Exploitation of Renewable Energy in the Hospitality Sector: Case Studies of Gaborone Sun and the Cumberland Hotel in Botswana

This study examines the factors influencing the adoption of renewable energy technologies at two hotels in Botswana. Interviews with key informants from Gaborone Sun and the Cumberland Hotel were used to collect the data for this study. The study was designed along the general conceptual model of the drivers and barriers of corporate “greening.” Narrative analysis was used to present the findings. Results point to the fact that the availability of the biogas and solar technology in Botswana, political leadership, financial benefits, the availability of a comprehensive environmental sustainability program, and strong environmental management values were the driving forces behind renewable energy adoption by the two hotels. The major barriers against biogas adoption by the Cumberland Hotel included lack of financial resources and limited waste. For solar energy adoption at Gaborone Sun, the main problem was lack of space for further expansion, which has also constrained the hotel’s efforts for wastewater recycling. These results have implications at both local and national levels. Environmental management strategies and values should drive the exploitation of renewable energy by local hotels. At the national level, results imply that the government should take a more responsive approach in facilitating the adoption of renewable energy plans by the corporate world.     

Responding to the bed bug crisis in social media

The increasing trend in social media changes the landscape of crisis communication and thus, calls for innovation in hotel crisis management practices. This research examined how New York City hotels responded to recent issues surrounding the bed bug crisis on the social media site TripAdviosr. This study adopted a mixed methods research design. The quantitative findings revealed that hotels’ response behaviors were associated with organizational factors (e.g. hotel's popularity, average rating, and star rating) and the rating of online reviews. The qualitative findings indicated that hotels employed various types of strategies in the response, which were dominated by strategies of bolstering and enhancing. In conclusion, this study addressed the need for a proactive approach in hotel crisis management and provided practical implications.     

Sustainable development and stakeholder relations management: Exploring sustainability reporting in the hospitality industry from a SD-SRM approach

This paper explores the sustainability reporting of 170 hospitality companies from a SD-SRM approach. The purpose of the study is to ascertain the information that companies disclose in accordance with the sustainable development (SD) and the stakeholder relations management (SRM) theories and to identify the areas for improvement in the management and reporting practices of sustainability in the hospitality industry. The authors use the content analysis method to identify and describe the sustainability reporting of hotel chains and independently managed hotels in Spain. The findings show that the sustainability information reported by hospitality companies currently meets the basic principles of a SD-SRM approach. Nonetheless, the authors also identify areas for improvement, such as the orientation of the reporting to suppliers or the more equilibrated distribution of information among all corporate stakeholders. Based on these findings, the authors consider that the integration of information following the SD-SRM approach described in this paper could facilitate a better compliance of hospitality companies with the principles of the SD and SRM theories.     

An Examination of Quality Management in Luxury Hotels

Abstract

The purpose of this case study was to analyze and compare the total quality management (TQM) practices of three luxury hotels. Leadership, guest and market focus, and information and analysis emerged as the three most significant TQM factors successfully implemented in these three hotels. The human resource focus factor was less successfully integrated into these hotels' operations. Although the three hotels claimed that they managed their processes effectively, these processes were not as well-designed or complex as in many other quality-conscious companies. Strategic planning emerged as one of the most difficult factors to implement. The general managers interviewed argued that these six factors contributed positively to their hotel's business results. Managerial and research implications are also discussed.     

Stakeholders’ views of travelers’ choice of Airbnb

This study investigated the views of travelers’ choices of informal accommodations, Airbnb in Hong Kong from the perspectives of three stakeholders. A qualitative approach was applied, both interviews and focus group discussions were conducted. A total of 69 participants shared their views on why users choose Airbnb over traditional hotels. The findings highlighted that hoteliers and Airbnb users presented different rankings on the determinants of accommodation choice. The implications of the destination image and the population density were discussed. The findings of this study can serve as a reference for any city/country where has a similar cultural background and population density.     

Benefits of authenticity: Post-failure loyalty in the sharing economy

Across five studies, this research reveals that the nature of the accommodation provider influences customers' post-failure loyalty. We propose a conceptual model that integrates perceived authenticity, social interaction, and positive emotions as primary determinants of post-failure loyalty in the sharing economy context. This article extends previous research by contrasting the impact of perceived authenticity on post-failure loyalty towards Airbnb (host, platform) and hotels. Our findings suggest that customers' post-failure emotional and behavioral responses depend on the accommodation provider type. The finding that authenticity and social interaction drive post-failure loyalty has important implications for managers of Airbnb properties and hotels. Finally, our findings provide new insights into customer perceptions of various service recovery strategies (e.g., apology, compensation) based on the accommodation provider type.     

Are we all environmental tourists now? The role of biases in social comparison across and within tourists,and their implications

From a management and research perspective, it is important to get a better understanding of what influences tourists in their decision to choose environmentally friendly travel options, and how these are related to social cognitive processes. This paper reports findings from two separate studies investigating the role of biases in social comparison, with particular reference to tourists' perception of their personal roles as environmentally friendly tourists, and especially tourists’ views of the environmental attitudes of other tourists. Samples of N = 1607 and N = 2076 tourists, respectively, were obtained for two studies in Western Norway. Results indicate that tourists perceive themselves to hold more pro-environmental attitudes than other tourists (i.e. “typical tourist”, “average tourist”, “tourists”). This suggests that there are differences in the perception of the self and others when it comes to social comparisons concerning issues of environmental sustainability. The findings also suggest that tourists hold overly positive views of themselves generally concerning issues of environmental sustainability and that their environmental attitudes reflect perceived desirable standards. The theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed from a social psychological perspective, and implications for tourism managers and researchers noted.     

Sustainability Management of Hotels: How Do Customers Respond in Online Reviews?

The purpose of this study was to investigate how guests respond to the sustainability efforts of sustainably managed hotels by discussing them in reviews posted online. Thus, an exploratory research design and the content analysis method were chosen for this study. The content analysis technique was used to analyze User Generated Content and to explore what attributes of sustainability are perceived as the most important by hotel guests in online reviews and whether they generate positive or negative feelings. An analysis of the reviews showed that hotel guests perceive sustainability positively: most indicators were discussed in a positive context, and reviews that contained sustainability attributes had higher guest ratings than other reviews. Explicit references to sustainability were found in only 6.8% of all customer comments. The most frequently encountered indicators in guest reviews were biodiversity, education and sustainable products. Customers mainly discuss attributes that have direct impacts on their experience or are observable at the hotel. Customers are likely to realize that a hotel’s commitment to sustainability can excuse the hotel for a suffered inconvenience. This finding implies that hoteliers should educate guests on their sustainability measures, as higher awareness may increase customer satisfaction.     

Conceptualising a contemporary marketing mix for sustainable tourism

This paper outlines how marketing, though traditionally considered an enemy of sustainability, can play a role in implementing sustainable tourism. It notes the redefinition in 2007 by the American Marketing Association of marketing's aims to consider wider societal issues beyond those of clients and customers. It illustrates how the recognition of the importance of sustainable tourism at all scales of tourism activity provides marketing with an opportunity to pursue sustainability outcomes. We review the strategic tourism marketing planning process and conceptually develop a sustainability tourism marketing model that embeds sustainability considerations at each stage of the planning process. Our proposed model contributes to sustainable tourism theory development and offers a conceptual tool for managing a tourism organisation's ecological and societal footprint on the supply side and a critical opportunity for transforming consumer decision-making on the demand side, irrespective of tourism scale. A 30-cell matrix is proposed that cross-references a strong set of 10 marketing elements (product, price, promotion, place, participants, process, physical evidence, partnership, packaging and programming) against the questions posed by the triple bottom line of economic factors, the environmental and sociocultural concern, creating a check list of indicators for management purposes.     

Perception and reality of managing sustainable coastal tourism in emerging destinations: the case of Sihanoukville,Cambodia

The emergence of Sihanoukville as a coastal destination came at the time when the global community was calling for sustainable practices. As one of the newly emergent coastal resorts in Asia, Sihanoukville has the advantage of learning from other, less sustainable Asian destinations. The Cambodian Government has partnered with international agencies in drawing up programs and incorporating practices to make the destination more sustainable. This research seeks to better understand the effectiveness and success, or otherwise, of implementing sustainability programs for tourism development, especially for an Asian coastal destination. The aim is to compare the sustainability practice outcomes according to differing stakeholders and their perceptions of sustainability. The research identifies gaps between policies and their implementation where the intent is to highlight those aspects of contemporary resort growth that need greater attention by policy makers and planners. Generally, it was found that there was alignment between the perceptions and the reality of sustainable tourism practices within and across the stakeholder groups. Where notable differences in perception arose, it was often linked to the group's mission or self-interest that influenced the views of these stakeholders. The research also points to the challenges ahead for all stakeholders in managing coastal destinations sustainably.     

Does Triple Bottom Line reporting improve hotel performance?

Triple Bottom Line (TBL) reporting is a comprehensive approach to achieve sustainability as it integrates reporting on environmental, social and financial issues. While society is pushing hotels to increase their commitment to TBL reporting, opinions are divided as to whether TBL reporting affects hotel performance. The present study uses the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method to address this important question. Our results, based on a sample of Slovenian hotels, support the hypotheses that more extensive reporting on environmental, social and financial issues lead to better hotel performance. We show that reporting on environmental issues has a slightly higher impact on performance than reporting on social and financial issues. We discuss the implications of the study and provide directions for future research.     

Sustainability through food and conversation: the role of an entrepreneurial restaurateur in fostering engagement with sustainable development issues

Food justice, food cultures and people's engagement with healthy food production and consumption are key contemporary concerns, with a growing sustainable hospitality and tourism literature. Efforts range from narrowly focused initiatives, such as promoting organic produce and fair trade, to more holistic challenges to current systems through initiatives like the slow food and locavore movements, which may represent systemic alternatives. However, little analysis is available on how cafés and restaurants might become sites for experimentation in profitable and just sustainable hospitality, and places for sustainability engagement and education. Focusing on the evolution of a sustainable café in Adelaide, South Australia, this article explores how one entrepreneurial restaurateur uses his café to engage customers and community in a collaborative conversation about sustainable development, food, hospitality and tourism, helping transform our food culture and even lifeways. Our findings indicate the value of deep local embedding as a pathway to meaningful sustainability. The study offers insights into how hospitality and tourism can contribute to dialogues on alternative consumption which may offer visionary pathways to alternative futures. It also explores the role of pioneers in sustainable business and hospitality, their drivers and their views. A forthcoming global research initiative is discussed.     

Using Ostrom's common-pool resource theory to build toward an integrated ecosystem-based sustainable cetacean tourism system in Hawai`i

This paper explores the suitability of community-based conservation measures to complement a proposed command-and-control approach for two multi-user bays with spinner dolphins in Hawai`i, USA, which have considerable dolphin watching tourist activities and human–dolphin interactions. The paper uses Ostrom's common-pool resource theory as an analytical lens, with an assessment of the attributes of the resource and the user(s) to explore questions of governance and sustainability. In Hawai`i, spinner dolphins move predictably from offshore overnight feeding grounds into shallow bays for daytime rest, interacting frequently with humans using these bays for tourism and other social, recreational, and subsistence purposes. To reduce the current negative interactions with dolphins, managers are seeking to implement a command-and-control approach, namely time–area closures. Our analysis indicates that viewing the bay as a resource with tourism as one of many human demands, instead of specifically focusing on dolphins, reflects an ecosystem-based approach and acknowledges complex management demands. We found that while unrealistic to expect community-based conservation to spontaneously emerge here, cultivating some of Ostrom's attributes among stakeholders might lead to a more productive set of institutional arrangements that would benefit the dolphin population, with the methodology used potentially leading to a global management model.     

Tourism governance in protected areas: investigating the application of the adaptive co-management approach

Abstract

Protected areas have become popular tourism destinations; yet these areas are often plagued by poor governance systems, particularly in developing countries. Adaptive co-management (ACM) has been advocated as one approach to improve the governance of protected areas, yet empirical evidence from developing countries is lacking. This study investigates the application of the ACM approach in two protected areas in Bangladesh which are also important nature-based tourism destinations. Using Lawachara National Park and Sundarbans East Wildlife Sanctuary as cases, this qualitative study explored the extent to which an ACM approach was able to support the achievement of key governance principles such as participation, accountability, transparency, power, rule of law, and social learning. It was found that the approach was successful in facilitating the increased participation of a broader range of stakeholder groups, and the collaboration between them. Importantly though, it was the adaptive element of ACM which was found to have made the greatest contribution to improved governance with the approach providing new opportunities for stakeholders to engage in iterative learning. This aspect was found to be of particular importance for the sustainability of the protected areas with stakeholders reporting changes attitudes and behaviour towards protected area conservation.     

Measuring and Decomposing Efficiency in International Tourist Hotels in Taipei Using a Multidivision DEA Model

Traditional efficiency studies using data envelopment analysis (DEA) models considered all resource inputs as homogeneous, which appears to be unwarranted. In this article, we propose an output-oriented, multidivision DEA model considering the heterogeneity of different operating departments in a hotel when measuring its efficiency. Using the data of 21 international tourist hotels (ITHs) in Taipei during 2005–2007, we first measured each hotel's systematic efficiency by maximizing the performance of two different departments (i.e., rooms along with food and beverage) and then we decomposed the systematic efficiency by separately measuring the subsystematic efficiency of each department. Managers of the underperforming ITHs would find the model application and results of this study beneficial in helping them identify the operating department(s) that was causing the inefficiency for the hotel during 2005–2007. As a result, strategies and efforts for tackling the inefficiency could then be proposed by the managers in a more desirable direction. Implications are discussed.     

NETWORK ANALYSIS OF TOURISM EVENTS: AN APPROACH TO IMPROVE MARKETING PRACTICES FOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

Farmers' markets have recently emerged as a new tourism event around the globe. Yet, little information is known about them. This article explores the network of stakeholders associated with farmers' markets through a qualitative analysis over a period of time of an Australian farmers' market. Multiple methods of data collection were used to build a case study of the farmers' market. The findings highlight the acute need for this farmers' market, and potentially many others that are similar, to strategically establish an appropriate and effective network of stakeholders for both organizational longevity and tourism sustainability.     

International hotel chains and environmental protection: an analysis of Hilton's we care! programme (Europe, 2006–2008)

Using the case study method, this paper evaluates and analyses Hilton's we care! programme for improving the environmental performance of the 70 Hilton Worldwide hotels in operation in Continental Europe in 2006–2008. It explores the practical dimension of “greening” hotel operations in the context of corporate social responsibility (CSR), and demonstrates the close links between CSR and human resource management (HRM) in hotels. It deepens the understanding of corporate environmentalism and seeks to disseminate best practice among hospitality managers. The programme's distinctive and innovative character as well as its weaknesses and strengths are highlighted. Barriers to behavioural change in hotel operation are discussed. The programme involved over 16,000 employees, created hotel-specific action teams linking all employee levels and reduced energy use per square metre by 15%, water use and CO₂ emissions per guest night by 8% each over three years. Avoided utility costs totalled US$16 million, of which US$9.6 million can be attributed to changes in human behaviour. The paper makes a case for a holistic approach that combines the introduction of IT-based measurement and performance-assessing tools with genuine employee empowerment and green awareness raising. The study concludes with future managerial policy recommendations that simultaneously bear upon corporate environmentalism and HRM.     

A framework for monitoring during the planning stage for a sports mega-event

This paper proposes a monitoring framework to be used during the planning stage for a sports mega-event. The research identifies a lack of monitoring and evaluation studies during the development stage for sports mega-events. Importantly, it notes the absence of research which evaluates an event systematically from the outset of the process and from the perspectives of host residents and event planners. The framework was developed on the basis of the philosophical approach of pragmatism; it focused on a sustainable development perspective, and it was applied to a case study of the Kaohsiung 2009 World Games. A survey of the views of 606 host residents about the potential impacts of the event revealed that the respondents tended to show higher levels of agreement on the host benefits. The results of 38 interviews with various stakeholders indicated big gaps in both the city's long-term development aspirations and the Games themselves and also in the event strategies adopted. Using this information, key sustainability issues can be identified and monitored during the event planning stage so that the desirable outcomes of events can be enhanced and then sustained in the longer term.     

An institutional analysis of local strategies for enhancing pro-poor tourism outcomes in Cuzco,Peru

Pro-poor tourism studies often highlight the need for altering institutional restraints and creating policies that enhance freedoms for the poor. However, few studies have evaluated local-level strategies by which the poor seek to alter such restraints to improve their lives within evolving tourism arrangements. This study applies Jessop's strategic-relational approach to analyze the cases of two tourism associations in Peru's Valle Sagrado (Sacred Valley), qualitatively assessing local-level strategies for addressing specific institutional concerns. Sen's capability approach is subsequently applied to assess the potential for these strategies to improve individual and collective functioning for associations and their members. Findings draw attention to a kind of institutional poverty alleviation that may occur when identifiable institutional limitations are strategically altered by local people, contributing to enhanced functioning. This study suggests that pro-poor tourism studies may benefit from considering poverty alleviation as both an opportunity-dependent and an opportunity-generating process, stressing the interplay between structure and agency as local people maneuver to improve their lives through small-scale institutional change.     

Effective redesign strategies for tourism management in a crisis context: A theory-in-use approach

Fundamental crises transform the tourism environment. To achieve business continuity, hotels have redesigned their operations with innovative strategies, introducing new protocols, and launching branded programs promising enhanced quality of the travel experience, by collaborating with well-known health and hygiene experts. Using a grounded theory approach, we identify three hotel redesign strategies used in practice (compliance, extensive and partnership redesign). Based on these insights, we further empirically investigate how redesign strategies affect customer perceptions. Through a quasi-experimental design, we find that service redesign influences hotel image and time frame travel. The results differ by the redesign type and the crisis dimension most relevant to tourists (social versus health), such that extensive and partnership redesign, as versus compliance redesign have a significant impact only for health-oriented individuals. Additionally, our findings highlight that redesign efforts to respond the current crisis can be perceived differently by an individual's risk perception and gender.