Legal Issues in Hospitality Industry - Term Paper Example

Legal Issues in Hospitality Industry Introduction: It is a well-accepted notion that the hospitality industry is considered today as the most successful business arena and a booming industry across the globe. With the international hospitality industry fast developing to a more advanced level, a wide range of issues concerns the management authorities of hotels. In this context, a significant notion that requires comprehensive description is the hospitality ethics. The term ‘hospitality ethics’ is broadly concerned about the moral obligations in accordance with the hospitality relationships and practices. Ethical issues in a hotel are specifically associated with the issues of customers, employees and the management. As the hospitality industry is purely customer-based, the ethical as well as legal concerns of the industry inevitably involve a number of important issues regarding consumers, management, employees and business partners. This paper addresses the a broad picture of the hospitality industry along with special reference to the ethics and legal issues concerned by the hospitality management and entrepreneurs. It takes notable account of several ethical issues related to the hospitality management including the aspects of customer health and safety, consumer online privileges and other relevant points considered under the ethical guidelines of the hotel industry. Hospitality and ethics: With the changing picture of international hospitality industry, changed the dimension of hospitality management. As the hospitality industry has developed and expanded as a serious business arena, its ethical values and responsibilities have also multiplied the concerns of hospitality management authorities. Today’s hospitality managers must be multi-talented individuals (Barth and Hayes, 2006). Given the complexity of modern business world, and the hospitality industry in particular, hospitality managers are required to assume specialised roles in order to deal with issues such as customer-related issues, employee counselling, inspection of consumer facilities, health and safety concerns, and so on. One of the most significant responsibilities of the hospitality managers is the operability of decision making in accordance with the involvement of some kind of legal dimension required by the hospitality organizations. Apparently, there are a wide range of ethical issues and concerns observed and followed by the hospitality management for gaining competitive advantage in the industry. Some of the ethical issues are discussed here with a view to explain their legal aspect(s) for the operational effectiveness of the hospitality management. Complexity of legal issues in hospitality: The hospitality industry is growing both vertically and horizontally, resulting in increased complications in its legal issues. As it includes national and international potentials, the hospitality industry of different countries develops and follows different versions of regulations encompassing various industries, companies, regulatory agencies and traditions. Barth and Hayes (2006) points out a number of reasons causing the complexity of travel laws: Interconnectivity - The interconnectivity of travel services complicates the comprehension of travel laws for hospitality managers. Dependence of one business on the performance of another leads to complications in assessing the liability of poor performance. This is usually found relevant in terms of multinational hospitality firms. Jurisdiction - The issue of multinational travel industries makes it critical for managers to find out which court has jurisdiction in order to understand the applicable law. Variation in terminology and resulting expectations - Miscommunication between travellers and hotel managers often occurs due to complications created by multiple languages and multiple translations. Health and safety: Health and safety concerns, both of employees and customers, are the most significant objectives in the hospitality industry, which is mainly a customer-based industry. Safety hazards in the hospitality industry are varied and multiplied: for instance, the use of cleaning chemicals that involves serious risk, or the risk with wet floors and poorly lit staircases. In any case, provision of health and safety is a significant ethical concern in the hospitality industry. Various countries follow different legal guidelines to protect employee and customer safety and health in organizations. For instance, the US Department of Labour incorporates Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) that develops guidelines for safety and health protection in American workplaces (Walker and Miller, 2007). The main objective of implementing ethical guidelines is to ensure employee and customer health and safety, decrease safety hazards in workplaces, conduct compliance inspections, and above all, create and develop healthy and safe work environments. Customer satisfaction: It is repeated earlier in this paper that the hospitality industry is a customer-based industry, which clearly implies that the importance of customer satisfaction is duly acknowledged. In this context, provision of basic training to employees is essential for hospitality firms. Measuring customer satisfaction is important for establishing benchmarks or standardised performance levels for future comparisons (Reid and Bojanic, 2006). Improving customer service should be the topmost priority of hospitality managers in order to receive superior customer satisfaction. Achievement of improved customer satisfaction involves a number of responsibilities for the hotel managers, who require to take into account the following factors (Reid and Bojanic, 2006): Evaluation of the standards of quality service with measurable indicators Development of effective service improvement strategies Evaluation of employee performance while providing feedback, recognition and rewards Taking care of customer complaints followed by careful initiation of solutions Critical assessment of the current situation and service failures Training of employees by explaining them critical incidents and providing potential strategies for recovery Service quality is closely associated with customer satisfaction “because consumers form perceptions of a firm based on its ability to provide a consistent level of service.” (Reid and Bojanic, 2006, p. 75) The ability of the firm to meet or exceed customer expectations on a consistent basis results in customer satisfaction. Moreover, it is the functional responsibility of firms to encourage customers to voice their complaints or any other feedback so that the firms can work strategically to avoid possible failures. Employee safety issues: Employee safety is a serious and must be the foremost concern of hospitality management. The management should focus on the workers’ compensation issues and benefits. The ethical concerns of the hospitality management must include various benefit plans for its employees according to state-approved laws. As Walker and Miller (2007) point out, some of the employee benefits to be included in ethical codes are - replacement income, medical expenses, and vocational rehabilitation benefits (such as on-the-job training, schooling, job placement assistance, etc.). It is the responsibility of the management to keep record of work-related injuries and illness of employees. Some of the most common accidents occurred in hotels are slips and trips, improper handling by hotel staff (lifting, lowering, pulling, etc.), traffic incidents with the hotel premises, and electrical accidents and burns. It is the responsibility of the hotel management to minimise risks associated with workplace accidents. The management can do fairly well and efficiently by providing assistance for employees in the ethical codes of conduct. Besides, safety programmes should be organised by the management for employees in order to increase safety awareness as well as prevent accidents in workplaces or outside. These safety programmes should include the following components (Walker and Miller, 2007): Safety policies and procedures Employee training Safety committee Safety inspections Accident reporting and investigation Constant supervision Hospitality and technological advancement: Thanks to the growing awareness and importance of the Internet, marketing tourism online is fast becoming a favourable choice evident in most hospitality firms. However, this is a complex exercise with its own peculiar challenges. As we are aware, the transformation in transportation and information technology has played a crucial role in shaping current travel patterns. Although technological advancements have tremendously reduced the travel woes for customers, lack of effective operationality in online management can actually increase customer complaints. For instance, the hospitality management is often found with usual customer problems such as mismanagement in accommodation facilities, consumer online privileges, and so on. Adequate training is essential for employees responsible for online affairs in the hotel so that they can respond efficiently to all information-related queries and problems addressed by customers. “Just as the Internet is a novel form of information technology, and its use is evolving rapidly in tourism, so , inevitably, research on the Internet and its actual and potential uses by all those involved in the industry lag both the phenomena itself and the needs of tourism enterprises.” (Prideaux, Moscardo and Laws, 2006, p. 108) Conclusion: The changing hospitality industry across the world has witnessed a major transformation in the last two decades. The hospitality industry is becoming more market oriented with larger number of firms participating in the big competition (Boella and Goss-Turner, 2005). The hospitality industry in the United Kingdom is a brilliant example. The British hospitality industry plays a vital role in the growth of British economy. With more and more governmental as well as non-governmental organisations collaborating with each other, the operational and ethical responsibilities of hospitality management are increasing too. Besides, the collaboration of individual hotel businesses with similar national and multinational establishments has increased the importance of the implementation of relevant ethical codes of conduct for hotels. Law is becoming mandatory in particular areas of marketing, and global distribution and reservation systems (Boella and Goss-Turner, 2005). References: 1. Angelo, R. M. and Vladimir, A., 2004. Hospitality Today: An Introduction. Orlando: Educational Institute of AH & LA. 1. Barth, S. and Hayes, D. K., 2006. Hospitality Law: Managing Legal Issues in the Hospitality Industry. 2nd edition. New Jersey: Wiley. 1. 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