The Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando Florida - Case Study Example

Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, Orlando Florida An Overview of this Grand Hotel Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress, Orlando Florida An Overview of this Grand Hotel Facility Description Name of Hotel The Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress in Orlando Florida is situated in a prime spot where is situated in a prime spot where Walt Disney World is less than 3 miles away. Mission Statement The mission statement that incorporates the code and sense of responsibility that the Corporation adheres to for its properties is as follows: Our commitment is to make our communities places where our colleagues are proud to work, our guests went to visit, neighbors want to live and owners want to invest (Hyatt n.p.). Number of Rooms and Room Types The hotel has 815 rooms and suites, all of which are non-smoking. Rooms are available with king-size beds, two queen beds, a king size bed with the sofa sleeper, and with variations that are called either the pool views or resort views. Pool views cost more than resort views. There is also a club that Hyatt has called the Regency club where suites can be rented as well as standard rooms with different rates than the rest of the resort. The hotel has 48 suites, 317 kings, foreign 15 doubles, and 35 accessible rooms for those with challenges. Rates In January of 2015 the rack rate for standard room with the resort view is to $229.00 plus tax with the rack rates for pool view rooms being quoted at $269.00. Regency club level rates are only quoted to those who have membership. The online reservation system was unable to process a reservation. After trying ten different dates throughout the year, each time the date was refused as unavailable. The price through Expedia was $151.00 per night for a standard room with a $28.00 resort fee on top of the rate. The Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress has four different golf clubs at its disposal and promotes golf packages to its guests. Golf packages are customized for each traveling party at the Jack Nicklaus signature golf courses that are available (The Golfer’s Desk n.p.) Type of Ownership This hotel is directly owned by the Hyatt Hotels Corporation. Services and Amenities The hotel includes both wired in and wireless high-speed Internet access for guests, television with cable movie channels and pay-per-view movies, two telephones, the option for a Review through video with video checkout, a safe thats large enough for a laptop, turndown service, when requested, hair dryer, iron and ironing board, alarm clock, ceiling fan in a private balcony, and adapter panel so that plug-and-play multimedia can use, and a cool box that is temperature control for beverages. There is a concierge available with FedEx business services, as well as car rental from Hertz. Facilities This award-winning hotel is situated with four Jack Nicklaus golf courses available. The grand Cypress racquet club, which has 12 tennis courts, racquetball, as well as a separate clubhouse, with and 800,000 gallon lagoon type swimming pool with 12 waterfalls tumbling into the lagoon. There is a spa as well as a health club and 45 acres of natural areas where jogging trails and fitness trails can be found. The hotel can accommodate conferences as well as conference room rental with full restaurant facilities as well as catering. Hotel activities include a water slide tower pavilion, water sports, group activities, rock climbing, and a number of activities designed for family interaction. Food & Beverage The food and beverage department has asked different places where service is available. The Cascade American Bistro serves casual dining for all three meals and also provides a sushi bar. Hemingways has steaks and seafood available for fine dining. The Palm Café is a small venue, which serves casual dining and is perfect for lunch. Hurricanes Lounge has light snacks and cocktails with Trellises Bar & Lounge serving Starbucks coffee in the morning as well as cocktails during the evening hours. Finally, when summing up by the pool a guest can go to On the Rocks, which is a pool and beach bar (Hyatt n.p.). N Location The Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress is located at One Grand Cypress Blvd Orlando Florida, 32836. The direct telephone number is 1-407-239-1234. The web address is http://grandcypress.hyatt.com/en/hotel/our-hotel.html. Employees There are approximately 1200 employees in the front departments. Property Management System The property management system is an in-house developed IT called Hyatt Fast Board. Market Position Target Market This particular hotel has a unique position in that it is centrally located to both Walt Disney World and Universal Studios Orlando. In addition, there is easy access to a number of different local attractions. This hotel also offers opportunities to the niche market of those wishing to have a great golfing experience. Florida has a number of different specialty golf courses and the Jack Nicklaus designed golf courses that are attached to this hotel provides it with a competitive advantage. The primary target market for this hotel would be families. Because it is centrally located to theme parks in the Orlando area, appealing to families who wish to have access to these parks, as well as to various other advantages of the Orlando tourist attractions would be ideal for this particular hotel. The way in which the hotel attracts families is through offering a number of different options that are family-friendly, including babysitting as well as family activities that can be participated in during the evening hours after coming home from the parks. A secondary, but very important target market for this hotel would be male travelers. Golf experiences and golf packages are one of the primary focuses for the hotel in terms of target marketing. This provides for a number of different aspects of the market to be exploited. The advantage of having Jack Nicklaus designed of course this means that a known name has been used as one of the ways in which to attract avid golfers. This is specifically attractive to men over the age of 40 as Jack Nicklaus is best known to golfer enthusiasts of this age. In addition, the golf packages provide for male bonding trips as well as a secondary activity that men can choose over going to the theme parks. A third target market for the company would be European travelers. Through creating European traveling packages as well as direct marketing through travel agents, the company supports the travel of foreign guests through location as well as through the number of amenities that are offered. In addition, specific concierge services available to foreign travelers before they arrived so that they can plan a trip through the hotel that meets the expectations that they have for visiting the Orlando area. A fourth target market for the company would be in relationship to their Marilyn Monroe Spa. The Marilyn Monroe Spa on site provides spa services for guests in a high end market. People who are looking for a spa resort can find all of their needs fulfilled in this hotel. The combination of the golf and spa facilities specifically appeals to husbands and wives looking to vacation together but enjoy their own interests independently. Competition Competition is stiff for this grand resort and hotel because of its location and because of the various hotels in the area. The strongest competition that the hotel has is related to the Walt Disney World Resort. The Walt Disney World Resort has twenty-four self-owned resorts, with two high end resorts owned by a national franchise. They also host a row of hotels not owned by Disney, but on Disney property. All of these hotels are interconnected to the Walt Disney World resort attractions through a bus system that is free to the customer. In addition, the Walt Disney World resort has begun to offer free transportation from the Orlando international Airport, which has caused a great deal of difficulty for area hotels who cannot provide the service. The Universal Studios Orlando resort area also offers a number of different hotels that are on the Universal Studios property. If the primary focus of the travelers to get Universal Studios, they can stay at any one of these hotels and be within a short distance from those theme parks. In addition, International Drive is located within a reasonable distance from the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress and is closer to the convention center where a number of different events full in travelers to the Orlando area. This means that the hotel is in competition with the resorts that are directly on Walt Disney World property, Universal Studios property, as well as the numerous properties that are located on international Drive that are within a short distance of the convention center. Even though the hotel has a centrally located position to all three of these regions, they are in direct competition with the desires of the guest in contrast to the convenience of location. If the guest wants to go to all three of these areas then the grand Cypress has the advantage, but if any guest wants to go to only one of these areas, they may choose a different resort is directly located to that area. Marketing Strategy The primary strategy for this hotel, and for the Hyatt Corporation, is to build brand value and awareness. These data and analytics in order to approach new guests and through audited and statistical analysis as well as predictive modeling, they find the most profitable customers and engage them with value offerings. The use of electronic distribution methods of interaction with guests is the highest priority for Hyatt worldwide sales and marketing efforts. Therefore, Hyatt.com is the core marketing tool from which they gain access to their guests. They also include the use of sites like Expedia and Orbitz with discount prices in order to fill rooms so that they can meet capacity expectations. In addition to individual sales, group sales are very important part of their business strategy. Group oriented business requires that expertise and reputation for conventions be maintained. Sales offices throughout the world provide for connections that support the convention and group sales of this location. Hyatt supports the group sales efforts through 100 offices throughout the world and has approximately 1800 high-value customers that they direct towards their venues through contractual obligations. Another high-value, but low-key marketing strategy is there vacation property sales. Through developing a vacation club market, the company has supported a yearly revenue stream that comes from selling points from which Regency club members can take advantage of different types of properties within the system. This vacation club is similar to the timeshare opportunity and provides users with multiple properties to choose from, including the Orlando property. Social Media Social media is conducted at a corporate level through information that is provided through the human resources department when changes need to be made. Social media outlets for this property include Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HyattRegencyGrandCypress), Twitter (https://twitter.com/HRGrandCypress), Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLb60jtRU0Q2H-f7xgJL4SwB_36GEA_6P7), Google Plus (https://plus.google.com/+hyattgrandcypress/about?gl=us&hl=en). Pinterest (https://www.pinterest.com/hrgrandcypress/), and Instagram (http://instagram.com/hyattregencygrandcypress). The company uses a wide range of interconnections which provide a strong support in terms of social media. The pictures are professional and the commentary is positive and reinforcing for the company. Most of the information was not posted daily but looked to be posted about twice per week. Tripadvisor gives this hotel a rating of 4 1/2 out of 2508 reviews. Management Information Duties and Responsibilities The executive housekeeper of the Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress sat down for a few minutes in order to describe his position and to further explore the types of skills needed for the department. George Raben has been executive housekeeper for four years now and maintains his position through skills that include organization and people management. Part of his duties is financial and he must make sure that the resources that they use in the housekeeping department are kept under budget. In addition, he is responsible for quality control and making sure that housekeeping crews are able to meet the standards expected by the hotel and the guests that they serve. Operational procedures are an important part of the executive housekeepers role within the organization, because they must maintain coordination with the front office staff as well as the back of the house. The primary duties for an executive housekeeper at this particular hotel are to maintain procedures, work with financial budgets that include both resources and labor, and to make sure that department is maintaining a high standard of quality in its performance. The housekeeping department must be a well-oiled system in order for it to contribute appropriately. Management Skills Skills that are required for this position include human resource management, financial accounting, and an understanding of the hospitality management industry and how that relates to housekeeping. Entry Level Skills Becoming a housekeeper at a resort level hotel requires having the willingness to take pride in ones work, the willingness to learn, and an ability to serve guests with the intention of creating the best possible experience. Above all, a strong work ethic is required in order to join us department. Daily Activities The first thing that an executive housekeeper does when he arrives in his office is to check the daily arrivals and departures. Having this information is crucial to how the performance of responsibilities will be conducted. He also checks this information in terms of monthly expectations and weekly expectations so that he can know how to budget labor. He plans inventories for specific days so that he can keep on top of the resources that they have any resources that are needed to be ordered. The mornings are usually spent making sure that housekeeping is meeting the needs of checkouts and preparing rooms for the daily check-ins. The afternoons are spent making sure that budgets in terms of both resources and labor are kept under corporate expectations. One portion of the morning is spent checking random rooms to make sure that housekeepers have met the expectations placed on them. He says that occasionally likes to do this himself rather than use a supervisor because this way he knows what is going on in his department. He has been known to use sheet marking as a method of checking the work of some employees where there is a suspicion that they are not performing sheet changes. However, the employees that he has now are mostly long-term and he is not felt the need to do this kind of a check in a very long time. His supervisors do on occasion perform this type of the check, but he has felt confident with this current staff. Project Part Two Reservations Critique The Dolphin and Swan hotels share a website on which a number of different advertisements are undertaken, as well as the ability to make reservations. If you are unfamiliar with the Dolphin and Swan hotels, they are very similar in design and create sort of a twin type of feeling mayor approached. They are right next to one another and can be accessed through their own interconnecting roads system within the Disney World complex. In order to make reservation at the Swan, the individual is rerouted to the Sheraton hotels and resorts Reservation system. The Sheraton owns the Swan. Checking in on January 27 and out on the 29th was quoted as $219.10 per night, but this did not include the local tax, which added up to $13.14, or the estate tax, which was $14.24. In addition, the resort charges $23 per night for a service package which reviews on Tripadvisor claimed to be a couple bottles of water. In addition, Tripadvisor shows that there is a $16 per night charge for self-parking if a guest brings a car. One interesting part of the site was where they should pictures of the Swan in the Dolphin together in order to give the traveler a feel for the resort that they were going to attend. In addition, the description of the heavenly bed was a good selling point for this particular property since some of the reviews on trip advisor suggested that the beds were not very comfortable. There was a very complete section on dining, which provided beautiful pictures as well as descriptions of the types of food that were available. The description of the Mandara Spa also was intriguing and provided the viewer with a sense of the different types of services that were available. The color of the website was not very well balanced and it was not a very pleasant sight to look at for the viewer. The website could also improve some in terms of providing more information without having to scroll down. Too much is devoted to pictures and not enough to information. In addition, there is a section for social activities, but that is based for groups and does not really provide the individual traveler with enough information about the amenities at the resort. A reservation could not be made without paying the first night. Reservations Call A reservation that was made over the phone was quoted as a rate of $229 for the same time. The total deposit would have been $298. The salesperson used a bottom-up technique, and when asked for special rates they were offering they said none were available. A complete description of the room was made that was very similar to the one on the website after first going through the room types that were available. The description of the room was made after it was requested. The information about the resort was rattled off very quickly and it was difficult to understand. When more information was requested the reservationist gave the website address. The cancellation policy requires 30 days and therefore, there would be no refund of the deposit because we within that 30 day period. This information had to be requested. Because the reservation could not be concluded unless the deposit was given, there was no confirmation number given. When asked if the confirmation number would be provided with the reservation. If it were completed the reservationist said that it would. Works Cited “Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress” Hyatt, 2015. Web. 9 January 2015. “Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress” Tripadvisor, 2015. Web. 9 January 2015. Raben, George, Executive Housekeeper, Hyatt Regency Grand Cypress. 407-239-1234 “Swan and Dolphin Resorts” Sheraton, 2015. Web. 10 January 2015. “The Golfer’s Desk”. Hyatt, 2015. Web. 9 January 2015. “The Swan”. Tripadvisor, 2015. Web. 10 January 2015. Appendices Appendix 1 Photographs Appendix 2 Thank you Letter George Raben Executive Housekeeper g.raben@grandcypress.hyatt.com Dear Mr. Raben I would like to thank you for the opportunity to interview you about your position at the Hyatt Regency grand site for us in Orlando, Florida. I appreciate the insights that you were able to give me in terms of your position as executive housekeeper as well as your expectations for those coming in at an entry-level position. I also appreciate the time you took to sit with me and I know that your time is extremely valuable. As I look forward to a position in the hospitality industry is people like you who will help to pave the way for those of us who come into that industry. Once again, thank you for your time and I appreciate your contribution to my education. Sincerely Name Phone Number Email address Read More