EG 707 MSc International Hospitality Management Assignment Sample
EG 707 MSc International Hospitality Management Assignment Sample
Introduction
Hospitality management is the study of the hospitality sector or industry. It covers a wide field which involves the effective management of day-to-day business administration, operational activities, financial activities and commercial activities (Strebinger and Treiblmaier, 2022). For the present report hotel sector under the hospitality industry is taken into consideration for analysing several factors such as their technology management, process management and revenue management.
Furthermore, to be specific, the report provides a detailed analysis over ITC Hotels; a hotel chain that is based in India. Thus, the present report provides a comprehensive analysis of the technology, management techniques, and processes used by ITC Hotels. This report discusses the company’s background, its revenue management and the company’s technological adaptations.
Discussion
Background of the ITC hotels
ITC Hotels is a luxury hotel chain in India founded in 1975 as a division of ITC Limited. This conglomerate operates in multiple industries, including FMCG, hospitality, paper and packaging, agri-business, and information technology (Sarode, 2022). With a focus on providing exceptional hospitality services, ITC Hotels has become one of the leading players in the Indian hospitality industry. The brand’s commitment to sustainability and responsible tourism has earned it numerous accolades and awards.
ITC Hotels is strongly committed to sustainability and responsible tourism, implementing initiatives to reduce its environmental footprint. The chain was the first hotel chain in the world to receive a Platinum-rated Green Hotel certification by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), which recognizes sustainable building practices (Kapoor and Kapoor, 2021). ITC Hotels is also known for its culinary offerings, with various dining experiences featuring local and international cuisine. It earned several awards, including “Best Hotel Chain for Cuisine” at the Times Food and Nightlife Awards in 2019.
The brand’s commitment to sustainability and responsible tourism has earned it numerous accolades and awards (Saito et. al. 2019). Its properties range from luxury resorts and palaces to business-friendly hotels and budget properties, providing customers with diverse choices. Overall, ITC Hotels is an icon of Indian hospitality, known for its luxury, sustainability, and exceptional hospitality.
Management techniques used at a hotel
Role of manager at the hotel
The hotel manager at ITC plays an integral role in managing the workforce and controlling the activities of various departments daily. The manager is responsible for integrating the latest technology in hotel operations, as without automation, different processes may take significant time to meet customer expectations and demands (YURCU et al. 2020).
At the same time, adopting new technologies simplifies marketing and hotel jobs. Hence, the latest techniques are important for efficient management at ITC. The second main role of managers at ITC is to build a high-performance work culture for its employees, giving them opportunities for interaction and participation.
ITC has always believed that communication is the key to encouragement and participation. Lack of communication often results in employee dissatisfaction, where they fail to meet the vision and mission of the company. Therefore, managers always ensure a positive work culture is established that not only builds opportunities for growth and development but also proves beneficial for the hotel’s reputation and sustainability (Chandra and Ranjan, 2022).
More often, it is noticed that people in the hotel industry fail to meet the changing guest expectations as it requires a lot of research and effort. The changing thought process and expectations of customers have posed a major problem for hotel managers and other staff members. To cope with this, ITC arranges regular training programs to train staff about changing customer demands and expectations. This way, ITC can serve people efficiently.
HRM models
Human resource management includes activities like managing, recruiting, selecting, retaining and developing staff to meet the aims and objectives of the organisation through a defined strategy (Weber et. al. 2020). ITC also has a defined HRM model, which helps them select candidates and assign them different roles and responsibilities.
Harvard model comprises six critical components of HRM, namely stakeholder interest, situational factors, HRM policies, HR outcomes, consequences and feedback loop. As the name suggests, stakeholder interests refer to the needs of various stakeholders, such as employees, customers and shareholders involved within an organisation. It is important to take into account the interest of stakeholders while defining recruitment, selection, and training policies to develop a fair, equitable and positive working environment.
Apart from stakeholder interests, HRM policies also play a major role in achieving ITC goals and mission efficiently. HRM policies include rules and regulation supporting recruitment, training and selection process that provides a clear picture of available resources and capabilities needed to meet organisational objectives. Based on the HRM policies, the HRM outcomes might differ. Jones (2019) describes HRM outcomes as tangible and intangible results of HRM policies. The results can be improved staff retention, better job satisfaction, effective interaction, and increased employee morale and productivity.
Figure 1: Harvard model of HRM (Source: Harvard Model of HRM: Complete Detail with Diagram, 2022)
Technology evaluation
Use of online booking
ITC Hotels offers online booking services for customers through its official website and other third-party websites. The online booking system lets customers book rooms and suites and access information about hotel amenities, dining options, and special offers (Bharwani and Mathews, 2023). This convenient and user-friendly system allows customers to view real-time availability and rates and provides secure payment options. ITC Hotels has also implemented a mobile app to facilitate online booking and enhance the customer experience. With its commitment to innovation and customer service, ITC Hotels continues to leverage technology to provide a seamless booking process for its customers.
Property management system
ITC Hotels uses a comprehensive property management system (PMS) to streamline operations and enhance the guest experience. The PMS includes features such as online booking and reservation management, guest history tracking, housekeeping management, point-of-sale systems, and billing and invoicing (Moyeenudin et. al. 2018). The system allows staff to access real-time information and respond quickly to guest requests, ensuring a smooth and efficient operation. With its state-of-the-art PMS, ITC Hotels can provide guests with a seamless and personalized experience while optimizing operational efficiency.
Keyless entry
ITC Hotels has implemented a keyless entry system in some of its properties to provide guests with a convenient and secure way to access their rooms. The system allows guests to use their smartphones or smartwatches to unlock their room doors, eliminating the need for physical keys. This technology enhances the guest experience by providing a hassle-free check-in and ensuring guests can easily access their rooms without worrying about misplaced or lost keys (Lim et. al. 2018). With its commitment to innovation and customer service, ITC Hotels continues to leverage technology to provide cutting-edge solutions that enhance the guest experience.
Virtual reality tours
ITC Hotels has introduced virtual reality (VR) tours of its properties to provide potential guests with an immersive and interactive experience. The VR tours allow customers to explore the hotels’ facilities, rooms, and amenities from their homes. This innovative technology enhances the booking process by giving customers a realistic and detailed view of the hotels and helping them make informed decisions about their stay (Goel et. al. 2022). With its commitment to leveraging technology to enhance the guest experience, ITC Hotels continues to pioneer the Indian hospitality industry.
Available processes
Different functions of the hotel
ITC has been the fastest-growing luxury group of hotels that draws exemplary sustainable practices to maintain its customer base. The duties and roles of every department at ITC vary greatly, therefore, to avoid overlap, the business model of ITC is developed in a way where every department is comfortable performing its functions regularly. The first department of ITC Hotel is the front office department, which functions by answering phone calls and making reservations on the call by providing adequate information to the customers (Mohan and Yadav, 2019).
The front desk executives are also responsible for assisting guests in changing their bookings and troubleshooting guest complaints to support them at each step. Besides front desk managers and executives, the management department is the core of ITC hotels comprising operation, night, assistant, revenue, sales and marketing director.
Its worth understanding that managers of every department combine to form the backbone of management and assist various teams in communicating and accomplishing their job roles easily. However, at times, lack of communication and inefficient collaboration may result in employee dissatisfaction which impacts productivity and performance simultaneously.
Next to the management department is the housekeeping department, which is responsible for cleaning all the areas of the hotel. Although the housekeeping department is not directly linked to customer service, nevertheless, cleaning is always appreciated and highly visible to the guests.
The cleaning manager at ITC governs the entire cleaning staff to maintain cleanliness and hygiene because no guest would enter a hotel that does not maintain standard hygiene and cleanliness (Gupta et. al. 2021). Similarly, laundry and public area attendant also have their assigned roles to be fulfilled, such as washing and dry cleaning services.
SWOT analysis:
Figure 2: SWOT Analysis (Source: SWOT Analysis of ITC in a Simplified Way, 2021)
Strengths: ITC owns a flagship hotel division which calls for high brand value and popularity. Therefore, its brand value and reputation in the local and global market is its major strength for attracting more customers in future. At the same time, ITC, through its innovative techniques, ensures exclusive services to its guests that not only have strengthened its financial position but have added uniqueness to its brand.
Weaknesses: Compared to another global chain of hotels, ITC have limited goals to accomplish, highlighting weaknesses within the organisation. Similarly, huge competitors with similar business strategies and models are present in the market, which limits ITC expansion. Hence, ITC must improve its business model to address the existing weaknesses (Panigrahi and Vachhani, 2021).
Opportunities: The hospitality and tourism industry noticed a tremendous downfall during the global pandemic. Nevertheless, the situation has recovered, and the industry is flourishing rapidly. This provides ITC with an opportunity for growth and expansion. Also, foreign tourists’ arrival is continuously increasing, which is a positive sign of growth and development.
Threats: International chains like Novotel and Ritz Carlton plan to enter India and other countries, which builds threat in coming years (Talwar and Garg, 2019). Additionally, economic fluctuations have also triggered the tourism and hospitality industry.
Current revenue management
The revenue management system is a practice of predicting consumer behaviour to sell products and services each day. The revenue management system at ITC is straightforward and has interconnected components like customer segmentation, demand forecasting, inventory management, yield management and pricing.
Customer segmentation
ITC has well-established customer segmentation that allows them to define travellers visiting from different addresses with different purposes. For example, every guest has a different need and preference. Therefore ITC should be ready with a budget-friendly accommodation plan for every visitor (Bigne et al. 2021). A business traveller may have different needs from a backpacker; hence customer segmentation is necessary. Customer segmentation can be done based on demographics, traveller status, booking channels, the purpose of the trip and stay duration.
Demand forecasting
The changing customer behaviour not just impacts fashion and retail industries, but a significant change in customer demand is also noticed in the tourism sector. Factors like seasons, important dates and events and macroeconomic conditions play a vital role in making customer demands non-static (McLean, 2019). By forecasting customer demands, ITC analyses, and past demands and based on this data, they predict whether the demand for a particular event or price for a product will increase or decrease. When the demand is known, it becomes easy for ITC to develop appropriate pricing, marketing and distribution strategy.
Figure 3: Revenue Management System (Source: Revenue Management, 2021)
Yield management
The main aim is to define customer behaviour and provide them with accommodation at the best price to gain maximum profit and satisfaction. While the concept is much narrower than the revenue management system itself, this concept is used to focus on price and volume of sales (Baxi and Tiwari, 2020). Yield management is closely connected with inventory management; hence, ITC plays around with yield and inventory management to enhance its revenue. The maximum length of stay (MaxLOS) does not allow customers to reserve accommodation for a maximum duration. At the same time, (MaxLOS) can limit the promotion and availability of rooms at discounted prices.
Pricing
ITC uses open pricing methods to confirm reservations from different sources and segments. For example, online booking channels save time and provide a discounted price to their customers, which is a great method of generating revenue even in low-demand periods (Maitra 2019). By building a complex matrix forecast, ITC generates enough revenue to maintain its profitability. Nevertheless, dynamic pricing often fails to balance the supply and demand chain.
Proposing an alternative revenue management system
The current revenue management system of ITC is successful in meeting the demands and needs of customers; however, as discussed by Dash and Sharma (2019), the foundation of the ITC revenue management system is still weak. To strengthen the revenue management system, ITC needs to revise its strategies and initially focus on its competitors. Competitors play an integral role in shaping the perception of customers. When proposing a price for certain products or services, ITC must calculate the demand before displaying the price. By investing on competitors, it allows companies to optimise their pricing, which in turn will increase customer satisfaction.
Product or service value analysis is also an important step towards effective revenue management. When a product is launched in a market, ITC should compare its features and offering with its competitor offerings to visualise its value and competitive advantage (Rana, 2022). By knowing the above two parameters, ITC can place its products in a better position where potential customers can use them and enhance the brand value.
Automated alerts are yet another way of improving revenue management in ITC. With the help of technology, the company can empower managers to adopt automation to support the business strategy and activities throughout the day (Ehret and Wirtz, 2022). Similarly, technological advancement will also allow ITC to enable real-time responsive management.
Conclusion
The above report on ITC elaborates food, beverage and accommodation management system. Effective management plays an integral role in building brand awareness, developing reputation and enhancing customer services within an organisation. The report is divided in various section where each section has highlighted different concepts of management, revenue system and products offered by ITC. A brief SWOT analysis about ITC was also included in the report which states that even when ITC is a well-organised brand, its competitors have effective business models and strategies to compete with them, hence ITC needs to invest in knowing its competitors to ensure brand reputation and competitive advantages.
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