An Analysis of Contemporary Issues in the UK Hospitality Industry

This report examines contemporary issues within the UK hospitality industry, focusing on the evolving needs and expectations of Chinese tourists. It explores critical aspects such as food preferences, the importance of amenities, and the role of technology in enhancing the guest experience. The report highlights the significance of adapting food menus to accommodate Chinese cuisine, and the need for hotels to embrace technological advancements to meet the demands of tech-savvy guests. Furthermore, it emphasizes the crucial role of staff training in understanding and catering to the cultural nuances of Chinese tourists. The analysis includes examples like Holiday Inn, and provides recommendations for British hotels to improve service and customer satisfaction. The report discusses the importance of innovative tactics and market trends to provide premium services to guests. It also looks at the economic factors, such as the recession, and how they influence the spending habits of Chinese tourists. The report suggests that British hotels need to meet the expectations of Chinese tourists by providing in-build services along with other facilities. The report concludes by stressing the need for British hotels to adapt to the changing needs of the Chinese tourists and the importance of providing them with a comfortable and relaxing stay.

Contemporary Issues

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
With the passage of time, UK hospitality industry is growing at a wider scale as
businesses in such sector are concentrated on performing their core activities and making the use
of specialised workforce to cater the need of guests. This study is based on the several issues that
are encountered by them. Contemporary issues are those factors that affect the overall
functioning of organization and cause an ill-effect on the overall performance. These are
subjected to the event, idea or topic which are related to the current functioning of British hotels.
UK hospitality industry comprises of large chain of hotels which serves ample number of guests
with the best services (Day, 2016). The issues is related to British hotels to meet the needs and
expectations of the Chinese tourist who have been visiting UK.
MAIN BODY
Hospitality industry is customer driven as it efficiently manages all the operations which
are related to the concentrated activities of business. Rauch, (2014), stated that expectations
plays a vital role to allow business to bring dramatic change within the work patterns. British
hotels has most recognized chains of hotel in United Kingdom. There is huge advancement and
modernization which is adopted to enhance the entire structure of organization. In recent times,
the need and the expectations of the Chinese tourist is growing at a wider scale. Thus necessary
aspects need to be adopted to enhance the level of entire working of the British hotels. Moreover,
Chinese tourist save their some part of their income to visit new places around the world. This
increase the flow of tourist to the different countries and the need and expectations also increases
simultaneously. As per the viewpoint of Barrows and Powers, (2008), the needs and expectations
of the Chinese tourist has been advancing at a greater speed. British hotels requires proper
structure to develop better relationship with guests. This can be done with the help of
understanding and fulfilling the need of guests. As per the viewpoint of Best, (2006), there are
various sources through which the need of the guest can be fulfilled by meeting the expectations.
As there are many aspects that need to be considered while meeting the expectations of the
Chinese tourist who are visiting the British hotels and make the proper arrangements in order to
make their stay more relaxing and comfortable.
Food
The food habit of the different type of people are very diverse as they flow their specific
food tradition as they have the special meaning for them. Food is the important aspect that need
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to be considered as the people are more concentrated about the things which are being offered to
them. As the culture of UK is very diverse with comparison to Chinese culture as the cuisines
culture is deeply related to Chinese history. Chinese people strictly follow the table manners and
display it with the help of assistance which they provide to their guest. Hence, the need and
expectations of the Chinese tourist is related to the same with British hotels. The growing needs
of the Chinese tourists need to be meet up in a proper manner as this will help British hotels to
provide the friendly and hospitality culture to them. By understanding the cuisine of the Chinese
tourist will help to provide excellent customer services, stay of the guest can be make
comfortable. As per the viewpoints of Chopra and Sodhi, (2004), the style of the Chinese cuisine
comprises of different type of dishes that need to be presented into the menu chart of British
hotels as they are at an extensive growth stage. Therefore, they need to consider best cuisine as
per their priority. Christou, (2002), stated that with the best food facility, British hotels need to
adopt the proper form to serve the dishes as the culture of serving the food is also different in
China. All the meals are served along with the bowl of rice as it is the important part of their
cuisine as their meal is not completed without the rice bowl.
Accordance to Crick and Spencer, (2011), the Chinese people have the large cuisine
which consist of different type of vegetarian and non-vegetarian meals. They are more conscious
towards their health and want that all the dishes which are served are properly cooked and are
fresh. The Chinese cuisine does not comprises of any type of preservatives and require that their
food and beverages are fresh while they are served to them. The major requirement of guests is
related to the best food and beverages as they consider it to be the most important part which
need to adopt to meet the expectations of the guest who are staying into these British hotels.
Demands of guests have been advancing at a greater speed as they require efficient and best food
menu to the guests so that the need and expectations are served into an effective form.
With the viewpoint of Jolliffe and Farnsworth, (2003), current trends within the
hospitality industry are very advanced as particular sites have been developed to resolve the
queries which are encountered by the guests. Similarly, this will help to analyse the importance
of food culture for the customers to accomplish the goals. As per the viewpoint of Keating,
Rugimbanaand Quazi, (2003), effective food facilities will help guests to meet the entire needs.
For instance: Holiday Inn is one of British hotel which cater the effective food facilities to their
guests as per the recommendations so that the stay of the guests are made more relaxing and
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comfortable. With this, they provide the well dining facilities as the Chinese culture consist of
effectual tradition as they sit along in group to intake food. Thus, with the re-innovation in the
dining facilities British hotels can provide best services to the guests which will help them to
meet the needs and the expectations of the Chinese tourists.
Amenities
Attractive amenities are the essential features which help British Hotels to meet the needs
and expectations which are growing over a wider scale. With regard to amenities the technology
has become an increasingly important aspect of the guest experience in British hotels. As per the
viewpoints of Kuo, Wu and Deng, (2009), Chinese people are more technology oriented as they
always remain connected through smart phones, Ipads, netbooks and through many more
channels. British hotels are required to adapt quickly to the ongoing changes in the technology
area for the purpose of capitalizing and meeting the expectations of the Chinese tourists. For
instance: Holiday Inn is focusing on making the connectivity process easy and simple for the
clients. It is evident when people visits to a hotel or resort, they want to have a good control over
the acquired services. They make use of technology in order to collect or pass on the information
from those acquired services without any hesitation.
Being technology oriented the Chinese tourist desire these features to make their stay more
comfortable. Smart phones facilitates the guests to unlock and enter their rooms. After taking
entry into the room, they exposed to the virtual world with customized entertainment and room
management. As per the viewpoint of Lewis and McCann, (2004), the travellers are having their
personal mobile devices, hence it allows the hotel firms to make their stay smarter and simpler. It
is very important to stay connected with the needs of the clients. With the help of in-room
technology offer them a unique and comfortable staying experience.
By using the application of the hotel loaded on the smart phones of the guests, companies
can save make their services very efficient. It will offer many benefits to the consumers as they
can have the option of bypassing the time consuming hotel services such as check-in, placing
order, checking weather, and calling for laundry etc. This will help the guest to avail premium
quality of services while rendering the rooms of the British hotels (Hotel Amenities: Trends in
Hotel Amenities., 2011). For instance: Holiday Inn adopt the application through collecting the
data related to the consumers on a remote site created by the company. The data collected can be
in-cashed in terms of profits. This where the importance of quality services arises. There are
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various tools and instruments which are currently being used in order to impart service
excellence with regard to in-room entertainment.
Along with this, the hotel amenity requires in room and outside room facilities which will
enable the guest to avail the facilities and make their stay more relaxing and comfortable. The
Chinese people are very c about the facilities as they are spending the sum of money to appeal to
the lifestyle choice. British hotels need to meet the expectations with the help of the providing
in-build services to the guest along with the other facilities. This will help them to meet them to
meet the expectations to a certain extent. Hospitality industry cannot survive without the use of
innovative tactics. The Chinese people require the wow factors in order to avail the services
which are provided in order to meet the needs and expectations.
British hotels need to follow the market trends by providing the premium services to the
guests as per their recommendations so that they are able to meet the expectations of the guests.
Amenities comprises of various tactics that need to adopt so that the guest are able to make use
of the personnel facilities which is made available to them. For instance: Holiday Inn can provide
Earlier it was stated that this emerging trend is influencing the industry because travellers wants
to have control of their acquired services and so that they can keep record of their businesses.
However it appears that this concept applies mostly in conference-business tourism or cold
climate-winter seasons. It is because in winter seasons, it is expected that, guest are more
delighted with indoor activities. While in summer holidays, the facility of in-room technology is
considered as an extra feature within the services. However before making a decision on
investing into this strategy, there are some factors which are to be taken into consideration such
as average of the guest, demands of young generation etc.
Day, (2016), claimed that syncing devices is the major key in the guest experience.
Within the room the guests use the facilities such as the room temperature can be controlled
through the mobiles. The request for late or early check out can be made easily. Further
advancements such as smart TV, NFC, green technologies etc. have also contributed in achieving
the service excellence by the British hotels to the Chinese tourists. Technology is being used by
few luxury hotels, it is expected that this will be adopted by more companies in the upcoming
future. Soon the guest rooms will be entirely controlled by innovation and that’s a good thing.
Consumers will remain connected to every element of the in-room experience such as entry
locks, television, lighting, temperature, music and many more.
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Staff training to their culture
Within a decade, drastic changes have been noticed in the hotel sector. It is to be noted
that technology embraces time and efficiency at the cost of less human and personal interaction.
It allows the clients to perform anything from their room without contacting the staff from the
hotel. They can order beverages, dinner, entertainment and many more services with ease and
comfort. Economic factors such as recession has influenced the people to search for the best
value. With reference to the Lusch, Vargo and O’Brien, (2007), Chinese tourist have become
more cautious about what they are spending and why they are spending. The culture of Chinese
people is very specific as they want the avail all the facilities for which they are paying to them.
The staff of British Hotels need to be trained in an effective manner so that needs of the
customers are meet up without any failure. The personal which are being hired should be aware
of the culture as the Chinese tourists consider their tradition very important. The interaction is to
be made more specific and in relation to the needs by the staff. More flexible channels can be
used with the customers are comfortable with it.
With reference to the Novelli, (2005), British hotels must hire those personnel which are
competent enough to deal with the Chinese guests that are visiting UK for the purpose of
recreation. The staff must be diverse so that they are able to handle the customers in an effective
way. Thus, the entire functioning is monitored in such form so that the needs and expectations
are meet up appropriately. This will help the companies in achieving service excellence and
competitive edges within the industry. Focus on improving the communication will be the major
strategy for them. As per the viewpoint of Poulston, (2008), with the help of effective
communication the customers are able to meet the requirement as the Chinese tourist are very
specific about the services which are rendered to them and they are availing. The staff must be
competent enough to speak different type of language so that the communication between them
does not encounters any barrier and the need and expectations are fulfilled in a significant form.
Ways through which British hotels can meet the needs and expectations of the growing
number of Chinese tourists to UK
In the era of modernization, the hospitality industry of UK can effectively deal with the
issues that are encountered by them and manage the smooth flow within the entire working. The
make the necessary reformation to meet the needs and expectations so that the customers are
provided with best services (Zineldin, 2004). British hotels are known for the services that they
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render to the guests to make their stay more relaxing and comfortable. For instance: Holiday Inn
cater approximately 180 guest per hour and provide them with the best accommodation and
amenities to make their stay more pleasurable. They monitor and review that the each demand of
the customer are fulfilled or not. All the aspects are considered whole making the advancement
to deal with the issues that are encountered by them as the modern technology is advancing at a
greater speed.
As per the viewpoints of Rauch, (2014), there are various ways through which the
customer demand related to best services can be meet up in an effective manner. With the
advancement in the amenities and leisure, British hotels ensure that the customers are provided
with the best services. The stay can be made more relaxing with the help of the different
components through which they will be able to meet the demands of the customers. Along with
the accommodation, the customer require their stay to be more relaxing as they should not
encounter with any sort of issues. For instance: Holiday Inn can enhance the stay of the customer
by bringing modernization in the room along with the diversifying the work culture of the staff
with respect to Chinese culture. Thus, the expectations of the customer are meet up over the
hotels and its staff hand.
British hotels can make use of the technology to identify the need of the guests
beforehand so that they are able to provide with the necessary amenities to meet the needs and
expectations and make the stay more comfortable and relaxing. For instance: Holiday Inn is
considered as one of the leisure hotel which have adopted the emerging trends to meet the
demands of the customers. As the Chinese people are more tech-oriented they require the high
quality services to make their stay more comfortable. Thus, Holiday Inn requires to modernize
the hotel room and provide the customers with the best services as per their budget. By bringing
advancement in the hotel rooms with the help of the high definition television with the high
quality of channels will reflect the demands of the guests of Holiday Inn which is meet up by the
manager in an efficient manner
Day, (2016), claimed that the expectations of the customers is advancing over the time
period as they require the best services to fulfil their demand. While bringing the innovation in
the technology and work patterns will enhance the entire working of the British hotels. With the
help effective staff and teams the need can b meet up by them. British hotels can carry out proper
survey to identify the needs of the Chinese tourist as they are very specific and that need to be
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meet up in an effective form. Major contribution into UK economy is generated out of the
growing numbers of the Chinese customers as they spent a certain sum of their money to visit
new place. British hotels can provide effective deal out with it and meet the needs and
expectations of the clients in a proper form. They can design the entire work patterns in such a
form that they are able to satisfy the needs and expectations of Chinese tourists.
CONCLUSION
From this report it can be concluded that British hotels adopts the best means through
which the stay of the customers can be made more relaxing. With the effective services and
diverse manpower in form of staff is provided to the customers to manage the entire working
which provide the easy access to them. All the aspects are considered whole making the
advancement to deal with the issues that are encountered by them as the modernization within
the work culture is advancing at a greater speed. Thus, British hotels can be advance and
enhanced with the help of the customer feedback in relation to meet the needs and expectations
of them. This will make them to innovate the accessibility of the information which is enhanced
with the help of the modifying the work culture. Hence, British hotels will be able to provide the
quality services to the customers with the help of the efficient staff which will make the work
culture more dynamic by meeting the needs and expectations of the Chinese tourists.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Barrows, C.W. and Powers, T., 2008. Introduction to Management in the Hospitality Industry,
Study Guide. John Wiley & Sons.
Best, K., 2006. Design management: managing design strategy, process and implementation.
AVA publishing.
Chopra, S. and Sodhi, M.S., 2004. Managing risk to avoid supply-chain breakdown. MIT Sloan
management review. 46(1). p.53.
Christou, E., 2002. Revisiting competencies for hospitality management: Contemporary views of
the stakeholders. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education. 14(1). pp.25-32.
Crick, A.P. and Spencer, A., 2011. Hospitality quality: new directions and new challenges.
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 23(4), pp.463-478.
Jolliffe, L. and Farnsworth, R., 2003. Seasonality in tourism employment: human resource
challenges. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 15(6).
pp.312-316.
Keating, B., Rugimbana, R. and Quazi, A., 2003. Differentiating between service quality and
relationship quality in cyberspace. Managing Service Quality: An International Journal.
13(3). pp.217-232.
Kuo, Y.F., Wu, C.M. and Deng, W.J., 2009. The relationships among service quality, perceived
value, customer satisfaction, and post-purchase intention in mobile value-added services.
Computers in human behavior. 25(4). pp.887-896.
Lewis, B.R. and McCann, P., 2004. Service failure and recovery: evidence from the hotel
industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 16(1). pp.6-
17.
Lusch, R.F., Vargo, S.L. and O’Brien, M., 2007. Competing through service: Insights from
service-dominant logic. Journal of retailing. 83(1). pp.5-18.
Novelli, M. ed., 2005. Niche tourism: contemporary issues, trends and cases. Routledge.
Poulston, J., 2008. Hospitality workplace problems and poor training: a close relationship.
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 20(4). pp.412-427.
Qiu Zhang, H. and Wu, E., 2004. Human resources issues facing the hotel and travel industry in
China. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 16(7). pp.424-
428.
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Zineldin, M., 2004. Co-opetition: the organisation of the future. Marketing Intelligence &
Planning. 22(7). pp.780-790.
Online
Hotel Amenities: Trends in Hotel Amenities., 2011. [Online]. Available through :<
http://www.hotel-industry.co.uk/2011/02/hotel-amenities/>. [Accessed on 24th February,
2016].
Day, H., 2016. Holiday Inn Hotel Winchester. [Online]. Available through :<
http://www.hiwinchester.co.uk/>. [Accessed on 24th February, 2016].
Rauch, R., 2014. Top 10 Hospitality Industry Trends in 2015. [Online]. Available through :<
http://www.4hoteliers.com/features/article/8736>. [Accessed on 24th February, 2016].
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