Sustainable Tourism and Hotel Performance

This assignment delves into the crucial intersection of sustainable tourism and hotel performance within the context of least-developed countries (LDCs). It examines the diverse roles of stakeholders in fostering sustainable tourism development, analyzes the link between hotel performance, innovation, and customer orientation, and investigates how quality management practices influence success in the hospitality sector. The provided research papers offer valuable insights into these interconnected themes.

Running head: INDUSTRIAL PLACEMENT PROJECT: THE GRACE HOTEL SYDNEY
Industrial Placement Project: The Grace Hotel Sydney
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author’s note

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INDUSTRIAL PLACEMENT PROJECT: THE GRACE HOTEL SYDNEY
Table of Contents
Brief Overview: The Grace Hotel Sydney.......................................................................................2
Business Objectives and Strategies of The Grace Hotel.................................................................3
Interrelationship between the Stakeholders for achieving Objectives.............................................6
References........................................................................................................................................9

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Brief Overview: The Grace Hotel Sydney
The Grace Building was built in 1920s by the Grace Brothers. It was built as a showpiece
of the retail business of the Grace Brothers that was successful. It is considered to be one of the
prized possessions of Sydney (The Grace Sydney, 2017). It is located at the central location of
the town in York Street. Its location is the most attractive feature of the hotel. It is located close
to all the attractions in Sydney like Darling Harbour, King Street Wharf and Cockle Bay. There
are shopping malls and shopping stores like Pitt Street Mall and David Jones at a walking
distance from the hotel. The Sydney Opera House and the Circular Quay are situated near The
Grace Hotel. The Town Hall Railway Station is about 0.1 km from the hotel. The centre location
of the hotel provides transportation facilities to the guests. The architecture of this hotel was
influenced by Chicago Tribune Tower. This building has also been used as the headquarters
(Sydney) of U.S army during Pacific War. The lobby of The Grace Hotel has marble walls,
leather furniture that is dark red in colour, dark wood-panelled elevators and pressed-metal
ceilings. The service provided by the employees is courteous. This hotel has a fitness centre,
rooftop centre for recreation that includes indoor pool and sauna facility (Telegraph.co.uk, 2017).
It provides free Wi-Fi facility to the guests throughout the hotel. Its neo gothic style or
architecture makes The Grace Hotel, one of the most beautiful buildings in Sydney.
The main lobby of The Grace Hotel has various souvenir and gift shops. The Beauty
Salon and other shops have been appreciated by the guests of the hotel. The food and dining
facility of the hotel is considered to be of best quality. The food and beverage department of The
Grace Hotel is responsible for handling continental cuisine as well as various other types of
authentic dishes and snacks for the guests. There are lunch, breakfast and dinner facilities

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provided by the hotel. The highlight of the hotel is the Asian dishes that are offered at the
breakfast. The hotel rooms are luxurious with king-sized beds and are well decorated. It has
charcoal upholstery and executive-chic furnishings. The Grace Hotel has got 382 rooms and it
offers best service to the guests (The Grace Sydney, 2017). The rooms have LCD TVs, coffee
and tea making facilities The Grace Hotel is a 4.5 star hotel that combines the features of
heritage buildings and modern comfort facilities for the providing best services to the guests.
Business Objectives and Strategies of The Grace Hotel
The Grace Hotel Sydney has several business objectives that have helped them to earn a
4.5 star rating and provide one of the best hospitality services in Sydney, Australia. The business
objectives of this hotel are:
To provide excellent customer service: Providing excellent customer service is one of
the primary objectives of The Grace Hotel. Tourists or visitors require assistance during their
stay at the hotel. Customers are the main source of revenue for any hospitality business. The
staffs and management team of The Grace Hotel believe that meeting their customer needs and
expectations must be given the highest priority (Ariffin & Maghzi, 2012). The high quality
service provided by the hotel staffs encourages the customers to visit this hotel again. It also
helps them to get new customers.
To provide high product quality and a safe environment: The products of the Grace
Hotel include a number of interconnected, heterogeneous as well as conditioned services. Clean,
comfortable and spacious rooms are of huge importance to the guests and visitors (Grissemann,
Plank & Brunner-Sperdin, 2013). The aim of this hotel is to provide luxurious rooms, spa-like
bathrooms and excellent food quality to the customers. It wants to keep improving their quality

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of products and services in a continuous manner. Another objective of The Grace Hotel is to
provide a safe environment for their guests as well as their employees.
To achieve high rating: Another main objective of The Grace Hotel is to get high rating
from their guests and media. Its objective is to always get a good rating in trade-specific guides
(Hensens, 2015). This hotel has a 4.5 star rating and aims to get a 5 star rating in the near future.
The rating of a hotel reflects its success. The Grace Hotel targets to improve its reputation and
get high-profile rating over the Internet reviews.
To attract more customers: The Grace Hotel believes that the best way to understand the
success of a hotel business depends on the number of rooms that are occupied. It aims to keep
most of the rooms occupied during the entire year by attracting more customers.
To promote tourism: One of the main objectives of The Grace Hotel is to promote
tourism. The staffs encourage their guests to visit certain well known places (Soteriades, 2012).
Tourism will help to generate more revenue in Australia as well as in local communities.
To keep the employees satisfied: The Grace Hotel believes that employees are their most
precious assets and keeping them satisfies will help them to grow and develop in future. Its
objective is to keep the employees satisfied so that they can provide best quality services to the
guests.
The Grace Hotel Sydney has adopted certain strategies for meeting the above mentioned
objectives. The strategies are:
Treating the guests like VIP: The staffs at The Grace Hotel are trained to treat all the
guests like VIPs irrespective of their status. This has helped the customers to get a positive

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experience. This strategy has been implemented to achieve the objective of providing high
quality customer service.
Employee training: The Grace Hotel conducts regular training sessions for the employees
that keep them updated with the advanced technologies and innovative ideas. This has helped the
hotel to gain competitive advantage in the hotel industry. The employees are trained to handle
different difficult situations. This type of regular training sessions has helped to improve the
customer satisfaction level.
Customized services: The Grace Hotel has adopted the strategy of providing
extraordinary customized services to their guests. Providing personalized services increase the
customer satisfaction level. The aim of this hotel is to show extraordinary attention to the
customer needs for providing exceptional customer service (Wu & Ko, 2013). This hotel makes
the customers feel that there are no other guests present at that moment. Wake-up call is an
example of customized service that is provided by The Grace Hotel. This strategy has helped to
improve the customer service.
Improving product quality: The Grace Hotel has adopted innovation as a strategic tool to
improve the quality of products like hotel rooms and other services. This hotel introduces
technological as well as social innovations for improving the product quality (Ciric, Vujicic, &
Vukovic, 2013). The quality of the hotel services and products has influenced the overall
position of the hotel at the market. The Grace Hotel constantly harmonizes the product quality
with the needs of the tourism market that is changing constantly. This strategy has been
implemented to achieve the objective of high quality product and get high rating in the industry.

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INDUSTRIAL PLACEMENT PROJECT: THE GRACE HOTEL SYDNEY
Employee engagement: The Grace Hotel encourages their employees to participate in any
decision making process and share their opinions and ideas (Karatepe, 2013). The employees are
appraised and given recognition for their performance on an annual basis. This strategy has been
implemented for improving the level of employee satisfaction.
Tourism: The Grace Hotel provides high quality services and products to the guests and
visitors so that the tourists visit this place again and again (Yeh, 2013). This hotel provides tour
guides for helping the tourists to visit various famous tourist spots without facing any difficulty
and at a reasonable fee.
Interrelationship between the Stakeholders for achieving Objectives
The Grace Hotel Sydney has two types of stakeholders: internal and external
stakeholders. The internal stakeholders are involved directly in the operational business
processes. They are responsible for formulating strategies and carrying out the operations within
the hotel. The employees, shareholders and managers are the internal stakeholders of The Grace
Hotel. The external stakeholders on the other hand are the customers, suppliers, government and
competitors (Penzenstadler, Femmer & Richardson, 2013). The interrelationship between the
internal as well as external stakeholders plays a significant role in achieving the food and
beverage department objectives that is linked to the business strategies. A positive relationship
between the stakeholders has helped The Grace Hotel to be one of the best rated hotels in
Sydney, Australia. It has a 4.5 star rating in the hotel industry. The objectives of the food and
beverage department are:
Customer satisfaction: One of the main objectives of the food and beverage department
of The Grace Hotel is to ensure that the restaurant and bar are clean, properly stocked and well

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maintained. Its aim is to ensure that the waiters are smartly dressed and offer professional as well
as courteous service to the guests (AbuKhalifeh & Som, 2012). The staffs give quick response to
the customers. Achieving high level of customer satisfaction is the main objective of the food
and beverage department.
This objective is linked to the business strategy of treating the guest like VIPs, providing
customized service and training of employees. It is also linked to the strategy of promoting
tourism. Courteous behaviour towards the guests and tourists will create a good impression about
the hotel as well as the place (Kapiki, 2012). This will increase the customer satisfaction level
and the guests will want to come back to The Grace Hotel and even to Sydney (Raza et al.,
2012). The restaurant staffs are given proper training on a regular basis for keeping the place
clean, for responding to the customers in a quick manner and so that the staffs know how to dress
smartly. This objective is linked with the business objective of improving customer service so
that the level of customer satisfaction increases.
Food quality and variety: This department aims to provide the best quality and several
varieties of meals and beverages to its guests so that they come back to this place. The food
quality must meet a required standard (Yang, 2012). It ensures to maintain a required hygiene
standard.
This objective is linked to the business strategy of improving the product quality. The
Grace Hotel Sydney uses social and technological innovations for improving the food quality
and inventing variety of food dishes (Tang, Wang & Tang, 2015). The food of the hotel is
constantly harmonized with the needs of tourism market for achieving competitive advantage in
the market. High food quality along with several varieties will encourage the tourists and guests

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INDUSTRIAL PLACEMENT PROJECT: THE GRACE HOTEL SYDNEY
to come visit this place many times (Jahanshani et al., 2014). Quality is considered to be the
strategic tool for achieving the objectives of this department and the business as a whole.
Employee satisfaction: The food and beverage department of The Grace Hotel Sydney
aims to have a satisfied group of employees and staffs in the hotel. The waiters, chefs and other
employees in the food department are appraised and given recognition annually. This appraisal is
done based on their performance and discipline. These kinds of rewards help to keep the
employees satisfied. Satisfied employees are able to perform better and generate more revenue
and improve the reputation of the hotel.
This objective is linked to the employee participation strategy. The restaurant staffs in
The Grace Hotel are encouraged to participate in any general meeting and share their thoughts
and ideas regarding any issue. This has made the employees feel important and a part of the team
(Bilgin & Demirer, 2012). Their suggestions are taken into considerations while implementing
new rules and processes. This has resulted in high level of employee satisfaction.
The interrelationship between the internal and external stakeholders of The Grace Hotel
has helped to understand the business drivers and also ensures that the strategy fits with business
objectives. The interrelationship between the hotel staffs and the customers have had a great
influence on the customer satisfaction level. The interrelationship of the stakeholders has helped
the food and beverage department to identify customer needs and expectations for achieving the
objectives of the department (Ellis & Sheridan, 2014). The value of the stakeholder relationships
is important as it helps to develop effective business strategies for achieving success and high
reputation in the market.

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INDUSTRIAL PLACEMENT PROJECT: THE GRACE HOTEL SYDNEY
References
AbuKhalifeh, A. N., & Som, A. P. M. (2012). Service quality management in hotel industry: a
conceptual framework for food and beverage departments. International Journal of
Business and Management, 7(14), 135.
Ariffin, A. A. M., & Maghzi, A. (2012). A preliminary study on customer expectations of hotel
hospitality: Influences of personal and hotel factors. International Journal of
Hospitality Management, 31(1), 191-198.
Bilgin, N., & Demirer, H. (2012). The examination of the relationship among organizational
support, affective commitment and job satisfaction of hotel employees. Procedia-Social
and Behavioral Sciences, 51, 470-473.
Ciric, N., Vujicic, M., & Vukovic, M. (2013). Managing quality of products and services in
hotel industry. Актуальні проблеми економіки, (1), 538-544.
Ellis, S., & Sheridan, L. (2014). A critical reflection on the role of stakeholders in sustainable
tourism development in least-developed countries. Tourism Planning &
Development, 11(4), 467-471.
Grissemann, U., Plank, A., & Brunner-Sperdin, A. (2013). Enhancing business performance of
hotels: The role of innovation and customer orientation. International Journal of
Hospitality Management, 33, 347-356.
Hensens, W. (2015). The future of hotel rating. Journal of Tourism Futures, 1(1), 69-73.

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Jahanshani, A. A., Hajizadeh, G. M. A., Mirdhamadi, S. A., Nawaser, K., & Khaksar, S. M. S.
(2014). Study the effects of customer service and product quality on customer
satisfaction and loyalty.
Kapiki, S. T. (2012). Quality management in tourism and hospitality: An exploratory study
among tourism stakeholders.
Karatepe, O. M. (2013). High-performance work practices and hotel employee performance:
The mediation of work engagement. International Journal of Hospitality
Management, 32, 132-140.
Penzenstadler, B., Femmer, H., & Richardson, D. (2013, May). Who is the advocate?
Stakeholders for sustainability. In Green and Sustainable Software (GREENS), 2013
2nd International Workshop on (pp. 70-77). IEEE.
Raza, M. A., Siddiquei, A. N., Awan, H. M., & Bukhari, K. (2012). Relationship between
service quality, perceived value, satisfaction and revisit intention in hotel
industry. Interdisciplinary journal of contemporary research in business, 4(8), 788-805.
Soteriades, M. (2012). Tourism destination marketing: approaches improving effectiveness and
efficiency. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Technology, 3(2), 107-120.
Tang, T. W., Wang, M. C. H., & Tang, Y. Y. (2015). Developing service innovation capability
in the hotel industry. Service Business, 9(1), 97-113.
Telegraph.co.uk. (2017). The Grace. The Telegraph. Retrieved 16 November 2017, from
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/oceania/australia/new-south-wales/
sydney/hotels/the-grace-hotel/

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The Grace Sydney. (2017). Grace Hotel Sydney. Retrieved 16 November 2017, from
http://gracehotel.com.au/
Wu, H. C., & Ko, Y. J. (2013). Assessment of service quality in the hotel industry. Journal of
Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism, 14(3), 218-244.
Yang, J. T. (2012). Identifying the attributes of blue ocean strategies in
hospitality. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 24(5),
701-720.
Yeh, C. M. (2013). Tourism involvement, work engagement and job satisfaction among
frontline hotel employees. Annals of Tourism Research, 42, 214-239.