The Contemporary Travel and Tourism Industry: A Report on Hilton Hotel

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the contemporary travel and tourism industry, using Hilton Hotel as a case study. It begins with an introduction to the industry, defining its scope and significance. The report then explores various types of businesses within the hospitality sector, including lodging and accommodation, food and beverages, travel and tourism, and recreation, providing detailed examples. It further delves into the operational and functional departments within a hotel like Hilton, such as housekeeping, food and beverage, front office, sales and marketing, and human resources, highlighting their roles and importance. The report also examines the contribution of the hospitality industry to local, national, and international economies, discussing job creation, GDP impact, and foreign exchange generation. Finally, it covers different operational roles within the industry and the skills required for success, concluding with a summary of key findings. The report draws on academic research to support its analysis and provides a well-rounded overview of the industry's complexities and contributions.

The Contemporary
Travel and Tourism
Industry

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
LO1..................................................................................................................................................1
P1. Explain various types of businesses within hospitality industry......................................1
P2 Various operational and functional department within hospitality industry ....................3
P3 Contribution of hospitality industry to local, national and international economies........4
P4 Different operational roles within hospitality industry.....................................................6
P5 Skills required within hospitality industry and current skills shortage...........................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12
Books and Journals........................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Tourism industry includes various activities like travelling and visiting different
geographical locations. People earn pleasure while roaming around different type of places and
this sector earn their profit with that. Travel and tourism industry overall is a business unit that
provide direct and indirect satisfaction to consumers. This subsection is an essential part of
hospitality industry. This sector not only provide pleasure to people but also creates various job
opportunities in different sectors like transportation, housekeeping and various other services. In
this report, chosen organisation here is Hilton Hotel which is a leading company in this industry.
They provide their services in full-service hotels and resorts. In this project discussions have
been made on different types of business within hospitality industry, range of operational and
functional departments and contribution of this sector to local, national, and international
economies (Alon and Wang 2012). Different operational roles within this aspect has also been
analysed in this report.
LO1
P1. Explain various types of businesses within hospitality industry
Hospitality industry is a very fast growing sector in today's technologically developed
world. This sector is a collection of a broad group of businesses that help in providing best
quality goods and services to its customers. Main aim of hospitality industry is to promote
satisfaction level of customers as well as provide quality experience to them as per their
requirement. In this report, Marriott hotel has been taken into consideration for studying various
aspects and functions of hospitality industry. There are numerous types of business activities that
take place in hospitality sector which are further explained in detail.
Lodging and accommodation: Lodging and accommodation sector is one of most used
sector of hospitality industry. Lodging or accommodation refers to staying at a hotel or any place
basically for sleeping for one or more nights. This sector of hospitality industry involves features
of luxurious hotels as well as lavish resorts as per customer's requirements. This sector offers a
combination or gamut of luxurious hotels to lavish resorts and camping places also. It is a very
broad sector and offers a variety of services ranging from bedding and breakfast joints to hotels
which deliver almost all luxury facilities. An example of this business is Hilton hotel which
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provides a varied variety of facilities and services to its clients such as luxury rooms, breakfast
and dining facility, swimming pools, sauna baths and so on.
Food and beverages: Food and beverages is a crucial sector among all five different
sectors of hospitality industry. It has a lot of scope and differentiation in its products and is
considered as quite broad sector of hospitality industry. It provides a range of quality services
beginning from bistro to a very luxurious and high end restaurant in between. This sector reigns
as most supreme power in food and beverages industry. Apart from this, sector is further divided
into smaller parts namely restaurants, hotels, catering services, fast food joints, takeaways and so
on. This sector is expected to provide around 50% meals that are consumed by people in U.S.
Today. This sector includes restaurants that are dealing in preparation of meals, snacks and
beverages (Bailly and Léné, 2012). All these products are generally made for immediate
consumption by customers on and off premises.
Travel and tourism: Travel and tourism sector is most versatile and classified sector of
hospitality industry. Travel and tourism sector engages in providing services which are with
people moving from one place to another either for work reasons or leisure time. Buses, trains,
ships, cars are all a part of travel and tourism sector. Many people find it difficult to differentiate
between tour and hospitality industry thereby considering them as synonymous. This sector helps
people in moving from one destination to another in a short span of time. This industry is known
to be as backbone of hospitality industry. Cocks and Kings is an example of a UK based business
entity that deals in this sector. This sector includes both formal and informal travelling and also
demands high rate of customer focus , leniency and so on. All these marketing skills collectively
are known to help in smooth functioning and expansion of travel and tourism sector.
Recreation: Recreation is a term that specifies about leisure time activities. This a mode
of relaxing that people undertake after a hectic work schedule to rejuvenate and refresh
themselves. It is basically any activity that people undertake with the motive of rest relaxation
and enjoyment. Main objective and goal of recreation is to charge up a person's mind and body.
Any business that avails or provides services by which a person gets ample of rest and relaxation
come under this category. Recreation and entertainment have become a very significant part of
travel and tourism sector nowadays. It helps in keeping people entertained and maintains fun
element in their trip. Examples of recreational activities include going for movies, picnics,
adventure parks etc. where people can entertain themselves (Lowe and et. al., 2012).
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All these sectors fall under hospitality industry and provide varied services to their
clients. All these sectors aim towards providing satisfaction to their customers thereby resulting
in overall growth and development of hospitality industry.
P2 Various operational and functional department within hospitality industry
Hospitality industry has a wide range of field within service industry. It involves
transportation, cruise, and many more additional fields. Hilton is a branded hotel in UK which
provides services of hotel and resorts. There are various departments within a hospitality sector
which helps in generating revenue of firm. In Hilton hotel there are various operational and
functional departments which contribute to the success of hotel. It is also beneficial in smooth
functioning and running of a business. These departments within hotel helps in increasing
productivity and profit. Operational and functional department are being sub divided into various
other departments.
Operational department
These are being subdivided into four major departments within a hotel industry. This can
also be known as primary departments and are linked with other functional departments. In
Hilton hotel there are four types of operational department which are mentioned below.
 Housekeeping department: Employees who are working under this department have
responsibility of managing rooms, ensuring cleanliness and maintaining hygiene of
places which are in hotel. Also it concentrates on keeping up the house. Front office and
housekeeping both departments should build close relations so that they can keep a
record of information about their customers (Yang 2012).
 Food and beverage department: It is a major department within a hotel. As it provides
services related to meals, beverages and snacks in a proper way which are according to
needs of the guests and tourists. They provide best services of meals as well as
concentrated drinks which involves lounges, restaurants, bars etc. Along with this there
are various other departments involved which are purchase, account human resources,
front office food production and many other.
 Food production or kitchen department: It is a necessary department and place where
beverages and meals gets prepared. Chef and other staff uses equipment’s and ingredients
according to the requirements of customers. Moreover, they make food items as per
mentioned in the menu of hotel.
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 Front office department: Employees who sit on reception of hotel and greet guests falls
under the front office department. They are people who directly and continuously interact
with customers. Moreover, they can also be asked to take and handle bookings of
customers within hotel. They are people who resolve conflicts and queries of guests.
Functional department: Employees under this department monitor everyday activities
and functions of business related to hospitality industry. This department mainly focuses on
general and overall administration of business related activities under hospitality industry.
Functional department involves various other departments which are mentioned below.
 Sales and marketing department: It is essential for every business to do promotion of
their product and services. Marketing and sales department under hotel industry has the
responsibility of converting prospects in paying customers and conveying message of
brand into market place to increase productivity of industry. They should keep trending
records of channels of market and practices along with content marketing, social media
and many more.
 Human resource department: This is one of essential department under hotel industry.
This department looks after the process of recruitment and selection of employees within
hotel industry. This also looks after queries and grievances of employees and address
them if they are facing any issue related to work within a hotel. Human resource
department looks after personnel within a hotel industry and motivates and encourage
them to produce effective and efficient results (Taiwo and Ward 2016).
 Accounts and finance department: To run a proper business accounting should be
done. Accounting means to keep a book of record in which all the expenses and incomes
of a hotel are being mentioned. Accounting department maintains a record of all expenses
and revenues of activities which are related to business of hotel industry. Maintaining
books of records also helps in analysing position of hotel. This team usually interact to
executives and are answerable to them in case of any issues regarding to books of
accounts. They also provide them with adequate and proper data and forests. Moreover,
they give or provide recommendations and gives support to various other departments.
P3 Contribution of hospitality industry to local, national and international economies
Hospitality industry is that field of study which serves various kinds of facilities that
includes event planning, lodging, transportation, travelling and different other additional fields.
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This industry is rapidly expanding their business and contributing their valuable part in local,
national and international economies. In context to Hilton contribution in all these economies are
firmly describes below:
Local: Hospitality industry plays significant role in economic as well as on social life. In
relation to Hilton hotel, this company is contributing in local government sector to ensure
healthy competitive competition position in future. Company is a major contributor in mainly all
local communities for job creation and wealth creation potential. There are many industry in
hospitality industry who have stretched their contribution in donation and NGOs for developing
nation. Tourism plays very important role in creating employment, mainly in developing regions.
This industry is rapidly increasing and will keep on increasing due to various factors like
population growth, rise in income level of individual, globalisation and incorporation of world
economies. Therefore, it is necessary for hospitality sector to implement various improved
methods in their functions in order to manage their business in positive way. With the
contribution of tourism industries into local government benefit political stability, investment in
infrastructure and successful development of local economies.
National: Hospitality industry contributes massively into country's national economic
growth. There are different types of sectors in hospitality industries that contributing in national
economies both directly and in directly. They help in creating jobs in supply and delivery sector
and in farming industry which automatically increases overall contribution in nation's GDP. In
relation to Hilton hotel, company is paying 25% of their profits as tax. Tourism is world's fastest
growing economic sector. With their growth and development rates any nation can increase their
foreign currency inflows which directly affects different sectors of economies. As per the report
of UNESCO (2007) tourism industries are one of the major source of generating foreign
exchange rates in many countries around the world. For example, in 2008, tourism activities in
United Kingdom contributed nearly 77.6 per cent in the country's (GDP) Gross Domestic
production. In addition to this tourism employment in United Kingdom is estimated 76 million
jobs (9.1%) of total employment. Tourism industry is mainly a service sector and perform their
function in various multi-sectors which automatically creates job opportunities in different sub-
sectors like transportation, entertainment, food, souvenirs, accommodation and other major
sectors.
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International: Tourism industries plays a significant role in developing world growth
rate. According to latest annual research of World travel & Tourism Council Report (2016)
shows that Travel and tourism remarkably contributed in world economy for the eight
consecutive years. In 2016, hospitality industries contributed nearly 9.4% in global GDP.
Research shows that 2016 was an outstanding year for global tourism sector, that grew at 5.6%
much faster. This industry plays key role in creating diverse prosperity in various sectors for
example, total growth rate of exports has been increased from 15.5 % to 26.6% of global
services. This sector is an aggressive engine for economic development which helps in creating
job throughout the globe. Tourism industry plays important role in global economy it helps in
creating employment opportunities in various sectors which includes airlines, travel agencies and
hotels (Orfin, Sidorkiewicz, and Tokarz-Kocik 2015). It is one of the world's leading and fastest
growing sector which strengthen global economy.
Global Business and use of Franchising & Licensing Agreements: Tourism and
hospitality industries are significantly expanding all over the world which helps in maximising
growth and profit ratio of company. In relation to Hilton industry, it has been analysed that this
industry have implemented different franchising and licensing option that have contributed in
enhancing brand image of Hilton in international market. In addition to this, various reports show
that overall growth rate of international market has also increased with the contribution of
hospitality industry.
Tourism & Travelling industry remarkably contributing in all sectors of economies that
are local, national and international. It helps in generating revenue for all sectors. Therefore, it is
very important for hospitality industries to make positive changes in their attitude not working.
This will not only benefit economies but also generate immense amount of profit and growth.
This sector positively impacts on different other sectors like, restaurants, transport, agriculture
and manufacture. Contribution of tourism industries in local economies increase standard of
living. It is leading sector in services industry which creates tourism employment opportunities
around the globe. It also helps to enhance heritage culture in so many regions.
P4 Different operational roles within hospitality industry
In order to work in smooth effective environment, it is necessary for all departments
present within an organisation to coordinate with each other. This will not benefit industry to
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work in remarkable manner but also formulates business growth. There is different type of sector
in industry mentioned below that work together in order to achieve overall growth of industry.
Operational Departments: Hospitality industry mainly cover four operational sector
within it. These departments perform their work while coordinating with other departments
present in the industry. These sectors are housekeeping department, food and beverages
department, kitchen department, reception department and service department.
Functional Departments: Functional department includes activities which are perform
in daily basis within an industry. There are different types of departments performing their
functions in Hilton that includes accounts department, finance department, human resource
department, sales and marketing department, store department, security department and
engineering department. Each department coordinate with other in order to increase efficiency in
their operation and function.
Different types of roles within Hospitality Industry
There are different kinds of operational roles in hospitality industries which perform their
task to satisfy consumers. Some of these activities are mentioned below:
Concierge: An individual who keeps on regular interacting with clients and provide them
various services are known as concierge. In Hilton industry an authorized person maintain proper
and systematic requirements of consumers’ needs and wants and provide them regular feedback
quickly.
Event planner: Hilton hotel have separate room for banquet and conference programmes
which they provide to their clients for meetings and weeding.
Executive chef: There is an individual authorized person in Hilton industry who
maintain operations like food in their restaurants and casinos (Markova and et. al., 2016.).
Housekeeper: In Hilton industry role of their housekeeper is to maintain proper hygienic
environment and keeps on regular check after and before every check in and check out.
Different types of departments in hospitality industries are inter related to each other. For
example, human resource coordinates with accounts department, house-keeping department,
sales department and marketing department in order to provide potential employees. This will
not only increase profitability of industry but also provide satisfaction to their consumers. In
addition to this, Kitchen department in Hilton hotel coordinates with food and beverage
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department and purchase department to work in effective manner. This will benefit them to
perform their day-to-day activities in remarkable manner.
Human Resource with house-keeping: Human resource department helps house-
keeping department by providing them employees related to various functions like people who
can clean restrooms and can dust furniture’s. In relation to Hilton industry, their Human resource
managers perform various activities like recruiting candidates and provide effective training to
them which will help them to adapt culture of industry.
Front office and sales & marketing department: Sales and marketing department
engage in activities that are related to sales and promotions. For this they have to communicate
with different kinds of people in different local and foreign languages. In relation to Hilton
industry their sales and marketing department promote their services while communicating with
different airlines companies and foreign missions in order to pursue costumers for selling F & B
services. For that they have to travel in different geographical locations so they need to maintain
effective connection with front office department to make reservations and other necessary
arrangements.
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Illustration 1: Organisational Chart

Front office and Laundry Department: It is basic responsibility of front office
department to provide necessary information to laundry department for number of client’s arrival
and departure. In relation to Hilton industry there is effective and proper communication in
between these two departments. For example, their front office department send copy of guest
departure and arrival list to laundry department. By doing this it is much easier for laundry
department to perform their function in hassle free environment in addition to this it also satisfy
their consumers as they get proper and remarkable services by them. This coordination is very
important as this will avoid any kind of wrong numbering and delivery services within industry.
Front Office and HR Department: Human resource department maintain effective
coordination with front office in order to avoid any kind of misconduct and confusion and
violation or any law and regulation in a industry. Human resource department must ensure that
all rules and regulations are abiding by their employees. Apart from that, human resource
department can also conduct different types of sports and cultural event in industry time to time.
In relation to Hilton hotel their front office department effectively coordinates with their security
department regularly. For example, in case of theft or any other situation front office manager
can contact with human resource manager to ask for more effective employee who can able to
work in rotational shifts in order to maintain full security in industry (Vuorinen 2015).
Front office and Accounting Department: There are different kinds of people in
tourism industries they use different types of payment methods like cash, debit cards, credit cards
and mobile banking system. In relation to this, it is very important for front office and accounting
departments to coordinate with each other in order to avoid any kind of misunderstanding. In
context with Hilton industry, both of their front office and accounting department perform their
activities while coordinating with each other for example, if their credit department has any kind
of query they immediately contact with front office department to figure out correct position of
that dispute. While if front office department are facing any kind of problem while handling
foreign cash or currency they can make immediate contact with industry accounting department.
By forming this attitude of good-coordination both of the departments can perform their work in
effective way. This will reduce any kind of confusion relating to settlements of bills.
Front Office and Hotel room service departments: It is very important for room
service department to perform their function while coordinating with front office department. In
relation to Hilton industry, their hotel room service department keeps regular touch with front
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office department to avoid situations like wrong billing in room service. For example, front
office department provide copy of require bills of guest arrival and departure. Also reception of
industry sends list of guest in house to room services. While on the other hand, front office
department need to make effective coordination with housekeeping department in order to
provide detailed information of room services like welcome drinks, fruit baskets and flower
bouquets. In case of any emergency situations like VIP arrivals this coordination will prove as an
effective tool to tackle situations successfully. This will not only benefit industry to increase
their profit but help employees to enhance their job performance and generate large amount of
goodwill in market (Erbakanova, 2016).
It is very essential for all departments to maintain cooperation with other department. In
relation to Hilton hotel their management need to make sure that helping attitude are
prevailing in their working culture. This will not only help industry to improve their quality of
services provided by them but also satisfy their consumers in best way. Each department in this
industry need to ensure that there is coordination between them this will aid them to gain
effective job performance also they can earn goodwill by treating their clients in remarkable
way.
P5 Skills required within hospitality industry and current skills shortage
Hilton hotel has various vacancy for jobs. But in case for getting selected and recruited
for each vacancy an individual must have some skills. Skills refers to special characteristics
which a person has to get qualified for a job post. Skills required for roles within Hilton hotel
are being discussed below. Concierge: It is a role which starts from an entry level in Hilton hotel. Forgetting hired
for this job role an individual must possess skills which is required for solving problems
and also customer service skills through which they can meet requirements of customers.
In this job a person must be able to attend difficult customers. Event planner: Employees who are doing event planning must have skills of managing,
controlling and coordinating. These skills are helpful to them to coordinate rightly with
customers and to conduct events which are successful. Executive chef: These people work in a kitchen and deal with food items of Hilton hotel.
So they should have knowledge related to texture, amount of ingredients, taste and
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innovation. Delicious and proper food must be made by them which satisfies customer
and give them a luxurious experience. Chefs should bring out innovations and creativity
in meal according to requirements of the guests or customers.
 Housekeeper: To be a housekeeper of Hilton must have stamina and should be strong
enough to handle baggage of customers and maintain hygiene within a workplace.

Current skill shortages
Skill gap is a tool used for identifying shortage of skills. There are some skills which are
being identified within Hilton hotel in which they are lacking behind. These skills are that there
are some employees which are illiterate and do not have team management skills. This lead to
decrease in profits and productivity of the industry. This also effect the performance of
employees as well as hotel (Odoom 2012). Controlling and coordinating skills of Event planner
of Hilton is not meeting the requirements. Giving the same task to two different individuals
which is hampering the work and increasing the cost as well of the company. On the other hand,
concierge also have not right skills as per the requirements of Hilton Hotel. It is needed for the
individual to perform well as per need of the hotel. Along with this, Chef of Hilton hotel do not
have skills related to appropriate texturing the food, amount of ingredients and it is required to
overcome from this issue and become stronger in the section for fulfilling the requirements of
both hotel and customers as well.
CONCLUSION
As per the above report it has been concluded that, Hospitality industry plays a
significant role in enhancing overall growth. There is different type of sectors in hotel industry
which serve various kinds of products and services. It has also been evaluated in this report that
travel and tourism industry perform their day-to-day functions while coordinating with each
other in order to increase overall productivity and profitability. This industry plays remarkable
role contributing in various economies like local economy, national economy and international
economy. This will not only benefit industry to enhance their overall performance but also
increase national and international GDP. There are various range of operational and functional
department in an industry which deliver different types of products and services. In addition to
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this there are large number of employees in this industry working in effective manner to fill their
skills gap in order to perform their functions in effective and efficient manner.
REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alon, I., Ni, L. and Wang, Y., 2012. Examining the determinants of hotel chain expansion
through international franchising. International Journal of Hospitality Management.
31(2). pp.379-386.
Bailly, F. and Léné, A., 2012. The personification of the service labour process and the rise of
soft skills: a French case study. Employee Relations. 35(1). pp.79-97.
Lowe, M. S. and et. al., 2012. Self-organizing innovation networks, mobile knowledge carriers
and diasporas: insights from a pioneering boutique hotel chain. Journal of Economic
Geography. 12(5). pp.1113-1138.
Yang, J. T., 2012. Effects of ownership change on organizational settings and strategies in a
Taiwanese hotel chain. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 31(2). pp.428-
441.
Taiwo, A. and Ward, T., 2016. Recruitment experiences in an international hotel chain in
Nigeria. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes. 8(2). pp.211-215.
Orfin, K., Sidorkiewicz, M. and Tokarz-Kocik, A., 2015. Human resource management in chain
hotels on the example of Radisson Blu hotel in Szczecin. Scientific Journal. 31. pp.287-
302.
Odoom, C. K., 2012. Logistics and supply chain management in the hotel industry: Impact on
hotel performance in service delivery.
Erbakanova, I., 2016. Hotel chains and higher education institutions. The Routledge Handbook of
Hotel Chain Management, p.449.
Vuorinen, T., 2015. Hotel and Restaurant Industry in Russia: Recruiting Channels and
Employment Process of Finnish Employees.
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Markova, E. and et. al., 2016. Migrant workers in small London hotels: Employment,
recruitment and distribution. European Urban and Regional Studies. 23(3). pp.406-421.
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