Purpose -The purpose of this paper is to present some of the fundamental barriers and challenges in the use of Six Sigma as a business improvement methodology in the hospitality industry. Design/methodology/approach -The approach taken was to collate data through observations made by the third author during the execution of the research project within the case study company as well as collating data from company story boards and interviewing relevant and appropriate staff members in the case study company. Findings -The challenges of "data collection", "defining projects" and "getting group consensus" can be considered to be somewhat very challenging in the context of hospitality industry. Research limitations/implications -Due to limited time constraints, the number of people participated in the study was relatively small. Perhaps a simple survey questionnaire could also be distributed to a number of people at the top management level, middle management level and frontline staff personnel in the case study company. Originality/value -The paper provides an excellent resource for many researchers and practitioners equally who are engaged in research and applications of Six Sigma in the hospitality industry. Moreover there is a dearth of literature on the use of Six Sigma in the hospitality sector.

Evidence suggests that hospital patients receive the medical treatment they need but are sometimes left feeling depersonalized and alienated with their overall treatment. This New Zealand study explored the lived experience of hospitality among adults during their recent hospital stay. A hermeneutic phenomenological methodology was used to design and conduct the study. Seven participants, aged 22 to 65 years, who had spent at least three days in a hospital for elective surgery were purposively recruited. Data were gathered using semi-structured, conversational-style individual interviews. Participant-validated, coherent stories were drawn from the transcripts and analysed. The findings revealed that hospitality showed itself in different ways to the participants. When present, they experienced feelings of comfort, of being at ease and of being healed. The implications for health care practitioners are that offering often small, yet heartfelt acts of hospitality may evoke powerful lived experiences that benefit the patient, suggesting that caring about the patient is an important element of the healing process.

This paper considers the renovation of hotels in the context of facilities management. It evaluates a study carried out in Egypt into the attitudes of hotel general managers about the importance attached to hotel renovation and refurbishment. The findings show that whilst hotel managers express a belief in the importance of hotel renovation, there is little evidence of strategic thought in the renovation process. Instead, the focus appears to be on the "softer" customer satisfaction aspects of hotel management. There is scope for a more strategic view of FM among hotel managers and owners

This paper considers 'publications counting' literature, that literature which seeks to establish league tables of the published output of academics. Often justified on the grounds of benchmarking for supporting tenure and appointment decisions, publications counting literature is revealed to be methodologically flawed. This paper focuses on the major limitations of this kind of study, presenting a conceptual critique of existing 'publications counting' processes, and argues that the methods of such studies are neither reasonable nor consistent. This is particularly clear in areas such as the choice of journals to be sampled, the time frame established in sampling procedures, and various arithmetic procedures employed in calculating output measures. The paper concludes with discussion of possible alternative means of achieving goals of benchmarking hospitality scholarship while suggesting that publications counting should be abandoned as a sole means of determining research excellence. #

In 2011, international attention was focussed on New Zealand, host of the Rugby World Cup (RWC 2011), which brought 133,200 visitors to New Zealand over a three-month period. This exploratory study, undertaken before the event, investigates the attitudes of hotel managers and staff as they prepared to host spectators, rugby teams, and media personnel. The aim of the study was to determine preparedness for an attack, and assess attitudes and approaches to risk management in relation to terrorism. Interview data collected from senior hospitality managers revealed a distinctly laissez faire approach to security, which is partly explained by Hofstede's (1984) low uncertainty avoidance category for New Zealand. This attitude is reputedly common in New Zealand, where it is proudly expressed as 'she'll be right'.It is hoped that this study will bring attention to the weak security measures in New Zealand, which would have been insufficient protection for life and property, had a serious terrorist attack been planned.