bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Best Practices in Human Resources
Authors: Enz Cathy A. , Siguaw Judy A.
Published: March 2007

A landmark study based at Cornell University found a substantial number of hotel companies engaged in innovative human-resources (HR) practices. Several firms developed a bundle of practices that include such elements as employee empowerment, interactive CD-based training, performance evaluations, and guest surveys. Illustrative of those efforts is Cendant's five-prong diversity initiative, which has encouraged more than 50 minority entrepreneurs to become franchisees. Many of the best practices, however, focused on one of five types of HR practice: (1) leader development, (2) training and knowledge building, (3) employee empowerment, (4) employee recognition, and (5) cost management. For instance, the Minneapolis-St. Paul Hilton decided to grant front-desk employees the power to solve any problem or grant any guest request on their own authority. Leadership-development programs are chiefly intended to permit promotion from within, while training practices and empowerment practices are gauged to improve employee skills. Controlling costs or enhancing revenues are the goals of the cost-management-practice champions. The goal for many of the practices is to improve morale, reduce turnover, increase productivity, and boost guest satisfaction.
Marketing Your Hotel to and through Intermediaries
Authors: Dubέ Laurette , Renaghan Leo M.
Published: March 2007

Meeting planners and travel agents could become an even more important distribution channel than they already are for hotels, provided that lodging operators understand the factors that create value for those important intermediaries. As part of Cornell's broad-based survey of best practices in the U.S. lodging industry, researchers conducted a survey to discover the hotel attributes and practices that create value for travel agents and meeting planners. The study found that the most important factor in the lodging transaction with intermediaries is a hotel's ability to make the hotel booking process as smooth as possible, including a problem-free stay for the clients. While location is, of course, the key factor in the intermediaries' choice of a hotel for their clients, travel agents indicated that the quality of communications, the hotel's brand name or reputation, and the quality of deals or incentives were also important in creating value in the booking transaction. While a good price is important, meeting planners additionally consider meeting and convention services and food-service quality as essential to creating value in a hotel transaction.
Ethics
Authors: Stevens Betsy , Brownell Judi
Published: March 2007

A pilot study of 101 employees in two midwestern hotels found that the employees saw training programs as the most common channel for the hotels' managers to transmit information about the hotels' ethical standards. That channel was closely followed by coaching, printed matter, and watching managers' actions. Meetings and memos were dead last. However, when it came to citing the chief sources of ethics-related information, the employees said the chief source of their ethical standards was family and friends-rather than the workplace. Thus, managers need to pay careful attention to how they communicate the organization's ethical standards by making sure that ethical codes are printed in employee manuals, conducting training programs, coaching employees, and modeling desired behavior.
The Cost of Turnover
Authors: Hinkin Timothy R. , Tracey J. Bruce
Published: March 2007

Employee turnover does more than reduce service quality and damage employee morale—it hits a hotel's pocketbook.
Managing Marketing Relationships
Authors: Dev Chekitan S. , Brown James R. , Lee Dong-Jin
Published: March 2007

Much of the literature relating to managing marketing relationships focuses on limiting opportunistic activities by one or both partners in a relationship. Opportunistic behavior occurs when one partner seeks a short-term gain in a way that may damage the other partner or the relationship. In the case of a hotel belonging to a network or chain, such actions might include falsifying or suppressing monthly sales data. A study of over 400 individual hotels belonging to two hotel chains investigated the extent to which opportunism of individual hotels is limited by three governance mechanisms. Those mechanisms are (1) ownership by chain headquarters, (2) a hotel's investment in transaction-specific assets (e.g., reservation-system software), and (3) shared norms of relational exchange. Of the three, taken either singly or together, only the shared norms of relational exchange were at all effective in managing hotel opportunism. Hotel opportunism declined with higher degrees of relational exchange. Hotel opportunism was exacerbated, however, when ownership or investments in transaction-specific assets were emphasized as governance mechanisms.
Managing for Excellence
Authors: Dube Laurette , Enz Cathy A. , Renaghan Leo M. , Siguaw Judy A.
Published: March 2007

A study of the U.S. lodging industry's best practices found that managers use innovation to create customer value. A resounding majority of best practices arose at the corporate level, with a minority at the property level. Of those coming from properties, most came from upscale, full-service hotels, rather than limited-service or budget properties. However, there is no evidence that innovation is inherently a function of corporate offices or upscale hotels. Relatively few best practices were in the areas of design or information technology, while many appeared in human resources, marketing, and operations. Virtually all innovations began with one person's idea and survived only because of that person's initiative. The idea must then be spread throughout and integrated with existing operations, which makes communication essential. Finally, lodging companies need to develop ways to measure the outcomes of their innovative practices. In many cases a given practice was thought to have improved employee morale, customer satisfaction, or profitability, but specific, outcome-related measurements (whether of profit or customer loyalty) were frequently unavailable.
Why Buyers Pay a Premium for Hotels
Authors: Pernsteiner Carol , Gart Alan
Published: March 2007

This exploratory study focuses on explaining the price premium paid in hotel mergers and acquisitions by examining the operating structures of the buyers as well as other financial and market characteristics of both the buyers and target hotels. It considers 22 hotel-sale transactions from 1995 to 1999 in which both the buyer and the target are publicly held companies. Statistical tests found that the price-to-earnings ratio of the target and the size of the acquirer relative to that of the target each are significant factors in explaining the premium paid. That is, as the price-to-earnings ratio of the target hotel or as the size of the buyer relative to that of the target increases, the premium paid also increases. The following factors were not statistically significant in predicting premiums paid: the ownership structure of the buyer, the profitability of the target hotel or hotel firm, or the relative market value of the buyer. The strategic intent of the buyer or the anticipation that post-purchase cooperation can increase profitability may exert more influence on paying a premium than did some of the financial variables studied, although the evidence for that proposition is inconclusive.
The Pricing of Lodging Stocks: A Reality Check
Authors: Elgonemy Anwar R.
Published: March 2007

The debate over whether lodging stocks are fairly valued may boil down to the fundamental difference between valuation for stock-buying purposes versus what constitutes a good company with profitable and valuable underlying assets. By their nature, hotel stocks are not for high-yield-seeking day traders and momentum investors, but rather for long-term value-oriented investors who are comfortable with an industry whose earnings growth depends on the vagaries of the world's economy. The author suggests such basic strategies as investing in technology, continually innovating, and selling non-strategic assets. One other tactic that would help is to educate the investing public.
Same-sex Sexual Harassment
Authors: Sherwyn David S. , Kaufman Ezekiel A. , Klausner Adam A.
Published: March 2007

This article provides a quick history of sexual-harassment law and looks at the appellate-court opinions that came before the U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a same-sex sexual-harassment case. That latter decision has given rise to the relatively novel equal-opportunity-harasser defense, whereby harassing conduct directed at both men and women, no matter how outrageous, may not be unlawful at all. The reason is that the Supreme Court previously established that sexual harassment must be "because of sex," and failure to prove that gender-related component will automatically disqualify claims for quid pro quo or hostile-work-environment sexual harassment, as indicated by the court decisions outlined in this article. The preferred remedy to the equal-opportunity-harasser defense is to make unwelcome workplace sexual conduct per se unlawful.
Foreign-Exchange Sensitivity
Authors: Arbel Avner , Geller A. Neal
Published: March 2007

When a nation's currency is strong, foreign travelers are discouraged from visiting that country, and natives are enticed abroad. How much does the current strength of the dollar affect American hotels?
How to Add Visual Impact to Your Presentations
Authors: Nies Joyce I. , Tas Richard F.
Published: March 2007

Most talks and presentations can be enhanced by welldesigned and professionally prepared visuals-overhead transparencies or slides. First, you prepare rough sketches on a storyboard to show the general appearance and order of the visuals. Then the actual visuals are prepared using the design principles of simplicity, dominance, pattern, balance, variation, and harmony. Of these six principles, simplicity is probably the most important. In using visuals, you must relate to your audience, not to the screen.
Tips versus Service Charges
Authors: Brown Nancy E. , Rolle Sophia A.
Published: March 2007

If Iowa's restaurants are any indication, the service charge is going nowhere and tips will still be expected in most restaurants. But accounting for tips is immensely complex, due to federal regulations. This study of Iowa restaurants found that sales levels and waitstaff wages were both lower in rural restaurants than in urban operations. In both kinds of places, however, state and federal regulations were most influential in setting tipping policies. Some 29 percent of the restaurants surveyed reported adding an automatic service charge to customers' bills, and most of those were restaurants with high volumes located in urban counties. Most of the service charges applied to banquets or group business. Just 3 percent of the restaurants added a service charge to casual parties of any size.
Another Graduate-Education Model
Authors: Jones Wayne P.
Published: March 2007

Master's-level hospitality education must provide students with general business knowledge and skills in addition to hospitality-specific knowledge. Then, as managers advance, they'll already have the knowledge and skills to function successfully (versus just the hands-on skills). The master's program proposed in this article is patterned after M.B.A. programs, and includes core requirements (as necessary), industry competencies, and general-management competencies. This model specifically requires course work in business ethics, properties management, research methods, organizational behavior, and accounting.
Indonesia 1991
Authors: Schansman Ronald O.
Published: March 2007

Compared to its neighbors, Indonesia's tourism industry is small. Consequently, its government is making a two-year push to increase the number of arrivals and expand the number of tourist venues beyond Jakarta and Bali. Although the nation's tourist infrastructure is immature, international hotel companies have begun substantial development. Human resources is a particular concern, because cultural taboos make it difficult for natives to speak to foreigners. Even with the setback caused by the Persian Gulf war and the recession, Indonesia's government is confident that its tourism industry is on a growth track.
Helmut Horn: Photographer, Environmentalist, Hotelier
Authors: Glanzberg Al , Withiam Glenn
Published: March 2007

Capping a career with such upscale hotel chains as Omni, Hilton, and Hyatt, Helmut Horn went out on his own six years ago to run Coastal Hotel Group, a small collection of properties in such beautiful locations as the Florida Keys and Monterey, California. As a corporate refugee, he attracts managers who are discontented with being part of large chains and who want to operate entrepreneurially. Horn is intent on operating his hotels in an environmentally conscious manner, even sponsoring a conference focusing on the ecology of the Florida Keys at his Cheeca Lodge in Islamadora. He has a first-hand knowledge of the Keys from his hobby of underwater photography.
How Near the Edge?
Authors: Swanson Gene
Published: March 2007

Many common financial measures do not indicate the likelihood that a company can meet its obligations over a given period of time. But a relatively new measure, Emery's Lambda, can indicate whether a company will lose its liquidity over a specific time horizon. The mea- sure is a calculation based on a company's initial liquid reserve, plus its anticipated cash flow, divided by the uncertainty about that cash flow. Essentially a coverage ratio, Emery's Lambda can be used to assess how effectively a company is using its working capital. The liquidity prospects of seven companies are analyzed in this article-and Lambda correctly indicated those that were in questionable liquidity positions.
Development Plans Replace Performance Reviews at Harvey Hotels
Authors: Beckert John , Walsh Kate
Published: March 2007

Harvey Hotels has exchanged traditional performance- review procedures and forms for goals-based employee evaluations called Personal Development Plans (PDP). The process involves a cycle of setting and achieving clear-cut objectives that point the way to perfection, and not to minimum standards of performance. Managers set the goals, and then must show the employees how to achieve them. Managers meet semi-annually or even quarterly with employees to discuss each goal's perfor- mance, and the results are recorded on the PDP. Goals not achieved are carried forward to a new PDP, along with strategies for achieving them. Then, the manager and employee add entirely new goals to another PDP and the process begins anew. Use of the PDP has resulted in direction and guidance for employees, mentoring relationships, high standards of performance, customized training programs, better-informed hiring decisions, and less turnover.
Cost Effectiveness of Sub stance-Abuse Treatment in Casino Hotels
Authors: Klebanow Andrew M. , Eder Robert W.
Published: March 2007

An employer's investment in substance-abuse treatment programs for employees can be paid for in part by the savings gained by retaining successfully treated workers and increasing their productivity This article analyzes the costs and benefits of two substance-abuse treatment programs that are administered as part of two hotel-casinos' employeeassistance programs (Mirage's and Resorts International's). Some of the costs of substance abuse are obvious, such as those associated with theft, diminished productivity, and turnover. But other costs are not so obvious, such as supervisors' time to manage abusing employees and to hire replacement workers. The analysis indicates that if management can minimize the substance-abuse problem in the workplace, the operation will be able to recover many of the overt and hidden costs associated with substance abuse. Those savings, in turn, can be used to offset the costs of the treatment program. For example, if the average cost to replace an employee is $1,500, and if successful treatment of substance-abusing employees results in 1 00 fewer turnovers per year, then the property may be able to save $150,000 in turnover costs per year. The same logic holds for such costs as managing absenteeism. This study shows that substantial savings can be realized, and at the same time the quality of life for all employees can be greatly improved.
Empowement
Authors: Sternberg Lawrence E.
Published: March 2007

Your hotel can improve operational efficiency, increase employee productivity, and improve guest satisfaction through empowerment. Empowerment requires managers to give up some control, even when they cannot give up accountability, and to place a great deal of trust in their subordinates and respect their judgment. Moreover, empowerment requires many managers to redefine their own role in the organization. Empowering your employees means that you have given your managers and workers the authority to make decisions without first checking with a supervisor. Empowerment has often been cited as a means to improve guest satisfaction, but it also is a mechanism for changing the system (i.e., the policies, procedures, and rules; equipment and supplies; and the physical plant). Any procedure that routinely requires a supervisor's approval should be examined-in many cases that approval is almost never withheld. The author gives examples of how empowerment has worked in both instances to the benefit of hospitality operations.
The Revolution in Domestic
Authors: Eyster James J.
Published: March 2007

Under pressure from strong competition and weakening demand, hotel chains have altered the formerly iron-clad terms of their management contracts. As bargaining power of owners and financial partners has increased, the length of the contracts has shortened, base fees have diminished, and incentives have become more important. Contracts are more likely to spell out the terms for ending a contract in case of weak performance. Operators are also more likely to participate in the equity of a project or make a loan. The definition of operator system-reimbursable expenses has been narrowed, and contracts are more likely to terminate upon sale of the property. Finally, contracts have spelled out more clearly the mechanisms for resolving disagreements.
Financial Analysis Using the Statement of Cash Flows
Authors: Schmidgall Raymond S. , Geller A. Neal , Ilvento Charles
Published: March 2007

Managers use many financial ratios to judge the health of their businesses. With the recent requirement of a statement of cash flow (SCF) by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, managers now have a new set of ratios that will give a realistic picture of the business. The ratios include cash flow-interest coverage, cash flow-dividend coverage, and cash flow from operations to cash flow in investments. These ratios are particularly useful because they show changes in a hotel or restaurant's cash position over time, rather than at a given moment, as is the case with many other ratios.
Employee Leasing
Authors: Murthy Bvsan , Murrmann Suzanne K.
Published: March 2007

For a firm to be competitive and ethical, it needs to be able to expand and contract the size of its staff while protecting the job security of employees. Employee leasing offers hospitality firms a strategy for dealing with turnover, absenteeism, training, unemployment costs, record keeping, citizenship verification, and layoffs. Such leasing generally secures for employees improved benefits and career-path opportunities. Though there are still some unresolved concerns, the leasing industry has improved its services and with careful selection hospitality firms can identify competent and viable leasing firms.
Corporate Training by Adventure Learning
Authors: Mendel Werner
Published: March 2007

Some 50 years after it was first introduced, the concept of “adventure learning” is now a training technique used by a growing number of companies. Through a series of moderate personal and team challenges, adventure learning develops personal confidence and builds team relationships. The New Age Spa in Neversink, New York, is one operator with an adventure-learning course. That operation also includes a full spa that includes nutrition programs, wellness counseling, and the more traditional massages and workout equipment.
Hotel Opportunities in Thailand
Authors: Al Glanzberg
Published: March 2007

Thailand remains a destination of promise despite its problems. Western hotel chains are expanding in Thailand, and the government is encouraging that development. The government is also aware of the nation's problems-notably with pollution and inadequate infrastructure-and is working to remedy them. Thailand benefits from the stability of its long-time hotel operations, including the Dusit Thani and the Oriental in Bangkok, and the Royal Cliff Resort in Pattaya.
A Measured Approach to Food-Inventory Management
Authors: Farsad Behshid , LeBruto Stephen
Published: March 2007

The consequences of overstocking items or understocking are not pretty. Overstocks absorb money and invite waste. Understocks risk disappointing customers with unavailable menu items or add to food costs by requiring emergency runs to the cash and carry. Through analysis of daily item use and an application of risk, managers can calculate when to reorder; that is, when there is sufficient stock to cover typical demand until the next delivery. To account for unexpected demand, some safety stock must be figured in (by calculating the standard deviation of each day's use for the past time period, say, a week, and factoring that with the Z score of the service-level probability that management is willing to absorb). By factoring the lead time (delivery and food-prep), the standard deviation of the usage, and the acceptable probability of a stockout, managers can use a formula to determine precisely when to reorder.
Hospitality Professionals'
Authors: Damitio James W. , Schmidgall Raymond S.
Published: March 2007

Club managers, hotel general managers, and accounting managers (hotel controllers) were surveyed to obtain their opinions on business situations with ethical implications. Seven scenarios described a hypothetical manager's reaction to a situation involving ethics. The three groups were asked to indicate the extent to which they agreed or disagreed with the manager's response. Overall there was reasonably good agreement among the three groups regarding the ethical underpinnings of the seven scenarios. This study of seven scenarios suggests there is a reasonable amount of agreement across the three professional management groups as to what constitutes “ethical behavior.”
Attracting Business Travelers to a Resort
Authors: Sogar David H. , Jones H. Michael
Published: March 2007

This article describes how a beachfront resort hotel undertook to increase revenues by attracting weekday business travelers. That successful undertaking boosted corporate room-nights to over 40 percent of total occupancy. To determine what business travelers really want, hotel employees conducted surveys at airports and downtown locations; questionnaires were developed for corporate-travel managers and personally delivered by hotel managers; and an observational survey of successful business hotels in the hotel's market was undertaken. Using the compiled results to reposition the hotel, it now offers a business center with secretarial services and office machines; prompt mail and messaging services; meeting facilities; expanded shuttle service; enhanced executive-club services and privileges; more-convenient restaurant operating hours; and sales incentives to increase bookings.
Maximizing Your Executive-Search Process
Authors: Greger Kenneth R.
Published: March 2007

The pitfalls in hiring new employees are many, but problems often start at home if the person responsible for the hiring doesn't make use of all the resources available. One of those resources is a search professional, who will work hard to find the person who matches a position. A recruiter who spends time getting to know a firm's needs will present the best candidate for that job. Sometimes the hiring executive will unfortunately balk and select someone according to an inaccurate view of their situation-and not reality. But then it's up to the person doing the hiring to be accountable for the consequences of that decision.
South Korea's
Authors: Ahn Jong-Yun , Ahmed Zafar U.
Published: March 2007

The opening of South Korea's tourism industry has affected that nation's economy and societal structure. The government fosters tourism as a method of improving the country's economic health by bringing into balance outgoing and incoming tourism. Although Korea's tourism industry has grown, the nation faces substantial but surmountable barriers to continued tourism growth. Among them are certain aspects of the government's frugality campaign, meager lodging and transportation facilities outside of Seoul, and inflation.
The Challenge of Cuban Tourism
Authors: Berman Scott D.
Published: March 2007

Cuba attracts nearly a half million foreign tourists annually, but that figure represents less than 4 percent of the total arrivals to the Caribbean. Since U.S. citizens can't travel to Cuba, Cuban tourism relies on Europeans, Canadians, and Latin Americans. The number of visitor arrivals has increased by almost 75 percent since 1990, which in turn has generated foreign exchange in excess of $500 million. But Cuba today is a onedimensional destination with a single competitive advantage over any other island destination in the Caribbean except Haiti: namely, Cuba is inexpensive. Most of Cuba's lodging products are basic brick-and-mortar structures built on beaches. They have few amenities, simple F&B options, limited recreational activities and nighttime entertainment, and no shopping opportunities. While money for new hotel projects is extremely tight even for the best of projects, it's unlikely Cuba will attract large-scale development until its tourism infrastructure is expanded.
Telecommunications
Authors: Kasavana Michael L. , Phillips Mark P.
Published: March 2007

Many hotel managers find telecommunications to be a little understood technology. Call-accounting equipment allows hotels to resell long-distance calls and to account for local calls. Hotel switchboards should include such features as least-cost routing and automatic call rating (pricing). Several variables can be modified to affect call placement, distribution, and pricing to improve profitability, particularly variables relating to whether the hotel uses analog or digital "trunks" (cables used to connect to the phone-service provider). Yesterday's call-accounting systems need to be reviewed and updated to current standards and to determine whether their features are optimal, particularly in view of the impending change in the pattern of North American area codes, beginning January 1, 1995, that will mean reprogramming all switchboards.
The High Cost of Violating Tip-Reporting Laws
Authors: Schmidgall Raymond S. , Tarras John
Published: March 2007

This article reflects the results of a survey of hospitality students who worked in tipped food-service positions during 1993. The great majority of students indicated that their employers did not instruct them to report all their tips as required by law and, consequently, they generally did not do so. Most tipped employees should be keeping a log of actual tips received. Employers who fail to insist their employees report all their tips could be found to be illegally lowering their contributions to FICA.
Value Pricing
Authors: Hayes David K. , Huffman Lynn M.
Published: March 2007

Value pricing-trying to increase revenues by discounting menu prices-can be profitable but is risky. Some food-service companies use value pricing to increase market share, taking advantage of highly elastic demand for quick-service food. Operators considering value pricing can use a technique called goal-value analysis to determine the buyer response necessary for value pricing to increase profits. Goal-value analysis can determine the relative profitability of a single menu item or an entire menu. The analysis uses portion costs, item prices, variable costs, and the number of items sold. The formula trades a small amount of accuracy for simplicity, but it has been found to be superior to many other menu-analysis systems. Goal-value analysis is especially useful as a means of observing the dynamics involved in value pricing.
The Multiplier Effect
Authors: Khan Habibullah , Phang Sock-yong , Toh Rex S.
Published: March 2007

Tourist spending can have successive and magnified effects on the host country's economy in three ways. First, tourist spending creates direct revenues, called the direct-multiplier effect. Second, the recipients of direct expenditures spend that money to purchase necessary goods, for an indirect-multiplier effect. Third, the beneficiaries of the direct and indirect spending in turn spend that revenue on unrelated goods and services, thus creating an induced-multiplier effect. Given the increasingly higher tourism multipliers, tourism's contribution to Singapore's economy has increased over time. Tourism contributed 11.9 percent to Singapore's GDP in 1992, about half of that from direct revenues. Indirect and induced sources contributed about equally to the other half. While the direct effects of tourist expenditures on the Singapore economy are predominant, the indirect and induced effects are also significant, indicating strong sectorial linkages within the local economy, especially with respect to the hospitality industry.
A Critical Analysis of Hotel-Impact Issues
Authors: Roginsky Rachel J.
Published: March 2007

The growth needs of hotel chains sometimes collide with their franchisees' needs for territorial protection, particularly with the maturation of most hotel markets. The term "incremental impact" is used to describe the possible loss of business experienced by an existing lodging property when a new hotel or motel with the same or a related brand opens nearby. An impact study can help estimate the likelihood and extent of incremental impact from a new property. Most experienced impact analysts can develop a reliable qualitative determination of impact, but quantitative estimates are subject to many vagaries. If chains offer clear impact policies, franchisees will at least know where they stand when the franchisor proposes to open a new property nearby. Alternatively, territorial-protection clauses may protect franchisees and clarify the franchise relationship.
Shattering the Myths of the Part-Time Worker
Authors: Inman Crist , Enz Cathy
Published: March 2007

Part-time workers permit flexible scheduling and traditionally have been relatively inexpensive to employ, but these workers tend to have high turnover rates, which can erode any savings. They may quit their jobs because they feel unappreciated or because they do not receive adequate training, which is often the result of managers' thinking that part-time workers are somehow inferior to full-time workers. But this study shows that critical work attitudes and behavior were as strongly exhibited by part-time workers as by full-time workers, including such measures as competence, work ethic, attendance, and acceptance of organizational standards and values. The food-service industry should therefore try to retain part-time employees by offering enhanced compensation packages, providing adequate training, establishing clear communication channels, allowing access to different jobs and responsibilities, and offering employment benefits.
Training Effectiveness
Authors: Tracey J. Bruce , Tews Michael J.
Published: March 2007

Although training is widely acknowledged to be essential to effective hospitality operations, the specific combination of factors that makes training effective embodies a mystery. Human-resources managers examine training programs to see whether those programs are based on properly assessed needs, how those needs have been addressed, and whether employees are able to integrate their newly acquired learning into the workplace. Although those aspects of training—needs assessment, implementation, and follow through—are essential to the determination of training's effectiveness, those three factors alone do not tell the entire story. Instead, external factors play a substantial role in the effectiveness of training programs. Specifically, employees' individual characteristics, such as motivation, attitude, and basic ability, affect a training program's potential success. The work environment is also a major factor, particularly the characteristics of the job, social networks, corporate culture, and appraisal and reward systems. Taking into account the external factors along with the traditional measures of training effectiveness, a manager can begin to assess how well a training program is performing and determine what changes will make it more effective.
A Positioning Analysis of Hotel Brands
Authors: Dev Chekitan S. , Morgan Michael S. , Shoemaker Stowe
Published: March 2007

Hotel marketers attempt to create a unique position for their hotel brands—a set of attributes that set the brand apart from competitors. The only way to gauge the effectiveness of that positioning effort, indeed, to determine what a brand's position actually is, is to survey customers and develop perceptual maps showing the locations of hotel brands. A perceptual map developed using probabilistic multidimensional scaling (MDS) algorithms depicts the relative position of business-class and upscale hotels based on a three-year time series of surveys of corporate-travel managers and travel agents. These perceptual maps show the relative positions of hotel brands as customers see them. Statistical techniques allow marketers to determine whether brands' relative positions are significantly different or whether various brands are seen as essentially similar. Moreover, comparison of the perceptual maps over time shows the "movement" of the brands' positions from year to year.
When It's Smart to Turn Away Business
Authors: Knutson Bonnie , Malk Martin , Schmidgall Raymond S.
Published: March 2007

Most directors of marketing intuitively know that accepting some business has an opportunity cost of not being able to accept potentially more lucrative business. The decision becomes particularly critical when the prospective contract is for a large event, such as a conference. Some hotels address this matter by, for instance, requiring executive committee approval for all large contracts or all business that involves function space. The decision can be made much earlier and more simply by individual sales representatives or sales managers, however, if they analyze the tradeoffs of any potential contract. An analytical approach can be built into a spreadsheet calculation that takes into account such variables as special room rates, potential banquet revenues and costs, and revenues and costs of other services (e.g., audio-visual support). The decision is more than quantitative, however, and must take into account such factors as the effect on other guests' perceptions of the hotel if, say, facilities are jammed by conventioneers. Those effects cannot be modeled on a spreadsheet and are subject to the marketing director's judgment.
Restaurant Marketing on the Worldwide Web
Authors: Murphy Jamie , Forrest Edward , Wotring C. Edward
Published: March 2007

A large portion of the so-called information superhighway is the internet, which allows people to communicate through computers using electronic mail, bulletin boards, and news groups, among other means. One section of the internet, the worldwide web (WWW), is a network of computers carrying information for public dissemination. Many companies, institutions, and individuals have created WWW "home pages," which are computer files with text, graphics, and links to other, related pages. "Visitors" to web pages are said to be "surfing the net," checking new sites for interesting information or graphics. The WWW now has many commercial sites that seek to get companies' messages to the public in a new and untested medium. While some hospitality companies have WWW sites, most do not, and restaurants are under-represented. Existing restaurant sites, however, make reasonably sophisticated use of the web's capabilities (e.g., text, graphics, sound, and interactive screens). The technology of the internet may allow marketers to take the ultimate step in mass customization, which is to create a distinct message (and package of product and services) for each customer. It almost certainly will allow personal interaction between restaurateurs and customers.
Journal and Periodical Usefulness
Authors: Schmidgall Raymond S. , Woods Robert H. , Rutherford Denney G.
Published: March 2007

This study reports the results of a survey of 300 CHRIE members designed to determine which publications are most useful to hospitality educators for five purposes: (1) for publishing their own articles, (2) as a researchinformation source, (3) as information for lectures, (4) for students' reading assignments, and (5) as general reading for professional or personal development. Results from this study indicate that the Cornell Hotel and RestaurantAdministration Quarterly is consistently rated by CHRIE educators as the most useful periodical overall. Nation's Restaurant News was rated the second most useful followed by the Hospitality and Tourism Educator, Restaurants & Institutions, the Wall Street Journal, and the Hospitality Research Journal. The HRJwas rated as the top publication overall for CHRIE members' writings while the Cornell Quarterlywas rated highest in the remaining four categories.
Hotel Guest Satisfaction among Business Travelers
Authors: Gundersen Marit G. , Heide Morten , Olsson Uff H.
Published: March 2007

Much of the guest-satisfaction literature focuses on the mechanisms of error reduction and quality management. Rather than concentrate on reducing errors in all areas, the important matter in customer satisfaction is to determine the attributes that guests consider important and focus on those attributes. Customer satisfaction can be defined as a guest's postconsumption judgment of a product or service that can, in turn, be measured by assessing guests' evaluation of performance on specific attributes. Using a 22-item, Likert-type questionnaire, the researchers gauged Norwegian business travelers' assessments of the tangible and intangible aspects of three hotel departments: front desk, food and beverage, and housekeeping. A statistical analysis showed that this sample of 315 business travelers was most concerned with the tangible aspects of housekeeping (e.g., comfort and amenities of the guest room) and the intangible attributes of the front desk (e.g., receptionists' willingness to provide service and speed at check-in).
Basing Service Management on Customer Determinants
Authors: Verma Rohit , Thompson Gary M.
Published: March 2007

By studying how customers react to paired sets of product and service attributes, a manager can focus on factors that determine purchases. The procedure, known as "discrete-choice analysis" (DCA), begins with an assessment of which attributes are important to customers. Then the researcher establishes different levels for each attribute (e.g., price points, service speed). The customers' indicated preferences among several of such paired sets give managers information that allows them to adjust product and service attributes for maximum customer satisfaction and, not incidentally, better market share. The authors demonstrate how DCA works through a study of how customers chose a pizza-delivery company by trading off among several attributes (price, discount, promised delivery time, late-delivery time, variety, temperature, and money-back guarantee). The results of such a discrete-choice analysis can be incorporated into a decision-support system via a computer spreadsheet.
Barriers and Opportunities in Singapore
Authors: Kimble Devin
Published: March 2007

The strategic situation of American-based food-service chains in Singapore provides a microcosmic view of the Asian market as a whole. Several American chains have done well in Singapore, notably McDonald's, KFC, and Tony Roma's. Others either have withdrawn from the market or never tried to enter it. Singapore offers attractions to U.S.-based chains while at the same time it presents barriers to entry. The attractions are a stable government, a prosperous economy, and a cachet for American brands. Barriers are the need to find a strong partner, occupancy costs ranging up to 20 percent of sales, and finding sufficient qualified workers. Accommodating local food preferences is also an issue for some chains.
The Value of College Advisory Boards
Authors: Conroy Philip A. , Lefever Michael M. , Withiam Glenn
Published: March 2007

An introductory study of advisory boards connected with two-and four-year hospitality-administration programs found that the boards' chief role is in providing advice on curriculum matters. Members of four-year boards often find themselves also assisting in fundraising and development, while members of two-year-program boards tend to focus more on recommendations for facilities and equipment. While the board must have a strong sense of purpose, its overall agenda should come from the hospitality program's director. Some programs reported problems in getting their boards together, but having 15 to 20 board members should make it possible to achieve a quorum at each meeting. Most of the boards met semi-annually.
Property-Management Competencies for Management Trainees
Authors: Tas Richard F. , LaBrecque Suzanne V. , Clayton Howard R.
Published: March 2007

The most important property-management skills for management trainees to learn involve knowing how to work with people, rather than technical matters. In a survey, 107 hotel managers rated the importance of 18 property-management competencies for management trainees. The 18 competencies were drawn by an expert panel from a comprehensive list of 72 possible competencies. The most important of the 18 were interacting smoothly with a wide variety of people and operating effectively under pressure. Technical matters such as knowledge of energy audits, fire safety, and building design were rated as having only moderate importance.
Child-Labor Laws and go the Hospitality
Authors: Clay Joan M. , Stephens Elvis C.
Published: March 2007

State and federal regulations covering employees under age 18 are specific, and state labor-department officials have tightened enforcement. Ironically, many hospitality-industry operators remain unfamiliar with labor-law provisions and risk large fines. No one under the age of 18 may be hired for a hazardous position, defined primarily as work that involves operation of machinery, including motor vehicles. Children aged 14 and 15 may not work more than 18 hours per week during the school year and may not work past 7:00 PM on school nights. Time regulations are slightly less stringent during summer vacation and school recesses. While the National Restaurant Association is encouraging the government to ease child-labor restrictions, child-labor groups are trying to tighten the law.
The Negotiation Checklist
Authors: Simons Tony , Tripp Thomas M.
Published: March 2007

The authors suggest a framework for preparing for negotiation and present a negotiation checklist as a tool for that preparation. The checklist is a systematic way to remind negotiators of the important issues they must investigate before entering into a negotiation. Such items include each party's overall goals, the issues open to negotiation on both sides, the relative importance of those issues, the best alternative to a negotiated agreement, the worst acceptable agreement, the limits of authority on both sides, what deadlines exist, what fairness norms apply, what topics are to be avoided, and what levels of trust exist between the parties. The authors describe in detail how to evaluate offers by using a rank-order, weightedvalue scoring system to quantify complex offers that are not easily or immediately recognizable as good or bad.
Restaurant Espionage
Authors: Diaz Patricia , Rutherford Denney
Published: March 2007

In a case that surprised restaurant operators, a federal district court dismissed a lawsuit in which Old Country Buffet sought damages from Granny's Buffet for stealing trade secrets. Seeing OCB's success, the Spokane-based couple who eventually opened Granny's paid a secretary to transcribe photocopies of OCB's recipes, which OCB's founders had developed and tested, and the couple arranged a placement for their son at OCB to learn the restaurant's unique management procedures, which similarly had been developed by OCB's founders. The court, however, ruled that individual recipes as lists of ingredients may not be copyrighted (although federal law allows copyrighting books of recipes with associated commentary). Moreover, the court held that OCB had not taken sufficient steps to protect its management books. A restaurateur not wishing to suffer OCB's fate must either find a court that understands the restaurant business or take steps to protect recipes by binding them into books, placing a copyright statement on each recipe, and registering the copyright for the book; issuing written materials only on a "need to know" basis; and requiring employees to sign a confidentiality agreement. While there is no guarantee that these steps will protect a restaurant's trade secrets, taking these steps at least establishes that the restaurateur attempted to build a wall of confidentiality around its recipes and operations methods.
Redefining Value
Authors: Muller Christopher C.
Published: March 2007

The February 1997 announcement by McDonald's that it will slash the price of its Big Mac sandwich to 55 cents (bundled with other items) was a surprise move intended to stem market-share losses to competitors Burger King and Wendy's. The announcement represented a major strategic about-face for McDonald's, which has formerly employed mostly nonprice-related strategies to sell its products. The deep discount entails a risk that McDonald's brand value will drop in consumers' estimation. Moreover, the chain will have to substantially increase sales to offset the revenue lost from the discount. The irony of discounting is that it does not always drive demand, but instead merely represents a windfall to demandinelastic loyal customers. Instead of discounting, McDonald's and its competitors usually employ non-price tactics to differentiate their products-giving them the liberty to set prices higher than they might otherwise be able to achieve. McDonald's and its competitors already have used most of the panoply of non-price strategies, which include offering quantity discounts, charging different prices for different meal periods, and bundling products to raise check averages. The so-called "Campaign 55" announcement by McDonald's may be a signal that the company has reached a plateau in its product life cycle. If that is true, the company must now develop strategies that will lead to a "rebirth" of the chain in consumers' minds, whether by menu or product changes, service refinements, or an adjustment of the value equation. The goal for McDonald's, now that it has called attention to pricing, is once again to disconnect consumers' buying behavior from price-related concerns.