Impactos da adoção da INTERNET na hotelaria : a percepção dos gerentes de hotéis de médio e grande porte de Natal / RN

The hotel industry is increasingly using the Internet like a management and operational tool. That way, the hotels will be more prepared to offer quality services to their guests and increase their profits as well. However, many managers seem don t perceive the advantages brought from this new digital environment. This thesis analyse the effects of the hotel managers perceptions as for the Internet effectiveness, Internet access, Internet as a communication tool, future importance of the Internet, benefits and drawbacks of the Internet, according to property type (simple, medium comfort and luxe), property size (quantity of the apartaments), age and hotel industry experience of the managers. The methodology utilized was a survey about the hotels that had at least 40 apartments (medium and big property size), were working in Natal-RN and classified in categories in the Guia Quatro Rodas Brasil, totalizing 35 hotels. Through the analysis of variance (ANOVA) and Tukey test, the results showed that the hotel managers with more than 50 apartments, the managers of the hotel more comfortable, the younger managers and the managers less experient in the hotel industry, demonstrated more conscious about the importance of the adoption of the Internet than the rest of the others. The contribution of this work is to offer more knowledge to the hotel executives about how they can use the Internet and show the importance of the web adoption in their properties

GESTÃO AMBIENTAL E COMPETITIVIDADE EM DESTINOS TURÍSTICOS: percepção dos gestores de pequenos meios de hospedagem de Natal/RN sobre o uso de práticas ambientais como fator de competitividade

The present work aimed at investigating the small hotel managers perceptions from Natal/RN concerning the environmental practice uses as a competitive factor. This study is characterized as a descriptive exploratory research that used an aleatory probabilistic sample followed by the application of collect data instrument (questionnaire). The small hotels located in Natal/RN were the study participants and the specific location where 35 questionnaires were answered. Based on the data and on the mangers point of view, it is possible to comprehend that, among the presented indicators, the development of environmental programs in the hotel enterprise is showed as the least important for the client s choice. As the main conclusion it is relevant to argue that, according to the small hotel managers, the guests do not still search for hotels that implement environmental practices. On the other side, the interviewed managers believe that the use of these practices can generate a great competitive advantage in relation to their competitors. The information obtained by this present research will be able to contribute to establish a contemporary panorama in relation to the importance attributed by the managers concerning the use of environmental practices in small hotel enterprises in Natal/RN. In addition the correct use of this information can generate possibilities of major competitiveness in this segment