Dear Doctor Ludd: some questions on the hospitality industry and advanced technological change.

Abstract Current academic writing on advanced technological change in the hospitality industry makes assumptions about the relationship between the two which seem lacking in evidence. The current paradigm runs that information technology provides the instrument to move the industry into the twentieth century. Revenues, productivity, staff morale and managerial effectiveness could all be enhanced by the implementation of computerized “solutions”. It is suggested that blocking this process are the Neanderthal attitudes and skills of hospitality managers. This is a view which (more delicately put) permeates our software vendors' literature, our trade and our academic journals. I would like to question this cosy juxtaposition of “how computers transformed my business” stories and software advertisements.