Work-Based Learning Project Management in Hospitality Industry

This report discusses a work-based learning project at Corinthia hotel in the hospitality industry. It covers project life-cycle, meeting deadlines, and achieving project objectives. The report also reflects on the learning experience and understanding of the impact of competition and external factors on decision making in the hospitality industry.

Work based learning
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Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
KEY SECTIONS.............................................................................................................................1
Project life-cycle.....................................................................................................................3
Meeting the deadlines and achieved the benefits of each stage of aims and objectives for the
project.....................................................................................................................................6
Reflection on learning experience..........................................................................................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9
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INTRODUCTION
Project management is defined as the actions taken for management and overseeing group of
trained employees to accomplish objectives for specific project with the given risks and
constraints in order to provide satisfactory results (Aarseth and. et. al., 2017). A work-based
project is selected in an organisation in the hospitality industry for this project. Corinthia hotel is
the selected hospitality and to price for this report. The luxury hotel is located in central London
and is nearby various tourist places such as Trafalgar Square and Whitehall. the hotel offers
spacious air conditioner premium accommodation along with spa health treatment here saloon
bar restaurant swimming pool parking airport shuttle and Wi-Fi. Aims of objectives project
management life cycle and ways of meeting deadlines of the project are provided in this report.
KEY SECTIONS
Planning and imitation of the project
Overview of the project: The work based project which will be conducted at Corinthia hotel
London is related to you just of digital technology provide consumers no contact and
personalised consumer experience at the hotel. This project involves utilisation of effective
communication network and usage of digital marketing methods to provide consumers with
personalised and minimum contact experience in the hotel so that they gain leisurely time and
the hotel without worrying about the ongoing pandemic. this was based project is intended to
enhance hygienic experience for hotel guests and provide them a luxurious and enjoyable hotel
stay in a safe environment.
Aim of the project: The aim of the project is “to improve consumer satisfaction and recover
from the loss suffered during the pandemic.”
Objectives of the project: The objectives of the project are to:
 Minimize contact with consumers
 Increase consumer personalization
 Attract more consumers through minimum-contract policy and personalization.
Targets of the project:
 Improve online room bookings by 50%
 Increase positive consumer review on online channels by 50%
 Increase consumer usage of other Hotel services.
Project scope
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This part of the project describes the basic project requirements and other deliverables
which need to be accomplished under the project timelines. A specific project scope helps
everyone to stay on the same page throughout the life cycle of the project. A well-defined scope
can help to avoid common problems like constantly changing requirements (Alexander,
Ackermann and Love, 2019). In case of this project the scope of the project is huge because it
focuses on introducing new service at the company and improving financial health of the
enterprise through the new minimum contact service.
Project Milestones
The main project milestone in case of this project is to train employees about minimum
contact guidelines and provide them protection equipment through which they are able to
communicate with consumers safely. After this the next milestone will be on developing
technological network which connects consumers and the company throughout the consumer
journey. Covering these milestones will support attainment of aims and objectives of the report.
Setting up project milestones is important because they act as visual references of the project
which support the team through completion of the project.
Stakeholders
The main stakeholders of the project are employees because they have direct influence of
the project and play an important role in successful completion of the project. Being in the
hospitality sector the services provided by and the performance of employees is essential to
gaining the desired results from various projects. After this the investors are an important
stakeholder for the project because they provide the financial resources to complete the project.
It is important that this stakeholder is communicated throughout the project and investors
approval is taken so that the project provide results beneficial to the investors and provides them
appropriate financial returns (Chua and. et. al., 2017).
Requirements
Items Amount
Health Equipment £2 million
Cyber security services £50,000
Employee training £2 million
IT system £5 million
TOTAL £9.5 million
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Risk Identification
In this part of the project the main risks are determined so that suitable action can be
taken to mitigate the risk. The high level risk associated with the project is of ineffective
marketing which reduces consumer awareness about luxury and safe hotel stay in London. For
this Corinthia Hotel will heavily invest in digital marketing to ensure that the minimum contact
services are promoted to high income consumers of different countries. This will help attract
target audience for this project. In addition to this another risk associated with the project is the
risk of negative impact of minimum contact virtual environment on consumer privacy and
experience. In order to mitigate this consumer consent will be taken before using their personal
data to provide them personalization.
Project Controls
The focus of project control is to implement different processes which support
completion of the project life-cycle effectively (de Oliveira and. et. al., 2017). Planning budgets
and preparing timelines is part of project control. In case of the digital and minimum contact
project at Corinthia Hotel the focus of the project will including implementing measures such as
usage of Gantt chart for planning and creating strict budgets to ensure that the project resources
are optimally used and desired results is delivered under the given time period.
Project life-cycle
The project life-cycle is helpful in completing a project because it lays down the step-
wise actions which can help business firms in dealing with project completion. In context of the
minimum contact project at The Corinithia Hotel the project life-cycle will support timely
project completion. The stages of the project life-cycle are described below:
Project Imitation
In the first stage of the project life cycle the aim of the project is determined on the basis
of recognised issue or growth possibility available to the company. The goals and deliverables of
the projects are created so that further action can be taken (Gapinski, 2017). The creation of a
project proposal is crucial to creation of a project life-cycle because it helps the company create a
basic outline of the project and showcase it to the main stakeholders to gain their permission on
various tasks of the project. This is an important stage of project management because it acts as a
foundation for future activities of the project. If the project initiation is not completed effectively
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all the other stages of the project life-cycle are negatively affected. In relation to the project life
cycle of the no contact project at the corinthia hotel, the project initiation stage involves creating
a concise project proposal and submitting it to the main stakeholders which are employees and
investors so that their feedback and permission can begin to fall completing the project. this will
help improve communication with the main stakeholders so that every individual involved in the
project is on the same page and after this moves in the predetermined direction for timely
completion of the project.
Project Planning
The second stage of the project life-cycle revolves around building a suitable project plan
for implanting the project successfully. In this stage a project roadmap is developed which
translates the project proposal into attainable actions which support timely and high quality
completion of the project (Gu and. et. al., 2017). The significance of the project planning stage
can be seen but the impact of the stage on execution of the project. the project planning stage
each device an effective strategy for using the available resources and time to ensure that the best
quality reserves are delivered to the project stakeholders weight following the time constraints.
the project planning stage also helps understand the main risks associated with the projects and
determine create your solutions for handling various risks so that the possibility of project failure
is minimised. the minimum contact project at the corinthia hotel will be completed with effective
project planning. this will involve creating milestones and building a competent team for
completing different tasks of the project. in addition to this project progress reporting guidelines
will be completed in this phase of the project life cycle to ensure that the project is on track at all
times and activities related to project progress can be easily communicated to the investors and
other stakeholders.
Gantt chart and work break down structure
A Gantt chart is a project management tool used to plan and schedule projects. Gnnt chart
is utilised to simplify complex project and ensure timely completion of the project (Havermans
and. et. al., 2019). Tasks and timeline of a protect are depicted with the help of horizontal bar
chart. This chart depicts start and end dates related to a project, deadlines and provides
information about how much task is completed at every stage of the project.
Work breakdown structure
This is one of the most commonly used tool which helps breakdown large projects into
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smaller parts and supports effective project management. the concept of breaking down large
projects into smaller parts makes the project more easier and addressable at an individual level.
in addition to this it also helps the team follow a stepwise process in completing the project
which ensures that all the main activities of the project are completed with high quality and
attention to detail. in case of this project of a work breakdown structure will be utilised in the
project planning stage to ensure that the project is completed in timely manner.
Project Execution
In this stage of the project actual project is completed and actions are implemented to
ensure completion of project activities as per the work breakdown structure and decided project
plan. the main tasks which need to be completed in the project execution stage involves creating
tasks setting timelines assigning tasks to team and tracking progress (Kock and. et. al. 2019).
these activities are the main part of the project execution phase which help the project get started.
it is important to have effective leadership in the project execution stage because leadership is
decorated with the performance of the team which can affect a timeline and quality of the project
deliverables. apart from this and other activities which are completed in the project execution
stage involved ensuring continuous communication with the team members engaging with
stakeholders and supervising schedule changes to ensure that the project moves according to a
timeline even if challenges are introduced. in context of the project life cycle add record in their
hotel for minimum contact project the project execution stage will utilise different strategies for
ensuring that it is completed with high quality. This planning project handoffs and building a
communication network to quickly communicate with different team members about project
progress and monitor every project tasks are to the decided parameters.
Project Closure
This is the last stage of the project management process in which the project is completed
and deliverables are submitted to the client. After this the post completion activities are finished.
some of the most common activities which are part of the project closure stage involves
documenting the project completion process so that this data can be used and analysed to inform
future project management practises and improve project management at the company. in
addition to this release of resources to start new projects is also finished at this stage show that
left over resources are optimally utilised by the company. In context of the carinthia minimum
contact project the primary activity of the project closure stage involves determining the
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strengths and weaknesses of the project end using this data to understand areas of project
management which require immediate improvement. this will support effective project
management in the future and help the company make continuous improvement in terms of
effective and timely project management. apart from this another task which will be completed
in the projects closure stage involves gaining feedback of the team members and compiling
project controls. this will provide internal perspective on the performance of the project and can
be used for improving internal project operations at the hospitality organisation.
Meeting the deadlines and achieved the benefits of each stage of aims and objectives for the
project
. The project life cycle will play an important role in meeting the deadline of the project
as each stage of the project recycle provides different strategies for ensuring that the project
activities are completed within to decide time without affecting the quality of the project. the first
stage of the project life cycle which is project initiation will help corinthia determine the main
aim and target stakeholders of the project so that suitable plans can be constructed. this part of
the project life cycle supports attainment of aims and objectives along with deadline because it
helps understand the reason and justifications for specific aims and objectives of the project
(Masoud and. et. al., 2017). the projects planning seeds supports timely completion of the project
as well attainment of aims and objectives through the usage of gantt chart and work breakdown
structure. These project management tools help create urgency to understand chart for time
should you look the project and also divide the project into simpler activities which supports
attainment of aims and objectives as the team can easily follow the work breakdown structure to
achieve the larger project objective. The project execution stage will support attainment of
project aims and deadlines through effective leadership by the project closure stage assisting
timely completion of the project through clear communication with the stakeholders and
providing them deliverables as soon as possible.
Reflection on learning experience
The work based learning project at the corinthia hotel of developing a project which supports
minimum contact hospitality services at the enterprise to improve consumer experience. I was
also able to develop an understanding of the ways in which competitive environment of
hospitality organizations affects daily functioning and decision making at such business firms. I
understood the impact of intensity of competition in the hospitality industry affecting decision
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making and the important of securing leadership in the luxury hospitality sector to ensure ling
term survival of the firm through this learning experience. The knowledge of the SWOT and
PESTEL analysis tool also helped me determine the impact of various external factors such as
political factors, economic factors, social factors, technological factors, environmental factors
and legal factors.
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CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be understood that project completion is a complex process
which involves creation of different documents and following the project life-cycle. Each phase
in the project-life-cycle helps in planning and implementation of a successful project. In addition
to this the project life-cycle also plays an important role in following through with the deadlines.
The learning experience with participating in a wok based project is essential for practical
knowledge development because it helps understand the actual impact of various project
management theories at enterprises. Reflecting on such learning experience is essential for
personal growth.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Aarseth and. et. al., 2017. Project sustainability strategies: A systematic literature
review. International Journal of Project Management.35(6). pp.1071-1083.
Alexander, J., Ackermann, F. and Love, P. E., 2019. Taking a Holistic Exploration of the Project
Life Cycle in Public–Private Partnerships. Project management journal, 50(6). pp.673-
685.
Chua and. et. al., 2017. Blue Sentinels: An IT Project Management Tool towards Productive
Projects. J. Softw. 12(11). pp.831-839.
de Oliveira and. et. al., 2017. Project offices and the federal universities: A study on project
management in the context of higher education institutions. Revista de Gestão e
Projetos.8(3). pp.18-28.
Gapinski, A. J., 2017. Trust in Project Management. Journal of Management & Engineering
Integration.10(2). pp.1-11.
Gu and. et. al., 2017. Teaching Project Management: Online versus face-to-face. Journal of
Supply Chain and Operations Management. 15(3). p.228.
Guo, Q., Wang, X. J. and Liang, X. D., 2018. Risk evaluation model of the whole life cycle of
wind power project in China: Based on fuzzy theory. Journal of Interdisciplinary
Mathematics, 21(5). pp.1061-1066.
Havermans and. et. al., 2019. Rolling into the profession: Exploring the motivation and
experience of becoming a project manager. Project management journal. 50(3). pp.346-
360.
Kock and. et. al. 2019. Project lineage management and project portfolio success. Project
Management Journal, 50(5), pp.587-601.
Masoud and. et. al., 2017, September. Software project management: resources prediction and
estimation utilizing unsupervised machine learning algorithm. In International
Conference on Engineering, Project, and Product Management (pp. 151-159).
Springer, Cham.
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