Hospitality Management Lecturer Crispin Farbrother stays at Channel 4’s Hotel GB

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Last week, Hospitality Management lecturer Crispin Farbrother got the opportunity to stay in Channel 4’s Hotel GB. We asked him for his response on staying at the hotel and here is his response:

SO here it is, my final reflective comment about Hotel GB following my stay there and watching the series on TV.

I would give it high marks for what appears to be honourable intentions in raising the issue of getting unemployed youngsters into work and the variety of opportunities that hotels can offer. I would offer high marks for the attempt to raise money for two very good charities. Springboard in particular has little presence outside of the hospitality industry.

Hosting the programme inside a real hotel in London ensured that that there was realism for the trainees chosen and having core staff behind the scenes helped the hotel keep running for the benefit of the guests staying there.  I appear to be saying that all is good so far and I am.  I was looking forward to staying at Hotel GB and had in mind Michel Roux’s very successful programme Service.  Having celebrities involved appeared to be positive as they can pull in viewers and Gordon Ramsey and Gok Wan have some credibility in our industry. I was looking forward to eating in a Ramsey Kitchen.

So what went wrong?  Having Ramsey claim that the youngsters were going to get a year’s experience in one week was a bizarre statement to make.  I do not know of anyone who would support this claim.  Intensive? It certainly was.  This is also called dropping them in the deep end, and some of the youngsters certainly were dropped in the deep end. I saw very little training in action in the hotel and on TV.  After a few days some of the trainees did start to shine with Emily and Gun recognised early on as having natural skills in their areas.

The programme did highlight many issues that arise when working within or running hotels though the programme missed many opportunities to go into these in more detail.   Some examples are perhaps with Tom and Rory and Phil Spencer. Tom was struggling with his customer service skills on reception and he was asked to clean a room in ten minutes. What a strange request and to prove the point fifty minutes later the room was still not clean. It showed that hard work, efficiency and attention to detail are required in our industry.  Phil Spencer is not a trained Maitre D and putting him in charge resulted in chaos on more than one evening.  My own experience of Phil showed him to be a nice guy, but he needs a few weeks in our training restaurant here at Bournemouth University before he should be let loose again. It also showed that Will could do a far better job, however he also needs training.  A suit and tie does not make a man a manager!   Experience, technical knowledge and management skills are needed here.  This was further evidenced when Rory was thrown into the restaurant.   This was nothing less than cruelty.  Gordon and Mary then showed their own lack of management skills in the way they dealt with the issue. This same poor management was mirrored by Kim when talking to Kerry and Patrick who wanted more experience and responsibility. On more than one occasion the manager’s communication or lack of it put the trainees under more pressure than was really necessary. The programme, for me, highlighted the fact that well trained hospitality graduates are need in our industry. 

It is clear that the programme was trying to be too many things…. Either it was about hospitality apprentices, the celebrities who had most airtime or it was about the charities.  However with the cameras there it also became a programme about celebrity or wealthy guests who were happy to “tip” £1,000. Good for Springboard and The Prince’s Youth Trust but in no way realistic.

In summary I am disappointed to have spent a few hundred pounds and 5 evenings of my life involved in what resulted in a complete fiasco adding little to no value to our industry’s needs to employ good enthusiastic young people.

Bournemouth Research Chronicle: Green Tourism

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Today we are bringing you the final article that was published in the latest edition of the Bournemouth Rsearch Chronicle: Dr Janet Dickinson and Dr Viachaslau Filimonau article on Green Tourism:

Each year our desire to get away from it all contributes to around 5% of the world’s carbon dioxide emissions. Ignoring the impact of tourism on the environment would be equivalent to ignoring the carbon emissions of a developed industrialised nation.

This is why Dr Janet Dickinson and Dr Viachaslau Filimonau from BU’s School of Tourism are working on ways to reduce the carbon footprint of holidaymakers. Rather than developing punitive taxes or penalties, the research is looking at how to give people good incentives and strategies to cut down on unnecessary travel.

The BU team is starting close to home by studying the behaviour of holidaymakers at a Dorset campsite, where up to 300 people stay each week during the summer peak season. “The aim is to try to revolutionise the travel decision making process,” says Dr Janet Dickinson, senior lecturer in BU’s School of Tourism.

“The idea is to give people visibility of transport options in their immediate future through social networking and through smart phones so they can see there are opportunities to share transport, or opportunities to avoid making journeys,” she says.

The study is part of a wider Sixth Sense Transport Project – a collaboration between BU and colleagues from the Universities of Southampton, Lancaster, Edinburgh and Salford.

“We are looking at a campsite, but the same approach could be used in any holiday community – a hotel, group of cottages or caravan park,” Dr Dickinson explains.

“You have a community in the same place often all doing things at the same time and there’s a huge potential for people to make better use of travel resources. You have an awful lot of congestion in the areas linked to tourism.”

The idea is to use social networks so people can reveal anonymously to their fellow campers where they are and what they are doing. At the same time they can see what everyone else on the campsite is up to, what their immediate plans are, and what the weather and travel conditions are like.

“If you are heading to the beach tomorrow, and you know 50 other people are too, it allows you to make contact and share travel – or find out about bus routes – or warn of congestion. You might need just one item from the shops – and this could allow you to ask someone already at the shops or heading off there to pick it up for you,” suggests Dr Dickinson.

The project is first assessing holidaymaker’s attitudes to sharing. The team are finding out more about holidaymaker’s habits, what sort of information they are willing to share and how prepared they are to join forces. Then they will experiment with real life holidaymakers at the campsite, inviting them to try out smart phone applications designed to help them on their break.

Other parts of the project are looking at social networking in schools to help parents share transport and promote ‘walking buses’, which would see supervised groups of children walking to school on predetermined routes. Another is looking at reducing the carbon footprint of the logistics industry – the moving around of goods by lorry and train.

“The project is not about developing an application for a smart phone, but finding out about people’s travel decision making and whether their behaviour can be changed if they realise 200 other people living alongside them are about to make the same journey,” Dr Dickinson explains.

To read the full BRC please see http://buresearchchronicle.org.uk/

David Skillicorn Prestige Holidays Guest Lecture Series for Tourism Students

Posted . Filed under Guest speakers, News, Student Experience.

Today Level I Tourism Management students received their first of five guest lectures from David Skillicorn of Prestige Holidays as part of their Tour Operations unit.

David will be lecturing the students every Tuesday in the lead up to their assignment for the unit and will be aiming to provide them with industry insight that will help them for not only their assignments but also for their placement year.

David will be covering all aspects of Tour Operations and has over 20 years of experience in the industry himself.

David commented that he believes that interacting with industry is a vital part of a degree and should hopefully help the students gain insights in the tourism industry.

Prestige Holidays were founded in 1989 with the aim to deliver luxury yet affordable holidays.  Their destinations include numerous countries in Europe and America with a range of different holiday styles offered.  Based in Ringwood, they have been organising successful luxury holidays for nearly 25 years

For more information on Prestige holidays please see http://www.prestigeholidays.co.uk/homepage

Bournemouth Research Chronicle: London 2012: the legacy

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Following on from yesterday’s research chronicle blog, today we are posting Richard Shipways’ article.

Richard is holding a free conference on the London 2012 Legacy on Friday 9th November at the EBC, Bournemouth. The conference, called “Going for Gold: Leveraging Post Olympic Tourism Legacies”, is open to anyone and has some fantastic Key Note Speakers.

Visit Britian, Visit England and Visit Manchester will all be present at the conference as well as academics from the sport industry. Free refreshments will be provided. If you are interested in attending please contact Dr Rebecca Edwards on redwards@bournemouth.ac.uk or 01202 961206:

During the Olympic and Paralympic Games the eyes of the world were fixed firmly on the UK. The question is how does a country continue to reap the benefits after such an event?

BU’s Dr Richard Shipway (pictured) is researching the longer term benefits that can be leveraged from the Games, with the aim of informing future policy for major sporting events. This has included working with organisations such as Visit Britain and Visit England to scrutinise their Games-related tourism activity, as well as looking to the past for inspiration.

“We are analysing everything that has worked in the past to take forward to future megaevents, such as the Sochi 2014 Winter Games, the 2014 Brazil Football World Cup and the 2016 Rio Olympics,” he confirms.

The state of Queensland, although distant from the 2000 Games host city Sydney, offers a good example. This region worked hard to capitalise on the tourism potential of hosting the Games with spin-off sports events, promoting itself as a destination for pre-Olympic and Paralympic Games training, identifying benefits for arts and cultural communities and working with local businesses to help them gain contracts and revenues associated with the Olympics.

All these activities were publicised on the global stage. As a result, Queensland won Olympic contracts worth AU $408 million (£262 million), hosted more than 2,500 Olympic and Paralympic athletes from 48 countries, and welcomed 80% of the 181 Olympic teams to train in the region, which brought a further AU $36 million (£23 million) to the economy.

Less quantifiable but equally significant benefits include heightened media exposure and new relationships with partners in the tourism industry.

International models like this will help devise recommendations for tourism legacy initiatives associated with global sports events, and with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games estimated to generate £2.34 billion over a ten year period, it is crucial research.

The potential benefits go beyond economics though. While it is harder to measure social impacts, much of the tourism legacy will hinge on these less tangible aspects. As Dr Shipway puts it: “How can you put a value on civic pride and public engagement? You cannot place a monetary value gained from Mrs Brown carrying the Olympic Torch or the impact of Mr Jones being a 2012 volunteer – but they have a huge societal tourism impact.”

These social impacts influence how the UK is portrayed globally in the media, or the warmth of the welcome that visitors receive when they get here. They can make or break our tourism industry.

With precious little research having previously been invested in the tourism legacies of major sporting events, and a paucity of analysis over successful initiatives in this area, the work produced at BU by Dr Shipway and his colleagues should prove crucial to host nations, both now and in the future. Applied to London 2012, this is research that could keep the eyes of the world focused on the UK for years after the closing ceremonies.

Bournemouth Research Chronicle: Ethical Shopping

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This month, three School of Tourism have had articles posted in the Bournemouth Research Chronicle (BRC). To celebrate this great achievement we will be re-posting their articles across the week on the blog.

First off, Dr Jeff Bray and his article on Ethicial Shopping:

When Dr Jeff Bray started his research into ethical clothing decisions, cheap ‘disposable’ fashion lines were growing rapidly, while many other chains were introducing organic and Fairtrade cotton lines.

“It struck me that the trend towards ultra cheap ‘disposable clothing’ was in opposition to the promotion of carefully sourced lines with ethical provenance,” he says.

His questionnaires went to 3,000 random addresses, with around 400 returned and analysed, making it the first to look at the attitudes of everyday people in the UK. “The big finding is that, although retailers are offering more ethical choices, for the majority of customers ethical considerations are not of primary concern,” he says.

The findings show consumers do not generally consider ethical issues initially. Instead, price, fit, colour and style are all more important. Ethics may still play an influencing role later down the line once they have a shortlist of a couple of items, but it is a later influence rather than a primary factor.

Interestingly received wisdom into the type of people who buy ethical clothing and who care about the issues, suggests it is the preserve of relatively high earners. This was not borne out by Dr Bray’s research, which showed as household income rises, people are less concerned.

The research also found that interest in ethical issues increases with age, with younger consumers (16-24 year olds) caring little about ethical considerations: “Price, style and look are simply so important to young people that it crowds out other considerations,” Dr Bray explained. “As you get older, your moral maturity rises and your knowledge of ethical issues and conscience develops. Ethical issues then become more interesting. However, as you age further, you shop less frequently, and as a consequence you become less aware of the issues, and thus care about them less.”

The study also shows consumers find some ethical issues are more important than others. Almost half of respondents indicated that Fairtrade labelling would make them more likely to buy an item.

“People are prepared to pay more for Fairtrade, they understand it better and they believe that it is more important overall than Organic,” says Dr Bray. Retailers wishing to introduce ethical clothing ranges may therefore be more successful if they favour Fairtrade certified cotton, over organic cotton.

Linked with the positive association with Fairtrade were the findings that consumers were most concerned about sweatshop production practices – with many boycotting or avoiding stores or brands because of highlighted sweatshop production practices.

“Media attention highlighting poor ethical standards within a supply chain is absorbed by consumers and led to some boycotting of the brand,” concludes Dr Bray.

This research has implications for both retailers and campaigners. Retailers could use these findings to help them target their ethical ranges, aiming them at a more mainstream audience, and positioning them adjacent to similar products. They might also follow recommendations to focus their ethical ranges on staples, such as socks, where style and fashion are less important to people.

Campaigners meanwhile can take Dr Bray’s research as encouragement at the effectiveness of media coverage and that it is successful in both planting the issues in people’s minds and in influencing some people’s behaviour. They could even go a step further and use this evidence as added leverage when in dialogue with a company. After all a tarnished image could remain tarnished for many years to come.

To read the full BRC please see http://buresearchchronicle.org.uk/

Bournemouth University’s School of Tourism host International Week with new Erasmus partner universities:

Posted . Filed under Guest speakers, News, Research, Student Experience.

Prof Dr Sebastian Kaiser (SRH University Heidelberg), Dr Tim Breitbarth (BU, Senior Lecturer in Sport Management), Dr Ian Jones (BU, Associate Dean Sport), Gerco van Dalfsen (Hanze University of Applied Sciences Groningen), Dr Stefan Walzel (German Sport University Cologne)

Bournemouth University’s School of Tourism has recently signed three Erasmus agreements with three Universities in Europe to enhance international links to high quality international research and teaching institutions, especially in the area of sport business and events management.

To celebrate this recent agreement Dr Tim Breitbarth (Senior Lecturer in Sport Management) organised various guest lectures, presentations to staff and students as well as informal opportunities to meet and mingle as part of an International Week in Sport and Events Management.

Professor Dr Sebastian Kaiser, a professor in sport and events at the SRH Hochschule Heidelberg; Dr Stefan Walzel a senior lecturer at the German Sport University Cologne, Institute of Sport Economics and Sport Management; and Gerco Van Dalfsen, a program coordinator sport management at Hanze University of Applied Sciences in Groningen and Secretary General of the European Association of Sport Management all took part in international week and also represented their university.

On Wednesday Sebastian, Stefan and Gerco hosted a presentation as part of the School of Tourism Staff Development. A substantial number of colleagues from across School of Tourism, research students and university managers concerned with international development attended the session.

Dr Richard Shipway (Associate Dean International Engagement) framed the presentations by mentioning relevant aspects of BU’s strategy to create more and higher quality international opportunities for staff and students.

 

Gerco, Stefan, Sebastian each presented their respective universities and provided an overview of their study programmes. In particular, they showed how they integrate international student exchange, international competitions and workshops into their programs in order to enhance student abilities and networking. School of Tourism staff were, for example, impressed by the vast and modern sport and scientific infrastructure of the German Sport University Cologne, and the strong international and multidisciplinary focus of sport, events and health programmes at Hanze University. The presentations and opportunities to cooperate led to lively conversations and concrete projects/ideas to follow-up.

The second part of the Lecture on Wednesday saw Stefan and Sebastian present some of their high quality research. :

Stefan provided insights into the discussions around relevance and impacts of the Youth Olympics and the organisation of the first summer and winter Youth Olympics. The particular focus of his empirical investigation was on the use of ambush marketing despite clean venues and no commercial sponsorship allowed at the games. German Sport University Cologne also very successfully integrated student visits and volunteering at the games with both international teaching and study opportunities.

 

Sebastian outlined similarities and peculiarities of events management in sports and culture from socioeconomic theory. In his empirical study he explores the impact of the economic sectors by utilising regression analysis of a dataset from surveys amongst managers within the industry. His major conclusion was that events management may benefit not only from a dialogue between science and practice but particularly from an interdisciplinary perspective integrating theories and approaches from sports and culture management.

 

On Friday, Sebastian and Stefan helped kick off the weekly Research Seminar Series for, mainly, sport science and sport management students. Around 100 students attended and Dr Ian Jones (Associate Dean Sport) pointed out that those regular seminars are to widen student’s horizon and an opportunity to engage with relevant topics that may be beyond their core areas of interest.

The presentations from the international visitors provided the students with a glimpse of how/what their peers in other countries are taught;  an important experience since those universities no longer educate their students for national markets but acknowledge that they have to compete on an international labour market after graduation.

Stefan’s presentation introduced the students to the link between psychological, behavioural and economic dimensions behind corporate hospitality activities at sport events. Whereas the main conclusion from Sebastian’s presentation was that there are different ways to calculate the possible impacts of events based on the same numbers.

 

Students were invited to mingle with the presenters and amongst each other afterwards in Dylan’s Bar and a few students used this opportunity to discuss particular aspects of the respective topics in special and the international sport management in general.

Students that attended the Lectures and Seminars were given the opportunity to win quality merchandise from the new partner universities.

All three of the visiting Lecturers were in Bournemouth for 5 days and were very impressed with the Bournemouth University campus and its facilities, especially our eLearning opportunities / environment.

For further information about the International Week or our new Erasmus partner universities please contact Dr Tim Breitbarth on tbreitbarth@bournemouth.ac.uk or 01202 965113.

 

Bournemouth University’s School of Tourism helps to revolutionise hospital meal times

Posted . Filed under News, Research.

For the first time in the UK, a new system being rolled out across the Royal Bournemouth Hospital will see patients more empowered when it comes to choosing and ordering meals.

 Instead of completing a paper menu a day in advance, a new bedside touch screen system will allow patients to preview dishes of the day and make selections just hours before meals are served.

 The menu, ordered via Hospedia screens, will feature a picture and description of the meal which includes a list of ingredients.

 Terry Reeves, Catering Manager, said: “Our patients are provided with a full range of hot meals, sandwiches, salads and snacks which are planned by the catering team and dieticians.

 “Even when you are not unwell, it is difficult to choose a meal a day in advance – what you feel like eating one day, you may not feel like eating the next. By making a choice on the day, patients are more likely to eat a full meal and get the essential nutrients needed to help their recovery.”

 The changes are partly based on evidence from research undertaken by Dr Heather Hartwell, Associate Professor with the School of Tourism at Bournemouth University. The menu will incorporate elements of her research including details of where the food comes from and if it is organic.

 Heather, who has been working with hospitals since 1999 and studying food service in the hospital environment, found that that patients would eat less of the meal if it was pre-ordered the day before and delivered the following day.

 She said: “Meals are an essential part of patient care, as they are a fundamental factor in aiding recovery.  Current research shows that information about the source of ingredients or nutritional value is a motivating factor when choosing meals.

 “The Royal Bournemouth Hospital and Christchurch Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (RBCH) has always been ahead of the game as Terry and his team work closely with trust dieticians to create innovative, healthy meals which increase patient satisfaction.”

 In line with the NHS movement to enhance the working environment for NHS staff, improvements are also being rolled out in the restaurants at the Royal Bournemouth Hospital and Christchurch Hospitals. Menus are being altered so they are healthier and sourced locally and seasonally, while packaging will soon display a traffic light system so staff, patients and visitors will find it easier to make a healthy choice.

School of Tourism graduate Kasper Roe Iversen shares his story

Posted . Filed under News, Student Experience.

This week International Event Management Top Up Graduate, Kasper Roe Iversen returned to Bournemouth University to meet with his dissertation tutor, Caroline Jackson.  

Kasper’s dissertation focused on Sport Sponsorship and Caroline put him in contact with Rob Mitchell, BALM Graduate and Commercial Director at AFC Bournemouth. 

Kasper and Rob have kept in touch and the business events that were the recommendations of Kasper’s dissertation now has a membership of nearly a thousand.

The current Event Management students will be working with Kasper and his charity event going into the future.

We asked Kasper to provide us with a brief history of what he has been up to since leaving university in Denmark:

I studied service management in Demark and after my studies I worked for a year as a project manager an IT company. I then decided to do the top-up (BA) Hons International Event Management course at Bournemouth University to help me get back into the industry.

My dissertation was about Sport Sponsorship and B2B networking at AFC Bournemouth, which essentially lead to the development of the AFC Business.

 After my top up course, I decided to do a Masters degree. I graduated from the MA in Sport Managements from London Metropolitan University in 2011.

I then secured an internship at Carlsberg Denmark within their sponsorship department. I had the responsibility of looking after their major sponsorships in the 2 Danish Premier League football clubs Esbjerg fB and Silkeborg IF.

After my internship with Carlsberg, I landed a part-time job at a Handball Agency where I help manage the players endorsements.

At the same time, I started up my own company, Sponsor Active. Sponsor Active aims to assist companies in activating their sponsorships.

I have also created a charity football event that focuses on sport sponsorship and CSR. The event has been planned to take part in both Denmark and England. I have formed a partnership with AFC Bournemouth and SOS Children as part of this event.

Students and Lecturers give Slacklining a go in Induction Week:

Posted . Filed under News, Student Experience.

Last week saw new Undergraduate and postgraduate students join Bournemouth University School of Tourism for induction week.

The students were welcomed with activities, talks from Lecturers and talks from SUBU.

One activity students (and lecturers!) got involved with was slacklining. BALM Lecturer Kat King set up a slackline in the front of Poole House with help from Maverick Slack Lines (www.maverickslackines.co.uk).

Slacklining is where you tie a line to two points (i.e. trees) and try to walk across it. It was originally started by surfers and skateboarders as a way to improve balance but soon they realised they could do tricks including flips on the slackline.

Although our lecturers and students weren’t doing any tricks (just yet!), everyone was giving it a go.

In the short time we were there, Events Management and Leisure Marketing programme leader Nick Rowles; Event Management Level C Tutor Teresa Robinson; School of Tourism Director of Operations Robert Hydon and PA to the Executive Zoe Larrad all gave it a go!

You can see our pictures of slacklininig on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/BUSchoolofTourism

For more information on Maverick Slacklining please visit www.maverickslacklines.co.uk or www.facebook.com/maverickslacklines

School of Tourism Staff Successfully Wins Bids to Host Events as part of the ESRC Festival

Posted . Filed under News, Research.

Two School of Tourism staff has successfully won bids to host events as part of the ESRC festival this November.

The ESRC (Economic and Social Research Council) funds research into the big social and economic questions facing us today and the annual ESRC Festival of Social Science is part of this.

Dr Debbie Sadd and Dr Richard Shipway from the School of Tourism are both hosting events as part of the 10th ESRC Festival of Social Science.

Debbie Sadd’s event will take place at Bournemouth University and aims for teenagers to debate the theme of “London 2012: Was it worth it?”

This interactive debate will ask young people (13-18) from Dorset to question whether hosting London 2012 has been benefit to the area in which they live and to the UK as a whole. It will also ask them to consider the impact that the London Games will have on the sporting future of the UK, and to what extent they will take the legacy of London 2012 forward into adulthood.

Young people will be asked to vote (using a digital device integral to the venue) before and after facilitated discussion, following short speeches from representatives from Dorset 2012, Sporting Legacy, Podium and Bournemouth University.

This event has been chosen as there is a growing research agenda on the impact of mega-events on society at a local and national level. Thus researchers recognise the need to engage young people in discussion about how London 2012 has impacted their lives and how they will engage in any legacy.

Richard Shipway’s event will be held at the EBC in Bournemouth and covers the theme of optimising Olympic tourism opportunities after the 2012 Games. The “Going for Gold: Leveraging the Olympic tourism legacy beyond 2012” conference will see keynote speakers discuss the main tourism opportunities that will fall in the years immediately after the Games

Following the conclusion of the London 2012 Games, the conference will investigate the potential for the London Olympics to generate tourism benefits long after the hosting of the Games.

The workshop will look at issues surrounding the management, organisation and analysis of mega event sport tourism, building on the outcomes of a previous ESRC funded project (RES-810-21-0013) which explored the impacts and issues associated with sport tourism development. 

 Drawing from the experiences of both academics and industry practitioners involved in both the London Games and other global mega sports events, delegates will debate potential strategies to optimise the success of managing tourism in the post 2012 era.

The conference is aimed primarily at tourism business communities across the South West and South of England (incorporating London), exploring the potential to leverage tourism benefits.

From an academic perspective, the aim of the event is to revisit the theme of Olympic tourism by inviting delegates to consider advances which are theoretically grounded in one or more of the core social sciences. Key workshop sessions will be facilitated by stakeholders involved with the delivery of the 2012 Games including Visit Britain, Visit London, London Organising Committee for the Olympic Games (LOCOG), European Tour Operators Association (ETOA), and leading academic tourism experts. 

Debbie Sadd’s event is November 5th and Richard Shipway’s is on November 9th.

We will be covering both the events extensively via blogs and other social media.

If you would like to attend Richard Shipway’s event please contact Dr Rebecca Edwards on redwards@bournemouth.ac.uk or 01202 961206

For more information on either events please contact Naomi Kay (nkay@bournemouth.ac.uk) or visit the ESRC website