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Due to increase in travel and tourism in the region, and Botswana in particular, the demand for leisurerelated accommodation and hospitality has grown. Hence, the Botswana government has taken measures to reserve small tourism enterprises to empower citizens, promote these businesses and develop various tourism destinations across the country. Generally, there has been a slow development of guesthousebased tourism in some rural settlements in the country. Therefore, the purpose of this exploratory study was to assess the potential of guesthouse-based tourism and hospitality using Maun; a tourism dominated village, as a case study. Data were collected from seventeen commercial and domestic guesthouses using a mixed methods approach. Empirical data analysis revealed that most were ungraded commercial guesthouses; there were more male than female citizen owners and there was a general poor marketing of facilities with heavy reliance on word of mouth and face book. Other findings include the impacts of tourism seasonality on the occupancy rate; stiff competition within the domestic tourism sector; water shortage, frequent power cuts and poor internet connectivity. On the positive, word of mouth was found to be the most common and effective strategy for advertising, guesthouse-based tourism provides opportunities for local job creation; provision of budget oriented lodging and family recreation and socialization places. Guesthouse based tourism also provides income generation for the local people and contributes to the increased visibility of Maun, as a tourist destination. However, guesthouse businesses that are not exposed to marketing and the location of the facility or property is unknown or somewhat inaccessible, may lose their share of the bigger tourism gain at the destination. Some policy and management changes are suggested to improve guesthouse based tourism, domestic tourism and the benefits accruing to local ownership. Guesthouse based tourism businesses should equally be integrated into the popular and lucrative ecotourism and safari based tourism of northern Botswana. Above all, the study recommends similar research for other touristic towns and major rural villages in the country and worldwide so as to enhance guesthouse potential and bolster income levels for especially rural communities.

The alignment between an employee’s work role and his/her beliefs, attitudes, values and behaviours (meaning) are critical human resource issues in guest house operations. This is because, compared to classified hotels, guest houses have a larger percentage of untrained personnel. For those with hospitality training, they are usually recruited as supervisors. This notwithstanding, the owners of guest houses tend to dictate and control almost all the operations, thus lowering employee empowerment; a major source of job satisfaction. This study sought to determine the influence of meaning, a dimension of psychological empowerment, on job satisfaction of guest house supervisors. A descriptive survey study design, focusing on the seventy-six registered guest houses in Mombasa County was used. The study utilized census, where all the supervisors in all the registered guest houses in Mombasa County were included. Primary data was collected through a semi-structured questionnaire. Pre-testing was done in three guest houses and the remaining seventy-three were included in the study. Data was analysed by means, percentages and standard deviations. Pearson correlation coefficient and linear regression were used to establish the relationship between the study variables. Findings revealed that there existed a positive and significant influence (p< 0.05) of meaning on job satisfaction (r= 0.765). This study could well be of critical importance to guest house entrepreneurs and managers who would be able to formulate and implement empowerment strategies for their supervisors and other staff. In addition, it will be helpful to organizations such as the Kenya National Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the Federation of Kenyan Employers, the Kenya Association of Hotelkeepers and Caterers and Pubs Entertainment and Restaurant Association of Kenya, in sensitizing their various members on the importance of aligning employee’s work roles to their beliefs, attitudes, values and behaviours.

This study focused on guesthouses and aimed to examine the dimensions of experience quality, determine customers’ perceptions of experience quality and investigate various relationships: between the experience quality dimensions and experience quality; between experience quality and satisfaction; and between satisfaction and behavioural intentions. A structural equation model confirmed these relationships. The findings of the study resulted from the views of 541 customers of 51 guesthouses in Ghana. The results will assist guesthouse managers in developing and implementing a competitive customer experience strategy that can enhance customer satisfaction, positive behavioural intentions, growth and sustainability.