Tourism and Travel Commons^™

Are There Gender Differences In What Drives Customer Delight?, Edwin Torres, Xiaoxiao Fu, Xinran Lehto

Rosen Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose– This paper aims to understand how male and female hotel guests become delighted customers. It aims to present the similarities and differences along with respective implications for theory and application.

Design/methodology/approach– During a period of three months, tourists were interviewed at an upscale Florida hotel. A total of 208 semi-structured interviews were conducted. The script for the interviews was based on an interview protocol used by Crotts et al. Adapted from a previous customer delight study (Torres and Kline), a codebook was developed to determine the salient themes that emerged during the interview process. Interviews were coded independently by …

Overcoming The “Dual-Delivery” Stigma: A Review Of Patient-Centeredness In The Costa Rica Medical Tourism Industry, Alicia Mason

Faculty Submissions

Due to the growing globalization of health care and an increase in access to technology many consumers are utilizing the World Wide Web for securing medical services abroad, a phenomenon commonly known as medical tourism. The current investigation employs an emic cultural approach for analyzing the Western concept of patient-centeredness within several public and private medical facilities within Costa Rica. Through a detailed field investigation and personal interviews with directors of Costa Rica’s largest accrediting institutions (AAAAF and ProMed), hospital organizations, and private health clinics an interpretative framework for evaluating patient-centeredness and quality of care is offered. Discussion, implications, and …

Would You Like Fries With That? Staying "Open For Business" In A Tourism-Based Post-Coal Economy, Walton C. Shepard

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Loyalty Programs: An Examination Of The Best Practices In Selected Luxury Chain Hotels, Julie Poincenot

Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Administration

Loyalty programs enable companies to reward their return customers. In the hotel industry, a loyalty program is a useful and beneficial tool to improve their customer service and entice their guests to stay with them on return visits. The purpose of this study was to conduct a best practices study on loyalty programs in luxury hotel chains. The researcher used a best practices matrix to examine the loyalty programs of Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, Omni Hotels and Resorts, and Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants. The study found that companies should benchmark their programs by aligning their benefits with companies similar to …

Competitive Marketing Strategy: A Best Practices Examination Of Convention Hotels In San Francisco, Jennifer Hardy

Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Administration

The expansion of convention hotels in metropolitan areas has been steadily increasing in recent years. This expansion causes competition between hotels in the same market. The purpose of this study was to examine the best practices for competitive marketing strategies used by convention hotels in San Francisco. The hotels studied were: Westin St. Francis, Fairmont Hotel, Ritz-Carlton, and Four Seasons. These organizations were analyzed based on several questions developed by the researcher. Data were collected from organizational websites and social media pages. The results demonstrate that the companies use many similar marketing practices. In order to market themselves more competitively, …

Montana Nonresident Traveler Quarterly Travel Comparison: 2013, Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report shows the 2013 quarterly visitation and length of stay data for nonresident travelers to Montana. It also displays average daily spending for various expenditure categories, as well as total expenditures for those categories.

Montana Nonresident Traveler Expenditure Profiles: Quarter 2, 2013, Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report examines spending profiles of nonresident travelers to Montana. It displays the average daily expenditures by purpose of trip for different spending categories during the second quarter of 2013.

Montana Nonresident Visitation Trends: 2003-2013, Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report displays the total number of individual nonresidents visiting Montana from 2003-2013. It also shows the total number of groups visiting Montana during the same time period.

Montana Nonresident Traveler Expenditure Trends: 2003-2013, Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report shows the nonresident traveler expenditure trends for visitors of Montana from 2003-2013. It also displays the total actual expenditures and the total inflation-adjusted expenditures.

Montana Nonresident Traveler Expenditure Profiles: 2013, Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report examines spending profiles of nonresident travelers to Montana. It displays the average daily expenditures by purpose of trip for different spending categories during 2013.

Expenditure Comparison Of Overseas, Canadian, And Domestic Nonresident Travelers To Montana:2013, Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report gives a comparison of overseas, Canadian and domestic visitation and spending during 2013. It includes total expenditures and average daily spending in different spending categories.

Montana Nonresident Traveler Expenditure Profiles: Quarter 4, 2013, Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report examines spending profiles of nonresident travelers to Montana. It displays the average daily expenditures by purpose of trip for different spending categories during the fourth quarter of 2013.

Montana Nonresident Traveler Expenditure Profiles: Quarter 3, 2013, Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report examines spending profiles of nonresident travelers to Montana. It displays the average daily expenditures by purpose of trip for different spending categories during the third quarter of 2013.

Montana Nonresident Traveler Expenditure Profiles: Quarter 1, 2013, Kara Grau

Institute for Tourism and Recreation Research Publications

This report examines spending profiles of nonresident travelers to Montana. It displays the average daily expenditures by purpose of trip for different spending categories during the first quarter of 2013.

Conference Calls Volume 1

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

A selection of Conference Calls which should be of interest to our readers.

Book Reviews Volume 1, Carlos Fernandes

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

A selection of book reviews submitted to the Journal

Buddhism In The United States: An Ethnographic Study, Jaeyeon Choe, John Mcnally

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

This paper focuses on Buddhism in America, an neglected area of inquiry in anthropological study. There is a need for modern ethnographic studies to shed light on historical issues, paradigms for comparative inquiry, and thus, explore the impact of Buddhism on modern American society (Glazier, 1997). The enormous growth of Buddhism in the last quarter century (Smith, 2002) makes this an especially pertinent topic in American anthropology. We utilize Glazier’s model to add Buddhism as a topic in the area of modernity studies.

This is a preliminary study of the nature of Buddhism in America. We conducted participant observation with …

Via Francigena Mountain Itineraries: The Case Of Piacenza Valleys, Stefania Cerutti, Ilaria Dioli

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Religious tourism has experienced a strong growth in recent years. It represents a complex and articulate phenomenon, in which the reasons and proposals related to the devotional and personal sphere are combined with a series of innovative opportunities that help reach a depth knowledge of a territory. The religious motive often means that pilgrims travel along specific routes to visit a number of shrines or even to complete lengthy itineraries. Increasingly, purely religious motives are becoming mixed with more secular forms of religious tourism, which often centre around specific religious sites. In this perspective, faith itineraries can be interpreted as …

A New Pilgrimage In Portugal: Following The Steps Of Saint Nuno, Carla Braga, Margarida Soares, Miguel Brito

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

Tourism is an ever-changing reality. Pilgrimages need different stimuli to attract new followers. In this context we propose to create an itinerary following the steps of Saint Nuno of Santa Maria, canonized in 2009. Nuno Álvares Pereira was the real name of Saint Nuno, who was granted the title Constable of Portugal, and became a historic legend in the independence wars of Portugal during the political crisis of 1383-1385. After fighting against the power of Castile (Spain) he decided to devote his life to religion as a Carmelite Friar. He represents the perfect hero of the Middle Ages - associating …

The Sacred Economy: Devotional Objects As Sacred Presence For German Catholics In Aachen And Trier, 1832-1937, Skye Doney

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

There is a long-standing tradition within western Germany of religious journey, and more pertinent to this paper, of pilgrims requesting Andenken (remembrances) when they could not physically attend pilgrimages. In the following essay, I analyze pilgrim correspondence sent to the Catholic Pilgrimage Committees, groups of clerics who facilitated pilgrimage to Aachen and Trier, Germany. I argue that Catholic pilgrims participated in an ‘economy of the sacred’ through their requests for and use of various pilgrimage objects; including, commemorative cards, medals, and rosaries. Within this economy wealth, worth, and merit were determined by an item’s physical proximity to the relics of …