Durham E-Theses

Durham E-Theses Technology and change in the hotel industry : the case of the hotel receptionist. Mason, Simon Duncan How to cite: Mason, Simon Duncan (1988) Technology and change in the hotel industry : the case of the hotel receptionist., Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/1543/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 ABSTRACT Simon D. Mason Technology and Change in the Hotel Industry: The Case of the Hotel Receptionist The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy 1988 The relationship between service, technology and profit is problematic in the Hotel Industry. This is because of the way in which service workers for example, Hotel Receptionists and Clerks are used to maximise profit. Labour has been transformed into a commodity which is exploited sexually by men - staff and customers. This process is facilitated by the use of technology to reduce and cheapen the labour force. In an industry where unions have no power to affect industrial relations policy this process has gone unhindered. It is this three way relationship between service, technology and profit that is the basis of the thesis. The ethnographic fieldwork and information collection was carried out amongst a number of hotels in a consortium, a national hotel group and an international hotel chain. The consequences of this three way relationship are documented and analysed in a series of chapters focusing on the way in which jobs in hotels and in particular the role of the Receptionist and Clerk are regulated by management policy based on the profit motive and facilitated by new technology. These changes have had repurcussions on the relationship between craft and workers especially on the issue of skilled work. A detailed account of the state of the labour market is given looking at recruitment, training, promotion, wages as well as the role the unions have in the Hotel Industry. H is the intention that this thesis will draw the Hotel Industry into "organisation sociology" rather than perpetuate the study of the factory workplace at the expense of the "service" industries. This thesis represents a contribution to such an academic direction. Technology a.d Cbage in the hotel Industry The Case of the Hotel Receptlonit SImon Duncan Mason The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy The university of Durham The Department of Sociology and Social Policy 1988 The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation from it should be published without his prior written consent and information denJ from it should be acknowledged. H AR 1990 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT TITLE PAGE 11 TABLE OF CONTENTS 111 LIST OF TABLES vi GLOSSARY vii' DECLARATION xi STATEMENT OF COPYRIGHT xii NOTE OF ACKNOWLEDGEMENT xiii 1. Introduction 1 2. Observer-as-Participant: Towards a Structured Methodology 12 introduction 12 1. The Research Proposal 12 1.1 Finance 12 1.2 Fieldwork Access 13 1.3 Research title and contents - defined, redefined and changed 15 2. Methods employed 16 2.1 Supporting material 16 2.2 Primary information 17 2.2.1 Observer-as-Participant 19 2.2.2 Interviews 21 2.2.3 The Questionnaire 22 3. The nature of the discourse: Researcher and Subject 23 3.1 Overt or Covert? 23 3.2 Sitting on the fence 25 3.3 Getting on the inside 25 3.4 Personal behaviour 26 3. The Hotel and Tourism industry in Great Britain 28 Introduction 28 1. How is the Hotel trade identified? 28 1.1 What is a Hotel? 28 1.2 The history of the Tourism industry 31 2. Ownership of hotels; size and location 35 2.1 Size of the industry 35 2.2 Bedroom stock by range of unit size 37 2.3 The Hotel Development Incentive Scheme, 1969-1971 43 2.4 Registration, Classification and Grading of Hotels 52 3. Tourism 53 3.1 Overseas Visitors to the UK and UK Residents Abroad 53 Overview 53 Volume of Visits 55 Expenditure by Visitors 56 Purpose of visit and expenditure 58 Length of stay and average expenditure 58 Visits to the regions of the UK 61 3.2 Domestic tourism 63 3.3.1 'An American in'. Cardiff? 64 3.3.2 'An American in'. Edinburgh? 65 3.3.3 'An American in'. London? 65 4. Three Hotel "Companies" 70 Introduction 70 111 1. The Customer Market 70 2. The Forms of Ownership 81 3. Organisational Structures 86 4. Computerisation and Communication 90 5. Regulating the Labour Market 106 1. The Labour Market in the Tourism industry 106 1.1 The Employment Myth! 106 1.2 The Pattern of the Employment Trend 111 1.3 The Occupational Structure of the Workforce 113 1.4 The Distribution of Occupations 117 1.5 Employment in the Three Hotel Companies 119 2. Corporate Policy 123 2.1 Recruitment and Training 123 2.2 Promotion 134 2.3 Wages 138 2.4 Trade Unions 145 6. The Working Day 159 Introduction 159 1. The Hotel Receptionist's Tasks 159 2. The Interrelationship of the Tasks 167 2.1 The Person who Answers the Telephone 167 2.2 The Person who Makes the Reservation 172 2.3 The Person who Handles the Cash 178 3. Computers: Problems of Control and Dependency 179 3.1.1 The Programming of the System. Room Allocation 180 3.1.2 The Programming of the System. The Guest (Customer) "History" 183 3.1.3 The Programming of the System. Printed Reports 184 3.2 Control and Dependency 185 7. The Service Industry? 195 Introduction 195 1. Classifying Services and "Service Occupations" 195 2. The Master Servant Relationship 200 3. Vails-giving, Tipping, and Service charges 207 4. The "Front" of Service 213 5. Restructuring Services for a Profit 221 8. Jobs, Roles and Regulation 229 Introduction 229 1. What are the rules of this 'game'? 231 2. Hiearchy and Status between Departments and Jobs 239 2.1 Departmental profitablity; Order is established? 239 2.2 Occupation prestige and workplace prejudice 241 2.3 The Wages of Gender 244 2.4 Inferiority; The Irony of Customer Contact 245 3. Recruiting for the Future: The "Professionalization" of Receptionists 247 4. Occupational Status: A Male terrain 256 5. Control of the Labour Process: Danger - Men at Work! 263 6. Division of Space and Conflicting Notions of Skill 268 7. Worlds Apart? - The Case for Proletarianization 277 9. Sex and Sexuality at Work 282 Introduction 282 1. 'The Visibility of Sexuality: Visible Sexuality' 282 1.1 'Dress and Appearance' 285 1.2 'Display, Harassment and Other Explicit Sexual Behaviour 290 1.3 'Open Sexual Acts' 294 1.4 'Open Sexual Liasons' 297 1.5 'Implicit Sexual Behaviour' 298 iv 1.6 'The Written and the Recorded' 304 2. 'The Secret of Sexuality: Secret Sexuality' 305 2.1 'Secret Records, Rules and Policies' 305 2.2 'Secret Sexual Relationships' 306 3. 'The Unseenness of Sexuality: Unseen Sexuality' 307 3.1 'Sexual States' 307 3.2 'Sexual Perceptions and Desires' 309 3.3 'Sexual Fantasies' 310 4. 'The Elusiveness of Sexuality: Elusive Sexuality' 311 10. Conclusion 314 APPENDIX - QUESTIONNAIRE 316 BIBLIOGRAPHY 328 V LIST OF TABLES 1. Total number of Hotels and Other Residential Tourist 36 Establishments (boarding houses, motels) in Great Britain and the UK, 1970-1984 2a. Total number of Hotels and Boarding Houses in 38 Great Britain, 1971 and 1981 2b. Change in the number of Hotels and Boarding Houses, 1971 to 1981 38 3a. Total Bedroom stock available in Great Britain, 1971 and 1981 40 3b. Detail of Accommodation Gains and Losses in Great Britain, 1971-1981 40 3c. Average number of Rooms per unit by unit size in 40 Great Britain, 1971 and 1981 4a. The Top 50 Hotel Companies in the UK in 1985 41 4b. The Major UK Hotel Consortiurns in 1985 43 5. New Hotel Construction in Great Britain, 1970-1973 48 6a. Location of Bedroom Stock in Great Britain by Region, 1971 and 1981 49 6b. Detail of Unit Gains and Losses in Greater London, 1971-1981 50 6c. Detail of Bedroom Stock Gains and Losses in 50 Greater London, 1971-1981 7. Overseas Visitors to the UK, and UK Residents 54 abroad: Number of Visits, Earnings and Expenditure, 1968-1987 8. Value of Tourism compared with Other Leading Exports 19 76-1985 56 9. Overseas Visitors to the UK: Number of Visits and 57 Expenditure by Country of Permanent Residence, 1983-1986 lOa. Overseas Visitors to the UK: Number of Visits by Area 59 of Permenent Residence and Main Purpose of Visit, 1984-1986 lob. Overseas Visitors to the UK: Expenditure of Visitors by Area of 60 Permanent Residence and Main Purpose of Visit, 1984-1985 11. Overseas Visitors to the UK: Average Length of Stay, 61 Average Expenditure per Day and per Visit, by Area of Permanent Residence and by Purpose of Visit, 1981-1986 12.

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