Advances in Hospitality and Leisure: Volume 6

This chapter examines the pricing, demand (occupancy), and revenue per available room (RevPAR) dynamics of European hotels for the period 2006–2007. The importance of understanding the pricing behavior of direct competitors is critical to effective strategy formulation and meaningful industry analysis. Nevertheless, existing demand studies miss a critical link to local market dynamics. This study offers an alternative approach to examining competitive set pricing behavior that yields insights into the inelasticity of lodging demand. The results of this study of over 3,000 European hotel observations reveal that hotels that offered average daily rates (ADRs) above those of their direct competitors had lower comparative occupancies but higher relative RevPARs. The observed pattern of demand and revenue behavior was consistent for hotels in all market segments from luxury to economy. Country-specific analyses reveal a similar pattern, with more volatility in the results for hotels in Spain and Italy. Overall, the results suggest that the best way for a hotel to have higher revenue performance than its competitive group is to maintain higher rates. The results of this study support the position that hotel operators who resist pressures to undercut competitor's prices may be better served with higher revenues.

This study assesses the image of Singapore as a tourist destination, using a conceptual model that combines the concepts of the service quality framework and the likelihood of revisiting and recommendation. Four hundred and thirty-one tourists departing from Singapore Changi International Airport were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Factor analysis was first used to reduce the 25 variables to 5 new variables. It was found that all new variables are significant in affecting the overall satisfaction levels regardless of whether they were Asian or non-Asian groups. In addition to these findings, it was also found that the overall satisfaction did lead to their likelihood of revisiting and recommendation to their relatives to visit Singapore.

This study investigated the runner's satisfaction with the First Knoxville Marathon, held in Knoxville, Tennessee. A total of 963 questionnaires were obtained and confirmed as data for analysis. The four-page survey instrument attempted to extract runners' satisfaction with race attributes and general demographic characteristics. The study employed factor analysis to delineate the underlying dimensions of the runners' satisfactions about 17 race attributes and MANOVA to investigate whether there were significant satisfaction differences among delineated factors based on general demographic information related to the First Knoxville Marathon. Approximately 23% of respondents indicated their household income to be over $120,000, over 80% of respondents had a college degree, and age of approximately 80% of respondents was ranged from 26 to 55. MANOVA results showed that there were significant differences of satisfaction levels among different distance completed by marathoners. Recommendations and limitation are discussed in the conclusions.

The study intends to develop guidelines for the communication and marketing policy of Swiss tourism service providers aiming at targeting the future senior citizen market. It is of an exploratory nature, and based on interviews with current senior citizens in Switzerland and a Delphi study with 30 experts from the Swiss tourism and hospitality sector, as well as specialists from senior citizen associations and research institutes. The results show the importance of the increasing request by senior citizens for learning experience through holidays. The different marketing strategies aimed at such clientele will be increasingly profiled according to the specific motivation and preferences of this clientele.

Shopping is an activity that is central to the tourism experience. It is also an important source of employment and often generates significant revenue for the public sector. For the retail to function effectively, retailers need to understand the needs of their customers and update their range of goods as demand changes. If the retail sector fails to recognise changing demand patterns, consumer gaps will emerge as has been the case on Norfolk Island. In this case, the consumer gap has emerged because the destination has failed to recognise that the generational membership of its seniors market has shifted from the Builders generation to the Baby boomer generation. The problem has been made in worse on Norfolk Island because the government derives a significant proportion of its tax revenue from a 10% tax on the sales of goods. This chapter examines the extent of the consumer gap in the retail sector and finds that it can only be redressed by a rejuvenation of the Island's shopping sector.

A special event requiring little capital for development is regarded as a unique type of attractions. Art festival is a popular form among all special events, famous example including Edinburgh Festival in England. However, the literature on the measurement of successful factors of art festivals is limited. This study uses Chiayi International Band Festival for a case study to evaluate performance factors of art festivals. The performance attributes are developed based on Kotler's Three Levels of Product framework. Importance–Performance Analysis (IPA) is used to evaluate the performance attributes perceived by the visitors. Further, a SWOT analysis is deployed to provide managerial strategies and implications.

Turnover of highly educated employees in the hospitality industry is growing rapidly. A predictor of turnover in the hospitality industry recently put forward, but not yet fully researched, is psychological strain. This chapter investigates the role of psychological strain and organizational support in relation to affective commitment and turnover intentions. The results show that both psychological strain and organizational support were found to be significant predictors of turnover intentions. The effect of organizational support was partly mediated by psychological strain and fully by affective commitment. No significant interaction effects with gender were found. As organizational support is a precursor of both psychological strain and intention to leave and is in the scope of influence of a hospitality company, it could be a starting point for reducing turnover.

With its capabilities for business mapping, geospatial analysis and its contribution to decision making, geographic information system (GIS) seems to be a valuable tool especially applicable in the discipline tourism geography. The capabilities of geospatial analysis for tourist consumer research at destinations will be exemplified by the case of German low-cost carrier passengers (LCCP) on Majorca island, Spain, one of the worlds' leading coastal mass holiday destinations with an annual visitor demand of around 10 million arrivals. The survey puts together primary and secondary research to profile LCCP groups located in different tourism spaces around the island. The approach as well as results shall motivate stakeholders in the tourism industry, especially destinations, to enlarge their marketing and management issues towards geospatial analysis.

The purpose of this chapter is to develop and review a set of indicators that measure the level of sustainable performance achieved by individual restaurants and to provide a means by which all restaurant operations can implement sustainable practices. The set of indicators, derived from extensive literature review, were tested on four London restaurants purporting to be sustainable. Results show that these indicators can be used effectively by the restaurants wishing to improve their sustainable performance. In addition, by using sustainable indicators the study aims to develop a theoretical concept for future improvement in the sustainable management of restaurant operations.

This study investigates service excellence and hospitality perceptions in a hospital setting for an exploratory study of the familiarity of hospital administration with the topic of hospitality and service excellence. It is unique from other hospitality and service research in that it considers hospitality and service excellence as separate concepts, and specifically considers hospitality, such as service excellence, as a philosophy that may be transcend its traditional industries of origin. Part of the premise of this study explores how hospitality in a healthcare setting extends past service excellence in offering a service to a patient to create a comfortable and welcoming environment to combat patient anxiety and stress. This exploratory research provides a necessary foundation for more extensive empirical testing of the premise.

Using a qualitative case study, this research measured top management's perceptions of service excellence and hospitality within one community-based hospital located in Orlando, Florida. Three conclusions were revealed: (1) a mixed commitment by top management to concepts of service excellence and hospitality, (2) the terms “service excellence” and “hospitality” were generally discussed as though they were equivalent, and (3) significant external and internal barriers to the delivery of service excellence and hospitality in the hospital setting were identified.

The study has implications for healthcare organizations seeking to implement practices of hospitality and service management to improve overall healthcare service delivery. Additionally, the study of hospitality outside of its traditional industry boundaries may result in the generation of new improvement options/opportunities for traditional managers of hospitality businesses and organizational researchers. The study can be used as a foundation for the formulation of additional studies in the area of service excellence and hospitality applied to other layers in an organization irrespective of industry setting.

A survey of 106 Multinational Corporations’ (MNCs) executives, in the global tourism industry was conducted to determine the influence of “external environmental factors” on their choice of market strategies in Africa. A one-way ANOVA (analysis of variance) was applied on delineated business external environmental factors and major market development strategies (Wholly owned, Joined Venture, Management Contract and Franchising). The result showed that the influence of the degree of “free trade economic climate” in an African host country on various MNCs’ market development strategies was significant. Also, the result ranked “Political Stability” as the most influential external environmental factor in the African market.