| Author: | Li, Yin Ching Carrie |
| Title: | Challenges of IT applications in hotel management : a study of hotels in Guangzhou |
| Advisors: | Law, Rob (SHTM) |
| Degree: | DHTM |
| Year: | 2021 |
| Subject: | Hospitality industry -- Information technology Hotel management Hong Kong Polytechnic University -- Dissertations |
| Department: | School of Hotel and Tourism Management |
| Pages: | xi, 430 pages : color illustrations |
| Language: | English |
| Abstract: | From a local budget hotel to a five-star international hotel chain, information technology (IT) has been undeniably important for hotel internal and external operation. While a lot of people appreciate IT for the benefits it has brought, such as efficiency and time-saving, many hoteliers may not always see it as a strength because it simultaneously brings forth a flood of management concerns and challenges such as technical problems, reoccurring operational issues, or even organizational investment failures. Investing in IT becomes a dilemma because it always comes with a price. To fully understand how IT applications have been used from a hoteliers' viewpoint, there are two objectives in this study. First, it intends to find out the major IT challenges that the hotel industry in China faces amid current conditions; Second, it provides suggestions and implications relates to these IT challenges for the industry. This study was drawn on the interviews with 51 hotel employees working in hotels in Guangzhou, China. Responses to the interviews were content analyzed, which resulted in 16 sub-themes that were further refined into five top themes. The dominant sub-themes that emerged out of the qualitative inquiry included IT practicableness, suitability, convenience, flexibility and friendliness, the speed of internet/internal network/server loading, IT safety, security and stability, hardware, and issues after IT updates and changes. Subsequent overarching discussion themes included communication obstacles, IT customization, pandemic impact, and major different of IT challenges. The study not only sheds light on the current state of IT challenges faced in Chinese hotels but also proposes two important frameworks—a framework about IT impact on hotel performance adapted from Melian Gonzalez and Bulchand-Gidumal (2016) and a constructive communication framework for hoteliers on how to critically assess and manage these IT challenges and carefully decide for each IT investment. Despite the growing importance of IT applications in the hotel industry, there has been limited empirical evidence about IT challenges particularly from the hoteliers' perspective. Therefore, this study is intended to bridge this gap and raise attention to the IT challenges and implications in hotel management while taking essential learnings stemming from the current circumstances. Limitations and scope of future research are also discussed. |
| Rights: | All rights reserved |
| Access: | restricted access |
Files in This Item:
| File | Description | Size | Format | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 5718.pdf | For All Users (off-campus access for PolyU Staff & Students only) | 4.19 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
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