Business Management in the Hotel Industry of United Kingdom

This article discusses the challenges faced by employees in the hotel industry of United Kingdom and explores strategies for effective business management. It focuses on the issues faced by the reception department of Imperial Hotel and provides solutions to improve operations and customer satisfaction.

Running head: BUSINESS MANAGEMENT
Business Management
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction:
The business conduction in the hotel industry of United Kingdom is observed to be
significantly competitive. The market is seen to be populated with a number organizations
along with emergence of a handful number of new organizations. The competition in the
hotel industry of the mentioned nation is seen to be based on the pricing of the services that
the organizations are offering to the customers (Li et al. 2013). Adding to this, it is observed
that the existing organizations are facing notable amount of threats in their survival and
growth. Hence under such situation, many of the organizations are observed to restructure
their business operations in a significant manner with a precise focus on the improvement of
the quality of the services and the products that they offer to the customers (Saleem and Raja
2014).
The management is defined as the prescribed format of operations that is much
needed for the organizations in conducting the daily operations (Rothaermel 2013). In
organizational context, the management is defined to be a series of activities that are
dedicated for the conduction of the general operations of the organization with a precise focus
on the increment of the productivity and the improvement of the quality of the services
(Rothaermel 2013).
In the hospitality industry, the management is considered to be a broad concept that
effectively accomplishes better functionality inside workforces, improved monitoring of the
quality of the products and the services along with increasing the efficiency of the employees
of the organization (Buhalis and Crotts 2013). The paper is focused in the elaboration of the
issues that the employees of the reception of the Imperial Hotel are facing in terms of
operating in an efficient manner. The ineffective operations of the employees of the reception
department is seen to cause significant amount of issues inside the workforce as the

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production of the wrong information from the part of the employees of the reception
department is influential in the faulty operations of the employees of the other departments.
Organizational Overview:
The chosen company is Imperial Hotel. The organization is managed by a renowned
international branded chain of hotel in the form of the Star Hotels. The parent company is
seen to have 25 hotels in United Kingdom. The chosen organization is situated at the centre
of the city of London and has considerable amount of expertise in managing the international
business and tourists guests. The organization is observed to be one of the very few hotels of
the mentioned country capable of matching the high expectations of the customers regarding
the services standards. The organization is seen to have tremendous facilities for the
achievement of the preferences of the organization and that is pretty evident with the
improved infrastructure of the organization containing 500 bedrooms with en-suite facilities,
conference facilities for 1000 people, leisure centre with swimming pool, 12 conference
rooms along with 3 bars and 4 restaurants (Imperialhotels.co.uk 2019). The chosen
organization is observed to have different departments in the form of the Housekeeping,
Guest services and concierge, Front of House and reception, Human resource and training
along with food and beverage. Along with that, the organization is seen to have 450 number
of employees with 300 full time and 150 part time employees (Imperialhotels.co.uk 2019).
Along with that, the organization also uses outside contractors for the operations such as the
cleaning, laundry services along with the effective management of the leisure centre.
Analysing the problem:
The organization is seen to face a range of issues with the operations of the employees
which are the main reason for the significant decrement in the generation of the profit. The
organization was observed to face notable amount of issue in the retention of the employees

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and that is pretty evident with the significantly high turnover rate of the employees in all the
departments of the organization. The quality of the services is considered to be one of the
important aspect in the business of the organizations operating in the mentioned industry
(AbuKhalifeh, Som and AlBattat 2013). Apart from that, the organization was evaluated to
be with the lowest grade in the producing the customer satisfaction amongst all the hotels of
the Star chain. As a result the actual average room rate of the chosen organization is observed
to be 95 pound per room per night and that is significantly low in comparison to the
competitor organizations of the mentioned hotel chain (Imperialhotels.co.uk 2019). The
consequences of the poor performances of the chosen organization is pretty visible with the
negative impact that it had on the operational costing of the organization along with the
overall profitability of the organization.
One of the prime reason of the significantly poor performances from the part of the
organization was observed to be ineffective operation of the employees of the reception
department. The front of house staffs were observed to operate in an inappropriate manner
which were crucial in the generation of the dissatisfaction amongst the customers of the
organization. The employees of the front of house operation were seen to be rude at times to
the customers even in case of basic demands of the customers. This led to the decrement of
the customer loyalty amongst the customers of the organization (Rahimi and Kozak 2017).
Adding to this, the inappropriate activities of the employees belonging to the front of house
was significant in decreasing the higher level of coordination amongst the various
departments. The employees of the other departments such as the housekeeping or the kitchen
or restaurant were seen to be associated with faulty business conduction and the main reason
of the faulty operations of them was evaluated to be the communication of the false
information regarding the customers from the part of the employees of the employees
belonging to the front of house operations.

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Considering the power conflict theory, the inappropriate operation of the chosen
organization was seen to be based on the clash of personalities in the management of the front
of house operations (Sah and Nadda 2017). The significant decrement in the performances of
the employees of the reception department had the basis on the blame culture that was present
in the teams. The reception department were observed to be divided into three departments
and all of them were recorded to comment regarding the improper handover of the
information. However, it is pretty evident that the main issue the ineffective business
conduction of the employees is power conflict rather than the improper exchange of the
information. All these impurities led to faulty operations of the employees of the front of
house operation which triggered the employees to communicate wrong information to the
employees of the housekeeping regarding the occupancy of the hotel rooms, late and the early
arrival of the customers, to the employees of the conference and banqueting regarding the
wrong information of the employees’ arrival for the meeting and the conferences (Mason
2015). This created a number of issues for the management of the organization as the
mentioned department is the heart of the hotel. Considering the importance of the reception
department, the organization was observed to lose the reputation as the communication of the
wrong information and the impact of it on the employees of the other departments were seen
to be instrumental in the generation of the customer dissatisfaction.

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(Fig: Turnover rates of the UK hospitality industry in the year 2017)
(Information Courtesy: E-days.co.uk. 2019)
From the above mentioned figures, it is pretty visible that the UK hospitality and
restaurant industry faces the impact of the increased turnover rates in a significant manner.
The cost of the turnover is seen to be significant as with each resignation of the employees,
the company faces a certain amount of monetary and operational loss. The chosen company
also faced same sort of situation where the turnover rate of the organization was seen to be
80% (Imperialhotels.co.uk 2019).

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Reasons:
With the effective analysis of the issues that happened in the chosen organization, it is
pretty evident that the organization is notably affected by the performances of the employees,
culture of the teams, productivity, ineffective communication regarding the rewarding policy
of the organization, the lack of conduction of the training and the developmental activities to
meet the needs of the employees of the organization so that they be able to match the desired
quality and productivity benchmarks. Apart from that the organization was seen to suffer due
to the poor communication of the data amongst the members of the organization.
All of the above mentioned issues have significant hold in the decrement of the
performances of the company in the achievement of the desired growth and in the generation
of the desired level of the customer satisfaction. The list also includes the impact of the above
mentioned issues on the customers of the organization which leads to the generation of the
dissatisfaction amongst the employees. As a result of the dissatisfaction of the employees of
the organization, the turnover rate of the organization is seen to significantly increase.
Justification:
According to the Tuckman’s theory of team building, the employees of the
organization is seen to face the difficulty in operating as per the desired quality due to the
absence of appropriate training (Forsyth 2018). The employees of the reception department
were accused of behaving in a rude manner with the customers of the organization and such
behaviours from the part of the employees were seen to reflect the need of the training and
the development of the employees. Adding to this, the managers of the three teams of the
reception department were observed to communicate regarding the rewarding policy in an
inappropriate manner which was a main reason of the absence of the motivation amongst the
members of their team. With a precise focus on the Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, the team

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morale and environment were observed to be poor and the main reason of that was seen to be
the absence of the engagement amongst the members of the team and the ineffective
communication regarding the accomplishment of physiological needs (Raziq and
Maulabakhsh 2015).
Solution:
Considering the path goal theory, the senior management of the organization is in
need to make sure that the characteristics of the tasks are communicated to the employees in a
proper fashion. The design of the task is in need to be conducted by the management of the
organization with a precise focus on the expertise of the employees. Considering the
Reinforcement theory, the importance of the training and the developmental activities of the
employees of the organization is seen to be notably high as the training and the
developmental activities have the potential to meet the improvement needs of the employees
(Abbah 2014). This will certainly improve the quality of the operations of the employees and
adding to that, the application of the improved skills and competencies of the employees will
have the potential to increase the customer satisfaction.
Apart from that, the management of the organization is in need to educate the
employees of the front of house operations regarding the improved technological applications
and IT systems such as the Property Management System so that they be able to efficiently
operate the information regarding the customers availability and the detrimental impact of the
improper communication of the data from the part of the employees of the front of house
operations will have the possibility to get nullified (Konings and Vanormelingen 2015). The
management of the chosen organization is in need to establish effective and evidential
communication to make sure that the conflict amongst the members of the team gets reduced
(Yildirim 2014).

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The effective communication amongst the members of the team has the potential to
improve the flow of communication and that will make sure that the employees of the front
house operations effectively communicate the information regarding the availability and
arrival of the customers to the other departments of the organization. This will be of great
significance in terms of managing the concerns regarding the improper flow of information.
The effective management of the conflict will be of great significance for the organization in
terms of increasing the efficiency and that will have the potential to increase the generation of
the profit and will recover the organization from the financial miseries (Mehta and Mehta
2013). Adding to that, the employees of the department is in need to participate in the
employee engagement activities which needs to be designed by the management of the
chosen organization. The employee engagement activities will be significant for the
employees of the organization in terms of building and improving the relationship with the
other members of the organization (Mehta and Mehta 2013). Apart from that, the
improvement of the team environment and the increment of cooperation from the part of the
employees of the organization will be attainable with the conduction of the employee
engagement activities.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, the modern business industry is observed to face such issues in
a significant manner where the inappropriate operations of the incapable employees affect the
business conduction of the renowned organization both in terms of the profit and reputational
crisis. However, the misconduct of employees of the organization is seen to be based on the
developmental needs of the employees along with the power conflict and the group culture.
The only remedy for the case is meeting the developmental needs of the employees along
with establishing a better and improved group environment which will motivate the
employees to operate as per the desired quality.

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