Research Topics: Hotel Marketing Strategies

THESIS STATEMENTS ON HOTEL MARKETING STRATEGIES AND SLOGANS

One of the ways to establish a name in the market is by creating an original, powerful and attractive slogan for a particular product. It is also known as brand marketing. Brand marketing has been a popular concept in business strategies. Three of the known hotels in the world use their slogans in that manner. Holiday Inn hotel for example, uses a number of different slogans, in different locations. They have seven slogans that they have been known for. Those are Relax, it’s Holiday Inn, We put a smile back on your face, Pleasing people the world over, The best surprise is no surprise, Holiday Inn; The World’s Inn Keeper, Your host from coast to coast, and The Nation’s Innkeeper.             Ramada Hotel in U.S and Canada uses the slogan Ramada. A very good place to be.  Ramada Hotel International on the other hand, that is excluding U.S and Canada uses the slogan Everything Except Excess.             Hyatt Hotel is using one unique slogan Feel the Hyatt Touch.             According to marketing strategists, effective brand marketing is a combination of the RIGHT message, delivered in the right way, to achieve RIGHT results.             This study is interested to find out the relationship of marketing strategies of the three hotels to the slogans. This study would like to explore on the reasons why a particular hotel was chosen to promote the hotel.             This study will research on the marketing strategies of the hotels and check on what way do the marketing strategies match the current slogan. This study is also interested in gauging the effectiveness of the slogans in promoting the hotel.             This study will be beneficial to hotels and business firms in general. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

THESIS STATEMENTS ON HOTEL MARKETING STRATEGIES AND SLOGANS

One of the ways to establish a name in the market is by creating an original, powerful and attractive slogan for a parti...

Hotel Innovation Technologies

OBJECTIVES As a person with knowledge of hotel innovation technologies, the author has always brought up to his superiors the viability of strategy formation regarding the analysis of this topic and at times fail to understand the reasons or logic behind certain strategic implementations imposed on it. By delving into this project paper, the author intends to have better insights into how hotel innovation technologies are thought up, formulated and then imparted down into the hotel. The author hopes to have an in-depth understanding as to how the hotel innovation technologies enable hotel establishments to compete effectively and profitably in this era of internationalization where competition is extremely intense. In order to reinforce the learning objectives, two key focal issues were focused upon i.e. innovation and diversity. Innovation was discussed with regard to hotel innovation technologies where it was renowned for its developmental capabilities to constantly innovate. Diversity came under strategic thinking and formation as the author considered the diverse culture, political climate, economic surroundings, social environment, technological settings, government policies and legal systems in order to better understand the issues being discussed.     SUMMARY This essay utilized the Hilton London Paddington in London, England and its hotel innovation technologies as the model to review its present features and functions and how they dealt with critical situations. From the analysis, key trends in the hotel information technologies were then identified, how they worked and their effectiveness in dealing with critical situations was ascertained. The paper then moved on to assess these hotel innovation technologies with regard to their suitability to critical situations, during which the internal capabilities of these hotel innovation technologies in relation to the strategy being followed by the Hilton London Paddington was determined also. An overall analysis of the performance and effectiveness of hotel innovation technologies of Hilton London Paddington was also conducted to assess and compare the capabilities of these hotel innovation technologies with those of others. Gaps in the capabilities and features of hotel innovation technologies were then identified. Finally, several choices of strategies to improve the hotel innovation technologies of Hilton London Paddington as effective means in critical situations were recommended and evaluated in terms of appropriateness to the issues reviewed, feasibility in carrying out the options and acceptability within the key stakeholders and decision makers. Several key implementation issues related to managing strategic change were also addressed as well.     INTRODUCTION   In the advent of modernization in the realm of Information Technology, it is important for hotel establishments, whether small-scale or large-scale, to keep themselves updated to the latest trends so as to keep their competitive value of their products and services in the global market. One obvious trend involves the use of various Information Systems and Innovation Technologies in order to improve the business operations of most companies.  Hotel innovation technologies pertain to gadgets or systems that lead to the efficient and effective implementation of the hotel’s policies and tasks necessary to satisfy their customers, employees, and management.  Hotel innovation technologies focus on the careful management of the processes involved in the production and distribution of the hotel’s products and services. More often than not, small hotel establishments don’t really have the capabilities to implement hotel innovation technologies. Instead, these hotels engage in activities that various schools of hotel and restaurant management typically associate with upgrading and improving their services (Wood, 1994). This report focuses on various Information Systems and Innovation Technologies that have significantly improved the efficiency of the business operations of Hilton London Paddington upon successful implementation. There are also tips suggested on how Hilton London Paddington manages its Information Systems upon their implementation.   REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE The domestic and foreign hotel business is among the fastest growing economic sectors in UK. In fact, the domestic and foreign hotel business by itself is recognized as multi-million dollar and still a progressing business in UK. The domestic and foreign hotel business is among the major economic forces in the country as its enables growth and creation of job opportunities. The domestic and foreign hotel business has employed over a million workers who were distributed within various hotel establishments, totaling to revenue generation of billions of dollars. From these records, the domestic and foreign hotel business has indeed become one of the most competitive businesses in the world (Smith, 1994). Important changes in the understanding and management of innovation technologies of most domestic and foreign hotels have been developed in the past 10 to 15 years. Various researchers, practitioners and policymakers now acknowledge that innovation technologies can be conceptualized from a functional perspective and that appropriate interventions involve the development of alternative measures to cope up. It was also noted that the establishment of a conducive hotel environment for tourists to enjoy and relax have served effectively in lowering the prevalence of un-satisfaction among tourists. At present, this philosophical shift has extended to various settings, including UK. Domestic and foreign hotel owners and entrepreneurs here have recognized that some tourists do not appreciate so much the quality of service that their hotels and restaurants offer. Hence, these tourists may have the tendency to shy away from visiting UK and its other great cities because of this bad impression they have. For decades, researchers have tried to discover the elements of innovation technologies among tourist establishments such as foreign and domestic hotels. And while they might have been able to identify certain essential elements of innovation technologies, they have yet to determine the elements that common tourists pay particular attention to. However, it has been shown that negligence of innovation technologies produces consequences that foster bad impressions from tourists. Strong evidence suggests that innovation technologies and its negligence engage in a reciprocal relationship that has a short and long term effect on the tourist’s future opinion regarding the service quality of hotel establishments. One of the criteria for identifying if a tourist establishment such as hotels is of high in innovation technologies is whether it has an impressive environment with fully operational facilities meant for the relaxation and enjoyment of the tourists and visitors. A deficit in basic services, as well as skills related to making the tourists and guests fully accommodated, significantly impairs a hotel’s ability to encourage more and more tourists to come over to their place. When compared to high quality serviced foreign and domestic hotels, low quality serviced foreign and domestic hotels have lower performance rates, lower income and are less likely to be known all over the place. As a consequence, low quality serviced hotels often experience a lifetime of problems in employment and publicity, and they are likely to become bankrupted even at a developmental stage (Rub-off, 1988). Overview of Hilton London Paddington   Hilton London Paddington aims for sustainable growth as a broad market leader in the hotel industry of UK as well as for segment leadership. In both cases, the hotel services of Hilton London Paddington will play a crucial part. Hilton London Paddington is able to establish its broad leadership usually by acquiring other strong hotel establishments and their services, which are then combined into a new, larger hotel. Offering training to its employees, improving the company operations, and the introduction of new innovation technologies then reinforces the positions of the various hotel services of Hilton London Paddington. This practically results in economies of scale that is able to create a distribution network for the hotel services of Hilton London Paddington. If a market is already in the control of other hotel establishments, Hilton London Paddington devotes its attention towards the development of a premium segment with its various hotel services and innovative technologies (Price, 1995).             The mission of Hilton London Paddington is to secure the growth of the business in a sustainable manner, while at the same time constantly improving the company’s profitability. The strategy to achieve this involves four elements: <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Striving in order to reach a leading position in attractive markets </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Focusing on securing a competitive share of the hotel market segments. </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Working in order to improve the company’s efficiency and cut costs in operations. </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Continuous growth through selective acquisitions for as long as they are able to create shareholder value. </li> Hilton London Paddington’s Customers Gone are the days when tourists have to find a place to temporarily stay for hours. Today’s tourists want to become as productive as possible while in their favorite tourist destinations and interact with different individuals and groups from various parts of the world. The technological advancement in hotel technologies has allowed tourists and guests at Hilton London Paddington to access communication tools in new settings. Because of this rigorous and hectic schedule of tourists and guests, it became imperative for them to indulge in relaxing hotel services to help them ease the tiredness after a day of visiting great tourist attractions.   Operatives A. Materials Management Workers in this group have responsibilities in communications, recordkeeping as well as operations scheduling. The materials management team of the winery is subdivided into key personnel. Cargo and freight agents. These people track cargo and freight shipments of tourist lodging in at Hilton London Paddington. They may come from airlines, terminals or from shipping docks. They are in charge of keeping the records of missing and destroyed items from tourists. These people are able to sort the numerous cargos of baggage from tourists based on their destinations. They also establish payment scheduling with tourists and arrange the pickup schedule and delivery of freight. Couriers and messengers. These people are assigned to deliver important business documents and packages of tourists lodging at Hilton London Paddington to other people. They keep records of deliveries and get the recipient’s signature. These people travel by car or just by foot when making nearby deliveries. Production and planning clerks. These people do the coordination of the flow of information, work as well as the materials. These are done usually on a production or work schedule basis. They also the gathering of critical information for reports. B. Purchasing and Buying  Buyers and purchasing agents of Hilton London Paddington are tasked to evaluate technology suppliers on the basis of price, quality and service support. They review catalogs as well as industry and company publications in order to help them in their search for the right technology suppliers. Fortunately for them, a majority of this information can be easily accessed in the Internet. They also do some researching about the reputation and background of the technology suppliers and may also do some advertisements regarding the foreseen purchase actions in the hope of soliciting bids. At meetings and conferences, they perform the examination of hotel technology products and services, the evaluation of the productive and distributive capabilities of technology suppliers, and the discussion of business considerations that have the possibility of influencing the purchasing decision. As soon as all valuable information about the technology suppliers is gathered, the placement of orders and contracts are started to be awarded to those technology suppliers who are able to meet the needs of the purchasers. The typical contracts range for several years and may even have the stipulations of the range of prices, which would allow the purchasers to reorder whenever necessary. C. Production Planning Production planning is a necessary function within Hilton London Paddington. In most hotels in UK this process is often very difficult because of the fast rate of change and the occurrences of unplanned events. Hilton London Paddington uses several methodologies depending on the rate of demand of the customer and the price of the technology. Nevertheless, the objectives of Hilton London Paddington for every transaction do not change: efficiency and effectiveness. Production planning is being implemented by Hilton London Paddington in order for its activities and resources to be coordinated over time. This enables the hotel to achieve its goals with minimal resource utilization. Production planning also enables Hilton London Paddington to monitor the progress of their plans at regular intervals and maintain their control over operations. Production planning within Hilton London Paddington involves four elements: scheduling, labor planning, equipment planning, and cost planning. <ul type="disc" style="margin-bottom: 0in"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Scheduling involves the specification of the beginning, the length or the duration, and end of the planned activities. </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Labor planning involves allocating the necessary personnel and delegation of responsibilities and resources </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Technology planning involves identifying the types and needs in terms of equipments. </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Cost planning involves determining the costs and the possibility of their occurrence. </li> </ul> Management The Hilton London Paddington Board of Directors and management believe that sound principles of corporate governance are critical to obtaining and retaining the trust and respect of stockholders, employees, other stakeholders and the public. The Hilton London Paddington board serves at the discretion of stockholders and works to represent their interests by enhancing business strategies and practices for the creation of long term stockholder value. Governance Summary <ul type="disc" style="margin-bottom: 0in"> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> The board consists of three standing committees: Audit Committee, Compensation Committee and the Nominating and Governance Committee; </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> A majority of board members are independent of the company and its management; </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> The Audit Committee of the board has established policies consistent with the newly enacted corporate reform laws for auditor independence; </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> The independent members of the board meet regularly without the presence of management; </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> The charters of our board committees clearly establish their respective roles and responsibilities; </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> The company has a clear code of ethics and all employees must affirm their acceptance of this code. The code of ethics includes a conflict of interest policy to ensure that key corporate decisions are made by individuals who do not have a financial interest in the outcome separate from their interest as company officials; </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> The company actively monitors compliance with the law and the global financial policies and practices over critical areas. These areas include internal controls, financial accounting and reporting, fiduciary accountability and safeguarding of our corporate assets. </li> </ul> INFORMATION SYSTEMS and INNOVATION TECHNOLOGIES Hilton London Paddington implements these specific information systems and innovation technologies in order to improve their business operations.   A. Transaction Processing System This information system is tasked to collect and organize operational data of Hilton London Paddington’s activities (Child, 1990). For example, a typical banking operation by the hotel involves transferring 0 from the account of their client to the hotel’s checking account. This would seem like a single operation to the hotel, but in reality this transaction consists of two steps: debiting the clients account by 0, and crediting the hotel’s checking account by 0. If the debit operation succeeded and the credit did not, then the 0 would disappear. The Transaction processing system combines these two operations and groups them into a single transaction. This is done through the production of copies of the data in question, and these copies are then made to run the operations on the copied data. When both commands have successfully completed, the changed data is written back to the system in a single operation. If one of the operations fails, the copied data is simply discarded, and an error is reported. For many years transaction processing was the domain of information systems, especially since they these information systems were able to guarantee that any changes to the database would be completed. This worked well for most companies, and they could all even run on top of a database with a single client-server. However, in recent years this model has also become more difficult to maintain. As the number of transactions grew in response to various online services, a single database proved to be very inefficient. Also, most online systems consist of a whole suite of programs operating together, as opposed to a strict client-server model where the single server could handle the transaction processing. Nevertheless, this type of information system will significantly bolster the business operations of hotel establishments when successfully implemented. B. Management Support Systems 1) Decision Support System This information system goes beyond one-way presentations and sharing of applications to enable a focused exchange of ideas over the Internet or an Intranet. Researches have proved that electronic brainstorming is able to generate more and better ideas (Peacock, 1995). This is brought about by the combination of parallel idea generation and the utilization of focus group discussions and tools for the organization of ideas. Therefore, decision-making is done with a higher degree of consensus and a higher likelihood of implementation success. Meetings within Hilton London Paddington would only take less than a fraction of time as expected. But more importantly, everyone walks away with the minutes of the meeting in hand, regardless of where they are. Also, because the tools are web-based, the hotel’s management can choose the proper setting for the meetings, whether to place the clients in a conference room, set up a distributed meeting or a mixture of both. The management can decide whether the meeting should be done in real-time or whether the clients can participate and contribute their ideas only when their schedule allows them to. Either way, Hilton London Paddington is assured of getting the same focus and productivity while at the same time having a significantly greater flexibility in terms of scheduling. 2) Executive Information System (ELIS) The Executive Information System begins with the identification of problems. These include the gaps between the desired and actual states that cannot be easily closed easily because of the new knowledge that needs to be produced to support the decisions and actions needed to close them (Karsavina, 1992). There are generally three (3) classes of such problems: ·         problems occurring in hotel business processes; ·         problems occurring in hotel knowledge processes; and ·         problems occurring in hotel Knowledge management processes. Problems occurring in the hotel business processes cannot be resolved through the use of Knowledge management solutions, but through knowledge processing solutions. The other two classes of problems, however, can be solved through the use of Executive Information System services. This Information System will identify, formulate, and evaluate the knowledge processing and knowledge management problems This is the most important service that the ELIS provides for Hilton London Paddington.  Failure to solve a business process problem within the hotel, for instance, may not be caused by a problem in the organization and structure of the hotel’s organizational knowledge processes. Instead, it may be possibly caused by a failure in solving an extremely difficult business process problem, even though available knowledge processes are working just fine. There are certain instances, however, that it is not always very clear what the nature of the problem is, even if a knowledge processing problem exists. For example, the fact that the knowledge needed to support a particular decision is not there may be possibly caused by the fact that the knowledge exists, but is currently unavailable because of a poorly operating knowledge sharing process. Another possible explanation is that it could be caused by the fact that the process of the development of new knowledge claims is not open to most organizational participants. The bottom line is the process on how the problem is formulated and diagnosed. Because of its experience in the development of the underlying conceptual foundations of Knowledge Management, the Executive Information System is able to identify, formulate and evaluate knowledge processing and knowledge management problems within Hilton London Paddington.     3) Expert System The Expert System is meant to solve real problems of Hilton London Paddington which normally would require hiring a human expert to solve them (Harvey, 1990). Building the Expert system therefore first involves the extraction of the crucial information from a human expert. Such knowledge is often characterized as heuristic in nature. However, the extraction of relevant information from an expert in a way that can be used by a computer is generally a difficult task. Therefore, a knowledge engineer is needed to do the job of extracting this knowledge and building the expert system knowledge base. The first attempt in the construction of the Expert System would unlikely be very successful. This is partly because the human expert generally would find it very difficult to express the necessary knowledge and rules needed to solve the problem. Much of it is almost subconscious, or appears so obvious that most human experts don’t even bother mentioning it. Knowledge acquisition for the Expert System would involve a big area of research, with a wide variety of techniques that also need to be developed. However, the Hilton London Paddington first developed an initial prototype based on the relevant information extracted in the interview of the human expert, then made some refinements on it based this time on the feedbacks coming from both the human expert and from the potential users of the Expert System. In order to do such refinements from the prototype it is important that the Expert System must be written in such a way that it can easily be inspected and modified. The system should be able to explain its reasoning and also be able to answer questions regarding the solution process. The system updating must not involve rewriting a whole lot of codes. It must include simply the addition or deleting localized chunks of knowledge. The most widely used knowledge representation scheme for expert systems is rules. Typically, the rules do not have certain conclusions, but there is some degree of certainty that the conclusion will hold if the conditions hold also. Statistical techniques are often used to determine these certainties. Rule-based systems, with or without certainties, can be easily modified, thus making it easy to provide helpful traces of the system’s reasoning. These traces can be further used in providing explanations of what it is doing. Expert systems have long been used to solve a wide range of problems in domains which include medicine, mathematics, engineering, business, law and education. Within each domain, they have been used to solve problems of different types. Types of problem involve diagnosis (e.g., of a system fault or student error); design (of computer systems); and interpretation (of, for example, geological data). The necessary problem solving techniques tend to depend more on the type of the problems rather than on the domain. C. Hotel Automation System The Hotel Automation System of Hilton London Paddington provides the incorporation of important hotel documents of all types through the integration of images into the Automation System (Ellis, 1993). The System include applications such as word processing, database, and mail, all of which are able to access image documents. The storage of document images is made possible through the utilization of a variety of storage media such as microfilms and optical disks. An image access subsystem, on the other hand, provides to each of the Hotel Automation applications the uniform access to images stored on all of the media. The image access subsystem can then be used as a hardware controller to handle some of the complex events in the retrieval of images from the image storage devices. A relational database system must be used in order to organize the stored images so as to provide flexible access to the images and to isolate any effects of reconfiguration of the image storage system. THE HILTON HOTEL MINDSET Excellent hotel service quality is a must. Hotel service quality generally pertains to a tourist’s perception over a hotel’s quality of services being offered. Hilton London Paddington believes that people or tourists tend to interpret the services in their surroundings without realizing it. This interpretation is based on the visitors’ needs and preferences that will allow them to function more efficiently. This makes up the visitor’s overall experience or perception. This is the reason why Hilton London Paddington puts a premium on excellent service quality because it suggests awareness but not conscious awareness. The service quality is naturally enhanced when tourists could identify with specific hotel characteristics that they need or are important to them. Thus, the perception or experience in terms of service quality of the visitor is significantly related to the environment they wanted to be in. For Hilton London Paddington, excellent service quality equates to the degree of efficiency and effectiveness of the implementation of their policies and tasks necessary to satisfy their customers, employees, and management. Their hotel service quality focuses on the careful management of the processes involved in the production and distribution of products and services. More often than not, small hotels in UK don’t really have the capabilities to directly determine the quality of their services to their clients or customers. Instead, they engage in activities that various schools of management typically associate with service quality management. These activities include the inspection of their products, service development, production and distribution. However, in Hilton London Paddington service quality deals with all operations done within their premises. Activities such as the management of purchases, the control of inventories, logistics and evaluations are often related with their excellent service quality. A great deal of emphasis lies on the efficiency and effectiveness of processes. Therefore, service quality in Hilton London Paddington includes the analysis and management of internal processes. Service quality in Hilton London Paddington can be subdivided into three main categories. These are:   A. Convenience Hilton London Paddington’s dedication to service quality easily leads to the satisfaction of its customers. Making a particular foreign and domestic hotel convenient to its customers and visitors is not an easy task, and credit must be given to the Hilton London Paddington’s management who always pursue the best service quality and craftsmanship in the name of convenience. B. Health / Safety / Sanitation The raw materials and ingredients that are used in the production of beverages and other delicacies in Hilton London Paddington are able to meet the high quality standards and specifications. Even the packaging materials are also subjected to strict quality standards. In line to the hotel’s policies in food and product safety, appropriate measures are taken in the preparation of all food and drinks to prevent the possible contamination. Hilton London Paddington also implements the principles of the HACK (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) system in order to show their testament to their dedication to service quality. The food and beverages that their customers eat and drink are prepared using nothing but the original and unparalleled recipes. To achieve a sweet taste, fresh aroma, bright color and clarity, only the purest ingredients are used.   C. Affordability of Services Normally, Hilton London Paddington bases its pricing strategies on several key trends that continuously shape the global marketplace of the foreign and domestic hotel industry. One particular trend is labeled as “premium-taxation”. This phenomenon causes the polarization of different markets. This would then trigger the consumers to demand and pay much higher prices for perceived service quality. However, discounting in prices is also simultaneously taking place, therefore squeezing out the middle range. More often than not, Hilton Hotels undergo internationalization which leads to a tighter squeeze for shelf space. This will in turn leave them as winners. It is for this reason why Hilton London Paddington values the “premise sector” so much because this would allow tourists to try their services at low risk and price. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Hotel Innovation Technologies

OBJECTIVES As a person with knowledge of hotel innovation technologies , the author has always brought up to his superiors the viability...

The Pantaloon Hotel Case Study

The Pantaloon Hotel   Assessment of Organizational Resources Organizational resources include human resource, the management and physical resources.   Pantaloon Hotel always regarded their staff as the greatest resources. The Group is currently employing a total number of 1,600 people in the region.  They have a very loyal and experience group of people working for them at all levels. The majority of their senior staff has been with them for a long time and is very experienced. However, there is a quite high staff turnover in the lower levels. This could be a problem to the Group since staff turnover would cost them. Cost would include advertising and interviewing, and other hidden costs, such as time spent orienting and training the new employee, lost productivity, potential negative impact on member service, and lower department morale.   The group must act quickly to solve this problem. It is must for the organization to manage staff turnover to have a more effective recruitment, to reduce costs, to have better staff morale, to improve knowledge of the labor market as a whole and to have a more constructive development of the organization’s knowledge base. To this, the Group must consider retention strategies.     An effective retention strategy is comprehensive and starts with a commitment to examine the issue and work toward improving it. These would include salaries, benefits, communications, training, a supportive management staff, and, when possible, a promote-from-within philosophy. The following are some of the strategies (Surliness, 1999): <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Compensation. Competitive salaries and benefits are the building blocks of a solid retention program. Aggressively move existing employees through their salary range as their performance and productivity improves instead of locking into an annual increase schedule.</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Benefits. The structure of benefit programs sometimes influences how long staff stays.</li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Communicate with staff. Staff members want to know what’s going on in their departments and the organization as a whole. They need an avenue to express ideas, raise issues, make suggestions, and have their viewpoints heard. </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> Develop staff-friendly policies. When possible, alter policies to be more beneficial without affecting operations by simply looking at policies from employees’ perspective.</li>   Another valuable organizational resource of the Group is the management. Their Board of Directors is generally young and dynamic. James is the current managing director which is the sixth generation of the family to hold the post.   Moreover, another organizational resource is their physical resources which are their hotels. The Group has a total of 8 hotels, 3 were at the seaside and others were in the towns. All of these are large hotels. Currently, the group’s hotel falls into the accepted segments of upscale and upper upscale. Their hotels cater both business and leisure.  They have a very high standard facilities and décor.   External Analysis   Market Environment   The popularity of the traditional Victorian style seaside hotel has declined in recent years. Three of their hotels are such seaside hotels. In addition, the number of tourist especially from the US has recently declined due to tourist concern at terrorists attack. In the global travel and tourism business, threats of terrorism continue to cause the travel industry to evolve.   Competitive Analysis   The identified competitor of Pantaloon Hotel is the UK Marriott Group. The Marriott hotels have considerable expertise in the hospitality industry and in particular how restaurants are run. In addition, the company’s logistics are superb.   Consumer Analysis   The Pantaloon Hotel caters both business and leisure. The ones at the seaside cater for a mainly leisure market with business guests. The others are mix of business and leisure. Predominantly their customers are composed of international guests.   Strategy The choice of competitive strategy is one of the most important decisions for small business success. In order to achieve high performance each strategy must be supported with appropriate resources and distinct competencies (1980). The effects of the strategies are determined by the characteristics of the resources and how they are combined. Contingencies like the firm’s age, size, competition, industry, and environment are also expected to be of importance, and may have a direct relationship on resources as well as on strategies, in addition to various effects on the relationships. In the case of the Pantaloon Hotel, after assessing the organization’s resources and external analysis, it is recommended that the Group should adopt a differentiation strategy.  Differentiation requires that business offerings have sustainable advantages that allow it to provide buyers with something uniquely valuable to them. A successful differentiation strategy allows the business to provide a product/service bundle of perceived higher value to buyers at a “differentiated cost” below the “value premium” to the buyers (Porter, 1980). Differentiation usually arises from one or more activities in the value chain that create a unique value important to buyers. A differentiation competitive advantage prescribes that a firm achieve and maintain a means of making its product unique from its competitors’ products (Galbraith and Schemed, 1983; Kothari and Oren, 1989). The advantage of differentiation is based on the additional value the product possesses, for which the customer will pay a premium. While additional value may be created through a variety of means, such as quality, service, brand image, or distribution (Desks and Davits, 1984), superior quality is the means of differentiation which is most often used (Galbraith and Schemed, 1983). Thus, successful differentiation permits a firm to command premium prices (Porter, 1990) for this additional value. A differentiated product engenders customer loyalty, reducing customer sensitivity to price and protecting the business from other competitive forces which could reduce price-cost margins (Phillips et al., 1983). Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

The Pantaloon Hotel Case Study

The Pantaloon Hotel Assessment of Organizational Resources Organizational resources include human resource, the management and physic...

Research Paper will Discuss how coast volume profit analysis princing budgeting or working

Introduction The paper will discuss how cost volume profit analysis, pricing, budgeting or working capital management might be used in the hotel business. The paper will then choose which among the different concepts can greatly affect the hotel business. As the world enters the twenty-first century, the most significant trend to impact successful corporate financial management will be the continuing globalization of business in general and financial management in particular. There are no major U.S. or foreign corporations that do business solely within the confines of their own country. The need to deal with multiple currencies, worldwide money and capital markets where investment capital moves across borders at an increasing pace facing fewer and fewer barriers, a wide variety of accounting systems and tax laws, and a multitude of political risk environments is now a normal part of the responsibilities of a corporate financial manager. This globalization of business does not change the fundamental theories of corporate financial management, but it does have a substantial impact on corporate financial practice and domestic financial markets (Dorms 1997).The only thing certain about the future is that finance and industry will continue to change, offering new challenges and opportunities to financial managers. The importance of competent financial management to the success and even survival of the modern business organization cannot be overemphasized.    It is no accident that presidents and board chairpersons of large, successful corporations increasingly rise to their positions by coming up the finance side of the house. In smaller business, experience has shown that the early survival of a new business and prosperity in its developing stages is strongly dependent on effective financial planning and control. The most common reason cited for the high failure rate experienced by new ventures is lack of financial expertise. Similarly, financial administration is receiving increased attention by governmental units at all levels. Financial management in all types of nonprofit corporations and organizations is also benefiting from increased attention. Competent financial planning and management are critical components of success in any organization that brings people together to achieve a common goal (Dorms 1997).   The impact of inflation and high interest rates has focused increased attention on the financial implications of nearly all business decisions. A knowledge of financial management principles and techniques has become even more important during our current era of economic uncertainty. Functional specialists in such diverse areas as marketing, production, and human resources management have become increasingly sensitive to the bottom-line implications of their management decisions (Dorms 1997).   How the concepts might be used in the hotel business Cost volume profit analysis The cost-volume-profit analysis is a normative model for understanding the relationships between the cost, revenue, and profit structures of a firm. It is a key factor in all decisions based on selling prices, variable costs, and fixed costs (Holier & Riahi-Belkaoui1986). The cost volume profit analysis can be helpful for the hotel in terms of providing assistance in determining how much the organization earns and how much is the loss of the organization. This kind of analysis can be helpful in balancing the organizations finances.   Pricing Pricing strategies generally fall into one of two groups: cost-based and market-based. The market-based approaches tend to focus either on the competition, customer demand, or both. There is no one best price to charge for a given product. Once the need to set or change a price has been recognized, the manager must determine what he or she is trying to accomplish with this particular price. The answer might seem obvious: to sell more products or services. But this response is too general, and may not even be the case. In fact, companies can have a number of different pricing objectives (Morris, G & Morris, M 1990). Clients depend on pricing for what product to buy. A company needs to have more clients to increase its income and improve its market status. Pricing affects competitors. When one company increase prices others follow so they won’t lose clients.  Competitors can base their products on another companies’ price. When a products price is too low a competitor may have no choice but to cease to match a company’s price thus advantages can be acquired. Pricing helps in determining the hotel’s status in the market. When its prices are affordable to more people the hotel will have an increase in profit thus its status in the market changes.   Budgeting Budgets are forecast of expenditures and revenues for a specific period of time. As a planning document, a budget enables businesses, governments, private organizations, and households to set priorities and monitor progress toward selected goals. To achieve budgetary objectives, it may be necessary to set aside savings or to borrow from outside sources (Lowe 1999). Budgets and budgeting help the hotel business gain more profits without spending more. It helps in making sure that the employees responsible for the financial issues of the company will not overspend and will make good use of the finances of the company.   Working capital management The difference between current assets and current liabilities is the firm’s investment in net working capital. Short-term financial, or working capital, policies are directed towards managing the firm’s overall investment in net working capital. Like any investment, the firm’s investment in net working capital must earn a rate of return commensurate with the risk and add to the market value of the firm. This area of financial management is alternatively called working capital management. For the financial manager, working capital management means developing and implementing policies which govern and guide the management of the firm’s short-term assets and liabilities (Macmenamin 1999). The working capital management helps in ensuring that the hotel’s capital will earn a rate of return commensurate.   The concept that is greatly needed in the hotel business Among the different concepts that has been mentioned the one concept that is greatly needed by the hotel business is the concept of budgeting. Budgeting is important to any business because it is the one that can make sure that the business will operate for years to come. When there is no budgeting the company might over use their resources and this may lead to bankruptcy for the hotel business. Budgeting can also make sure that the hotel business can have a balance of the amount it spends and the amount it gets from doing business.  Through budgeting the hotel business can make sure that the amount that it spends will have an equal rate as the amount that comes in it. Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Research Paper will Discuss how coast volume profit analysis princing budgeting or working

Introduction The paper will discuss how cost volume profit analysis, pricing, budgeting or working capital management might be used in th...

Hotel Business In China

INTRODUCTION Background of the Problem              In China, foreign and domestic hotels are one the country’s important economic source. People from all parts of the world visit China in order to see its famous foreign and domestic hotels and dine in its fine restaurants. In spite of the increasing popularity of China as an urban tourist destination, certain hotel business issues affect the influx of tourist and the revenue acquired from this business. The problem on competition for example, is one of the growing concerns of the foreign and domestic hotel business in China. In addition, customer satisfaction is one of the highly significant priorities in the business. Being the major source of tourism revenue, foreign and domestic hotel business owners in China are applying various strategies that will enhance the experience of visitors coming to the city (. 2005).             One of the main issues relevant to the need of assessing service quality is the significant transitions that the foreign and domestic hotel business in China must undergo. One of the recognized changes in the hotel business of China was the transformation of its domestic and foreign hotels, where the once conventional hotels were converted into modernized ones. This transition implies the apparent increase of small firms providing tourism services at present, while the foreign and domestic hotel business used to be dominated by a few producers. In other words, the hotel owners in China now have a number of accesses to strategies and factors that amplify business competition. While this tendency has in many ways improved the overall state of foreign and domestic hotel business of the country, hotel owners also encounter difficulties to operate their businesses successfully, making the evaluation of service quality all the more essential (. 2005). They have also stated that the competition in the domestic and foreign hotel business in China is augmented by new strategies introduced and implemented by various hotels. With the introduction of information and communication technology (ICT) as well as other technological facilities, tourists have more options and control over they type of hotels they want to stay. Hence, with the present advancements, foreign and domestic hotel businesses in China are giving more importance to specialized and enhanced forms of services for tourists, especially the service quality of the restaurants in these hotels. Another issue that is related to the need for evaluating service quality is the tendency of consumer behavior to change drastically. This has been observed by several researchers. According to these researchers, the changes in the consumers’ cultural values are among the most influential factors that affect the foreign and domestic hotel business in China. The difference on how consumer responds to products or services given to them is significantly dependent on their cultural origins and values, which naturally affects visitor experience (. 2002). There are a number of interconnected issues that falls under the foreign and domestic hotel businesses in China. Competition, new strategies and changing consumer trends are among these issues. The main focus however, is on the comparison of the service quality of the foreign and domestic hotels in China. One way of doing so is by means of assessing the visitors’ expectation and satisfaction. Enhancing the quality of foreign and domestic hotel services given to the customer or tourists naturally leads to satisfaction. This essential business element is highly significant in combating the problems and issues cited. Hence, consumer studies in the foreign and domestic hotel business of China are very important (, 2002).             By means of evaluating service quality and visitor satisfaction, developing new strategies for tourist hotel facilities that will augment customer satisfaction in China can be done. China is a popular tourist destination. Nonetheless, tourism issues affect this industry in one way or another. The local government should then adopt strategies and methods that will prepare the country for tourism. The comparison of China’s foreign and domestic hotels’ service quality and visitor satisfaction will facilitate the achievement of this objective. In this proposal, focus will be given on the tourists’ expectation and satisfaction upon staying in the foreign and domestic hotels in China. Specifically, this proposed study will evaluate the different hotel features offered by the foreign and domestic hotels in China and determine the level of satisfaction among randomly selected tourists within the vicinity. In order to evaluate the service quality, the survey and interview method will be used. This particular study will be of significant value to the foreign and domestic hotel businesses in China as it will provide an overview of the current status of the foreign and domestic hotel industry in China as well as ways on how its foreign and domestic hotels may be enhanced. Statement of the Problem The foreign and domestic hotel industry in China is placed in a highly competitive business environment. Various strategies and marketing means must then be employed by entrepreneurs in order to enhance the services they provide. China is among the most popular tourist destinations in the world. With the abundance of historical tourist spots and archaeological sites, China is one of the countries in the world with the highest number of visitors. Nonetheless, considering the changing consumer trends as well other tourism-related issues, China must apply ways on how to enhance its foreign and domestic hotel industry and increase tourists’ satisfactory experience. Studying service quality is then necessary for this issue. This study will then attempt to answer the following inquiries: <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> How did China respond to the changing trends in the hotel industry? </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> How do tourists describe their experience upon staying in the foreign and domestic hotels in China in general? </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> What hotel features do they find most satisfying? </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> What hotel features in the hotels need improvement? </li> <li class="MsoNormal" style="color: #333333; text-align: justify; line-height: 200%"> In what ways can the facilities, features and services of the foreign and domestic hotels of China be improved? </li> REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE The domestic and foreign hotel business is among the fastest growing economic sectors in China. In fact, the domestic and foreign hotel business by itself is recognized as multi-million dollar and still a progressing business in China. The domestic and foreign hotel business is among the major economic forces in the country as its enables growth and creation of job opportunities. According to and associates (2005), the domestic and foreign hotel business has employed over a million workers who were distributed within various hotel establishments, totaling to revenue generation of billions of dollars. From these records, the domestic and foreign hotel business has indeed become one of the most competitive businesses in the world. Important changes in the understanding and management of the service quality of most domestic and foreign hotels have been developed in the past 10 to 15 years. Various researchers, practitioners and policymakers now acknowledge that service quality can be conceptualized from a functional perspective and that appropriate interventions involve the development of alternative measures to cope up. It was also noted that the establishment of a conducive restaurant environment for tourists to enjoy and relax have served effectively in lowering the prevalence of un-satisfaction among tourists. At present, this philosophical shift has extended to various settings, including China. Domestic and foreign hotel owners and entrepreneurs here have recognized that some tourists do not appreciate so much the quality of service that their hotels and restaurants offer. Hence, these tourists may have the tendency to shy away from visiting China and its other great cities because of this bad impression they have (. 2005). For decades, researchers have tried to discover the elements of service quality among tourist establishments such as foreign and domestic hotels and restaurants. And while they might have been able to identify certain essential elements of service quality, they have yet to determine the elements that common tourists pay particular attention to. However, it has been shown that negligence of service quality produces consequences that foster bad impressions from tourists. Strong evidence suggests that service quality and its negligence engage in a reciprocal relationship that has a short and long term effect on the tourist’s future opinion regarding the service quality of tourist establishments. One of the criteria for identifying if a tourist establishment such as hotels is of high service quality is whether it has an impressive environment with fully operational facilities meant for the relaxation and enjoyment of the tourists and visitors. A deficit in basic services, as well as skills related to making the tourists and guests fully accommodated, significantly impairs a hotel’s ability to encourage more and more tourists to come over to their place. When compared to high quality serviced foreign and domestic hotels, low quality serviced foreign and domestic hotels have lower performance rates, lower income and are less likely to be known all over the place. As a consequence, low quality serviced hotels often experience a lifetime of problems in employment and publicity, and they are likely to become bankrupted even at a developmental stage (. 2005).             Take for instance the various foreign and domestic hotel establishments in China having difficulty in adapting to the modern standards of service quality. At present, foreign and domestic hotel owners in China are facing an alarming acceleration in the occurrence of disruptive and challenging behaviors among tourists that seriously impede the performance and credibility of their hotels. Also, there has been a rapid increase in percentage of tourists who have failed to be impressed by the hotel and restaurant services of some domestic and foreign Chinese hotels. Unfortunately, many of today’s foreign and domestic hotels all over the world have both problems. Behaviors and tourist impressions such as lack of sanitation, boring environment and unfair tourist price accommodation rates have all been rampant nowadays. True enough, these problems are counterproductive towards the effective performance of foreign and domestic hotels. Serious impressions of tourists such as aggression, argumentativeness, and defiance are even more of a threat to these poorly serviced foreign and domestic hotels, yet common in countries which cannot afford to establish 5 star quality foreign and domestic hotels. Impressions and evaluations of tourists, both positive and negative, affect performance outcomes of hotels at the employee and management level (. 2005). From a tourist perspective, tourists who displayed their un-satisfaction remarks in staying in poorly serviced foreign and domestic hotels had a 90% chance of not going back or staying again to the same hotel. They reported that such tourists begin to actively dislike the place itself and actually visit less that particular place. Continuing over years, these tourists are not likely to change their minds after a terrible experience staying on a poorly serviced hotel. Similarly, tourists exhibiting ongoing, serious bad impressions well even after so many years of that terrible experience are increasing. Service Quality Service quality generally pertains to a tourist’s perception over a certain area or destination’s quality of services being offered. According to (1989), people of tourists tend to interpret the services in their surroundings without realizing it. This interpretation is based on the visitors’ needs and preferences that will allow them to function more efficiently. This makes up the visitor’s overall experience or perception. More recently, (2000) noted that service quality suggests awareness but not conscious awareness. The service quality is naturally enhanced when tourists could identify with specific environmental characteristics that they need or are important to them. Thus, the perception or experience in terms of service quality of the visitor is significantly related to the environment they wanted to be in. Service quality pertains to the degree of efficiency and effectiveness of the implementation of the policies and tasks necessary to satisfy a firm’s customers, employees, and management. Service quality focuses on the careful management of the processes involved in the production and distribution of products and services (, 1998). More often than not, small firms and business establishments such as hotels and restaurants don’t really have the capabilities to directly determine the quality of their services to their clients or customers. Instead, they engage in activities that various schools of management typically associate with service quality management. These activities include the inspection of their products, service development, production and distribution (, 2004). However, service quality deals with all operations done within companies and organizations. Activities such as the management of purchases, the control of inventories, logistics and evaluations are often related with service quality. A great deal of emphasis lies on the efficiency and effectiveness of processes. Therefore, service quality includes the analysis and management of internal processes (, 2000). With the increasing competition in the industry as well as the changes observed among consumers, studying service quality is essential not only to keep the industry successful and productive but most importantly to satisfy and meet the needs of the tourists. Specifically, most firms in the industry are applying various strategies on how to improve their services and enhance service quality. Several technologies are being applied by operators so as to take over with some of the businesses’ main activities. Computerized reservation systems for instance, are one of the known advancements in tourism. This in turn, helps in enhancing service quality as it offers them more options and allows a faster access to information (, 2002).             While there are numerous efforts done to enhance service quality, researchers concluded that there are also several factors that influence service quality. According to and associates (2006), the preferences, attitudes and perceptions of the visitors in terms of service quality are some of the important factors affecting service quality. Other researchers such as (2006) also concluded that the perception on service impacts is also an influential factor of service quality. In general, the researchers noted that the satisfaction and un-satisfaction that tourists experience while using the services in various destinations affect their overall experience. Hence, he stated that this makes this factor a significant dictator or basis for developing standards of service or product quality.  China and Hotel Improvement Efforts China has long been an ancient destination of many tourists from all over the world, who are very eager to see the city’s famed museums and historical sites, especially the Great Wall. During the early times however, a number of problems in tourism has been encountered by China. Pollution, overcrowding and poor domestic and foreign hotel infrastructures are among the country’s major concerns that affected its image among tourists. Since the beginning of the 20th century, the social amenities and hotel infrastructures in China have gone through significant changes. Funds and financial support from both UK and the European Union have made it possible for the nation to establish foreign and domestic hotels such as Beijing hotel and the Grand Hyatt Beijing hotel. The Metro system was also expanded massively. Other private investments also led to the great expansion of hotels and other tourist sites. One of the major developments that China had gone through in terms of tourism was the remodeling of their foreign and domestic hotels. In addition, a great pedestrian area was also constructed. These pedestrian areas are highly beneficial for tourists as these allow them to appreciate the country’s hotel infrastructures while walking calmly along paths of trees. Aside from the developments done for China’s foreign and domestic hotels, some of its major theatres and art galleries that house the world’s most precious artworks have also been renovated. Other famous tourist destinations in the country, including the Great Wall and the Forbidden City, have also been extensively transformed to resemble their original state for the pleasure and satisfaction of their tourists and visitors worldwide.() China and Service Quality It appears that most of the country’s efforts for service quality development had led to great results based on the number of tourists that visited the country during the past couple of years. In one article, China has been described as a country that is busier than ever. Yet, in spite of the crowd, the newly-built foreign and domestic hotels have been helpful in accommodating the great number of visitors that came to the city. As a result, overcrowding of tourists has been prevented during this time, benefiting both Chinese residents and visitors. The article also stated that the energy perceived in the country is good and amazing. This perhaps is attributable to the fact that every tourist in the country felt that they are part of a family; hence, every tourist encountered is genuinely happy to be in China.             Some write ups however had commented on China’s spot security personnel on some foreign and domestic hotels and described the hotels as an army camp. The article author pointed out that in spite of their number, the security personnel do not really hinder tourists or visitors from appreciating the country. In addition, China at that time was without a doubt a country of hope and joy; it has definitely been a worthwhile experience for visitors from all over. In an article written by (2001), the author described his experiences in China’s tourist destinations. In general, the author saw China as a historical country edging towards contemporary backgrounds. Though China and its significant foreign and domestic hotels are important tourist destinations, the pollution and overcrowding appear to be a disadvantage. In spite of these problems, trekking through the country’s remarkable foreign and domestic hotels was truly a worthwhile experience. Staying at the foreign and domestic hotels for instance was an exciting experience for the author as it was just like visiting the downtown sceneries. Though hotels offer different scenic views and environment, the impression of excellence can be perceived. According to the author, staying at the foreign and domestic hotels resulted to excellent visitor experience; some facilities offer less elegance, while others are interesting and influential.             (1999) described how his trip to the foreign and domestic hotels in China was similar to the foreign and domestic hotels in America. The area was very busy and going to this place was tiring. However, once the author reached the hotels, the trip was all worth it. noted that the foreign and domestic hotels in China were different from all others found within America as it highlighted modern facilities in designated rooms. The artworks inside the hotels were more than a place displaying antiquities as treasure of great tastes were exhibited and made available for inspection. The foreign and domestic hotels were also an inviting tourist location with its great sights, food and shops. This, according to, was one of the main reasons for tourists to come visit China over and over again. During the author’s visit to China, the country was busy preparing itself for hosting the coming Olympic Games in 2008. Thus, he was able to witness the considerable effort China had done to enhance the country’s hotels, transport systems and roadways. Through this experience, the author no longer doubted how China was greatly spearheaded by tourism. There have been literatures describing visitor experience regarding service quality to various tourist destinations. However, studies of service quality in China are apparently insufficient. This further stresses the need to evaluate the perception of the country’s visitors so as to help enhance its existing foreign and domestic hotels and overcome various tourism issues. Service Quality in relation to Customer Satisfaction and Needs Gone are the days when employees work on their desks for eight hours a day. Today’s employees want to become as productive as possible while in their offices and interact with different individuals and groups in different settings. The technological advancement in wireless technologies has allowed workers and employees to access communication tools in new settings. Because of this rigorous and hectic schedule of employees, it became imperative for them to indulge in relaxing products and services to help them ease the pressure after every day’s work (, 2001). Foreign and Domestic Hotel Service Quality Service quality among foreign and domestic hotels can be subdivided into three main categories. These are: A. Convenience A particular foreign and domestic hotel’s dedication to service quality can easily lead to the satisfaction of its customers in whatever place it is located. Making a particular foreign and domestic hotel convenient to its customers and visitors is not an easy task, and credit must be given to the management who always pursue the best service quality and craftsmanship in the name of convenience. B. Health / Safety / Sanitation The raw materials and ingredients that are used in the production of beverages and other delicacies must be able to meet the high quality standards and specifications. Even the packaging materials must be also subjected to strict quality standards. In line to the hotel’s policies in food and product safety, appropriate measures must be taken in the preparation of all food and drinks to prevent the possible contamination. Hotels must also implement the principles of the HACCP () system in order to show their testament to their dedication to service quality. The food and beverages that their customers eat and drink must be prepared using nothing but the original and unparalleled recipes. To achieve a sweet taste, fresh aroma, bright color and clarity, only the purest ingredients must be used (, 2002). C. Affordability of Services Normally, foreign and domestic hotels base their pricing strategies on several key trends that continuously shape the global marketplace of the foreign and domestic hotel industry. One particular trend is labeled as “premium-tization”. This phenomenon causes the polarization of different markets. This would then trigger the consumers to demand and pay much higher prices for perceived service quality. However, discounting in prices is also simultaneously taking place, therefore squeezing out the middle range. More often than not, hotels and restaurants undergo internationalization which leads to a tighter squeeze for shelf space. This will in turn leave them as winners. It is for this reason why most foreign and domestic hotels value the “premise sector” so much because this would allow consumers can to try their services at low risk and price (, 2005). MEASURING SERVICE QUALITY A. “Consumer Understanding” The occurrence of consumer research to determine service quality within the economy reflects the growing difficulty in the management of foreign and domestic hotels that require the effective use of valuable resources such as money, materials, equipments, and people. This is the reason why consumer research is being done by most foreign and domestic hotels in order to determine the most effective ways to coordinate these resources through the application of analytical methods derived from fields of studies such as mathematics, science, and engineering. Through this process, problems are solved in different ways and alternative solutions are then relayed to the hotel’s management. The management then selects the appropriate course of action in line with their goals. More often than not, consumer research analysis in foreign and domestic hotels are concerned with complicated issues such as top-level strategy in attracting more customers, hotel resource allocation, designing of hotel facilities and systems, pricing and the analysis of goods and services (, 2004). B. Balanced Scorecard The balanced scorecard is a strategic management system that allows foreign and domestic hotels to clearly establish and follow their goals and business strategies and put them into action. This approach also enables the foreign and domestic hotels to issue feedbacks around both the internal business processes and external outcomes, and this undoubtedly will help the hotels on their drive to continuously improve in terms of its strategic performance and results. When appropriately implemented, the balanced scorecard will be able to develop strategic planning into the brains of the hotels (, 2005). The balanced scorecard approach is based on integral concepts of past management ideas such as Total Quality Management (TQM) and measurement-based management and feedback. The balanced scorecard integrates feedback within internal business process outputs, just like in TQM. The only difference is the existence of an additional feedback loop around the results of business strategies. C. Customer Satisfaction A major factor involved in the improvement of foreign and domestic hotels involves the establishment and utilization of performance measures or indicators that in turn measure their customer’s satisfaction. These measures or indicators are measurable characteristics of products and services that foreign and domestic hotels typically utilize in order to study and improve their performance. The indicators that will be chosen should be able to represent the essential factors that are crucial to the improvement of operational and financial performance. Through the analysis of accurate information brought about by the tracking processes, the measures or indicators themselves can possibly be analyzed and improved to support such goals (, 2002).                         Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com

Hotel Business In China

INTRODUCTION Background of the Problem In China, foreign and domestic hotels are one the country’s important economic sourc...