GAINING ACCESS FOR RESEARCH Reflections from Experience

This paper reflects on the experiences of facilitating and maintaining qualitative research access into a sample of international hotel groups. The existing research methodology literature tends to simplify the access process by explaining it through a number of stages. The fieldwork experience of the authors suggests that the propositions stated in literature are partly relevant; however, there are further critical issues that need to be considered by researchers and their academic institutions. Particularly, researchers should be better trained not only in developing relevant skills to carry out qualitative case studies but also dealing with the complexities of facilitating and maintaining access into large organizations. hotel groups, qualitative research, and crisis management. Levent Altinay is a Senior Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University. His research areas include strategic management and the internationalization of hospitality firms and case study research. research areas include strategic management, the internationalization of hospitality firms and hospitality marketing.