Current Challenges Faced by the Hospitality Industry - Assignment Example

Current challenges faced by the hospitality industry Introduction: In these times of harsh economic realities when entire corporations fail and seek bailouts it is important for us to understand how different sectors of the economy respond to various challenges. Due to escalated levels of terrorism and an omnipresent paranoia of epidemics a majority of people have been cautious about travelling for leisure and do not board a flight unless they absolutely have to. The hospitality industry has been affected to a great extent as it depends a lot on travel and tourism. These factors have contributed a lot to the slowdown in the hospitality industry because a hotel room is one of the most perishable commodities. An establishment can never recover the loss caused when a room is unoccupied. This paper attempts to understand the challenges faced by the hospitality industry in terms of workers, quality of service, hygiene, personal safety, communication and grooming. With a focus on the hotel industry in particular it also tries to identify the role of the managers of the different departments and how they apply various principles of management, and also if they are capable of taking on different tasks. The hospitality industry: The hospitality industry consists of establishments that provide a variety of services to those in need of them. They can be commercial or non-commercial in nature. Commercial establishments include those that operate on a profit seeking basis like hotels, bars, pubs, travel agents, restaurants etc. Non-commercial establishments on the other hand are usually funded by community donations or the government and do not seek profit. They include hospitals, school and college cafeterias, prison canteens, relief agencies and the like. However nowadays due to privatisation policies by governments worldwide, the distinction between commercial and non-commercial establishments is slowly disappearing. So the hospitality industry can be divided into sectors on the basis of the functions performed by them. The major sectors are accommodation, food and beverage outlets, travel and tourism agencies, gaming, entertainment and recreation and event management. Following are some of the challenges faced by the hotel industry in particular. Workers: “Food services and drinking places provided many young people with their first jobs in 2004 - more than 21 percent of workers in these establishments were aged 16 to 19, about 5 times the proportion for all industries” (United States Department of Labour 2004). Another feature is that nearly 40% of the workers do part time work, which is double the average seen in other industries combined. Not many industries are as dependent upon their non-managerial staff to deliver the final product, as is the hotel industry. It is the person on the lowest rung of the hierarchical ladder who is usually responsible for the image of the establishment. But the fact remains that it does not require a high level of expertise except in certain cases to achieve the level of perfection desired. Due to this the staff turnover is very high. There is always a shortage of staff resulting in longer work hours for the remaining workers and resulting in a disgruntled workforce. The industry also has the negative image that entry-level workers are paid low wages and the scope for a promotion is almost non-existent. A majority of the workforce consists of part-time workers who are ready to switch jobs when the opportunity presents itself. All the time and effort that the management puts into training these workers is wasted when one of them leaves the job for a better paying one. It is difficult for a manager to cultivate any amount of loyalty from his subordinates when there is not much he can do for them in return. Recruiting and retaining employees is the biggest challenge faced by any manager in the hotel industry. Communication: “English proficiency is a key challenge because a large percentage of the hospitality workforce does not speak English as their primary language” (United States Department of Labour 2004). Communication is the exchange of information between individuals and it can be through speech, written messages or body language. A successful communication takes place when one person understands exactly what the other one is telling him. The workforce in the hotel industry consists of people from a variety of cultures and linguistic backgrounds. A supervisor of Latin American descent will find it difficult to communicate with an Indian because of the differences in their accents, body language, and culture. There is even a possibility of either of them being offended by what the other is trying to say however harmless or well intentioned it may be. Due to the round the clock nature of service provided, work is divided into shifts, and improper communication between staff working different shifts is an issue for major concern. Important decisions take by the management is sometimes not passed on to the staff working the next shift resulting in unnecessary conflict. For example, if a receptionist working the dayshift forgets to tell his colleague working at night about a wake up call for a certain guest, there is a possibility that the guest may miss his meeting or worse, his plane. Quality of service: According to the Bureau of labour statistics service personnel account for 68 percent of the workforce and this includes housekeeping and restaurant service staff. Since the majority of the workforce is part time and in the industry only for money the guest who tips well is usually the one to get the best service. Unfortunately good tippers are very few in number so not every single guest gets the same quality of service as desired by the management. Being a waiter is usually seen as the first ever part time job by many youngsters and they do not bother to learn the finer aspects of the trade. These moonlighters have a casual attitude towards service and are not aware of the effect they can have on the image of the establishment. Certain restaurants specialising in ethnic cuisines depend a lot on the waiter’s familiarity of the menu. Thorough knowledge of the cuisine is a must and that comes with regular training and practice. When waiters keep changing jobs this becomes an issue. Customers like to experiment with different cuisines and the waiter has to help them with his knowledge. A waiter who serves a guest wasabi instead of guacamole can be a nightmare for a restaurant manager. Personal safety: The diverse nature of work environments in the hotel industry can be a cause for safety hazards. From the housekeeping departments to the kitchen the equipments operated and the chemicals the workers work with on a daily basis can cause serious accidents if proper safety measures are not taken. Cooks work with a variety of equipments that can cause serious harm if not used properly namely: knives, steamers, ovens, slicers and so on. Kitchens are usually areas of hectic activity and oil spills and water spills are common. When the service time is at it’s peak slips and falls occur on a regular basis. The house keeping is a department that uses strong chemicals for cleaning. If the room stewards are not educated or trained about the personal protective equipment they can cause injuries upon themselves. Hotel stewards and cooks usually have to do a lot of heavy lifting and since most of them are not aware of proper lifting methods they can harm their backs and do irreparable damage to themselves. However the fact remains that sometimes no amount of training is enough to overcome these problems because when workers get familiar with their environment they tend to fail to see the risks involved. For example: Cooks tend to handle extremely hot food materials with their bare hands as they believe tolerance to high temperatures is a quality every chef must have. Room stewards’ use concentrated cleaning materials for better results not knowing that they are putting themselves at risk. Hygiene: “According to the Food and Drug Administration, the five most critical risk factors that cause food borne illnesses are: poor personal hygiene, improper holding temperatures, inadequate cooking temperatures, contaminated equipment and food from unsafe sources” (Food Review 2004, p. 2). The biggest contributor to food borne illnesses is poor personal hygiene. Hepatitis A, Salmonella typhi, Ecoli and Shigella are some of the diseases directly spread through food poisoning caused by the above factors. According to the United States Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), "hand washing is the single most important means of preventing the spread of infection" (Case n.d.). It is due to the rampant spread of food borne illnesses that personal hygiene is a challenge for hotel administrations. The food and beverage department and in particular the kitchen is most responsible for this problem. Cooks in small-scale restaurants are usually paid daily wages and so they do not bother to inform their supervisors that they have a cold or an upset stomach out of fear of losing their wages for the day. These employees then move and work in areas where food production takes place infecting and contaminating food and spreading their illness. The law in Idaho requires that food be handled only with gloved hands. However not many establishments worldwide follow this system. Grooming. When a guest walks into a hotel he or she expects to see staff that are well groomed. The appearances must be acceptable. It is very essential because it makes them feel more at home. Unkempt looks, long hair, multiple piercing or tattoos are not allowed. However simple it might seem this is a challenge because grooming does not concern looks alone. The entire personality of the worker has to come through and that can come only after endless monitoring and regular evaluation of an individual’s performance. Every employee must know what the establishment stands for and they must be ready to go out of their way to make guests feel comfortable. The guests must get the impression that every person he comes in contact with deserves a promotion. The true challenge is to motivate the staff by constantly encouraging them to think like leaders. The importance of the hotel sector in the hospitality industry: Since olden times, people have been travelling for various purposes. Initially travel used to be for trading purposes only. Inns and taverns used to provide weary travellers with food and accommodation. Nowadays the word hospitality is synonymous with the word hotel. Hotels and motels constitute a majority of establishments of the hospitality sector. Hotels of the present day are a far cry from what used to be humble boarding and lodging facilities. Establishments compete with each other over the level of luxury, opulence and facilities they provide and the customer has a wide variety to choose from. With the arrival of hotel chains and groups the impact of the hotel industry has increased manifold. Apart from the employment and business created for dependant industries on a day-to-day operational basis, the hotel industry provides a lot of indirect employment starting from the construction process. For example the huge quantity of furniture and fixtures needed when a hotel is being constructed can provide business and employment to many people. A hotel also has the capability to provide employment to the local community. Apart from the business that hotels create for the society, they are also important meeting places. Public rooms and convention centres provide the community with a space to meet and get to know each other. Some hotels even have their own colleges where they educate youth who want to make a mark in the industry. By catering to a variety of clientele and providing hospitality over the years the hotel industry has become synonymous with the hospitality industry itself. Performance of the hotel industry before 1980 and after 1990: The hotel industry has passed through different stages. One of the major factors instrumental in the change has been the global economy. The twentieth century saw the rise of some out standing hotels. Even though these hotels were in various corners of the world, they were trendsetters. The hotels that were established before in the early part of the 20th century were either palaces that were converted or luxury hotels. The ‘l’hotel du palais’ in Biarritz built by Edouard Niermans and His ‘Negresco’ in Nice that opened in 1913 are examples. The Ritz hotel in Barcelona in the year 1919 that featured running hot and cold water for the first time ever. Other important hotels that came up in the same time period are the Taj Mahal Hotel in Bombay, the Plaza in New York and The Savoy in London. The 1920s witnessed a boom in the hotel industry, the La Mamounia in morocco patronised by Winston Churchill. Ski resorts were built in Switzerland. Even in spite of the depression of 1929, the Waldorf Astoria, New York was completed. After the world war in the 1950s there was a second boom during which casino hotels and hotels owned by airline companies started to appear. Motels also made their appearance owing to the increasing number of automobiles on the road. By the 1960s companies like Sheraton, Hilton etc had started granting trading franchises to individuals who owned hotels. The first business hotels showed up in 1970. This was due to the involvement of airline companies and also because of the sudden prosperity in the Middle East following discovery of petroleum. Eventually, hotels came up all across the Middle East. The 1980s saw the third hotel boom and by now hotels had started focusing on specific markets. Hotel chains had ensured uniformity of service and luxury. The 1990s however saw a decline in the hotel industry probably due to the crisis in the gulf and reduction in travel budgets. There was an overall sense of insecurity and hoteliers had to become more innovative while attracting guests. However this was the time when information technology started making it’s way into the day-to-day functioning of the hotel industry. Service was much better because databases about regular guests could be maintained and retrieved easily and reservations could be centralised. After the 9/11 attacks however there has been another slump in tourism, travel and the hotel industry. Similarities between planning, organising, commanding, coordination and controlling. Like any other industry that resorts to an organised hierarchy for proper functioning the hotel industry also depends upon basic management functions. Planning, organising, commanding, coordination and control are all related because these are part of a process. It is not possible to complete a certain task effectively if any one of these is left out. Different department heads have diverse functions but the style of management remains the same. Let us take for example a chef who has to prepare a menu for a banquet. He has to plan the menu first. According to the dishes he has to organise and delegate the work among his cooks. He has to command and coordinate the workers and constantly keep them motivated and at the same time check the quality of the food. Finally he has to control and oversee the service when the banquet starts. It is the same in the case of a front office manager. When a banquet is booked at a hotel, the front office manager has to plan in advance and block rooms for the guests, he has to organise his staff and allocate them special tasks. He has to coordinate the events with the travel desk, bellhop, housekeeping department and the food and beverage department. With the help of the security department he also has to control the proceedings. The same is the case with every departmental head. Though their functions are diverse the management process remains the same. Having said that, the managers of different departments of a hotel will find it very difficult to adapt if they are made to switch positions. A hotel has very diverse work environments. Not many organisations can boast of employing managers with such dissimilar proficiencies. There is no way a housekeeping manager can take on the functions of a chef and vice versa. The knowledge required to run a kitchen is very different from what it requires to clean an entire hotel. Usually it is after a long career and a great deal of specialisation that individuals are selected for a managerial position in a hotel. The second-in-command can fill temporary vacancies but long-term vacancies have to be filled by experienced professionals. A majority of people who want to start a business feel that the restaurant business would be a good choice, the ‘I can do this’ feeling, when walking into a restaurant is common. But when they start the business they find that it is not as easy as they thought. Unless they recruit wisely they are bound to lose money which is exactly what will happen to hotels if they try to switch managers. Conclusion: In conclusion, the hospitality industry like any other industry is one full of challenges. Apart from the issues discussed in this paper other new challenges that have come up recently are issues pertaining to the environment. Hotels generate a large amount of garbage and consume a lot of electricity and water. Proper disposal of garbage and conservation of energy sources are matters of concern. Managements nowadays are very particular in projecting an image of eco friendliness. However, in spite of all the challenges, the hotel industry will survive because as long as people travel they will need a room, food and a drink and with the advent of various hotel chains there is always a hotel round the corner. “The great advantage of a hotel is that it’s a great refuge from home life” George Bernard Shaw. References Case, CL n.d., Handwashing, Access Excelllence, viewed 18 February 2010, Food Review, Active managerial control and risk control plans, Central District Health Department – Idaho, viewed 16 February 2010, United States Department of Labour, High growth industry profile: hospitality, USDL, viewed 16 February 2010, Read More