From a certain perspective, tourism is one of the most difficult industries to work in since it requires that people should be drawn to the same location regularly. For the tourism industry to work and for a company operating in it to succeed, one must consider all opportunities in branding and exhaust every chance at creating something truly unique and memorable. Unless a tourism company manages to connect to its target audience by appealing to their emotions, even the most brilliant marketing strategy may fall flat since these are the emotional experiences that draw people to specific places, as the discussion between Jason Clampet, Hannah Sampson, and Andrew Shievachman shows.
The idea of making a brand relevant to the target audiences by promoting a better connection between family members and focusing on the significance of family ties, in general, clearly is an important concept in the tourism industry. While the idea of linking tourism and family values is not new, it makes the brand have a staying power by creating the idea that resonates with everyone. Therefore, continuing the identified promotion strategy seems quite legitimate.
One might argue that the concept of support and safety that is linked immediately to the idea of family promoted by most tourism companies may fail to attract the target audience. While the fact that the post-nine-eleven audience seeks to regain the sense of security that they may have lost, tourism may also be associated with exploring uncharted lands, taking risks, and trying something new and thrilling. That being said, one must admit that the risk-taking adventurer that needs challenges as a tourist seems to have become a nearly extinct species; instead, the people using the services of a traveling agency seek an opportunity to take rest in a comfortable and cozy setting with a slight change of scenery.
Therefore, for the representatives of the contemporary tourism industry, it is advisable to focus on using family values and the associated ideas as the driving force behind their promotion campaign. There is a reason for the marketing experts operating in the travel agency industry to focus on family-related concepts when choosing images that are used for advertising and promotion purposes. One might argue that the identified technique can be viewed as manipulative since it appeals to the audience’s emotions, and, therefore, its effects are rather hard to rationalize. Nevertheless, the use of the concepts and notions that are linked directly to family values, as well as the sense of belonging that can be deemed as the defining characteristic of the American community, seems quite legitimate. The identified framework can be applied to the environment of any state to promote travel services since the significance of family ties and the need to experience safety is something to which anyone can relate no matter what their social, cultural, or any other type of background is.
Therefore, when considering an appropriate mechanism for branding a product or a service, one should view the opportunity of appealing to the universal concepts of family, comfort, and unity. As long as people feel secure in the environment created or provided by an organization, they are likely to buy the suggested services and goods. In other words, emotion-based marketing is a perfect choice when considering a promotion strategy, especially in the tourism industry and the related domains.
The Skift podcast “When Everything Is an Adventure, What Happens to Adventure Travel?” helped me to get a deeper understanding of what the concept of adventure travel entails. Before, I was inclined to think that adventure travel always includes some extreme experiences, like skydiving or kayaking. However, in this podcast, the people working in the industry claim that there is much more to it than extreme activities and that today, the market is broadening to suit all types of customers.
For instance, I was surprised to find out that the consumer pool in the field of adventure travel has been expanding to feature both the younger and older audiences. Bruce Poon Tip, founder and CEO of G Adventures, states that today, people in their late 40s and 50s are far more fit than they were a decade ago, and they are also more active and interested in learning about the world surrounding us. They do not necessarily pursue adventurous activities, however, and tend to be more involved with the cultural experience, tasting the different foods, communicating with local people, and so on. On the other hand, the younger population is more attracted to adventure travel as it no longer means that they have to leave their social media accounts behind – most adventure destinations and experiences feature Wi-Fi.
Moreover, modern technologies can be used to capture and share the adventure with people from all around the world. And even though the speakers in the podcast think this is a good thing as it allows people to attract their friends to pursue the same adventure, I do not feel that all technologies are beneficial in this way. For example, using a GoPro camera allows seeing the experience in the first person, whereas a live broadcast can be done to share it in real time. In this way, people have an opportunity to experience the adventure without actually being there, which might lead them to choose another destination that is unexplored. Furthermore, the recent developments in VR made the technology more realistic, and certain people might want to experience traveling with VR instead of doing it in real life.
To me, the older segment of the market looks more promising, especially since it is not as widely involved with technological substitutes and prefers real-life experience. Casey Hanisko, VP of marketing for the Adventure Travel Trade Association, stated that popular adventure destinations invest in becoming more and more sophisticated. I find this a good idea since the people in their older years are usually less flexible when it comes to living conditions and food preferences. As noted by the speakers, they want to be involved with the cultural experience and try new things, but at the same time, they are looking for an excellent hotel and restaurant food. I believe that the development of adventure business in this area will also attract younger customers who are not fond of extreme activities and conditions and prefer to have more comfort, thus expanding the target audience of adventure travel.
Overall, I found this podcast interesting and enlightening in certain ways. Listening to the explanations of the speakers allowed me to expand my perception of adventure travel. Despite the fact that many people still perceive adventure travel as something extreme and uncomfortable, the industry is growing to accommodate the general public’s demands, becoming more sophisticated and culturally intense at the same time. The development is promising, and I think that over time, the field of adventure tourism might become one of the most profitable segments of the market.
New York is one of the most recognizable cities in the world. Its fame comes from not only its historical significance but also from the countless portrayals of the city in media. With its immense popularity, it is only natural that it is an overwhelmingly popular tourist destination. However, New York is a city with a very diverse community, with a multitude of regions having their unique cultures. With the increase of tourism, these communities slowly start to become the victims of gentrification, especially those that are located in locations tourists are likely to visit. This is a complex issue, and I am of two minds about it. On the one hand, it is great that people are interested in the city. The previously unattended areas of the city are now being cleaned up and renovated to spread the tourists more evenly. An increased number of hotels provides jobs and improves the economy. On the other hand, living in New York is becoming prohibitively expensive. This prevents people from staying in their communities and makes the city less culturally diverse. The people on the podcast mentioned how there are over 40000 Airbnb listings in the New York area. One of the hosts raised a very interesting point about how this is not just a way to make money for people, but a way to keep up with the ever-increasing rent. This issue makes me worried about the people living there. If the only way to pay for an apartment is to rent it out, then what is the point in owning it? Perhaps some restrictions should be in place on the way the rent increases for people who live in the areas where tourists are likely to visit. Because this is not just an issue of rent, everything becomes more expensive in gentrified communities.
In a way, the people of New York became victims of the popularity of their city. The image of the city has changed a lot over the years. It has changed from the dangerous and dirty New York of 1970s to the contemporary city of skyscrapers and culture. Perhaps some people have lived there for generations or moved there only a few years back, but each considers themselves to be an authentic New Yorker. Unlike any other city, this image of New Yorkers has stayed with the city over the years. I see this as both a blessing and a curse. It creates a cultural connection between all citizens of New York, despite their beliefs or backgrounds. Unfortunately, it also becomes very vulnerable when tourism dissolves communities that have been a staple of New York for hundreds of years. However, the new types of tourism that were presented in the podcast seem to capitalize on this idea of authenticity. The new types of tours focus on very specific parts of New York, which are not always covered by the more general tours. I see this as a possible step toward the preservation of the culturally diverse New York. It is a small step, but it is important to show that New York is more than just Manhattan.
Conclusion
Gentrification is a very complex issue. The way it affects New York might be the most obvious sign that something should be done about it. Perhaps in the future, a more sensible way to accommodate tourism could be implemented.
The following research paper is devoted to the investigation of the factors that predestined the success of the UAE as of the most demanded tourist destination for the last ten years. The paper dwells on the research method and, providing insight on a special questionnaire for tourists, explains the results of the experiment. The explanation complies with the research objectives and is fully supported by the facts that make up the base for the so-called “tourist patterns”.
The findings of the research are then analyzed and discussed, parallels to the literature review are drawn to show the connection of the research objectives and questions to the examined material, and the conclusions are made. There is also a short-term solution designed to help the UAE’s hotels, and the author also gives out several recommendations concerning the ways of how to enhance the current situation in the tourism sector in the UAE.
Introduction
In the present time, the UAE is known to be called the top Arab country. It has got its status due to such characteristics as outstanding tourism business planning and economic generosity. Even the usual leaders in terms of the most popular tourist destinations, such as Cyprus and Greece, were left behind this time. The current tourism industry income in the UAE is as high as 5%. The contemporary tourism business growth in the United Arab Emirates is caused by different factors.
All of the emirates embraced the strategy of providing the best quality service to their tourists, and exactly that helped the UAE earn their respect. It is evident that the UAE’s tourism business “snowball” is going to roll continuously. In the present day, the UAE proudly resides on top of the charts featuring the best tourist destinations. All of that became possible with the help of the UAE’s government and its tourism business policies. This relatively young country has great potential, which has already placed it among the most popular destinations for tourists from all over the world.
Method
For this research, the participants are directly (or indirectly) related to the tourism business, so the results of the research are not based on assumptions but the statistically proven facts. This is why a sample of the tourists who have visited the Emirates is involved in this study. The research method is based on 20 random tourists from each of the three most popular emirates (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah) who shared their critical opinion on what they did/ did not like, and what can be done to improve the current state of each of the emirates’ tourism business.
To obtain the data accurately and with a level of correctness close to the extreme, an open questionnaire has been developed. It used questions with multiple responses having them cover all the probable answer possibilities. Twenty tourists were asked to answer the questions the day before they were leaving the hotel they were staying in for the vacation. The tourists were given clear instructions and a reasonable (~30 minutes as a maximum) amount of time to fill in the questionnaire in a hasteless manner.
The questionnaire was the same for all three emirates. The method used an approach that asked the tourists to fill in the questionnaires on their own and not copy each other ideas, meaning that a single tourist-filled in the questionnaire in a given period when there were no other tourists around. This was done to minimize the risk of having identical answers from a rather considerable number of tourists. In the case where there were several family members, a single copy of the questionnaire has been given out for the whole family. For this research design, the author used the random sampling technique because it could have been used with quite large populations and evaded bias.
Results
After the tourists have handed in their questionnaires, the results have been reviewed and thoroughly analyzed. All the participants managed to give the answers to all the questions in good time. All of the questionnaire sections proved to be comprehendible and easy to fill in. Most of the interviewed provided relevant feedback on the hotel they were staying in and the UAE tourism sector quality as a whole.
The questionnaire helped the researcher to identify several patterns concerning the travel business in the United Arab Emirates. The research method results provided a clear insight into the possible issues of the tourism sector and gave evidence to the research objectives that were stated earlier by the author. The results concerning the home country of the multinational sample of the interviewed who took part in filling in the questionnaire were predicted (see Figure 1).
Figure 1. Top 4 countries where the tourists come from %.
The tourists gave an unprejudiced evaluation of what they have seen and experienced in the Emirates during their vacation. The results of the study lean towards being objective and unbiased and the proof of this is the fact that the author has also predicted the level of satisfaction of the interviewed when asked about the hotel and the overall resort quality (see Figure 2). The central objectives of the study were to study the tendency in the growth of tourist numbers in the last four years and to estimate the possible number of tourists that are going to visit the UAE next year.
Figure 2. Satisfaction level %.
These goals were achieved and all of the predictions made by the researcher were experimentally and statistically confirmed after the data processing and evaluation. The importance of the research was in the identification of the “tourist patterns” that would help improve the current state of the tourist business. The results represent the current tendencies in the tourism business in the UAE and comply with the research questions and objectives that were set by the author.
Discussion
As all of the results of the study were carefully predicted and practically proved, it is safe to say that the research was carried out accurately and provides great insight on the tourists’ preferences and their honest opinion concerning the UAE recreation opportunities. The findings of the study were found out to be consistent with those of Jeffreys (2014a, 2014b) in terms of the satisfaction with the hotel amenities and overall comfort.
The research also pledges allegiance to the fact specified in The National in 2013 that the UAE has been spending greatly in recent years to build up its tourism sector. All the investments are going to pay off because the UAE is a key tourism destination even for people from bordering countries such as Saudi Arabia (Algethami, 2013). More important, English is generally spoken in Dubai. All street signs and everything else are typically offered in both English and Arabic, so guests who speak English will have no problem getting from one place to another.
The latter has also been proved by the research results expressed in the questionnaire answers. The income in the UAE went up over an identical period by more than 17%, and the tendency is likely to keep on (Krane, 2010). There is a logical explanation behind this as most of the tourists, according to the questionnaire results, were staying in the UAE for 11 days on average. It would also be logical to assume that the UAE makes every effort to preserve the exceptional inheritance of each civic group (Inhorn, 2012).
The protection of the Emirates’ legacy is a strategic objective, while their values also make up a fundamental element that the emirate enthusiastically displays to the world (Hamarneh, 2012). The absolute majority of the tourists came to the UAE by plane and, what is more important, Flydubai and Etihad were the top picks for the tourists (Stephenson & Ali-Knight, 2010). The research stands as a proof of the fact that the policy of opening cheaper hotels brought more tourists from evolving countries such as India and Russia, who now spend more money in the UAE than the tourists from the traditional European and North American countries (Vij & Vij, 2012).
The number of tourists from smaller countries is going to grow considerably in the next couple of years (Picton, 2010). The upsurge in occupancy rates looks exciting when taking into consideration the rise in accommodations that have happened recently and displays the emirate’s commercial progress (Jeffreys, 2008). All the hotels in the UAE soon will undergo mandatory examinations by the specialists that would check the professional skills of the staff even though the research showed that the hotel staff is courteous and pays close attention to their visitors (Ahmad & Daghfous, 2010).
Conclusion
The author of the research believes that the results confirm the original expectations and predictions. The research ran into a limitation inherent in the research procedures which is a low number of the interviewed as the questionnaire would be way more efficient if the studied sample expenses went into hundreds and thousands of tourists. Nevertheless, the results should not differ a lot even on a bigger scale. The author is certain that a set of actions should be implemented to improve the situation.
As a short-term suggestion for the findings, the author would recommend the hotel administration to take notes and conduct polls similar to the one that has been done for the research in all the hotels across the Emirates. In consequence, all of the research findings relate to those of other researchers cited in the literature review and the research accurately reflects and attests the points made by the other authors.
Recommendations
Based on the results of the research, the recommendation is the following: as the Emirates is already doing a great job moving their tourism business forward, they should listen to their visitors’ feedback. This recommendation is explained by the outcome of the study where almost all of the answers depicted an unswerving image of the neat, luxurious, and gratifying UAE. Another recommendation would be to run periodical quality control in every hotel in the Emirates to keep up the professionalism of the hotel staff.
There might also be introduced a kind of course for the hotel workers that would explain the needs of the tourists that come to their hotels. Such a program should be acknowledged and supported by the government, and updated every year by the hotel administration to improve the already high level of flexibility when it comes to serving the tourists.
Given more budget and time, the author of the research would have contacted more hotels from all of the emirates. This includes not only the most luxurious and expensive hotels but the two-three star facilities as well. Such an approach would have let the researcher go deeper in the factual data, and the peculiarities of the questionnaire results would have given a more detailed view of the overall success of the hotels and their possible future in terms of hotel room occupancy and visitor rate. Another approach would have been to compare the last year’s data to the current data and implement this practice as a required basic annual operation for every hotel.
There is a major gap in the research that may be explained by the human factor. Despite the convenience of the questionnaire method, to protect the tourist needs, it should only be operated properly on a bigger scale. The questionnaire would cause a high percentage of errors when working with a small number of tourists. The results might still be close to the realistic values, but the larger the sample would be the more precise the outcome would be.
The implication the research has for the UAE is reflected in the way that the Emirates and its visitors see each other through the prism of their relations, wishes, and opinions. This means that the UAE is fully responsible for the satisfaction of the people who visit the country, and for the United Arab Emirates, it is essential to track the level of the tourists’ consummation and eventual discontent to stay relevant in the tourism business.
References
Ahmad, N., & Daghfous, A. (2010). Knowledge sharing through inter-organizational knowledge networks. European Business Review, 22(2), 153-174. Web.
Hamarneh, A. A. (2012). International tourism, security and intercultural dialogue in the Arab World. International Journal of Arab Culture, Management and Sustainable Development IJACMSD, 2(4), 354. Web.
Inhorn, M. C. (2012). Reproductive Exile in Global Dubai: South Asian Stories. Cultural Politics an International Journal, 8(2), 283-306. Web.
Jeffreys, A. (2008). The Report: Sharjah 2008. London: Oxford Business Group.
Jeffreys, A. (2014a). The Report: Abu Dhabi 2014. London: Oxford Business Group.
Jeffreys, A. (2014b). The Report: Dubai 2014. London: Oxford Business Group.
Krane, J. (2010). Dubai. The Story of the World’s Fastest City. London: Atlantic Books.
Picton, O. J. (2010). Usage of the concept of culture and heritage in the United Arab Emirates an analysis of Sharjah heritage area. Journal of Heritage Tourism, 5(1), 69-84. Web.
Stephenson, M. L., & Ali-Knight, J. (2010). Dubai’s tourism industry and its societal impact: Social implications and sustainable challenges. Journal of Tourism and Cultural Change, 8(4), 278-292. Web.
The National: Tourism helps fuel growth in the UAE. (2013). Web.
Vij, M., & Vij, A. (2012). Tourism and carbon foot prints in United Arab Emirates challenges and solutions. Journal of Environmental Management and Tourism, 3(1). Web.
Medical tourism has been made a necessity by the globalization concept, which has facilitated easier access to quality health care services from different parts of the world. Regionalization has also been influenced by the availability of more affordable services in different parts of the world, which makes it reasonable for people to access health care services in the emerging markets, rather than the expensive services in their local markets.
However, the process of regionalization has been associated with the development of a pure form of capitalism in different economies where the private sector has taken charge of the health care system (Connell 1094). For instance, the private health care entities in the United States has the best healthcare services, but the associated entities charge very high, making it impossible for the middle and lower class people to access the quality services (Bookman and Bookman 23).
Additionally, when similar services are offered in the developing economies at a significantly lower price, most people and companies are opting to pay for medical tourism that meeting the high costs in the local markets (Horowitz, Rosenweig, and Jones 33).
This has ultimately led to a reduction in profits for the local health care facilities and revenue for the government. As more private entities enhance the quality and affordability of healthcare services across the region the local health care entities will face an exponential decline in health care consumers (Han and Hyun 23). It is apparent that as more consumers move to different nations to access health care services, there is a fiscal draining effect because the consumers are directing their savings to the regional markets instead of the local markets.
Benefits and Limitations
One of the main benefits of regionalization is the fact that local health care consumers can now access quality health care services at relatively lower prices. The fact that most of the health care providers with the best packages are private entities ensures that the quality of the services is exemplary. The regionalization process in health care services also implies that the health insurance companies will have to compete on the lines of prices with the regional companies, which will ultimately be beneficial for the consumers (Dimon par. 4).
This implies that the cost of health care services and coverage will continue reducing simultaneously, which will have a positive effect on the health outcomes of the community. One of the limitations of the regionalization process is that it will result in stiff competition among the associated private entities in the business (Boucher par. 5). This will ultimately force the companies to apply the concept of economies of scale to realize higher profits.
Further Potential for Medical Tourism
Medical tourism is a concept that will continue making headlines in the future, and there is a need for the authorities, especially in the destination states to look into the development of policies that apply standards on the quality of health care, as well as the ethical considerations to apply (Hall 12). The destination states should particularly look into endorsing the relevant moral guidelines in health care provision and the standardization of prices to ensure there is equity in the access to health care services (Pocock and Phua 1). It is apparent that the increase in demand for health care services will increase their cost as evidenced by the situation in the United States, and this may jeopardize the ability of some of the local members of the community to access quality health care services.
Works Cited
Bookman, Milica Zarkovic, and Karla R. Bookman. Medical Tourism in Developing Countries. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2007. Print.
Hall, Colin Michael. Medical tourism: The Ethics, Regulation, And Marketing of Health Mobility. London: Routledge, 2013. Print.
Han, Heesup, and Sunghyup Sean Hyun. “Customer Retention in the Medical Tourism Industry: Impact of Quality, Satisfaction, Trust, and Price Reasonableness.” Tourism Management 46 (2015): 20-29. Print.
Horowitz, Michael D., Jeffrey A. Rosensweig, and Christopher A. Jones. “Medical Tourism: Globalization of the Healthcare Marketplace.” MedGenMed9.4 (2007): 33. Print.
Pocock, Nicola S., and Kai Hong Phua. “Medical Tourism and Policy Implications for Health Systems: A Conceptual Framework from a Comparative Study of Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia.” Globalization and health 7.1 (2011): 1. Print.
Like many other industries, the hospitality industry faces new challenges and opportunities today. With the technological advancements of the modern world, newly arising uncontested demand, and changing standards of operation, companies providing various services to visitors in New Zealand recognise either new issues or factors present in the industry before but currently growing to become more important issues. First of all, there are socio-cultural issues requiring companies to respect their clients’ needs related to social and cultural backgrounds and to meet expectations associated with what is normal and acceptable in different cultures.
Second, there are economic issues, including external market influences and internal considerations of clients’ economic capabilities. Third, there are issues of creating comfortable and enjoyable environments for those who receive hospitality services. Then, there are sustainability issues that change the way hospitality managers approach their work, the use of resources, and the generation of waste. Finally, there are global issues that present both opportunities and challenges. To address every group of issues, general conceptual understandings were provided, then the impact of those issues on the financial and operational hospitality management was assessed, and finally, recommendations were provided to the hospitality industry players to successfully address each group of issues.
Socio-Cultural, Economic, and Environment Issues
In hospitality management, it is recognised that socio-cultural, economic, and environmental issues play a significant role. First of all, what is meant by socio-cultural issues is a number of considerations related to potential and existing clients’ backgrounds, such as their cultural origin and social position. In other words, these issues address the differences among people and communities in terms of what is thought to be acceptable among them and what they might expect from the hospitality industry based on the socio-cultural context in which they live (Tajeddini & Trueman, 2012).
In any business, socio-cultural issues are a factor because any business works with clients and strives for meeting their needs. However, it can be said that, in the hospitality industry, socio-cultural issues are even more important than in other industries because a major goal in hospitality management is to provide comfort. When an establishment accommodates people, it becomes their temporary home, and home is the place where one’s socio-cultural aspects are most vividly displayed, manifested, and exercised. One cannot be comfortable when finding himself or herself out of the context to which he or she is accustomed. Hospitality managers must take all this into consideration.
However, sometimes people stay in a hotel because what they want is to break out of the context of their everyday lives and because they are looking for something new and different. For example, a person lives in a rural community, but once in a while he or she stays in a hotel, and the person may find it very enjoyable that he or she is treated very differently from the treatment normally received in his or her community. It is gratifying to be provided with high-quality hotel service. Another example is exotic hotels in different countries where people go to familiarise themselves with a different culture, which is why they do not necessarily expect to be treated in the context to which they are used: they are looking for a different context. However, a hospitality manager should not be misled by these considerations. People do not expect hotels to be exactly like their homes, but they do expect to be treated with proper respect and attention to their cultural and social norms, traditions, and attitudes.
Socio-cultural issues-particularly arise when local cultures encounter tourists’ cultures. People in different parts of the world eat differently, drink differently, talk differently, and all this should be taken into consideration by hospitality managers. For example, if it is recognised that visitors from a particular country have a strong culture of tea drinking, an establishment should introduce a tea menu, and this is how the impact of socio-cultural issues on financial and operational management of an establishment is manifested.
Another wide category of issues is economic. It encompasses many considerations from the financial capacity of visitors to the overall market situation with which a hospitality establishment should align its actions and strategies. For example, unemployment is a market condition that affects the hospitality industry and presents both challenges and opportunities (Mensah & Dei Mensah, 2013). On the one hand, the industry receives higher access to workforce and more opportunities to hire people if there is a need to do so for the purposes of growth and development (such a need may come from the increasing number of tourists). On the other hand, the availability of the workforce also creates the need to improve the selection process to make sure that all new employees meet appropriate requirements. Another example is the clients’ practice to bring their own food and drinks, and this practice affects the profit of a hospitality establishment.
Finally, what is meant by “environment issues” in this part is a number of considerations related to the organisation of space and atmosphere in an establishment or in activities held by hospitality managers. “Environment issues” can also refer to the natural world, the ways in which human activities impact on it, and the ways in which it affects human activities, but these issues will be addressed further (see Sustainability Issues). Creating a proper environment in which the hospitality services are provided to clients is one of the important functions of managers, although it may often be overlooked (Brunner-Sperdin, Peters, & Strobl, 2012).
Creating such an environment is largely associated with employee relations: employees should be provided with a clear understanding of the general vision and with practical tools to make guests and visitors feel welcomed. If the proper environment is not established, the impact on financial and operational management is that loyalty is not built-in clients, and the rate of repeat clients is low, which affects the establishment’s profits and its reputation among potential clients.
Recommendations can be provided for all three groups of issues discussed above. First, to address socio-cultural issues, a hospitality manager should ensure that proper market research activities have been conducted to identify what potential clients want, need, and how they perceive the proper provision of hospitality functions. All this should be considered in the process of policymaking. If clients’ habits, such as drinking habits, do not comply with a hotel’s policy, the situation should be resolved in the most delicate way because it is recognised that clients’ habits cannot be simply ignored by the management (Altinay, Madanoglu, Daniele, & Lashley, 2012).
In terms of economic issues, a major recommendation is to continuously improve the practices associated with financial and economic analysis and reporting; any business today is highly affected by global and local market forces, and it is almost impossible for a business to survive without considering economic factors. To address such economic issues as the clients’ practice to bring their own food and drinks, it is necessary to develop and properly ensure policies to ensure that the establishment’s profit is not seriously damaged (Davis, Lockwood, Pantelidis, & Alcott, 2013). Finally, to build environments (setting, space organisation, and atmosphere), hospitality managers should pay extensive attention to employee relations and corporate programs that unite teams and turn facilities from places with hospitality services into environments where clients and guests are comfortable and willing to come again in the future.
Sustainability Issues
Sustainability is a major theme in the business world today, and it is wrong to assume that the theme only applies to fossil fuel producers or companies operating large manufacturing facilities that can harm the natural environment. In hospitality management, the discussion about sustainability is held, too. Sustainable development is essentially a type of development that does not undermine further development, i.e. uses resources according to their availability (slower than they are naturally produced) and generates less waste than the amount that can be naturally processed or taken up by nature (Moldan, Janoušková, & Hák, 2012).
In case these two conditions are not followed, the resources are used faster than they become available, and more waste is produced than it is safe to produce, i.e. the amount of resources constantly decreases, and the amount of waste constantly grows. This type of development is known as unsustainable, and it signifies that, at some point in the future, there will be no resources left and too much waste.
To prevent this scenario, which is a threat to the entire humanity, it is necessary to find different resources, e.g. renewable resources, such as wind and sun energy (Twidell, & Weir, 2015), and to develop new methods of waste management, e.g. to reduce its amounts, reuse more what can be reused, and recycle certain materials to eventually make use of them again.
By resources, many people mean the sources of energy that is necessary for any development and operation. However, businesses consume many things apart from energy, and there are various types of resources recognised in the hospitality industry (Goeldner, & Ritchie, 2012). First of all, New Zealand possesses a large number of natural resources, including flora (forests), fauna (wildlife), landscape (mountains and valleys), and water (rivers, lakes, and the ocean). Also, the climate should be recognised as a resource, too, as there is a large period during the year during which New Zealand can host tourists.
Apart from natural resources, there are also cultural and services resources (Murphy, 2013): the former category includes heritage, traditions, diversity, historic buildings, ethnic celebrations, carnivals, arts, and music; the latter category includes established touristic infrastructures, transport systems, hotels, restaurants, and other things that make coming to New Zealand for vacation easier, more convenient, and more enjoyable. All this should be recognised by hospitality managers as opportunities and used to address the needs of tourists by creating establishments and tours that fully benefit from the availability of resources. However, hospitality managers should act according to the sustainability principle, i.e. use resources in such a way that ensures that they will not be exhausted.
A way to look at the impact of sustainability issues on the financial and operational hospitality management is to use the perspective of carrying capacity (Castellani, & Sala, 2012). For example, the physical carrying capacity of a site is the number of modifications, such as road building or constructing facilities that produce waste, it can take. Another example is the ecological and biological capacity of a place—in indicates how the place can tolerate the presence of tourists without its ecosystem or biodiversity being seriously damaged.
Also, there is the concept of psychological carrying capacity that refers to the experience of tourists and establishes that there is a point at which personal impressions of tourist start to diminish. Finally, social carrying capacity is the maximal amount of touristic presence in a certain place that does not damage local communities by socially or behaviourally affecting their members. Carrying capacities of resources impose limitations on the hospitality industry and affect management. Since it is recognised that resources can be used to a certain extent only, hospitality managers need to plan their operation in a way that sustainable development is ensured.
In the context of sustainability, it should not be overlooked that the hospitality industry is not only a potential violator of sustainable development principles (which is why its compliance with the principles should be enforced) but also a potential victim. Unsustainable development is no damage to nature only but damage to humanity as well (Lee, 2013). Unsustainable use of land leads to erosion and deterioration, which make the land unsuitable for further use for recreational purposes; deforestation leads to decreased biodiversity and lower quality of air; pollution leads to the destruction of ecosystems and negative effects on people’s health. Unsustainable actions destroy natural resources that the hospitality industry could use.
Concerning recommendations, it is advised to hospitality managers to adhere to the principles of sustainable development and comply with any policies enforced in New Zealand related to environmental friendliness (Bebbington, Unerman, & O’Dwyer, 2014). Sustainable development will prevent the degradation of resources and ensure that the industry will have all the necessary resources in the future to continue improving the services it provides to tourists. That is why hospitality management should not only avoid pollution, i.e. avoid directly harming the environment, but also recognise that places that it uses to attract tourists have limitations in terms of how many tourists they can host and how much impact from the touristic activity they can take.
Globalisation Issues
Globalisation is a major factor in the business world today. This process is manifested not only in the emergence of international and global companies but also in the growing significance of international and global markets. It means that local markets find themselves affected by forces which did not affect them before—the global economic processes. There are many factors that contribute to the growing role of global processes, and the three major drivers of globalisation identified in the hospitality industry are technologies, ease of travel, and growth of multinational corporations.
An influential economist and business theorist Theodore Levitt proposed a concept in the early 1980s of differentiating between international and global companies. The former operates in many countries and operate differently by adjusting its operation to the local context and the specificity of demand. Global companies, on the other hand, discover universal demand and sell the same products and services to customers in many countries in the same way because they do not operate in many local markets—they operate in one global market (Liu, Guillet, Xiao, & Law, 2014).
Within the last 35 years, the situation has changed, but the concepts of universal demand and global market and the idea that people from all over the world may be willing to buy the same things in the same way everywhere remain influential. Not to take away from the importance of socio-cultural differences (see Socio-Cultural, Economic, and Environment Issues), hospitality managers should acknowledge that they can be more successful if they try to enter the global market instead of trying to avoid its influences.
The strategy of avoiding the influences of globalisation can often be observed in local industries because there are influences recognised as negative. A major influence recognised as negative is the impact of financial crises (Cohen, 2012). Originating in one country, a financial crisis affects the economies of other countries through the mechanisms of global markets. Common consequences include unemployment and slow recovery from the recession: these risks are especially dangerous for vulnerable economies. In the context of the hospitality industry, a major effect of globalisation is that new touristic destinations emerge and become more accessible; as a result, established destinations lose significant portions of visitors.
It is widely acknowledged today by the industry’s participants that the hospitality business is changing. The demand is changing according to the shifts in touristic preferences. New technologies and availability of new destinations make travelling a different experience from what it was before. Moreover, it is expected that the change will continue, as with the growing visibility of climate change effects, people will prefer high speed rail to air travel, and many other patterns of their recreation and choices associated with it will change due to the global forces and processes.
The impacts of globalisation on financial and operational hospitality management are manifold. On the one hand, many people in every part of the world receive easier access to travelling, which means that the hospitality industry encounters new demand, and it can facilitate growth and development. On the other hand, as the numbers of tourists grow, so do the numbers of touristic destinations, and the novelty of the latter, as it contrasts with established destinations labelled as “usual” touristic spots, is likely to attract many tourists (Gustavo, 2013). The hospitality industry players, therefore, face both new opportunities and new competition created by globalisation.
Concerning recommendations, a general recommendation for the hospitality industry in New Zealand is to embrace the opportunities provided by globalisation and manage risks associated with it instead of rejecting participation in the global market. Apart from his ideas on the globalisation of markets, Levitt is also famous for the concept of marketing myopia—the term that he used to refer to limited visions of businesses (Boone & Kurtz, 2012). For the purpose of proper development and success in the modern world with its globalisation and technological advancements, a primary task for a company, according to Levitt, is to define the industry in which is operates—and define it correctly.
Fro example, a company that provides railway services faces growing competition from air travel companies. The increasing popularity of air travel was, most certainly, a negative factor for railway companies; Levitt argues that, if such companies’ vision is that they are in the railway industry, they will go down with the ship of their industry. However, if their vision is that they are in the transportation industry, they suddenly have new opportunities to address the same needs of the same customers whose needs they addressed before. Similarly, a company that is in the DVD rental business can shut down as DVD rental becomes less popular, but if the company establishes that it is in the entertainment business, not merely in the DVD rental business, it can offer many other services to its customers, such as streaming media.
The hospitality industry players in New Zealand should recognise that they all are in the tourism and hospitality business, not narrowly in, for example, skiing, hiking, or kayaking business. Globalisation is the process that pushed businesses toward broader visions, and businesses should adopt them to succeed in the global market.
Conclusion
The issues that the hospitality industry in New Zealand faces today were divided into several groups, and for each, the impact on financial and operational management was identified, and recommendations were suggested. For socio-cultural issues, it is recognised that clients have certain expectations based on their backgrounds, which is a driving force for companies to introduce new policies and solutions, and the behaviours of clients can damage profits, which is why socio-cultural considerations should be incorporated into the industry’s policies. Economic factors, such as unemployment, affect touristic companies, too, which is why practices associated with financial and economic analysis and reporting should be improved.
To address the issues of sustainable development, companies should recognise that their resources, including natural and cultural resources of New Zealand, have carrying capacities, which is why there is the need to plan the use of resources accordingly and not overuse them or promote environmental degradation or negative social processes caused by excessive influences of tourists on local communities. Finally, it is recommended to companies to embrace the opportunities provided by globalisation, to search for universal demand, i.e. why people from all over the world might be interested in the hospitality industry of New Zealand, and to recognise that making operation broader is a way for a company to succeed in the global market.
References
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Bebbington, J., Unerman, J., & O’Dwyer, B. (Eds.). (2014). Sustainability accounting and accountability (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Boone, L. E., & Kurtz, D. L. (2012). Contemporary marketing (16th ed.). Mason, OH: Cengage Learning.
Brunner-Sperdin, A., Peters, M., & Strobl, A. (2012). It is all about the emotional state: Managing tourists’ experiences. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(1), 23-30.
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Cohen, E. (2012). Globalization, global crises and tourism. Tourism Recreation Research, 37(2), 103-111.
Davis, B., Lockwood, A., Pantelidis, I., & Alcott, P. (2013). Food and beverage management (5th ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
Goeldner, C. R., & Ritchie, J. B. (2012). Tourism: Principles, practices, philosophies (12th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley and Sons.
Gustavo, N. (2013). Marketing management trends in tourism and hospitality industry: Facing the 21st century environment. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 5(3), 13-25.
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Liu, W., Guillet, B. D., Xiao, Q., & Law, R. (2014). Globalization or localization of consumer preferences: The case of hotel room booking. Tourism Management, 41(1), 148-157.
Mensah, I., & Dei Mensah, R. (2013). Management of tourism and hospitality services (2nd ed.). Bloomington, IN: Xlibris.
Moldan, B., Janoušková, S., & Hák, T. (2012). How to understand and measure environmental sustainability: Indicators and targets. Ecological Indicators, 17(1), 4-13.
Murphy, P. E. (2013). Tourism: A community approach. New York, NY: Routledge.
Tajeddini, K., & Trueman, M. (2012). Managing Swiss hospitality: How cultural antecedents of innovation and customer-oriented value systems can influence performance in the hotel industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(4), 1119-1129.
Twidell, J., & Weir, T. (2015). Renewable energy resources (3rd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.
The Skift Podcast presents a rather interesting issue of Black Travel Movement which is gaining more and more popularity these days. It has never occurred to me that people may experience difficulties in traveling because of their race or skin
color. The speakers describe the most advantageous possibilities for the African Americans who choose to travel the world and are not afraid to break stereotypes.
I have always been convinced that every person deserves equal opportunities in life, including living conditions, education, freedom of speech, and other rights. It is awful that in the modern world, people still face discrimination because of their skin color or ethnicity. Thus, Black Travel presents a fantastic opportunity for African Americans to explore the world without any biases and misunderstandings.
In my opinion, what Evita Robinson has created and is developing is a tremendous thing. She is helping thousands of people to explore the world, stop being afraid and feeling endangered, and make their lives so much more meaningful. Travel makes our lives colorful and memorable, and many African American people have been deprived of a chance to see the world for many decades or even centuries. Black Travel is an exceptionally positive movement which has made a difference for these people.
Evita’s efforts to help her customers are incredible. Not only does she create tours and propose the most exciting destinations but she also continues to assist the people during their journeys. Evita’s activity has allowed huge numbers of tourists to feel more relaxed during their travel and not be afraid of the world and people living in it. However, there are still many challenges for black people visiting foreign countries.
It was an unpleasant discovery for me that African Americans face a lot of discrimination and racism even now. I think that our world should become more peaceful and friendly, and Evita’s role in this process is immense. She explains how people all over the world gradually come to understand that a different skin color does not mean a worse person. Black Travel participants do two huge things: they change their own outlook by visiting amazing places, and they also alter erroneous opinions about their ethnicity which have been in the minds of many people for ages.
I enjoyed the idea of all the positive changes the Black Travel Movement has brought about. Apart from getting a chance to share their values and stories, people acquire new friends in various parts of the world. Also, new business opportunities arise as a result of such international communication. What is more, travelers are able to investigate their history by visiting authentic places they have never dreamt of seeing.
People who organized and work upon the improvement of the Black Travel Movement are doing a fantastic thing. They open new opportunities, break barriers, and make the representatives of various ethnic and racial groups feel that the world can be a better place. Even though there still exist some challenges and difficulties, I feel sure that with their tremendous enthusiasm, they will intensify the efforts in aspiration to make the world accessible for everyone. Our planet has many magnificent places to visit, and the Black Travel Movement makes these places reachable for all people. I hope the endeavors of the movement’s creators and activists continue to progress until there is no single person left who feels challenged for being who he or she is.
The researcher was interested in investigating the influence of online reviews on travelers’ choice of a hotel. Data was collected from primary and secondary sources. Secondary sources of data included books, journal articles, and reliable online databases. Primary data was collected from a sample of travelers and hoteliers who are directly affected by the reviews. The findings revealed that online reviews have a major impact on travelers’ choice of a hotel. It was established that their purchasing decisions are largely influenced by what they find out from these reviews.
Introduction
Tourism is one of the industries that have been impacted by the emerging technologies, especially in the field of communication. In the past, tourists relied on the travel agents to do their reservations at hotels of their choices. However, Loooker, Rockland and Taylor-Ketchun (2007) say that tourists were left at the mercies of the travel agents. The agents had the power to choose the hotels to book, giving little attention to personal needs of the customers.
According to Edosomwan, Prakasan, Kouame, Watson and Seymour (2011), tourists visiting places around the world had to rely on word of mouth in order to determine what to expect. They would rely on the information from their friends and family members who had experienced the services offered in these places in the past. However, this was not a very good way of getting to know the most appropriate hotel a traveler would consider appropriate. The emergence of advanced communication technology has completely transformed this sector. Communication has been made easier due to the emergence of internet related communication systems. Travelers can now communicate with the hotels they want to book directly through their websites.
The online forums have created a large community where people can share their experiences about the services they got from various hotels. These online forums help in informing the decision of the travelers before they can make their purchases. As Hardin and Kim (2010) put it, communication through the word of mouth is still as important as it was several decades ago. People tend to trust reviews from other people.
They are keen to know about the experience they underwent, what pleased them, what frustrated them, and many other issues that may directly be related to the experiences they expect to get. That is why many hotels have gone online in order to participate in the reviews and discussion. The major problem is that some hotels are using these forums to paint a negative image of their rivals in an unfair manner. This affects the operations of other firms, especially if the customers believe in such deceitful negative reviews. In this study, the researcher seeks to determine the impact of online reviews on hotels and restaurants.
Research questions
According to Brewer and Hunter (2006), before going to the field to collect data, it is important for a researcher to set clear questions that will guide in the process of gathering data. Research questions act as compass direction that guides the researcher in identifying specific information that will be relevant in a given study. Sometimes a researcher may come across very interesting but irrelevant information in the field. If such a researcher lacks a clear guideline on the specific data that should be collected, it is easy to gather large amounts of information that do not directly address the topic area of the study. The following are the specific research questions that will be used in this study.
What is the impact of online reviews on travelers’ choice of hotel?
What is the role played by the stakeholders in hospitality industry in influencing these reviews?
How can one determine whether the reviews are genuine or not?
What measures can be put in place to eliminate deceitful reviews in favor of some firms?
The above questions will guide the researcher when collecting both primary and secondary sources of information.
Hypothesis
The researcher developed research hypothesis based on personal knowledge that reflects the questions posted above. The hypotheses are propositions that will either be confirmed or rejected based on the outcome of the research. The following are the hypotheses used in this study.
H1: Online reviews have a major impact on travelers’ choice of hotel
H2: Stakeholders in the hospitality industry are keen on influencing online reviews in favor of their firms.
H3: To get to know the truth about information from the online reviews, one may need to investigate the issue by visiting other websites.
H4: The website administrators should be put to task when they publish any review in order to eliminate cases of fraud.
The results from the analysis of the data will help the researcher to either confirm or reject the above hypotheses.
Significances of the study
According to Greene (2007), conducting a research is a very complex and expensive process that requires a lot of time and finance. In order to gather relevant literatures and review them, it takes a lot of time. After reviewing these literatures, a researcher will need to go to the field and collect primary data in order to help verify the information gathered from secondary sources. All these processes cost a lot of time and money. It is, therefore, necessary to justify why a given study is relevant.
The tourism industry, specifically the hospitality sub-sector, heavily relies on people coming from other parts of the world to visit the country. They have little knowledge about the local hotels and restaurants, but are very interested in knowing something about them so as to have a brief idea of what to expect. In most of the cases, these are individuals looking for comfort and pleasure. These customers rely on the reviews they get in the online community in order to inform their purchasing decision. The problem of the online platforms is that people are sometimes mean with truth. They are keen on pressing personal interests, and this has led to misinformation when people give reviews. This affects both the players and the customers negatively.
When a review exaggerates what a given hotel offers, a customer may be dissatisfied with the services, and may consider going elsewhere next time they want to tour the world. They develop a general impression about the services offered by the hotels in the region based on their unpleasant experience. On the other hand, hotels and restaurants that offer better services get to suffer because of these deceitful reviews.
This research will help the stakeholders in this industry determine the impact of online reviews on the choice of hotels visitors choose to visit. It also proposes ways in which the stakeholders can ensure that information provided in the online community is neither deceitful not malicious. This will help in protecting the firms and their customers in an industry that has come to rely heavily on the modern means of communication.
Literature Review
Tourism industry in Australia and in other parts of the world has faced various contemporary issues that have completely transformed its dynamics. This has in turn, affected the hospitality industry that largely depends on tourism. According to Mansfield and Pizam (1999), the emerging technologies have had both positive and negative impacts on the hospitality industry. Many hotels and restaurants have risen to the positions of prominence because of their ability to master and act upon the emerging technologies to their advantage.
On the other hand, some hotels have seen their downfall caused by their inability to manage the emerging technologies, thereby complicating their operational processes. In this study, the researcher focused on both the positive and negative impacts of online reviews on hotels and restaurants.
According to McKay (2010), many unscrupulous businessmen are using the emerging technologies in order to gain unfair competitive edge over their market rivals. They are paying individuals to visit certain rival hotels and give negative reviews about the services they were given. In mild cases, these paid online reviewers will be genuine by gathering only the true negativities about the firms they are investigating.
They would ignore all the pleasant experiences and only focus on the lapses they experienced when they visited such facilities. That is an unfair business practice meant to harm the target firm. In extreme cases, Starkov and Mechoso (2008) say that a reviewer would make wild claims about the services they received from a given firm. Such wild claims are meant to discredit their target firms in order to convince customers to avoid such facilities. This is a harmful and unsustainable business practice that may harm the entire industry, including the players who engage in the practice. To the business fraternity, honest business entities that have made genuine effort to offer their customers the best services possible will not get customers anymore because of such negative statements.
According to Noone, Meguire and Rohlfs (2011), a customer will easily be influenced by such reviews and they will make a point to avoid visiting such hotels. They will, in turn, visit the hotels and restaurants with positive reviews. However, at the back of their mind they will have very high expectations of the services to expect following the reviews they went through. In reality, the hotels recommended may lack the capacity to offer the value given in the reviews. When the visitors fail to get the value they expected, they will not just develop a negative impression of that specific hotel or restaurant.
Munzel (2013) says that they will use the hotel as a benchmark of the kind of services offered in all the hotels in the region. In their mind, they will be wondering the kind of services offered in other hotels if the one advertised to be the best offers substandard products. Under such circumstances, it is easy for such customers to avoid visiting the region. It means that the betrayal will not only make them loose trust with that particular hotel, but also other hotels in the entire region or even country.
This demonstrates how dangerous deceitful are to the industry at large. It is a plague capable of destroying businesses and economy if left unchecked (Hardin and Kim, 2010). The stakeholders in this industry must take it upon themselves to ensure that this behavior is eliminated in order to protect the industry. Customers have a right to get correct information whenever they are looking for reviews. As Minazzi (2014) says, using such forums to fight rival firms in a malicious manner is not sustainable. It is a short-lived strategy that when discovered, becomes more destructive than it ever was useful. These unscrupulous individuals must realize that when they do this, they are not just fighting other market rivals, but the industry at large.
According to Pease, Rowe and Cooper (2007), online reviews also has a number benefits that should not be ignored in this analysis. Competition has become stiff in the hospitality industry due to the increasing number of the new players getting into the industry. These new players come with new designs and superior products to offer the market, putting a lot of pressure on the existing ones.
However, Starkov and Mechoso (2008) say that this competition is very healthy for the growth of the industry. As firms struggle to attract more customers to their facilities, they try to improve their services using all possible strategies. This means that there will be an upward adjustment of the value of products offered. This will have an overall positive impact on the service delivered to the customers, leading to the growth of the industry.
Online reviews offer hotels and platforms opportunity to market themselves to the international community. In many cases, the reviews are done by customers who have had an experience with the firm and are willing to share it with the world. For this to be possible, then the service must either be just way below their expectations or way above it. It is rare for an individual who has barely been satisfied with a service to make reviews (Minazzi, 2014).
This is so because they got what they expected. Firms may not want to have reviewers dwelling on their poor services. For this reason, they will make concerted efforts to ensure that they get evangelists who will spread the good news about their products. This will demand that they find ways of designing their products to offer the highest value to the customers.
Hotels are now considering making reviews about their own services. With the stiff market competition, firms are not letting anything to chance. These hotels and restaurants are keen on getting actively involved in forums frequented by their customers. They have realized that buying behavior of their customers is largely influenced by the information they gather through online reviews. The only way of correcting any misinformation or misrepresentation is to be present in such forums.
Although many customers may not trust self-reviews, sometimes it may help, especially when a firm uses it to bring out the truth about a given issue. It helps a firm to clear the air when wrong allegations were made against it. Online presence also helps these firms to present to the market unique products they offer at their facilities. This may influence the purchasing decisions of the costumers. They may develop an interest of getting to experience what such a firm offers (Vellnagel, 2010).
Adverse effects of social media
The social media is another phenomenon that has hit the hospitality with a massive impact. Most of the reviews are made through the social media, although there are specific sites for such reviews in many countries, including Australia. However, people also get to interact in the social media and through this, they get to share their experiences. Although in such forums they do not get to give a full review such as the rankings of the hotels they visit, they can inform their peers about the benefits and shortcomings of specific hotels they visited.
Loooker, Rockland and Taylor-Ketchun (2007) say that in many cases, before one makes a purchasing decision, they tend to inquire from friends who have had the opportunity to visit such places. Their views play an important role in defining the decisions that an individual will make. Facebook and Tweeter are very important when it comes to sharing such experiences. In many hotels in this country, it is illegal to record videos, especially due to security reasons. However, this has not stopped many visitors videotaping themselves undergoing different experiences at these hotels. When they post such videos on YouTube, it can have a massive impact on the decisions made by an individual concerning buying their product. That will be considered a real image of what to expect.
Consumer behavior and online reviews
According to Vellnagel (2010), consumer behavior is influenced by the environmental factors. Human being is always keen on imitating admirable things he sees in the environment. He is always looking for pleasant experiences, keen on avoiding things that may bring pain and suffering. Vellnagel (2010) further states that human being is always keen to avoid adventure, especially when such adventures involve uncertainties that may possibly result into painful events.
Uncertainty may have numerous possibilities, some of which may not be very pleasant. Very few people may want to have such experiences. For tourists, such uncertainties are even more undesirable. After spending a whole year or sometimes more working from morning to evening, they take breaks in order to get pleasure. They are always keen on avoiding paths less taken. They want to follow paths taken by those who enjoyed their experience.
For this group, online reviews have a major impact on their behavior. Such reviews may make them decide on the products they purchase because of the desire to get the best value out of their money. These reviews are even more effective when they are made by people they know and trust. When such people advise against going to a given hotel, they will follow their guide. This makes these reviews very important in the hospitality industry.
Research Methodology
When conducting a research, it is important to come up with a clear research methodology that defines how primary and secondary data will be collected and analyzed. In this section, the researcher will define the approach that was used to gather and analyzed data in order to arrive at the findings given in the chapter that follows.
Sampling techniques
It was important to sample a section of the target population in order to get their views on the issue under investigation when collecting primary data. The sampling technique that was used in the study was stratified sampling techniques. This was chosen because the researcher had two distinct groups to gather data from in this study. The first group had the customers who are influenced by the online reviews when making decisions about the hotels that they should book. The second group ha the players in this hospitality industry keen on attracting customers to their facilities using online reviews. Each of the two strata was assigned the same value. In each stratum, simple random sampling was used to select the individual participants for the study.
Data collected
Data needed for this study had to respond directly to the research questions as stated in the introductory chapter. Data was collected from primary and secondary sources. Secondary sources of data included books, journals, and other reliable online sources. Primary data was collected from a group of respondents sampled as discussed in the section above.
Data collection
Primary data collection was done through a survey. The researcher organized for a face-to-face interview with the respondents. This was considered an appropriate way of collecting data because it would enable the researcher to gather further information from the respondents by observing facial expressions. Such non-verbal cues helps in gathering information that a respondent may want to hide.
Scope of data collection
Primary data used in this research were collected from participants in the hospitality industry. The participants interviewed had to be either customers or individuals working in the hospitality industry. This was so because the researcher wanted specific information from these two groups.
Type of data analysis
This research used mixed method in data analysis. Quantitative data analysis was needed in order to determine the number of people who were in support of the idea that online review had a major impact on the choice of hotels customers go for. On the other hand, the researcher needed descriptive statistics in order to explain specific issues the use of online reviews by stakeholders in the hospitality industry. This means that both open ended and closed ended questions were used in the survey.
Validity and reliability
The issue of validity and reliability was considered in this research. With the knowledge that the report can be used by the players in this industry or other scholars, it was necessary to maintain a high degree of reliability. The use of a wide range of literatures helped in enhancing reliability in the secondary sources of data collected. The researcher avoided bias when sampling the respondents. Personal opinions of the researcher did not influence the outcome of the study in any way.
Results
In this section, the researcher used data collected from the respondents to conduct an analysis that would help in confirming or rejecting the hypotheses set in the previous chapters. The following are the outcome of the data based on the hypotheses used in the study.
The first hypothesis focused specifically on the topic of the research. It was meant to determine whether online reviews have an impact on travelers’ choice of hotel.
H1: Online reviews have a major impact on travelers’ choice of hotel
As shown in the data presented above, majority of the respondents felt that online reviews have a major impact of travelers’ choice of hotel. There was a near unanimous agreement among the respondents that the decisions of the travelers are largely influenced by what they learn from the reviews. Only 2% of the respondents felt that online reviews have no impact on travelers’ choice of hotel.
The second hypothesis was meant to determine if stakeholders in the hospitality industry are involved in online reviews in a way that can favor them.
H2: Stakeholders in the hospitality industry are keen on influencing online reviews in favor of their firms.
The respondents felt that stakeholders in the hospitality industry are highly involved in the online reviews with the aim influencing the decisions of the travelers in their favor. Over 94% of the respondents shared this view.
In the third hypothesis, the researcher wanted to know how one can get to know the truth about the information they get through the reviews. The literatures suggested that they should conduct reviews. The researcher wanted to know if further online investigation would be of help in ascertaining if this can work.
H3: To get to know the truth about information from the online reviews, one may need to investigate the issue by visiting other websites.
As shown in the above graph, majority of the respondents felt that online searches are very reliable when seeking to get further information about online reviews. Most of these respondents stated that one can choose to visit the websites of the discredited companies and ask relevant questions that may address the issue of concern. One can also look for alternative reviews for further information.
The last hypotheses wanted to know if it is logical and morally acceptable for the government or other relevant authorities to put to task websites that allow malicious reviews to take place in the online platform.
H4: The website administrators should be put to task when they publish any review in order to eliminate cases of fraud.
The respondents felt that there should be mechanisms that will ensure that the administrators of given websites are put to task over what is presented in their websites. Both the customers and the players in this industry were not pleased by the fact that some individuals provide misleading ideas, forcing the travelers to make wrong choices when booking the hotels. Only 2% of the respondents had a contrary opinion.
Discussion
For a long time, the hoteliers have relied on agents to help them get customers from all over the world who come to the country as tourists. However, technology is redefining the marketing strategies that players in this industry should use when it comes to reaching out to the customers. According to the findings from the literature review and analysis of primary data, it is now clear that online reviews have massive impact on the choice of travelers’ hotel.
When a person plans to travel, the modern era of online community dictates that he should conduct a search of the place in order to gather basic information. Issues such as security, mode of transport available, language, and hospitality services are some of the basic facts that one would want to gather. The players in the hospitality industry have found online reviews to be relevant to them when looking for places to stay. According to the findings in the literature review, many people trust information they get from friends. Fear of unpleasant experiences, especially in foreign lands, forces these travelers to seek opinion of their friends and family members who have visited these places.
One of the most important questions in such forums is the best hotel that one can go for during the visit. In most of the cases, one would go for the option suggested by the friends. They believe that these friends had taken time to review the available options, and their suggestions are always the best. In cases where one cannot get the opinions of friends or family members, they would go to the online community in order to know what others say about the services they are about to purchase.
When the reviews favor a given hotel, then chances are high that they may consider going for their services. from the review of literatures and analysis of primary data, it is evident that online reviews are useful both to the hoteliers and their customers because it offers both parties information they need. The hoteliers get to know what customers expect from them while customers get to know what various hotels offer in order to make informed choices. However, when it is misused, online reviews may be dangerous to the hospitality industry.
Conclusion
The research has confirmed the claim that online reviews have a major impact on the choice travelers make when purchasing services in the hospitality industry. The research has established that both hoteliers and customers heavily depend on the reviews for different purposes. The significance of these reviews has seen unscrupulous businessmen give misleading reviews in order to win over travelers to book their hotels. However, such strategies may have serious consequences may have far reaching consequences. It is therefore, important for the players in this industry to be responsible when they get involved in the online reviews.
References
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Noone, B., Meguire, K. & Rohlfs, K. V. (2011). Social media meets hotel revenue management: Opportunities, issues, and unanswered questions. Journal of Revenue and pricing Management, 10(4), 293-305.
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Starkov, M. & Mechoso, M. (2008). Best practices on Monitoring Hotel Review Sites. Hospitality businesses Strategies. New York: August.
Vellnagel, C. C. (2010). Intercultural communication within the tourism industry: Cultural differences, misunderstandings and how to reduce them. München: GRIN Verlag.
With the rise of the globalization process and the enhancement of multicultural relationships, tourism has become an important part of many people’s lives, serving not only as a way of spending free time but also as a means of expanding one’s knowledge of other cultures and acquiring essential skills for cross-cultural communication. Furthermore, tourism has been affecting the economic growth levels of a range of states to a considerable degree, spurring the development of the entertainment industry development and the increase in entrepreneurship levels (Firoiu & Croitoru, 2013).
Therefore, tourism must be considered an essential part of the modern world. However, tourism is not a self-sustaining industry; quite on the contrary, it needs significant support and requires that interprofessional communication should be enhanced. The introduction of recent technological innovations into the context of the contemporary tourism industry should be viewed as an absolute necessity since it will create the foundation for the further development thereof.
Increasing the levels of customer safety, contributing to an improved communication process between companies and its clients, and enhancing the infrastructure of the tourism industry, IT tools must be incorporated into it so that new routes could be designed, tourist safety could be improved (e.g., with the design of safe opening systems based on the use of Bluetooth technologies, etc.).
Sub-Areas
To explore the problem described above, one will have to consider several sub-areas that will have to be studied thoroughly. By studying the factors that determine the development of the tourism industry and the efficacy of its infrastructure, one will be able to define the effects of introducing IT tools into the realm of the tourism industry so that the quality of the relevant services could be improved exponentially. The following sub-areas will need to be studied to carry out a detailed overview of the problem and find the available solutions:
Tourist routes, the problems associated with them, and the ways in which the application of IT devices will help improve them;
Customer safety and the current measures are taken to improve it when providing clients with transportation- and accommodation-related services;
Security of the clients’ personal data and the means of enhancing it by adopting more efficient tools for obtaining, processing, and storing it;
Problems associated with comfort and accessibility of services.
By scrutinizing the specified issues, one will be able to develop a better understanding of the challenges that the tourism industry has to confront at present. Consequently, reasonable suggestions concerning the improvement of the situation will be provided.
Research Questions
In the course of the study, several questions will have to be answered. It will be crucial to define the environment in which the changes mentioned above will be implemented. Therefore, the following questions will be addressed during the research:
By what problems is the current infrastructure of the tourism industry defined?
What improvements can be made to enhance the efficacy of the tourism infrastructure and lead to a rapid increase in customer satisfaction rates?
What IT tools and innovations can be used to make improvements in question and contribute to a gradual increase in the tourism infrastructure efficacy?
What effects will the identified IT tools have on the safety and security of the customers, their satisfaction levels, and the performance of the organizations operating in the specified realm?
The answers to the research questions mentioned above will shed a lot of light on the problem of tourism infrastructure and the role of IT tools in its enhancement. For instance, the possible strategies for handling some of the issues associated with customers’ personal data and time management are expected to be resolved. Thus, a significant improvement will take place in the environment of the tourism industry.
Formulating Objectives
To complete the research and provide suggestions concerning possible improvements to the present-day infrastructure used in the tourism industry, one will have to consider reaching several crucial objectives. Being important steps of the research process, the specified objectives will help answer the essential research questions. The major objectives are listed below:
Determining the crucial characteristics of the contemporary tourism industry from the perspective of its infrastructure;
Identifying the problems and opportunities associated with the infrastructure of the tourism industry;
Defining the ways in which IT innovations will help improve the current infrastructure of the tourism industry;
Assessing the efficacy of the specified IT innovations;
Designing strategies for the implementation of the necessary changes.
By focusing on the opportunities that recent IT innovations have opened in front of businesses, one will be able to explore their potential in the context of the tourism industry. Particularly, the chances of managing the infrastructure thereof will be created. As a result, the strategies for enhancing the operations in the tourism industry and attracting more people to it will be built. The specified effects are bound to lead to a massive rise in tourism companies’ performance.
Assessing Objectives
The objectives listed above can be deemed as attainable and important in carrying out the research. Being focused on the evaluation of the tourism industry infrastructure, they serve as the basis for building improved approaches toward improving the services associated with transportation processes, the delivery of the necessary products and materials, the movement of tourists, etc. Consequently, a massive improvement in the tourism industry may be expected if the strategies based on the integration of IT tools into the process of managing infrastructure are incorporated.
The objectives can be viewed as attainable and, therefore, worth pursuing. The aims listed above support the research questions and create the foundation for proving the research hypothesis. Therefore, they need to be included in the study.
Hypothesis
There is a direct correlation between the use of IT tools as the means to enhance the information management process, address the issues that impede the development of infrastructure, prevent delays and instances of misunderstandings, etc., and the opportunities for improving the efficacy of the tourism industry infrastructure to a considerable degree and raising the levels of customer satisfaction significantly.
Variables: Measurement
The efficacy of the infrastructure used in the modern tourism industry will be the primary dependent variable of the study. The identified variable will be measured by calculating the number of inefficient transportation processes and comparing them to the number of successful ones. Thus, the whole picture regarding the infrastructure in the tourism industry will become visible.
The independent variables will include the incorporation and promotion of various IT tools as the means of redesigning the current infrastructure of the transportation industry and improving the essential processes associated with the management of information, promotion of customer safety, etc. It is expected that the study will serve as the foundation for the design of the framework allowing for an unceasing improvement of the tourism industry infrastructure. Thus, all quality requirements and needs of the target audiences will be met respectively.
Reference
Firoiu, D., & Croitoru, G. A. (2013). Tourism and tourism infrastructure from the perspective of technological changes. Romanian Economic and Business Review, 8(2), 93-103.
Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit Hotel is one of the most luxurious facilities in the world that hosts predominately authoritative and influential guests. To make people feel comfortable in their suites, it is necessary to engage various modern techniques and purchase appropriate equipment. As there are multiple new technologies used to make individuals’ lives more comfortable and convenient, the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit Hotel administration always renews all the electronic devices and gadgets used by its clients on a daily basis.
Also, it is necessary to maintain the environment clean to satisfy visitors from various countries. Therefore, local managers contribute to particular recycling programs and hire professionals that are obliged to clean the building regularly. As the brand described below is considered to be luxurious, all the servants and staff members are licensed professionals that follow high moral rules and norms.
Introduction
Facilities management as part of the hospitality area plays a rather important role in delivering services to guests. Adapting the efficiency of buildings to the rapidly changing environment, facilities management aims at providing the best experience possible. Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit hotel located in Bangkok, Thailand was opened by Luxury Collection Hotels – the brand of Starwood Hotels and Resorts merged with Marriott International Group. The STR global chains scales define it as an upper upscale hotel. This hotel integrates elegance and unique Thai culture, thus attracting business and leisure travelers from all over the globe.
Body
Brand Positioning
Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit is located at the center of Bangkok and proves to be the most technologically advanced hotel among other luxury hotels in the given area. Motivated by modern requirements, the identified hotel offers “state-of-the-art business and meeting facilities,” wider bandwidth, wireless access, and fast Internet connection (“Hotel history,” 2017, para. 3). The hotel management clearly understands the expectations of its sophisticated guests and creates an unforgettable atmosphere by using dramatic proportions and turquoise green color (see Figure 1).
Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit hotel positions itself as a global hospitality brand, which assigns a top priority to positive emotions. The location allows creating a pleasant atmosphere due to the fact that guests may wake up in the morning and listen to singing birds or enjoy the view of the park (Adalid, 2017; Neirotti, Raguseo, & Paolucci, 2016). Having created a five-star hotel, Sheraton strives to adorn the region in terms of hotel service and quality.
Figure 1. Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit room (“Luxury Bangkok,” 2017).
Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit hotel aims at attracting people who want to feel authentic Thai nature, culture, and spiritual origins to be part of a beautiful historical context. It is rather attractive and relevant.
Technology
The role of facilities in the hotel makes the first impression on guests and identifies their level of satisfaction. According to Edwards (2011), technology and equipment ensure an effective operation of hotels, including their both tangible and intangible elements. While the latter include objects that may be observed and used by guests such as laundry or lighting, the latter involve safety systems, free Wi-Fi, etc. The availability of this or that technology is convenient not only to customers, but also to the hotel, making it more competitive and attractive (Edwards, 2011). Along with technical progress, the standards of equipment of modern luxury hotel rooms have also increased.
Equipment
The key feature of Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit facilities is the ease of maintenance as one does not need to be technically advanced to use the services provided. Such technical equipment attracts up-to-date guests, makes an impression on them, and represents the hotel as the top of comfort. Describing the types of premises that form the identified hotel, one should focus on changing the views of technology and the design of the interior.
It is safe to assume that these changes occur under the influence of such a powerful market factor as a changing customer attitudes and expectations. More sophisticated in terms of consumption of hotel services, a modern customer makes his or her special demands regarding the hotel equipment (Edwards, 2011). In this connection, the guests want to get more personalized and comfortable stay, while the satisfaction of these requests stimulates a new configuration and planning of the hotel space. In particular, Figure 3 presents the detailed lists of facilities in Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit facilities luxury suits.
Figure 2. Equipment in luxury suites (“Services & amenities,” 2017).
In addition, Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit offers a wide variety of facilities guests may enjoy while staying in the hotel. For example, conference rooms, business center, spa, disability accessible facilities, pool, sauna, fitness club, and so on (see Figure 3).
The hotel offers excellent restaurants and 24-hour butler room service. It offers a tropical outdoor pool and free Wi-Fi in common areas. All rooms feature cotton bed linens, a built-in wardrobe, a flat-screen TV, a well-stocked bar, and a private bathroom with a bath and shower, as stated by Adalid (2017). The leitmotif of creating a collection of accessories and hotel equipment is the orientation toward the guests and care for them. The paramount task is to provide guests with the most comfortable conditions, bringing a sense of staying in relaxed even away from home. Therefore, the design features and functionality of all equipment are carefully elaborate and as close to household goods as possible.
Environmental Sustainability
Today in the hotel industry, there is a tendency to improve environmental standards both in serving guests and in creating conditions for the work of staff, reflecting the desire to preserve the environment for descendants. Environmental sustainability is a powerful marketing tool that plays an important role in creating an individual image of a brand that distinguishes it from competitors (Adalid, 2017). Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit makes every effort to connect the world, while minimizing the impact on the environment and realizing that its protection is directly interrelated with the sustainable development of the industry of hospitality.
Therefore, this luxury hotel introduces the procedures of the environmental management system in order to manage and reduce the adverse impact on the environment. The hotel has developed policies and programs aimed at continuously improving the environmental performance and results of all aspects of its operations. The hotel also considers sustainable functions, such as recycling and high-efficiency lighting as part of the development process. It regularly evaluates the environmental impact of the hotel in order to reduce or eliminate any harmful consequences.
Sustainability Facilities Management
Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit strives to take actions necessary to prevent any form of pollution that could affect the environment of residential areas and the quality of the provided services. It aims at continuous improvement through the establishment of new goals and continuous research to enhance environmental practices. The mentioned hotel recognizes the importance of reducing food waste and water use.
In particular, one may note recycling practices along with environmentally preferred suppliers and products (Dief & Font, 2012; Zhang, Joglekar, & Verma, 2012). According to the recent study conducted by Hsieh (2012), today, an environmentally responsible approach is more of a rule than an exception. Ensuring sustainable environment strategies is among the priorities of hotel operators (Hsiao, Chuang, Kuo, & Yu, 2014).
The management of the hotel realizes that they should contribute to reducing the negative human impact on the environment. The rooms and apartments are equipped with an intelligent system to avoid energy leaks that stop the air conditioning system by opening windows and doors (Lai & Yik, 2012). All rooms are equipped with systems for limiting the consumption of cold and heated water (double flush toilet and faucets with a single mixer), and the main light switches. Optimum insulation of premises in the buildings is guaranteed by the use of building systems with environmentally certified materials.
Indoor Sustainability
In addition, they are attracted by the possibility of obtaining economic benefits as reducing water and electricity consumption in the long term will ensure them a reduction in running costs (Edwards, 2011; Leonidou, Leonidou, Fotiadis, & Zeriti, 2013). In this regard, Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit integrates both benefits and presents a rather elaborate sustainability facilities management. This hotel received the Global Business Travel Association (GBTA) reward for sustainable facilities development and maintenance. In particular, it is possible to note the enhanced indoor environmental quality expressed in green housekeeping.
Using exclusively organic cleaning means, management provides high-quality and safe services (Kryukova & Sokolova, 2014). At the same time, all elements of equipment and all equipment were thoroughly analyzed and tested for environmental impact within each field of activity. Guidance and actions aimed at improving the environmental sustainability of activities were also revealed for the future as well. Namely, the hotel focuses on increasing awareness of the environmental sustainability in terms of property-level green council. Remaining true to its mission, vision, and values, the mentioned hotel has undertaken a compromise of sustainability and respect for the environment.
Conclusion
In conclusion, it should be stressed that Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit hotel has a rather elaborate facilities system, and it focuses on environmental sustainability. The latter includes all activities in the field of environmental care such as a waste management program, energy saving, and water preservation. They cover the entire hotel: public areas, spa areas, rooms, etc. Thus, Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit hotel introduces a program with greater awareness of technology and environment and integration of comfort and authenticity.
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Zhang, J. J., Joglekar, N. R., & Verma, R. (2012). Exploring resource efficiency benchmarks for environmental sustainability in hotels. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 53(3), 229-241.
