Abstract
This thesis examines four types of contractual arrangements within the hotel and catering industry: franchising, hotel management contracts, "catering contracts" and tied house tenancies. It aims to portray the operating and financial characteristics of such arrangements and their participants, to indicate their significance, to assess their functional value as methods of marketing, financing, management and purchasing, and to suggest the probable development of franchising in the provision of hotel, catering and related services and the consequent implications. Chapter one details objectives, scope and methodology. Selected literature is critically reviewed in chapter two. Detailed definitions of the arrangements are provided in chapter three and distinguished from other similar relationships. Chapter four is devoted to a survey of the historical background and reasons for growth of the arrangements, including (where applicable) the American as well as the British background. A profile of those involved in the four types of relationship, a detailed analysis of terms governing them, and an assessment of the extent to which obligations are performed and rights enforced are based on empirical findings and included in chapters five, six, seven and eight which relate respectively to catering contracts, hotel management contracts, the tied house system and franchising. In chapter nine an assessment and comparison is made of external and internal factors influencing the arrangements and an analysis is made of the dynamics of each relationship. The advantages and disadvantages of franchising to the franchisor, franchisee, consumer and national economy are assessed in chapter ten, and recommendations made for the optimal organization of franchise schemes. Chapter eleven explores the applicability of franchising in the light of social and economic trends. Its probable development within sectors of the hotel and catering industry and implications for those in the industry, its suppliers and consumers are suggested in chapter twelve.