Hospitality & Tourism Business: Integration Impact & Project Planning

This report examines the interrelationship between the hospitality, tourism, and travel sectors, highlighting how hospitality firms contribute to tourism by providing leisure, accommodation, and entertainment services, ultimately boosting regional economic growth. It discusses the impact of business integration, particularly mergers, within the hospitality sector, focusing on horizontal and vertical integration strategies employed by firms like Marriott. The report analyzes how integration influences marketing mix elements such as product, price, and promotion, and explores implications like standardization and economies of scale. Furthermore, it develops a rationale and plan for a hospitality business project, justifying decisions related to the target market and outlining key components such as market analysis, service offerings, and financial projections. This detailed analysis provides a comprehensive understanding of strategic development and integration within the hospitality industry. Desklib offers a wealth of similar solved assignments and study resources to aid students in their academic pursuits.

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION..........................................................................................................................3
TASK 1- ARTICLE.........................................................................................................................4
INTERRELATION BETWEEN THE HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM AND TRAVEL BUSINESS.........4
TASK 2.........................................................................................................................................7
2.1 EXAMINATION OF IMPLICATION OF PROCESS OF INTEGRATION IN THE HOSPITALITY
SECTOR...................................................................................................................................7
2.2 DISCUSSION ON THE METHOD IN WHICH INTEGRATION HAS INFLUENCED THE
HOSPITALITY BUSINESS..........................................................................................................9
TASK 3.......................................................................................................................................11
3.1 DEVELOP A RATIONALE FOR A SELECTED PROJECT CLEARLY JUSTIFYING DECISIONS
LINKED TO TARGET MARKET................................................................................................11
3.2 DEVELOP A PLAN FOR A HOSPITALITY BUSINESS...........................................................13
CONCLUSION............................................................................................................................18
REFERENCES.............................................................................................................................19
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INTRODUCTION
The hospitality firms in the business sector provide the facilities for some leisure
time, accommodation facilities, some entertainment and niche tourism for the
tourists. The concept of hospitality is extensive and comprises of many categories of
the hospitality firms. Good relationships between the tourism practices and the
hospitality firm are being built when the consumers achieve high levels of satisfaction
from the facilities and provisions provided by the hospitality firms. Both the sector of
the tourism activities and the hospitality firms together provide aid in the
development and economic growth of a particular region.
The assignment firstly comprises of an article to be written for the hospitality
publication by the PKF hotel group’s consultant for depicting the interrelations
between the hospitality sector and the business of tourism and travels. Furthermore,
a report will be written for describing the impact of the mergers that occur in the
hospitality business sector. It will be last followed by the preparation of a business
plan for the hospitality sector and industry development.
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TASK 1- ARTICLE
INTERRELATION BETWEEN THE HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM AND TRAVEL
BUSINESS
In the last few years, with the emergence of many niche tourism and other tourist
places, the hospitality firms have increased that provide the facility for some leisure
time along with food and accommodation to the tourists. This gives the evidence for
a strong relationship between the hospitality forms and the tourism activities of the
tourists. It also helps in providing good opportunities for the business to grow their
areas in the economic aspects. Taking the example of the Marriott Group of Hotels,
they are established all around the globe thus showing their international presence.
They have laid their emphasis towards the provisioning of the services to its targeted
audience and the potential customers and also customize attractive packages for
them (Buhalis and Amaranggana, 2015). This high-end services provided to the
customers enhance satisfaction level in them thus generating many loyal consumers.
They visit the hospitality firms again and again and also suggest the services to other
people. This helps in the overall boost in advantages and benefits for the hospitality
services of these organizations.
This helps in delivering positive results along with the importance of the hospitality
industry is being well comprehended for its role in the tourism sector. The visitors go
to a number of tourist places with the aim for exploring more places, put some more
time in the leisure activities and to explore the rich and cultural heritage of the places
(Cook, et al. 2015). The firms providing the hospitality services offer the opportunity
for the history lovers to explore the historical and cultural heritage of the places.
Many events are being organised by the firms providing the hospitality services like
music shows, cultural activities, dance programs of the folk music of the place and
other fun activities and programs that keep the tourists engaged and provide them
with a happy and cheerful experience. The business officials who visit the places are
provisioned with facilities for conferences and meetings and business dinners. They
are being addressed and paid more attention as they may contribute by being the
shareholders of the firm.
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The Marriott Group of hotels have also devised some of the policies and regulations
based on the market analysis with the help of primary and secondary research.
These have helped the hotel management to gain some knowledge about the needs
and the demands of the consumers in the tourism industry (Cook, et al. 2015). They
are beneficial in the effective management of the relationship between the firms
providing hospitality services and the tourism activities. The data gained from the
research helps a lot in providing the best in class services and facilities to the
consumers and therefore this helps in achieving the good levels of satisfaction for
the customers.
The tourism sector has witnessed a lot of improvement in the form of many tourist
spots being established for example the establishment of hotels and theme parks
that provide fun activities. The connection between the hospitality organisations and
the tourist activities cannot be undermined and holds a significant value. The people
who visit different place for some type of tourism like adventure and sports, dark
tourism, medical tourism, pilgrimage tourism etc always have the aim of conducting
their tourism in a comfortable manner and get good food and accommodation for
leisure time (Šerić, et al. 2014). The firms that provide these services to the
customers gain a great appreciation and consumer base and thus achieve
development and growth in a few years. This shows that the hospitality firms along
with providing services to the tourists also gain their confidence and thus contribute
to the economy of the place. This, in turn, benefits both the tourist business and the
hospitality business contributing to the overall destination product. The Marriott
group is known for its exquisite dining and accommodation along with ensuring the
safety and privacy of the visitors.
The organisations in the hospitality and tourism sector work in a collective manner
for the generation of profits. This provides aid in the increment of the profits and the
sales ratios like the contractual agreement between the firm Thomas Cook and
Marriott Group. They have settled an agreement upon providing a profit of 10% that
the tourists will get it who will stay at the Marriott Group which will be suggested by
the Thomas group (Chen and Chen, 2010). The deal settled between both the
organisations has provided a lot of aid in increment of the profit share of both the
firms and also helped in the maintenance of the effective relationship between the
organisations. The hotel’s management has a distinct tour agency that gives
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attractive offers to the visitors at the international level. The consumers are also
provided with various offers and discounts for special occasions. The connectivity
between the tourism and the hospitality firms provide aid in the growth of these
sectors and also facilitate the consumers to get an advantage in the form of
fascinating packages. Also, with the help of these packages both the sectors have a
mutual dependency on each other and therefore they contribute towards the
development of good market share as well as popularity in the marketplace.
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TASK 2
INTRODUCTION
The report will discuss the methods of integration that have impacted the hospitality
business and also the methods by which integration has impacted upon the business
of hospitality.
DISCUSSION
2.1 EXAMINATION OF IMPLICATION OF PROCESS OF INTEGRATION IN
THE HOSPITALITY SECTOR
In the organisations, the procedure of the business integration at the initial level was
adopted for witnessing a decline in the price of the operations of the businesses. In
the year 1990, it was instantiated and provided aid to the organisations in the
generation of good market share and along with this accomplishes high amounts of
market value. Integration in the firms has provisioned and generated positive results
(Brotherton, 2012). They have generated satisfactory results thereby giving rise to
the customer base and along with lessening the operational expenses to a great
level. The organisations get good results in the form of expansion at the global level.
The types of integration that are adopted by the firms providing hospitality services
are-
 Horizontal- This type of integration comprises of the expansion of the firms at
the internal level. Example of this can be the improvement of the supply chain
of the firm. This can be well comprehended from the instance of Thomas
Cook tour operators and the hotel Marriott group. Furthermore, the integration
process held between the Walt Disney World resort and the hotel group Hilton
Hotel is an example of horizontal integration (Aziri and Nedelea, 2013). The
contracts which are being established between the airline companies and the
travel agencies is also an instance were horizontal integration takes place.
 Vertical- This type of integration comprise the planning by the organisations
for their self-management and the planning of the ownership divisions with the
assistance of conducting the recruitment of the skilled personnel and planning
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for a large base of assets (Wan and Sanders, 2017). This is known as the
vertical integration. This integration provides aid in getting good market
returns from the diversify markets and augmentation in sales revenues. The
vertical integration has the following forms-
 Forward vertical- this is the change in the products and the services of
the form by getting some help from the integrated services
 Backward vertical- mergers with the suppliers and expansion of the
complete supply chain of firms
 Lateral vertical- The firms do not have to share their resources like their
series and products (Helfat and Campo-Rembado, 2016)
In order to maintain the sustainability of the tourism, The Marriott group of hotel
shave merged with different tourist agencies and the restaurant chains. Integration
can be fostered in the following manner-
 Market power- the activity of merger between the large firms is being done by
the hospitality firms with the travel agencies to establish alliance among the
famous brands to get large customer base of both the firms and therefore to
get the prominent position in the marketplace
 Stigmatization- The hotels that are on top of the preference list of the
customers are dependent on the tour operators. For the maintenance of this
dependency, stigmatisation is being done (Helfat and Campo-Rembado,
2016).
 Raising globalisation- The process of integration will give help in the
protection of the environment along with reducing the impact of the
globalisation factors.
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2.2 DISCUSSION ON THE METHOD IN WHICH INTEGRATION HAS
INFLUENCED THE HOSPITALITY BUSINESS
The organisations integrate and this helps in the business expansion at the
international level (Bernardo, et al. 2015). The Marriott hotels acquisition of the
Starwood Hotels & Resorts and the other hotel the Delta Hotels & Resorts have
been marked as the biggest mergers in the history of the merger in the hospitality
industry. The marketing mix elements 3 P have the control on the process of
integration-
Product- The integration results in many choices for the visitors to select the
services and products and this helps in the increment of the satisfaction level of the
consumers. This helps in saving time and expense and also provides benefit to the
customers to purchase products and services from 2 brand choices under the same
label (Bowie, et al. 2016).
Price- The organisations after the mergers have to fix the costs so that there is no
loss at the commencement level of integration. If any of the services are unlike by
the customers, then this will count for a huge loss for the merger organisations and
thus the settlements may lead to higher amounts despite the profit made. The
Marriott hotel’s acquisition has transformed the economic state of Starwood Hotels &
Resorts.
Promotion- This describes the marketing activities that are needed to be done by
the companies for creating a good customer base. The consumers of the firms must
have the knowledge regarding the merger and must not get confused (Law, et al.
2014).
The integration has the following implications-
Standardization- This restricts the services that are provided by the individual
companies. The contract confines the firms to not use some of their offered services.
This can lead to a negative effect on the buying behaviour of the consumers
(Armstrong, et al. 2015).
Market share and economies of scale- The firms after the integration process can
get good profits but in some of the cases, the profit that is gained is less than that the
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firms at individual levels earned in the earlier times, It all depends on the customer's
response after the integration.
Quality of services- After the process of integration, the companies have the need to
keep up the quality of the services that it offers (Mok, et al. 2013). If some
compromise is done than this can serve as a hurdle in the growth of the firms as a
merger and also may cause the reduction in the customer base.
Also, there are so many factors that may have an influence on the integration of the
businesses. For example, in case the customers if they get happiness with only one
brand and are contented with it may not like the merger the changes done thereafter.
The customer is likely to move to another brand as the services and some of the
policies may not be liked by him (Wan and Sanders, 2017). This can also lead to the
layoff of the employees which can cause rage in them and also result in the loss to
the economy. In this way, the difference in the aims and objectives of the two firms
can misguide the process of integration and cause huge losses for the firms.
CONCLUSION
The aforementioned report has discussed upon the methods of integration that have
impacted the hospitality business and also the methods by which integration has
impacted upon the business of hospitality.
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TASK 3
3.1 DEVELOP A RATIONALE FOR A SELECTED PROJECT CLEARLY
JUSTIFYING DECISIONS LINKED TO TARGET MARKET
The project rationale is a document that is made in favour of the argument for
implementing the proposed project. It gives an explanation for the need of executing
the project in the given area. Moreover, it gives a brief as to why the project should
receive funding and management approval and can be used for both profits as well
as non-profit organizations (Studenski, et al. 2014).
Aim and Objectives
The aim of the project is to critically analyse the need for hospitality services in the
tourism sector. Some of the prime objectives of the report are mentioned below.
 To critically analyse the advantages and disadvantages of integration of
hospitality and tourism businesses.
 Analysing the effect of integration for the tour operator companies and the
hospitality firms.
 Analysing the need for hospitality firms in terms of meeting customer
expectations and needs (Hung and Law, 2011).
Problem Statement
The hospitality and tourism firms in the market are facing difficulty to integrate their
business units because of lack of knowledge and communication.
Implementing the idea
There are many changes that companies face while integrating with different firms.
Some of the challenges include the cost for example when two or more companies
integrate then there is sharing of resources, manpower and other company’s assets.
Companies are not able to manage cost and time to integrate because of many
processes already running in the market. Moreover, integration is not just about
connecting one tool with another, it is all about enabling the processes to merge with
other processes, sharing resources to perform better, transferring knowledge and
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mutual understanding. Hence it is essentially important for hospitality firms to take
advantage of integration by merging and integrating with other companies thereby
gaining a competitive advantage in the business (Brotherton, 2015).
Conclusion
The discussion clearly concludes that integration is essential for gaining a
competitive position in the market. It is essential for hospitality and tourism
companies to integrate with other business for gaining competitive advantage in the
industry.
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