Rethinking the Role of R&D in Hotel Operations

The assignment content discusses the importance of hotel units converting customer satisfaction into loyalty by making investments in Research and Development (R&D). It emphasizes that offering innovative services to customers can help build a distinct image at the marketplace. The report also highlights the significance of managing social, environmental, and financial performance simultaneously. Additionally, it touches upon the topic of small business management, entrepreneurship, and quality management approaches.

Small Business Enterprise

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION......................................................................................................................3
TASK 1......................................................................................................................................3
1.1 Producing a profile of business along with the objectives, competition level as well as
strengths and weaknesses.......................................................................................................3
1.2 Carry out an analysis of the business performance Windsor House hotel.......................5
TASK 2......................................................................................................................................6
2.1 Recommending option to overcome the weaknesses identified above............................6
2.2 Analyzing the ways through which hotel unit can maintain and strengthened its
performance............................................................................................................................7
2.3 Stating the areas in which business unit can expand the business operations and
functions.................................................................................................................................8
TASK 3......................................................................................................................................9
3.1 Producing an assessment of the existing business goals and objectives..........................9
3.2 Preparing revised business plan for the achievement of goals.........................................9
3.3 Stating the action plan to implement the changes..........................................................10
TASK 4....................................................................................................................................10
4.1 Describing the impact of proposed changes on the operations of SBE.........................10
4.2 Stating the plan for managing the changes within the business unit..............................11
4.3 Defining the ways for monitoring the improvements take place in the performance....11
CONCUSION..........................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES.........................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Small Business Enterprise refers to those whose turnover is less than £2 million and
employee base fall below the certain limits prescribed by UK government. Now, UK
government has taken several initiatives in relation to offering the growth and development
opportunities to the small business entrepreneurs. For this purpose, government authority has
started to offer loan to the business entities at concessional rates that have innovative ideas
and thinking. In this way, by financing the dreams of entrepreneurs government can also raise
the standard of living of the local people. The present report is based on Windsor House
Hotel which is 3.4 star hotels (bed and breakfast) of UK. In this, the present report will
discuss the strengths, weaknesses and objectives of the firm. Further, it will shed light on the
financial and non-financial performance of Windsor hotel. Besides this, it will also describe
the business objectives and plan undertaken by the firm for getting the desired level of
outcome.
TASK 1
1.1 Producing a profile of business along with the objectives, competition level as well as
strengths and weaknesses
Profile of Windsor House hotel
It is a bed and breakfast family run hotel which is situated in the Central London of
UK. This hotel unit offers double/twin and 3/4/5 bedded family rooms. Such hotel offers high
quality and luxurious accommodation at affordable prices. Services which are offered by the
hotel include well equipped rooms, various food and drinks for different taste, Wi-Fi facility
as well as pick and drop facility. It is established by the business entity at 12, Penywern road,
Earls court, London. Further, with the aim to offer high level of convenience to the
customer’s hotel unit also developed the own website such as:
Business objectives
 To enhance customer satisfaction and loyalty by offering the innovative services.
 To increase customer base by 15% in the upcoming quarter.
 To attain the leading position in the small hospitality firms.

Competition level: Windsor hotel is operating in the hospitality sector. In the present time,
stiff competition takes place in the hospitality industry and it is growing with the very high
pace. Hence, in this, business unit can grab the large market share by offering the highly
unique or innovative services to the customers.
Strengths and weaknesses of the hotel unit are enumerated below:
Strengths
 Attractive interior and exterior
 Situated near to the major city of
 Nearest to the major airports
 Quality and luxurious
accommodation
 Online presence
 Affordable prices
 High level employee commitment
Weaknesses
 Lack of competent personnel
 Absence of R&D activity in Windsor
House
 Corporate clients are more as
compared to other individuals
 Low differentiation in the services
offered by the rival firms
From internal analysis, it has been assessed that hotel unit has several strengths which
assist them in attracting the large number of customers. With the aim to grab the attention
level of the customer’s hotel unit has designed its front office department in an innovative
manner. Further, infrastructure of the hotel is also highly unique. This in turn develops
positive perception level among the customers about the services offered by it (Epstein and
et.a., 2015). Further, to provide information to the customers about the company’s offering
and for booking the room hotel unit has created the website. Along with this, accommodation
services of Windsor House start from £49 which is highly affordable. In addition to this, hotel

is established near to the Heathrow Airport. In this way, company offers high level of
convenience to the customers.
However, along with the strengths, there are some weaknesses which affect the
productivity and profitability of the firm. Moreover, in the hotel unit there are some personnel
who do not have ability to speak English more frequently. Hence, due to the lack of proper
communication skills employees face difficulty in serving the customers. Besides this, hotel
unit fails to differentiate its services from competitors. Due to this, company failed to attract
individual clients (Gupta and et.al, 2016). Low level of expenditure on R&D activity is one of
the main weaknesses which hamper the growth and development of firm. Thus, business
enterprise needs to undertake effective action to convert weakness into strength.
1.2 Carry out an analysis of the business performance Windsor House hotel
In the hospitality sector, profitability, customer satisfaction and employee motivation
are the major elements which represents the position and performance level of the firm. Thus,
to analyze the performance of the performance of Windsor House hotel in against to the rival
firm Qbic has been selected. In this, by making comparison of the performance of both the
firms’ performance level of Windsor House can be determined:
Financial analysis
Profit analysis of Windsor and Qbic for the period of five years is:
Year Windsor House
Hotel
Qbic hotel
Profit
before
Profit
after
tax
Profit
before
Profit
2011 90000 82800 68400 62928
2012 99000 91080 78660 72367.2
2013 108900 100188 90459 83222.3
2014 119790 110207 104028 95705.6
2015 131769 121227 119632 110061
(Source: Windsor House Hotel, 2017)
From the above figures it has been analyzed that profit before and after tax of the both
the hotel units show increasing trend. In the accounting year 2015, profitability of the
Windsor House Hotel inclined from £82800 to £121227. However, in comparison to this, at

the end of accounting year 2015 profitability of the Qbic hotel was £110061. Thus, it can be
stated that profitability position of Windsor is sound in comparison to the rival firm.
Customer satisfaction: According to the assimilation theory of customer satisfaction
Windsor House takes feedback from the customers about their experience level. This in turn
furnishes information about the gap between their actual stay experience and expectation
level (Harris and et.al., 2015). Hence, from feedback it has been assessed that customers are
highly satisfied from the services offered by it. Further, it also offers opportunity to the firm
to raise customer satisfaction by making improvement in the service quality and other
aspects.
Employee motivation: Windsor House undertakes Maslow theory of motivation to encourage
the personnel to perform the business activities in the best possible manner. Hence, HR
manager of the hotel takes strategic action by identifying the level of need which is still not
satisfied. Moreover, according to the Maslow theory, needs and wants of the individual are
arisen in the specific order (Nguyen and et.al., 2015). Thus, by using such theory HR manage
and higher management has maintained the employee motivation by offering both financial
and non-financial benefits to them.
In this way, such theory provides high level of assistance to the firm in reducing the
employee turnover and absenteeism. Further, in comparison to the part years and competitor
firm employee productivity of Windsor House is also significantly increased. On the other
hand, Qbic hotel is facing the problem of high employee turnover and lower level of
motivation. Thus, business unit is required to take suitable theory such as Maslow, Herzberg
to enhance employee motivation.
TASK 2
2.1 Recommending option to overcome the weaknesses identified above
In order to achieve success in the highly competitive business environment Windsor
House hotel is required to overcome the weaknesses by taking into account the following
measures:
 Conducting training session: Hotel unit can enhance the communication skills by
organizing the training session. Moreover, seminars and conferences are the most
effectual methods which offer opportunity to the personnel to improve their

communication skills (Hatten, 2015). This in turn enables them to speak fluent
English and thereby resolve all the issues of clients more effectively and efficiently.
 Establishment of R&D section: By establishing the R&D department hotel unit
would become able to assess the needs and wants of the customers. This in turn
enables them to evolve satisfaction among the customers by offering the suitable
services in accordance with their need. Along with this, by exercising the R&D
activity hotel unit can also make improvement in the quality of services to the large
extent.
 Innovation: Hotel can differentiate its services by offering the sight seen facility.
Moreover, services of bed and breakfast unit are limited to the accommodation and
complementary food. Hence, by offering such additional facility business
organization can attract large number of visitors.
 Promotional strategy: Windsor House can attract the individuals along with the
corporate clients by placing emphasis on promotional aspects. In this, by pacing
advertisement on social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter etc. hotel unit can
develop awareness the customers regarding the services offered by it (Jung and et.al.,
2016). The reason behind this, now people spend their huge amount of time on social
sites. In this, attractive advertisement will grab the attention level of the potential
customers.
 Employee motivation: By organizing picnic, games and other welfare programs
satisfaction can be developed among the employees. This in turn helps in reducing the
employee turnover to the large extent and thereby aid in the growth of organization.
2.2 Analyzing the ways through which hotel unit can maintain and strengthened its
performance
Windsor House Hotel can gain competitive edge over others by marinating and
strengthening their performance by adopting the following ways:
 Quality management techniques: Business organization can maintain the quality of
services by using Total quality management (TQM) technique. On the basis this
aspect by placing emphasis on the continuous refinement or improvement of the
service level business enterprise can maintain the satisfaction level of the customers
(Kuratko, 2016). Moreover, now customers prefer to stay in the hotel which offers
luxurious accommodation to them.

 Training and development programs: Now, customers taste and preferences are
changed with the very high pace. In this regard, by offering learning opportunities to
the personnel business unit can facilitate ease of work within the firm. Further,
training programs also raise motivation aspect of the personnel because it enables
them build competency level and thereby make the career or future bright.
 Renovation: Business organization needs to place emphasis on making changes in the
front office department. Moreover, such department is the one which develop
effective image in the eye of customers and build perception level about the services.
Thus, by building effective infrastructure hotel institution can influence the decision
making of customers.
 Membership: Hotel unit can enhance the customer satisfaction and convert into
loyalty by introducing the membership cards. Thus, by offering discounts to the
customers Windsor House can generate customer loyalty to the large extent (McCrory
and et.al., 2015). Further, by providing proper information to the customers about the
discounting offers hotel unit can attain the goals and objectives.
 Budgeting: Windsor can maintain its price level by taking into account the budgeting
technique. Moreover, budget entails the money which each department need to spend
while performing the business activities and functions. This in facilitates optimum use
of financial resources by exerting control on over spending. In this way, budgeting
technique will help company in developing the cost leadership and thereby assist in
achieving the success.
2.3 Stating the areas in which business unit can expand the business operations and functions
Windsor House can make suitable in relation to the business expansion by taking into
consideration the Ansoff Matrix. It is the most effectual growth strategy which enables firm
to take suitable decision and thereby attain the height of success (Schaper, 2016). On the
basis of such strategy business unit can expand the business operations in the following way:
 Market penetration: In the present era, customers are highly priced conscious in
nature and places more emphasis on getting the value of money. In this regard, by
offering the prominent accommodation services at affordable prices in London hotel
can grab the large market share. Moreover, loyalty can be built only when customers
experience the quality and worth of the services (O’Neill and et.al., 2016). In this, by
offering quality accommodation at affordable prices business unit can affect the stay

decision of visitors. Thus, after building loyalty hotel unit can maximize the profit by
setting the competitive or higher prices.
 Product development: Hotel unit can expand the operations by entering in the existing
market with new product such as opening of fitness center within the premises.
Moreover, in the hospitality sector innovation is the key of success and helps them in
build and sustain effectual image (Obeng and Blundel, 2015). Thus, by offering more
services such as spa, gym, bar, meditation etc. hotel can attract the customers.
Moreover, now customers prefer to stay in the hotel which offers large number to
them along with the accommodation. Thus, by developing the product bed and
breakfast chain can maximize the profitability and market share.
TASK 3
3.1 Producing an assessment of the existing business goals and objectives
Enhancement of the customer satisfaction is one of the main objectives of Windsor
House. Moreover, productivity and profitability of the firm is highly associated with the
extent to which services offered by the personnel are unique. In this regard, company has
created the plan in relation the recruitment and selection the personnel. Further, to build the
innovation skills among the personnel company has also decided to organize the training
session (Zhang and et.al., 2015). Further, to enhance the customer base it is highly required
for the firm to develop awareness among the customers. For this purpose, company has made
plan in relation to making focuses on the promotional plan or framework.
Along with this, for attaining the leading position market penetration strategy will be
employed by the hotel. Hence, business enterprise has included all such effective strategies in
the plan to meet the goals and objectives. However, still there is some deficiencies take place
in the existing plan which creates confusion in the mind of personnel. Moreover, in the plan it
is not defined by the firm that they will undertake internal or external recruitment process. In
addition to this, training method is also not mentioned by the management in the plan
(Pollock and et.al., 2015). Further, in the absence of clear description operational level
employees face difficulty in promoting the service level. Hence, for the proper execution
hotel needs to revise the plan for the inclusion of all the essential elements.
3.2 Preparing revised business plan for the achievement of goals

In the revised plan it is clearly mentioned that Windsor House will undertake internal
recruitment process to hire the suitable personnel for job. Further, business unit also mentions
in new plan that brainstorming and case study session will be organized by the firm to
develop the innovative skills among them (Vorhies and et.al., 2015). Further, hotel will
organize the workshop, seminar and conference to develop the interpersonal skills of
personnel. This in turn enables personnel to evolve high level of satisfaction among the
customer by offering the quality and unique services. Along with this, to maintain the quality
level business unit will also undertake TQM technique.
In addition to this, new plan business organization also stated that it will make use of
both traditional and no-traditional mode of promotion. On the basis of this aspect, to develop
awareness among the local people business enterprise will give advertisement in the
newspaper and television. Further, advertisement would also be placed by the firm on social
sites by uploading images of hotel and discounting offers. Moreover, from research it has
been found that users of social sites are increasing with the higher rate (Post and et.al., 2015).
In this regard, awareness can be developed at global level among the personnel. In this way,
by providing information to the wide group of people business unit can enhance its customer
base. Hence, by adopting the aspect business organization would become able to freeze the
changes more effectually. Along with this, by making continuous improvement through the
means of TQM technique business unit can achieve its goals and objectives.
3.3 Stating the action plan to implement the changes
Action plan for the execution of following changes are enumerated below:
 Training and development:
Stages Description
Identification of training need At initial level, Windsor House identifies the
training need of personnel by comparing their in
against to the standard.
Selection of training method Thereafter, business unit selects the training
method by taking feedback from the customers.
Moreover, employees take more interest to
learn the varied aspect from their preferred
mode (Sharma, Garg and Mittal, 2015).
Execution of training session In the last stage, manager actually executes the

training session and conducts post training
evaluation to assess the effectiveness of such
program.
 Promotional aspects:
Stages Description
Conducting research Before the selection of non-traditional modes
Windsor House conducts research.
Selection of promotional method Thereafter, business unit selects the suitable
medium on the basis of their frequency, usage
and popularity.
Evaluation Further, in the last stage, business enterprise
makes evaluation of the success of such aspect
by taking into consideration the benchmarking
technique.
TASK 4
4.1 Describing the impact of proposed changes on the operations of SBE
Changes which are proposed by the firm place positive impact on the operations and
functions of small business enterprise. Moreover, training and development activity persuade
employees about the way in which they need to offer services to the customers. In this way,
by delivering the quality services to the customers Windsor House can maximize the
productivity and profitability. Besides this, by delivering the quality services word of mouth
publicity can also be created to the large extent. Further, now employees prefer to stay in the
organization which offer growth and development opportunities them. In this, employee
productivity and profitability can be enhanced by the hotel through the means of training &
development. In addition to this, employee absenteeism and turnover is increased when they
find difficulty in performing the activities. Hence, by organizing training session’s hotel unit
can achieve its goals to the large extent.

Further, by promoting the skilled employees for the front office department business
enterprise can develop effectual image in the mind of customers. Moreover, front office
department is the one which creates first impression in the mind of customers (Raymond and
et.al., 2016). In addition to this, promotional means also help in making aware to the
customers about the services offered by it. It enables firm to enhance the customer base and
market share by providing information to the customers about the facilities. Along with this,
continuous improvement of the services also may result into greater satisfaction and loyalty
among the personnel.
4.2 Stating the plan for managing the changes within the business unit
Company needs to employ Kurt lewin change management model for incorporating
the changes more effectively and efficiently. It includes unfreezing, change and freeze which
helps in managing the change in a prominent way (Kurt lewin model, 2016). On the basis of
such model it is highly required for the firm to primarily assess the needs of change. This in
turn provides information to the company about the change which it requires to introduce
within the firm. Along with this, by using Kotter’s eight step model business unit can
introduce and implement the change more effectively. On the basis of this aspect, by forming
the powerful coalition, creating and communicating the vision of change business unit can
implement the planned strategy more effectually. Further, business entity also has
responsibility to build and anchor the changes by removing all the obstacles successfully.
Hence, changes can be managed by Windsor House through the means of Kotters eight step
and kurt lewin change management model.
In this context, Windsor House needs to take feedback from the personnel about the
areas in which they still facing difficulty in serving the customers. Hence, by keeping in mind
such factor business unit can make effectual arrangements for the growth and development of
personnel. Along with this, company also needs to take feedback from the personnel about
the promotional mode which they undertake while making stay decision (Schaper, 2016). In
addition to this, by conducting R&D activity hotel unit can make significant improvement in
process and service level more effectually. Hence, by taking into account all such aspects
hotel can manage the planned changes more effectively and efficiently.
4.3 Defining the ways for monitoring the improvements take place in the performance
In order to monitor the improvement takes place in the both financial and non-
financial performance level Windsor House hotel can undertake the following ways:

 Comparison of the current financial performance with past: Business unit can
evaluate the financial aspects by comparing the current profitability and liquidity
position with the past years. By this, company can easily find the extent to which
growth takes place in the financial aspect of an organization over the years. Moreover,
profit is one of the most effectual measures which present the success aspect of the
firm.
 Benchmarking: Windsor House can also monitor the performance level by comparing
the actual performance in against to the set standard (Jung and et.al., 2016). Hence, in
the objectives business unit mentions that it wants to raise market share by 15%. In
this, hotel can measure the effectiveness of promotional campaign in by evaluating
the current performance in against to the predetermined target.
 KPI’s: Performance can also be monitored by the firm on the basis of important key
factors namely sales, profit, customer base. Moreover, al such indicators help
company in identifying the extent to which company has enhanced the customer base
to the significant level. Further, sales and profit also entails that company has
generated enough amount of financial benefits during the accounting year or not.
 Feedback: Company can assess the level of customer satisfaction by taking feedback
from them. Moreover, perception and experience level of the customers give better
idea to the firm about their satisfaction level. Hence, by evaluating the customers
view business unit can measure the extent to which training program is successful.
The reason behind this, in the hospitality firm customer satisfaction is highly
influenced by the level of services delivered by the company.
CONCUSION
From the above report, it has been concluded that Windsor House offers variety of
services along with the accommodation. Besides this, it can be inferred that hotel unit has
committed personnel who make their best efforts while performing the business activities and
functions. It can be revealed from the report that profit and employee motivation of Windsor
hotel is high as compared to its rival firm. Further, it also has been articulated that hotel unit
can convert customer satisfaction into loyalty by making investment in R&D. It can be seen
in the report, by offering the innovative services to the customers hotel unit can build distinct
image at marketplace.

REFERENCES
Book and Journals
Epstein, M. J. and et.al., 2015. Managing social, environmental and financial performance
simultaneously. Long Range Planning. 48(1). pp.35-45.
Gupta, V. K. and et.al., 2016. A process perspective on evaluating and conducting effectual
entrepreneurship research. Academy of Management Review. 41(3). pp.540-544.
Harris, M. L. and et.al., 2015. Examining the impact of small business institute participation
on entrepreneurial attitudes. Journal of Small Business Strategy. 18(2). pp.57-76.
Nguyen, T. H. and et.al., 2015. Information technology adoption in small business:
Confirmation of a proposed framework. Journal of Small Business Management. 53(1).
pp.207-227.
Hatten, T. S., 2015. Small business management: Entrepreneurship and beyond. Nelson
Education.
Jung, S. and et.al., 2016. Benchmarking nanoparticulate metal oxide electrocatalysts for the
alkaline water oxidation reaction. Journal of Materials Chemistry A. 4(8). pp.3068-3076.
Kuratko, D. F., 2016. Entrepreneurship: Theory, process, and practice. Cengage Learning.
McCrory, C.C. and et.al., 2015. Benchmarking hydrogen evolving reaction and oxygen
evolving reaction electrocatalysts for solar water splitting devices. Journal of the
American Chemical Society. 137(13). pp.4347-4357.
O’Neill, P. and et.al., 2016. Quality management approaches and their impact on firms׳
financial performance–An Australian study. International Journal of Production
Economics. 171. pp.381-393.
Obeng, B.A. and Blundel, R.K., 2015. Evaluating enterprise policy interventions in Africa: A
critical review of Ghanaian small business support services. Journal of Small Business
Management. 53(2). pp.416-435.
Pollock, R.V. and et.al., 2015. The six disciplines of breakthrough learning: How to turn
training and development into business results. John Wiley & Sons.

Post, C. and Byron, K., 2015. Women on boards and firm financial performance: A meta-
analysis. Academy of Management Journal. 58(5). pp.1546-1571.
Raymond, M. K. and et.al., 2016. UTILIZATION OF TRAINING FUND FOR STAFF
DEVELOPMENT IN ADAMAWA STATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT SERVICE
COMMISSION. European Journal of Training and Development Studies. 3(4). pp.1-16.
Schaper, M. ed., 2016. Making ecopreneurs: developing sustainable entrepreneurship. CRC
Press.
Sharma, S. and et.al., 2015. Impact Analysis of ICT Teaching Aids Used for Training and
Development of Employees. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences. 182. pp.239-248.
Vorhies, D. W. and et.al., 2015. Erratum to: Improving customer-focused marketing
capabilities and firm financial performance via marketing exploration and
exploitation. Academy of Marketing Science. Journal. 43(1). p.136.
Zhang, J. J. and et.al., 2015. An agency perspective on service triads: Linking operational and
financial performance. Journal of Operations Management. 35. pp.56-66.Managing social,
environmental and financial performance simultaneously. Long Range Planning. 48(1).
pp.35-45.
Online
Kurt lewin model. 2016. Online. Available through: <www.change-management-coach>.
[Accessed on 31st October 2016].
Windsor House Hotel. 2017. Online. Available through: <www.windsor-house-hotel.com
>. [Accessed on 5Th January 2017].