Istanbul hotels from a 360º perspective: A comprehensive view of the Istanbul accommodation industry

              © PASOS. Revista de Turismo y Patrimonio Cultural. ISSN 1695-7121
Vol. 10 Nº 2. Special Issue. Pp. 85-90. 2012
www.pasosonline.org
Istanbul hotels from a 3600 perspective: A comprehensive view
of the Istanbul accommodation industry
Maria D. Alvarez i
Burçin Hatipoğlu
Kıvanç İnelmen
Dilek Ünalan
Boğaziçi University (Turkey)
i Dpt. of Tourism Administration, Boğaziçi University, alvarezm@boun.edu.tr; burcin.hatipoglu@boun.edu.tr;
inelmenk@boun.edu.tr; dbcevre@ttmail.com.
Abstract: As destinations are striving to become more competitive and attract visitors and tourists,
the performance of its enterprises, including hotels is essential. Despite the signifi cance of research
in this area, to date, there are no studies that analyze the accommodation industry of a given desti-nation
from a broad perspective, since most of the investigations focus on a specifi c area of the or-ganization
and its relationship with the hotel’s performance. Therefore, the research aims to provide
a comprehensive view of the accommodation industry in Istanbul. Moreover, the study will also at-tempt
to establish a standard data collection instrument that can be used in the future as a benchmar-king
tool. The research will be carried out on a number of complementary perspectives that include
management practices, fi nancial performance measures, operational indicators, employee profi le
and attitudes, customer profi le and satisfaction, environmental practices and use and investment in
technology. Furthermore, the study attempts to determine the most important factors that affect the
performance of the hotels and to explore the relationship between the different variables included.
Keywords: Accommodation industry; Performance of hotels; Competitiveness of hotels
Título: Una visión global de la industria hotelera en Estambul
Resumen: El rendimiento de las empresas en los destinos turísticos gana importancia con el esfuerzo
que realizan estos lugares por volverse más competitivos y atraer visitantes y turistas. A pesar de la
necesidad de investigaciones en esta área, hasta la fecha no se ha llevado a cabo ningún trabajo que
analice la industria hotelera en un destino desde una perspectiva amplia, ya que la mayoría de los
estudios se centran en un área específi ca de la organización y su relación con el rendimiento del hotel.
Por lo tanto, este estudio tiene como objetivo ofrecer una visión completa de la industria hotelera en
Estambul. Por otra parte, la investigación también tratará de establecer un instrumento de recogida
de datos estándar que se pueda utilizar en el futuro como herramienta de evaluación comparativa. La
investigación se llevará a cabo desde diferentes perspectivas que incluyen prácticas de gestión, medi-das
de rendimiento fi nanciero, indicadores operacionales, perfi l y actitudes de los empleados, perfi l y
satisfacción de los clientes, prácticas medio-ambientales y uso e inversión en tecnología. Además el
estudio trata de deter-minar los factores más importantes que afectan al rendimiento de los hoteles y
explorar la relación entre las diferentes variables incluidas.
Palabras clave: Industria hotelera; Rendimiento de los hoteles; Competitividad de los hoteles.
Nota de investigación
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Istanbul hotels from a 3600 perspective: ...
ISSN 1695-7121
Introduction
As destinations are striving to compete with
each other and attract visitors and tourists, the per-formance
of its enterprises, including the hotel in-dustry
is of paramount importance (Tsai, Song and
Wong, 2009). Researchers have noted that there is a
relationship between the competitiveness of a desti-nation
and that of its hospitality industries, which
seems to go both ways (Tsai et al., 2009; Kozak and
Rimmington, 1998). Quality accommodation fa-cilities
and services are essential for an attractive
destination (Kozak and Rimmington 1998), while
the demand conditions at the destination and the
increase in the number of visitors to the place also
benefi t the hotel industry (Go, Pine and Yu, 1994).
Istanbul as a city destination has increased its at-traction
tremendously in recent years, going from
3,473,185 visitors in 2004 to 7,984,827 in 2011 (Min-istry
of Culture and Tourism Istanbul Offi ce, 2012).
In parallel to this increase in visitors, a consider-able
number of hotels, both chain and individual,
have opened recently in the city. Istanbul currently
holds a bed capacity of 112,385, with another 31,489
beds under construction (Ministry of Culture and
Tourism Istanbul Offi ce, 2012). Despite this devel-opment,
there are no studies that examine the ac-commodation
industry in Istanbul and its contribu-tion
to the city as a tourism destination. Further-more,
in the hospitality literature, the performance
and competitiveness of hotels have been examined
rather recently, as compared to other sectors (Tsai
et al., 2009). Several studies have attempted to an-alyze
the competitiveness of the hotel industry in
relation to various factors, such as human resourc-es,
technology, productivity, brand image, customer
satisfaction, etc. (Barros and Alves, 2004; Brown
and Dev, 2000; Brown and Ragsdale, 2002; Matilla
and O’Neill, 2003; Campos-Soria, Gonzalez Garcia
and Ropero Garcia, 2005). However, there is a lack
of studies that attempt to combine the various fac-tors
and provide a comprehensive picture of the ho-tel
industry in any specifi c given destination.
Therefore, the study aims to provide a compre-hensive
view of the hotels in Istanbul. The research
will be carried out from different aspects and per-spectives
that include management practices, fi nan-cial
performance measures, operational indicators,
employee profi le and attitudes, customer profi le
and satisfaction, environmental practices and use
of technology. Furthermore, the study attempts to
determine the most important factors that affect the
performance of the hotels and to explore the rela-tionship
between the different variables included.
As a result of the research, a standard measuring
instrument of the accommodation industry to be
used for benchmarking purposes will also be pro-posed.
Literature review
As a fi rst area of concern, the research covers the
accommodation industry of Istanbul from a human
resources management (HRM) perspective. Studies
have investigated determinants like price, brand
image, service quality, productivity, technology and
physical characteristics for understanding hotel
competitiveness. However, investments in people
management strategies and systems are found to
be more and more important for developing tourism
destinations.
The area of HRM covers the managing of people
in achieving organisation’s goals as well as manag-ing
the employee-employer relationship. The hu-man
resource management activities can be listed
as recruitment, selection, development, reward and
motivation, performance management, mainte-nance
and departure. As much as HRM needs to
consider the interests of employees and ensure that
there are the right numbers, types and skill mixes
of employees at the right time and cost, HRM is also
part of the organisation’s strategic decision mak-ing.
In the literature, there are numerous studies
that have linked human resource management ac-tivities
to improved business results. To name a few,
Schuster links it with fi nancial returns (Schuster,
1986), Manor and Huselid with fi rm value (Manor
and Huselid, 1995), and Subramony with operating
performance (Subramony, 2009).
Despite the given importance to good human re-source
practices by manufacturing and service in-dustries,
the hospitality sector has been rather slow
in adopting these practices (Hoque, 1999). However
in recent years the examples of managers that are
aiming to improve performance results through
good human resource practices have increased. In
parallel, the number of empirical studies examin-ing
the link between HRM and organizational per-formance
has risen. For example, Hoque examines
the high involvement human resource practices of
the UK hotel industry and concludes that the rela-tionship
between these practices and performance
is dependent on the strategy the hotel is pursuing.
In parallel, Cho and colleagues examine 78 hotels in
M.D. Alvarez; B. Hatipoğlu; K. İnelmen and D. Ünalan
ISSN 1695-7121
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the US (Cho, Woods, Jang, and Erdem, 2006). Their
study indicates that out of the 12 HRM practices ex-amined,
labor-management participation programs,
incentive plans, and pre-employment tests are more
likely to result in lower turnover rates for non-man-agerial
employees.
Other than the HRM practices of an organiza-tion
the attitudes and behaviors of its employees
are also essential infl uences on its performance.
Especially, the labor intensive nature of the hospi-tality
industry forces managers at all levels to fo-cus
on the attitudes and behaviors of employees in
these enterprises. Fittingly, recent discussions on
sustainable competitiveness have placed sizable
importance on human capital being a major source
of advantage for the industry’s organizations (e.g.,
Lee et al., 2010; Tsai et al., 2009). While the sector
enjoys a rapid growth worldwide, it is at the same
time marked by high levels of employee turnover,
which is argued to be a result of “turnover culture”
(Iverson and Deery, 1997). In fact, there is a rapidly
growing demand for skilled employees at all posi-tion
in the Istanbul hotels, yet at the same time the
industry suffers from an unacceptably high level
of staff mobility (Kuruüzüm, Anafarta and Irmak,
2008). Thus the study also aims to analyze in detail
the attitudes and behaviors of the employees work-ing
in the sector.
The research also attempts to analyze the ac-commodation
industry in Istanbul from the point
of view of the customers, as consumer satisfaction
is believed to result in loyalty and positive word of
mouth (Tsai et al., 2009). In this sense, customer
satisfaction and perceptions of service quality have
been seen as essential in increasing the perfor-mance
and competitiveness of hotels (Akbaba, 2006;
Matilla and O’Neill, 2003).
Studies of service quality and customer satisfac-tion
are abundant in the tourism and hospitality lit-erature,
and researchers have developed or adapt-ed
scales to measure service quality and customer
satisfaction (Akan, 1995; Akbaba, 2006; Stevens,
Knutson and Patton, 1995). Many destination man-agement
organizations in developed countries sys-tematically
apply customer satisfaction measures
on a continuous basis in order to determine the com-petitiveness
of their hotels. For example, the Aus-trian
Guest Satisfaction Barometer is periodically
applied to participating hotels in Austria and pro-vides
benchmarking information relating the com-petitiveness
of hotels in this country (Matzler and
Pechlaner, 2001). Kozak and Rimmington (1998)
also identifi ed critical performance areas that are
commonly used in hospitality and grading classifi -
cation schemes, such as: welcome, friendliness and
attitude; quality of the facilities; Customer care and
attention; level of service; decoration, etc.
Innovation and use of new technologies has also
been considered as a source of competitiveness of
hospitality enterprises (Ham et al., 2005). Due to
the information intensive nature of tourism, infor-mation
technologies play an essential role, since
they are able to provide a better understanding of
the intangible product offer (Orfi la-Sintes et al.,
2005). Furthermore, technology and information
can be used by the hospitality companies to obtain
and analyze information in order to achieve a better
business performance (Orfi la-Sintes et al., 2005).
As hospitality organizations are comprised of a vast
array of services and operations, there is a broad
selection of varied technologies that can be applied
(Connolly and Haley, 2008). These include custom-er-
interaction related technologies, productivity im-provement
technologies, knowledge management
technologies, decision-support technologies, etc.
Another research concern for this study is envi-ronmental
and sustainability management includ-ing
technical aspects that pose a growing concern
for hotels. In parallel with the global business com-munity,
sustainability has been a major theme per-vading
in the hospitality industry. Sustainability in
tourism is defi ned by Butler (1993:23) as “tourism
which is developed and maintained in a community
environment in such a manner and at such a scale
that it remains viable over an indefi nite period and
does not grade or alter the human and physical en-vironment
in which it exists to such a degree that
it prohibits the successful development and wellbe-ing
of other activities and processes.” Sustainabil-ity
embraces three dimensions such as economics,
environment and equity (CSD, 1999). Economic
sustainability is a major concern and challenge of
all hospitality businesses. Environmental sustain-ability
addresses the impacts on the natural envi-ronment
and deals with the issues of global change
especially CO2 emissions and CFCs, energy (power,
water, fuel) conservation and management, air-wa-ter-
noise-visual pollution, habitat and ecosystems
degradation, material and resource consumption,
and all kinds of waste management (Holden 2008).
Equity sustainability includes issues such as the
distribution of the income and profi ts from hospi-tality
operations, the impacts of these operations
on local communities and cultures, the potential
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Istanbul hotels from a 3600 perspective: ...
ISSN 1695-7121
for the operations to not only minimize damage but
also make positive contributions to the environment
(Cook 1999).
There are different sustainability programs and
operations undertaken by city and resort hotels in
accordance with their physical environments. In
the case of city hotels, it is more likely that they
have programs and operations designed to minimize
impacts on the environment than impacts on local
communities and cultures. In the investigation of
the environmental concerns, empowerment and in-volvement
of the staff has an important role as staff
can be a positive contributor to the program itself
and take the ideas and concepts developed outside
the property into their homes and communities
(Martin 2006; Stipanuk 2006).
Butler (1998:27) suggests that the hospitality
industry has adopted sustainability for economic,
public relations and marketing reasons. According
to the research fi ndings, lack of sustainability con-cerns
in hospitality facilities may result in negative
consequences such as negative customer reaction
and negative impact on employee morale (Stipanuk
2006). There are also legal and social challenges
that may result in a negative image for the hotel
facility. Considering the impacts of environmental
and sustainability management on the competitive-ness
of the hotel industry, this study also aims to
provide an analysis of the hotels in Istanbul regard-ing
their energy conservation and management,
waste minimization, material and resource con-sumption,
site development and design processes,
and indoor environmental quality empowerment
and involvement of staff, guest education.
The above background information illustrates
examples of studies and research that has been car-ried
on specifi c areas of hospitality organizations.
As explained before, comprehensive studies are
lacking. Therefore this research aims to be the fi rst
to provide an integrative view of the accommodation
industry in Istanbul. Such a broad perspective may
also be useful in order to explore the relationships
between the different areas in the organization and
determine the most important factors that impact
on the performance of hotels.
Methodology
The study will be carried out under different
modules that will include employees’ attitudes and
behavior, customers’ perceptions, management
practices, innovation and use of technology, opera-tional
and performance measures, and technical
and environmental issues.
The research will be conducted on a sample of
hotels in Istanbul. A tentative sample size of 50 ho-tels
is determined. The hotels will be chosen using
a quota sampling technique, in order to obtain in-formation
on hotels with different star category (5
stars, 4 stars, 3 stars and special category boutique
hotels), but also taking into consideration the bed
capacity of the different categories. The hotels will
be selected from a list of Istanbul hotels who are
members of TUROB (Touristic Hotels and Investors
Association), since the association has agreed to ad-dress
its members and request their participation.
TUROB has a wide membership (http://www.turob.
com/ uyelerimiz.aspx?statu=1andregion=0) among
Istanbul hotels that includes 46 fi ve star, 80 four
star, 53 three star, and 54 boutique and special cat-egory
hotels, representing over 70% of the bed ca-pacity
in Istanbul.
Given the multidisciplinary and comprehensive
nature of the study, the sampling and data collection
methodologies will be different for each of the vari-ous
modules included, although all the modules will
be applied in each of the hotels in the sample. A key
person will be identifi ed in each of the participating
hotels, and trained as to the data collection methods
to be used in each of the different modules. Ques-tionnaires
will be distributed to customers, employ-ees
and managers, while structured interviews will
be carried out with the persons responsible from the
human resources, fi nancial performance and techni-cal
operations in each of the selected hotels.
Expected contribution of the research
From a theoretical perspective, the study will
provide an important contribution as it will be the
fi rst study to analyze the hospitality industry in a
given destination from such a comprehensive per-spective.
The data obtained will enable to establish
not only relationships between different aspects of
the hotels’ competitiveness, but it will also allow for
the determination of the most important factors in
predicting performance of the hotels. Moreover, as
currently there is no research that is carried out
on the accommodation industry in Istanbul, the
study can result in the identifi cation and adoption
of a standard research instrument to be used in the
future by the industry and the destination manag-ers
for benchmarking purposes. Established meth-odologies
used in destinations in developed coun-
M.D. Alvarez; B. Hatipoğlu; K. İnelmen and D. Ünalan
ISSN 1695-7121
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tries may not be applicable to other destinations in
developing countries. Therefore, deriving a usable
and standard research instrument to measure and
benchmark the competitiveness and performance of
the accommodation industry of a destination in a
developing country would be a major contribution of
the proposed research
Acknowledgement
The authors wish to acknowledge the support
of the Touristic Hotels & Investors Association
(TUROB) and the Boğaziçi University Scientifi c Re-search
Projects Fund (Project code: BAP – 6510) to
this research.
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Recibido: 15/02/2011
Reenviado: 30/09/2011
Aceptado: 31/10/2011
Sometido a evaluación por pares anónimos