Competition in Hotel Industry: Theory, Evidence and Business Practice

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This study aims to investigate ten hotels on the island of Gotland and their daily, practical work towards sustainability. An exploratory study was conducted at ten hotel establishments on the island of Gotland in Sweden. Ten hotel managers were interviewed about their daily practice and work towards sustainable solutions at their hotels. The results show that there are big differences between these hotels regarding the way in which knowledge about sustainability issues are implemented and shared to the personnel as well to the guests. In addition, there is a clear difference in the way in which sustainability is expressed in practice: the accountability is largely attributable to most of the hotels, but a few convey responsibility. Some of the managers seem to take a more active role in mediation of sustainability issues than is the case with the majority of the hotel managers. Also, anonymity between hotel guests and staff, large number of seasonal workers and insufficiently trained staff can be seen as a hindrance for knowledge exchange over the sustainability issues. Working with sustainability issues can also be seen as a way to win market shares in the hotel business. The study makes contribution to the knowledge of processes of co-creation of sustainable values by exploring how some hotel managers are working towards sustainability on a daily basis. The study can help to share knowledge of possibilities and hindrances in daily work towards sustainable hotels.
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Sustainability Practice at Hotels on the Island of Gotland in Sweden – an exploratory study

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Just like in other industries, it is very important to choose the best possible location in hotel investments. As there are too many alternatives and changing touristic demands, there is serious competition within the hospitality sector. Therefore, all the investors want their properties located at the most profitable and competitive sites. To do so, they should decide the hotel location site by doing a well-analysed feasibility study. The hotel location selection can be influenced by some elements such as natural, economical, socio-cultural, legal, psychological factors and agglomeration effects. All of these factors have important roles of a hotel’s business success. However, especially in the last few years, the increasing numbers of hotel investments call in doubt that these factors are not considered properly. With this doubt, the main problems of this research have been revealed: what main factors do the investors consider in their investment decisions, and how do they decide the best site to locate the hotel? These problems also create the aims of this paper, which are to determine the factors that are important for investors and to find out where the most selected investment zones are. To achieve this goal, Istanbul has been divided into five agglomeration (investment) zones such as Historical Peninsula, Taksim-Beşiktaş-Şişli, Sarıyer-Maslak-Levent, Airport Area and Anatolian Side, according to their agglomeration effects. Then, interviews were completed with six hotel investors from these areas in order to get their opinions about the investment decisions. The gathered information has been analysed by the fuzyy TOPSIS method, which helps to calculate the subjective thoughts of the investors in a quantitative way. Then, the order of preference within the investment zones was calculated to determine the most popular site among the investors. The results showed that the most important factors for hotel location selection are agglomeration effects and economical factors. According to the order of preference, the most preferred location site has been determined as the Historical Peninsula, which includes Fatih, Eminönü, Sultan-ahmet and Topkapı zones.
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The Hotel Site Selection: Determining Locational Factors by Fuzzy TOPSIS

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The article aims to assess the competitiveness of hotels in Łódź on the meeting tourism (MICE) market based on an analysis of their conference facilities. The data was obtained from GUS statistics, reports on MICE tourism in Poland and as a result of own field research carried out in 2019. Exploratory data analysis was used in their development. The development of modern hotels in Łódź of higher categories with obligatory conference rooms has contributed to the diversification of the possibilities of organising MICE tourism by city hotels. The hotel’s possession of conference facilities has become an important factor in building its competitive advantage. The analysis of hotel equipment with conference facilities, using the conference service capacity (CSC) index, turned out to be a sufficiently correct measure to illustrate the diversity of hotels’ ability to compete in the MICE urban tourism market.
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Conference facilities as a key factor in the competitiveness of urban hotels: A case study of Łódź (Poland)

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The availability of hotel facilities and services and their quality are one of the most important factor in selection of a tourist destination. The aim of the article was to analyse the impact of hotel location factors, prices of hotel services and detailed assessments of hotel services provided by the hotel on the overall rating of the hotel. As a case study, Zadar – a city located in the northern part of the Dalmatian coast of Croatia – was used to analyse the problem. The location determinants of hotels and their equipment were assessed in relation to the price of accommodation and tourists’ evaluation of the basic components of hotel services. The analysis used data obtained from the Booking.com website for accommodation prices, including selected days of the high and low season, data on the number of opinions about the object and the rating of the object by guests in terms of the overall opinion about the object, its location conditions, the standard of services rendered, cleanliness, comfort, evaluation of staff work, access to Wi-Fi network and assessment of services rendered in relation to the price of the service. The obtained results indicate hotel location, especially its distance from the city centre, railway station and airport and evaluation of chosen elements of customers’ hotel evaluation are most significant determinants of choosing accommodation for tourists.
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Institute of Social Economic Geography and Tourism

Guests’ assessment of hotel facilities and services: Zadar case study

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Self-service technologies (SSTs) have been implemented across all service industries. The hotel business in the UK, including budget hotels, has been increasingly adopting SSTs both to enhance customer service and to create operational efficiency. In addition to providing guests with accommodation and basic services, budget hotels are now using SSTs with a view to increasing controlling and operational efficiency, human resource management and engaging guests in a more intelligent service design. Previous studies have mainly focused on the users’ perspectives, not on the use of SSTs themselves in budget hotels. The purpose of this study, then, is to explore the implications of SSTs in budget hotels both from a managerial and a guest perspective. Bournemouth has been selected as a case study for this research because it is one of the most popular resorts in the UK. This qualitative study employed 14 semi-structured interviews with budget hotel managers and guests who have used SSTs while staying in budget hotels in Bournemouth. The research findings show that maxim-ising operational efficiency is a key benefit of SST implementation from a managerial perspective. On the other hand, efficiency, accessibility, privacy and self-control over transactions are the main benefits of an SST, emphasised by customers. Overall, there is positive feedback from both managers and guest on the usage of SSTs in budget hotels in Bournemouth. The authors conclude that advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI) and Internet of Things (IoT), in conjunction with SSTs, will transform the hospitality industry in the near future.
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The Use of Self-Service Technologies in Budget Hotels: The Case of Bournemouth

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The main goal of the paper is to identify the perception of technology by managers of five-star hotels located in Antalya region (Turkey). The managerial perception in the following contexts is discussed in detail: the enterprise, the employees, the managers and the competitiveness of hotel entities. The selection of such research area was determined by the fact that Antalya is one of the top Turkish tourist destinations, with international profile of visitors and intense hotel competition. The following three types of hotels were investigated: hotels affiliated with international chains, hotels affiliated with national brands and independent enterprises. Furthermore, 12 selected general managers were interviewed regarding the above-mentioned hotel types. The results confirmed that managers of internationally affiliated hotels are more focused on increasing their employees’ skills and competencies compared to managers of independent entities.
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Technology towards hotel competitiveness: Case of Antalya, Turkey

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Hotel staff have been observed to be involved in workload for long hours with few break times, unpredictable shifting and lifting of heavy loads manually. Although these practices have the potential to reduce health and fitness status of staff thereby compromised productivity in hospitality industry and national development, it has, however, not been established whether the job-related activity patterns of the staff of star-rated hotels have implications on their health status and absenteeism factors.
In total, 70 staff (48.6% male, 51.4% female, mean age = 24.63 ± 12.06) of star-rated hotels in Kumasi were sampled. International physical activity (IPAQ), health status (HSQ-12) and Koen–Müller’s employee absenteeism questionnaires were administered.
About 77.0% spent averagely two hours/day and four days/week on vigorous job-related physical activities (PAs), 90.0% spent averagely four hours/day and five days/week on moderate job-related physical activities (heavy lifting, digging, heavy construction work, climbing upstairs) and spent averagely 1.8 hours/day walking during weekly activity. Job-related activities of the participants correlate significantly with daily vigorous PA (F = 5.625, P-value = 0.000). Participants’ self-reported results showed that vigorous- and moderate-job related activities amounted to good health status. Sleep deprivation, inad-equate rest days, short time with close-knit family predis-posed participants to absenteeism. The significant relationship between health status and absenteeism factors showed 87.2% variability. Participants strongly disagreed to being absent from work due to transport. Job-related activities of star-rated hotels staff are identical with vigorous daily PA, which could be harmful to health. Provision of functional and accessible health-care resources for staffers of star-rated hotels would attenuate unproductive absenteeism.
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Job-Related Activity Patterns, Health Status and Absenteeism-Related Factors of Star-Rated Hotels Staff

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European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation

 The European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation is an international, peer-reviewed journal publishing original research. The journal focuses on current issues in tourism, hospitality, food service, transportation and leisure, including best practices and case studies.   EJTHR’s strategy follows a multidisciplinary approach with emphasis on the following topics:        Tourism Economics and Management   Tourism, Hospitality and Restaurants   e-Tourism   Geography of Tourism and Tourism Destinations   Planning and Management of Tourist Products and Recreation   Tourism, Culture, Society and Language      Please note that this journal only publishes manuscripts in English.   The European Journal of Tourism, Hospitality and Recreation accepts original articles written in English.   Number of issues per year   The journal publishes two issues per year in May and in December and submissions are open all year round.   Peer review   Once your paper has been assessed for suitability by the Editors, it will be double blind peer reviewed by independent, anonymous referees.   Types of paper published   Original Articles   Original articles are peer-reviewed articles that report upon theoretically consequential empirical research and make a significant contribution to tourism studies and its related fields.   Special Issues   We welcome proposals for special issues. Special issue proposals should be sent to ejthr@citur-tourismresearch.com. Proposals should include a brief synopsis of the theme, guest editors’ details including short bionotes, a list of contributions, and a publication timeline.   Archiving   Sciendo archives the contents of this journal in Portico - digital long-term preservation service of scholarly books, journals and collections.   Plagiarism Policy   The editorial board is participating in a growing community of Similarity Check System's users in order to ensure that the content published is original and trustworthy. Similarity Check is a medium that allows for comprehensive manuscripts screening, aimed to eliminate plagiarism and provide a high standard and quality peer-review process.   Copyright and licensing agreement   This journal provides immediate open access to its content under the Creative Commons BY 4.0 license. Authors who publish with this journal retain all copyrights and agree to the terms of the above-mentioned CC BY 4.0 license.   Funded by national funds through FCT—Portuguese Science and Technology Foundation, within the project reference UIDB/04470/2020. DOI 10.54499/UIDP/04470/2020 (https://doi.org/10.54499/UIDP/04470/2020).   Contactejthr@citur-tourismresearch.com 