HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM CLUSTER CORE SAMPLE EXAM QUESTIONS

The Hospitality and Tourism Cluster Core Sample Exam will assist in preparing participants in the following events: 1. Hospitality and Tourism Professional Selling Event 2. Hospitality Services Team Decision Making Event 3. Hotel and Lodging Management Series Event 4. Quick Serve Restaurant Management Series Event 5. Restaurant and Food Service Management Series Event 6. Travel and Tourism Team Decision Making Event These test questions were developed by the MBA Research Center. Items have been randomly selected from the MBA Research Center’s Test-Item Bank and represent a variety of instructional areas. Performance indicators for these test questions are at the prerequisite, career-sustaining, and specialist levels. A descriptive test key, including question sources and answer rationale, has been provided. Copyright © 2012 by MBA Research and Curriculum Center®, Columbus, Ohio Each individual test item contained herein is the exclusive property of MBA Research Center. Items are licensed only for use as configured within this exam, in its entirety. Use of individual items for any purpose other than as specifically authorized in writing by MBA Research Center is prohibited. HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM CLUSTER CORE SAMPLE EXAM QUESTIONS 1. From a legal standpoint, hospitality and tourism customers have the right to expect businesses in this industry to take A. reasonable care. C. insurance out of each customer. B. no risks. D. total responsibility for accidents. 2. A local, gourmet restaurant has decided to sell its baked goods through its website. To ensure that as many people as possible are told about the new store, the marketing communications director is appearing on a noon talk show to offer incentives to people placing orders on the website the first day. What two marketing activities had to be coordinated in this situation? A. Channel management and promotion B. Marketing-information management and product/service management C. Product/service management and promotion D. Channel management and marketing-information management 3. David works for a busy travel agency. On Thursday, a client calls David and requests information about a two-week Caribbean cruise. David needs to do some research before he can provide the client with the desired information. Which of the following is the best way for David to respond to the client's inquiry: A. "I'm in the middle of something right now. Call me back in 15 minutes." B. “I'm very busy right now, so I'll get back to you when I have time.” C. “I don't have information about this cruise. I'll ask my supervisor to call you next week.” D. “I need to look into this, but will call you back by the end of the day with an answer.” 4. Which of the following factors has expanded the concept of place in the hospitality and tourism industry: A. Global distribution systems C. Methods for reaching new target markets B. Differentiated pricing strategies D. Customization of services 5. One of the main ways that hospitality and tourism contributes to economic growth is through A. provision of conference space. C. visitor exports. B. sustainable resources. D. use of global positioning systems. 6. Tim thought his manager told him to have the sales report done by 2:00 on Thursday, but his manager actually wanted the report by noon on Tuesday. When the report was not ready on Tuesday, Tim's manager became irritated with him. What was the reason for the disagreement or conflict? A. Authority struggles C. Miscommunication B. Limited resources D. Inconsistent opinions 7. Which of the following is essential to record at the time money is taken from petty cash: A. Account to which transaction should be charged B. General purpose of the transaction C. Person or business name that will be paid the money D. Name of person who witnessed the cash withdrawal 8. The sales manager at a full-service resort will be using the results of a marketing-research study for planning purposes. Which of the following is a question that the sales manager should ask: A. What promotional mix has been most effective? B. Are our guests satisfied with our services? C. What new distribution channels could we use? D. How can we lower our costs? 9. Trends indicate that a large segment of the population is between 60- and 70-years-old. A hospitality/tourism business can act on this trend by A. selling international vacation packages to recent college graduates. B. developing tour products specifically designed to appeal to retirees. C. offering discounted hotel rates for guests who have children under the age of five. D. implementing a loyalty program for corporate business accounts. 10. A person approaches you at a hotel's front desk and asks for a guest's room number. What should you do to keep that data secure? A. Give the person the phone number of the central reservations system to obtain the room number B. Write down the room number on a piece of paper so people within earshot won't learn the number C. Tell the person that you are not allowed to give out that information D. Invite the person to use the house phone to call the guest HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM CLUSTER CORE SAMPLE EXAM QUESTIONS KEY 1. A Reasonable care. When hospitality and tourism businesses act in a way that a reasonable hospitality and tourism business would have acted, the business exhibits reasonable care. If hospitality and tourism businesses can prove that they acted with reasonable care, they are not fined by the courts. Otherwise, the courts can find them guilty of negligence, and they would be charged a fine. It's not possible for hospitality and tourism businesses to avoid all risks. There is always the chance that something bad can happen. Hospitality and tourism businesses are not insurers of their customers nor do they take out insurance on each customer. Instead, they take out liability insurance that transfers risk to an insurance company. Hospitality and tourism businesses act so that they limit their responsibility for accidents. SOURCE: BL:135 SOURCE: Jefferies, J.P., & Brown, B. (2010). Understanding hospitality law (5th ed.) [pp. 139-141]. Lansing, MI: American Hotel & Lodging Educational Institute. 2. A Channel management and promotion. The restaurant is using a new channel, its website, to offer its baked goods to customers. To attract traffic to the website, the marketing communications director used publicity when appearing on the talk show and sales promotion by offering incentives. The website had to function properly to accommodate the sales volume generated by the incentives. Marketing information - management deals with gathering, accessing, synthesizing, evaluating, and disseminating information for use in making business decisions. Product/service management involves obtaining, developing, maintaining, and improving a product or service mix in response to market opportunities. In this scenario, the product mix has not been changed. SOURCE: CM:007 SOURCE: BizHelp24.com. (2009, August 22). Place and product in a marketing plan. Retrieved February 28, 2011, from http://www.bizhelp24.com/marketing/place-and-product-in-amarketing-plan.html 3. D “I need to look into this, but will call you back by the end of the day with an answer.” Clients expect prompt, courteous service. If David needs to obtain more information, he should advise the client that he will call back with the correct information as soon as possible. David should be able to call the client back himself for routine questions instead of asking his supervisor to make the call. Asking the client to call back or telling the client to expect a call at David's convenience is rude and is providing poor customer service. SOURCE: CR:006 SOURCE: Online Business Advisor. (2006). Respond to customer inquiries and complaints promptly. Retrieved January 14, 2011, from http://www.onlinebusadv.com/?PAGE=161 4. A Global distribution systems. The Internet makes it possible to market hospitality services to any location in the world. The concept of a business's location now far exceeds its physical location. Customers can log into such sites as Orbitz, Travelocity, and Expedia to book their travel needs for air, car, bus, train, and lodging. Differentiated pricing strategies are an aspect of pricing considerations. Methods for reaching new target markets pertains to promotional considerations. Customization of services pertains to product considerations. SOURCE: DS:075 SOURCE: eCornell. (2000-2011). Hospitality marketing. Retrieved February 7, 2011, from http://www.ecornell.com/certificate-programs-community/hospitality-and-foodservicemanagement-training/hospitality-marketing-certificate/crt/SHAC10 5. C Visitor exports. The money spent by foreign travelers in another country is known as visitor exports. The earnings from these sources was expected to be to be more than 6% of total exports by 2010. That translates to a dollar figure of $1,086,000,000, and that figure is expected to more than double by 2020. When international travelers visit other countries, they also buy other goods and services while visiting. This helps businesses in addition to those in hospitality and tourism. Although hospitality and tourism businesses are encouraged to use sustainable resources, their use does not contribute to economic growth. Provision of conference space is a first step in getting groups to visit an area, but they do not in and of themselves create economic growth. Global positioning systems help to determine how to get to and from locations. They do not impact economic growth. SOURCE: EC:136 SOURCE: World Travel and Tourism Council. (2010). Economic impact data and forecasts. Retrieved February 7, 2011, from http://www.wttc.org/eng/Tourism_Research/Economic_Research/ 6. C Miscommunication. Conflicts are disagreements. Disagreements happen for different reasons. Sometimes, it's a matter of miscommunication or misunderstanding. In the example, Tim thought he heard his manager say one day and time, when his manager actually said something else. Or, perhaps Tim's manager thought he told Tim that he wanted the report earlier than he originally requested, but really forgot to tell Tim. The disagreement did not occur because Tim had limited resources, because he questioned his manager's authority, or because each party held inconsistent opinions. SOURCE: EI:015 SOURCE: EI LAP 7—Stop the Madness (Conflict Resolution in Business) 7. B General purpose of the transaction. Petty cash is used for small purchases/payments such as parking meter charges, flowers, COD charges, stamps, etc. When money is removed from petty cash, the date, amount of the transaction, and the general purpose of the transaction should be recorded. The account to which the transaction will be charged can be done later when all petty cash charges to that account can be totaled and one entry made. It's not necessary to record the name of the person or business that will be paid the money. Many businesses require the signature of the person taking the money from petty cash but not the name of a witness. SOURCE: FI:310 SOURCE: Murray, J. (2010). How do I set up and manage petty cash? Retrieved December 22, 2010, from http://biztaxlaw.about.com/od/createarecordssystem/f/managepettycash.htm 8. C What new distribution channels could we use? When using marketing research for planning, marketers are trying to identify potential opportunities for the company. Examining new distribution channels is a potential opportunity for the marketer to pursue. By asking whether guests are satisfied with the services it is using marketing research for control purposes. Determining how to lower costs and what promotional mix has been most effective are using marketing research for problem-solving purposes. SOURCE: IM:420 SOURCE: Churchill, G.A., Brown, T.J., & Suter, T.A. (2010). Basic marketing research (7th ed.) [pp. 6-7]. Mason, OH: South-Western Cengage Learning. 9. B Developing tour products specifically designed to appeal to retirees. Demographics are the physical and social characteristics (e.g., age, gender, education) of a population or market segment. Businesses consider demographic trends because changes in the population have an effect on the existing and potential products they market. Because trends indicate that a large segment of the population is aging and reaching retirement, hospitality/tourism businesses are developing products to attract retirees who are no longer in the workforce and have more time to travel. Tour products designed for retirees would not likely appeal to recent college graduates, families with young children, or business travelers. SOURCE: NF:013 SOURCE: SeniorJournal.com. (2007, September 10). Travel agencies that target senior citizens may best meet special travel needs. Retrieved March 7, 2011, from http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Travel/2007/7-09-10-TravelAgencies.htm 10. D Invite the person to use the house phone to call the guest. Front-desk attendants should not give others the room numbers of guests either orally or in writing. This helps to protect the guest's privacy and security. Although front desk attendants can mention that they're not allowed to give out the guest's room number, they shouldn't stop there. The central reservations system will not have the guest's room number. SOURCE: OP:064 SOURCE: Kaser, K., & Freeman, J.T. (2002). Hospitality marketing (pp. 220-221). Mason, OH: South-Western. Copyright © 2012 by MBA Research and Curriculum Center®, Columbus, Ohio

Los Miembros Afiliados de la OMT eligen nueva Junta Directiva y Presidente

Madrid (España), 4 de abril de 2012

os más de 400 Miembros Afiliados de la OMT, entre los que figuran algunas de las más destacadas organizaciones y empresas turísticas del mundo, han elegido a su nueva Junta Directiva y a su Presidente para el periodo 2012-2013.

De acuerdo con el nuevo procedimiento electoral, se eligió a los 23 miembros de la Junta Directiva de los Miembros Afiliados. La Association of Greek Tourist Enterprises (SETE), representada por su Director General, George Drakopoulos, fue la entidad elegida para presidir la Junta.

Refiriéndose a su elección, el Sr. Drakopoulos manifestó: «Es un honor presidir un grupo tan distinguido de profesionales y empresarios». Después de casi 15 años participando en los asuntos de la OMT, conozco el potencial de la Organización, y especialmente el de sus Miembros Afiliados».

«Aunque los miembros representen a diferentes países y sectores, los principales temas que trataremos serán aquellos que sean importantes a escala mundial. Por ejemplo, la movilidad en los viajes y los visados, la fiscalidad de los servicios turísticos, el fomento del empleo y de la sosteniblidad son asuntos de interés global con consecuencias regionales obvias», prosiguió.

El Secretario General de la OMT, Taleb Rifai, dio la bienvenida a la nueva Junta Directiva y al Presidente de los Miembros Afiliados, haciendo hincapié en la importancia de los Miembros Afiliados para el trabajo de la Organización. «La OMT es uno de los pocos organismos de las Naciones Unidas que incluye entre sus miembros a representantes del sector privado, del mundo académico y de la sociedad civil. Dada la naturaleza poliédrica del turismo, su contribución a la configuración y a la ejecución del programa de trabajo es crítica, ya que introduce en el núcleo de nuestro trabajo los diferentes puntos de vista sobre el desarrollo del turismo», afirmó.

Los Miembros Afiliados son empresas, organizaciones, destinos, ONG, instituciones docentes u órganos cuyas actividades están relacionadas con el turismo y ayudan con sus conocimientos y experiencia a la OMT a promover el desarrollo de un turismo responsable, sostenible y accesible.