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RESOURCES: PAPERS & PRESENTATIONS

Author : Conrad Lashley & Barry O'Mahony
School/Work Place : Nottingham Trent University, UK (Conrad Lashley) & Victoria University, Australia (Barry O'Mahony)
Contact : conrad.lashley@ntu.ac.uk
Year : 2007

Recent challenges within the hospitality industry highlight a critical need for research and innovation to inform management practice. Surprisingly, however, a comprehensive review of literature has found that innovation research within the industry is scant and that innovative practice lags behind many other industries. In a study into innovation activity across 14 industries in the UK, for example, Robson and Ortmans (2006) found hotels and restaurants to be the second least innovative. This lack of innovation activity is most pronounced in the food and beverage sector with Enz (2004, p.5) noting that the food service sector in the US is reactive making few advances in current practice ‘ … until a period of crisis arises’ and Ottenbacher and Gnoth advising that hospitality ‘managers often rely on gut feeling, speculation, and their own limited experience about the keys to innovation success’ (2005, p. 206).

An emerging crisis is currently evident in the food and beverage departments of international chain hotels. Indeed, a continual decline in customer demand within this sector has prompted Riley (2000, p.112) to pose the question ‘can hotel restaurants ever be profitable?’ Riley’s question is based on his observations that chain hotels are losing market share prompting outsourcing of restaurants and the cancellation of several service periods (Riley, 2000). This downgrading of food and beverage within these establishments has also been noted by Wood (2007) who advises that apart from a few hotels that are food led, the majority now make their money from room sales. A similar situation is occurring in Australia where the majority of international chain hotels have abandoned fine dining altogether reducing their food and beverage outlets to casual dining with the main emphasis on providing breakfast and 24 hour room service.

This conceptual paper argues that the current management paradigm in international chain hotels presents a barrier to innovation, which is compounded by a failure to recognise that hospitality and tourism experiences have important emotional dimensions. The paper explains that by understanding the hospitality transaction between hosts and guests commercial operators can deliver customer experiences that build customer loyalty. The paper then illustrates how a reflective hospitality curriculum can prepare hospitality management graduates to react to the dynamic environment that is today’s hospitality industry.


List of Articles
No. Subject Views Datesort
13 Think Tank XVIII Sustainable Experience: Innovative sustainable communi... file 3864 Jan 07, 2019

Key words: Customer Experience, Sustainable Marketing, CSR, Communication, Hospitality Management

Author: Annkathrin Weiss & Matthias Straub 

Year: 2018 

12 Think Tank XI CRS 2.0: Management Perspectives of Sustainable Hospit... file 7904 Oct 14, 2013

In recent years, hotel companies have recognized the importance of engaging in responsible business practices as they relate to stakeholders including employees, guests, and the communities in which their properties are located. Accordingly...

Author: Stuart E. Levy & Sun-Young Park 

Year: 2011 

11 Think Tank X Sustainability: What Matters to Students, Educators, a... file 5417 Oct 13, 2013

As climate change gains global attention from events like the summit in Copenhagen held during December of 2009, the need for sustainable tourism is more important than ever; with comprehensive education in sustainability concepts and practi...

Author: Cynthia S. Deale & Nelson Barber 

Year: 2010 

10 Think Tank IX The role of values in sustaining the hospitality labou... file 6517 Oct 13, 2013

The role of human resources in sustaining hospitality enterprises has long been recognized (Hjalager und Andersen 2001; Baum 2007). Personnel are considered vital for the delivery of touristic experiences, thus being a central ingredient of ...

Author: Anja Hergesell, Ulrike Bauernfeind & Dagmar Lund-Durlacher 

Year: 2009 

9 Think Tank VIII Responding to Climate Change in Australian Resort Hote... file 6336 Oct 13, 2013

Extensive infrastructure and client expectations of luxury will mean that their carbon footprint and water usage is likely to exceed significantly that of average urban households. Often located in coastal or riverine settings, they are vuln...

Author: Charles Arcodia & Chantal Dickson 

Year: 2008 

8 Think Tank VIII Employment of the Disabled Workforce in the Hospitalit... file 9145 Oct 13, 2013

Employment is one of the important requirements for the integration of disabled people to daily life. The tourism industry is one of Turkey’s important industries with a great potential for growth. However this growth must be a planned and ...

Author: Sabah Balta & Murat Bengisu 

Year: 2008 

7 Think Tank VIII Integrating Sustainability into Tourism Education and ... file 4802 Oct 13, 2013

The focus of this paper is to provide an overview of the current sustainability content in Irish tourism programmes and the identification of key trends in this regard. It is based on extensive research of secondary and tertiary education s...

Author: Jane Stacey, Sheila Flanagan, Kevin Griffin & Anna Tottle 

Year: 2008 

» Think Tank VII Barriers to Innovation in Hospitality Provision: Towar... file 9118 Oct 13, 2013

Recent challenges within the hospitality industry highlight a critical need for research and innovation to inform management practice. Surprisingly, however, a comprehensive review of literature has found that innovation research within the...

Author: Conrad Lashley & Barry O'Mahony 

Year: 2007 

5 Think Tank VI Corporate Social Responsibility in the Catalan hospita... file 75515 Oct 13, 2013

The practices of CSR have attracted the attention of the investigators, who have prepared a great diversity of theories and the international organisms, which have done recommendations, so that the companies have added them in their strategi...

Author: Ramon Palau 

Year: 2006 

4 Think Tank IV Possibilities for Sustainable Tourism Management in Ac... file 4593 Oct 13, 2013

Sustainability is an inevitable concept in tourism which heavily depends on natural resources and environment with its products and services. Here prevention and controlling water, air and noise pollution, habitat degradation is more importa...

Author: Meryem Atik, Türker Altan & A. Akin Aksu 

Year: 2004 

3 Think Tank IV Attitudes towards Environmental Responsibility among S... file 5687 Oct 13, 2013

The first step in creating a more environmentally sound hotel industry should be a performance analysis of the hotel sector from an environmental perspective. An assessment measuring the level of environmental awareness among hoteliers and t...

Author: Paulina Bohdanowicz, Vlasta Zanki-Alujevic & Ivo Martinac 

Year: 2004 

2 Think Tank IV Evaluating Environmental Initiatives of German Hotels file 3301 Oct 13, 2013

Following a vigorous environmental protection movement trigging in Germany over thirty years ago, the German hotel industry is gradually moving in line with other sections of its society. This study attempts to present a snapshot of the asse...

Author: Joseph S. Chen, Willy Legrand, Philip Sloan & Josephine Zho 

Year: 2004 

1 Think Tank IV Impediments to Sustainable Service Quality in Luxury H... file 15876 Oct 13, 2013

In order for tourism to be sustainable in the long term, there must be continued viability of tourism related entities (Tesone 2004), that is business operations must be sustainable. Hotels are major tourism entities and play an important ro...

Author: Rayka Presbury 

Year: 2004 

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