The Amplifier - v. 2, no. 8(b)

In this issue...Engineer's Valentine, Butte Chamber of Commerce, Jaycee Club, Main Hall, Wilmington Oil Field, Hecla Mining Company, Petroleum Engineers, Finlen Hotel

The Amplifier - v. 6, no. 1

In this issue...Quake Lake, Rainbow Ranch, Student Union Building, Montana Standard, Butte Daily Post, World War I, Drama Department, Ed Skubitz, Butte Elks Club

The Amplifier - v. 6, no. 15

In this issue...Junior Prom, Finlen Hotel, Miners baseball, Vegas Club, Ken Erickson, Texaco, The Anaconda Company, Butte Rotary Club, college drinking, Dr. Edwin G. Koch

The Amplifier - v. 8, no. 12

In this issue...Mines Baseball, seat belts, Anaconda, student luncheon, Memorial Day, Silver Bow Ballroom, Hennessy Department Store, President Kennedy

The Amplifier - v. 8,(a-3) no. 3

In this issue...E-days, Residence Hall, campus parking, clergy day, Finlen Hotel, Montana Power Company, Coach Simonich, Copper Guards, Bridge Club

The Amplifier - v. 9, no. 11

In this issue...Junior Prom, Blackbird Mining Camp, badminton, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Finlen Hotel, Continental Oil Company, Lee Saperstein, Oceanography

The Amplifier - v. 10, no. 7

In this issue...Rotary Club, ASARCO, Hootenany, Wesley Club, Ellen Hurlbut, Finlen Hotel, Silver bow County Hospital, Mountain View Church, Butte Post Office

The Amplifier - v. 12, no. 2

In this issue...Library Building, Mineral Museum, Daylight Savings Time, Pete Knudson, Finlen Hotel, Homecoming, Vending Machines, Veterans' Day

The Amplifier - v. 12, no. 3

In this issue...Business Management, US Geological Survey, Finlen Hotel, Magma Yearbook, Copper Guard, Somewhere Else Coffee House, Marcus Daly Statue

The Amplifier - v. 12, no. 10

In this issue...Junior Prom, Finlen Hotel, Kangaroo Court, M Day, Butte Choral Society, Butte Kiwanis, ASMT President Election, Miners Bank

The Amplifier - v. 13, no. 2

In this issue...Faculty Women's Club, Miss Montana, Mining Museum, Climbing Club, NASA, Butte Civic Center, Oredigger Football, Mrs. Loretta Peck, Library Remodel

The Amplifier - v. 17, no. 9

In this issue...Peace Corps, National Wildlife Federation, Powder Puff Football, Geological Map, Arnold Olsen, Seventeen Magazine, Frozen Daiquiri

The Amplifier - v. 17, no. 11

In this issue...Greenhouse, Bob Dylan, Student Council, M-Day, Speech Scholarship, Honorary Degrees, Chess Tournament, Petroleum Engineers, History Club, SUB

Room for improvement : hotel giant resorts to Six Sigma to improve operations

Six Sigma provides a framework for quality improvement and business excellence. Introduced in the 1980s in manufacturing, the concept of Six Sigma has gained popularity in service organizations. After initial success in healthcare and banking, Six Sigma has gradually gained traction in other types of service industries, including hotels and lodging. Starwood Hotels and Resorts was the first hospitality giant to embrace Six Sigma. In 2001, Starwood adopted the method to develop innovative, customer-focused solutions and to transfer these solutions throughout the global organization. To analyze Starwood's use of Six Sigma, the authors collected data from articles, interviews, presentations and speeches published in magazines, newspapers and Web sites. This provided details to corroborate information, and they also made inferences from these sources. Financial metrics can explain the success of Six Sigma in any organization. There was no shortage of examples of Starwood's success resulting from Six Sigma project metrics uncovered during the research.

Complaining in cyberspace : the motives and forms of hotel guests’ complaints online

Traditionally, consumers who have been dissatisfied with service have typically complained to the frontline personnel or to a manager in either a direct (face-to-face, over the phone) manner, indirect by writing, or done nothing but told friends and family of the incident. More recently, the Internet has provided various “new” ways to air a grievance, especially when little might have been done at the point of service failure. With the opportunity to now spread word-of-mouth globally, consumers have the potential to impact the standing of a brand or a firm's reputation. The hotel industry is particularly vulnerable, as an increasing number of bookings are undertaken via the Internet and the decision process is likely to be influenced by what other previous guests might post on many booking-linked sites. We conducted a qualitative study of a key travel site to ascertain the forms and motives of complaints made online about hotels and resorts. 200 web-based consumer complaints were analyzed using NVivo 8 software. Findings revealed that consumers report a wide range of service failures on the Internet. They tell a highly descriptive, persuasive, and credible story, often motivated by altruism or, at the other end of the continuum, by revenge. These stories have the power to influence potential guests to book or not book accommodation at the affected properties. Implications for managers of hotels and resorts are discussed.