International Hotel Strategy Development - Research Paper Example

Current Issues of Hotel Management Development Contents Introduction: 3 Current issues of hotel management development: 3 Theoretical Models: 4 Sustainable Development Theory 4 Gap Model 6 Summary of findings: 10 Methodology: 10 Evaluation Design- 11 Interview: 12 Outcome of interview: 12 References: 12 Introduction: In ancient time when there was no such provision of hotels then travelers and traders often find difficulties to say and spend their night. The little options which were available that time were too expensive. Till the time of industrial revolution, 1700 there were no as such significant change noticed in this field. Then gradually in this sector a concept arises that is to give comfort with luxury to the wealthy guests just as comparable with the castles of Europe. This approach was termed as “Hotel”, which is a French world. Then the whole 1800s, Americans has made remarkable improvement in this sector (The College of Health and Human Development, 2014). But in recent time the scenario has changed a lot. It has become a very popular and profitable industry. Though tough competition is there in this sector but at the same time creativity and innovation goes hand to hand with this world. The discussed topic will clarify how hotel management has developed and what are the current issues those are vital this time for this industry. Current issues of hotel management development: The hotel industry in current scenario of the world is following some particular strategies for success. They are focusing more on giving new and more improved services to their customers. Each and every hotel is focusing more on give innovative services so that the customers are satisfied with their work and have the interest to back to that hotel again and again. Now –a-days brand name creates a great impact in the mind of the customer. Following continuous innovative and improved strategies can help in increasing the brand name of the hotel. In this case it can be said that the international hotels are performing better than the other country based hotel. (Steyn,Petzer and Mostert,2006 ,pp.1-3) . Today’s hotel and tourism industry are focusing more on earning maximum profit by giving their guests the best and innovative services. This particular industry has proved itself as a very lucrative world for getting job and many students after completing their school levels are going for Hotel Management degrees. The one and only criteria to get success in this industry is one has to adopt the multiculturalism. If one can do this successfully then in the national as well as in the international levels also through this industry, can earn a healthy amount of salary (Barron. P 2007. pp. 2-3). Theoretical Models: Sustainable Development Theory In this regard the Sustainable Development theory is very much relevant. The prime target of this concept is to establish a goal to operate the hotel in a profitable way by involving the guests as well as the workers of the hotel. In case of developing the service of a hotel this concept is very important. This is so because the employee will sustain longer only when they will see that they are paid well and are getting enough growth opportunity inside the organization. In case of planning any development program also sustainable employees are needed. As these employees who are experienced and know the basic strategies of the hotel can do this work well. Any new appointed one cannot be involved in development programmed as they are not aware about the hotel. At the same time sustainable customers are also needed for any hotel as it increases the goodwill. This concept says that if the customers are satisfied with the services provided by the hotel, they will come afterwards also for staying there. And if the hotel staffs are satisfied with their employer they will perform their duties more efficiently. So this theory says all the hotels must concentrate in making profit but with the motive of serving their customers and employee in a satisfactory way (Rutherford and OFallon, 2011). . This theory also involves the socio economic aspect of the market. An industry is very much built in a society. So to sustain in the market the social factors which influences the industry, has to be concern with. In hotel industry the employees and the customers all comes from the society. So the basic criteria’s of a society where the hotel is situated have to be followed. In case of hotels that have many branches worldwide they have to work more on the difference of culture and habits. Economy is another big factor to be considered in this theory. As this particular industry is very dynamic, continuous changes and improvement is very much essential in this field. But for this improvement along with a good and develop management team, sufficient amount of capital is also required. On the other hand countries economy as well as global economy has a direct impact on the business world. So the effects of currency fluctuation and recession have to be faced by this industry also. But in good or tough, both the situation the industry must take measures so that the sustainability of the hotel is insured. So it can be said that like any other industry this hotel industry has to take certain steps and have to follow some rules to sustain in the market for longer time (Houdre, 2014). Gap Model In case of this theory more emphasis is given on quality of work or product. As hotel industry is very much service oriented so it is quite obvious that in case of this industry quality service is the prime marketing factor. The prime work done by this model is with the help of this model the service quality can be judged. This model helps in identifying the gap between the service wanted from the customer and the actual service provided by the hotel. It clearly gives the picture of customer perception and expectation. This model gives the idea of how to develop service quality. The Gap Model was presented in the year 1985. The finding of this model is a analyzes the difference between what the customer is expecting before experiencing a service and the actual experience he/she is getting. The variations of service expected and the service given is being discussed below Gap 1- The miss understanding from the side of the service provide that what exactly the customer wants. Example – In this particular situation what generally happen is may be a customer has ordered a chocolate ice cream but with a specification of chocolate and that is a Belgium one. But that was omitted by the hotel people. Gap 2- The management has realized what the requirement of the client is but is not so developed that it can provide the desired service to the customer. Example- May be after boarding a customer ask for any room where there is bath tub in the bathroom but due to not be enough developed the hotel could not provide this facility. Gap 3- This gap defines that the management has made a particular strategy for providing a particular service but at the time of delivering the same it could not be followed for any reason. Example- May be for a particular party the management has ordered fresh orchid flowers but due to unexpected rains all the flowers got damaged and the hotel could not give the level of service they have committed and planned. Gap 4- The difference in between the delivered service and what customers were assured before giving the service about it. Example- An example of this situation can be may be while the time of booking it was committed by the hotel that there will be a pick up facility from the airport but due to some reason the hotel fails to meet that target. Gap 5- The last gap identifies the difference between the hotel’s perceptions regarding a service with the customer’s expectation regarding that same service. Example- It is very important to match the hotel perception with the customer perception. An example of this can be may be a customer think that not only for adult people, there must be enough arrangement for kids also so that they can spend their time happily. But maybe there is no such arrangement even planned by the hotel people. From the above discussion it can be said that the service model is the function of the customer’s expectation and perception. This can be shown in a form of equation SQ- Service Quality k- Number of Attributes Pij- Preference under the perception of the influence of attribute j Eij- Expected service quality of attribute j with a comparison with stimulus i. The above discussed Gap Model can be discussed in diagram also which is being discussed below. Here all the gaps are shown from the side of the customer as well as from the side of the company (Cleveland, 2010, pp.40-43). Preparation of students for field study: Before going to the field trip it is essential for the students to collect data about the hotel which has been selected for the trip. The guideline which is given by the college’s faculties must be understood very clearly otherwise there can be a problem of collecting data while the trip is on. And after wards coming back from the trip it can create problem while preparing the project report. Field study trip must be taken very seriously as this trip gives a student the opportunity to know the real industry world for the first time very closely. Each and every points taught here must be followed and have to be observe the total trip very attentively. As this experience will help a student in developing his/her idea about the hotel industry as well this experience will help in cracking the campus interviews ( Hobgood and Richardson , 2010). Summary of findings: The above questions asked to the employees will help us to understand the recruitment procedure of the hotel. As well as it will help to understand the overall view of the employee towards the organization. The job satisfaction level can also be determine by this question are. The next series of questions asked to the customers helps us to understand the satisfaction level of them, whether they prefer to come again and again in this hotel and is the hotel truly holds the 5 star rating. Along with these entire outcome these questions also gives us an idea about any changes or improvement is required or not in the hotel development (Hotelstars ,2014). Methodology: It is a generally recognized piece of information that research can be conducted either on a primary basis or in a secondary basis. Research Design – There are different research designs that can be used in a research study. A research design can be classified as qualitative & quantitative. Qualitative research involves how people are interpreting the subject of research. In the method of qualitative research various approaches like personal experience, case study, focus group interview, life story, historical etc. The other form, that is in case of quantitative research mostly hypothesis & statistics tools are used. Evaluation Design- Evaluation design can be of three types- • Exploratory evaluation designs help us in commencing an evaluation program to recognize which way out is best as a solution to the problem discussed in the research program and the methods that should be implemented to solve the problem (Lapan et.al, 2011). • Descriptive designs help us to determine whether the program is being conducted as per plan, provides us with response about the programs offered & decides whether the program is creating the desired output. This doesn’t deal with problem and solution (Lapan et.al, 2011). • Causal evaluation designs helps to present more information regarding the relationship between the motivational tools implemented and the outcomes obtained. It presents a cause & effect relationship. The evaluation that would be appropriate for the present study would be descriptive design as here evaluation of the proper implications of the plan is being done. Interview: Some questions are discussed below which can be asked to any hotel employee to know what has been done to reduce the service gap and or for developing new development. 1. Did you find any customer who was dissatisfied regarding food, in your career? 2. What step has been taken to manage that particular situation? 3. Later from the side of management did any step were taken? 4. While developing new strategies was this particular situation were remembered by management? Outcome of interview: These questions will help us to understand that how much the hotel management is conscious about their service gap and how they met it. References: The College of Health and Human Development, 2014, School of Hospitality Management. [Online]. Available at: http://www.hhdev.psu.edu/shm/about/history. [Accessed on March 14, 2014]. OFallon, M. J. and Rutherford, D. G., 2011. Hotel Management and Operations. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. Available at: http://reference.sabinet.co.za/webx/access/electronic_journals/sabr/sabr_v12_n2_a1.pdf. [Accessed on March 14, 2014]. Steyn. T.F.J,Petzer.J.D and Mostert P.G ,2006 . Competitive marketing strategies of selected hotels: an exploratory study . [pdf]. Barron. P, 2007. Careers in Hospitality Management: Generation Y’s Experiences and Perceptions. [pdf]. Available at: https://dspace.stir.ac.uk/bitstream/1893/666/1/Careers%20in%20Hospitality%20Management%20Article%20Revised%20%2027%2011%2006.pdf. [Accessed on March 14, 2014]. Cleveland .N. J., et al., 2007. WORK AND FAMILY ISSUES IN THEHOSPITALITY INDUSTRY:PERSPECTIVES OF ENTRANTS ,MANAGERS, AND SPOUSES. [pdf] . Available at : http://www.personal.psu.edu/jwo3/Hotel%20WorkFamily%20Issues%20Article%20for%20oneill.pdf. [Accessed on March 14, 2014]. Houdre. H. 2014 , Hospitality Leadership Through Learning [online]. Available at : https://www.hotelschool.cornell.edu/research/chr/pubs/perspective/perspective-14924.html. [Accessed on March 14, 2014]. Blesic. I, Dzigurski.I.A, Dragin.A, Ivanovic.L and Milana.P.2010. Application of Gap Model in the Researches of Hotel Services Quality. [pdf]. Available at : http://www.dgt.uns.ac.rs/turizam/arhiva/vol_1501_blesic.pdf. [Accessed on March 14, 2014]. Hobgood.b and Richardson , 2010. Planning a successful (and educational) field trip [online]. Available at : http://www.learnnc.org/lp/pages/1824. [Accessed on March 14, 2014]. Hotelstars. 2014, Hotelstars Criteria. [online] Available at: http://www.hotelstars.eu/index.php?id=criteria . [Accessed on March 14, 2014]. Sufi . T ,2006. Hospitality Industry: An Overview Of Strategy, Structure And Globalization. [pdf]. Available at: https://www.academia.edu/1969688/HOSPITALITY_INDUSTRY_STRUCTURE_STRATEGY_AND_GLOBALIZATION. [Accessed on March 14, 2014]. King. B, 2012 . Hospitality Industry Launches Standard Methodology for Carbon Footprinting [online]. Available at: http://www.sustainablebrands.com/news_and_views/articles/hospitality-industry-launches-standard-methodology-carbon-footprinting. [Accessed on March 14, 2014]. Lapan, S. D., and et.al, 2011. Qualitative Research: An Introduction to Methods and Designs. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons. Read More