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Acknowledgement

I have already started my research carreer when I began to think about my dissertation topie in my second year at the University of Pannonia. I tried to find solution to a different kind of service provider, although the problem was still the same: how to make the firm morę creative, how to deliver better service which serves customer needs. I always wanted to be practical, to help companies to improve. I must thank my supervisor, Professor Zoltan Kovacs to let me pursue this goal and make something which can be useful for real hotels. I thank him for all the help, the patience and the open-mindedness when I entered his office and shared all my new ideas and professional experience with him.

I would like to thank my collegues as well, who always thought that I need to continue my research, which concentrates on hotels. I need to thank my bosses, Agnes Raffay and Katalin Lórincz for encouraging me and make it able for me to do the research and my former boss Andras Jancsik, who got me into PhD studies in the first place. I will always be grateful to Alan Ciarkę for helping with the language problems and for his advice considering the topie and the research. I would like to thank my inspiring roommate, Zsófia Papp, for being an example for me and convinced me that PhD is not impossible. I am very thankful for the cooperation of Krisztina Priszinger, who helped a lot in the survey phase of the research and read the whole thesis. Special thanks for all the co-athors of the papers which are in my publication list, especially Edit Komlósi, who I wrote several articles with.

Besides I need to thank all the students who were happy to help me get appointment with hotel generał managers and those who tried to convince them to fili out my questionnaire.

I think that this thesis could not have been accomplished without the support of the most important people in my life. I would like to thank my parents for trusting me to do this and understanding that I cannot be at home so much because of working throughout the weekends. They have never complained that I was still studying instead of working in a company. Last but not least, I would like to thank my husband who stood by me in the worst times as well and helped me where he could.

I would like to dedicate this doctoral thesis to my grandmother who also thought me to be patient, hard working and never forget where I am from.

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