Introduction to the Hospitality Industry, is one of a multitude of relatively generic introductory textbooks about the hospitality industry now widely available across the global publishing world. It contains 15 chapters, divided into five different sections. The text begins with an explanation of hospitality as a career. This is followed by three successive sections that begin to explore the core dimensions of the hospitality industry including: different types and issues associated with food service; the broad context of lodging; and a discussion of travel and tourism as the umbrella in which these hospitality sectors function. The concluding section/chapter brings the text back together with a discussion about the concept of service in “hospitality as a service industry”.
So what then makes this particular text any better, special or deserved of extra attention over all the others currently on the market? The answer in part perhaps lies in the fact that this book has now reached its eighth edition, suggesting a well‐used text that remains current and in demand across the field of hospitality education. The answer also perhaps lies in the second sentence on the back cover, which acknowledges the ever changing nature of tourism and hospitality, claiming:Introduction to the Hospitality Industry provides readers with the most up‐to‐date content in order to ensure that the next generation of hospitality leaders is fully prepared to meet the challenges of this dynamic industry.This statement, however, raises the inevitable question of how this apparently “fully revised” eighth edition (available in February 2011, but with a 2012 publication date) actually does provide a progression of this “classic text” over and above the seventh edition (circa 2009)? What has been done with this new edition that will “ensure” the “next generation” is “fully prepared” as it claims? This is of course somewhat more difficult to answer, but may in part be justified by the additions and revisions possibly made by the inclusion of a third contributing author to the eighth edition, Dennis Reynolds.
So how then does a “fully revised” eighth edition actually improve upon the recently published seventh edition? What has been changed, amended or improved that justifies the eighth edition, while making the seventh edition inevitably redundant to both educators and students alike (the latter for whom re‐selling their introductory (seventh edition) text to the next intake of hospitality students is lost)? Some of the additions are highlighted in the preface in terms of the “benefits for instructors” and perhaps in the additional instructors manual (not reviewed). Further additions though are perhaps best identified through a comparison of the table of contents, past and present, where the inclusion of additional sections, rather than a few scattered sentences, words or photographs, really becomes apparent:
Chapter 1, “The hospitality industry and you” now includes a paragraph on “sustainability” and a 2½ page case‐study entitled “Leading the charge in going green – orchard hotels”.
Chapter 3, “The restaurant business”, includes an additional ½ page case‐study on “Subway and entrepreneurship” and a page long discussion on the concept of “fast‐casual restaurants”.
Chapter 7, “On‐site food service” has been extended with a two page section on “health care food‐service department organisation”.
Chapter 8, “Issues facing food service” has changed its discussion on issues of food waste from “managing the waste stream”, to what is now a 5 page section entitled “the greening of the restaurant industry”.
Chapter 12, “Competition in the lodging business” includes a revised case‐study entitled “Travel Intermediaries: Utell Hotels and Resorts” (previously it was “Travel Intermediaries: Utell Acquires Unirez”).
Chapter 13, “Tourism front and centre” has dropped the sub‐section about the issue of “growing leisure time”, and revised the case‐study note on “volunteer tourism” to include the phrase “voluntourism”, now considered a common term of reference.
Chapter 14, “Destinations: tourism generators” has down‐graded the section on “casinos and gaming” to become a sub‐section of “Planned Play Environments”, and drops another sub‐section altogether related to Nevada entitled “Laughlin (Clark County)”.
Apart from these core changes, the other eight chapters (2, 4, 5, 6, 9, 10, 11 and 15) appear not to have been significantly edited, at least in so far as this might alter the content description for these chapters. This is not to suggest these chapters have not indeed benefited from editorial scrutiny, but rather to note that any changes that have been made do not seem to have been significant enough to be highlighted in any special way.
So for the prospective reader and potential purchaser of a generic introductory hospitality text, does this eighth edition of Introduction to the Hospitality Industry, “fully revised” as claimed on the back cover, represent an improvement over the seventh edition? Should people seek out this text and reconcile their own seventh edition to the dusty bookshelves of academe? Perhaps more importantly though does the eighth edition still represent “value for money” as an introductory text? In terms of the two former questions, the answer is clearly debatable: yes the eighth edition does provide enhanced discussion in some sections, but whether or not this actually justifies a new edition remains questionable. The latter question, however (that of “value‐for‐money”), in this case is perhaps more contestable, and possibly much more contentious.
As it turns out the eighth edition of Introduction to the Hospitality Industry is not actually unique! Notwithstanding it is an eighth edition so it will emulate previous editions, but in this case the identical text, word for word, appears simultaneously in another book published by the same three authors, by the same publishers, with the same publication date of 2012, but under the slightly different title of Introduction to Management in the Hospitality Industry – 10th Edition (ISBN 978‐0‐470‐39974‐3). There are of course differences between the two books: the inclusion of the word “management” in the title being the more obvious at first. Yet when you open either book, the first 14 chapters of both are identical, word for word, page by page, and the final chapters (15 or 21 respectively) are again the same. The key difference between them is that the “introduction to management” text includes an additional 6 chapters (15‐20) on “management” topics which are not included in the eighth edition of Introduction to the Hospitality Industry. While this duplication of material (approximately 75 percent of the tenth edition “management” text is identical to, and forms the complete eighth edition “intro” text), is a point of concern and worthy of further debate, here the key question remains: does the eighth edition of Introduction to the Hospitality Industry represent “value‐for money”? The answer is this: the eighth edition of Introduction to the Hospitality Industry is a 576 page paperback, retailing at Wiley.com for $89.95 US, while the tenth edition of Introduction to Management in the Hospitality Industry (with the exact same material, plus six additional chapters), is a 752 page hardcover book, also retailing at Wiley.com, but for a mere $4 US more at $93.95 US? You do the math!
