Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research

The purpose of this study was to evaluate a consumer's intention to stay in a hotel based on the environmental strategies used by that hotel. Consumer's intention was measured using an adapted version of Hines' model of environmental beha vior. Knowledge, attitudes and perceived self-efficacy were the variables used to predict consumers' intentions to purchase a night's stay in a hotel. The multivariate test of significance revealed that each variable had a positive relationship to intention to purchase. The research findings suggest that a hotel implementing environmental strategies can increase business for that hotel.

Government agencies are becoming increasingly involved in the process of providing investment supports to attract foreign direct investment (FDI). This paper focuses on the problem of how best to structure the investment supports in the context of the hotel industry. The scenario analyzed has four players-the govern ment sponsor, the local development agency, the hotel enterprise, and the private financier. Five different types of investment supports are analyzed in the specific context of the large hotel and resort industry- grants, subsidies for infrastructure development, taxconcessions, loans, and interest subsidies. In each case, the effect of the cascading principal-agent relationships are assessed in the strategic context.

It is shown that in some cases, governments may prefer support schemes that appear to be more expensive, but have better incentive or risk-sharing implications. The various alternatives may also be combined so as to carefully calibrate the risk borne by the hotel developer, the private lender, and the state.

The current study examined differences in hospitality students' interest in pursuing distance education with regard to their demographic factors, external constraints, GPA, achievement motivation, and perceived quality of four delivery modes of distance education. It was found that students were most interested in pursuing computer-mediated instruction, followed by satellite courses and tele course study. They were least likely to pursue correspondence study. Students most likely to pursue distance education were those with the highest GPA (F = 3.44, p = .04), the highest degree of external constraint (F = 7.27, p = .002), and full-time employment (F = 3.08, p = .05). No significant results were found with regard to achievement motivation and interest in distance education. These results empha size the importance of more technologicallysophisticated delivery modes in distance education and the necessity to preassess distance education students.

As master's-level hospitality programs continue to grow in size and number, concerns still remain over the acceptability and recognition of such programs by the hotel industry. In order to understand the challenges faced by these programs, it was considered appropriate to conduct an empirical investigation that would reveal the gap between perceptions of corporate hotel executives and master's level hospitality students. The study reported in this article investigated the career path, educational background, and perceptions of 106 corporate hotel executives compared to the educational preparation, anticipated career path, and perceptions of 130 master's- level students in the United States. There were significant differences between the career-paths of hotel executives and the anticipated career-paths of students. Students appeared to have unrealistic expectations of securing corporate-level positions immediately upon graduation when executives' experiences are that most of them started their careers at the operations level. Educational preparations for these two groups differed significantly; students had a strong hospitality focus, while executives were from a more diverse educational background. There was very little agreement between executives and students concerning the areas of emphasis in hospitality master's programs. Among all hotel executives surveyed, only 40% were familiar with hospitality master's programs. Hotel executives preferred an MBA degree when selecting candidates in the areas of finance, human resources, and marketing, but they preferred a master's degree in hospitality for operations-related positions.

Crime data for 142 hotels/motels in the Central Florida area were collected from the appropriate law enforcement agencies, and those properties were mailed a questionnaire requesting information on their adoption and use of 34 crime preven tion strategies. Of the 62 hotels/motels that responded (44%), the results revealed that out of the 34 crime prevention strategies studied, only 15 (44%) showed a statistically significant relationship between their prevalence and the incidence of crimes. The remaining 19 strategies did not show any significant relationship between their existence and the level of crimes. The security devices that were found to be associated with impacting the various levels of crimes included: Mechanical locks with deadbolts, Electronic Locks, In-Room Safes, Front Office Safety Deposit Boxes, Secondary Locking Devices on Windows, Non-Monitored Surveillance Cameras, Monitored Surveillance Cameras, and Portable Communication Devices used by Security Staff. As to security policies, the study found that policies regarding: Emergency Key control, Lock Rotation, Inspection of Security Equipment, A vailabil ity of Security Staff, Presence of Security Staff on the Premises, SecurityAudits, and A vailability of Printed Information on Guest Escorts to Parking Lots, were associated with level of crimes.

The availability of quality service substantially influences consumer satisfac tion. Therefore, the provision of quality service has become an increasingly impor tant concern of hotel/motel managers. Due to the size, growth rate, and special concerns of the mature population, their assessment of hotel/motel services is necessary in order to determine whatservices hotels/motels should provide to attract and maintain theirbusiness. The purpose of this study was to assess the importance of services provided by hotels/motels as perceived by mature travelers. The objectives of this study were accomplished through descriptive analysis of quantita tive data gathered from a sample of mature consumers in the state of Texas using the SERVQUAL model. Results indicated customer services related to assurance and reliability were considered highly important. To attract and satisfy mature travelers, hotels/motels should focus their efforts to provide quality customer services of all types, particularly in the areas of assurance and reliability.

The purpose of this study was to describe and compare the perceptions held by food and beverage human resource executives and recruiters concerning the personality traits of successful hospitality managers. A survey research design and a causal-comparative research design using survey methodology were both used to address the three research questions. Results indicated hospitality management recruiters perceive energy as the most important trait of successful hospitality managers. Whereas, food and beverage human resource executives identified the personality trait of trustworthiness as the trait of greatest importance for successful hospitality managers. In the third research question and corresponding hypothesis, there was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of the hospitalityindustry executives (15.20) and hospitality management recruiters (12.68) on the personality trait of trustworthy, p value of <0.001. The results of this study provide information for future hospitality managers, food and beverage human resource executives, and recruiters to identify personality traits that are associated with individuals that become successful managers.

The influence of factors beyond the immediate training context only recently has been considered in research on training effectiveness. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of the work environment on pretraining motivation, and the subsequent impact of pretraining motivation on two training effectiveness criteria: knowledge acquisition and training reactions. Using data collected from two foodservice safety training programs, the results from correlation and regression analyses showed that trainee perceptions about managerial support for training, as well as perceptions about the availability of equipment necessary to utilize training, had a direct influence on pretraining motivation. The results also showed that pretraining motivation was directly related to knowledge acquisition and positive reactions to training.

This qualitative study investigated the career success of three elite women chefs in fine dining restaurants to identify the processes and conditions that enabled them to achieve and maintain executive chef positions in this historically male- dominated field. Each chef manifested an early passion for food. Drive, determina tion, talent, and a strong work ethic surfaced as they secured initial culinary training. The two who achieved three-star success were mentored by a classically-trained American male chef. To maintain and expand their success, it was necessary for them to create celebrity for themselves and their restaurants. The conflict created when these women attempted to balance work and family life was of such signifi cance, that the satisfactory resolution limited their entry into two-star status, primarily, into two groups: female chef/owners and female chefs without families.

Challenges related to operations managementconsistentlyconfrontfoodservice managers. It is becoming more important for managers to devise time-saving managerial techniques to decrease costs and increase profits. Planning is the managerial function that drives all other operations. Food production forecasting is an integral part of planning. The purpose of this research was to determine current forecasting techniques used by commercial foodservice operations. Personal inter views with six managers determined operational information and menu complexity, as well as current forecasting techniques. All managers reported forecasting food production on a daily basis. Eighty-three percent of the operations used computer systems to aid in forecasting. The amount of time needed to generate a 7-day forecast was 5 to 45 minutes. Foodservice managers relied most heavily upon historical data to generate forecasts. Results of this study indicated that commercial foodservice operations have begun to utilize technology to increase operational effectiveness.