Gerard Costa

Innovative Practices in the Spanish Hotel Industry

A survey of corporate-level senior research and development managers in twenty-seven of Spain’s largest hotel chains found a general bias toward innovation, as the majority have formal R&D departments and offer rewards for innovative concepts. Considering a framework that includes four types of innovation (i.e., product innovations, process innovations, enhanced knowledge of market, and management innovations), the survey found that the chains focused the greatest innovation efforts on improving management. However, the innovations most frequently mentioned involve enhanced knowledge of the market, including the use of new sales channels and communication improvements. Case studies of four hotel concepts depict innovations intended to be singular, that is, hard to duplicate. NH Hoteles uses its customer data center to segment customers and create targeted communications and special offers; Hoteles Hesperia has allied with Michelin-rated chefs to upgrade its hotel restaurants both in terms of menu and image; Chic&Basic has installed modest-price but high-quality inns in center-city locations that usually host luxury hotels or poor quality guest accommodations; and Marqués de Riscal has developed City of Wine, in the Rioja region of Spain, complete with a Frank Gehry–designed hotel operated by the Starwood Luxury Collection.

Influential factors in water planning for sustainable tourism destinations

ABSTRACT Many destinations are implementing various water management alternatives to diminish the environmental impacts of tourism and increase sustainability. These efforts toward sustainability can be understood as part of corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies implemented by tourism destinations. This paper is focused on the tourism destination of the Costa Brava (Catalonia, Spain) and proposes a method for selecting a list of influential factors in water management for sustainable tourism destinations by considering stakeholder preferences for technical, economic, social, political, and environmental factors. A new qualitative Delphi technique is used to identify a set of qualitative and quantitative factors by surveying eight stakeholders (six water management experts and two hotel managers). In addition, the study presents the weight for each of the influential factors that decision-makers – water planners, policy-makers, tourism destination managers and hotel managers – can use in assessing water management alternatives. Although research to date has addressed many aspects of responsible tourism, there is little literature on the importance of water management in responsible strategies for tourism destinations. This paper contributes to a more efficient selection of CSR strategies in tourism destinations by proposing a new methodology for identifying key factors for assessing sustainable solutions for water problems.

Collaborative Relationships Between Manufacturers and Retailers: A Supply Chain Collaboration Framework

The main objective of this study is to develop a framework for supply chain collaboration between manufacturers and retailers, which includes managerial, behavioural and technical issues. It is claimed that collaborative relationships yield significant benefits in areas like the management of both the private label and national brand. However, supply chain collaboration has proved difficult to achieve and one of the reasons is a lack of understanding of the elements that make up supply chain collaboration. An exploratory multiple case study was carried out in the Spanish Fast Moving Consumer Goods industry, examining both retailers and manufacturers from a dyadic approach. From the different elements included in the supply chain collaboration model, the results seem to indicate that the ones used most are related to the design of the collaborative initiative and the behavioural aspects related to inter-organisational relationships (trust and mutuality) and human resources (longevity and informal cross-functional team working).