U.K. Conference Venues

ABSTRACT

The following paper investigates the supply and demand for conference venues in the United Kingdom (U.K.) over the past 40 years. The main data relates to trends in the type of venue facilities provided in the U.K. and how the varying market sectors use these. It is suggested that the patterns of venue development have often been in response to perceived opportunity for business rather than actual demand. The concern is raised that current business levels cannot support the growing supply of venues and that continued new developments may not be the most appropriate method of approaching the situation.     

The U.K. Conference and Meetings Industry

Abstract

During the last ten years, the U.K. meetings industry has developed rapidly. Regard for the industry and competition amongst venues is growing. The industry is attracting increasing levels of attention, while an intensified incidence of venues other than hotels are competing within this sector. This progressive expansion of demand experienced by the industry heightens the importance of the quality provision for customers when differentiating between venues. The ultimate aim of the research is to determine whether gaps exist between the attributes employed to assess the quality and desirability of a U.K. conference venue-firstly by conference organizers and conference delegates and secondly between their perceptions and the characteristics of the product provided. This paper presents an approach to the development of a research instrument to measure and compare an inventory of service quality attributes as perceived by meetings organizers and delegates.     

Women in hotel and catering management in the U.K.

Traditionally management has been a function dominated by males in society but currently, due to a number of changes in the environment, many more women are entering into this area. It is envisaged that this trend will continue in the future. The paper commences with a review of the literature examining the background of the issue, and proceeds to highlight some of the reasons contributing to female under-representation in management. The paper concludes by proposing a strategy towards rectifying the balance in the hotel and catering industry.     

A Temporal Analysis of Conference Venue Refurbishment Within the U.K. Conference Sector

Abstract

This paper examines conference venue refurbishments within purpose-built venues, hotels, educational establishments, and visitor attractions across the U.K. conference sector. The main data relate to six refurbishment activities undertaken to create a venue conference product. Additionally, refurbishments undertaken since the conference facilities opened, and future plans for refurbishments across the four venue classifications are examined. The refurbishments examined are those of upgrading furnishings, upgrading décor, complying with health and safety legislation, the implementation of modern conference technologies, converting and/or extending the venue to supply or improve conference facilities and the provision of disabled access. The results show that initial level of initial investment across all venue classifications is not sustained, and a decline in future investment is apparent.     

Some social and historical perspectives on unionization in the U.K. hotel industry

The subject here is the relationship between hotel workers and trade unionism in Great Britain. The essay uses a historical and sociological perspective to explore three principal themes; these are, that historically hotel workers have been isolated from the mainstream of the labour movement; that the hotel work situation deters unionism by engendering close proximity with guests and management and finally that established unionism itself has a production orientation which is not easily compatible with the hotel worker's ethos or self-identity. The background to these arguments is the development of the British hotel industry with particular emphasis on evolution of hotel work from domestic service during the period 1890–1911. The conclusion drawn is that these themes are an explanation in part for the low union density in the U.K. hotel industry.     

Overcoming the barriers to successful implementation of information technology in the U.K. hotel industry

This article examines the organisational barriers to successful implementation of information technology in the hotel industry. These are barriers of will, ability, and finance which block the routes to integration of internal systems.     

A future for wages councils in the hospitality industry in the U.K.?

In 1974, in an effort to stimulate discussion on the role played by the Licensed Residential Establishment and Licensed Restaurant Wages Council, Mitchell and Ashton (1974) posed the following question; ‘Wages councils: do they matter?’ The article below attempts to provide a contemporary answer to this question and to widen the scope of the discussion to include the other wages councils which operate within the hospitality industry. The passage of a decade would appear to mark a suitable point at which to carry out such a review. Furthermore the timing is appropriate in that the imminent expiry of an International Labour Office convention has initiated a debate over the future status of the whole of the wages council system in Britain. Consequently it is interesting to consider how the hospitality industry stands in relation to this debate particularly in view of the recent attempts made by the Employment Minister to influence the latest award made by the L.R.W.C.     

阿联酋迪拜购物中心——中国女性的新宠

迪拜购物中心是世界最大的购物娱乐场所之一。新开业的迪拜购物中心计划成为迪拜的零售业、酒店业及休闲中心。事实上,迪拜购物中心规模惊人:1200家零售店、150多家餐饮设施、一座五星级酒店和数不胜数的休闲店铺。迪拜购物中心声称将成为"世界上最大的零售商场"。迪拜购物中心倾力打造时尚品牌的最大聚集地,其44万平方英尺的时装大道堪称一大亮点。该     

Russia's age structure in 1996: a research report

"This research note provides a preliminary analysis of Russia's current age-sex structure, with a focus on the recent past and on what the current levels may indicate about the Russian population's future growth potential." The author notes that "Russia currently is experiencing an absolute decline in the size of its population as well as negative natural increase. It is one of several countries in the world now experiencing an absolute decline in its population and one of about 11 countries registering a negative rate of natural increase. Because of Russia's age structure and the trends in its fertility and mortality rates, there does not appear to be much of a reason for any of these trends to reverse themselves until some future time in the next century."     

U.S. Virgin Islands National Park:

No abstract available for this article.     

U.S. Tour Operators and Travel Agencies

Abstract

The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to explore the services and package tours for people who have difficulty walking provided by U.S. tour operators and travel agencies, and to identify barriers encountered when planning and operating the tours. Accommodations and eating-drinking establishments were the least desirable environments for people who have difficulty walking due to inaccessibility and negative staff attitudes. Attractions and transportation staff displayed higher attitudes but facilities were not accessible. The graphical display of data of accessibility barriers and staff attitude barriers indicated that the four tourism sectors did not comply with the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act.     

Are U.S. airlines really in crisis?

This study reflects on the technical efficiency of U.S. airlines using a Bayesian random stochastic frontier model. Inferences from the Bayesian estimation indicate that the random model fits the data well and outperforms the traditional stochastic frontier model. The technical efficiency results indicate that U.S. airlines are operating at a declining efficiency rate with an average of 69.02% in 2007. Results from returns to scale are also in line with the efficiency results. More specific discussions on the current industry trends and other contributions of this study are presented and discussed.     

Japanese Travelers' Service Preferences in U.S. Hotels

Abstract

This empirical study identifies specific preferences of Japanese visitors staying in U.S. hotels. Relevant literature is reviewed in an attempt to identify guest services which Japanese visitors prefer. This paper offers hotel operators suggestions about what they need to understand in order to attract and retain Japanese visitors. The results of the study will help hotel operators select appropriate products and services in order to better serve Japanese customers.     

U.S. tourist destinations: A history of desirability

This study supplies a ranking of the most desirable tourist destinations for US travelers from 1907 through 1980, as gauged from a content analysis of travel-related advertisements appearing in two national magazines; Harper's Monthly and National Geographic. The amount of advertising space that features each destination is calculated, and from these totals the rankings of desirable destinations are derived. Maps and accompanying narrative give external validity to the content analysis, while use of consistent coding forms provides reliability. Listings of frequently visited areas accompany each map and narrative, and these in turn generally agree with those developed from the advertisements.     

Management fees and hotel performance in the U.S.

A management company takes care of the day-to-day operations of a hotel and thus has a great amount of influence on the hotel's financial performance. Adopting models from O’Neill, Hanson, and Matilla (2008) and Hua, Morosan, and DeFranco (2015), a set of empirical models, with same-store data from 1471 hotels from 2011 through 2017, was used to test the impact of the total management fee and its subset of the base management fee and the incentive management fee on the hotels' rooms revenue and gross operating profit while controlling for potential confounding factors including chain scale and location.This is the first paper to empirically validate the value of a management contract for both the owners and the management company, including the positive and significant effects that base management and incentive management fees have on hotels’ room revenue and gross operating profit.