Inputs Management in Hospitality Operations

Abstract

Inputs management is a central issue in hospitality because of the characteristics of service production (e.g. perishability and face to face interaction) and the fact that hospitality companies adapt inputs to the demand beforehand. Inputs management improves our understanding of elements of hospitality performance, such as productivity and profitability. More specifically, hospitality managers periodically schedule variable inputs as labor. Therefore, an important question is to what extent hospitality companies adjust labor demand in response to service demand fluctuations at both the firm and department levels, i.e. relative to the most desirable or just-in-time scenario? This thesis is based on the theory of labor demand in response to labor demand and partial adjustment, which considers a dynamic approach of identifying the desirable level, to anwswer this question.