Email inquiries in hotels. Comparative study of Łódź and Novosibirsk

Rozdział z: Functioning of the Local Production Systems in Central and Eastern European Countries and Siberia. Case Studies and Comparative Studies, ed. Mariusz E. Sokołowicz.Guests and travel shoppers constantly search and book hotel rooms all over the world on various devices, shifting from one screen to another. Thanks to internet, “anytime, anywhere” access to information quite far outweighs its downsides. In the paper, the author focuses on the efficient use of the Internet as a tool which helps to communicate with clients. The reaction to inquiries sent by email influences both booking behavior and guest satisfaction as well. The objective of the survey presented in this paper is to test empirically response behavior to Internet enquiries. In particular, response time and information quality of received answers (information depth) were also analyzed. The research methods, which are used in the article, include the issue analysis, desktop study (review of academic papers with related works), the survey (using mystery shopping methodology) and analysis of the obtained results.Monograph financed under a contract of execution of the international scientific project within 7th Framework Programme of the European Union, co-financed by Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education (title: “Functioning of the Local Production Systems in the Conditions of Economic Crisis (Comparative Analysis and Benchmarking for the EU and Beyond”)). Monografia sfinansowana w oparciu o umowę o wykonanie projektu między narodowego w ramach 7. Programu Ramowego UE, współfinansowanego ze środków Ministerstwa Nauki i Szkolnictwa Wyższego (tytuł projektu: „Funkcjonowanie lokalnych systemów produkcyjnych w warunkach kryzysu gospodarczego (analiza porównawcza i benchmarking w wybranych krajach UE oraz krajach trzecich”))

Tourism Observatories for monitoring MED destinations performance. The case of ShapeTourism project

Following the precedent set by the Tourism Observatory (TO) run by the European Commission-DG GROW a few years ago, several initiatives have taken place to design and manage tourism observatories at both the transnational and local level. However, these initiatives do not yet seem able to provide adequate operational responses to the challenges that the Commission launched with the original TO. While the opportunities offered by the Web 2.0 still do not seem to have been sufficiently taken advantage of, such initiatives also have not yet developed suitable methodologies to operationally include the tourism industry in the studies and monitoring performed by the TOs. This work presents the lesion learnt from the ShapeTourism prototype including two different tools: an observatory with official and unofficial indicators, and a simulation tool to predict different scenarios and different sustainability levels, designed specifically to overcome the aforementioned limits. The prototype was tested in 2017 on the entire eligible area of the 2014-2020 MED Programme covering 52 regions. The potentialities of this tool are shown through the creation on indicators, benchmarking and applications

Relative efficiency of Argentinean airports

The main objectives of this paper are to measure the relative efficiency of Argentinean airports, and to infer possible regulatory consequences of the results. We pay attention to regional differences that could help the regulator in its task. At the same time, we try to determine which “environmental” variables (in the sense of particular conditions which are specific to different sets of airports) affect the relative efficiency of different airports. Since 1997, most of the airports were privatized, by means of concessions contracts. Of the DEA analysis we derive two broad conclusions. Firstly, significant differences in efficiency are prevalent in Argentinean airports. Secondly, best-practice calculations indicate that much of the Argentinean airports operate at a high level of efficiency during the period. Therefore, the overall conclusion is that Argentinean airports are mixed managed during the period as far as technical efficiency is concerned. Moreover, dimension makes a difference and therefore, some airports have decreasing returns to scale, while others have increasing returns to scale.efficiency; airports; Argentina

Eurocities and Their "Sisters": How Are They Close to Each Other?

The globalization process has led to the emergence of network of cities in which the cities have become more integrated to the new world system. ‘Eurocities’ or ‘Sister Cities’ are among the well known examples of network of cities which provide interaction and cooperation of the cities at the regional and global level. The ‘sister city movement’ can be defined as a further step of international relationships of the cities at the municipality level which is based on understanding the cultures of each other and aims to create common values. Additionally, sister city relationship provides international trade and economic development between two countries at the local level. Empirical findings show that there are 3 phases of sister city movement: i) the associative phase, ii) the reciprocative phase, and iii) the commercial phase. In this process, municipalities or local authorities have become ‘entrepreneurs’ in order to contribute to the economic and social dynamisms of cities. The present study investigates the relationships of Eurocities with their sister cities from the perspective of the development level or the degree of the relationship. Which factors are important in improving the mutual relationship? Which factors determine the development phases of the relationship? Under which conditions the mutual relationship creates business opportunities and reaches to the level of economic cooperation? What are the success measures of city-to-city affiliation? The study aims to compare and evaluate the current sister cities relationships of Eurocities on the basis of the actual performance in cultural dialogue, benchmarking and commercial activities. The data and information used for comparison and evaluation are based on extensive survey questionnaires filled out by relevant departments or experts of municipalities in Eurocities. As a rather novel methodological contribution, a recently developed artificial intelligence method, i.e. rough set analysis, is deployed to assess and identify the most important factors that are responsible for successes and failures of the relationships between sister cities.

Interregional tourism cooperation : experiences from the Barents

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Benchmarking service delivery for sports tourism and events: Lessons for Gorski Kotar, Croatia from Pokljuka, Slovenia

Benchmarking is essential for developing destinations to improve and develop their service delivery. Croatia is a well-established summer tourism destination, but more remote (inland) destinations seek to increase their competitiveness to help sustain Croatian tourism year-round—to diversify tourism offerings beyond the (more traditional) sea and sun opportunities. Expanding Croatia’s tourism offer will require additional investments, not only in coastal destinations but in rural continental areas as well. Looking at how more established rural and winter destinations are planned and managed, this paper seeks to discuss how Croatia can learn from its neighbour Slovenia which has well-established winter sports destinations (in rural areas). This is where a benchmarking approach, building on a comparative analysis conducted through fieldwork research contributes new insight. Research was conducted in both Pokljuka (Slovenia) and Gorski kotar (Croatia) between 2015 and 2017. Three different procedures were used to collect data: (1) documental research of the destinations, facilities and events, (2) on site visits involving qualitative interviews and conversations with key stakeholders and (3) direct observation of the destination while attending events. Three emergent themes best reflected the analysed insights from the data collection: Infrastructure, business operations and community involvement/stakeholder participation. To assess different points of service offering and delivery, discussions in Pokljuka were framed around sports tourism opportunities and their established business models to understand planning, management, organisation and service delivery. These same three points are then discussed as opportunities for Gorski kotar. To reiterate the benchmarking focus, first research must present a comparative analysis and then put emphasis on planning and managing service delivery to help highlight how insight from a well-established destination informs emerging destinations with tourism potential. © 2019, Varna University of Management. All rights reserved

Services marketing in the hospitality economy: An exploratory study

Meeting the challenges of an unstable and unsettled environment is not easy. The recent impacts on the hospitality services economy of changing technology, mergers of institutions, increasingly demanding consumers and increased competition have created an atmosphere of volatility and rapid change. In order to survive in this demanding market place, service organisations have only one choice, to successfully develop and launch new services. However, the failure rate of new service projects is high, because the knowledge on how new services should be developed is limited. Unfortunately, unlike tangible new product development practices which have the benefit of extensive research into how successful new products are developed, the service sector has only recently begun to explore ways to ensure the success of new services. Therefore, this study focuses on a better understanding of how successful new hotel services are developed and investigates the factors, which have impact on success or failure in new service development (NSD) in the hotel sector. The results of the exploratory study are summarised in a conceptual model for further research.Innovation process, services marketing, new product development, new service development, critical success factors, hotels - tourism, Marketing,

Determinants of tourism destination competitiveness in the countries most visited by international tourists: Proposal of a synthetic index

Tourism destination competitiveness is a multidimensional concept that is widely studied in the academic literature, but multiple factors make its measurement a difficult task. In this article, we design a synthetic index to rank the 80 countries that attract the majority of international tourists by level of tourism competitiveness. In order to do this, we use all of the simple variables included in the 2017 Travel & Tourism Competitiveness Index, proposing a new methodology for the construction of this synthetic index, which it solves the problems of aggregation of variables expressed in different measures, arbitrary weighting and duplicity of information; issues that remain unresolved by the TTCI. Likewise, we analyse the most influential dimensions in tourism competitiveness. Air transport infrastructures, cultural resources and ICT readiness are the key dimensions that explain the main disparities.Funding Agency Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness State Research Agency (SRA) European Union (EU) ECO2017-86822-Rinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio