Hospitality Operations and Management

Hospitality Operations and Management Essay Sample

Hospitality industry – one of the world’s biggest industries, ranging from the Hotel to Tourism from Airlines to the Cruises, it is one of the biggest economy in the world. In this essay we will be dealing with the hotel industry which is a part of hospitality industry. This essay will compare two hotels, the five star hotel- Jumeriah in Knightsbridge and the budget hotel- Premier Inn in Hammersmith. The key aspects of such comparisons are based on the classifications of hospitality systems- economic, market-based, systems approach and to evaluate the hotel operations.

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According to Jones (2000:3) ‘The Standard Industry Classification (SIC) was begun in 1948 in an attempt to provide uniform statistical records of industry growth an activity. It defined the hotel and catering industry, under the 1968 classification, as ‘establishments (whether or not licensed for the sale of intoxicating liquors) providing meals, light refreshments, drink or accommodation’. Both the Jumeriah and Premier Inn hotel are included under SIC activity 55.10/1, 6650. Hotel and motel with restaurant (licensed) with permission to serve liquor. (Brotherton2000)

The SIC has problems in finding effective differentiation between those two types of hotels, although it is derived from data that is relatively easy to collect by government agencies, it does not adequately reflect the variety and complexity of hospitality industry. There is another type of classification which continues to engage in independent research into the industry. The HTF (Hospitality Training Foundation) produces a statistical report on the industry (HTF, 1999), which identifies the size and scale of different sectors. However, the differentiation between these two hotels will be found in others classifications according to the service quality and facilities later in this essay. (Brotherton 2000)

Other organizations with an overview of the industry are trade associations, such as ‘British Hospitality Association’ .Their data sources include government sources such as BTA (British Tourist Authority), market intelligence reports such as Mintel and Keynote. (Brotherton 2000)

‘A typical approach to hotel classification is to consider hotels ranging from one star to five stars, serving the so-called one star market and so on’. (Brotherton, 2000:49). This classification where the hotels can be classified from one star to five stars is known as market-based classification. In 1999, the England Tourism Council, working in conjunction with the Automobile Association (AA) and the Royal Automobile Club (RAC) My lecture stated that the RAC no longer classify hotels, suggested that the star ratings symbolized the level of the service, range of facilities and quality of guest care that a customer could expect.

The Jumeriah Hotel is a typical five star hotel with highest international quality of accommodation, facilities, services and cuisine. It is located at Cadogan Place and Slone Street, the Jumeirah Carlton Tower is positioned near the fashionable district of Knightsbridge in London, England. Too much detail on location

Jumeriah hotel has 102 guest and 59 deluxe rooms with 15 executive rooms, 6 luxury rooms and 1-presidential room. In addition bar, rib room, gilt and private room. The cheapest room in this hotel is �350 per night. The rooms are booked through Central Reservation System and Internet. This hotel provides all the facilities according to its five stars rating. Therefore a full-service hotel provides a wide selection of guest services in addition to accommodation, such as food and beverage service, room service, laundry service and business facilities Too much detail .( Baker, Bradley and Huyton-1994)

The amount of revenue will vary according to the style of operation. For example, in traditional full service hotels it may amount to 60 per cent., in budget lodges 95 per cent. According to the hotel, catering, International Management Association (HCIMA, 1998), the UK hotel industry average 49.7 per cent of revenue. (Verginis and Wood 2002) Revenue from what? This is not clear neither is its relevance to the essay title

According to the star rating symbolize, the Hammersmith Premier Inn Budget Hotel belongs to the three-star hotel segments with a chain of hotels across the UK with 500 hotels. It provides very comfortable bedrooms, good facilities, television, internet access and a restaurant for breakfast and dinner. The hotel is located on King Street of Hammersmith. There are one hundred rooms all decorated in the same way and with the same furniture. The rooms charged from �81 to �93 per night. Therefore budget hotels tend to provide cheaper and more basic guest-rooms with limited food and beverage facilities. (Baker, Bradley and Huyton-1994) Too much detail. What is its market?

Similar rating systems also exist in food service sector, such as the Good Food Guide, which is a guide for consumers commercially. Tangible features such as price and service levels are used as criteria for this classification system.Therfore Jumeriah hotel comes under upscale segment of this guide in which casual dinning, high check, moderate check, and a varied menu is provided, wereas The Premier Inn hotels comes under mid-scale segment which is divided into cafeteria, casual dining family-style, hotel, steakhouse and varied menu. (Brotherton 2000) Which satisfies which market?

The systems classification is based on systems theory. The standard general systems model of input- process-output-feedback has been described by ‘Jones and Lockwood’ (2003) very clearly but they were not the original authors. Inputs or resources are typically divided into materials, energy and information, while the outputs are typically divided as product, waste, and residue. For process, it is the main part of whole system after input. ‘The conversion of inputs into outputs is achieved by some kind of transformation process that typically requires a physical infrastructure, order, structure, and capacity’. Finally, through the output, the last part of system is feedback. The feedback is not only the result of the output, but it also influences the input of the whole system. This system is suited to a lot of systems environments, especially in human-made systems like food service and accommodation. Both ‘The Jumeriah Hotel’ and ‘The Hammersmith Premier Inn’ are operating under this general system. (Jones and Lockwood 2003) But are there any differences is terms of how it is affected by its markets?

In the hospitality industry, hotels are divided into departments such as food and beverage, front office and sales. Jones (1996) has classified the accommodation as a core system, it has four subsystems; reservations, reception, overnight stay (housekeeping), and payment (or billing). Based on market based classification, although ‘The Jumeriah Hotel’ and ‘The Premier Inn Hotel’ both operate these four systems, the ancillary systems may or may not be offered. For example, the Jumeriah Hotel offers high quality facility, 24-hour room service, the restaurants and bars provide food and drink during any time of the day for all guests where as The Premier Inn only offers limited facilities and service. Even within a single type of hotel there can be some significant differences in the range of products or services offered to customers. The Premier Travel Inn operates at the budget end of the hotel market, offering low prices but with a restricted offer. (Brotherton 2000)

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The framework developed by Hayes and Wheelwright (1979) has gained wide acceptance. This framework identifies five process types- project, job shop, batch production, mass production and continuous production. The project activities are highly customized, highly complex and normally large-scale activities. A jobbing shop produces a wide range of products (e.g.-a la carte kitchen) made to a customer order but shares resources between the different products. The batch process generates a narrow range of products but produces small numbers of each at a time. Mass production can produce large volumes of a single product but with only small variations being possible. The continuous production is a constant flow through a largely automated process with very limited flexibility. Therefore given the nature of both the hotels, mass or continuous system of production are not applicable. (Brotherton 2000) How are these applied to your examples? Market changes?

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The hospitality industry has tended to regard its processes and related technologies as unique concept in relation to process choice, process configuration and process technology can be applied to all sectors, including hospitality industry. In many hospitality operations both manufacture and service happen simultaneously. Hence such operations are both hybrids of process choice and may have more than one process layout. Jones and Lockwood (2000) consider both process choice and process flow (MPO, CPO). In hybrid operations (both MPOs and CPOs) are more complex than non-hybrid types. In service or job shops tend to be CPOs, with a few examples of MPOs. (Ball, Jones, Kirk, & Lockwood -2003)

. The Jumeriah hotel is a full service hotel with table service restaurant which provides a variety of different types of food to the customers. It is a kind of a ‘la carte kitchen’ and can be called order kitchen usually the two terms have differing meanings.. The flexible, skilled workers are the basic requirement. Therefore The Jumeriah hotel is a job/service shop. As for the Premier Inn budget hotel, it is a limited service hotel which provides the breakfast buffet and limited dinner. The high volume is necessary for this kind of hotel as it is a standardised products/ services hotel. (Brotherton 2000) I am not clear what this section is trying to say.

“In the hospitality operating systems five stars hotels have system hierarchy like Head office, regional office, Area office and the main hotel and the hierarchy inside the hotel from General manager to different department. (Ball, Jones, Kirk, & Lockwood -2003) ‘Jumeriah’ property has both head and area office around the world whereas ‘Premier Inn’ has a head office in UK, area offices are not established around the world.

Therefore hotels which offer drink and accommodation to travelling business are called commercial hotels. Tourist hotels, on the other hand offer services to people travelling for pleasure. (Baker, Bradley and Huyton-1994)

‘The Jumeriah Hotel’ and ‘the Premier Inn Hotel’ are successful in commercial terms. However they focus on different customer groups, provide different types and levels of services to their guests by working under so many different types of systems and operations.

Bibliography

Ball, S., Jones, P., Kirk, D. & Lockwood, A. (2003) “Hospitality Operations, A Systems Approach”. London, Continuum

Brotherton, B. (2000) “An Introduction to the UK Hospitality Industry, A Comparative Approach”. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann

Baker, S., Bradley, P. & Huyton, J. (1994) “Principles of Hotel Front Office Operations”, London, Cassell.

Jones, P. & Lockwood, A. (2004) “The Management of Hotel Operations”, 4th Ed, London: Thomson Learning.

Hayes, R. & Wheelwright, S. (1979) “Linking manufacturing process and product life cycles”. In Ball, S., Jones, P., Kirk, D. and Lockwood, A. (2003) “Hospitality Operations, A Systems Approach”. London, Continuum

Jones, P. (2002) “Introduction to Hospitality Operation”: An indispensable guide to the industry. 2nd ed. London: Thomson Learning.

Silvestro, R., Fitzgerald, L., Johnston, R. & Voss, C. (1992). In Ball, S., Jones, P., Kirk, D. and Lockwood, A. (2003) “Hospitality Operations, A Systems Approach”. London, Continuum.

The Premier Travel Inn Home page (no data) [online]. Available from <http://www.premiertravelinn.com/pti/home.do> [Accessed 04 November 2008]

Verginis, C.S. and Wood, R.C. (2002) “Accommodation Management: Perspectives for the International Hotel Industry,”1st Ed. London: Thomas Business Press.