at a given time. Therefore, a conceptual model of IT tools and supply chain hospitality management is proposed, which would certainly encourage more efficient use of business information from the aspect of all stakeholders in the hospitality supply chain.
Originality of the research - This paper represents scientifically based conclusions, suggesting concrete solutions and suggestions for increasing the efficiency of supply chain management in the hospitality industry with the use of modern information technologies.
Keywords: information technology, hospitality industry, supply chain management, information quality, information flows, information technology tools

Location is a dominant factor affecting the success of hospitality businesses. However, when that location is not blessed with the footfall of a busy high street or cannot rely on the proximity of a nearby major visitor attraction, a more creative approach is required. Indeed, offering an attractive façade, attentive staff and excellent service may not be enough for a hospitality business to succeed unless it already enjoys a well-established reputation. Even then, research suggests that the brand of a place can still have a bigger influence on customer decisions and satisfaction than a business brand on its own, no matter how established. Hospitality professionals can have a big impact on the attractiveness of a place brand by adopting a partnership approach to managing and marketing places that deliver memorable experiences to local residents and visitors alike.

Dit onderzoek van het Centre of Expertise in Leisure, Tourism & Hospitality (CELTH) verkent het begrip Employer Branding (werkgevermerk communicatie) in de context van de gastvrijheidssector. In een, naar verwachting, krimpend aanbod van talent (geschikte medewerkers) voor de gastvrijheidssector en toenemende concurrentie op de arbeidsmarkt van andere sectoren is het zoeken naar alternatieve benaderingen cruciaal. De benadering van de arbeidsmarkt met behulp van Employer Branding (EB) heeft in andere bedrijfstakken succes. Employer Branding is er op gericht om een authentieke en onderscheidende voorkeurspositie te verkrijgen en te behouden als werkgever in de mindset van (potentiële) medewerkers en hun te beïnvloedern met als doel het aantrekken en behouden van de juiste medewerker (talent) . De literatuur levert het bewijs dat employer branding van groot belang kan zijn voor bedrijven om goed voorbereid te zijn op de toekomst van een krimpende arbeidsmarkt en het moeilijker kunnen aantrekken van talent. Employer branding is een arbeidsmarktbenadering voor bedrijven om de goede medewerkers te vinden, boeien en binden. Volgens de literatuur moet er met veel aspecten rekening worden gehouden tijdens het ontwikkelen en uitvoeren van een employer branding strategie. Hoewel de literatuur aangeeft dat employer branding in grote en kleine bedrijven kan worden gebruikt zijn er relatief weinig voorbeelden van EB strategieën en toepassingen in kleine en middelgrote bedrijven in de gastvrijheidssector te vinden. In de gastvrijheidssector wordt EB over het algemeen slechts in de grote hotelketens toegepast. Door middel van diepteinterviews en experts analyse is gekeken of EB verder gebruikt kan worden in het Midden en KleinBedrijf (MKB) in de gastvrijheidssector. De uitkomsten van het onderzoek laten zien dat EB mogelijkheden biedt om gerichter talent te werven voor de gastvrijheidssector. Het proces van EB zorgt er namelijk voor dat HR, marketing en management in een bedrijf zich expliciet moeten afvragen wat het bedrijf te bieden heeft naar talent op de arbeidsmarkt. Door een (unieke) waardepropositie voor toekomstige (en huidige) medewerkers te definieren en te communiceren kan er veel gerichter geworven worden. Er worden tegenwoordig EB elementen gebruikt in het MKB maar er zit in de meeste gevallen geen samenhangende benadering achter waardoor er niet altijd een optimaal rendement van de inspanningen gehaald kan worden. Werving vindt steeds vaker plaats met gebruik van social media ook in het MKB. Het bleek dat er echter veel meer gedaan kan worden aan de communicatie via website en social media van het werkgeversmerk parallel aan het werven van nieuwe medewerkers. Aanbevelingen zijn geformuleerd op het vlak van kennisvermeerdering door samenwerking bedrijfsleven en onderwijs om de EB benadering breder toegepast te krijgen en daarmee de uitdagingen op de arbeidsmarkt voor de gastvrijheidssector aan te pakken.

The not so long ago traditional way of organizing a holiday by choosing a destination seen in an album or in various brochures at a travel agency, together with the use of a travel guide and a folding map has been steadily taken over in the last years by the tourists who conduct by themselves online complex researches regarding destinations, hotels and means of transportation in order to find the best combination of solutions and rates. Nowadays, these researches are done using smartphones, tablets and other devices. At the same time, much trust is granted to peer reviews and social media. The question that arises is: Are the Romanian hoteliers spectators to these changes or are they also taking action? The present paper will try to identify the main issues Romanian hotels face currently in what concerns digital media. A special focus regards international trends and how Romanian hotels are responding to them.

Greek 4 & 5* hotels from a contextual perspective, focused in culture. The existing literature indicates that the Greek context influences managerial work to a certain degree. The country's participation in 2 international surveys during the 1990s (CRANET, GLOBE project) have indicated characteristics that differentiate Greek management, comparing to the so called 'western' management. In order to identify the influence of culture in the work of the GMs in 4 and 5* a hotel, a research was conducted in 16 luxury (4 & 5*) city and resort hotels in four popular destinations: Athens, Thessaloniki, Crete and Rhodes. In total 32 GMs and their assistants participated in this country case study. The results have indicated that Greek managers fully understand and appreciate the generic managerial competencies framework and roles required in any other European country. On the other hand they try to cope with the contextual challenges appearing mainly due to the Greek culture by adapting these roles and competencies to their working environment. In addition, international and national hotel chains are following standard operating procedures and formal policies which in most of the cases are adjusted or fitted in the Greek context. Smaller independent hotels (usually family business) are more informal in relation to policies and standards.

Over the past forty years, the international management studies have expressed considerable interest in what has come to be known as 'best-practices' Purcell, 2000, 2003). The concept of best-practices suggests standardisation and homogenisation of the organisation's human resources through the employment of universally applicable managerial practices. This idea has been extremely appealing for MNCs during the 1980s and 1990s especially in industries like hospitality and tourism where pressures for standardisation due to the rapid global expansion were enormous. There are arguments however that it is difficult to imagine, that a single practice or set of practices would emerge as 'best' in any sense of the word, particularly in globalised organisations . Moreover, a growing number of IHRM studies argue that 'a best practice is not best unless it incorporates contextual elements in its application' (Von Glinow et al., 2005, p.398). Thus, the dynamic and complex nature of the management function in global business today and the realisation that what works effectively in one country may not be as efficient in another, has led management scholars and practicing managers in continuous efforts to enhance their understanding of this context and its effects on international (hotel) managers. This is sought through the systematic study and exploration of management across cultures (cross cultural management), and international human resource management.

The paper discusses Derrida's concept of hospitality which perfectly describes the experience of loosing the sense of feeling at home and reveals the disintegrating entrance of the Otherness into a coherent home space. Jacques Derrida's theory makes it possible to deconstruct the familiar home space, which, however, does not constitute in any case its destruction. Revealing a complex and ambiguous nature of the challenge of hospitality, he perceives the sense of feeling at home as one of the necessary conditions of a stable subject. This is the subject that most fears the Otherness which could disrupt, unsettle their permanent structure and a sense of certainty. Therefore, the Author follows closely the fear of strangeness and the nostalgic longing for the sense of feeling at home as depicted by David Lynch and Michael Haneke in their films. Then he passes on to the field of contemporary art which not only reveals the fact that something has happened to the house we have known so far, but it also allows for creative deconstruction of the feeling at home. The artistic works selected by the Author break the binary oppositions: one’s own/someone else’s, familiar/strange (Jessica Sue Layton), close/distant (Shizuka Yokomizo) and finally the most important one: interior/exterior (Marja Pirilä, Eve Dent).