Australian Hotels Research Articles

State vs Federal Government in the “Barmaids” Case: Regulating Australia's Second World War Home Front

Australia's National Security Act of 1939 authorised the federal government to make emergency regulations “for securing the public safety and defence of the Commonwealth [of Australia]”. Further, it instructed the government to decide for itself what might be “necessary or convenient” for the “more effectual prosecution of the present war”. This article examines the authorisation of the civilian leadership through one set of emergency regulations, the National Security (Women's Employment) Regulations, and analyses their functioning through one operational decision, the decision to permit women to serve in South Australian hotel bars with the intention of releasing male bar workers for essential industrial or military employment. Managing the home front proved complex. Sectional interests continued to jockey for positions of influence, even in war conditions. In this case, the state of South Australia sought to protect its “rights” against federal control of employment: a contest fuelled by an ideological squabble about what were then known as “barmaids”. I argue that Australia's centrally‐determined national war goals were undermined by its federal sovereignty‐distribution mechanism, which allowed sub‐national elements such as South Australia to impede national policy, and conclude that even with extensive defence powers to draw on, the federal government's war goals were obstructed by non‐war interests.

Types of organizational innovativeness and success in Austrian hotels

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to identify different types of organizational innovativeness in Austrian hotels and analyze their connection to (innovation) success. In the face of growing international competition, innovation is becoming increasingly important for Austria’s hotel industry. A prerequisite for innovation is organizational innovativeness.Design/methodology/approach– This paper is based on a quantitative survey of 255 Austrian hotel businesses with a minimum of five employees. Innovativeness was measured by three dimensions (willingness, ability and possibility to innovate) and success by five dimensions (overall performance: financial, market and employee-related success; innovation success: product and process innovations). Findings were obtained by combining an exploratory factor analysis with a cluster analysis.Findings– Factor analysis reveals five factors determining organizational innovativeness: “cooperation as trigger for change”; “acceptance of change”; “resource based scope for change”; “pluralism as trigger for change”; and “loose coupling and error-tolerance”. The cluster analysis identifies four types of hotels regarding organizational innovativeness indicating differences regarding the success dimensions: “potential innovators hindered by scarce resources and unsupportive structures”, “well-resourced conservatives”, “potential innovators hindered by a haphazard approach” and “cautious idea hunters”. On the whole, results show that a balanced configuration of organizational innovativeness combined with a cautious approach is connected with greater (innovation) success.Research limitations/implications– Key-informant and survivor biases have to be considered as all items in the questionnaire were evaluated by self-assessment of the hotel management and only successful hotels (in the sense of survival) were analyzed. One important implication is that (innovation) success depends on the system that enables it; therefore, organizational innovativeness is a precondition of successful innovations. Nevertheless, there is little research on organizational innovativeness in the service sector so far.Practical implications– This paper supports tourism businesses in understanding the concept of organizational innovativeness and its relation to (innovation) success. SMEs, which dominate the Austrian hotel industry, tend to focus on the financial aspect of innovativeness and, in general, do not consider the range of factors that constitute an organization’s innovativeness (willingness, ability and possibility to innovate) and the various outcomes.Originality/value– By combining organizational innovativeness and (innovation) success, the paper applies an important element of innovation theory to the Austrian hotel industry. The characterization of different types of hotels regarding organizational innovativeness and success enables a (self-) assessment for hotel businesses and the deduction of customized implications.

You Winsome, you lose some: Home and hospitality in the Northern Rivers

The Home Project was a three-year collaborative research project, established through a partnership between Northern Rivers Performing Arts (NORPA) and the School of Arts and Social Sciences (SASS) at Southern Cross University (SCU). The Home Project’s objective was to raise awareness of homelessness in the Northern Rivers region of New South Wales through creative arts practice and community engagement activities. The broad project aims were to explore questions of home, homelessness and belonging in Northern Rivers’ communities; to address the experiences of individuals affected by homelessness; and, where appropriate, to provide avenues for public dissemination of the stories of individuals who are or have been without a home. This article discusses the activities undertaken in each year of the project, providing a case study of a community engaged research project involving collaboration between university staff and students, a performing arts organisation and a community service provider. We analyse the development of the project over the three years and discuss the emergence of the theme of ‘hospitality’, which came to frame the project in its latter stages as we focused our activities at the Winsome Hotel, a Heritage listed and iconic Australian hotel that now offers low-cost daily lunches and a short-term accommodation service for marginalised men. This focus on the Winsome Hotel and hospitality gave us, as researchers, a new way to think about the provision of services to people without a home.Keywords: Homelessness, hospitality, creative arts practice, community engagement, NORPA, Southern Cross University

An investigation of Australian and New Zealand hotel ownership

Abstract The results of a study seeking to advance a typology of hotel owners as well as examining the composition of hotel owners in Australia and New Zealand are reported. Interview observations resulted in the six hotel ownership categories, discernible from prior commentaries, being broadened to nine hotel owner types. Considerable insights with respect to differentials in the investment time horizon and capital expenditure strategy applied by different owner types were gleaned from the interview data. From a questionnaire survey phase it was found that high net worth private investors and hotel management companies each own approximately a quarter of large 3–5 star Australian and New Zealand hotels. Several distinct hotel operational characteristics are also apparent across the hotel owner types. These include the observation that developer, high net worth investor and strata-title owned hotels tend to be smaller in terms of revenue generated and also these owner types tend to own less hotels. Also, general managers tend to hold their position for shorter periods in hotels owned by hotel management companies and high net worth private investors tend to own older hotels.

Identity-conscious vs identity-blind: Hotel managers’ use of formal and informal diversity management practices

Increasing ethnic diversity in the Australian workforce has attracted the attention of both hoteliers and academics, raising awareness of the need to better understand how to manage an ethnically diverse workforce effectively. The current study investigated the views and practices of managers responsible for an ethnically diverse workforce in order to explore the nature of identity-conscious and identity-blind management structures currently operating in Australian medium-sized hotels. Using semi-structured interviews with 27 hotel general managers nationally across Australia, the study examined the human resource management strategies that the participants have adopted for dealing with diversity. The data were analyzed using thematic analysis, and it can be argued from the findings that hotel managers often use informal identity-conscious practices to deal with ethnically diverse employees. The paper emphasizes the need to formalize these informal identity-conscious practices and offers suggestions for how hotels may benefit in the long term.

Thinking job embeddedness not turnover: Towards a better understanding of frontline hotel worker retention

This article reports the findings of a study of 327 Australian hotel frontline employees using a survey of job embeddedness. The research provides a novel application of the job embeddedness construct to the hospitality industry, not only validating the factor structure of the job embeddedness scale, but also investigating the relationship between job embeddedness and other job-related attitudes that influence employee turnover. Findings indicated that a six factor solution is the best explanation. Testing a model of the embeddedness-commitment and embeddedness-turnover relationship, the embeddedness dimensions of organizational sacrifice and community links displayed a positive relationship with organizational commitment. A negative relationship was found between organizational sacrifice and intentions to leave, while a positive relationship was found between community links and intentions to leave. One implication for hospitality managers is that there is an opportunity for hotel organizations to increase the job embeddedness of their employees by increasing the perceived costs of leaving.

Text for Dinner: ‘Plain’ Food in Colonial Australia … Or, Was It?

Text for Dinner: ‘Plain’ Food in Colonial Australia … Or, Was It?

Contingent management plans awaiting a contingency: the GFC and workplace change in the Australian hotels sector

The global financial crisis (GFC) has had a major impact on individuals, companies and countries. This paper reviews literature on managerial strategies in economic downturns, focusing on corporate downsizing. Empirically, the paper examines managerial strategy within one sector of the Australian economy – the luxury hotels sector. While much of the Australian economy has survived the GFC well compared with many other nations, hotels faced the double burden of reduced international travel and reduced domestic corporate demand. In the face of these concerns, we examine the way that managers at three different organizations attempted to ameliorate the impact the GFC would have on their business, while maintaining a positive experience for as much of their contingent labour as possible.

Customer accounting and marketing performance measures in the hotel industry: Evidence from Australia

Increasingly competitive environments have focused hotel managers’ attention on gaining competitive advantage by maximising the potential of their customer base. This paper provides the results of a study of the use and antecedents of customer accounting and marketing performance measures in the Australian hotel industry. The findings of a survey of 165 Australian hotel managers provide evidence that large, highly market orientated hotels with a decentralised structure use more customer focused accounting and marketing practices. Additionally, support was also found for a significant positive relationship between market orientation and a prospector-type strategy, as well as market orientation and both financial and non-financial performance.

Competition, Total Quality Management Practices, and Performance: Evidence from Upscale Hotels

Hotels operate in a highly competitive market and therefore place a strong emphasis on quality management in order to gain/maintain competitiveness. This research examined the relationship between total quality management (tQM), market competition, and hotel departmental financial and nonfinancial performance. The data were collected from a sample of Australian and Indian hotels using a self-administered postal survey. the results suggested that while tQM and market competition had a direct interactive effect on hotel departmental nonfinancial performance, the effect on the financial performance was indirect. It was also suggested that those hotels subscribing to tQM philosophy were more likely to thrive on competition.

Total Productivity in the Australian Hotel Industry: Estimating and Bootstrapping Malmquist Indices

This article measures and decomposes the productivity of Australian hotels over the period 2004–2007, using a bootstrapped Malmquist index. The aim of this procedure is to seek out those determinants that explain the sources of productivity variation between Australian hotels. Two inputs and six outputs are used in the analysis, reflecting the operational characteristics of each hotel. The results indicate that most hotels in the sample experienced a significant increase in productivity, driven mainly by an increase in technology over the period analyzed. Factors that are found to be strong determinants of productivity include the location, size, and star rating of each hotel. Related market discussions of these findings as well as the policy implications of the study are provided.

Modelling the Performance of Australian Hotels: A DEA Double Bootstrap Approach

This study uses the data envelopment analysis (DEA) double bootstrap approach to assess the technical efficiency standing of Australian hotels. Two inputs and six outputs were used in the analyses for the period 2004–2007. The empirical results indicate that the DEA bootstrap approach corrects for the bias inherent in traditional DEA models. The results show that the average technical efficiency of Australian hotels has improved gradually from 76.17% in 2004 to reach its highest level of 80.84% in 2007. The results also indicate that the key determinants of the technical efficiency of Australian hotels are the number of years in business, location, star rating and physical size. The implications of the results are discussed.

The relationship between payment systems, work intensification and health and safety outcomes: a study of hotel room attendants

AbstractThis paper examines the impact of payment systems on workers’ exposure to body-stressing injuries. Data are drawn from interviews with managers and focus groups of room attendants in Australian luxury hotels. We find that the most important factor predicting work-related bodily injury is the payment system. Payment on the basis of the number of rooms cleaned (piece rates) was found to result in task ‘speed-up’. The capacity to earn a living wage was therefore reliant on work intensification, leading to the use of unsafe working methods and injury. By contrast, attendants paid an hourly wage worked at a slower pace, earned a living wage and sustained fewer, if any, injuries. Mediating factors include the shift towards the contracting-out of housekeeping services to labour hire agencies, which typically pay on a per room basis, and their preference for employing migrant workers on temporary work visas. The paper concludes by considering regulatory strategies that might be used to reduce the incidenc...

‘Lost in translation’: an analysis of temporary work agency employment in hotels

Temporary work continues to stimulate research and debate in many developed countries. This research provides contemporary data on temporary work agency employment in the Australian hotel industry. Findings reveal that an absence of regulation governing the temporary work agency industry in conjunction with strong migrant labour supply and extremely active agency-client firm interactions has entrenched TWA employment and restructured the labour market in a coercive fashion.

Applying the VAIC™ model to Australian hotels

PurposeThis paper aims to examine the extent to which intellectual capital (IC) adds value to a service provider and presents an approach for interpreting the results.Design/methodology/approachThe value added intellectual coefficient (VAIC™) model is used to determine the relevant elements of intellectual capital because it employs existing financial data. The number of subjects was restricted to two companies operating in the Australian hotel industry over a four‐year period (2004‐2007).FindingsThe VAIC™ model provides a robust tool for assessing the efficient use of intellectual capital. The model can be used by management to assess their own organisation's performance without having to rely upon industry standards.Research limitations/implicationsThe data derived from published financial statements and the limitations associated with accounting standards may be questionable. However, the financial statements were subject to external audit verification. The restricted number of companies is a limitation to generalisability. However, the two companies are the major players in the Australian hotel industry.Practical implicationsThe application of the VAIC™ model presented in this paper provides a basis for practical application for management.Originality/valueThe study provides management with a guide to employing the VAIC™ model and, more importantly, a method for interpreting the results.

Service climate and customer satisfaction in a casino hotel: An exploratory case study

Given the global escalation in gaming availability, this paper proposes a service management framework for the study of competitive advantage in casino hotels. Using data collected from 303 employees at an Australian casino hotel, an exploratory case study in service climate and customer satisfaction is presented. The findings suggest that while service climate is highly correlated with customer satisfaction, internal dynamics result in significant differences in the perceptions of casino employees versus non-casino employees, highlighting the need to tailor organisational strategies to different types of employees.

Serving `The Guest': Günther Anders at the Grand Seaside Hotel

Drawing on data collected during 14 months of ethnographic research in an Australian Coastal Hotel, the paper describes the management of service encounters. Hotel staff used meetings and training sessions to simulate service scenarios, hypothesizing `customer wants and needs'. In order to do this they constructed the image of an ideal `Guest', an image that was collectively evoked in order to shape the conduct of service encounters. We claim that these imaginary service encounters mean that the `creators' of this imaginary object become increasingly subjected to its demands. The object, `The Guest', attempts to dominate its creators. The traditional demarcation between subject and object is blurred, and perhaps reversed. Drawing on the neglected work of Günther Anders, the paper inquires into the status of this object and addresses the process of its production and consumption. It demonstrates how subjects and an (imaginary) object become entangled.

Better the Devil you Know? An Analysis of Employers' Bargaining Preferences in the Australian Hotel Industry

The pursuit of regulatory reform is ongoing in Australia. To date, research has examined the purposes and outcomes associated with these regulatory reforms, while the actual preferences of employers seem to have been overlooked. This is particularly remiss given that the Government has founded much of its reform agenda, including Work Choices, on the supposed `needs of employers'. Given this oversight, this article examines employers' bargaining preferences and experiences in a sample of Australian luxury hotels. The findings deepen our understanding of employers' regulatory preferences and subsequently challenge the rationale and direction of Government policy in Australia.

E-Business Adoption, Use, and Value Creation: An Austrian Hotel Study

The paper presents an approach which shows how contextual conditions, like infrastructural, organizational as well as environmental factors, determine e-Business adoption and use, what in turn, positively affects value creation processes in hotel businesses. The research is grounded in Innovation Diffusion Theory and is empirically based on surveys undertaken in the Austrian hotel sector. By referring to Zhu and Kraemer’s (2005) e-Business impact model data is analysed by linear structural equation models and logistic regression. Results show that e-Business adoption and related use intensity decisions in the hotel sector are affected by the availability of a modern ICT system, firm size as well as management’s conviction that core business processes are supported by information technologies and, that tourists and cooperation partners expect latest information technologies. It was further found that online platforms are the most important e-Business application for value creation in the 3-star hotel segment. By contrast, in the 4/5-star hotel segment a property management system, a website with booking functionality and e-mail marketing are crucial e-Business applications for value creation

INTANGIBLES AS FUTURE VALUE CREATORS: THE CASE OF THE HOTEL INDUSTRY

The paper aims to provide evidence about the significance of intangibles in the hotel industry. The research investigates their importance for Croatian, Slovenian and Austrian hotel industry in the period 2004–2008. The results prove that despite their growing significance, accentuated by recent research, there is no presence of major growth related to intangible assets in the hotel industry. More detailed analysis further demonstrates that the hotel industry does not operate with a major share of intangibles in comparison with the largest domestic companies. Additional results point to the fact that larger companies possess a greater extent of intangibles in comparison with smaller companies. Therefore further research approaches could analyze the reasons that lead to these results and possible solutions that could stimulate the awareness of intangibles as a source of competitive advantages.