Simulation game on Hotel industry

This document discusses the strategies and decision-making process in the hotel industry through a simulation game. It explores competitor analysis, marketing strategies, and guest satisfaction. The hotel aims to provide luxurious facilities integrated with technology and comfort, while facing tough competition from other players in the market. The document also provides recommendations for staying competitive in the industry.

Running head: HOTEL OPERATIONS 1
Simulation game on Hotel industry

HOTEL OPERATIONS 2
Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Overall strategy................................................................................................................................3
Application of strategies..................................................................................................................4
KPIs.................................................................................................................................................4
Decision making in three quarters...................................................................................................5
Competitor Analysis........................................................................................................................5
Initial Team goals (SMART goals).................................................................................................6
Important decisions taken................................................................................................................7
Recommendations............................................................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9

HOTEL OPERATIONS 3
Introduction
As opined by Solnet, Kralj & Baum (2015), the hospitality industry is evolving day by
day and the global scenario evolving at a much faster rate. The need of accommodating more
number of customers, it is important for the hotel industry to formulate their initial strategy keep
changing according to the trend. As suggested by Shamim, Cang, Yu & Li (2017), the current
situation of the hospitality industry comprises of multiple hotel businesses and many players
trying to capture maximum attention of customers and revenue. Tour 451 is new to the hotel
industry and has tried to show its efficiency in the past one year. The hotel aims at providing
luxurious facilities integrated with the best in technology and comfort. Although, the hotel is
facing tough competition from multiple players in the market providing same offerings, it has
tried to remain competitive. The company has been study performance over the last one year.
Apart from the local competitors, the company faces competition from outside the market.
Economic conditions of also been a reason for its steady performance. The increase in the gross
profit and net profit can be seen as a booster for the hotel. There has been study incline in the
occupancy rate and number of guests pouring in to the hotel. Therefore, the purpose of this report
is to overlook the past performance and analyze the prospects for the hotel in future time.
Overall strategy
Assuggested by Dmitrieva, Fernandes & Nunes (2019), in order to maintain a
competitive business project proposition, hotels need to be attentive to the needs of its guests.
Therefore it becomes important to understand the specifications of varied customers to provide
world class service. Once the hotel has a knowledge about its external environment, it can
develop creative strategies that would help them to remain competitive in the market and provide
better services than its competitors.
The first strategy would be to provide greater experience to the guests. Therefore, the
hotel should market its brand by creating a good website first. As opined by Ali (2016), hotel
website is an important marketing tool, it helps to generate direct sales for the hotel. Therefore
the website should be customized that is visually appealing as well as provides efficiency in
booking and browsing through the website for the customers. As stated by Giomelakis & Veglis
(2015), use of enhanced Search Engine Optimization practices is extremely important. The
phone the website of the hotel needs to be optimized to boost its visibility on the internet space to

HOTEL OPERATIONS 4
attract more customers. While building the hotel marketing strategies, unique selling point of the
hotel should always be marketed first. Creating a clear identity and conveying that throughout
the hotel's marketing channels can be a great way to build hotel brand. The pricing strategy of the
hotel with refurbishments of the rooms is a unique selling point for the hotel. As a part of the
overall strategy, the hotel should proactively connect with online travel agencies to generate
maximum exposure. As opined by Drosos, et. al. (2017), if the hotel is present on Global
distribution systems, it will be able to grab enormous reach and gain access to customers
globally. It is also worth working closely with local authorities as assistant promoting the hotel
the guest in that area. The hotel can promote itself to other local business authorities as a venue
for conferences and business functions. The proactive utilization of social media is one of the
best inbound marketing tools that allows to promote the hotel to specific audience and target
people from specifications and interests. These strategies would help the hotel to remain
competitive and make themselves visible in the market.
Application of strategies
The team decided to use the strategies formulated for the betterment of the hotel. The
social media marketing tools will be applied to the hotel's website in order to attract more
number of customers in the subsequent years. Cancel the analysis it can be seen that the monthly
cost on marketing for the initial months were set at $1500 per month. This remained the same for
the rest of the months also keeping in mind that the expenses on marketing efforts will be within
$1500 per month. The advertising efforts will also be made in order to generate maximum
business. The strategy of integrating Search Engine Optimization to the hotel website will be
done by making the website user friendly which can easily connect with the guests. Also, the
hotel will select the right distribution channels as people book their hotel rooms through a
diverse range of online platforms. The strategy will also focus upon use of Meta search platforms
such as TripAdvisor to improve the hotel rankings and drive better revenue (Manes & Tchetchik,
2018). The hotel should also focus on selling the right room to the right person. The hotel will
also follow a competitive pricing strategy were the hotel prices will be based on its rivals.
KPIs

HOTEL OPERATIONS 5
 The pricing of the hotel is an important factor for attracting customers. The total
occupancy of the guests remained at 70% throughout the year but the total room nights
please along with the total coming into the hotel.
 The gross room revenue is an important factor which increase with each passing month.
The hotel has shown a total gross room revenue of $ 81417 in the month of February last
year which increased to $ 900759 in the month of January which is the current year.
From this it can be analyzed that there were more number of guests pouring in the hotel
due to its increasing popularity.
 The business performance showed that the total revenue remained high in the current
year compared to the previous years. There are more number of rooms available in the
current year than the last year.
 The revenue mix of the hotel states that total served different categories of guests where
the standard hotel rooms were popular among guests due to its optimized pricing. Large
group of customers were also interested in taking rooms in this hotel.
Decision making in three quarters
The decisions made each quarter was beneficial for the hotel from the rooms and other
departments were high in the previous quarters as well as the current quarters. The departmental
expenses was at 32.5% in the first quarter and the expenses reduced to as low as 27.4 2% in the
2nd second quarter. The decisions of lowering the expenses indicate that the hotel was capture a
good market share by providing quality services the guests at optimum pricing. The hotel has
expected to spend on refurbishing the services of the hotel and available funds for the current
year will help improve the productivity of the hotel. As compared to the previous quarters,
availability of funds is higher in the current quarter. This means the hotel has generated ample
amount of revenue from its services in order to fund the future expenses. In order to improve the
services provided to the guests, the hotel has also maintained a list of new services that can be
added. This includes express check in/out, music and entertainment, concierge, foreign exchange
and a transport van. All the services would require additional staffing which hotel already has
available funds in the current quarter.

HOTEL OPERATIONS 6
Competitor Analysis
When compared to the competitors, total has kept its rising at an optimum level and its
services that can meet the expectations of the guests. The hotel has maintained optimum pricing
for each channel of getting customers. When compared to the competitors, the Four Aces is
comparatively providing their hotel rooms and services at a higher rate in the market. Hotels like
The Shadydell, and Shine and Dynamic are also providing high prices of their hotel room
services. This has remained almost the same in all the quarters of the previous year. The hotel as
well as its competitors are providing almost the same services. Therefore competition is high
from the Orion and the Royal Castle as they are providing similar pricing strategies to remain
competitive in the market. The prices are hi for the premium customers as well as people coming
for packages. In comparison to that total has kept optimum pricing for the standard customers
and people coming for tour and in large groups.
Initial Team goals (SMART goals)
 Areas of concern
The areas of concern are the marketing advertising strategies used by the hotel.
The hotel has not finalized its advertising expenses. Therefore the hotel will be focusing
on advertising and branding and increase the efforts to 5% in the first three months of the
current year.
 Market
Although the hotel has received the attention of its customers by use of its
marketing efforts. The hotel will grow its market share by 10% in its neighboring area for
its services to large groups coming for tour in the city by the end of coming four months.
 Financial
The hotel will pay 50% of its unsecured debts by cutting down on the expenses
introducing the debt to apply more money to fund prospects of the hotel by the end of 3
months.
 Guest Satisfaction
The hotel will plan and execute 5 guest experience webinars this quarter with 10
guests for event and try to gain 85% or higher satisfied or very satisfied response on the
content presented to the guests.

HOTEL OPERATIONS 7
 Associate Engagement
The hotel will increase its marketing efforts to 5% in attainment of associate
engagements that would be beneficial for the hotel to increase its business from two times
per 3 months to one time in 6 months during the current year.
 Overall Ranking
The hotel will try to improve its overall marketing strategy by increasing search
engine traffic by 10% during the next 2 months, by focusing on creating an innovative
content and making concentrated effort to 5 high quality backlinks to support the content.
Figure: SMART Goals to be achieved
Marketing &
Advertsising Market Share Financial Guest Satisfaction Associate
Engagement Overall Ranking
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
5%
10%
50%
85%
5%
10%
To be achieved

HOTEL OPERATIONS 8
Important decisions taken
For the period of one year, the most important decisions were taken to improve the
productivity and overall brand image of the hotel. The first concern was to understand the market
and decide on the segmentation and pricing. The pricing has been kept optimum deciding on the
factors such as types of customers, services provided according to the competitive pricing in the
market. The concern of working closely with other departments has also been identified. It is
important to achieve close association on collaboration between the hotel departments to ensure
that the revenue management strategies are in alignment with one another. In this manner, the
challenges are also addressed collectively. The hotel will identify the key decision makers in
order to effectively adjust revenue management strategies. The Search Engine Optimization
should all so be optimized in order to business from customers.
Recommendations
Embracing Technology will help the hotel to stay competitive in the current market. In
the era of digitalization, the hotel should be able to use the social media strategy to reach out to
its customers. The success of the hotel will also depend upon its investment in the website
facilitate online booking services for the guests. Since customer insights are very important for a
hotel business, the hotel will take into account these insights into their marketing campaigns. The
hotel will also understanding the perception of its customers and provide high quality service for
sustained growth in the competitive market. The advertising efforts will also focus towards
advertising on TV and newspaper. The return on investment on these advertising techniques
might not be as useful as digital channels but the hotel can take these into account. The
refurbishments in the hotel along with staffing new people will also be addressed as the hotel is
in its growing stage and require greater efforts to stay competitive in the market.
Conclusion
The hotel industry is one of the most profitable industries comprising of numerous
players in the market where each one of them aims at providing a better service and customer
experience than others. In order to remain competitive, hotels are strategizing their efforts
towards achievement of a greater market share.

HOTEL OPERATIONS 9
References
Ali, F. (2016). Hotel website quality, perceived flow, customer satisfaction and purchase
intention. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 7(2), 213-228.
Dmitrieva, M., Fernandes, P. O., & Nunes, A. (2019, March). Guests’ Satisfaction: Application
of the Importance-Performance Analysis. In 2nd International Conference on Tourism
Research (p. 61).
Drosos, D., Chalikias, M., Skordoulis, M., Kalantonis, P., & Papagrigoriou, A. (2017). The
strategic role of information technology in tourism: The case of global distribution
systems. In Tourism, Culture and Heritage in a Smart Economy (pp. 207-219).
Giomelakis, D., & Veglis, A. (2015). Employing search engine optimization techniques in online
news articles. Studies in media and communication, 3(1), 22-33.
Manes, E., & Tchetchik, A. (2018). The role of electronic word of mouth in reducing
information asymmetry: An empirical investigation of online hotel booking. Journal of
Business Research, 85, 185-196.
Shamim, S., Cang, S., Yu, H., & Li, Y. (2017). Examining the feasibilities of Industry 4.0 for the
hospitality sector with the lens of management practice. Energies, 10(4), 499.
Solnet, D., Kralj, A., & Baum, T. (2015). 360 degrees of pressure: The changing role of the HR
professional in the hospitality industry. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism
Research, 39(2), 271-292.