Chris Roberts

The Strategic Planning Process in National Tourism Organizations

The comprehensiveness of the strategic planningprocess in national tourism organizations (NTOs) is determined by an internal capability for strategic planning and dimensions of the external environment that reinforce or undermine the em ployment of this process. A model is presented, and a flexible design of NTO strategic planning systems is recommended.

A Content Analysis for Postpurchase Evaluation Using Customer Comment Logbooks

This article presents a content analysis of guest comment logbooks recorded over a 15-month period. The procedure is illustrated using a case study of a resort hotel located in the Caribbean. The data were classified by resort attributes, purpose of the visit, resort activities and features, and overall evaluative statements. The categorization results yielded some interesting and useful information that can be translated into marketing and managerial guidelines in such areas as segmentation, positioning, relationship building, development of promotional and sales materials, human resources, organizational culture, and operational practices.

Using Computer Simulations to Enhance Teaching: Overcome the Fear

Abstract Computer simulations can add useful value to the learning experience. Simulations create the opportunity for interactive learning. They can provide students with situations that closely resemble the workplace. Simulations also permit selective integration. Specific business skills or themes can be emphasized. Simulations can be used to reinforce the curriculum in addition to enhancing education.

A Theory of Lodging: Exploring Hotel Guest Behavior:

When staying as a guest in a hotel, we are well aware of the short-term nature of the planned experience. Our sense of commitment is somewhat different from the choices we made when provisioning our home. It may be that, similar to tourism perspectives, when we leave home we think of ourselves no longer as a resident but rather a traveler. Everything we do is of a temporary nature. This suggests that the individual has a separate set of behaviors that are used when staying in a hotel. Whatever we experienced or did in that visited place is left behind. It is freeing in the sense that it limits our impact, our responsibility, and usually minimizes the consequences of our actions. Does this difference in perspective and behavior present the opportunity to develop a theory of lodging?

Faculty Salaries in the US: The 2006 Survey of Hospitality and Tourism Educators

Abstract A survey of hospitality and tourism management educators conducted in 2006 by the professional organization of hospitality and tourism educators (CHRIE) yielded salary data for colleges and universities located in the United States. Results illustrate salary differences by geographic location, by type of school (two-year, four-year and graduate degree granting institutions), and by faculty rank (lecturers, assistant professors, associate professors and full professors).

Trends in the Gaming Industry and their Curricular Implications

The different social and economic conditions of the 21st century are generating permanent changes in the gaming industry that impact what information educators use in the teaching of casino management. These influencing conditions may be observed in at least seven different dimensions: the physical structures; human resources; capital investment and ownership; public policy; Internet; and culture. Many of these are significant for either size or volume, or for the large degree of acceptance and integration into daily lifestyles. It is these seven dimensions that educators are encouraged to incorporate into their future designs of gaming curricula.

Performance Strategies: Establishing Minimum Competencies

Compensation packages for hospitality educators are typically based upon performance, and often do include a merit component in addition to an across-the-board cost of living increase to reward productivity. Various configurations of deans, department heads and personnel committees are required to assess “meritorious behavior” or accomplishments of individual faculty members. This paper presents a process and identifies components considered to establish minimum standards of performance.

Dining Behaviors: Considering A Foodservice Theory Of In-Home, Local Community, And Eating While Traveling:

The often-repeated layout of restaurants adopted by the majority of foodservice firms appears to represent the best practice for restaurant design and is viewed as the most common operational model in the field. What appears to vary, though, are the observed patterns of human behavior regarding dining when it occurs in different venues. These venues include in-home dining, “eating out” in local community restaurants, and dining while traveling. Some diners may behave differently depending on the setting, making novel choices about food selections. Do these differences in behavior present the opportunity to develop a theory of dining?

Balance, Enrichment and Rigor

Volume 17, Number 1 5 Journal of Hospitality &Tourism Education One of the privileges and joys of the role of executive editors is the exposure to the latest stream of educational research through the papers submitted to JHTE. As a result of the process of our double blind reviews, we are able to watch many research projects mature – both in terms of expression and in terms of rigor and approach. After recently reflecting about this experience, Linda Shea and I have become much more aware of how those of us who conduct hospitality educational research are integrating two of our key skills: that of educator and that of researcher. This integration calls for a careful balance and introspection that undoubtedly is healthy. The author often calls upon his or her experiences in the classroom to initiate a research project; that is, something happens to make the educator wonder about or question an experience. Such investigations do not always result in ”Ah ha!” moments worthy of sharing with our peers, but some efforts do result in new understandings that should be shared. It is these new insights that we seek for publication in JHTE so that we might enrich one another. Such studies can make a useful contribution and certainly should be encouraged; however, the uniqueness of a one-site study, driven by a professional experience, has its limitations. Local Balance, Enrichment and Rigor by Linda Shea and Chris Roberts

Ray Kroc: A Visionary CEO Who Reshaped An Industry

America is a country of many entrepreneurs, some more successful than others, but all of whom have strived to live what if referred to as the “American dream.” Ray Kroc is a fine example of an entrepreneur who was able to do just that: live the “American dream.” He built McDonalds Corporation into one of the most successful and most admired companies in the history of the United States. His legacy and actions have had a dramatic influence on hospitality professionals around the world and he is unquestionably an industry pioneer.