Posted: September 9th, 2015

The effect of social media on the hospitality industry

The effect of social media on the hospitality industry

1. Coursework Description

You are required to write a research proposal which should cover all the following features:

1.     Topic
Select a hotel or tourism management topic which is of interest to you.

Some examples of general topics are:
Maintaining organizational culture
Front Office staff social skills
Employee job satisfaction
Service and customer satisfaction
Destination image of a tourist location
Customer Relationship Management and customer loyalty
Effective training for service staff

2.     Research Question
Focus your chosen topic into a question, that you plan to answer through your research.

For example:
Do CRM activities have a positive effect on a hotel’s customer loyalty or is this driven by other factors?

Or

Which are the most important social skills for Front Office staff in a chosen 5* Hotel where the customers are mainly corporate customers?

3.    Academic Literature
List at least 6 recent journal articles (no older than 2000) that relate to current research in the area of your question. Reference these articles correctly according to the school Harvard system of referencing.

4.     Rationale
Explain the reasons for researching this question by relating it to relevant theory, practices and research in your listed journal articles. The rationale should explain how these sources have shaped the underlying ideas and provide justification for your research question.

5.     Research Aim and Objectives
This should be developed from your original question in part 2:
(i) a statement of your overall aim
(ii) a statement of the smaller objectives for this research (3 – 5 are around the usual number of objectives).

For example:
This research aims to identify whether CRM activities of the Palace Hotel, Luzern have a positive impact on customer loyalty.

The specific objectives of the research are:
?    To examine the benefits and costs of CRM in the hotel industry
?    To explore the links between CRM and consumer behaviour
?    To identify customer responses to CRM activities at the Palace Hotel, Luzern
?    To propose recommendations to the Palace Hotel on the use of CRM tools.

6.     Methodology.
Give a detailed description of the primary research you propose to carry out in order to answer your research objectives. It should include:
a)    Identification of the research approach and strategy you have selected
b)    Identification and justification of the method/s you propose to use to collect your primary data.
c)   Explicit details of how you propose to identify and select a representative sample for this primary research.
c)   Explicit details of how you will carry out the primary data collection.

7.          Draft Questions
Based on your methodology above, develop draft questions you would use in your primary data collection (surveys, interviews, focus groups). These questions may be biographical questions and questions to answer your research objective (multiple choice, Likert scale, open questions etc).
You may use questions from previous research if you think they fit your research (make sure you explain this and give a reference!)

For example:
Age:      ? 18-25 yrs      ? 26-35 yrs      ? 36-45 yrs      ? 46-55 yrs      ? 56-65 yrs      ? 66+ yrs

Using the following scale, rate the following statements by placing a X in the appropriate box
Strongly Disagree    Disagree    Neither Agree nor Disagree    Agree    Strongly Agree
I enjoy receiving regular news from the Palace Hotel
I receive personalized attention when at the Palace Hotel
I feel like a valued customer of the Palace Hotel
I am more likely to stay at the Palace Hotel than any other hotel in Luzern

8.     Action Plan & Resource Requirements.
Propose a realistic work schedule which identifies every step of the research and writing process and the expected timescales. This could be presented in the form of a Gantt chart.

Identify and discuss essential and likely resource requirements e.g. visits to information services, interviews, computer facilities, permissions…It is essential you identify any organisation/s from whom you will need permission to carry out your research.