Purpose: Despite their popularity among tourists, information about low-cost accommodation is limited. The study aims to focus on hostels as tourist accommodation. The purpose of this paper is to document the perceptions of hostel front-desk employees about customers and examine employees’ perceptions from a cultural perspective. As culture moderates behavior in general, in light of the cultural difference postulate which proposes that guests and hosts who are from similar or proximate cultures are more likely to experience positive service encounter and that encounter between guests and hosts from distant cultures may be more challenging to service providers, the study compares the perceptions of hostel Western front-desk employees with those of Eastern front-desk employees of their customers. Customers are categorized into four groups – Western customers, Eastern, Middle Eastern/Arab and African. Exploratory interviews paved the development of perception items, which were later on used in a questionnaire to serve the study’s purpose. The paper has managerial and theoretical implications and offers suggestions for further research to advance understanding about this neglected tourism environment.Design/methodology/approach: Preliminary/exploratory short interviews with hostel employees in London paved the development of perception items, which were later on used in a questionnaire. There are about 190 hostels in the London area. The questionnaire was self-administered and successfully completed by 113 front-desk employees working in London hostels.t-test statistics was used to examine whether the two groups of employees hold different perceptions about their culturally different group of customers.Findings: Results indicate that, generally, differences in perception exist among hostel employees about their customer groups. For example, Western customers are perceived as nicer and more tip-givers than Eastern customers, but they also complain more and are more demanding than their counterparts. Asian customers are perceived to be friendlier, least troublesome and least demanding than the other customer groups. African customers are the least positively perceived. As for Middle Eastern (Arab) customers, they are perceived rather somewhat positively and yet the least favorite. Furthermore, no statistical differences were observed between Western employees and Eastern employees’ perceptions about their customer groups, except that the latter perceives Asian customers to be more troublesome and more complaining.Research limitations/implications: Although researchers have compared Western people’s behaviors and attitudes with those of Eastern people, differences may also exist within cultural groups, especially between East Europeans and West Europeans, between Middle Eastern and North Africans or between Americans and Canadians, despite cultural proximity. Therefore, it is always reasonable to interpret cultural differences studies cautiously.Practical implications: Hostel management is advised not to take cultural proximity/distance between employees and customers for granted and, thus, should not assume that Eastern employees are more likely to provide better service to Eastern customers than Western employees or that Western employees are more likely to do so to Western customers because they are culturally similar or proximate. In an increasingly globalized world and mobile and culturally diverse workforce in the hospitality sector, it becomes necessary to raise employees’ awareness about cultural differences and their probable effects on perceptions. This is especially true for hostels because of their social characteristic.Originality/value: Despite the importance of hostels to the tourism and hospitality industry, not much is known about their customers or their employees. In addition to contributing to employee perception in general, which is also a neglected area of study, this paper used cultural distance/proximity to assess differences in perception between Eastern employees and Western employees about four culturally different groups of hostel customers. In light of the impacts of globalization on consumer behavior, this paper joins other research to challenge the cultural distance postulate in the service encounter context.

Purpose: This study aims to further an understanding of hospitality employees’ perceptions of their customers in the context of service encounter by utilizing the concepts of contact hypothesis and cultural distance in a multi-ethnic environment. The study compares perceptions of Chinese immigrants working in restaurants of their British patrons (from a remote culture) and Chinese patrons (from a proximate culture). The service encounter takes place in the London Chinatown. The dynamics of Chinatown as a “third space” adds complexity to service encounter and employee perceptions.Design/methodology/approach: A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to 118 Chinese restaurant employees in the Soho area of the London Chinatown. Perception questions were based on interviews undertaken in an earlier phase of the research. A pairedt-test was run to identify significant differences in the Chinese restaurant employees’ perceptions of the Chinese and British patrons. Discriminant analysis was performed to determine which perception variables discriminated the most between the two patron groups.Findings: Despite cultural proximity, the perceptions held by Chinese restaurant employees of their nationals were negative compared to the perceptions of British patrons. Out of 16, in 15 areas of measurement, there were significant differences in the Chinese restaurant employees’ perceptions’ of their Chinese and British guests. Six variables that discriminated the most between the two groups of guests were no tips, not polite, loud, no compliment, messy and demanding.Research limitations/implications: Research in ethnic and minority quarters, such as Chinatown in London, may suffer from “recall bias”, or in this case from making the difference between customer groups. Also, the Chinese are not a homogeneous group. For example, despite cultural similarity with mainstream culture, cultural and behavioral characteristics may exist between residents from the South, North and Hong Kong.Practical implications: The cultural diversity of the industry’s employees necessitates managing cultural diversity effectively, especially in the sectors that rely heavily on guest–employee interaction. Perceptions affect attitudes and behavior. Training programs about perception and its roots may bridge the service gap in high-contact service encounters.Originality/value: This study provides a ground for future empirical research into understanding the immigrant employees’ perceptions of their guests, nationals versus non-nationals and the ways for improving these perceptions. Taking the example of Chinatown as a dynamic “third space” is another approach to understanding the effects of “ethnoscape” on encounters in a more globalized village.

While there is a well-established body of recreational travel motivation literature, relatively little is known about travel motivation in the Arab world. This paper focuses on Kuwaiti citizens and uses Iso-Ahola’s seeking and escaping motivational theory to explore their motives and shed light on their behaviour. In-depth interviews and focus groups were conducted and a list of 108 motivations was generated. The study identifies seeking and escaping elements in relation to five identified types of recreational travel, documents core motivations, and introduces the paradox of seeking and escaping as a theoretical framework to support further studies focused on Arab recreational travel. What is typically an element of periodic escape paradoxically becomes a desirable, sought after element, depending on the type of recreational travel pursued. The paper offers a contribution towards the sociological understanding of Arab recreational travel.

Food waste is a real environmental challenge worldwide. It is a major sin in Islam; yet it is ubiquitous in Muslim society, a society where the majority of people say that Islam is critical in their life. Ingrained in moral aspects of overconsumption, a conundrum this paradox study tries to unravel is why plate waste is prevalent in the Arab Muslim society, despite the teaching of the Quran [Muslim’s holy book] and Sunna [teaching and acts of prophet Muhammad] against wanton waste. The influence of religiosity on environmental concern and intentions to reduce food waste in Islam and Christianity has been widely examined. However, our understanding of why religious people waste food remains limited. This serendipitous qualitative inquiry is the first to examine food waste from the nexus triad -food waste, hospitality, and religion, and comprehensively. Findings suggest that the conception of contemporary Arab hospitality, entrenched in Karam/generosity, and entangled with the interpretation of sin and God’s mercy, is a major contributing factor to plate waste perpetuation. The gravity of food waste warrants a new conceptualization of Arab generosity. Suggestions for plate waste prevention in this cultural context, grounded in the interviews and the Quran, are presented.

Both academics and practitioners increasingly emphasize employee engagement as a means to generate higher levels of job performance and organizational success. While the employee engagement literature is well established not much is known about employee engagement in the Arab region and engagement of the expatriate’s workforce living in these countries is non-existent despite their importance and disproportionate number compared to the local population. This paper focused on the antecedents of employee engagement of expats residing in Kuwait. It examined the relationship between employee engagement, service climate, co-worker support, and psychological capital. On the second level of analysis, we assessed the relationship between employee engagement and organizational citizenship behavior, employee engagement and quit intention. We also examined the extent to which job satisfaction is impacted by OCB. Results are based on 536 cases. Two software statistical packages (SPSS 25.0 and AMOS 24.0) are used for the analyses. The SEM results revealed that service climate, co-worker support, and psychological capital were positively related to employee engagement. Furthermore, we found that employee engagement has a positive relationship with OCB. However, employee engagement does not have any significant relationship with quit intention. Finally, the results showed that OCB is negatively associated with quit intention. Seven hypotheses were tested and subsequent managerial implications are provided. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings provide detailed and novel insights.