Whilst gender in the workplace is has been extensively researched, investigation into how gender interacts with other factors such as ethnicity and class has been less explicitly considered. This article explores the interlocking of gender with other categories such as class, ethnicity, race and nationality in the context of hotel work. It draws on the narratives of women describing their experiences of working in hotels. Findings from this empirically based examination suggest that gendered and other representations at work are not constructed as a process of adding difference on to difference, where categories are considered as separate and fixed. Instead, what emerges is a negotiation of the many categories shaping identities at work, which exist simultaneously and shift according to context.

This article explores the work of one particular type of leisure worker: the overseas tour rep. Drawing on theoretical debates, it analyses qualitative observation and interview data collected from tour reps working in Mallorca, Spain for a British budget tour operator. We explore the paradoxes of delivering emotional labour in a job where the boundaries between work and leisure are blurred, and which is both explicitly about delivering fun and also about the ‘dirty work’ of managing holidaymakers’ complaints and excesses. We argue that reps actively seek spaces where they are able to buy into a lifestyle that they see as reflecting their authentic selves. This enables them to accept the negative part of their work and they become disciplined workers.

Sexual, racial and other forms of harassment may create a devastating impact on individuals affected and can lead to severe loss of morale and efficiency. Examines issues surrounding this sensitive area which relate to legal definition, organisational policies in general and the hospitality industry specifically. Provides evidence of the current views on sexual harassment of hospitality industry personnel directors. Examines issues of hospitality service staff, encouraged to sell “sexuality” or “flirt” as a job requirement.

Whilst hotel management's rhetoric encourages staff to provide the best possible service by satisfying customers' needs, front line staff find themselves bearing the brunt of any abusive and sexual behaviour from customers. This article analyses the experience of harassment of hotel workers by customers. The specificities of the hotel space, the elusive sexuality that exists within the hotel, and the issue of ethnicity in relation to imbalances of power between the staff and the guest are all discussed using examples of harassment of hotel workers in a variety of workplaces and work roles. The article also explores how hotel workers deal with incidents of harassment, the complex ways in which they resist, and management reaction to harassment of their workers.