Millstream Hotel and Restaurant - Article Example

Millstream Hotel and Restaurant The Millstream hotel and restaurant is located in the heart of old Bosham, an ancient village with a beautiful Saxon church on the shores of Chichester Harbor. It is an elegant combination of a cozy English country house with a splendid ambience and the beauty of an 18th century malt house cottage. Each bedroom is uniquely furnished and the two suites have been opened across the bridge in the thatched cottage. The restaurant, with a view of the gardens, has an AA and two RAC Dining Awards to its credit. The bar offers a warm and romantic fireplace setting. The elegant sitting room, with its comfortable and luxurious, grand piano, sprinkled with freshly cut flowers and peaceful ambience, is the ideal place to chat up with friends over afternoon tea or an aperitif. Bosham is a ideal centre from which to discover this area of spectacular natural beauty and historical interest.  This beautiful hotel has 35 rooms out of which three are suites and each room is decorated in a uniquely elegant fashion with all the necessary amenities for a luxurious and comfortable stay. The hotel is located close to some good recreational facilities like golf, sailing, squash, riding and water sports which can be easily accessed. The popular restaurant is open all through the year and serves some of the most excellent delicacies in that part of town. There are a few famous historical attractions for the holidaymakers like Chichester Festival Theatre, Fishbourne Roman Palace and West Dean Gardens. On a sunny day the lawns can be inviting where you can relax under the shade and enjoy the ducks in the nearby lake. You can enjoy a pleasant evening in the beautiful and well kept gardens along with your friends and family over a cup of tea and delicious snacks. Action Plan For proposed changes The hotel can enhance its leisure activities by adding a few more luxuries like spa, gym and swimming pool as value additions to attract more customers. Spa A well maintained and luxurious spa can add a lot of value to the residents who can relax and enjoy a good massage or get pampered in style. Spa is the latest trend in the hotel industry around the world. You can add on a spa facility or take on a branded spa on franchise which can boost your hotels facility outlook to a great extent. Most of the clients now expect a spa in the hotel as they look for a complete relaxation package when checking into a hotel. The wellness tourism has caught on in a big way where health and wellness spas are frequented by tourists who are becoming health and beauty conscious. A well equipped spa can provide guests with Jacuzzi, steam, sauna, exotic massages and various other treatments that would add on to the luxury of the hotel. In today’s growing competition in the hospitality industry which offers many value added services to attract customers a wide selection of wellness products has made its way into hotels which have integrated the needs of clients who look for better facilities and are willing to pay as long as the service is good. Implementation Incorporating a spa would be extra capital investment and certainly more when compared to the space invested in the bedrooms. In addition it would require constant changes depending on the current trends which may require further investments in frequent intervals. The services offered would be labour focused and the staffing cost would also have to be considered. The spa as such could be high on both capital and operating costs. These are to be balanced by the treatment costs and by by management techniques like fencing rates, discounts and packaging which would increase the revenue. Putting in the right amount of investment in relation to the revenue that can be earned would be the right choice as a spa would definitely be a of a long term value for the hotel. Gym Additional health and fitness centers equipped with all the modern facilities are welcomed by guests who look to stay fit throughout their stay. The young and the old prefer a healthy holiday compared to the traditional exclusive relaxation which is anyways a part of the hotel luxury the hotel provides. Exclusive training techniques and short fitness regimes are the highlight of any package especially for the wellness group who look to keep fit even while relaxing. Swimming Pool This facility is a common attraction in most of the hotels where the guests can relax an have a dip without having to go outside the hotel. It is a great pastime for the children as well as adults and also improves the ambience of the hotel. Refurbishment Advantages The bar can be the happening place in any hotel especially after sunset. Most of the clientele choose to relax in an nice quiet ambience with their favorite cocktail or an exotic drink made as desired. Good music can liven up the place and live music can keep it rocking. In addition it will also attract the local crowd which is the best advertisement a hotel can ask for. Entertainment is a crowd puller and can add revenue to the hotel in a big way. A multi cuisine restaurant that serves all kinds of cuisine can be further pepped up with some colorful and elegant furnishings that would make the place come alive. Furniture must be designed to make the person relaxed and comfortable so that they can enjoy the meal in a relaxed ambience. The menu can be tailored to suit every type of clientele so that they have a memorable dining experience. The focus is to entertain the guest in house so as to reduce the outflow of revenue. There are sophisticated software in the market for reservations which can also be done online. This makes it much simpler for the client to make reservations instead a lengthy process that can put them off. The computerized booking system can be foolproof and the guest is assured of what he has booked for. Even the billing system can be made faster by integrating the latest software packages wherein human errors are minimized and customer care becomes the focus. Staffs are the crux of any hospitality industry. It is the staffs who leave behind a lasting impression along with the luxuries of the hotel. There has be a continuous training process wherein the staff are trained in the best of hospitality services and their communication also is an important part of the training itself. The non English speaking staff is to be given training in spoken English and communication techniques so as to be able to serve the guests better. Good communication gives a good impact and goes a long way the in service industry. This would also make the staff more confident thereby improving there manners and etiquette. All the above can bring in more business as these added attractions have become a expected amenities for travelers around the world. In addition to this specialized staff has to be recruited to manage the spa, gym etc. which requires knowledge in that particular field. With all the training programs the staff is taught to handle situations and face challenges which might seem out of their control. More clients’ means more business and the staff themselves get more confident when they are assured of doing well. Implementation of all the above have to be ensured with clear distribution of responsibilities within the hotel and ensure smooth operations with strategic planning. The management would have to familiarize itself with the future and take the necessary steps to create a secure operational structure. Targets must be in place and the vision constantly in focus in order to achieve the required standards. The management should recognize the need for change and successfully implement the required changes, keeping in touch with the customers for better evaluation. Staff should be made to participate in strategic planning and policies which should support the vision of the hotel as well as be customer focused. A centralized revenue management system is useful wherein the hotel can count on real time visibility into the in-depth financial performance of the hotel with a final vision of achieving the right pricing for the right customer at the right time. The new implementations can be very well integrated into the system with a few training programs and when the facilities start churning in business there would be further scope for improvement. There is also another option of outsourcing some of the services like the spa and the gym which could then be run by professionals thereby reducing the added responsibility to the hotel management. This way the system functions independently while still boasting of all the amenities in luxury. Works Cited Millstream Hotel. Welcome. Accessed: 2nd June, 2008. http://www.millstream-hotel.co.uk/ Information Britain. 16th Oct, 2005. Hotels in Chichester. Accessed: 2nd June, 2008. Millstream Hotel and Restaurant Read More