The Contemporary Hospitality Industry in Managment - Assignment Example

 Contemporary Hospitality Inductry Introduction The history of hospitality dates back to early 19th century, after industrial revolution tool over as the main steering towards development. At this time there was die hard need of hospitality services in various sectors that could provide a healthy living and leisure joints, and there were also increased demands for accommodation, restaurants and leisure activities that necessitated for hospitality services. Thereafter, individuals and corporate companies started setting up restaurants, spars with baths, school and employee meal canteens, holiday centers and air-travel laying the foundation of the hospitality industry in existence today. Today, the hospitality industry is a worldwide and broad-based open and welcoming sector that offers a variety of hotel, motels and lodge services depending on what type of service a customer expects. The most essential issue in hospitality industry is the quality of the service provided. The hospitality industry hence must have a clear working framework and structure that enhances service delivery of which behavior and attitude, kindness in welcoming guests, of the staff plays a very important role (Wood & Brotherton, 2008). Current structure of the hospitality industry In the quest for a quality product and service delivery in hospitality industry, it is organized into a specific given structure to address the challenges that may be experienced during service delivery or improving quality service delivery. This structure organization ranges from individual organizations to universal corporate organizations with staff and levels of operations undertaking several diverse tasks. Most people usually limit the structure and branches of the hospitality industry to hotels, restaurants, or motels. This is however not so because the hospitality industry structure and branches are very diversified as it will be outlined in this paper. The branches and sectors for instance are, Events; this is a special sector of the hospitality industry that provides the role of organizing and hosting events such as seminars, conference meetings among others. This is also the hospitality service that is widely known to offer cordial reception to guests and providing places to sleep for instance hotel rooms. Pubs, bars and nightclubs are also a section of the hospitality industry that are majorly entertainment hangouts. Tourist services are also part of the hospitality industry that provides for vacation, touring and recreational services. Other perceived negligible areas that are part of hospitality industry includes: travel services such as airlines and bus services; visitor attraction such as museums and park visits services; self-catering and contract catering; holiday parks; hostels; membership clubs; and gambling (Brotherton, 2003). These hospitality services also widely vary in sizes and functions which they perform in the industry. What brings about this is the structure of the hospitality industry and the management. From a management perspective there are hospitality services that are managed by individuals and some that are managed by corporations that hire staff. On structure perspective, what comes out is the division and organization in the hospitality industry. The hospitality structure therefore encompasses; The commercial or service sector: the commercial and service sector is actually the backbone of the hospitality industry structure. It provides for the existence and the continuity if the industry and this gives the reason as to why there are several students pursuing courses in hospitality with the hope of either working in this area or establishing their own. Examples of commercial sector are hotels, hostels, and events among others while in the service sector there are tourist attraction, hospitals, workplace or colleges among others. Profit making sector: in this structure of the hospitality sector, main operations and service delivery tasks are aimed at making profits or returns. This is also another sector that most of the hospitality industry is involved in. Customer service sector: in customer service, hospitality focuses on quality service delivery, reception and direction, advertisement of product services and responding to the requirements of the guests. Most of these operations are largely based on close contact platform. Examples are front office receptionists, bartenders, waiters and waitresses, and hostesses among others (Brotherton, 2003). Organization and professional bodies in hospitality industry The organization and professional bodies in the hospitality industry comes in very important in its continuity, future developments, to thrive and to excel within the competitive market. The organization and professional structure varies from one hospitality sector to the other. However, every hospitality industry, regardless of its size and complexity has a specific way of running and carrying out its everyday tasks. The hospitality industry employs a huge number of people with diversified skills and specializations in hospitality. It is however also of essence to note that different hospitality sectors organize the diversified professionals in different ways. Staffing structures In the organization of professional bodies in the hospitality sector, most of the hospitality corporate or employers adopt the model and pattern of other corporate, businesses, or institutions. This is majorly the top-down pattern approach that is to a great degree known as the hierarchical pattern. In this pattern, orders and management operations are given and supervised by the boss respectively. Bosses in the sector of hospitality industry may be referred to as general manager or chief executive officer or director. The execution of operations and tasks therefore flow down to other levels up to the least senior professional in that particular hospitality industry. For instance the bosses (may be directors, general managers, chief executive officers) have the command and authority to control the operations of the management of the hospitality industry. The major duties of a boss are coordinating, managing and is a unifying factor to all the different sections and specialization of the hospitality industry. The boss is also accountable and answerable to the hospitality environment within which operations and service provisions are done. Additionally the boss links all the other departments and directs other managers of other titles. For the boss to address and effectively manage the hospitality industry there has to be an assistant boss who can be referred to as executive assistant manager or assistant director. Under the assistant boss there are also several other assistant managers depending on the size and complexity of the hospitality industry. Below the assistant managers there are also helping professionals in different specializations that aid to meet the tasks of the industry and supporting the duties of the managers. The supporting staffs are experts specialized in the field of law, environment, technology, taxes, employment and logistics among others. For instance there are experts in food and beverage in the management of foods and catering; hotel management; rooms’ management; guest managers such as front office personnel e.g. receptionists; environmentalist; health, sanitation and safety; security such as security personnel e.g. police and guards; and legal advisors such as lawyers. Below this body is the sub-ordinate staffs that provide such tasks as room service providers, cleaning and laundry (Brotherton, 2003). Current image Today, the hospitality industry is very well known across the globe probably because of the services that they offer. These services, as they have been mentioned in this paper have really contributed to the current image of the hospitality industry. Its image is very positive and promising particularly in the provision of holiday/vacation, travel and leisure services. Additionally, another proof as to why hospitality industry has a positive image is linked to the number of jobs/employment opportunities and income it has created and generated respectively. This is what has shaped the need for career courses in hospitality management. Research also proves that the hospitality industry is one of the sectors that has consistently and constantly developed since inception. In addition, it has influenced changes in the structure of other industries such as tourism sector and in improving the gross domestic product of nations. Apart from influencing structural and economic changes it has to a greater extent improved the quality of service provision in the hospitality sector (Wood & Brotherton, 2008). Under the quality of services that has really boosted the image of hospitality, this sector has made sure that it recognizes the fact that there exist different people with different needs. It hence comes up with quality service delivery where clients can easily and reliably find a comfort zone offering distinct client service. These quality service deliveries manifest themselves in the Holiday/vacation services, travel and leisure as mentioned before. On holiday/vacation, the hospitality sector offers services such as online room and hotel bookings; making reservations; travels and touring operations to various tourist attraction sites and natural scenery by the use of vehicles or mode of transport of the specific hospitality industry providing the service. The travel services on the other hand are known for coming up with enhanced facilities that make clients feel comfortable and appreciated. It also plays a key role in determining the most appropriate route for that clients need to use to reach their destinations. Lastly, leisure services are tailored mostly to the leisure or free time relaxation activities such as watching or participating in sporting activities such as swimming and football. The image of the hospitality industry has also been enhanced by the fact that they appreciate diversities of their clients. Take for instance clients who basically seek for leisure services for the hospitality industry and treated differently as to those who seek the services of real business such as a holding a conference meeting in hotels to discuss maybe an environmental degradation issue (Conrady, 2012). Accommodation facilities also give a positive image about the current hospitality industry. Accommodation today does not only mean providing sleeping places, but also serves a function of holding conferences, holiday centers, membership clubs and catering. Issues affecting the industry It is however important to note that in the current image of hospitality industry there are several drawbacks. As an industry whose failure or successes are dictated by every little aspect such as dissatisfaction of service from a client, it is important to air out these challenges in order make better service delivery. Amongst the problems, topping the list is the challenge of embracing Information Telecommunications Technology (ICT) in the hospitality sector. It entails customer user interface that provides for a sophisticated system allowing for user profile identity creation, and online bookings and reservations which has to be maintained for quality service provision. This is a very hectic process because it is an advancement of replacing the old manual booking and reservation system that is deemed cheaper compared to use of ICT services. As a move of embracing new technology and moving towards the future, dangers that also come along with this technology are possibilities of hacking and hanging unless the sites have a sophisticated encryption software protection system which proves to be very expensive to acquire, install and maintain (Conrady, 2012). Another challenge that is cropping up increases operational and labor costs that arise out of continuing change in consumer taste, and regulatory environmental conservation issues. The targeted clients in hospitality industry change their needs or service requirement on a persistent basis. In order for hospitality industries to address this challenge, they have to keep records of their client’s requirement nationally or globally. This therefore means that there has to be a constant inventory survey of the staff's behavior and character to evaluate if they align with their service delivery image. The cost of maintaining service delivery image is what contributes to the increment of operational and labor costs (Wood & Brotherton, 2008). Cultural difference is also another contributing factor to increased operational costs as it determines the preference of certain dishes to others depending on the culture that one comes from. Take for instance when a European travel for a holiday vacation to China the European will have problems finding preferred dishes and services. On China’s side, coming up with hospitality industry that cuts across service delivery to diverse cultures, it becomes very expensive ultimately increasing operational costs. There is also the challenge of rising costs of construction. According to the modern standards of the hospitality industry, there are certain construction codes and laws that have to be adhered to when putting up a hospitality industry in order to fairly compete with other already established industries in the hospitality sector. Without this, then the development and advancement of any upcoming or junior hospitality industry is deemed unfit to operate in the hospitality sector making development a huge challenge in the hospitality sector especially among established or junior hospitality industries. Justification and future trend The hospitality industry has to be acknowledged for its contributions so far. Since its inception there have been tremendous improvements not only in the hospitality sector but other sectors also. In a country's economy for instance the hospitality industry alone has managed to pump in lots of income therefore contributing to economic development. Taking for instance a look at the Oxford Economics report, “Local Economic Contribution of UK Hospitality Industry” commissioned by the British Hospitality Association represents hotels and restaurants across the UK, its findings are that hospitality industry employs very many people. The report also demonstrates that the hospitality industry contributes hugely to the economy and also shows that the hospitality industry has the potential to create more than 20,000 new jobs by the year 2020. The job openings include swimming pool lifeguards, beauty therapist, hairdressers, and food management. These indicators therefore justify the need of continuity and development in the hospitality industry. This proves that in the coming years there are several things and changes expected to be seen in the hospitality industry. As the hospitality industry is moving towards the future, there are certain factors which they need to focus on. These are factors such as globalization, new technologies, and demanding better educated clients. In the quest of preparations of the future anticipated changes, the hospitality industry needs to set their priorities right by establishing mechanisms that address these challenges. In the future there will be expectations of a better educated demanding customer. The modern clients in the hospitality industry are generally referred to as the Y generation. These customers are very demanding and educated at the same time therefore making them become very precise and insisting on quality provision of services. They don’t only feel special that their service requirements are met, but they also insist on having the services right as it is suppose to be. For instance in a hotel setting, it's not only about the lighting system but it extends to the hygiene conditions of the hotel (Conrady, 2012). Technology and the use of the web is also key in the future of the hospitality industry. The next hospitality customer generators are those types of customers that will need to know what kind of service is provided by a particular hospitality industry even before getting there. They do their research via the internet or web. Moreover, they will even want to do their bookings, reservations, and requests to destination places via a web based platform for instance online (Kapiki, 2012). Social sites such as twitter and Facebook amongst others will be playing a crucial role as a web application where customers of the same peer will exchange information on service delivery of a particular hospitality industry and where they feel appropriately welcomed and treated. In fact some would even expect notifications via text messages directly to their phones. This also plays a contributing factor as one of the demanding customers. The answers to these expected challenges will rest upon the hospitality industry. What should be done must include capturing and making use of customer information and embracing new technology that supports every customer interactions for use in better decision making process and enhancement of improved quality service provision. The technology must also allow for interaction regardless of one’s geographical location and language and must also embrace social networking as they are important avenues for getting customer feedback. Finally, the most important thing that needs to be looked into is the provision of online booking of rooms, hotels and destination services (Cetron et all, 2006). In putting in place response mechanism to the demands of the educated customers there need to be centralized, all inclusive profiles with customer relationship management which is key for easy access to customer information. More research should also be done regarding the requirements of the demanding customer and what they think can best address their expectations for quality service delivery. On globalization, hospitality industry needs to take into account environmental issues. This is what is termed as hospitality industry operating in a sustainable and an enabling environment, (green hospitality). It is the ability to maintain and support the continuity of the biological and ecological system. In connection with environmental sustainability, hospitality should operate in an enabling environment today without compromising the future generations to meet their environmental needs while maintaining equilibrium on environmental, economic and social requirements (Cetron et all, 2006). Hospitality, travel and tourism industry are connected and will always work together. Research shows that the hospitality industry is the fastest growing sector in the world accompanied with lots of changes. These changes are influenced by the speedy changes in technological advancements, consumer demands and global issues that require hospitality industry to operate while conserving the natural environment and biodiversity. Many hospitality industries have already started using technology and including environmental concerns to their operations to improve productivity, quality service provision and reducing labor costs. It means that in the near future hospitality clients will start witnessing better and quality services, increased environmental conservation campaigns and efforts as long as individuals and corporate hospitality industry uphold integrity and ethics towards quality service delivery. References Brotherton, B. 2003, The International hospitality industry structure, characteristics and issues, Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Cetron, M., DeMicco, F., & Davies, O. 2006, Hospitality 2010: The future of hospitality and travel, Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall. Conrady, R. 2012, Trends and issues in global tourism 2012, Berlin: Springer. Ingram, H., & Ransley, J. 2004, Developing hospitality properties and facilities (2nd Ed.), Oxford: Butterworth-Heinemann. Kapiki, S. 2012, Current and Future Trends in Tourism and Hospitality: The Case of Greece: SSRN. Retrieved March 28, 2013, from http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2150562 Pizam, A., & Pizam, A. 2005, International encyclopedia of hospitality management, Amsterdam: Elsevier Butterworth Heinemann. Research and Markets Adds Report: British Hospitality: Trends and Developments 2011. (2012, June 25), Travel & Leisure Close-Up. Wood, R. C., & Brotherton, B. (2008). The Sage handbook of hospitality management. Los Angeles: Sage. Read More