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Quality is a price determinant in most products. However, establishment of a quality evaluation for the consumer is not an easy proposition. In the hospitality industry, fortunately, room quality evaluation and price information are readily available for consumers from published consumer guides. The Mobil Travel Guide is one of the more popular sources of hotel information available to consumers. The Mobil Travel Guide awards "stars" based on the level of quality their investigators deem appropriate. To investigate the relationship between quality and price in the hospitality industry, this study analyzes hotel managements' pricing behavior before and after a quality rating change by the Mobil Travel Guide. Data is gleaned from the Guide in several provinces and states in Canada and the United States from the relatively stable economic growth period of 1991 through 1999. The results reveal that hotel organizations raised prices before gaining a "star" and lowered prices before losing a "star." The study concludes with a discussion of the implications of this pricing pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Consumer guide information in the tourism industry is designed to provide consumers with information in such areas as value and quality. However, hotel managements are also aware of consumer guide ratings. This study analyzes hotel managements' pricing behavior before and after a change in value rating for hotels. Specifically, pricing and value information on hotels from the Mobil Travel Guides relating to several states and provinces in the US and Canada were analyzed. The Mobil Travel Guides awards a "check" to hotels that they deem a good value. The results indicate that hotel managements altered theft pricing strategies before and after the gain or loss of a "check" by Mobil. These pricing changes were significantly different from hotels not gaining or losing a "check." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While military science offers a novel perspective for assessing competitive marketing situations, the Japanese martial art of karate may generate further insight for Western decision-makers in marketing strategies and tactics. Offered is an overview of the karate refining dimension of kata, the readiness element of kamae, continuity aspect of zanshin, and the importance of “soft” techniques with examples of their specific use by Japanese firms in business competition with Western companies. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The widely circulated Mobil Travel Guide rates restaurants on a scale of one to five stars. In a study spanning some two decades, the authors investigated whether changes in Mobil's ratings affected price changes in restaurants in four areas: Illinois, Massachusetts, Ontario, and Quebec. In general, restaurants that gained a Mobil star raised their prices more than those for which the rating was unchanged. An exception occurred in Ontario, where "unchanged" restaurants raised their prices in similar proportion to those that gained a star. Contrary to expectations, price changes by restaurants that lost a star were not substantially different from those that remained unchanged in the ratings, although the "demoted" restaurants raised the prices of certain menu items by a greater percentage than did unchanged restaurants. This effect was noted in all regions except Illinois, where price increases by demoted restaurants were smaller than unchanged restaurants. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]