Solved Contemporary Hospitality Industry : Assignment

CONTEMPORARY
HOSPITALITY
INDUSTRY

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................1
P1 Explore the different types of business within the hospitality industry and the diverse
products and services they offer.............................................................................................1
P2 Examine a range of operational and functional departments within a chosen hospitality
business ..................................................................................................................................2
P3 Discuss the contribution of the hospitality industry to local, national and international
economies...............................................................................................................................3
LO2..................................................................................................................................................5
P4 Investigate a range of different operational roles within the hospitality industry ............5
P5 Examine the skills required for roles within the hospitality industry and current skills
shortages.................................................................................................................................6
LO3..................................................................................................................................................7
P6 Assess the political, economic, social, technological, legislative and environmental factors
that affect the development of organisations operating within the hospitality industry ........7
P7 Undertake a SWOT analysis for a hospitality business and review how this can inform the
decision-making process........................................................................................................8
LO4..................................................................................................................................................9
P8 Appraise the implications of current and potential trends in the hospitality industry
providing a range of specific examples..................................................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Hospitality industry is essential for an economy in order to accommodate the guests and
travellers of other countries for ensuring their good experience and satisfaction. The hospitality
industry consist of different businesses such as pubs, hotels, restaurants etc. which are formed for
providing different services and facilities to the customers. Hospitality industry also works with
travel industry in order to provide combined services and facilities. Taken firm for this
assessment is the Intercontinental hotels which is a hotel chain based in Denham, UK. The report
assessment will explore the different types of business within the hospitality industry along with
the different operational and functional departments of hospitality organisations. This report will
also discuss the contribution of the hospitality industry to local, national and international
economies along with the investigation of different operational roles and the skills required for
those roles. Further assessment of political, economic, social, technological, legislative and
environmental factors along with the SWOT analysis will be done. In the end, this report will
appraise the implications of current and potential trends in the hospitality industry.
LO1
P1 Explore the different types of business within the hospitality industry and the diverse products
and services they offer
Hospitality Industry is defined into broad field in relation of service industry
which includes food, lodging and drink service, event planning, theme parks, cruise line
travelling and many other field. This type of industry is dependent upon leisure time and
disposable income of consumer. The word Hospitality unit includes restaurant, hotel or
an amusement park including multiple groups like facility maintenance and operations.
The Hospitality industry include following type of business and the diverse services they
offer in it - Accommodation: Accommodation refers to staying in a hotel and having
breakfast, a cabin or even house boat . This provide comfort, customer service and
cater as per the needs of consumer. It is categorised into broad area as it includes
providing quality goods and services to fulfil the need of consumer. Their services
include hotels, bars , resort and serviced apartment. There is a type of
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accommodation known as Lodging. Lodging refers to providing a place to sleep
somewhere while travelling.
 Food and Beverages: The range of this sector is broad and includes various type
of services. The range is covered from a normal coffee bar to cocktail bar or from
a cafe to luxurious restaurant. The services provided by this sector are following-
Quick-service Establishment: It includes fast food restaurant who target customer
require quick snacks.
Catering businesses: It offers food and drink on special occasions such as
wedding or conference and any other.
Full-service restaurant: This includes provides meals, drink and many at a
particular place may be a themed restaurant or any, waiter take the order and serves. Travel and tourism: This includes several aspect over the globe which are train,
cruise, ships, airlines and crew in their service. It also includes formal and
informal travelling for business or education or entertainment. Its focus on
relationship management, leniency and many.
 Entertainment: The entertainment prosper whenever laughter and enjoyment
activities are needed and is needed in all other business of hospitality industry. It
includes sports and gaming, night clubs, bars and many more (Blanchard and
Higgins-Desbiolles, 2013).
P2 Examine a range of operational and functional departments within a chosen hospitality
business
The proper functioning of hotel is dependent upon the people working in the hotel.
Every organisation has some goals to achieve and responsibility to fulfil. To deal
effectively with customers while manage the hotel to run smoothly which will result in
effectively achievement of target. Both department work together to achieve the
objectives.
 Operational department: Operational department of intercontinental hotel covers
functions that includes house keeping and front office to maintain the stability in
the hotel. The explanation of operation functions are below-
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Front office: This department interacts with guest responsible for making and
handling bookings. The person who can meet the need of guest is required to make them
satisfied. Without administrative department, it will be difficult for hotel to survive.s
House keeping: This department is engaged in keeping room clean and
responsible for the every thing present in the room while allotting the room to guest as if
the room remains tidy it will degrade the reputation of hotel so it is important for them to
work properly (Dasgupta, 2011).
 Functional department: Financial department of intercontinental include
activities related to management like finance,HR to plan for the hotel result in
achievement of target goal by using resources efficiently. The explanation of
financial roles are given below-
Finance department: This department is concerned with raising of fund and
utilisation of fund by the techniques like capital budgeting, cost of capital, portfolio
management, dividend policy, short and long term source of finance to utilise the fund .
Human resource Management: This department is concerned with recruitment,
placement, training, promotion, motivation, performance appraisal, wage, salary,
retirement, safety and welfare of employee with a aim to promote team spirit and
developing the employees.
P3 Discuss the contribution of the hospitality industry to local, national and international
economies
Hospitality firms are essential for an economy as they provides different type of
opportunities and facilities to the local people and market in which they are performing their
business operations. These hospitality firms wants to capture more and more market share in
order to sustain in the market for long time period. These organisations impact the economies at
each level i.e. local, national or international which is discussed below:
Local economy: The hospitality firms operates their business at each level. The
hospitality firms provides job opportunities to local people in terms of Guides, hand made crafts
etc. which is beneficial in improving the life standard of poor people. The hospitality industry
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also satisfies the needs and demand of travellers and local customers due to which this industry is
positively impacting the local economy and its people.
National economy: Hospitality industry in UK is growing rapidly due to which it is
positively impacting the national economy. The hospitality industry of UK has surpassed the
£100b mark in the year 2018 which is huge figure. The hospitality industry is the third largest
employer of UK which is providing job opportunities to a large number of people of UK. This is
positively impacting the national economy as increase in employment opportunities along with
the revenue are useful for the development of the economy (Hospitality sector to surpass 100b
mark, 2018).
International economy: There are various organisations in UK which are operating their
business operations in different countries due to which they are contributing in the growth and
development of global economies. Based on the report of ONS, more than 42 million people
visits UK for their personal and professional purposes which is enhancing the growth rate of UK.
The hospitality firms provides employment opportunities to the people for improving their living
standard and this directly positively impacting the international economy (UK braced for record
number of tourists, 2017).
Key factors driving growth
Expansion of international hotel chains and brand identity: The entry of global hotels
drives growth locally and internationally as brand image plays a major role in attracting the
customers. Global hospitality firms usually have good brand image among the customers due to
which customers prefers to take their services. This will positively impact the local economy as
employment opportunities for local people increases. This will also positively impact the
international economies as hospitality industry will grow due to new expansions which will
enhance the revenue of industry and global economies (Hall, 2013).
The growth of franchising and licensing agreements: Franchising and licensing
agreements among the firms is increasing a lot in present time due to the low cost and better
results. Various international firms expand their business through franchising and licensing as
these methods enable the global firm to take the help from local firm in order to enter new
market at a specific profit margin. This will impact locally as the job opportunities increases, as
well as the increase in revenue of the local people. This is because big brand attract people more
as compared to small brand. Due to the growth of the hospitality industry, various fast food
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chains such as McDonald's, Burger King, Pizza Hut are using these agreements for entering in
the market of UK which states the positive influence of these on local as well as international
economy.
LO2
P4 Investigate a range of different operational roles within the hospitality industry
There are various roles which are performed by the employees of Intercontinental hotels
as discussed below: Operation manager: This role is performed by the operation managers of
Intercontinental hotels in which they supervises the work performed by other employees
and departments for ensuring customer satisfaction and good experience. Operation
manager of Intercontinental hotels ensures that the customers needs and expectations are
fulfilled by the hotel workers and services so that the firm can retain them for a long
period of time. Front Line manager: Front office is the face of Intercontinental hotels. The front office
manager plays the role of creating good impression of the hotels among the customers
when they enter in the hotel. The front line managers ensures that the queries and
concerns of the guests are resolved by the employees and if not then they are directed to
the correct department. This role is performed for ensuring customer satisfaction from the
hotel and its services (McWha and et. al., 2016).
 Back office manager: Back office does not directly contribute in generating the income
for the hotel. But they perform several roles and responsibilities such as IT, finance etc.
The back office manager of Intercontinental hotels is performing the role of managing
accounts and financial details as well as to provide the solutions and support to the
different business operations for performing their role effectively.
These above discussed roles are performed by the managers of Intercontinental hotel
effectively due to which satisfaction among the customers in increasing. The managers are
having suitable skills through which they are executing their roles effectively.
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P5 Examine the skills required for roles within the hospitality industry and current skills
shortages
The employees at Intercontinental hotels needs to have several skills and competencies
for performing their role in an effective manner. Some of these skills which are required among
the managers of Intercontinental hotels are as follows: Technical skills: These skills are necessary among the employees of hospitality industry
through which they can handle the latest technological equipments and software for
performing their work without any errors. These skills are necessary among the workers
which are working in back office and front office as they needs to perform their work
through computers and other digital equipments which can't be operated without
technical skills. Customer handling skills: These skills are essential for the workers in hospitality
industry for dealing with the customers of different cultural background. Through these
skills, workers can handle the grievances and issues of customers when serving with the
services and facilities so that their satisfaction can be ensured. The workers who are
working in the front line and operations departments needs to have these skills as they
interact with customers on daily basis for ensuring that their expectations are fulfilled or
not (Minca and Oakes, 2012).
Skills gaps, drivers and their impact
Communication skills are lacking in the individuals who are working in the hospitality
industry. These skills lacks among the people when they could not able to interact with other
people due to the low confidence, poor education level, etc. When these skills lacks in
individuals of hospitality industry, then they could not perform their work in appropriate manner
due to which customer dissatisfaction can arise. The migratory and mobile labour force is also a
major factor which drive the skill gap as the individuals migrate from one place to another which
impact their development and improvement in skills. This can negative impact the firm in terms
of reduced performance, productivity and profit due to which firm can face issues in sustaining
in market. The firm can also face issues in meeting quality standards specified by the industry
when these skills lacks. These skills can be improved among the individuals by providing them
with training sessions so that they can handle the customers in an effective manner so that
customer satisfaction can be ensured.
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LO3
P6 Assess the political, economic, social, technological, legislative and environmental factors
that affect the development of organisations operating within the hospitality industry
Pestle analysis is used by the organisation for determining the impact of macro
environmental factors on business operations. The firms can determine the factors which can
influence their productivity and performance in the market through this model as discussed
below:
Political: These factors includes the stability of government, political conditions, policies
of government etc. which varies with the governments. Due to the Brexit, organisations are
facing issues in UK as the government policies are changing for reducing the impact caused by
Brexit. The management of the Intercontinental hotels needs to determine the changes in
government policies of UK for making the changes in their existing policies of firm for getting
positive impact. This factors can negatively impact the firm when the strategies of
Intercontinental hotels are not developed by considering the political conditions and government
policies.
The another company is travel-lodge which also operate their business in hospitality industry. As
they are operating their business at global level therefore it is essential for them to create positive
relations for the government. Example- Travel-lodge is establishing their independent hotel in
overall world because of positive relations with their customers.
Economical: Such factors includes labour costs, interest rates, taxes etc. The present tax
rate of UK is 20% which is comparatively less then some other countries in which
intercontinental hotel is performing its operations. This is positively impacting the firm as
reduced tax rates means more profit for the firm. But the tax rate changes with time and based on
inflation rate due to which company needs to do modifications in their current structure and
functions which is negative impact (Tax rate in UK, 2019).
Brexit impact on all industries that are operating their business in UK specifically on its
operation due to which their monetary aspects also impacted such as profits, revenue, price etc.
Example- Travel-lodge decreases prices of their packages which helps them to attracts customers
so they again earn sufficient amount of profit.
Social: These factors includes the taste, preferences and behaviour of customers which
impact their purchasing habits. People of UK are educated and technically skilled due to which
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they gather the information before taking services from hotels. Intercontinental hotel are
conducting market research for determining the needs and expectation of customers due to which
company is providing services and facilities accordingly. This is positively impacting the firm
however the customer preferences are dynamic in nature due to which they keeps on changing
and it can negatively impact the firm (Chen and Shen, 2012).
The per capita income of society individuals that spend their life in UK is high it determines that
spend their income on luxury items also. Example- UK individuals spend their income for
visiting different countries in order to gain knowledge of different culture and country. It
generates positive results for the organisation.
Technological: Such factors includes the advancement in technology, innovation,
invention etc. The UK is a technologically advanced company due to the level of education
among the citizens. The intercontinental hotels relies on technology for monitoring their different
operations such as logistics, delivery of services etc. Also artificial intelligence is used by hotel
for improving the quality of services and facilities provided by hotel. But company is facing
issues like low IT skills among the employees due to which employees could not be able to
perform the work with new technology.
Travel-lodge is expanding their business at global level to gain positive result such as increase in
sale of their products and to create loyal customer for their services. Example- Travel-lodge
invest money to adopt new technology to perform their operations quickly. It results that they
are leading player of their industry in present scenario.
Environmental: These factors includes protection of environment, conservation of
natural resources, eliminating the wastage etc. Government of UK is strict regarding the
exploitation of natural resources and environment due to which various laws are formulated by
government. Intercontinental hotel is following The Environmental Protection act 2011 due to
which company is enjoying the benefits from government. However the food wastage in
Intercontinental hotels is still high due to which company can negatively impacted.
Management of travel-lodge implement different laws inside the organisation in order to protect
natural resources of country. It also helps them to increase their brand image in the society by
organising different CSR activities.
Legal: Such factors includes the laws and regulations developed by government of UK
for protecting their citizens and employees from malpractices. Intercontinental hotels are
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following several laws such as fair compensation act, anti discrimination act etc. which are
positively impacting the firm. However the hotel was involved in a data leak scandal due to
which company has to pay huge penalty to the government for ignoring and exploiting the laws
(InterContinental data breach expands from 12 to 1,200 hotels, 2012).
In this an organisation there are different goals through which it is easy for them to accomplish
their goals in ethical approach. Example- Management of travel-lodge formulate strict laws
inside the organisation that helps them to complete their operation through ethical approach.
P7 Undertake a SWOT analysis for a hospitality business and review how this can inform the
decision-making process
SWOT analysis is used by the firms for determining their internal strengths and weakness
as well as external threats and opportunities. Through this model, the firms can eliminate the
threats and weakness as well as can leverage the opportunities and strengths. SWOT for
Intercontinental hotel is as follows:
Strengths Weakness
 Intercontinental hotels are operating at
different countries due to which brand
image of hotel is high.
 The company is having a large number
of brand due to which revenue of the
company is good then the competitors.
 Intercontinental hotel was involved in
credit-card stealing malware due to
which company was criticised for weak
IT security.
 Also the company failed in providing
loyalty points to their customers
through their Holiday Inn Priority Club
and IGH Rewards Club which is also a
weakness.
Threats Opportunities
 Increasing competition from firms such
as Marriott, Hilton, Hyatt are major
threat for the company.
 Shortage of skilled workers in
hospitality industry is also a threat for
company as company could not able to
 Company is planning to expand the
operations in India and China through
partnership as these countries has huge
number of population.
 Stable cash flows are opening
opportunities for company to expand
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perform their work properly. into other segments.
SWOT analysis of Travel-lodge
Strength
 The room rates of travel-lodge are
affordable.
 Effective and efficient services helps
them to gain loyal customers for their
services.
 They organised different programs that
helps them to attract customers through
different technique
LO4
P8 Appraise the implications of current and potential trends in the hospitality industry providing
a range of specific examples
It is very much essential for the organisations of hospitality industry to make plans
according to the current and future trends. As with the help of these trends current situation of
the organisation can be improved. Major trend in hospitality industry are as follows-
Current Trend
Internet services- It is one of the fast growing trend in hospitality industry. With the help
of this trend customer's can easily get review of the hotel in which they are planning to visit.
Facilities and services offered by the hotel can also be checked by customer's and plans can be
made to visit the hotel or not (Jones, Hillier and Comfort, 2016).
Tech explosion- The customer's of hospitality industry are becoming tech- savy. This
means they do not want to disturb the staff of hotel for solving their problems and doubts. So
keeping this factor in mind user friendly technology is being launched for the customer's.
Future Trend
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Direct Booking- Inter- continental can focus on providing direct booking facility for its
potential customer's. With the help of this satisfaction level of customer's can be increased and
enhanced.
Tracking facility- With the help of this facility exact location of customer's can be
tracked so that they do not face any problem in the future.
Inter- continental needs to make some major changes in its working structure to make
best use of the current trends. These changes include- training programmes can be arranged for
the employee's so that they are able to use technology related to current trend in the appropriate
manner, performance of the employees can also be continuously checked and monitored by the
organisation. This can lead to achievement of goals and target in the best possible manner. Better
competition can also be given to the competitors if its employees are highly skilled (Hall and
Gössling, 2013).
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it is concluded that Hospitality industry is segmented among
different types of business such as tourism, F&B, Lodging, etc. The major focus of each sector is
to enhance the customer satisfaction by hiring skilled and talented individuals for the different
operational and functional departments. There are various roles in hospitality firms which are
performed by the employees in order to achieve the organisational goals and objectives
effectively. The organisations need to determine the skills gap among the employees so that the
weak skills can be improved.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Blanchard, L. A. and Higgins-Desbiolles, F. eds., 2013. Peace through tourism: Promoting
human security through international citizenship. Routledge.
Connell, J., 2013. Contemporary medical tourism: Conceptualisation, culture and
commodification. Tourism management. 34.pp.1-13.
Dasgupta, D., 2011. Tourism marketing. Pearson.
Falk and et. al., 2012. Travel and learning: A neglected tourism research area. Annals of Tourism
Research. 39(2). pp.908-927.
Hall, C. M., 2013. Wine, food, and tourism marketing. Routledge.
Long, L. M., 2013. Culinary tourism (pp. 1-8). Springer Netherlands.
McWha and et. al., 2016. Writing for the anti-tourist? Imagining the contemporary travel
magazine reader as an authentic experience seeker. Current Issues in Tourism. 19(1).
pp.85-99.
Minca, C. and Oakes, T. eds., 2012. Real tourism: practice, care, and politics in contemporary
travel culture (Vol. 26). Routledge.
Moutinho, L. and Vargas-Sanchez, A. eds., 2018. Strategic Management in Tourism, CABI
Tourism Texts. Cabi.
Chen, T.L. and Shen, C.C., 2012. Today's intern, tomorrow's practitioner?—The influence of
internship programmes on students' career development in the Hospitality Industry.
Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education. 11(1). pp.29-40.
Hall, C.M. and Gössling, S. eds., 2013. Sustainable culinary systems: Local foods, innovation,
and tourism & hospitality. Routledge.
Jones, P., Hillier, D. and Comfort, D., 2016. Sustainability in the hospitality industry: Some
personal reflections on corporate challenges and research agendas. International Journal
of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 28(1). pp.36-67.
Online
UK braced for record number of tourists. 2017. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2017/dec/26/uk-braced-for-record-number-of-
tourists-in-2018>.
Hospitality sector to surpass 100b mark. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.thecaterer.com/articles/531178/hospitality-sector-to-surpass-100b-mark-
in-2018>.
InterContinental data breach expands from 12 to 1,200 hotels. 2012. [Online]. Available
through: <https://www.zdnet.com/article/intercontinental-data-breach-expands-to-
thousands-of-hotels/>.
Tax rate in UK. 2019. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.mileiq.com/en-gb/blog/income-tax-rates-2019-20-uk/>.
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