HOTEL MANAGEMENT

 

Research Team Members:

Kontakt:

Contact: PhD Ivana Blešić, Full Professor
Phone: +381 21 485 28 35
Email: ivana.blesic@gmail.com

Research Background:

With the development of global tourism, there arose a need to improve hospitality and its most important sectors: hotel management and gastronomy. This has increased the interest of young people in studying these areas. The Hotel management research group focuses on a wide range of topics related to the development of the hotel industry, covering several key areas:

  • Hotel Service Quality Management: Analysis of models such as GAP, SERVQUAL, DINESERV, and HOLSAT to measure guest satisfaction and identify key areas for improving hotel and restaurant services.
  • Sustainability in Hospitality: Research into ecological practices such as efficient resource use, waste reduction, and clean technologies, aimed at creating sustainable business models that improve competitiveness and meet the demands of eco-conscious guests.
  • Digitalization and Technology in Hospitality: Focus on the impact of digital technologies in optimizing hotel operations, including the use of hotel management systems (PMS) and contactless technologies to improve guest experience and operational efficiency.
  • Employee Motivation and Satisfaction: Studies focus on employee motivation and satisfaction, analyzing the impact of training and motivational strategies on productivity and engagement.
  • Customer Reviews: Guest feedback from platforms like TripAdvisor and Booking.com is analyzed to adjust services and business strategies, leading to increased guest satisfaction and loyalty.

Members of the Hotel Management Research Group, in addition to their teaching responsibilities, are involved in numerous interdisciplinary scientific projects (IPA, national, and provincial) that integrate knowledge from related fields, allowing for a comprehensive approach to research and problem-solving. Additionally, they conduct training for the Micros Fidelio Suite 8 hotel management software.

Projects:

  • SY_CULTour – Synergy of Culture and Tourism: Utilization of cultural potentials in less favored rural regions. Transnational cooperation programme, South East Europe – Application ID: SEE/B/0017/4.3/X (2011-2014).
  • Feasibility Study for the Construction of a High-Category Hotel with Aqua Park, JP Sports and Business Center “Vojvodina”, Novi Sad, and Faculty of Sciences, Novi Sad (2017).
  • The Role and Importance of Social Tourism in the Context of Sustainable Tourism Development in Vojvodina, Program for the Development of Scientific Research in AP Vojvodina in 2022.
  • Intangible Cultural Heritage in the Function of Preserving the National Identity of the Montenegrin Ethnic Group in Vojvodina, Program for Funding Scientific and Development Research Projects of National Minorities in AP Vojvodina in 2023.
  • Contemporary Issues and Sustainability of Urban Settlements in Vojvodina, Provincial Secretariat for Higher Education and Scientific Research, (2021/2024).
  • Cultural Tourism for the Preservation of the National Identity of the Croats of Vojvodina, Provincial Secretariat for Higher Education and Scientific Research, (2019/2020).
  • Effects of Tourism Development in Rural Areas, Provincial Secretariat for Higher Education and Scientific Research, (2017-2018).
  • Cultural Tourism in Vojvodina for the Preservation of the National Identity of National Minorities, Provincial Secretariat for Science and Technological Development, (2013-2014).

Selected References:

  1. Ivkov, M., Blešić, I., Dudić, B., Pajtinková Bartáková, G., & Dudić, Z. (2020). Are future professionals willing to implement service robots? Attitudes of hospitality and tourism students towards service robotization. Electronics, 9(9), 1442.
  2. Blešić, I., Tepavčević, J., & Bradić, M. (2023). Occupational stress indicators in the hotel industry: the case of housekeeping and front office employees. BizInfo (Blace) Journal of Economics, Management and Informatics, 14(1), 1-7.
  3. Božović, T., Blešić, I., Nedeljković-Knežević, M., Đeri, L., & Pivac, T. (2021). Resilience of tourism employees to changes caused by COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of the Geographical Institute “Jovan Cvijic”, SASA, 71(2), 181-194.
  4. Demirović Bajrami, D., Petrović, M. D., Sekulić, D., Radovanović, M. M., Blešić, I., Vuksanović, N., … & Tretiakova, T. N. (2022). Significance of the work environment and personal resources for employees’ well-being at work in the hospitality sector. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19(23), 16165.
  5. Tepavčević, J., Dubover, D. A., & Nikolić, G. (2023). Mining meaning from online hotel reviews: identification of determinants of (dis-) satisfaction using Latent Dirichlet allocation. Journal of the Geographical Institute “Jovan Cvijic” SASA, 73(3), 339-354.
  6. Čerović, S., Blešić, I., Tepavčević, J., Vukosav, S., Garača, V., & Bradić, M. (2020). The influence of heavy work investment on work outcomes in the hospitality industry in Serbia. Amfiteatru Economic, 22(14), 1243-1264.
  7. Tepavčević, J., Vukosav, S., & Bradić, M. (2021). The impact of demographic factors on work-family conflict and turnover intentions in the hotel industry. Management in Hospitality and Tourism, 9(2), 25-36.
  8. Cimbaljevic, M., Bajrami, D. D., Kovacic, S., Blesic, I., & Pivac, T. (2023). Education Effects on Job-Related Constructs Among Frontline Employees in the Hotel Industry. Enlightening Tourism. A Pathmaking Journal, 13(2), 1-34.
  9. Ivkov, M., Blešić, I., Janićević, S., Kovačić, S., Miljković, Ð., Lukić, T., & Sakulski, D. (2019). Natural disasters vs hotel industry resilience: An exploratory study among hotel managers from Europe. Open Geosciences, 11(1), 378-390.