Operation Issues Faced by Guests in Grace Hotel: A Case Study Assessment

This report analyzes the operation issues faced by guests when visiting Grace Hotel, including poor customer service, unhygienic conditions, high prices, safety and security concerns, inappropriate employee behavior, and uncomfortable rooms. Recommendations are provided to improve safety, employee training, hotel hygiene, proactive services, check-in procedures, and room services.

Case study assessment

Executive summary
Hotel is essential part of the tourism, service and hospitality industry is major component
of any nation's economy. Main purpose of this report is identify and analyses the operation issues
faced by guest when visiting. This report has provided certain recommendation to Grace Hotel so
that it can improve its services and provide a better customer experience. As guest are not satisfy
with the Grace Hotel's services, therefore this report has made a discussion on the various issues
that impact customer experience and advised to the hotel so that workers experience can be
improved in a positive way.

Contents
Executive summary............................................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION.............................................................................................................................4
Overview of the chosen hotel........................................................................................................4
Issues faced by the chosen organisation in operation management...............................................5
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Hotel industry in hospitality sector is solely concerned with provision of the guest
accommodation and other related services. By contrast, hospitality sector is concerned with the
leisure in a general sense. As resulting, it cover restaurants, bars, accommodation, night life, cafes
and number of the tourism and travel industry. It is essential to understand that hotel industry is a
catch all term, used to define services related to the guest accommodation (Armutlu and et. al.,
(2021). By considering this, it is worth nothing that there are varieties of the various
accommodation types that fall under this umbrella term. In hospitality industry, most common
kind of the accommodation is hotel. In this industry, hotel is defined as an establishment which
offer an overnight accommodation, meals and the other services. Hotels are primarily aimed at
tourists and travellers, although the locals may use use them. These hotel provide the private
rooms and almost have en suite bathrooms. Broadly speaking, hotel is considered as a managed
establishment or building, that provide the guest with a place to stay overnight- on short term
basis- in the exchange for money (Avi, Rahman & Sardar, S. (2021). Precise service and features
provided by the hotels to guest can vary quite drastically from one hotel to another hotel. Main
aim of the hotel owners is to attract a specific type of the customer through their pricing model
and the marketing strategy, and through range of the services they offer. Hotel chosen in this
report Grace Hotel which was established by Grace Brothers in 1930. This report will be based on
the wide range of the hospitality operation issues and recommendation to overcome these issues.
Overview of the chosen hotel
Grace hotel is a heritage listed building of Federation Skyscraper Gothic style which
houses as hotel, bar, resurgent and cafe. It is situated at 77-79 York Street in Sydney central
business district in the New South Wales, Australia. Grace hotel is best known hotel in Australia
with meticulously restored Art Deco features located within grand heritage building. This hotel
was designed by the Gordon and Morrow and built by Rigby and Kell during late 1920. This hotel
was opened by the Grace Brothers, Australian department store magnates, as their headquarters.
Grace hotel has served various purposes since its opening, it was sublet to Australian
Commonwealth government in early 1940 and later become Sydney headquarters of US armed
forces under the General Douglas MacArthur during Pacific War.

 Mission- To provide a genuine heartfelt hospitality service that will engrave a unique and
excellent experience in the mind and heart of every guest.
 Vision- Its vision is to be first choice of its guest by aiming to create everlasting memories
through the unmatched personalised services.
Issues faced by the chosen organisation in operation management
People who travel frequently know that the hotel services are not always s they have grown to
expect. Moreover people who do travel much tend to notice creating things that regular customer
may be would not (Ziyae, Sadeghi & Golmohammadi, (2021).The hotels that do everything on
their power in order to prevent the common issues from occurring have better chance to retain
their guest and keep undamaged reputation. Therefore, it is essential for the hotel’s owner to know
that how to deal with very circumstances and train their entire staff to be up to the task if any issue
occur. Therefore, in relation o the Grace Hotel, there are certain issues that have been faced by its
guest. These issues are based on the customer’ reviews mentioned below:
 Poor customer services- As COVID have impacted everything but staff must still be able
to show warmth with a smile towards its guest. But in this hotel people has observed that
the staff did not want to be at work. People also raised a concerned with staff and despite
telling individuals, that they would let the manager know and people would be contacted.
But there was no response from the manager. Its manager does not respect to guest as in
his communication's style and tone is not appropriate. This response of its management
feels the guest very uncomfortable with hotel's services and they do not appreciate it
(Feniza, (2021).
 Unhygienic- Services of the Grace hotel are very terrible as its rooms are not clean
properly. It gives single bed to its guest and offers a very basic breakfast with small serves.
Room are not cleaned/services over stay and no clean coffee cups or supplied, quoted
around $20 a day and charged around $55ǃ. People tries to call housekeeping/ guest
services/ concierge/operation and no one would answer in this hotel, people feel like they
are treated like second class citizens. It does not take care about the hygiene and cleanness
in hotel that may impact guest's health.
 Expensive- Grace Hotel is too expensive for what it offered to its customers. As it does
not provide the service as compared it charge the money. As per the customer, Grace Hotel

is not worth to pay more for its services as its check in process is also not so good for
customers. When guest check in this hotel then there is a crowd of many people due to
which guest have to face many problems. Visitors are also not satisfied with its food
services and this hotel serves only normal breakfast to its guest. This it is another operation
issues faced ay the guest when visiting in this hotel (Manolitzas and et. al., (2022).
 Safety and security- As many guests had experienced in this hotel the issue of money
stolen. It is identified that there is no proper security of guest's luggage as there is
possibility of theft and after that its staff deny it. Terrible services as respective hotel do
not even follow up when people ask them for these types of cases. Its management is not
concerned with the guest's safety and security.
 Inappropriate employee behaviour- Its staff behaviour is not as good towards the guest
as they have no proper manner or knowledge regarding how to deal with the guest. It
makes the guest unsatisfied and they decide to visit again here. They argument with the
guest and does not take any action to solve the guest's problem (Marneros, Papageorgiou &
Efstathiades, (2021). Their staffs laughing at the guest and even getting into the argument
with the guest is all happening many time in this hotel.
 Uncomfortable rooms- Many customers has complained that in Grace Hotel they have
faced this issue many times. This issue can occur due to the poor linen old mattress and
even bad lighting in room. Lousier sleep their hotel guets have more issue Grace Hotel will
have with them the next day. This terrible stay and ripped off on the room rate would not
recommend anyone to stay. Its room services are cold and food bland WI fi internet do
don’t work properly in many rooms (Ying and et. al., (2021).
Recommendation
Creating right customer experience for all the guest is very essential for the hotel as just
one poor experience can impact the customer loyalty and make them less likely to return. Mission
of the customer service department in Grace Hotel is should be available and present for its guest
before, during and after their stay. Whether it is by providing advice, information or helping guest
feel more confident and comfortable, role of the customer service department should be to provide
a positive and great experience to their guest. By doing this, respective hotel will become able to
associate the excellent customer services with their property and become loyal clients. In relation

to the Grace Hotel, as there are various issues in this hotel, therefore certain recommendations are
given to this hotel. These recommendations are mentioned below:
 Facilitate safety to guest's luggage’s- As guest in Grace Hotel face issue of their
luggage's safety, in this case respective hotel should maintain a register and the
surveillance cameras so that movement of its staff can be recorded. It also should provide a
safe locker to its visitors in their room that ill secure their valuable things. Its staff should
avoid carrying large amount of the cash while on duty. Technology is another solution to
the security issues (Oriade and et. al., (2021). Grace Hotel should uses the anti theft
devices which are available in market and can be installed in hotel. The Radio Frequency
Identification bases equipment will be very useful for the respective hotel.
 Provide training to employees- as it is identified that employee's in Grace Hotel, are not
so friendly with their guest, their behaviour is not appropriate towards their visitors. Then
in this case, respective hotel should provide training to its employee staff so that they can
learn that how to respect to their guest. It is essential for Grace Hotel to hire a workforce
with the right values and attitude so that customer feels like at home. Grace Hotel should
provide behavioural skill training to its employee, this training is a blend of the skills
which are required in effective communication, interpersonal relational, productive
emotion and engaging attitude that will allows its staff to perform and work well with their
guest. Another best way to tackle this issue is that respective hotel should hire employee
who can control their temper and able to keep their heads straight even when they are
yelled on.
 Improve hotel hygiene- it is recommended that Grace Hotel should ensure a regular
cleaning routine with could on the high football area as hygiene is most essential element
in hotel. They should clean the dirt and ensure that cleaning staff are aware of risk of the
cross contamination. High usage items including light switch, remote control, headboards,
drinking glasses should be cleaned thoroughly to limit spread of the bacteria (Salehi and et.
al.,(2021). Grace Hotel should train its staff on the correct hand washing procedure and
policies of glove usage to minimise germ's spread from hand to the food and surface.
Grace Hotel should ensure adequate hand washing facilities by providing, well stocked
soap, linen towels and waste bins. The hand wash monitoring solution can increase the

hand washing compliance and also ensure hotel's staffs are washing their hand as per the
relevant protocols.
 Be proactive- Rather than waiting for a guest to complaint, can help the company move
from reactive services model to proactive services model that will improve their guest
satisfaction and retention. For instance Grace Hotel let to pull a report of the every guest
due to arrive in a specific day. In this, if a guest has stayed with them before, or of they
have collected information during the booking, hotel can use that collected information in
order to personalise guest's experience. Did they have any problem previously that guest
could make up for during this stay, possibly by upgrading their room type/ or did they
mentioned that they were travelling with the children, giving hotel the opportunity to
respective hotel an opportunity to leave few toys and treat in guest's room prior to their
arrival?
 Improve check in procedure- As it has been observed that there is no proper check in
procedure in Grace Hotel, therefore, it is essential for the respective hotel to assign a point
employee to greet the guest. They can offer a remote check in option as it is an outstanding
strategy for improving the check-in that eliminate or reduce the wait altogether (Srivastava
& Kumar, (2021).
 Improve room services- In order to provide a great room service, Grace Hotel should be
become able to deliver what its guest want- and knowing that what they expect form hotel.
Why they visiting here? Where are they from, and many more? Grace Hotel should have
right equipment so that it can deliver drinks and food at correct temperature without any
spills. Respective hotel should set expectation and do not disappoint. Their menu correctly
describes the items. Its working system should deliver the expectation that have been set
by the guest.

CONCLUSION
From the above report it is concluded that hospitality industry is at a crucial juncture.
Hospitality sector various service including travelling, hotel, restaurant and so on. The hotel
provides various services to guest like staying and food. Primary purpose of the hotel is to
provide food, refreshment, shelter and other similar services, offering based on the commercial
things which are customarily furnished within the household but unavailable to people on a
journey away from their home. Hotels support their communities through enhanced capital
investment, tax revenue, tourism related development and many more. In this report a hotel is
chosen in which customer face various bad experience including issue of theft, hygiene, rude
behaviour from staff, difficulties during check in. Therefore certain recommendations are also
provide to the respective hotel so that they can bring improvement in their practice and become
able to provide better services. It is responsibility of the hotel to provide better service to their
guest that makes feel them like at home. They should take care of their guest so that they visitors
can get receive a positive experience. It will help the respective hotel to get a competitive
advantage in market place in effective and efficient manner.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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and Hospitality Industry of Bangladesh: Challenges and Suggestions. In Technology
Application in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry of Bangladesh (pp. 369-379).
Springer, Singapore.
Feniza, A. (2021). The Impact of COVID-19 on Hospitality Travelers’ Safety and the Quality of
Life. Feniza, Arline., Dr. Lee, Jun Hyuk.(2021). The Impact of COVID-19 on Hospitality
Travelers’ Safety and the Quality of Life, 1-101.
Manolitzas, P. and et. al., (2022). Hotel guests’ demanding level and importance of attribute
satisfaction ratings: An application of MUltiplecriteria Satisfaction Analysis on
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Ying, T. and et. al.,(2021). “I have to watch my back”: Exploring Chinese hotel guests’
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Ziyae, B., Sadeghi, H., & Golmohammadi, M. (2021). Service innovation in the hotel industry: the
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