Marketing Management of Information Technology - of Croft Court Hotel London - Case Study Example

Croft Court Hotel London Introduction The Croft Court Hotel is situated at 44 Ravenscroft Avenue in Golders Green, London. It is a three storey edifice with spacious parking and cosy interiors. It includes restaurant dining for hotel guests and walk-in customers, function rooms for social affairs, and easy access to gym facilities and swimming pool, a host of kosher dining places and shops, and subsidized taxi fares to airports. Mission statement of the company The company’s mission statement is not published, but from inquiries online at the company’s website, the response is that Croft Court Hotel aims to provide value for money, a comfortable place for guests to feel at home on their brief stay, and to Products and services The business provides quality accommodations for visitors and travellers at reasonable cost. The rooms are fully air conditioned, with modern en-suite bathrooms, televisions, safe, refrigerator, and direct-dial telephones. The rooms are also equipped with hair-dryer, Wi-fi access, and voice mail. Within a short walk from the hotel are a fully equipped gym and swimming pool, to which the hotel provides complimentary discount vouchers for its guests. Croft Court also provides reduced rates for taxi fares from all airports. The hotel itself boasts of a spacious lobby that has a 24-hour tea/coffee making facility. Its room rates begin at £85.00 (GBP) upwards, and is already inclusive of a Kedassia continental breakfast, served between 8 am and 10 am. It also has a spacious function hall and garden which are ideal settings for weddings and anniversaries, as well as Bar/Bat Mitzvahs, Sheva Brachot and Britt, and similar occasions for a large number of guests. Goals and key objectives of the organization The hotel has two principal objectives: to provide quality lodgings and service to its target customers, and to realize profits for its shareholders. Other objectives include the provision of gainful employment for its staff, profitable business for its suppliers, and to contribute to the development of the immediate community. Environmental factors which affect the company The industry is one that is affected by both internal and external environmental factors. Factors pertaining to the internal environment are discussed under Porter’s five forces model. Factors external to the industry include those under the PEST model – political, economic, social and technological. In the hospitality industry as a whole, probably the factor with the strongest influence is the political factor, due to spate of terrorist attacks that have dampened public interest for tourism. Second would be economic, because during an economic recession such as that pervading in Europe and the United States, people who fear the loss of their jobs or erosion of their wealth will tend to forego the less urgent or luxurious activities, such as travel for pleasure. Porter’s 5 Forces Model Internal rivalry – Internal rivalry is high. In the immediate vicinity where Croft Court is located in Golders Green, there are several other lodgings and inns where a traveller may stay over. These include the Eagle Lodge, the Regal Guest House, Zanzibar House, Chesterfield Court and Gloucester Court, among others. Croft Court Hotel is ranked by Trip Advisor as 83rd from the top out of London’s B&B Inns. Bargaining power of suppliers – The bargaining power of suppliers is neither high nor low. There are a number of providers of kosher supplies to the many Jewish establishments in the vicinity; they are specialty suppliers and therefore may not easily be replaced, however, there are nevertheless other suppliers which may be sourced since the strong demand in the area has prompted several kosher suppliers to enter the market to meet the demand. Bargaining power of buyers – The bargaining power of buyers is also neither high nor low, discounting the seasonality of Jewish festivities that may create peaks and troughs in the hotel’s take up rate. If buyers feel the price of the Croft Court is a little high, they may find alternative accommodations in the area, although testimonials have expressed satisfaction at the value for money they found in the facilities and personal service of the Croft Court. Threat of substitutes – There is little threat of substitutes for a kosher hotel (i.e., non-kosher hotels, which puts them out of the immediate group of kosher hotels), because visitors to the Croft Court who make it a point to go there value the advice on the Jewish establishments in the vicinity and the expertise in handling Jewish social occasions that the Croft Court affords them. Visitors from out of town who intend to stay in Croft Court precisely because of its Jewish orientation will not be able to find the same support and advice it can find in this hotel had they stayed in other, non-kosher hotels, which will be quite discomfiting for them. Threat of new entrants (entry barriers) – There is a high threat that new entrants may set up rival hotels with the same services and expertise as Croft Court. The hotel’s specialization – familiarity with and provision of kosher lodging, services and amenities – is not a proprietary one that may be protected by patent or copyright. Furthermore, there are no stringent government restrictions or requirements that may impede another Jewish inn from opening. In the following segment, an SWOT analysis shall provide a profile of the hotel’s competitive prospects to determine an appropriate business strategy. SWOT Strengths – The hotel is the only lodging place in the area which is specifically targeted at the Jewish market, being described as the most kosher lodging place in the area. It is also strategically located, being close to establishments that cater particularly to London’s Jewish community such as Jerusalem the Golden (seller of Jewish religious requisites) and Solly’s (restaurant serving kosher Israeli food, middle eastern food and shawarma). It is also close to Ravenscroft Medical Centre so is within short distance of a medical facility in case its customers fall ill or otherwise require quick medical attention. Weaknesses – The hotel accommodates only a limited number of guests, since the hotel is a moderate sized lodge three storeys high. Feedback from guests also notes that the rooms are smaller than those in other establishments, although it is clean and with nice bathrooms. Also, while the price is reasonable for the staff’s service and the pleasant room appointments, as well as the facilities which feedback describes as really good, it is comparatively higher than other inns or bed and breakfasts. Opportunities – The hotel is situated in Golders Green, Northwest London, in the midst of the place of residence of one of the largest Jewish communities in the UK. The location of numerous synagogues in the area (including, Ashkenaz, Sephard & Hasidic), as well as restaurants and shops, provides opportunities to access the market for social functions of the Jewish community. These functions are easily accommodated in the hotel’s well-appointed function hall, and guests from out of town who will be attending social functions find restful accommodations in the hotel’s rooms. Threats - As earlier mentioned, the Hotel is located where other lodging places are likewise located. The market for visitors and tourists, and for social functions are therefore shared among them. A further threat is the weak economic situation. Due to the economic recession, people would tend to forego non-essentials, among which are the pleasure trips and tours, although trips perceived as necessary will still generate business for the hotel. Business processes and information requirements The firm is primarily engaged in the provision of services to the transient guests, particularly those who are in town for a quick visit, to attend a wedding, bar or bat mitzvah, or similar social gathering usually of the largely Jewish community, or as a stopover for business purposes. In particular: (1) The services primarily centre on the provision of lodging services. On a daily basis, this required housekeeping activities including change of linen, dusting, airing, and cleaning. Less frequently, it necessitates periodic interior redesigning and refurbishing, to keep up with current trends as much as to maintain the rooms and repair the effects of regular wear and tear. (2) Lodged guests will need also in-house dining services. This not only entails providing the basic fare that may be expected in any restaurant, but because of the predominantly Jewish neighbourhood, it requires a menu of predominantly kosher dishes. This requires the hotel to have a thorough knowledge of kosher cuisine which guests can enjoy with the confidence of knowing that they are complying with their religious obligations. (3) The hotel also has to provide the guests much needed information concerning the surroundings and important sites which they will most likely aim to visit during their stay. Hotel staff members at the front-end therefore need to have current and constantly updated information concerning schedules, promotional offers, and features of these places so as to properly advise their guests. (4) In the interest of attaining value for money for the customers and strike synergies with businesses nearby, the hotel also needs to enter into working relationships with other businesses (such as the swimming pool and gym nearby) for discounts which their customers can avail of. The nearby establishments likewise benefit in terms of increased or more regular business volume. Croft Court Hotel is in need of an integrated information system, an MIS, that will meet all its business needs. MIS (Management Information Systems) is “a system that collects, processes, and provides management information needed for decisions” (Air University, 1975, p. 61). The following are potential components of this system: (1) Online marketing systems The hotel’s website is vital to provide advertising and generate customer interest. Unlike many small retail enterprises, hotels cater to customers that come from anywhere around the world, who may have business or family matters in the locality, or just for tourism purposes. E-commerce access is needed to provide information through the firm’s website, and a means for responding to customer inquiries, accepted reservation requests, and conveying confirmation of reservations all online. (2) DSS (Decision Support Systems) & BI (Business Intelligence) These two concepts, both related to this business, are interrelated and thus discussed here. DSS and BI are often confused with each other because decision making is conducted by management, which is also the principal user of BI. A brief differentiation is shown in the following table, derived from Kopáčková & Škrobáčková (2003, p. 98), and followed by a depiction of the relationship between them and their components, from the same study (p. 102). Decision support systems fed by documents, communication, knowledge, data, and models would enable management to arrive at innovative marketing and operational solutions (it must be recalled that operations of service businesses are integrated with the marketing function). Table 1: Distinctions between BI and DSS Source: Kopáčková & Škrobáčková (2003, p. 98) Figure 1: Various types of DSS in relation to Business Intelligence (3) ERP (Enterprise Resources Planning) ERP is defined as “an enterprise-wide software solution that integrates and automates business functions of an organization” (Leon, 2007, p. 14). ERP aims to develop a single database that contains all the data that would run on software modules concerning manufacturing, supply chain management, financials, projects, human resources, customer relationship management, as well as data warehousing and self-service interfaces for customers, suppliers and employees. In the case of Croft Court Hotel, for instance, entry of a reservation and its details may create an automatic data flow to housekeeping to prepare the room at a certain time; to supplies to ensure that the necessary linens, towels, room beverages and other amenities are provided; to engineering and maintenance, to switch on the power to the room; and to the front desk, to notify the concierge to expect the arrival of the customer at a particular time. Upon such arrival, entering this fact into the online records, as well as any purchases the customer may make, will be used by accounting in computing the final bill upon checkout. (4) CRM (Customer Relationship Management) CRM is “an integration of business processes and technologies employed to satisfy the needs of a customer” (Shanmugasundaram, 2008, p. 19) at any particular point in time during the pendency of that customer’s transaction with the company, and even thereafter in the interest of generating repeat purchases. The system is focused upon building and sustaining a relationship with the customer, not only for the duration of the sale but in contemplation of a longer-lasting business relationship. CRM incorporates the knowledge for customers (products, markets and suppliers), knowledge about customers (histories, connections, requirements, expectations, and purchasing activity), and knowledge from customers (in the nature of feedback, in order to facilitate continuous improvement). A functional CRM would be highly valued in the hotel business, and is in fact in use in international hotel networks where customers travel to different destinations and tend to patronize the same hotel chain. In the case of Croft Court, it may be expected that customers who have once stayed in the hotel will tend to return, particularly if they have family ties with Golders Green residents, and will probably make repeated trips to the place because of occasions of family celebrations. The same is true with business travellers who have reason to make frequent transactions in the vicinity. A CRM that would advise staff of these customers preferences and special requests will go a long way in making them feel better received and valued, as well as make their stay more convenient inasmuch as their needs shall be specially provided for without need of reiterating them. CRM also enables the establishment to inform the customer of current offerings, schedules, and availabilities concerning the places they may visit in the area, as well as enables the customer to provide direct feedback to the hotel for purposes of improving their services and products. Security measures for information system Presently, information concerning Croft Court’s security measures are not available, although one may expect the hotel to have the standard updated firewalls that would prevent the unauthorized entry into their databases. Since information security attacks on the assets of a firm can have dire consequences in its resources and operations, the dollar impact could be high, necessitating the establishment of measures to counter this (Alshboul, 2010, p. 1). For this purpose, a threat assessment should be conducted on the information systems that are either currently in place or will be in place in the hotel. Assets that should be assessed for threats and vulnerabilities include the following: Source: Alshboul, 2010, p. 5 Where these information assets are particularly vulnerable, the company’s business becomes the target of significant risk, thus security measure should seek to protect and secure that these assets are not accessible to unauthorized persons. Suitability of cloud computing The small hotel business is highly suitable for cloud computing, since the limited amount of resources that the business can devote to upgrading its information systems will not secure the results that cloud computing can for the same cost. Cloud computing is a model that features a shared pool of computing resources comprised of networks, servers, storage, applications and services. It should not be forgotten, however, that there could be drawbacks to cloud computing, such as the failure of Google’s web mail serviced for three hours in February 2009, which caused an uproar because of users’ inability to access Google Docs. Google Docs is Google’s online document creation and sharing system; it stores and processes personal productivity applications for its subscribers, and is a rival to Microsoft Office. With sufficient back-up systems to cover contingencies, however, cloud computing still remains attractive; for instance, Croft Court, like many other small enterprises, may be using Google’s online mail service Gmail and the earlier mentioned Google Docs (Clark, 2009). Conclusion The small and medium scale enterprise are strongly poised to take advantage of the developments in information technology and advancements in information systems. Croft Court Hotel, because it is patronized by tourists and travellers who may be coming from different parts of the globe, would be greatly benefitted by an information system that not only informs potential customers about it, but is also capable of closing a transaction and securing a sale, even before the customer reaches the premises. Because of this Croft Court would do well to update and maintain its information system in order to enhance its business prospects. Bibliography Air University (U.S.) 1975 Air University Review, Nov-Dec, United States, Department of the Air Force. Alshboul, A 2010 “Information Systems Security Measures and Countermeasures: Protecting Organizational Assets from Malicious Attacks.” Communications of the IBIMA. Argosy University, Chicago Clark, L 2009 “SMEs can benefit most from the cloud,” Computer Weekly, 4/28/2009 Kopáčková, H & Škrobáčková, M 2003 “Decision Support Systems or Business Intelligence: What Can Help in Decision Making?” USII/FES Univerzita Pardubice. Leon, A 2007 Enterprise Resource Planning, 2nd edition. Tata McGraw-Hill Education, New Delhi Shanmugasundaram, S 2008 Customer Relationship Management: Modern Trends and Perspectives. Prentice-Hall Read More