Hotel performance and labour inputs in three large hotel chains

Williams, Allan (2018). Hotel performance and labour inputs in three large hotel chains. [Data Collection]. Colchester, Essex: UK Data Archive. 10.5255/UKDA-SN-852079

This project analyses the extent to which labour productivity is determined by flexible work practices and the employment of international migrant workers in hotels, a relatively neglected but significant source of output and jobs. It also examines the extent to which there is a relationship between work flexibility and the employment of migrants, and how the interaction between these influences firm performance. In more general terms, the research contributes to the continuing debate about the performance of the UK economy, and its ‘productivity gap’.

The project overcomes the limitations of secondary data by having privileged access to a unique data base for three large companies, with some 80 hotels in the UK and the Netherlands. This provides data not just at establishment level, or even at departmental level, but at individual employee level. Data is recorded on an hourly basis for different types of labour inputs (part time, contracted, seasonal etc.) over a continuous five year period. Outputs are measured in terms of both service outcomes (rooms occupied etc.) and financial terms. The availability of data for 2007-13 also allows analysis of how firms have responded to a changing operating environment through the economic crisis.

Data description (abstract)

The data collection covers data on the hotel performance (outputs) and the labour inputs for three large hotel chains in the UK and the Netherlands.

The hotel performance variables mainly concern a hotel’s revenue and its financial productivity. The labour inputs variables mainly concern the number of workers and their working hours under different employment contracts. Flexibility of labour in terms of the shifts of working hours and inter-departmental transfer is also taken into consideration.

The data are not only at the establishment level, but also at the departmental level for room service department and food and beverage departments. Each entry corresponds to an individual employee. The data collection is intended to be used for assessing and comparing hotels' labour productivity.

Data creators:

Creator Name	Affiliation	ORCID (as URL)
Williams Allan	University of Surrey

Sponsors:

ESRC

Grant reference:

ES/K00655X/1

Topic classification:

Trade, industry and markets
Labour and employment

Keywords:

hotel performance, labour and employment, labour productivity, hotel and catering industry

Project title:

Labour productivity, work flexibility and international migration in hotels

Grant holders:

Allan Williams, Sangwon Park, Andrew Lockwood

Project dates:

From	To
1 October 2013	30 June 2015

Date published:

03 Dec 2015 14:21

Last modified:

16 Aug 2018 08:08

Coverage and Methodology

Access and Administration

Data sourcing, processing and preparation:

The data were extracted from Eproductive’s data base. SQL Anywhere 16 has been used to access the data base. Structured query language (SQL) is a programming language that is able to extract data based on the criteria set out by the researchers. In this data collection, the variables to be extracted were informed by literature and business meetings with research partners. The data primarily reflect a hotel's revenue, the working hours of its workers, and the labour costs. The inputs are recorded on an hourly basis for different types of work arrangement (part time, contracted, seasonal etc.) over a continuous period, wherever possible back to 2005, and ending in December 2013. The outputs are measured in terms of both service outcomes (rooms occupied etc.) and financial terms, and available on a daily basis. In the data collection, all the data have been converted to calendar month periods. The calculation and preparation of the variables in the data collection are explained in the ReadMe file.

Rights owners: