The Northern Ireland Tourist Board has
recently developed new systems for classifying
hotels. Under the old schemes one grade was
given to reflect facilitics and their quality, but
under the new scheme the classification is
determined solely by the presence or absence of
designated facilities and services.
The preliminary study of managers' and
customers' views coucludes that the NITB
classification scheme does not measure some of
the attributes which were perceived as import
ant by the customers when assessing the
quality and desirability of a hotel, and that a review of the criteria (together with the desira
bility of assessing the quality of the services
and facilities) is required.
Northern Ireland Tourist Board (NITB) (1992) 'Classification of Hotels', NITB, Belfast, Northern Ireland, p. 1.
2.
Ibid.
3.
Ibid.
4.
Callan, R.J. (1994) 'Statutory Hotel Registration and Grading: A Review', International Journal of Contemporary HospilalityManagement, Vol. 6, No. 3, p. 11.
5.
Beavis, J. (1979) 'Consultative Committee on Registration of Tourist Accommodation', a report presented to the chief executives of the British Tourist Boards, English Tourist Board, London, p. 5.
6.
Development of Tourism Act1969, HMSO, London, p. 10.
7.
Vine, P.A.L. (1981) 'Hotel Classification — Art or Science?', International Journal of Tourism Management , Vol. 3, March, pp. 18-29.
8.
Callan, R.J. (1992) 'Jersey's Hotel Grading Scheme: An Idiosyncratic Approach', International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 30-36.
9.
Bord Failte (BF) (1993) 'Classification of Hotels in Ireland', BF, Dublin.
10.
Sharkey, E. (1995), Registrar, BF. Discussion with a researcher, 7th March.
11.
NITB, ref 1 above; BF, ref. 9, p. 1.
12.
See ref. 1 above.
13.
Ibid.
14.
Callan, ref 8 above, p. 36.
15.
Woodside, A.G. and Moore, E.M. (1987) 'Competing Resort Hotels: Word of Mouth Communication and Guest Retention', Tourism Management, Vol. 8, No. 4, December, pp. 323-328.
16.
Sherrell, S. (1992) 'What Guide ?', Caterer and Hotelkeeper, 14th May, pp. 38-41.
17.
Callan, R.J. (1993) 'An Appraisal of UK Hotel Quality Grading Schemes', International journal of ContemporaryHospitality Management, Vol. 5, No. 5, pp. 10-18.
18.
Horwath and Horwath UK Ltd ( 1989) 'Hotel Characterizations Report No. 1: Classification' , Horwath and Horwath, London.
19.
Thr (1993) 'Quality Development in Tourism Services', a report prepared for Dictorate General XXIII of the Commission of the European Community (Tourism Unit). Ref: CE-91-154, THR, Asesores en Turismo, Hoteles y Recreacion , Barcelona.
20.
Ibid., p. 10.
21.
Deshpande, R. (1983) 'Paradigms Lost: On Theory and Method in Research in Marheting', Journal of Marketing, Vol. 47, pp. 101-110.
22.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1984) 'A Conceptual Model of Service Quality and its Implications for Future Research', Report No. 84-106, Marketing Science Institute , Cambridge, MA.
23.
Kidder, L.H. and Judd, C.M. (1987) 'Research Methods in Social Relations', 5th edn, HoltReinhart and Winston, London.
24.
Callan, R.J. (1994) 'Development of a Framework for the Determination of Attributes used for Hotel Selection — Indications from Focus Group and In-depth Interviews', Hospitality Research Journal, Vol. 18, No. 2, p. 54.
25.
Callan, R.J. (1990) 'Hotel Award Schemes as a Measurement of Service Quality — An Assessment by Travel Industry Journalists as Surrogate Consumers', International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 9, No. 1, pp. 45-48.
26.
Oberoi, U. and Hales, C. (1990) 'Assessing the Quality of the Conference Hotel Service Product: Towards an Empirically Based Model', Service Industries journal, Vol. 10, No. 4, October, pp. 700-721.
27.
Lewis, R.C. (1987) 'The Measurement of Gaps in the Quality of Hotel Services', International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 83-88.
28.
Ananth, M. , Demicco, F.J., Moreo , P.J. and Howey, R.M. (1992) 'Market Place Lodging Needs for Mature Travellers', Cornell HRA Quarterly, Vol. 33, No. 4, August, pp. 12-24.
29.
Atkinson, A. (1988) 'Answering the Eternal Question: What Does the Customer Want?', Cornell HRA Quarterly , Vol. 30, No. 2, August, pp. 12-14.
30.
Callan, ref. 23 above.
31.
George, T. and Tan, Y.F. (1993) 'A Comparison of the Importance of Selected Service Related Factors as Perceived by Restaurant Employees and Managers', International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 12, No. 3, pp. 289-298.
32.
Lewis, R.C. (1984) 'Isolating Differences in Hotel Attributes', Cornell HRA Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 3, November, pp. 64-77; (1985) 'Predicting Hotel Choice: The Factors Underlying Perception', Cornell HRA Quarterly, Vol. 25, No. 4, February, pp. 82-97; (1985) ' The Market Position: Mapping Guests' Perceptions of Hotel Operations', Cornell HRA Quarterly, Vol. 26, No. 2, August, pp. 86-99.
33.
McCleary, K.W. and Weaver, P.A. (1992) 'Simple and Safe', Hotel and Motel Management, 6th July, pp. 23, 24, 26.
34.
Tarrant, C. (1988) 'Understanding the Guest: The Role of Research in the Development of Hotel Marketing and Segmentation Programmes', paper presented at the ESOAMAR Seminar on Travel and Tourism Research , Cyprus, pp. 51-73.
35.
Alreck, P.L. and Settle, R.B. (1985) 'The Survey Research Handbool', Richard D. Irvin, Homewood, IL.
36.
Baker, M.J. (1991) 'Research for Marketing', Macmillan , Basingstoke, Hants.
37.
Evans, K. (1985) 'Planning Small Scale Research', 3rd edn, NFER-Nelson, Windsor.
38.
Hague, P. (1993) 'Questionnaire Design', Kogan Page, London.
39.
Kidder and Judd, ref. 23 above.
40.
Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L. (1988) 'SERVQUAL: A Multi-Item Scale for Measuring Customer Perceptions of Service Quality', Journal of Retailing, Vol. 64, No. 1, Spring, pp. 12-40.
41.
Fick, G.R. and Ritchic, J.R.B. (1991) 'Measuring Service Quality in The Travel and Tourism Industry', Journal of Travel Research, Vol. 30, No. 2, Fall, PP- 2-9.
42.
Knutson, B., Stevens, P., Wullaert , C., Patton, M. and Yokoyama, F. (1991) 'LODGSERV: A Service Quality Index for the Lodging Industry', Hospitality Research Journal , Vol. 14, No. 1, pp. 277-284.
43.
Callan, R.J. (1995) 'Lodging Preferences of Female Customers: An Empirical Study', Progress in Tourism and Hospitality Research, Vol. 1, No. 2, December, pp. 99-113.
44.
Converse, J.M. and Presser, S. (1986) 'Survey Questions ', Sage, Beverley Hills, CA.
45.
Hague, ref. 38 above.
46.
Ananth et al., ref 28 above.
47.
Barsky, J.D. and Huxley, S.J. (1992) 'A Customer Survey Tool: Using the Quality Sample', Comell HRA Quarterly , Vol. 33, No.6, December, pp. 18-25.
48.
Norusis, M. (1993) 'SPSS for Windows, Base Systems User Guide Release 6.0', SPSS Inc., Chicago, IL.
49.
Riley, M. and Periogiannis, N. (1990) 'The Influence of Hotel Attributes on the Selection of a Conference Venue', International Journal of Contermporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 2, No. 1, pp. 17-22; Crouch, S. (1985) ' Marketing Research for Managers', 2nd edn, Pan Books, London; Rowntree, D. (1985) 'Statistics Without Tears', Penguin Books, London.
50.
Lockwood, A. and Jones, P. (1989) 'Creating Positive Service Encounters', Cornell HRA Quarterly, Vol. 29, No. 4, February, pp. 44-50.
51.
Barrington, M.N. and Olsen, M.D. (1987) 'Concept of Service in the Hospitality Industry', International Journal of Hospitality Management, Vol. 6, No. 3, pp. 131- 138.
52.
Horwath and Horwath, ref 18 above.
53.
Callan, ref. 24 above.
54.
McTear, I. (1995) 'Hotel Montli Breaks all Records', Belfast Telegraph, 3rd March, p. 12.
55.
Kirk, D. (1995) 'Hotel Euphoria Cools', The Newsleller , 7tli March, p. 15.
