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The hotel management agreement is a common, but arguably at times misunderstood, hotel operating structure. This study has sought to explore how both owners and hotel management companies (“operators”) perceive aspects of ownership in managed hotels. In-depth interviews were held with both operator and owner executives and it was found that, even though interviewees appeared to be aware of the nature of the relationship established by a hotel management agreement, in practice operators in particular use a working definition of the model that is more akin to a lease. Misunderstandings of the hotel management agreement can cause confusion as to where risks and responsibilities lie. Based on these findings, we argue that ownership of the operating business, in addition to that of the hotel’s real estate, deserves to be more explicitly acknowledged and addressed.
The purpose of this study is to provide a better insight into the impact of rebranding on stakeholders; the case for this study is the rebranding of the Hotel Management School (HMS). This research has explored how the stakeholders have experienced rebranding and how the rebranding has affected the brand identity, image and loyalty. A qualitative research method was used and data was gathered conducting semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with the students, staff and industry partners. The data illustrates that due to effective internal communication the employees were not affected by the rebranding. Nevertheless, the brand identity, image and loyalty did not have the same effect on the students and industry partners. Thus, it is recommended that HMS pay more attention to improving the communication, rebuilding and expansion of the brand identity.
MULTIFILE
Bachelor students of Hotel Management School Maastricht, part of Zuyd University of Applied Sciences in the Netherlands, start their educational program with a semester of orientation on Hotel Operations in theory and practice. The teaching staff was curious about students’ perception of what they learn during their duty in the Teaching Hotel Château Bethlehem. Students were interviewed about the learning environment, the coaching and their learning outcomes. The interview findings gave insight in different unexpected and subconscious learning outcomes together with the conditions under which they occur during practice-based learning. Findings were presented to the teaching staff during a work conference. The entire team emphasised the value of the research method for fine-tuning students’ learning outcomes.