Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research

This study examines the relationships among elements of relationship management activities (predictors), relationship quality (a mediating construct), and relationship outcomes (commitment, loyalty, and word of mouth). Despite much research focusing on relationship quality, some central questions concerning the relationship among the three constructs have not been fully explored. A conceptual model was developed and tested to examine the mediating effect of relationship quality on the relationship between the seven relationship management activities and the three relationship outcomes. Structural equation analyses on the data collected from a survey of 887 dinner patrons at 21 luxury restaurants show that relationship quality is the primary mediating construct between relationship management activities and relationship outcomes. The effective use of a relationship management strategy may increase customer commitment, spread positive word of mouth, and generate loyalty. The findings of this study provide restaurant managers with a guideline for developing and implementing an enhanced relationship management strategy.

Different levels within the management hierarchy will have varying needs for information and will rely on diverse sources and utilize different types of information. This study examined current information acquisition practices adopted by hotel and tourism industry managers in Hong Kong. Data were collected by way of a survey questionnaire. Findings are reported pertaining to scanning attention ascribed to the task and remote environments, perceived importance of information source, frequency of information source usage, and the use of computer systems in environmental scanning.

This research reports on a qualitative survey of hotel guest loyalty. The approach was unusual in several ways: It sought to measure loyalty in the general population of hotel users rather than selecting a population already known to be loyal, and instead of trying to identify personality traits in the guests’ psychology that might be important, or ranking features of the hotel that might be determining factors, guests were simply asked what the term hotel loyalty meant to them. This approach has the advantage of not being influenced by any particular theory or restricted by the scope of the questions asked. The outcome of the analysis of their responses is a model of hotel loyalty created directly from the guests’ own perceptions of loyalty. The model shows that “loyalty” is actually a dynamic concept balancing seven elements already found in previous research and involves an unstated or implied contract between the guest and the hotel. It also suggests that many of the determinants commonly held to influence loyalty are, in fact, not relevant.

This study examines the importance of foodservice managers’ and organizational members’ involvement in the implementation of strategy. The study assesses the direct and moderating effects of managers’ perception of environmental complexity and firm size on level of involvement during strategy implementation. Findings indicate that firms operating in an environment of greater complexity bring more organizational members into the implementation process. Firm size interacted with complexity to drive higher involvement levels for small and large firms. Furthermore, foodservice firms that utilized implementation processes that involved more organizational members across the hierarchy achieved greater success in strategy implementation. Level of involvement was shown to mediate the relationship between external complexity and implementation success.

This study aims to investigate the severity of the solid waste problem created by the local hotels, particularly with regard to the volume and total weight of newspapers distributed in hotels. Based on interviews with housekeepers, the study identified two groups of newspapers and proceeded to estimate the weight of the newspapers distributed in hotels using independent variables - the number of occupied room nights, intergroup ratio, average weight of newspapers, and country mix of in-house guests. A total of 52 hotels, representing two thirds (67%) of hotels in Hong Kong, responded to the survey. It was found that the total number of copies and total weight of distributed newspapers in 2002 reached 18 million and 5.6 million kilograms, respectively. Particularly, four-star hotels carried the largest number and the highest weight of newspapers. Suggestions for handling solid waste were recommended based on the findings.

This study examines the relationship between users’ personal perceptions and beliefs of the proposed system and their normal day-to-day usage in the context of the travel industry’s computerized reservation systems (CRSs). Using a technology acceptance model as a theoretical background, the influences of three dimensions of fit (i.e., task fit, career fit, and organization fit) on CRS users’ daily routine usage are further explored. Results suggested that proposed users’ usage intentions are motivated by their various evaluations of the given system. Diverse system features and functions should thus be experienced and emphasized in advance according to each organization’s unique business situation. Such experience with the proposed CRS enables users to develop more favorable perceptions and beliefs of the given system, leading consequently to a higher level of day-to-day usage.