February 7, 2013

Simon was interviewed by Andrea Mock from WLTX News on Friday, February 7th.  In the interview, Simon recommended three 'one-tank' romantic trips that viewers could take in South Carolina.  His Valentine suggestions were The Sanctuary on Kiawah Island, The Wilcox in Aiken, and The Vendue Inn in Charleston.

Simon’s new book – Customer Service for Hospitality and Tourism – is now out and available for purchase. The new book explains the theory behind the importance of customer service, and acts as a guidebook for those wishing to put this theory into practice. Collected from all over the world, numerous case studies throughout the book look at customer service in practice. The book is available online at Goodfellowpublishers.com. 

Simon Hudson has been asked to be a contributing editor to Hotel Business Review, an online journal for hotel executives (http://hotelexecutive.com). Over the next 12 months, Simon will write 6 articles on various topics for the journal, which is viewed weekly by thousands of industry practitioners. His first article, to appear in February, is about the service recovery paradox.

The Center's Graduate Assistant, Karen Irene Thal, presented at the 18th Annual Graduate Education and Graduate Student Research Conference in Hospitality and Tourism, held January 3-5, 2013 in Seattle, Washington. The presentation, based on the paper entitled "In Word and Deed: The Processes and Promises of Corporate Greening" was a collaborative effort with the Center's Dr. Cardenas and fellow doctoral student Tarik Dogru.  The session was well attended and topic well received.

Stefanie Benjamin, a USC PhD Student presented at the Race, Ethnicity and Place Conference in Puerto Rico regarding how African American residents place value on heritage sites within Columbia, South Carolina.

Simon Hudson was interviewed this morning on ETV Radio's South Carolina Business Review. He was talking about his new initiative to find entrepreneurs who want to start a tourism business in our state. The interview can be heard at:

http://www.scetv.org/index.php/sc_business_review/show/usc_looking_for_tourism_entrepreneurs/

 

 

Simon was also a guest last week on USC'S student radio show. Here is a picture of Simon with his DJ son Rupert, a student in the international business program at the Moore School of Business. 

Have you ever wondered why customer service is the exception rather than the norm? Why is it that some companies like Disney, Four Seasons and Virgin get it right, when so many others fail? A new book about customer service in the tourism and hospitality sector by Simon Hudson answers these questions and more. Given the critical importance of customer service for this sector, it is remarkable that this is the first comprehensive text that deals with this important topic. The book will be useful for both students and practitioners as it explains not only the theory behind the importance of customer service but also acts as a guidebook for those wishing to put this theory into practice. In essence it is the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of customer service. The book is easy to read, very current, and full of references to all the latest research from both academic and practitioner literature. The book called  “Customer Service for Hospitality and Tourism” is co-authored by Dr. Hudson's travel-writer wife Louise, and will be available to purchase through Goodfellow Publishers in the U.K.