UK Hotel Research Articles

Impact of Adding Comfort Cooling Systems on the Energy Consumption and EPC Rating of an Existing UK Hotel

In light of the recent launch of the Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard and its expected impact on the commercial buildings sector, this study investigated the impact of adding cooling systems on the annual energy consumption, carbon dioxide emissions and energy performance certificate (EPC) rating of an existing UK hotel. Thermal Analysis Software (TAS) was used to conduct the study, and the baseline model was validated against the actual data. As is the current accepted procedure in EPC generating in the UK, the cooling set points of the guest rooms were set to 25 °C, resulting in a small increase in the annual energy consumption and emission rates, but not enough to change the energy performance certificate rating. Also, it was found that an improvement in energy consumption and energy performance certificate rating of the hotel would be achieved if the new systems replaced the existing heating systems in the guest rooms. Further simulations investigated more realistic situations, in which occupants may decide to keep their rooms at cooler temperatures. The results from this round of simulations showed considerable increase in the energy consumption and emissions of the building; however, these results would not be considered in the current approved procedure for EPC generating.

Underemployment and lived experiences of migrant workers in the hotel industry: policy and industry implications

ABSTRACT Although previous research has considered both high- and low-skilled migrant workers’ career experiences in their host countries, this paper makes a unique contribution by presenting unmet career expectations of a cohort of professional migrant hotel workers in the UK. It injects a fresh insight by demonstrating their hotel skill and professionalism contribution to the UK hotel sector, yet progression of their hotel career is restricted by immigration regulations. Skilled migrant workers in this study encounter underemployment despite their qualifications and skills, resulting in career frustration. However, removal of immigration restrictions would permit their flexibility to change occupations, often to jobs where they can exploit their transferable skills. Empirical data were generated in the form of modified life histories, based on interviews that were conducted with Kenyan skilled migrant hotel workers. Examining the lived experiences of these workers presents a platform to highlight the role that structural factors play in inhibiting migrant workers’ hotel career progression. This paper suggests ways in which hotel employers can tap into the workers’ cultural capital in order to improve hotel business performance whilst making meaningful use of their qualifications and skills.

Does Culture of Origin Have an Impact on Online Complaining Behaviors? The Perceptions of Asians and Non-Asians

The main purpose of this study was to analyze and compare the online complaining behavior of Asian and non-Asian hotels guests who have posted negative hotel reviews on TripAdvisor to voice their dissatisfaction towards a select set of hotel service attributes. A qualitative content analysis of texts which relied on manual coding was used while examining 2020 online complaining reviews directed at 353 UK hotels and posted by visitors originating from 63 countries. The results from the word frequency analysis reveal that both Asian and non-Asian travelers tend to put more emphasis on Booking and Reviews when posting complaints online. Based on a manual qualitative content analysis, 11 different major online complaint categories and 65 sub-categories were identified. Among its important findings, results of this study show that non-Asian guests frequently make complaints which are longer and more detailed than Asian customers. Managerial implications and opportunities for future studies are also discussed.

Exploring the business feasibility of childcare provision in hotels

Abstract In light of continuous growth of family tourism hotels should consider providing childcare to family guests. Very few hotels have however embraced this market opportunity and the determinants of childcare provision in hotels remain poorly understood. This paper contributes to knowledge by exploring the business feasibility of providing childcare in hotels. Semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders, i.e. family guests (n = 20) and managers (n = 9), in UK hotels establish the numerous benefits of childcare provision. They also reveal such barriers of implementation as increased operational costs, lack of adequate staffing, children’s safety considerations and seasonality of family tourism demand. To enhance feasibility of childcare provision, hotels should collaborate with each other, but also with local nurseries, to resolve the issues of fluctuated demand and staffing. Hotels should further consider extending childcare provision to their own employees and local residents. Policy interventions can facilitate this by offering dedicated financial and training support.

The impact of online reputation on hotel profitability

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to quantify the impact of online customer reputation on financial profitability.Design/methodology/approachOnline reputation is captured by extracting the most recurring textual themes associated with customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction, expressed within positive vs negative online guest reviews on Booking.com. Latent semantic analysis is used for textual analysis. Proxies of overall financial performance are manually constructed for the sample hotels, using financial data from the Financial Analysis Made Easy (FAME) database. Ordinary least squares is used to gauge the effect of online customer reputation on financial profitability.FindingsEmpirical findings indicate that recurring textual themes from positive online reviews (in contrast to negative reviews) exhibit a higher degree of homogeneity and consensus. The themes repeated in positive, but not in negative reviews, are found to significantly associate with hotel financial performance. Results contribute to the discussion about the measurable effect of online reputation on financial performance.Originality/valueContemporary quantitative methods are used to extract online reputation for a sample of UK hotels and associate this reputation with bottom-line financial profitability. The relationship between online reputation, as manifested within hotel guest reviews, and the financial performance of hotels is examined. Financial profitability is the result of revenues, reduced by the costs incurred in order to be able to offer a given level of service. Previous studies have mainly focused on basic measures of performance, i.e. revenue generation, rather than bottom-line profitability. By combining online guest reviews from travel websites (Booking.com) with financial measures of enterprise performance (FAME), this study makes a meaningful contribution to the strategic management of hotel businesses.

Investigating the potential impact of energy-efficient measures for retrofitting existing UK hotels to reach the nearly zero energy building (nZEB) standard

The existing non-residential building stock can generally be considered energy-inefficient. The ECUK 2017 report states that the final energy consumption for commercial buildings remained static. The 2010 recast Energy Performance Building Directive (EPBD) has set out a requirement for commercial and residential buildings to be nearly Zero Energy Buildings (nZEBs) by 2020. Despite this, within the UK, a definition does not exist at the national level for commercial nZEBs (new or existing). This paper utilises the EU zebra2020 data tool to set a standard based on the existing UK nZEB commercial building stock. The aim of this paper is to investigate and assess the potential of various energy-efficient measures (EEMs) and their contribution to reducing energy consumption, primary energy consumption (PEC), and CO2 emissions whilst taking into consideration the energy and cost savings of those measures. The analysis is carried out using Thermal Analysis Simulation software (Tas, Edsl). The model validation obtained a performance gap of less than 5%. The results show that it is possible to achieve the nZEB standard for older UK hotel buildings if several measures are implemented and the initial selection of EEMs is carefully investigated. Based on the results, reaching the nZEB target should first take into consideration improving the building fabric and/or building envelope elements to lower the energy demand. Once the energy demand of the building is lowered, the incorporation of a renewable/microgeneration system is essential to meeting the nZEB target.

Market orientation and hotel performance: investigating the role of high-order marketing capabilities

PurposeUsing the resource-based view (RBV), the purpose of this paper is to examine the potential mediation effect of customer relationship management capability, branding capability and service innovation capability on the established link between market orientation (MO) and hotel performance. It further investigates the complementarity between these capabilities in relation to hotel performance.Design/methodology/approachThe survey data were collected from 216 UK hotels. AMOS 23 was used to analyse the research data.FindingsThe link between MO and hotel performance appears to be indirect via customer relationship capability, branding capability and service innovation capability. The three capabilities also appear to play different complementary roles when affecting hotel performance.Practical implicationsThe current study offers hotel managers a ranking of the contribution of individual capabilities to hotel performance. It also helps them to make better investment decisions in developing the right capability combinations to enhance their hotel performance.Originality/valueThe research is based on integrating MO and RBV into a single framework to gain a deeper understanding of the relationship between MO and high-order marketing capabilities and how these factors shape hotel performance.

Impact of cavity extraction fans on thermal and energy performance of existing UK hotel

The advantages of double-skin facade (DSF) systems, ranging between their aesthetic architectural benefits, acoustic benefits and ability to decrease the heating demand of the internal environment, have increased their popularity in Europe since the mid-1980s. However, appropriate consideration must be accorded to their design to ensure that their possible advantages are not negated. This work evaluates how the effect of extraction fans installed in the cavity of the DSF adjoining a central atrium impacts the thermal condition of the atrium and, consequently, the overall energy consumption of an existing UK hotel building. The results of the investigation demonstrated that the DSF extraction fans improve the internal temperature and condition of the adjacent central atrium, particularly in the summer. The fans result in a marginal increase in the overall energy consumption when operated throughout the year; hence, the optimum schedule for the operation of the extraction fans is during the cooling-dominant period.

Impact of Airbnb on Customers' Behavior In the UK Hotel Industry

The sharing economy is nowadays disrupting the hotel industry. Airbnb is one of the best examples of such an issue. In order to find approaches for hotels to mitigate the threat from these new accommodation forms, the present article focuses on the major elements influencing customers to choose this new platform and other related aspects affecting the future of the hotel industry. Previous studies have looked at how Airbnb influences customer behavior, but this is one of the first studies dealing with an analysis of the impact of Airbnb on the UK hotel industry. In this way, the article majorly focuses on evaluating the impact of this new accommodation and services platform on customers' behavior within the UK hotel industry. Particularly, it seeks to determine how the hospitality and hotel sectors can mitigate the threats posed by Airbnb. As a result, the article also provides managerial and industrial recommendations of the research findings.

A comparative analysis of building energy estimation methods in the context of demand response

A critical element of assessing a building's suitability for Demand Side Response (DSR) is understanding its turndown potential to ensure that DSR participation will be financially viable. While research has been undertaken on site level DSR estimation methods, there is currently no research that compares the outcomes of these methods. This paper compares four non-domestic energy estimation methods used for understanding the DSR potential of electrical appliances in a building to provide insights about uncertainty levels based on input requirements. Each method is deployed to estimate the DSR potential of HVAC chiller assets at two UK hotels over two years. The results show the methods have a range of error levels from the highest Mean Average Percentage Error (MAPE) of 159% to the lowest MAPE of 39%. The input requirements followed a general trend of more complex informational inputs resulting in lower error values. The outcomes of this research enable users to make informed decisions in selecting DSR estimation methods based on information availability and acceptable estimation error levels.

Optimum Size Selection of CHP Retrofitting in Existing UK Hotel Building

Several studies have highlighted Combine Heat and Power (CHP) systems to be one of the proven and reliable technologies that can improve the efficiency of heat and electricity generation. The extensive adoption of this type of technology is crucial in reducing building emissions globally and in the U.K. This work uses a dynamic simulation software to evaluate the effect of CHP on the energy performance of an existing U.K. hotel and subsequently an approach to aid in the selection of optimum CHP size. The outcome of the study indicated that CHP systems in hotel buildings can provide considerable economic and environmental benefits with either maximally-sized CHP founded on the building’s base heat demand or with reduced CHP size of more than 50% smaller than the estimated maximum size. The optimum size design can be obtained through evaluation of the relationship between the main performance parameters and their variation with CHP sizes.

Comparison and Evaluation of the Potential Energy, Carbon Emissions, and Financial Impacts from the Incorporation of CHP and CCHP Systems in Existing UK Hotel Buildings

In recent years there has been an increasing interest in the incorporation of distributed energy resource (DER) systems such as combined heat and power (CHP) and combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) in commercial building applications as they have shown considerable environmental and financial benefits when compared to conventional energy generation. This paper aims to investigate the potential energy, carbon emissions, and financial impact of the size of co/tri-generation systems on a real case scenario of an existing UK hotel. The analysis is carried out using Thermal Analysis Simulation software (TAS) and a payback methodology is adopted to carry out the financial analysis. The results show that the average percentage decrease in carbon emissions with CHP is 32% and with CCHP it is 36%. Whilst both CHP and CCHP systems increase energy consumption in the building, the costs are reduced, and a CHP system contributes to a higher percentage of cost savings and shorter payback periods. The incorporation of a CCHP system leads to lower energy consumption for a similar-sized CHP system. Further simulations under future climate projections revealed that a CCHP system outperforms a CHP system.

Determinants of hotel social media continued usage

PurposeWith the emergence of mobile devices, factors such as interaction and ubiquity have become increasingly important in the use of social media networks. However, regarding hotel guests’ use of social media, knowledge about how those factors contribute to guests’ continued social media use remains limited. The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of interaction and ubiquity mediated by trust, benefits and enjoyment on hotel guests’ continued use of social media networks.Design/methodology/approachTo examine the hypotheses, a self-administered questionnaire was posted by ten UK hotels on their social media pages. A total of 258 usable data were collected and analyzed using partial least squares analysis.FindingsTwo social media characteristics – interaction and ubiquity – influenced hotel guests’ continued use of social media via the mediating variables of trust, benefits and enjoyment.Originality/valueThis study bridges the gap in research regarding intended continued use of social media networks by offering new empirical evidence concerning the determinants of hotel guests’ continued use of social media.

Estimation and Validation of Energy Consumption in UK Existing Hotel Building Using Dynamic Simulation Software

Adverse effects of anthropogenic climate change has resulted in mitigation strategies geared towards curbing CO2 emissions. Consequently, this has increased demand for more energy efficient buildings. Considerable amounts of studies have shown the existence of a significant discrepancy between estimated energy consumption by thermal simulation software and actual building operational energy; this is referred to as a ‘performance gap’. This work presents a method of improving the energy consumption estimate in an existing non-domestic building via the use of a case study UK hotel (Hilton Reading Hotel) and Engineering Development Solutions limited (EDSL) TAS thermal simulation software. The method involves evaluating consumption estimates through plant modelling, and modifying this result by surveying the site to verify the simulation data and including estimates of unaccounted building energy use such as catering services which can be significant in hotels. The energy consumption result for this case study building gives an estimate which is within 12% of the actual building consumption data. The result also demonstrated that such models can produce energy consumption estimates that are up to 23% more accurate than building regulation compliance models and that more accurate simulation consumption estimates can be achieved by accounting for more unregulated energy uses, for example, lifts, servers and small power load.

Impact of Window Films on the Overall Energy Consumption of Existing UK Hotel Buildings

Recently, considerable attention has justifiably been directed towards energy savings in buildings as they account for up to 20–40% of total energy consumption in developed countries. In the United Kingdom, studies have revealed that buildings’ CO2 emissions for account for at least 43% of total emissions. Window panels are a major component of the building fabric with considerable influence on the façade energy performance and are accountable for up to 60% of a building’s overall energy loss. Therefore, the thermal performance of glazing materials is an important issue within the built environment. This work evaluates the impact of solar window films on the overall energy consumption of an existing commercial building via the use of a case study U.K. hotel and TAS dynamic simulation software. The study results demonstrated that the impact of window films on the overall energy consumption of the case study hotel is approximately 2%. However, an evaluation of various overall energy consumption components showed that the window films reduce the annual total cooling energy consumption by up to 35% along with a marginal 2% increase in the annual total heating energy consumption. They can also provide overall cost and CO2 emissions savings of up to 3%.

Traducción de calidad de webs hoteleras: discurso interpersonal e implicación del cliente

This research points towards the need of a quality or “pragmatic” translation of hotel websites (Durán Muñoz, 2011), following the principle of localization (Pym, 2004; Dunne, 2006) and taking into account the interpersonal (interactional) discourse classification by Hyland and Tse (2004), in order to preserve the reader’s/customer’s persuasion. A sub-corpus of translated US and UK hotel websites from English into Spanish, obtained from COMETVAL (Corpus Multilingüe en Turismo, Universitat de València), has been analyzed following the Spanish interpersonal pattern for tourism genres (Mapelli, 2008; Suau-Jiménez, 2012a, 2012b). This study has been contrasted with a similar discursive analysis of hotel records in Spanish extracted from the Booking and TripAdvisor portals. Results suggest that a quality translation should not only include the necessary rhetorical functions but also the interpersonal discourse. Otherwise, persuasion and reader’s/customer’s engagement can be damaged, as happens with hotel records in the two analyzed portals. Also, the hotel’s specificity can be reduced as well as travellers’ increasing demand for engagement in hotel websites. Implications for the tourism industry suggest that hotels should increase  investments in the design and quality translation of their websites in order to reinforce hotels’ promotion. Besides, this study opens up a new research perspective related to the translation of promotion websites.

Effects of Coaching and Mentoring on Employee Performance in the UK Hotel Industry

This research aims to examine the effects of coaching and mentoring on Employee performance in the UK hotel industry. It also examines the extent of employee performance in association to coaching and mentoring; and examines the effects of coaching and mentoring on overall organisational performance. This study is based on cross-sectional method, deductive and quantitative approach. A sample of 172 managers and supervisors who have already worked as coach or mentors in the respective hotels are chosen by using convenience sampling technique. The survey strategy by using structured questionnaires was used for data collection. The collected data was analysed by using arithmetic mean, correlation, regression with the help of SPSS 20. This research confirmed that coaching and mentoring are positively correlated to employee performance and both factors have significant effect on employee performance. As the regression analysis shows that coaching has significant effects on overall employee performance as β = 0.466 and P = 0.007 which is less than 0.05. Similarly, mentoring has also significant effects on overall employee performance as β = 0.457, and P = 0.008 which is less than 0.05. Similarly, coaching and overall organisational performance are positively and significantly correlated as r = 0.707; and mentoring and overall organisational performance are also positively correlated as r = 0.456. The regression analysis shows that coaching has significant effects on overall organisational performance as β = 0.700 and P = 0.002 which is less than 0.05. But, mentoring has not significant effects on overall organisational performance as β = 0.010 and P = 0.961 which is greater than 0.05.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3126/ijssm.v2i2.12323 Int. J. Soc. Sci. Manage. Vol-2, issue-2: 123-138

Apprentices find safe haven at luxury hotel

Purpose – This study aims to observe how apprentices are helping a UK hotel to attract young people keen to forge their careers in the hospitality business. Design/methodology/approach – The study outlines the reasons for the hotel’s apprenticeship policy, the form it takes and the results it is obtaining. Findings – It charts some of the successes, including staff retention and filling vacancies from within. Practical implications – The study explains how HTP Training manages the recruiting free of charge, from identifying a company’s needs to the successful appointment of the apprentice. Social implications – The study reveals that the life of one troubled girl has been turned round by her experience as an apprentice in the hotel’s kitchen. Originality/value – It provides the inside story of the apprenticeship program at a luxury hotel.

A Study of the Impact of Frontline Employee Traits on Service Quality and Customer Satisfaction in UK Hotels

This study examines the impact of front line personality traits on customer satisfaction in hotels in the UK. The literature review, which is the secondary data, serves as a basis for this study and it is made up of two parts: Review of the hotel industry in UK, the relationship between generic providers’ quality and interaction quality, and personality theory. The primary data is collected through 150 structured questionnaires which were completed by customers who have had a hotel visit experience over the past twelve months in the UK. The questionnaire design is based on the Ten Item Personality Instrument (TIPI) and the modified SERVQUAL Scale. Furthermore, the study explores how customer satisfaction influences behavioral intentions. From this research, significant findings have been brought forward. It was found out that there are significant relationships between front line employee personality and customer satisfaction in the hotel industry. Customers’ satisfaction is found to have positve influences on intention to revisit and intention to recommend. Regarding managerial implications, managers may identify relevant psychological traits in order to establish a relatively good employee- job fit. Managers may also know what kind of employees are most appropriate and more competent for providing quality services to customers. Consequently, managers may select and recruit front line employees according to desired psychological traits.(e.g. enthusiastic, warm, sociable, and sympathetic) at the service encounter in order to improve the delivery of services and demonstrate a positive attitude towards guest service.

Investigating the impact of resource capabilities on customer loyalty: a structural equation approach for the UK hotels using online ratings

Purpose – In this paper, the authors aim to examine the impact of resource capabilities on customer loyalty of UK hotels. Understanding this impact will help organisations to improve customer satisfaction in order to obtain improved customer loyalty. Design/methodology/approach – The authors use a relatively innovative data source, namely online ratings. They measure resource capabilities of a firm using customer ratings in terms of various operational criteria. Similarly, customer loyalty is measured using guests ' ratings on their intention to use the same service (stay again in the same hotel) and their intention to recommend the service to friends. The authors employ structural equation modelling to test research hypotheses. Findings – The authors ' results indicate that there is a significant positive influence of resource capabilities on customer loyalty. They further find that the significant influence of resource capabilities on customer loyalty does not differ across hotels with various star ratings. Research limitations/implications – The authors looked at the online guest ratings available on a particular website, but it is only one of the many websites offering online hotel reservations, and not all customers that made hotel reservations using this e-booking facility would be inclined to leave feedback after their stay in the hotel. This limitation can be partially overcome by pooling similar data from a number of online hotel booking sites. Practical implications – The most important managerial implication is that good resource capabilities of firms translate well into customer loyalty. Thus, managers should ensure good performance in terms of various hotel attributes – cleanliness, quality of room, facilities, and customer service – and also ensure that customers perceive good value for their money while staying in the hotel. Originality/value – The authors applied structural modelling framework to verify the resource capability – performance link in the context of hotels. They used a relatively novel data source – online guest ratings of hotels – to understand the relationships between resource capabilities and customer loyalty.