Hospitality Provision in Travel and Tourism: Interrelationships, Integration, and Business Planning

This report explores the intricate relationship between hospitality and the broader travel and tourism industry. It delves into the interrelationships between these sectors, analyzing the implications of integration for the hospitality industry, particularly focusing on the impact of integration on the Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG). The report further develops a business plan for a restaurant business, Taste King, in London, UK, outlining its rationale, target market, and operational requirements, including human resource allocation. The report highlights the importance of understanding the dynamics between hospitality and travel and tourism for successful business development and growth.

Hospitality provision in Travel and Tourism
1

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................4
1.1 Discuss the interrelationships between hospitality and wider travel and tourism businesses4
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Analyze the implications of integration to the hospitality industry.......................................6
2.2 Discuss how integration has affected a hospitality business..................................................8
Task 3.............................................................................................................................................10
3.1 Develop a rationale for a selected project clearly justifying decisions linked to target
market.........................................................................................................................................10
3.2 Develop a plan for a hospitality business including the operational requirements of the
business’ organizational structure in relation to human resource allocation.............................11
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................16
References......................................................................................................................................17
2

Introduction
Travel and tourism business and hospitality both are the fastest growing industries in all over the
world. Both these industries come under the service industries and to ensure satisfaction to its
customers the two industries works together. It is evident from several records and verdicts that
traveling industries that operates along with the hospitality industries are much more successful
businesses as compared to other businesses. The following report will be divided into three tasks;
the first task will be in a format of the article that will summarize the interrelationship between
the travel and tourism business and hospitality. The second part of this report will showcase the
types of integration and their implications for the hospitality industry. It will also demonstrate
that how integration can impact the hospitality business. And, the last part of the report will show
a business plan based on the restaurant business of UK. In the first part, the Junior Consultant of
PKF hotel experts will produce an article to show the interrelationship between PKF hotel
experts and Intercontinental Hotels Group. In the other task, the Junior Consultant will outline
the implication and effect of integration upon Intercontinental Hotels Group which is most
leading hospitality industry. In the next part, the junior consultant will develop a business plan
on Taste King Restaurant of London City in the UK. At last, the overall analysis will be
concluded by the junior consultant.
3

Task 1
1.1 Discuss the interrelationships between hospitality and wider travel and tourism
businesses
For the development and expansion of Hospitality industry, the travel and tourism sector
performs the most significant role for it. The hospitality sector comes under the industries of
services. The hospitality sector is quite a large category of fields. It involves theme parks,
transportation and also event planning in the tourism industry. It also involves 3-5 star hotel
services with some of the facilities like parties, bar, pub and many others that are offered by the
hospitality industries. All these amenities help in retaining the consumers. The hospitality
business is considered as the multibillion-dollar business that even offers employment to a major
population of UK. The hospitality sectors operate actually to set relationship and connection in
order to promote the services and products which can be exchanged among the guests and hosts
(Holloway and Humphreys, 2016). For example, when a group wants to travel to various
geographical areas, they get in touch with the travel and tour companies of UK which serve with
great packages including services like accommodation, food, etc. Hotels play a very significant
role in offering these services. Thus we can conclude that there is an interconnection between
hotel and travel industry.
PKF hotelexperts is a globally recognized leader in the market of the hotel, leisure
consulting and tourism. It is a member of the PKF international firm. It was founded in 1869,
since then it has been providing quality and reliable services. It was the first company to offer
specialized consulting services for the hospitality industry and provide relevant financial surveys.
Since its foundation, PKF has been offering unbiased and independent advice on realistic
assessment (Goeldner and Ritchie, 2012). PKF international is among the top worldwide
organizations in the field of accounting, audit, tax and consulting firms. It has its member firms
in more than 300 locations. In 1927, PKF’s founding father, William J. Foster, introduced the
Uniform System of Account for the Lodging Industry (USALI) and with this, the company
emerged as a global industry due to its dedicated activities in hospitality advisory, supported by
relevant benchmarking services and elaborate financial surveys. The dedicated consultants of
4

PKF have been providing quality services for the tourism, hotel and leisure sector for many
years.
The biggest accommodation service provider in the UK is the International Hotel Group.
IHG provides services in some countries by satisfying the customer demands. IHG has given
employment to over 7000 people. In 2015 it produced yearly revenue of more than $1803
Million. The IHG provides some services to its customer such as food and beverages,
accommodation, bars, pubs, clubs, etc.
The Intercontinental Hotel Group provides services in over 80 countries and has 4602
hotel among which 700 hotels are operated by IHG itself, and the rest are functioned by different
franchises. For increasing its market, IHG has created contracts with different tourism companies
like PKF group in various countries for fulfilling the demands of its customers (Hong, 2008).
The organization provides some additional services to its customers like transportation facilities
like car rentals and airlines to increase its revenue.
In order make its customers feel like home, IHG provides a quality environment. It
provides low budget services to its clients to motivate them to come back. It provides a different
plan for people with a different budget like to choose from a variety of 7-star, 5-star and 3-star
hotel services. Customer satisfaction is the major goal in this business by offering quality
service.
The businesses mentioned above are interrelated as because both have a similar customer
base. IHG is dependent on the clients of PKF. Therefore, PKF designs its packages by the
services of IHG. Both the companies have a strong relationship with each other as because one
will be unable to function without the other. Both groups have drawn an agreement to merge
their services to provide a quality experience to their customers and thus increase their income
revenue. PKF offers pre-booking facilities in hotels and transportation while on the other hand,
IHG offers food and beverages. With merging their services, they provide quality services to
their customers and encourage them to come back (Goeldner and Ritchie, 2012). This merge in
their services provides greater revenue and strong customer base due to customer satisfaction. It
can be identified through this study that both organizations are interrelated and should merge
their services to meet the demands of their customers.
5

Task 2
2.1 Analyze the implications of integration to the hospitality industry
Integration allows different industries to merge by sharing their resources and customers for the
greater good of the organizations as well as the customers. Horizontal and vertical integration are
the two types of integration in the hospitality industry (Kovačić et al., 2015). The companies that
are closer to enhance their business and satisfy their customers are seen to be following this
integration (Hong, 2008). Latest technologies and tools are used for coordination.
Along with IHG, the PKF group is integrated itself with many other hotel and airline companies.
This resulted in the expansion of business and effective utilization of the existing resources. The
PKF group has integrated with other organizations in two ways:
Vertical Integration
Vertical integration is the type of integration in which one organization buys another
organization or its suppliers in the chain of distribution. This helps in lowering the cost and
maximizing the profits of both the organization. The PKF group is a leader in travel and tourism
market and has total control of the distribution chain. Therefore they employ people from the
inside and train them rather than employing people from the outside. They want to provide
6

services in all places and also want to maintain the same standard in every place. Anything that
harms its reputation cannot be accepted. For example, when a top ranking company starts its
services in other countries, its name attracts a large number of people, but to provide quality
service like its other franchises to the customers, it is required to merge with the local companies
of that nation.
In vertical integration, PKF merges with other organization in the distribution chain and
enters a merger agreement with the organization. This helps both organizations to get some
competitive advantages. IKG differentiates its services from its competitors through integration.
Proper integration will improve the profitability and markets share of the integrated companies
(Pender and Sharpley, 2005). Vertical integration also lowers the activity cost performed by
PKG and enhances the quality of services provided by the companies.
PKG and IHG have merged for providing high-quality services to their customers. This
has attracted a lot of new customers towards them and has also improved their brand image
globally. After such kind of integration, both organizations are considered as a single body, and
the goals and objectives are set according to both. This kind of integration requires the use of
modern tools and development to be successful. Supply chain management is improved by up
gradation of technology.
According to market research, PKF is entering the new market segment through vertical
integration and is therefore responsible for monitoring and controlling the coordination and
activities of the services provided. The new market segment consists of several barriers that can
affect the image of the organization. These are customer expectation, market competition;
analyze the market and new market strategy. The only solution for making successful integration
is having proper control on the operations of the organizations.
Some advantages of vertical integration include expansion of market share, increase in
financial status, reduction in overall product cost, market power enhancement, etc.
Horizontal Integration
Integration of two organizations for making a bigger organization is known as horizontal
integration. This makes them identical in services and products. Horizontal integration aims at
7

developing new organization by merging two organizations. As an example, PKF has merged
with other airline company to make a larger organization. It is merely another way to increase
revenue and expand business (Page and Connell, 2010). The main objective of horizontal
integration is gaining competitive advantage and increasing productivity. It is beneficial to both
the organizations.
PKF’s main focus is on expanding their business globally. Horizontal integration is the
PKF’s best possible method for improving its capabilities and resources (Becken and Hay,
2017). Horizontal integration has given several outcomes like the improvement of work
efficiency in different places. In PKF’s case, horizontal development has improved their brand
name and image across the world. Furthermore, globalization has increased international tourism
which in turn has increased the revenue generated. It has also been noticed that conflicts
happened during the time of decision making due to different mission and values of different
organizations.
2.2 Discuss how integration has affected a hospitality business
Integration combines the central competency of two companies and thus attracts
customers on a large scale. An organization gets competitive advantages from integration. The
main focus of integration is on set competitive prices, technological factors, and utilization of
resources. The impact of integration on PKF group is elaborated through the following points:
8

Cost integration: Organizations like PKF are allowed to spend high amounts for their business
by horizontal and vertical integration. For providing better quality services, the organization is
expanding its investment in technologies (Pansiri, 2009). The organizations have mutually set the
prices of different packages including holiday packages and many more. It is clear from this that
hospitality business is benefitted from integration.
Technology: Hospitality industry is also affected by technology integration. The organizations
are supported by technology integration for adopting new technology according to the market
requirements. The operations in PKF are supported by modern technical tools. Modern
technologies provide easy options for contacting the end users or customers (Holloway and
Humphreys, 2016). The most beneficial impact of technology integration on the organizations is
that the coordination between the companies gets better. This is why technical tools are the most
profitable process of coordinating the activities within the organization and improving the speed
of making decisions. Efficiency is improved by technological integration, and innovative ideas
are performed instantly.
Lack of knowledge: PKF firm is integrated both vertically and horizontally. This has led PKF to
enter the modern market segment. Changes like the development of new market strategies have
taken place. But on the contrary, the PKF employees are facing problems while handling new
customers. Target customers are needed to be found by the employees who are interested in
packages (Armenski et al., 2017). Moreover, training is provided to the employees by PKF
management for bettering the communication between the employees and customers for
influencing them to buy packages. But due to lack of knowledge merging process can fail to
make the integration unsuccessful.
Globalization: PKF integrates with different organizations. But lack of knowledge about the
globalization factors such as culture, terms, and conditions, rules and regulations, could make the
organizations face difficulties in operation. PKF may also face difficulties in making global
policies (Liu et al., 2015). Making accommodation packages for customers coming from
different country and culture is a big challenge though. Their expectations like the food of their
choice should be fulfilled.
9

Quality: The quality of services is also affected by the integration process in either positive way
or negative way. Improvement in quality is not guaranteed after integration. It is dependent on
the employees of both organizations (Robinson et al., 2013). There are two key concepts for
enhancing the quality of the services that are coordination in work and mutual understanding.
Task 3
3.1 Develop a rationale for a selected project justifying decisions linked to the target
market
Rational is the process in which basic information about something is explained. Taste king has
been planning to enter the business of food and beverages as because the organization has
analyzed the chances of immense profit and growth of the organization in this industry. It was
analyzed by the organization that increasing economic potential and income of the people has
promoted huge expenditure on food and beverages. By fulfilling the customer requirements of
unique food products, taste king has planned to set high standards in food and beverage industry
(Biggs, 2010). Nowadays price is not the primary factor considered by the customers, it is the
quality of the product that matters the most. For this very reason, Taste king has shifted its focus
to fulfill the quality requirements of upper-middle-class people who spend their capital for a
luxury lifestyle.
London is the main spot for upper-middle class people from around the world to spend
quality and leisure time. Therefore taste king has chosen London for inaugurating the new
restaurants. To add more fun in the food products, taste king has been offering taste enriching
and quality products. Tate king management has started advertising their products on social
media and websites for promoting their business (Holloway and Humphreys, 2016). Marketing
strategies for reaching more customers like sponsorship program and discount offers are used by
Taste king. These kinds of strategies are necessary for acquiring customer attention and making
them aware of the services available.
To establish the position and reputation of Taste King Organization, marketing strategies
play a very significant role. Taste king has been applying all kind of marketing strategies for
increasing the inflow of customers and fulfilling their satisfaction. The organization will be
offering more benefits to the customers for influencing their decision making capability (Pender
10

and Sharpley, 2005). One time customers will become regular customers of Taste King with the
help of their attractive and excellent services.
Apart from these, Taste king provide a variety of Asian, Chinese and Continental food
option for fulfilling the demands of all type of customers from different countries of the world. It
has started using modern approaches in facility and design and as well providing additional
service for attracting more customers.
3.2 Develop a plan for a hospitality business including the operational requirements of the
business’ organizational structure about human resource allocation
Human resource is considered to be the most valuable asset by Taste King for the development
and growth of any organization. Human resource is required by every organization for managing
the business and product quality (Timothy and Teye, 2009). Therefore healthy strategy is
designed for recruiting experienced and skilled employees by the management required for
properly allocating work and serving best quality products to the customers.
Stage 1: Development
Taste king follows a well-planned strategy for recruiting and allocating human resources in the
organization. Customer satisfaction and growth of the organization are the major focus in food
and beverages industry (Becken and Hay, 2017). Taste king is training its employees to be
responsive to quickly and easily serve their customers. The organization is planning to expand its
food and beverages business in other countries of the world as well.
These aims are impossible to fulfill without experienced and highly skillful staff in
delivering healthy and hygienic food to its customers. Along with it, the organization is also
putting effort for reducing the cost of the services and products without hampering their quality
(Sigala, 2004). This will provide competitive advantages to the organization. For this purpose,
several practices are included by the company, which are advised by experts for simplifying the
manufacturing process and making it effortless. The demands and expectations of the customers
are being analyzed by the organization for making more acceptable products.
The Taste king organization also focuses on the market trends for promoting customer
relation and business. To understand the expectations of the customers, book and review orders
11

and introduce new services and products, Taste king uses social media and internet in a simple
and effective manner. This is required for drawing the attention of the online customers.
Presentation of products is also in focus of Taste king organization (Biggs, 2010). Even a
product with good quality may not gain the customer’s attention if it lacks impressive
presentation.
For improving the delivery and packaging of the products, taste king is analyzing the
trends in the market and also the experience of the customer with their products. To make the
packages eco-friendly and economical, taste king has planned for using paper for packing their
products. This new idea of packaging will be effective in gaining the attention of customers
(Pansiri, 2009). To make space in the market, the organization initially offers best quality
products with fewer profit margins. Different strategies are made by the organization for
simplifying the approach to reach customers and cost.
London is the initial market where Taste king offers products and services to visitors or
local people. Also, online promotions are being practiced by the company for making the brand
internal. Secondary data is being collected by the organization from the customers of the local
market and international visitors to increase product acceptance (Armenski et al., 2017).
Governmental agreements and laws have been determined to be implemented in productions and
restaurant services. High featured interior service and infrastructures are used for attracting the
customers. The organization has planned for providing extra discounts and benefits to the
returning customers. This is helpful in creating a good market impression and brand image.
Stage 2: Design
The outlook of any organization is defined by the design of the organization. Therefore,
impressive design of the exterior and interior of the pubs and restaurants helps in attracting
customers. The development of food business is affected by several factors (Page and Connell,
2010). These factors are to be considered carefully for eliminating the risk of downfall and
failure. Some of these factors are mentioned below:
Ambiance: To divert the decisions of customers for accommodation, Taste King is required to
provide luxurious ambiance looks by the current trends. According to the recent trend,
12

application of multicolor-decorative lights is needed to be installed by the management. The
simple but luxurious interior can be designed for managing the standards of services.
Culture: The identity of pubs and restaurants is the culture. Efforts are needed to be put by the
organization to develop a good culture. The representatives of the restaurants such as waiters,
managers, etc. are needed to be trained to behave professionally (Kovačić et al., 2015). Also, the
restaurants in the UK should apply the culture of United Kingdom so that the tourists from
outside of UK can enjoy the culture of United Kingdom during their visits.
Interior and exterior: Well designed exterior are helpful in converting the visitors into
customers where as well designed interior help converting customers into regular customers. To
attract a maximum number of customers, both the exterior as well as the interior of the restaurant
should be properly furnished. For this very purpose, furniture, lights, and glasses with innovative
design pattern are being installed by Taste king at the inside. Colorful fabrics, frames, and walls
are also being placed.
Functional Areas: To interact with the customers with ease, Taste king focuses on the
functionality. For enhancing the functionality of the restaurants, Taste king has been using online
payment and booking services as a part of the modern delivering system (Liu et al., 2015). Time
and communication services are considered primarily for satisfying the customers.
Sustainability: the New offer is being introduced by Taste king for existing and new customers
for sustaining a good position in the market (Robinson et al., 2013). Market conditions are being
13

considered by Taste king for conquering the sustainability issues as because sustainability is
considered to be the most flexible factor in the food industry.
Stage 3: Operations
Operation stage of the restaurant is devoted to affecting the design and development part of
planning. The outcome in the restaurant will affect the operations of taste king. The more
productivity can achieve by the operational policies (Robinson et al., 2013). Various aspects are
mentioned below which have vast influence on the successful and even operational in
restaurants.
Recruitment: Recruitment methods are vital to recruiting experienced and skilled applicants
those who can carry their most excellent effort to the organizational objectives. It is analyzed by
the taste king restaurant regarding the numbers of applicants is necessary to handle the restaurant
practicality (Sigala, 2004). As well as the ability of the individuals will be examined to assign the
job. Taste king has own recruitment methods or can hire on a contract basis to preserve time.
Staffing: It is essential for Taste king to choose a job profile that will be approved by the
particular applicants. Workshops and proper training will be planned to improve the abilities of
14

the workforce. Taste king will workforce the associates in a various position like the chief,
waiters, receptionist, managers, cleaners, etc.
Cultural diversity: to manage the diversity in culture, the affirmative working environment will
be provided by the Taste king (Timothy and Teye, 2009). Workforce from other cultures will be
treated similarly, and it will obtain equivalent occasion to grow and learn.
Legislation: Taste king will create the privilege of restaurant legal to maintain the workforce
privileges and dispute with consumers and governmental issues. Modern products will be listed
with government agreements.
15

Conclusion
This report has analyzed the interrelationship between hospitality and wider tourism and travel
businesses. In the first part, it is stated about the development and expansion of Hospitality
industry, the tourism and travel business performs the most significant function for it. The
hospitality sector is quite a large category of fields. It involves theme parks, transportation and
also event planning in the tourism industry. In the second part, it is stated about the Integration
which allows different industries to merge by sharing their resources and customers for the
greater good of the organizations as well as the customers. It also stated the types of integrations
in the hospitality industry. It also stated that how combination influenced a hospitality business.
Within the third part, it stated about the development of a rationale for a certain plan evidently
justifying decisions correlated to the objective market. It was analyzed through the organization
that increasing economic potential and income of the people has promoted huge expenditure on
food and beverages. It also stated a development for a hospitality business as well as the
operational needs of the business managerial organization about HR distribution. HR is required
by every organization for managing the business and product quality.
16

References
Armenski, T., Dwyer, L. and Pavluković, V. (2017).Destination Competitiveness. Journal of
Travel Research, p.004728751769244.
Becken, S. and Hay, J. (2007). Tourism and climate change. 1st ed. Clevedon, UK: Channel
View Publications.
Biggs, D. (2010). The Tourism Society's Dictionary for the Tourism Industry. Tourism
Management, 31(4), p.556.
Goeldner, C. and Ritchie, J. (2012). Tourism. 1st ed. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons.
Holloway, J. and Humphreys, C. (2016). The Business of Tourism. 1st ed. Harlow, UK: Pearson
Education Limited.
Hong, W. (2008). Competitiveness in the tourism sector. 1st ed. Heidelberg: Physica-Verlag.
Kovačić, N., Topolšek, D. and Dragan, D. (2015).Tourism sector, Travel agencies, and Transport
Suppliers: Comparison of Different Estimators in the Structural Equation Modeling. Logistics &
Sustainable Transport, 6(1).
Liu, X., Schuckert, M. and Law, R. (2015). Online Incentive Hierarchies, Review Extremity, and
Review Quality: Empirical Evidence from the Hotel Sector. Journal of Travel & Tourism
Marketing, 33(3), pp.279-292.
Page, S. and Connell, J. (2010). Tourism. 1st ed. London: SAGE.
Pansiri, J. (2009). Strategic Motives for Alliance Formation in the Travel Sector of
Tourism.International Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 10(2), pp.143-173.
Pender, L. and Sharpley, R. (2005). The management of tourism. 1st ed. London: Sage.
Robinson, P., Luck, M. and Smith, S. (2013). Tourism.1st ed. CABI.
17

Sigala, M. (2004).Using Data Envelopment Analysis for Measuring and Benchmarking
Productivity in the Hotel Sector. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing, 16(2-3), pp.39-60.
The effects of economic crises on tourism success: an integrated model. (2014). Tourism
Economics.
Timothy, D. and Teye, V. (2009). Tourism and the lodging sector. 1st ed. Amsterdam:
Butterworth-Heinemann/Elsevier.
18