Benchmarking Quality Management in Hotels

In the early 1980s many hotels in the United States adopted quality assurance as a business strategy. By the late 1980s independent and chain hotels realized that total quality management (TQM) was a more powerful process and they began utilizing many of its components. For over 10 years, hotels have flirted with a variety of tools, processes, and theories to improve service to the gues

An Industry View of Experiential Learning

With the downsizing of hotel companies in the 1980s and 1990s. internships became a way of supplementing staff during peak seasons and auditioning students for full-time positions upon graduation. The authors surveyed corporate directors of human resources on specific activities and tasks associated with experiential learning in the guest services areas of hotels

General Managers in Mid-scale Hotels: Are they Plateaued?

This research investigated the career-plateau patterns of general managers (GMs) in mid-scale hotels. In regard to plateau categories, by far the largest number of GMs reported that they were in the productively plateaued category. The hotel industry can use this research to view the career satisfaction and productivity of GMs in light of the plateau pattern into which they are classified

Effectiveness criteria for icons as tourist attractions: a comparative study between the United States and China

As the application of human icons as tourist attractions continues to increase, there is a growing need to better understand how these famous individuals are used by destinations. Based on literature in several relevant fields, such as history, social science, and destination management, effectiveness criteria for icon attractions were analyzed in this study. Three 'lsituational" factors influencing the operation of icon attractions (culture, history, and government involvement) were included in these criteria. It also suggested that icon attractions can be evaluated from three aspects: characte~istics of icons, organization, and impacts. The applications of icon effectiveness criteria for tourist attractions in the United States and China were compared. The validity and practical value of the effectiveness criteria were demonstrated. Management implications in the utilization of icon attractions were derived

From Customer Satisfaction to Customer Delight: Creating a New Standard of Service for the Hotel Industry

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a typology of customer delight in the hotel industry. By doing so, it identifies patterns by which hotels delight their guests. The paper explores the Torres and Kline model in light of the data and proposes an addition to the model. Design/methodology/approach – Content analysis is utilized to analyze letters of customer feedback provided by several hotels. A codebook was created, letters were coded by two raters and inter-rater reliability was calculated. Findings – The most frequently mentioned codes included: taking care of the guest\u27s needs, exceptional friendliness, professionalism of staff, employees going outside of the call of duty and problem-solving skills. Based on this information the authors propose the following delight types: fulfillment delight, charismatic delight, professional delight, comparative delight, problem resolution delight. It was also found that the culture of an organization has an impact on the type of delight that is most prevalent. Practical implications – The research conducted helps hotel operators to identify the behaviors and actions that lead their guests to be delighted. By knowing this information, appropriate steps can be taken in the selection and development of staff that will lead towards greater customer engagement. Originality/value – In the hospitality literature, much information exists on what to do to correct negative service experiences. However, a relatively smaller number of articles highlight how to create great service experiences for the guests. This article provides a theoretically sound and practically useful framework to delight hotel guests in the hotel industry

Group Sales And Marketing In Convention Hotels: Internet And Web Usage

The goal of hotel sales and marketing is revenue generation. The methods employed by group sales and marketing professionals have evolved overtime to incorporate an array of technological innovations. The purpose of this research is to ascertain the perceptions that convention hotel sales and marketing professionals have about Internet and Web integration in the group sales process. The findings indicate that Internet and Web based marketing tools have become an integral part of hotel sales and marketing activities, though convention hotel managers do not necessarily attribute an increase in revenue to these activities. © 2005, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC. All rights reserved

The Attrition Condition: What Hotel Sales People Need To Know

Attrition provisions in group-business contracts have become increasingly problematic for meeting planners in recent years because meeting participants and exhibitors increasingly seek their own accommodations outside room blocks, particularly when they find low-price rooms via Web sites. A 2002 survey of 143 meeting planners (primarily working with associations) found that most signed contracts containing attrition provisions for the largest meeting they held in 2001, but only one-third of those who came up short on room-block guarantees were billed for attrition. Many planners negotiated some form of settlement. Rather than have attrition continue to be a point of contention for hotels and meeting planners, a better approach might be for hotel sales managers and meeting planners to work together to formulate reasonable attrition policies. From the meeting planner\u27s viewpoint, this would include receiving credit for the business that the meeting brings to the hotel, whether in the room block or through other sales channels. © 2004 Cornell University