Hotels In Greece Research Articles

Examining the impact of leadership on job satisfaction in Greek luxury hotels

The purpose of this study is to examine whether leadership style affects the professional satisfaction of employees in the field of hospitality and specifically in luxury hotels in Greece. A quantity survey was conducted measuring the characteristics and behavior of leaders, and employee satisfaction. The originality of the article derives from the thorough study of the individual forms of leadership’s effect on job satisfaction in Greek luxury hotels, presenting existing organizational data during a strenuous period of pandemic and financial crisis leading to significant changes in the internal and external environment of hotel companies.

The effect of goal motivation on the integration and the success of an organizational change in the hospitality sector

The purpose of this research is to examine the relationship between the motivation to accomplish set goals and its effect on the integration and the success of change on four and five star hotels in Greece. The research aims to answer on two research hypotheses. These are the following: a) Η1 Hypothesis: Motivation to accomplish set goals is a significant positive predictor of Integration of change and b) Η2 Hypothesis: Motivation to accomplish set goals is a significant positive predictor of Success of change. For this reason, a quantitative research was conducted. The sample of this research consisted of 513 employees who work in Greek four and five star hotels. The results of the research indicated that the hotel employees feel that they are moderate motivated to accomplish the set goals of an organizational change which occurs in a hotel company. Furthermore, the current research indicated that motivation is an important element for the potential integration and success of changes in the hospitality sector. Hence, both hypotheses were confirmed

LGBTQI+ Friendly Hotels: Evaluating the Case of Greek Hotels

SummaryAccording to the relevant literature, LGBTQI+ tourists travel for a variety of reasons, exactly like all tourists. However, the need to escape to a safe destination is a top priority within a heteronormative environment, and sexual orientation is a determinant factor for holiday choices. Research on LGBTQI+ tourism has been mainly focused on revealing LGBTQI+ travellers’ motives, whereas tourism professionals in this segment have been scarcely approached. Twenty in-depth interviews were conducted with hotel managers of gay-friendly hotels in Greece, to provide an insight on their point of view. The interviews were structured around three main pillars: a) hotel managers’ perceptions regarding LGBTQI+ demand, b) services – experiences offered to LGBTQI+ hotel guests and c) marketing strategies to target LGBTQI+ guests. Results indicate that LGBTQI+ travellers pay great attention to the gay-friendliness of hotel and in-room services. Marketing activities for the LGBTQI+ segment are rarely part of a coherent strategy and mainly include occasional activities in order to expand the hotels’ clientele. Although the attitude of the hotel staff is a key point, personnel training on catering for LGBTQI+ travellers, diversity and sensitivity are absent.© The Authors 2023Improved version of posting: “Sexual Identity and Gay-Friendly Hotels. The Managers’ Point Of View.” presented at APTA 2022, KOREA, JEJU 180 6st-8th July 2022

LSTM-Based Deep Learning Models for Long-Term Tourism Demand Forecasting

Tourism demand forecasting comprises an important task within the overall tourism demand management process since it enables informed decision making that may increase revenue for hotels. In recent years, the extensive availability of big data in tourism allowed for the development of novel approaches based on the use of deep learning techniques. However, most of the proposed approaches focus on short-term tourism demand forecasting, which is just one part of the tourism demand forecasting problem. Another important part is that most of the proposed models do not integrate exogenous data that could potentially achieve better results in terms of forecasting accuracy. Driven from the aforementioned problems, this paper introduces a deep learning-based approach for long-term tourism demand forecasting. In particular, the proposed forecasting models are based on the long short-term memory network (LSTM), which is capable of incorporating data from exogenous variables. Two different models were implemented, one using only historical hotel booking data and another one, which combines the previous data in conjunction with weather data. The aim of the proposed models is to facilitate the management of a hotel unit, by leveraging their ability to both integrate exogenous data and generate long-term predictions. The proposed models were evaluated on real data from three hotels in Greece. The evaluation results demonstrate the superior forecasting performance of the proposed models after comparison with well-known state-of-the-art approaches for all three hotels. By performing additional benchmarks of forecasting models with and without weather-related parameters, we conclude that the exogenous variables have a noticeable influence on the forecasting accuracy of deep learning models.

Working in hospitality and catering in Greece and the UK: Do trade union membership and collective bargaining still matter?

Existing literature suggests that terms and conditions of employment are universally poor in hospitality and catering. Based on fieldwork comprising more than 70 semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted in the UK and Greece in 2018 and 2019, this article maps the field in the two countries and discusses the key parameters that structure working conditions, pay determination, and the impact of trade unionism and absence thereof. Poor working conditions and precariousness are prevalent in both contexts as expected, but surprisingly wages and other terms and conditions at least for a significant section of the hospitality workforce are comparatively better in Greece. An explanation for these findings is suggested with reference to the tradition of collective bargaining in hotels in Greece which partially survived the 2008 crisis and the legal reforms that followed. Trade unionism, despite its weakening and discrediting, has left its mark as a tradition contributing to the emergence of formal labour-based initiatives and more broadly to maintaining an openness to collectivism and collective action, more so than in the UK context. This combination of the distinct institutional and sectoral features of the Greek case and worker agency has served to ameliorate the context and content of employment for substantial sections of the hospitality workforce.

Workplace Conflict, Turnover, and Quality of Services. Case Study in Greek Seasonal Hotels

ABSTRACT Seasonality and its impact on staff turnover and conflict within the workplace is one of the most crucial issue that seasonal hotels are called to deal with. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect that workplace conflict and turnovers have on service quality of seasonal hotels in Greece. The outcome of the research indicated that hotel management’s policy in resolving conflicts affects mainly job turnover rather than the frequency of conflicts. In fact, it was found that cooperation strategies are likely to reduce employee turnover through the resolution of conflicts, while enforcement/competition or avoidance strategies enhances the possibility of employee turnover. Finally, it was found that service quality was not related to either the intention to leave or the manifestation of conflicts.

The Intention and Expectations of Modern Robotic Technologies in the Hotel Industry

ABSTRACT The purpose of this paper was to study the feasibility and expectations of use and quality of service robots in the hotel industry. For this purpose, the authors have relied on a research tool, also used in the pilot research conducted in 2020, regarding the intention to the use and expectations of service robots. The research was based on a sample of 413 hotel employees in hotels in Greece. An important outcome of this research is that overall the intention and expectations from the use of robots affect quality of service of robots in the hotel industry. Also, it appears that demographics can be a mediator in the examined relationships. This research presents a significant originality and importance for two reasons; it examines the perceptions of hotel personnel to use robots – since most of the existing empirical evidence derives mostly from consumers – and secondly it creates the necessary research framework and tools for future research.

Impact assessment of contemporary international and national accounting standards adoption: evidence from Greek hotels

PurposeThis paper aims to offer new insights on how the adoption of contemporary international accounting standards can affect the financial performance of a hotel. It provides significant input for strategic decision making in property management, especially in countries where hotels properties are given a choice between different accounting standards.Design/methodology/approachData was collected from 3-, 4- and 5- star hotels in Greece, through primary research with questionnaires, filled by hotel financial managers. Greece was selected because hotels can choose between national and international accounting standards; therefore, the research could focus on actual factors beyond mandatory adoption.FindingsMicroeconomic factors such as category or legal form of the hotel in combination with other factors can affect the perceived benefits of the selected accounting standards. Macroeconomic factors such as the overall tourism development of the destination also affect the perceived impact.Research limitations/implicationsThe research was targeted at hotel executives with knowledge and participation in decision making regarding accounting standards. This requirement limited the sample since all hotels do not have a financial manager position.Practical implicationsThe new knowledge can be utilized in property management as an element of hospitality strategic planning for improved assessment of anticipated effects resulting from the adoption of specific accounting standards.Originality/valueThe research fills a gap in existing knowledge by introducing elements not previously examined; additionally, it expands previous knowledge from other sectors to hospitality and tourism, while verifying or rejecting past findings.

Exploring the factors influencing energy efficiency in the Greek hotel sector

The current paper aims at enhancing the existing literature of studies discussing the parameters, which formulate the phenomenon of the energy efficiency gap in hotels. Specifically, the obtained outcomes, as resulted by the conduction of a stated preference survey are presented and discussed. The survey was carried out on a representative sample of hotels in Greece in the context of the “Consumer Energy Efficiency Decision making (CONSEED)” project. Emphasis was given on various issues related to the energy efficiency gap, such as the impact of EU labelling scheme, the linkage of the pro-environmental behaviour with the willingness to invest in more energy-efficient technologies and equipment, the lack of information about electricity prices and the imperfect understanding of energy operating costs. The findings of the survey can be used to explain the role of the behaviour in the decision-making procedures for the further promotion of energy efficiency. Theoretical models can be developed with the collected data to examine the energy efficiency gap phenomenon and to quantify the contribution of different factors to its formulation including the calculation of the implicit discount rate. Finally, the design of more effective policies can be supported with the findings of the paper maximizing the private and social benefits, which are associated with the purchase of energy-efficient technologies and equipment in the hotel sector.

Crisis management in the Greek hotel industry in response to COVID-19 pandemic

ABSTRACT The aim of this research is to investigate crisis management practices in the hotel industry, in light of the new challenges that have emerged during COVID-19 pandemic. For this reason, an empirical research was conducted in leading hotels in Greece. The analysis generated five categories of crisis management practices that can be used by the industry for its recovery. Government practices and marketing practices are considered more important than operations practices, cost reduction practices and pricing practices; it has likewise been decided to be used more. We also found that there are differences in the importance and the extent of use of crisis management practices that have been decided by hoteliers, based on the characteristics of their hotels.

Evaluating service innovation and business performance in tourism: a multicriteria decision analysis approach

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of the new service development (NSD) process in tourism. For this reason, factors influencing the process of service innovation in the hospitality sector were explored and correlated with business performance in the hospitality industry through a multicriteria decision analysis approach.Design/methodology/approachAn original multicriteria decision analysis approach is applied in order to estimate the efficiency of the NSD process. The approach follows the principles of ordinal regression analysis, using goal programming techniques. Collected data are based on in-depth structured and questionnaire-based interviews of 77 hotel managers in 147 new services in a representative sample of 99 hotels in Greece. Several financial ratios, covering different aspects of business performance, are used in order to evaluate the NSD process for three years after the services innovation had been launched.FindingsThese findings reveal the importance of financial liquidity and business efficiency for the hotel industry (i.e. the ability of a firm to use available resources in order to achieve specific sales goals). The aforementioned variables can determine how quickly and effectively assets are converted to cash. In general, the findings show the emphasis that should be given to customer needs, as well as to the effective management of a NSD project.Originality/valueFindings of this study may support hotel managers to make complex strategic decisions for future development. These findings have suggested that service innovation should be included as a strategic tool to assess differentiation effort in the hotel industry.

Rate my firm: cultural differences in service evaluations

Purpose Cross-cultural research constitutes a pivotal topic for marketing; however, the literature indicates that there are a few studies analyzing social media reviews from a cross-cultural perspective using cultural proximity (supra-national level) as a proxy of culture. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to identify cross-cultural differences in service evaluations and specifically, in hotel appraisals among tourists from Central, Eastern (including Post-Soviet States), Northern and Southern Europe. Design/methodology/approach A quantitative approach has been taken by studying online user-generated ratings of hotels on Trip Advisor. In total, 1,055 reviews of five hotels in Greece were used for the study. Findings Multivariate analysis of variance and analysis of variances results confirm cultural differences in overall service evaluations and attributes (value, location, sleeping quality, rooms, cleanliness and service) of tourists from various European regions. Specifically, Eastern Europeans uploaded more reviews than any other European group, whereas Northern Europeans were more generous in their appraisals than Eastern, Southern and Central Europeans. Practical implications The results of the study could be used for segmentation purposes of the European tourism market and for recognizing, which aspects of their services need to be improved based on the segments they serve. Moreover, managers should encourage Northern and Eastern Europeans to upload their reviews as both groups are more generous in their evaluations. Moreover, the findings are useful to marketers of other services. Originality/value To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study that examines cross-cultural differences in hotel appraisals from a supra-national perspective including developed (Northern and Western Europe), developing (Southern Europe) and emerging tourism markets (Eastern Europe).

An analysis of the key determinants of hotel employees' ethical behavior

Abstract One of the main challenges plaguing the hotel industry today is the unethical behavior of its employees which spreads like a bad, contagious disease across all departments of a hotel company, has a strong negative impact on hotel operations, results in huge financial losses and other detrimental consequences and has become a major headache for many hotel companies. The purpose of this study is to identify what the main factors are that impact the ethical behavior of hotel employees to help hotels understand the source of this problem. More specifically, this study attempts to replicate Deshpande, Joseph, and Prasad's (2006) study -which was conducted in hospitals-in three, four, and five star hotels in Greece to examine whether it will yield similar results. This study is based on a previous work that the first author presented at the EuroCHRIE 2013 conference in Freiburg, Germany and is among the first ones to be conducted in hotels as most research studies on this topic were conducted in non-hospitality settings. The examined factors include the following: the ethical behavior of peers and managers, the hotel employees' business ethics education, as well as the role of gender, nationality, age, level of education and length of time that participants have worked in the position they were in as well as in the hotel industry overall. Results revealed that some of these factors are key determinants that rule the ethical behavior of employees regardless of the setting they are in.

Economic aspects of cyclical implementation in Greek sustainable hospitality

The circular economy has appeared at the forefront of the agendas of global economic, environmental and social institutions. While the European Commission has stressed the emphasis on zero waste, the circular economy implies more than that. This paper uses a sample of 25 4- and 5-star hotels in Greece with published sustainability reports and explains how and up to what degree, they can be regarded as circular economies. This paper will aid hotel management to understand the loops (cyclical economy examples) present in the hospitality industry and can be used for benchmarking as well as the education of their green teams and the set-up of a green marketing tool. Foremost, the paper can enable targeted policy implementation by central, regional and municipal governments as well as systemised information on the state-of-the art of the Greek hotels, through the first sustainability databank the paper compiles, which otherwise would remain fragmented without much use.

Proposing a new modus operandi for sustainable business excellence: the case of Greek hospitality industry

The importance of tourism to Greece, the criticality of the hotel sector to its growth and the relationship between turbulent business environment and sustainability provide the rationale for this study. The target of this paper is to propose a new modus operandi for achieving sustainable business excellence under a turbulent environment. Drawing from the existing literature, a framework is proposed that investigates the relationships between intellectual capital, leadership, services quality, supply chain, hotel impact and strategy. The model was tested using a sample of 84 high class hotels in Greece and analysed with the structural equation modelling. The various factors incorporated in the proposed model were measured using valid scales adapted from previous studies. The results confirm that leadership excellence positively affects intellectual capital. It is also found that intellectual capital has a positive effect on services quality, supply chain, hotel impact and strategy. The implications of the findings and avenues for future research are delineated in the study.

Testing the relationship between hotel service quality and hotel brand personality

This study aimed to test the influence of service quality on the development of brand personality in the context of five-star hotels. One hundred and sixty one (N = 161) Greek individuals, who had experienced staying in five-star hotels in Greece participated in the study. They filled adjusted versions of the SERVQUAL (Parasuraman et al., 1988) and brand personality (Aaker, 1997) questionnaires. The confirmatory factor analysis provided support for the factorial validity of the two models in the context of the study. The results of the path analysis showed that all the brand personality dimensions were significantly predicted from the five service quality dimensions, with the sincerity and excitement dimensions being the two most highly predicted ones. Furthermore, the tangible and empathy dimensions of service quality were the strongest contributors towards the prediction of all the dimensions of hotel brand personality. The theoretical and applied implications of these results are discussed.

An empirical investigation of strategic management accounting in hotels

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between contextual factors, strategic management accounting (SMA) and historical performance in hotels. Design/methodology/approach – An empirical survey was conducted on a sample of 106 leading hotels in Greece. Findings – The analysis of the survey data indicates that seven contingent factors affect SMA usage in hotels: The seven factors are perceived environmental uncertainty, structure, quality of information system (IS) information, organizational life cycle stage, historical performance, strategy and size. The findings also indicate that lagging performance affects SMA and that this effect is moderated by the perceived environmental uncertainty. Research limitations/implications – Some of the limitations are inherent to the survey method used, such as the use of perceptual measures and the potential of common method bias. Data were collected from the Greek hospitality industry, and consequently, the results may be generalizable only to that population. Practical implications – The accounting professionals and hotel managers will also be benefited, as the study aims to identify the most relevant SMA tools adopted in the hotel industry, as well as the relationship between these tools and other external and organizational factors. Originality/value – This research adds to the current knowledge in management accounting system design in hotels. This paper increases the understanding as to why hotels are more likely to implement SMA. The results provide the first empirical evidence of the relation between SMA usage, organizational factors, external factors and historical performance in hotels.

Xenia Hotels in Greece: A Holistic Approach to Modern Cultural Heritage

In the early 1950s, the Greek National Tourism Organization made a nation-wide attempt to develop tourism in Greece. For a period of two decades, it developed the hotel buildings' substructure, a project known as the project. During this period, Greek architects, devoted to modernism, designed and supervised 53 hotel compounds, which spread throughout the country. Today, the Xenia Hotels are internationally recognized as part of Greece's modern cultural heritage, based on the simplicity, the definition of the form and the truth in materials use, besides the integration of the buildings in the natural environment, components which reveal themselves as a unique venture. This paper aims to reveal that, despite the efforts to retain the Xenia Hotels, these procedures remain incomplete. They rightly focus on architectural shells, morphological and functional standardization, proper utilization of the Greek environmental conditions, and the use of authentic local materials. However, the cultural evaluation of these settlements can only be completed by their holistic design, which also comprises their interior spaces, lightening and furniture design, all these detailed aspects that form an organic entirety and which are not included in these efforts.

Building envelope design for climate change mitigation: a case study of hotels in Greece

This paper presents results of a study of the impact of future climate change scenarios as developed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and implemented in weather files for specific future time slices (2020, 2050 and 2080) for the three climatic regions of Greece on the design of the external envelope of a hotel building in Greece. The impact of climate change on the hotel is assessed via hourly simulations of a calibrated model developed using the software TRNSYS. Additionally, the paper aims to identify optimal refurbishment strategies, given the constraints of the existing case-study building when transposed to the three different climatic zones in Greece. Two modes of the hotel building were studied: ‘all year’ and ‘seasonally’ operated. It was found that different external envelope energy-efficient strategies can be applied depending on the climatic zone and whether the hotel is all-year or seasonally operated.

Women in Hotel Management and Leadership: Diamond or Glass?

Although the hospitality industry shows growth, only few women are found in high managerial positions. The hotel sector is dominated by women with an average 55.5% of the workforce, but is managed by men, as women are mainly found in positions that are stereotypically ascribed to their gender, such as directors of sales, housekeeping, and marketing. Fifteen male and 15 female managers in 5-star hotels in Greece were interviewed to explore their management and leadership styles, as well as any challenges they face in the career ladder in hotel management. The findings of this study suggest that women are equally capable to their male counterparts and they acquire skills that are considered to be more effective in the context of the hospitality industry. They are nurturing, better at communicating with people, they are caring, and they adopt supporting behaviors. This paper proposes that hotels that have women in managerial positions are more successful in facing the increasing competitiveness and adapt to changes more efficiently.