Imperial Hotel: Analyzing Poor Guest Satisfaction - A Case Study

This case study examines the challenges faced by the Imperial Hotel in London, specifically focusing on the issue of poor guest satisfaction. The analysis identifies key problems, including inadequate staff service, indifferent reception staff, and billing errors. The report explores the connections between these issues and their impact on guest satisfaction. It evaluates the effectiveness of proposed solutions, such as staff training and problem analysis, and suggests alternative strategies like improving staff awareness and implementing better monitoring systems. The study incorporates management theories like Theory X and Theory Y, and System Theory to provide a comprehensive understanding of the issues. It also outlines effective management processes, including discovery, planning, development, implementation, and rediscovery, to address the hotel's problems. Key proposals for resolving the issues include training and development, total quality management (TQM), employee motivation, effective monitoring systems, and feedback mechanisms. The case study offers insights into how these strategies can improve guest satisfaction and overall hotel performance.

INTRODUCTION TO MANAGEMENT

Table of Contents
Case study planning sheet................................................................................................................1
1 What do you consider the core reason for this specific problem at hotel?..........................1
2 Explain how specific problem are linked with other...........................................................1
3 How useful do you consider the suggested actions are proposed by Peter Farnsworth to
resolve your specific problem?...............................................................................................1
4 Consider two alternative ways that this specific problem could be resolved which have not
as yet been considered............................................................................................................1
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................2
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................2
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

Case study planning sheet
Problem no. Poor guest satisfaction
1 What do you consider the core reason for this specific problem at hotel?
The major reason for this problem is that staff members are failing to offer appropriate service to
guest and also are not able to meet their expectation level.. Another problem is that reception
staff being indifferent and sometimes, rude with clients. In addition to this, there is not proper
arrangement of checking in and checking out and considerable numbers of guests have
complained of repeatedly being charged incorrectly in their final bill.
2 Explain how specific problem are linked with other
Yes, the major problem that is poor guest satisfaction has directly linked with the identified
problem because all problems are related to the services in the hotel. As management and staff
member are not focusing on guest expectation which is resulting into poor satisfaction level
among guests.
3 How useful do you consider the suggested actions are proposed by Peter Farnsworth to resolve
your specific problem?
As identified solution by Peter Farnsworth is effective because with help of these suggestion's
hotel management can improve its performance and also able to serve the guest in required
manner. With help of analysis of problem, staff can able to find out the actual reason behind the
poor guest satisfaction. With help of training, staff can learn the skill, ability and knowledge to
provide effective satisfaction to them.
4 Consider two alternative ways that this specific problem could be resolved which have not as
yet been considered.
Staff member behaviour can improve with help of proper awareness regarding client importance
and services in the hotel management. Top management should conduct the meeting with staff
member and provide knowledge about effective service and client satisfaction. Furthermore,
management should adopt effective monitoring and controlling method to manage the staff
performance.
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INTRODUCTION
Within business organisation, management body focuses on dealing with or controlling
things, activities and function in such manner through which determined objective can be
attained in an effective manner. It is an act of planning, organising, directing and controlling the
activities, practices and procedure within the business enterprise so as right outcome can obtain.
In the present report, Imperial hotel is facing the issue regarding poor guest satisfaction because
there is an ineffective performance and productivity of business. It is the famous hotel in London
which have 500 bedrooms and which is owned and managed part of a well-known international
branded chain of hotel in the 4 star. Several management theories and practices have been
discussed in this report through which performance and productivity regarding issue can easily
overcome within organisation. In addition to this, procedure and processes for effective
management has been also discussed regarding poor guest satisfaction problem.
MAIN BODY
As per the given case scenario, Imperial hotel is one of the famous hotel in London which
has 500 bedrooms and owned and managed part of well-known international branded chain of
the hotels in the 4 star market. It has 3 bars, 4 restaurants, 500 bedrooms, 12 conference rooms
etc. Recently, manager of the Imperial hotel found that cited venture overall customer
satisfaction running at a rate of 65% in the company's benchmark grading system. The most
regular complaints received are in relation to issue about checking in and checking out of the
hotel (Wright and McMahan, 2011). The quality of room and staff member is also very poor and
there have been numbers of complaints about the reception staff and other staff members. Most
of the guest has complaint of repeatedly being charged incorrectly in their final bill. Some guests
have complaint regarding accommodation services in the hotel like cleanliness of the toilet, with
numerous requests for room change due to showers not working properly, noisy air conditioning
etc. Due to these all issues, guest of the imperial hotel is highly dissatisfied so Peter Farnsworth
have given some suggestion to manage the problem such as provide training and development to
employees, analyse the problem from the customer's perspective, provide awareness to staff
regarding customer expectations etc.
Management Theory of performance and productivity management
Theory X and Theory Y was created and developed by Douglas McGregor which defines
the two different types of attitudes toward workforce motivation. This theory defines two
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different attitudes towards workforce motivation (Storey, 2014). In the Theory X, management
assumes that personnel are inherently lazy and they avoid to work hard. These type of employees
are talented but they do not want to work. In this theory X, it is very important for manager to
create a structured environment he/she can able to get the work done from the employees. On the
other hand, in the Theory Y, employees wants to work for self-fulfilment and management
provides them the right guidance so as they will perform well and effective at workplace. In this
theory Y, manager required to shoe the right direction to employees and they will automatically
perform well. This practice assists in boosting the level of trust between manager and employees.
Thus, the above discussion about the Theory X and Y, it has been analysed that with help of this
theory regarding employees performance and motivation, ImperialImperial hotel manager can
understand the performance of employees at workplace and improve the poor guest satisfaction
issue.
System Theory
This theory helps to the manager in recognise various systems that affect workers and
how workers affects the surrounding system. System theory is a broad perspective that allows
managers to examine pattern and event at workplace. With help of this theory manager can
effectively understand the actual objective of the organisation and allot the work to employees
accordingly. It assists manager in understanding the nature of employees and their working
criteria. In the context of Imperial hotel, with help of this theory, manager of hotel can
understand the criteria to working of employees so as he/she can deliver working environment
accordingly.
Understanding the processes and procedure for effective management
As per the given case scenario, it has been found that in the Imperial hotel there are
several kinds of issue arisen in the organisation regarding the poor guest satisfaction and
performance of employees (Stone, 2013). As it has been seen that staff member was not properly
work at workplace regarding guest services, and most of the guest have been complaint of
repeatedly being charged incorrectly in their final bill. Some guests have complaint regarding
accommodation services in the hotel like cleanliness of the toilet, with numerous requests for
room change due to showers not working properly, noisy air conditioning etc. In this condition
within the Imparial hotel, Peter Farnsworth has been provided some recommendation related to
the effective monitoring, training and development etc. It is also very important for the higher
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management of the Imperial hotel to focus on the effective management system. In order to
improve the poor guest satisfaction and improve performance or work, management have to
focus on the five phases of effective management system which are discussed below-
 Discovery- In this stage of the management system, management of the Imperial hotel
required to focus on the actual issue and problem regarding work practices and procedure
(Pfeffer, 2010).
 Planning-Once management effectively acknowledge about the actual issue and problem
regarding working at the workplace then in the second phase management required to
develop an impressive planning. Planning includes all kind of the future activities which
help to management in improving the working at workplace (Perry, Hondeghem and
Wise, 2010).
 Development- Development stage includes the work which is related to the actual
improvement regarding working activities and function. In this stage. Imperial hotel
manager focus on the improvement regarding performance and productivity at
workplace. Manager looks toward training and development of employees, improvement
in practices and policies of working, employee’s performance monitoring etc.
 Implementation- While development successfully conducts then in the next stage,
management implement final action at workplace so as performance can be improved.
 Rediscovery- In this stage, management focus on that aspect which required further
improvement. In this stage, manager eliminates the further mistakes and drawback in the
new structure and system of the organisation.
Justification of key proposal for the resolution of the problem
As per the above discussion, it has been found that Imperial hotel is facing several kinds
of issue regarding the performance and productivity through which poor guest satisfaction has
arisen within the organisation. Following are some justification for the resolution of the problem
within the Imperial hotel-
 Training and development- This is one of the major important practice which assist
Imperial hotel through which it can improve its poor guest satisfaction issue. Training
and development is any attempt to improve current and future employee's performance,
ability, talents, productivity, skill regarding their working so as they can perform in better
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and effective manner at the workplace (Jayawardena and et.al., 2013). With assistance of
the training and development program in the organisation, management of the Imperial
hotel can provide an opportunity to employees for learn the new knowledge, skill, ability
and idea about to deal with guest in the hotel. They can learn the criteria to solve the
queries of the guest within the Hotel and deliver effective services to guest. In Imperial
hotel, training and development assists to employees in increasing their level of
performance within the organisation through which they can learn the criteria to perform
in more effective and efficient manner at workplace and meet customer expectation.
 Total Quality Management (TQM)- As per the case scenario, it has been found that there
is major issue regarding poor performance and productivity so TQM is one of the
essential aspect that helps management in the hotel to improve quality of product and
services (Hutchinson and Purcell, 2010). It is an approach of operation management that
assists in improving the quality of product and services and eliminating wastage and
additional cost from the production and manufacturing (Hoque, 2013). In the hotel sector,
with help of total quality management, management can improve the customer
satisfaction and long term success of the organisation.
 Employee’s motivation- This is another one of the important method that helps to the
management within Imperial hotel in overcome the poor guest satisfaction problem. With
help of employee’s motivation, management can encourage staff member to perform in
better and excellent manner (Hofstetter and Harpaz, 2015). As employee’s motivation is a
procedure under which higher authority appreciate and recognise employees for their
performance and work and this appreciation can recognise in terms of monetary and non-
monetary rewards. In order to get appreciation, incentive, fringe benefits, promotion,
higher responsibility, bonus and compensation, employees can perform better at
workplace through which poor guest satisfaction within the hotel can easily overcome.
 Effective monitoring system-With help of monitoring system poor guest satisfaction can
easily overcome within the Imperial hotel (Guest, 2011). With help of monitoring system,
management can monitor and evaluate the performance of employees and eliminate their
mistakes regarding their work at the workplace.
 Feedback system- This is another one of the best solution for overcome the performance
and productivity issue within the Imperial hotel London. In this aspect, management of
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hotel should take feedback from the customer regarding their experience within Hotel
(Motivating and engaging employees for better business, 2016). By help of feedback
system, manager of Imperial hotel can easily acknowledge about customer review,
complaints, experience, views, opinion, suggestion etc. regarding hotel services and
facilities (Gruman and Saks, 2011). By assessing the customer expectation with the help
of interaction or feedbacks, managers can develop strategies to attain the same. Based on
it, manager at Imperial hotel can also meet with the guest’s expectation level.
CONCLUSION
From this report, it has been concluded that with assistance of training and development
program in the organisation, management of Imperial hotel can provide an opportunity to
employees to enhance the existing skills, , skill, ability and idea in order to deal with guest in
better manner. By help of feedback system, manager of Imperial hotel can easily acknowledge
about customer review, complaints, experience, views, opinion, suggestion etc. regarding hotel
services and facilities. It has been also concluded from this report that proper management of
performance of employees helps the organisation in addressing right objective at right time. It
has been also concluded that Imperial hotel should design effective policies and procedure of
work so that everyone can easily carry out their performance at workplace.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Gruman, J. A. and Saks, A. M., 2011. Performance management and employee engagement.
Human Resource Management Review. 21(2). pp.123-136.
Guest, D. E., 2011. Human resource management and performance: still searching for some
answers. Human Resource Management Journal. 21(1). pp.3-13.
Hofstetter, H. and Harpaz, I., 2015. Declared versus actual organizational culture as indicated by
an organization's performance appraisal. The International Journal of Human Resource
Management.26(4). pp.445-466.
Hoque, K., 2013. Human resource management in the hotel industry: Strategy, innovation and
performance. Routledge.
Hutchinson, S. and Purcell, J., 2010. Managing ward managers for roles in HRM in the NHS:
overworked and under‐resourced. Human Resource Management Journal. 20(4). pp. 357-
374.
Jayawardena, C. and et.al., 2013. Trends in the international hotel industry.Worldwide
Hospitality and Tourism Themes.5(2). pp.151-163.Hoque, K., 2013. Human resource
management in the hotel industry: Strategy, innovation and performance. Routledge.
Perry, J. L., Hondeghem, A. and Wise, L. R., 2010. Revisiting the motivational bases of public
service: Twenty years of research and an agenda for the future. Public administration
review. 70(5). pp. 681-690.
Pfeffer, J., 2010. Building sustainable organizations: The human factor. The Academy of
Management Perspectives. 24(1). pp. 34-45.
Stone, R.J., 2013. Managing human resources. John Wiley and Sons.
Storey, J., 2014. New Perspectives on Human Resource Management (Routledge Revivals).
Routledge.
Wright, P. M. and McMahan, G.C., 2011. Exploring human capital: putting ‘human’ back into
strategic human resource management. Human Resource Management Journal. 21(2). pp.
93-104.
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