Stormy Outlook? Domestic students' impressions of international students at an Australian University

The education of international students in Australian universities has grown significantly over recent years, with Australia now having the highest ratio of international students to domestic students among the major English-speaking destinations popular with international students. While there is a variety of research that examines the learning experiences of international students, little research has been conducted that examines the impact that international students have on their domestic counterparts. This paper reports on research that solicits the perceived advantages and disadvantages held by 301 domestic students, who are sharing their educational experience with international students studying hospitality and tourism management. The study reveals that there is a sizable proportion of domestic students (28%) who consider that there are too many international students on campus; that domestic and international students do not readily mix and it also highlights the fact that racist incidents occur. It is suggested that institutions wishing to increase their number of international students must take into consideration the feelings and concerns of their domestic students.

Introducing employee social identification to customer satisfaction research: a hotel industry study

The purpose of this paper is to address the concept of linkage research and propose the addition of social identity theory as an important consideration in managing employee-customer interactions and customer satisfaction.

A study of the relationship between U.S. hotel companies and travel agency companies: Determinants of the success of the relationship

The primary objectives of this study were to describe the relationship that U.S. hotel companies have with travel agency companies and to identify the determinants of a successful relationship.^ The unit of analysis was hotel companies operating in U.S. One hundred and three hotel companies contributed information for this research. The data were collected through a questionnaire developed from previous empirical studies and from interviews with hospitality management professors and hotel sales and marketing directors.^ Simple and multiple regression analyses indicated that in order to have successful relationships with travel agency companies, hotel companies should (a) show more commitment or dedication to working with the travel agents, (b) have more trust in the travel agents themselves, and (c) be less dependent on any one travel agent for their business.^ Additionally, the results suggest that hotel companies who coordinate activities with travel agents companies and who communicate with them in a timely, accurate, adequate, complete and credible manner have more successful interorganizational relationships than those who do not.^ Furthermore, hotel companies who share proprietary sales and any other information with travel agents reported better relationships. (Abstract shortened by UMI.) ^

The impact of bandwidth in structured interviewing and criterion stability in predicting and assessing manager performance across transition and maintenance stages

The current study examined the role of three important components in the use of structured employment interviewing in performance prediction: construct bandwidth, observed communication skill, and the stability/dynamicity of performance criteria over time. A matched sample of 242 hospitality managers was derived from a field data set provided by a large hospitality management organization. Interview data and two years of performance appraisal data were provided. Bandwidth analysis demonstrated only minimal differences in prediction between matched predictor-criterion pairs compared with predictor to overall aggregate ratings (unmatched). The communication skill analysis revealed that this interviewer rated observation significantly predicted a number of the individual performance dimensions as well as overall performance over time. Of the five interview items, the strongest overall predictor of performance was interviewer rated communication skill. The stability/dynamicity analyses demonstrated the performance criteria to be generally stable over the two year period examined, which provides support for the long held notion that performance criteria is stabile over time. However, there were two exceptions. The interview dimension customer service orientation had shifting relationships over time with four of the criteria over the two year period. The performance criteria employee development also demonstrated some instability in its relationships with predictors. Thus, some evidence of dynamicity in performance criteria was revealed. Interestingly, both of the most noteworthy findings in the study involved items that were rated differently than the others in the study. The rated interview item communication skill and the rated performance criteria client satisfaction were ratings that involved a more direct level of observation. Additional analyses also revealed evidence of a general factor of performance. These two themes are more fully covered in the discussion.

Recreational Food Service is Big Business

In the analysis - Recreational Food Service Is Big Business - by Gary Horvath, President, Recreational Foodservice Division, Service America Corporation and Mickey Warner, Associate Professor School of Hospitality Management at Florida International University, Horvath and Warner initially state: “Recreational food service is very different from routine food service management. The authors review the market and the management planning and challenges that create that difference.” Recreational food is loosely defined by the authors as food for special events. These can be one-time events, repeated events that are not on a fixed schedule [i.e. concerts], weekly events such as football-baseball-or basketball games, or other similar venues. Concessions are a large part of these fan based settings. “An anticipated 101,000 fans at a per capita spending of $5-6 [were expected]. A typical concessions menu of hot dogs, popcorn, soda, beer, snacks, novelty foods, candy, and tobacco products comprises this market segment,” say Horvath and Warner in reference to the Super-Bowl XXI football championship game, held in Rose Bowl stadium in Pasadena, California, on January 25, 1987. Some of the article is based upon that event. These food service efforts focus on the individual fan, but do extend to the corporate-organizational level as well. Your authors will have you know that catering is definitely a part of this equation. The monies spent and earned are phenomenal. “Special events of this type attract numerous corporate catering opportunities for companies entertaining VIP guest lists,” the authors inform. “Hospitality tents usually consist of a pregame cocktail party and buffet and a post-game celebration with musical entertainment held in lavishly decorated tents erected at the site. In this case a total of 5,000 covers, at a price of $200 each, for 12-15 separate parties were anticipated.” Horvath and Warner also want you to know that novelties and souvenirs make up an essential part of this, the recreational food service market. “Novelties and souvenirs are a primary market and source of revenue for every stadium food service operator,” say Horvath and Warner. The term, “per capita spending is the measurement used by the industry to evaluate sales potential per attendee at an event,” say the authors. Of course, with the solid revenue figures involved as well as the number of people anticipated for such events, planning is crucial, say Horvath and Warner. Training of staff, purchasing and supply, money and banking, facility access, and equipment, are a few of the elements to be negotiated. Through both graphs and text, Horvath and Warner do provide a fairly detailed outline of what a six-step event plan consists of.

Disney's Internship Program: More than Hands-On Experience

The vast majority of hospitality management programs require students to participate in a hands-on work experience, which helps bridge the gap between theory and practice, providing the student with an opportunity to practice the theory learned in the classroom. The Walt Disney World Co. developed, implemented, and operates one of the most successful internship programs in the hospitality industry. It recognizes the need for business practitioners to become more involved in the education of future hospitality managers. The authors summarize the company's program and offer suggestions for other employers looking to give interns more than hands-on experience.

Accreditation: What It Is … and Is Not

The conceptual notion of accreditation is as specialized, complex, and diverse as is the field of hospitality management education. Before an argument can be made for or against accreditation within the professional field of hospitality management, a common understanding of accreditation must be achieved. The following article, the first of a two-part series, is intended to expand the reader's knowledge of the accreditation process. Part two will discuss its relationship to hospitality management education at the college or university level.

Book Review: Tourism in China: Exotic Land Revealed

There is no better way to lean about tourism in China than from renowned expert in the field. Alan Lew. PhD. and professor at Northern Arizona University, Lawrence Yu, Ph.D. and associate professor in the Department of Tourism and Hospitality Management at George Washington University. John Ap, Ph.D. and associate professor in tourism management at Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Zhang Guangrui, director of the Tourism Research Centre, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, China, have contributed to and edited a collection of writings detailing the development of tourism in this fascinating and exotic land.

FIU, Tianjin University Plan to Run School in China

MIAMI, Fla. - Florida International University has signed an agreement with the Tianjin University of Commerce to run a hospitality management school in China that would mirror the top-ranked Miami program. The agreement is thought to be the first on this scale between the Chinese government and a foreign university

Menu Analysis: Review and Evaluation

In the article - Menu Analysis: Review and Evaluation - by Lendal H. Kotschevar, Distinguished Professor School of Hospitality Management, Florida International University, Kotschevar’s initial statement reads: “Various methods are used to evaluate menus. Some have quite different approaches and give different information. Even those using quite similar methods vary in the information they give. The author attempts to describe the most frequently used methods and to indicate their value. A correlation calculation is made to see how well certain of these methods agree in the information they give.” There is more than one way to look at the word menu. The culinary selections decided upon by the head chef or owner of a restaurant, which ultimately define the type of restaurant is one way. The physical outline of the food, which a patron actually holds in his or her hand, is another. These descriptions are most common to the word, menu. The author primarily concentrates on the latter description, and uses the act of counting the number of items sold on a menu to measure the popularity of any particular item. This, along with a formula, allows Kotschevar to arrive at a specific value per item. Menu analysis would appear a difficult subject to broach. How does a person approach a menu analysis, how do you qualify and quantify a menu; it seems such a subjective exercise. The author offers methods and outlines on approaching menu analysis from empirical perspectives. “Menus are often examined visually through the evaluation of various factors. It is a subjective method but has the advantage of allowing scrutiny of a wide range of factors which other methods do not,” says Distinguished Professor, Kotschevar. “The method is also highly flexible. Factors can be given a score value and scores summed to give a total for a menu. This allows comparison between menus. If the one making the evaluations knows menu values, it is a good method of judgment,” he further offers. The author wants you to know that assigning values is fundamental to a pragmatic menu analysis; it is how the reviewer keeps score, so to speak. Value merit provides reliable criteria from which to gauge a particular menu item. In the final analysis, menu evaluation provides the mechanism for either keeping or rejecting selected items on a menu. Kotschevar provides at least three different matrix evaluation methods; they are defined as the Miller method, the Smith and Kasavana method, and the Pavesic method. He offers illustrated examples of each via a table format. These are helpful tools since trying to explain the theories behind the tables would be difficult at best. Kotschevar also references examples of analysis methods which aren’t matrix based. The Hayes and Huffman - Goal Value Analysis - is one such method. The author sees no one method better than another, and suggests that combining two or more of the methods to be a benefit.

Database System for Alumni Tracking

In their discussion - Database System for Alumni Tracking - by Steven Moll, Associate Professor and William O'Brien, Assistant Professor, School of Hospitality Management at Florida International University, Professors Moll and O’Brien initially state: “The authors describe a unique database program which was created to solve problems associated with tracking hospitality majors subsequent to graduation.” “…and please, whatever you do, keep in touch with your school; join an alum’ organization. It is a great way to engage the resources of your school to help further your career,” says Professor Claudia Castillo in addressing a group of students attending her Life after College seminar on 9/18/2009. This is a very good point and it is obviously germane to the article at hand. “One of the greatest strengths of a hospitality management school, a strength that grows with each passing year, is its body of alumni,” say the authors. “Whether in recruiting new students or placing graduates, whether in fund raising or finding scholarship recipients, whatever the task, the network of loyal alumni stands ready to help.” The caveat is the resources are only available if students and school, faculty and alumni can keep track of each other, say professors Moll and O’Brien. The authors want you to know that the practice is now considered essential to success, especially in the hospitality industry whereby the fluid nature of the industry makes networking de rigueur to accomplishment. “When the world was a smaller, slower place, it was fairly easy for graduates to keep track of each other; there weren't that many graduates and they didn't move that often,” say the authors. “Now the hospitality graduate enters an international job market and may move five times in the first four years of employment,” they expand that thought. In the contemporary atmosphere linking human resources from institution to marketplace is relatively easy to do. “How can an association keep track of its graduates? There are many techniques, but all of them depend upon adequate recordkeeping,” Moll and O’Brien answer their own query. “A few years ago that would have meant a group of secretaries; today it means a database system,” they say. Moll and O’Brien discuss the essentials of compiling/programming such a comprehensive data base; the body of information to include, guidelines on the problems encountered, and how to avoid the pitfalls. They use the Florida International University, Hospitality database as a template for their example.

Protecting Your Assets: A Well-Defined Credit Policy Is The Key

In - Protecting Your Assets: A Well-Defined Credit Policy Is The Key – an essay by Steven V. Moll, Associate Professor, The School of Hospitality Management at Florida International University, Professor Moll observes at the outset: “Bad debts as a percentage of credit sales have climbed to record levels in the industry. The author offers suggestions on protecting assets and working with the law to better manage the business.” “Because of the nature of the hospitality industry and its traditional liberal credit policies, especially in hotels, bad debts as a percentage of credit sales have climbed to record levels,” our author says. “In 1977, hotels showing a net income maintained an average accounts receivable ratio to total sales of 3.4 percent. In 1983, the accounts receivable ratio to total sales increased to 4.1 percent in hotels showing a net income and 4.4 percent in hotels showing a net loss,” he further cites. As the professor implies, there are ways to mitigate the losses from bad credit or difficult to collect credit sales. In this article Professor Moll offers suggestions on how to do that. Moll would suggest that hotels and food & beverage operations initially tighten their credit extension policies, and on the following side, be more aggressive in their collection-of-debt pursuits. There is balance to consider here and bad credit in and of itself as a negative element is not the only reflection the profit/loss mirror would offer. “Credit managers must know what terms to offer in order to compete and afford the highest profit margin allowable,” Moll says. “They must know the risk involved with each guest account and be extremely alert to the rights and wrongs of good credit management,” he advocates. A sound profit policy can be the result of some marginal and additional credit risk on the part of the operation manager. “Reality has shown that high profits, not small credit losses, are the real indicator of good credit management,” the author reveals. “A low bad debt history may indicate that an establishment has an overly conservative credit management policy and is sacrificing potential sales and profits by turning away marginal accounts,” Moll would have you believe, and the science suggests there is no reason not to. Professor Moll does provide a fairly comprehensive list to illustrate when a manager would want to adopt a conservative credit policy. In the final analysis the design is to implement a policy which weighs an acceptable amount of credit risk against a potential profit ratio. In closing, Professor Moll does offer some collection strategies for loose credit accounts, with reference to computer and attorney participation, and brings cash and cash discounts into the discussion as well. Additionally, there is some very useful information about what debt collectors – can’t – do!