scholarly journals Sustainability Practices in Hospitality: Case Study of a Luxury Hotel in Arrábida Natural Park

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3164
Author(s):  
Vitor Pereira ◽  
Graça Miranda Silva ◽  
Álvaro Dias
Keyword(s):  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Luxury Hotels ◽  
Natural Park ◽  
Efficiency Measures ◽  
Healthy Work ◽  
Sustainability Practices ◽  
Hotel Managers ◽  
Luxury Hotel

The agenda of researchers and practitioners in the tourism industry has focused on the demand for sustainable practices. Luxury hotels have also followed this trend, although studies are still limited. The aim of this study is to understand what environmental and social sustainability practices luxury hotels are adopting and how their management perceive the benefits and results from their adoption. This empirical research is based on a case study that triangulates data from semi-structured interviews, document analysis, and observation. The results show that luxury hotels have implemented environmental practices that address energy efficiency measures that reduce water consumption, waste, and carbon emissions and that control, protect, and maintain fauna and flora to promote of unique natural landscapes. They have focused on social practices that address the relations with charitable institutions, provide consumers high-quality services, and create a safe and healthy work environment. Luxury hotels have successfully implemented these practices to reduce operational costs. The study’s findings provide practical guidance for hotel managers who seek to implement sustainability practices.

scholarly journals The Elusive Search for Talent: Skill Gaps in the Canadian Luxury Hotel Sector

2022 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-46
Author(s):  
Frederic Dimanche ◽  
Katherine Lo
Keyword(s):  
Primary Data ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Luxury Hotels ◽  
Skill Gaps ◽  
Unique Experience ◽  
Hospitality Sector ◽  
Managerial Positions ◽  
Hotel Managers ◽  
Luxury Market ◽  
Luxury Hotel

The luxury segment of the hospitality sector has been growing worldwide. Luxury hospitality is about providing a unique experience for guests, and this type of experience requires having employees who understand the luxury culture and are trained at the highest level. Luxury hotels compete for the best talents, but the current pool of candidates for customer-facing and managerial positions within these establishments is limited. The purpose of this study was to identify skill gaps in Canada’s luxury hotels. Primary data were collected from in-depth semi-structured interviews with twenty luxury hotel managers and analyzed with NVivo 12. Respondents agreed about the skills required for brands to succeed in the luxury market, but they lamented the lack of qualified talents and the difficulty of training and retaining qualified collaborators. The results of the study point to the need to address the luxury skill gap in the hospitality sector, particularly in Canada. Recommendations to address this problem are proposed.

Children as customers in luxury hotels

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (5) ◽  
pp. 1813-1835
Author(s):  
Béchir Ben Lahouel ◽  
Nathalie Montargot
Keyword(s):  
Integrated Model ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Service Encounters ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Luxury Hotels ◽  
Model Combining ◽  
Child Experience ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Hotel Managers ◽  
Luxury Hotel

Purpose This purpose of this study was to explore two key issues in experiential marketing from an organizational perspective: the management of “strategic experiential modules” and the management of “service encounters” specific to a memorable experience for children in urban luxury hotels. Design/methodology/approach An integrated model combining managerial and practice-oriented frameworks was used to study how luxury hotel managers design and create memorable experiences for children. The study took a qualitative approach in collecting in-depth data and interviewed 35 managers of five-star luxury hotels in Paris. The data were processed using the Alceste software, an automated lexical program that analyzed the co-occurrence of words and sentences. Findings With regard to the integrated model, the analysis of the interviews distinguished four main dimensions, which accounted for more than 84 per cent of the original textual data. Three dimensions, related to emotional-sensorial-physical experiential modules, described how managers strategically managed the child experience and journey while at their hotel. A fourth dimension was also identified in relation to the upstream of the service encounter. The findings highlighted a significant gap in how hotel managers were managing the experiences of children under 12 years of age and that further incorporation of various touchpoints is needed to improve the management of the service design. Research limitations/implications This study demonstrated the applicability of the proposed integrated model, which offers valuable marketing implications for luxury hotel managers. It is suggested that more research on the management of the child experience and journey is conducted in the future. Originality/value To the best of the researchers’ knowledge, this is the first empirical study to combine these two frameworks to study the management of the child experience and journey in the luxury hospitality sector.

Reputation management in cyberspace: evidence from Jordan’s luxury hotel market

2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 107-120 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zaid Alrawadieh ◽  
Mithat Zeki Dincer
Keyword(s):  
Response Rate ◽  
Online Reviews ◽  
Reputation Management ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Luxury Hotels ◽  
Hotel Managers ◽  
Online Reputation ◽  
Luxury Hotel ◽  
Managerial Response

PurposeDrawing on a sample of 520 negative reviews posted on TripAdvisor against all five-star hotels operating in Petra, Jordan, the purpose of this paper is to evaluate the response of luxury hotels to negative online reviews by considering the Response Rate (RR), the Response Time (RT) and the Response Content (RC).Design/methodology/approachA deductive content analysis was used on hotels’ managerial responses. Based on the literature review, a four-construct scheme was identified to guide the analysis including Appreciation; Apology; Explanation; and Incentive. The managerial responses were carefully read and manually coded based on the four-construct scheme. The time between the review posting date and the date of the managerial response was also recorded. Luxury hotel managers were also surveyed to obtain insights into their perceptions and practices with respect to online reputation management.FindingsThe findings call into question luxury hotels’ awareness of the harmful impact of negative online reviews. Specifically, the findings suggest that less than half of the negative reviews received a managerial response, and that more than half of these were standardized and did not refer to the issues raised in the reviews. The low response rate coupled with the hotel managers’ consensus on the importance of answering all online reviews indicates inconsistency between hotel managers’ perceptions and practices with regard to online reputation management.Originality/valueThe paper adds to the ongoing debate on reputation management in the hospitality industry by considering the managerial response to negative online reviews. The paper discusses several managerial implications for hotel managers as well as avenues for future research.

scholarly journals Vietnamese Youth Embraces English for Communication: A Case Study in Phu Quoc Island

2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. p34
Author(s):  
Faizah, Idrus ◽  
Bakri, Omar ◽  
Mohd Fauzi Kamaruddin
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Rapid Expansion ◽  
New Wave ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Rapid Changes ◽  
Future Direction ◽  
The Right

Rapid changes on the way people travel the world have impacted countries around the globe. In South East Asia for example, with the rapid expansion of visit-a-country campaign exercises, it had affected the lives of people in many different ways. Tourism industry, for example, flourishes in manifolds. It indirectly changes the socioeconomic status of people of various echelons. Vietnam is no exception. The ease of communication has been identified as one of the key factors that attract tourists to places of choice. The issue is now whether Vietnamese, especially their youths are entirely ready to embrace this new wave of transformation. Therefore, the right moves have to be identified so that the number of tourists will multiple in the thousands if not millions. Therefore, the purpose of this investigation is to explore Vietnamese youths’ acceptance to learning the English language for communication, especially those encircling tourists’ spots with the right forms of communication to welcome the inflow of visitors around their communities. A qualitative design was used in this investigation employing semi-structured interviews, observations, and series of workshop sessions. The findings revealed that without proper curriculum instructions in school, although with passion and motivation, the youth will not be equipped as much as expected. Suggestions for future direction of this investigation are outlined.

Egypt’s Image Repair Strategies in Time of Crisis: A Case Study of the Russian Flight Crash

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 206-220
Author(s):  
Aziza Moneer
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Content Analysis ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Destination Image ◽  
Second Phase ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Russian Government ◽  
Plane Crash ◽  
Negative Images ◽  
Two Phases

AbstractIn the wake of the Russian plane crash in November in 2015 in Sinai, Russia and a number of countries suspended their airlines from operating routes to Sharm el-Sheikh, causing a severe tourist crisis. By the end of 2015, tourism receipts fell by about USD 3.6 billion to represent only 1.1 percent of GDP (IMF, 2017). During the 26 months air traffic suspension, Egypt becomes a word that conjures negative images such as unsafe destination, insecure environment and politically unstable country which sent a danger signal to the observing people of the possible risks involved in visiting Egypt (Matthews, 2016). However, during this period Egypt pursued a collective effort to enhance Egypt’s image and to encourage the tourism markets to resume their travels to Egypt. In January 2018, the Russian government finally lifted its two years ban on Russian tourism to Egypt and Russian flights returned to Cairo in April 2018 (Samir, 2019).This study aims to uncover strategies used by Egypt’s authorities to restore a positive image in the aftermath of Russian flights suspension, based on Benoit’s (1997) “multi-strategies model for repairing a destination image”. The study applies a qualitative content analysis of 30 semi-structured interviews with officials in the Egyptian tourism and civic aviation authorities. The efforts to repair the image of the Egyptian tourism industry evolved through two phases. At first, the discourse revolved around evading responsibility and attempted to reduce the crisis’s perceived offensiveness, relying mainly on bolstering and defeasibility. The second phase appeared to emerge gradually, using corrective actions in order to restore Egypt’s image as a ‘safe’ tourist destination.

Impacts from Tourism Development in Langkawi Island, Malaysia

2015 ◽  
pp. 21-33
Author(s):  
Azizan Marzuki
Keyword(s):  
Tourism Development ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Local Economy ◽  
Public Infrastructure ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Government Organizations ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
The Government ◽  
Local Populace ◽  
Hotel Managers

Based on a study conducted in Langkawi Island, this chapter attempts to track the progress of tourism development of the island since 1986 until year 2004. Although the government and private sector had invested a lot of money in providing public infrastructure and facilities to boost the tourism industry in the island, no study had been conducted to relate tourism spending with the impact of these developments towards the local economy and socio-culture. Nevertheless, results from semi-structured interviews with local stakeholders involving hotel managers, government and non-government organizations representatives, resort and tourism developers and community leaders show two key issues regarding the benefits of tourism development and the costs of tourism development. The analysis also found that despite the limitation and development issues, the benefits of tourism development in Langkawi far outweighed the costs accrued to the local populace.

Hotels’ self-positioned image versus customers’ perceived image: a case study of a boutique luxury hotel in Hong Kong

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jianwei Qian ◽  
Rob Law ◽  
Jiewen Wei ◽  
Huawen Shen ◽  
Yuqin Sun
Keyword(s):  
Hong Kong ◽  
High Frequency ◽  
Special Function ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Five Dimensions ◽  
Luxury Hotels ◽  
Social Media Platforms ◽  
The One ◽  
Luxury Hotel

Purpose This study aims to take boutique luxury hotels as its research subject to enrich the view on the self-positioned image of luxury hotels and simultaneously compare this image with the one perceived by customers. It also investigates whether a gap exists between the two images. Design/methodology/approach The best-rated boutique luxury hotel in Hong Kong is selected as the case hotel. Through the interpretation and discussion of high-frequency wordlists and semantic co-occurrence network charts, major topics in the hotel’s self-presented image and customers’ perceived image are identified accordingly. Findings Five dimensions (event making, exquisite food, excellent amenities and services, special function venue and promotion) used by hotels to form their boutique luxury image are recognised. Between hotels’ self-positioned image and customers’ perceived images, minor similarities such as the recognition of excellent amenities and services were confirmed but considerable differences were identified, indicating the ineffective marketing by the boutique luxury hotel despite its success in terms of ranking. Managerial suggestions on how to address the image discrepancy were proposed. Originality/value This study contributes insights into hotel image discrepancy among social media platforms in luxury hotel segments by adding the category of boutique luxury hotels. It also identifies the implications for enhancing the development of a hotel image to meet customers’ needs and expectations.

scholarly journals Customer Relation Practices and it's Impact on Customer Satisfaction in Travel & Tour Business (A Case Study of Kathmandu Valley)

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-40
Author(s):  
Kapil Khanal
Keyword(s):  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
Sampling Technique ◽  
Simple Random Sampling ◽  
Tourism Industry ◽  
Primary Data ◽  
Accurate Information ◽  
Structured Interviews ◽  
Travel Agents ◽  
Questionnaire Research

Objective: To understand customer relation practices of Travel & Tour Businesses and measure the customer satisfaction through survey. Methods and Materials: Customer relation practices were recorded through semi-structured interviews and observation of travel agencies in Kathmandu. Furthermore, 119 customer feedbacks from the three agencies were gathered. Feedback was gathered by using a questionnaire. Research is based up on primary data. Simple random sampling technique is used to collect data. Descriptive as well as explorative research designs were used to analyze the data. Results and Conclusion: "Details given to Clients" and "Accurate Information" are the first important factors for travel agents. Attraction of the place and recommendation of travel agent are insignificant. Travel & Tour Business is a part of Tourism Industry which is largest industry in Nepal.

Service quality and customer satisfaction: qualitative research implications for luxury hotels

2015 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-182 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Lu ◽  
Celine Berchoux ◽  
Michael W. Marek ◽  
Brendan Chen
Keyword(s):  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
Public Relations ◽  
Service Quality ◽  
Qualitative Methodology ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Luxury Hotels ◽  
Hotel Managers ◽  
Luxury Hotel ◽  
Luxury Service

Purpose – The purpose of this paper was to determine whether luxury hotel managers and customers have the same understanding of service quality and satisfaction and whether there is a disparity between services offered by luxury hotels and the way customers actually experience them. Design/methodology/approach – This paper used interviews with managers and guests of 5-Star hotels in Taiwan and qualitative analysis to understand definitions and perceptions of luxury, service quality and satisfaction. Findings – The major findings of the study were that: there were no fundamental disconnects in the respective understandings of managers and guests; however, the two groups used different language to describe luxury, service quality and satisfaction; the managers evaluated satisfaction in terms of services provided, but the guests conceptualized satisfaction in terms of value received for the price of lodging; and luxury, service quality and satisfaction were closely related in the minds of the managers and guests and were not independent constructs. Research limitations/implications – Recommendations are made based on marketing communications theory, that is all factors identified in this study can be considered to be part of the brand identity of the hotel; local culture can introduce variables that may be outside the scope of international standards; and information on local expectations and preferences can inform advertising and public relations efforts of the hotel. Originality/value – This study is significant because little research into luxury hotel customer satisfaction has been done using qualitative methodology, which provides a richer understanding of the experiences of the participants than can quantitative design.

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