Skills and Factors Impacting the Hospitality Industry's Development

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the contemporary hospitality industry, focusing on operational roles, required skills, and emerging trends. It begins by evaluating various operational roles, such as housekeeping supervisors, front office attendants, room service managers, and food and beverage staff, highlighting the specific responsibilities and skills essential for each position. The report then examines the skills required for these roles, including communication, customer service, time management, and cultural awareness, while also addressing current skills shortages within the industry, such as technological proficiency and employee motivation. Furthermore, the report explores factors influencing the development of the hospitality industry, including internal and external business factors, and presents a SWOT analysis to assess the impact on decision-making processes. Finally, it discusses the implications of current and potential trends, such as technological advancements and changing customer expectations, on the future of the hospitality sector. The Ritz Hotel in London serves as a case study throughout the report, illustrating practical applications of the concepts discussed.

Contemporary Hospitality Industry

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
P4 Evaluating a range of different operational roles within the hospitality industry…………..1
P5 Examine the skills required for the roles within the hospitality industry and current skills
along with the current skills shortage………………………………………………………….3
P6 Factors that impacts on the development of the hospitality industry……………………….5
P7 SWOT analysis for the hospitality business which effects on the decision-making process7
P8 Implication of the current and potential trends within the hospitality industry.....................8
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Hospitality industry is a broad category of field which focuses towards the variety of
services such as accommodation, foods and beverage, travel and tourism etc. Hospitality mainly
provides the essential services for the travellers such as lodging and food services as in leisure
time people may explore the different places and therefore they require proper accommodation
facility, food, and transportation services etc. which are offered by the hospitality industry.
Some parts of this report are referred to Ritz Hotel London which provides the variety of
luxury services to high society people and is the most popular hotel in the country which can
offer to their customers a unique experience.
In addition, the document will help in evaluating a range of different operations roles and
analysing the skills which are required to perform the functions of the Hospitality industry.
Although it will also help in making a clear understanding about external and internal
business factors which impact on the main objectives of the hospitality industry and also will
explore various current and potential trends in this field which affects the hospitality industry.
P4 Evaluating a range of different operational roles within the hospitality industry
Hospitality industry offers large services to the customers and therefore they have to
perform various different types of operations within the organisation. The Ritz Hotel performs a
large number of operations in order to carry out the work effectively and efficiently, therefore the
tasks are further categorised on the basis of their nature (Bhuvan and Naik, 2019) . As the Ritz
Hotel mainly sustains in the market via increasing the sales of the rooms for accommodations,
food and beverages, and many other services. The Ritz Hotel operation management program
offers a variety of business skills and acumen to work in a wide range of areas within this
multifaceted industry. The manager of the Ritz Hotel has created a different team to carry out the
operations according to their specific skills, qualifications and knowledge. A range of different
operational roles within the hospitality industry are described below:
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House Keeping supervisor roles
The House Keeping operator within the hospitality industry is responsible for the
cleanliness, maintenance and aesthetic upkeep of the rooms, public areas, back areas and
surroundings of the Hotel. Customers are attracted towards the hygienic environment.
Comfortable and clean places may help the organization to increase the customer approach
which results in increasing the sales of the Hotel. Therefore, the housekeeping team plays a very
important role in providing such comfort and satisfaction to the customers via their House
keeping services within Hotel (Chang, 2018). The employees within the house keeping
department require strong time in management skills which allows them the workplace
punctuality. They pay attention to the detail and meticulous use of proper safety procedures.
Along with the Team members of the House keeping department, they also need to be
experienced in handling the variety of cleaning products and tools.
Front office operational roles
The front office operators are responsible of welcoming the guests in a professional and
friendly manner and get them checked into rooms, help them with their luggage, provide them
all the information about all the services and finally help them to check out. They are offering a
great customer care experience to the hotel guests by being always available to their requests and
offering them all the information that they need about the hotel services and also about all the
attractions around the place. The skills required within the Ritz Hotel is operation knowledge,
detailed orientation, interpersonal skills, communication skills etc.
Room service operational roles
The room service operator is responsible for preparing orders, set trays and delivering
items to guest rooms in an attentive and efficient manner and ensuring to provide excellent
quality service as per the hotel standard operating procedure. The hotel allows the guests to order
breakfast, lunch and dinners from their hotel rooms between certain hours of the day and night.
The Ritz Hotel is offering complimentary butler service for the Signature Suites.
The skills required to perform the operations within Room service department are
communication skills between kitchen, order taker and service team members, being
knowledgeable to operate the hotels point of sales (POS) system, etc.
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Food and Beverage operational roles
The Ritz Hotel has a Michelin-starred Restaurant.The entire team is delivering to every guest
that is dining in an excellent service and extremely high quality of food. They can make from
just a simple dinner a memorable experience fact that is stimulating most of the guest to come
back and also to recommend The Ritz Restaurant one of the best Restaurants in the world.
As the Ritz Hotel deals with the variety of operations, they basically provide the Hotel services
to a large number of people, that includes the food and beverages. This department is also
responsible for maintaining high quality of food and services.
In order to carry out these operations effectively and efficiently, the skills required by the
employees are cultural awareness, organizational skills, multitasking, proper awareness about the
nutrients and nutrition value.
P5 Examine the skills required for the roles within the hospitality industry and current skills
along with the current skills shortage
Hospitality industry is itself a very broad topic which covers different areas in order to
provide the customer services and deal with the variety of operation (Erazo and et.al., 2019).
Hospitality organisations improves the customer services in order to sustain in this highly
competitive world for a long period of time. These industries require the highly qualified and
skilled workers in order to carry out the different operations of the business. It includes many job
roles such as working in Hotels, restaurants, casinos, theme parks, cruise line and other facilities
that help the customers to meet the leisure needs. Therefore, various skills are required for the
different roles within the hospitality industry are as the following:
House Keeping supervisor
Fore house keeping supervisor, there is requirement of proper communication skills
through which they can communicate regarding requirements to purchase department.
Supervisor of Hotel Ritz wants to communicate with workers regarding services, their feedback,
etc. to improve services offered by house keeping department of Ritz Hotel. Apart from this
there also requires good listening skills. Hence if there is any flaws in any of the department at
Ritz hotel, then supervisor can listen them proper and rectify the issue. At Ritz Hotel house
keeping supervisor lacks in good communication skills due to which some times, workers are not
able to understand what roles are assigns to them, deadline of work, etc.
Front office attendant
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Front office attendants requires skills such as knowledge about computer, interpersonal
skills, able to work under flexible working environment, effective writing and verbal skills, etc.
In hotel Ritz, front office attendant is lacking in writing skills and flexible working operations.
This affects services offered to guest and sometimes possibilities of mis communication arise in
Hotel Ritz.
Room service manager
Room service managers has to work in consideration of providing better services to
consumers related to cleanliness of room. For room service manager there is requirement of
understanding operation of different department, so they can complete their work on time.
Manger must also have good inter- personal skills and able to work in team with adaptation of
new techniques. But room service manager is lacking good inter- personal skills, supervision of
people. This affects room service department to perform operations because of improper
communication skills.
Executive chef
There are some skills required for conducting roles and responsibilities of executive chef.
They must have ability to deal with criticism, creative, have good attention, able to handle team,
etc. This assist in improving quality of new dishes and provide varieties in menu card. But
executive chef at Hotel Ritz lacks in innovation. This affects new and creativity in dishes and
team mates are not able to come with new ideas.
High level of Customer service
Proper professional skills and communication qualities are required for the customer care
team within the Hospitality industries. As they directly interact with the customers in order to
offer them the quality-based services which allows them to increase the sales of the company. As
a career within the hospitality, which means working in customer-facing environment. In order
to succeed in the industry, the customer service department within the hospitality industry needs
to ensure that the customers are constantly entertained and having a good time during the stay
within the hotel.
Good Communication skills
The proper and effective communication skills need to be required at every job role
within the hospitality industry (Lashley, 2018). From the waiters and waitresses to the high-level
manager of the company, all the employees need to develop the strong communication skills. As
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working in the hospitality sector can be both mentally as well as physically demanding, so it
requires a strong communication between staff, managers and, also the customers.
Formal Training
As the hospitality industries are largely relayed on the government laws and regulations
in order to carry out the effective and efficient operations, it is very important to develop the
formal training and qualification skills among the staff, in order to achieve the main goals of the
operations within Ritz Hotel. It also helps in developing the knowledge among the food and
beverage team, reception department, reservations, housekeeping and events etc.
High level of cultural awareness
The organizations dealing with the hospitality industry have to encounter with different
places and people who belong to the many different cultures all around the world. It is very
important for the staff members to consider various cultural aspects of the customers in order to
make them feel comfortable with the services of the hotel (Marasco and et.al., 2018). This
requires a Time management skills and efficient and effective services to the people who seek to
enjoy such hospitality services.
Ability to multitask
This is the one industry which performs multiple operations simultaneously in order to
accomplish the main objectives of the hotel. So there need to be a multitasking skills among the
staff of the hotel in order to manage various tasks efficiently.
Team working skills
It is a very important skill which allows the staff members to coordinate the tasks with each
other. It leads to the effective and efficient operations within the hotel and therefore this skill
allows the organization to achieve the main goals of the organization.
Interpersonal skills
It is also an essential skills required to work. The person must possess knowledge and
other skills such as active listening, responsibility, patience, etc.
This is also one of the most important skills among the staff members of the Hotel. This
skill allows the employees to work constantly within the unexpected situations in order to work
with the flexible environment. It can easily transit the employee into the variety of Job roles.
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Current skills shortages within the Hospitality industry
Due to high use of technology in industry there is lack of technological skills among staff
(Marasco and et.al., 2018). Sometimes, there might be a very poor team morale which impacts
on the overall performance.
Inability to compete with the latest trend of the industry via innovative services, due to long
working hours and low wages there is lack of motivational skills within employees and
inability to recruit high skilled workers.
Employers have the task of not only identifying and attracting the best talent for their roles,
but then holding on to them in an extremely competitive environment.
P6 Factors that impacts on the development of the hospitality industry
The Hospitality industry may get affected by various internal as well as external environment
business factors (Masih and et.al., 2019). As the hospitality industry not only provides the
services to the tourists, but also to the travellers of various different types of countries. So, there
are many external factors which impacts on the overall performance of the Hotel. Such factors
are explained below:
Political
These factors are concerned with the change in the governmental laws and policies that
impacts on the actual cost of services within the Hospitality industries. The Government charges
great amount of tax on the luxury and star category of hotels. This leads to the direct impact on
the business. These circumstances may include various economic factors such as change in the
labour law, changes in the taxes which directly impacts on the cost of the goods. So, it may give
raise to the prices of the products and services (Bhuvan and Naik, 2019).
Economic
These factors are concerned with the taxation rate of the particular country which may
raise the prices within the region. It may influence the buying behaviour of the customers. It
leaves the significant impact on the behaviour of the Hospitality industry (Milliman, Gatling and
Kim, 2018). It includes inflation, economic growth, interest rates and exchange rates.
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However, hotels worldwide try to capitalize the travellers because they bring great amount of
money with them accompanied with huge expectations from five-star hotels.
Social
These factors are concerned with the changing perceptions and tastes of the customers
with the change in the marketing trend. Changes in social factors impact the demand for firm
services and products. Therefore, the hospitality industry needs to update theirs and innovate
new services within the industry in order to retail loyal customers towards the services of the
Hotel (Bhuvan and Naik, 2019).
Technological
In this highly competitive world, people are employing the latest technology to improve
the efficiency of the work. Hospitality industries need to update the technology within the firm
which leads to the effective management and communication within the firm and therefore it
results in the effective services to the customers. Technology helps to reduce the work effort and
enhances the results. Many customers and business people utilize technologically integrated
hotels because it is a way of attracting customer satisfaction quickly (Chang, 2018).
Environmental
These factors are concerned with the change in the weather which creates the demands of
the environment related products. It may cause the imbalance in the demand and supply of the
product within the Hospitality industry. Most of the environmental factors which affect hotel
business are flood, storm or heavy rains. The hotel management has to take proper measures for
such factors, taking control over it on time and teaches proper measures to their employees who
need to be taken especially in emergency cases (Erazo and et. al., 2019).
Legal
These factors are concerned with the legislations as it may result in the change in the
safety and health laws as every country follows different legislative policies within the region
(Secchi, Roth and Verma, 2018). The customers who approach to the services of the hotel
provide the legal and secure services to their customers. The current situation and war conditions
can affect law of hotel industry. So it might be possible that external factors may caused a
negative impact on hotel industry.
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P7 SWOT analysis for the hospitality business which effects on the decision-making process
This SWOT analysis is based on Ritz hotel and helps in analysing the various opportunities
as well as threats of the company. Therefore, SWOT analysis helps in strengthening the
policy formulations and preventing the industry from various consequences.
Strength
There are various strengths to the Hospitality industry as hospitality sector cannot change
its nature, as people are attracted towards such luxury and travelling which brings them to
make the plan with the family, friends or relatives once in a month. This industry has its
international identity in the global market. As the hospitality industry is labour intensive and
close to the customer so it cannot be outsourced or exported to other regions (Sanchez-
Franco, Cepeda-Carrion and Roldán, 2019). This industry is comparatively flexible and
handles large customer-based services. The Ritz Hotel strengths are:
- they are offering high quality services to customers, having trained workforce
- employee quality
- trust in employee
-guest feedback and appraisal
As these days, there is demand of luxurious services, so it is important for managers of
Hotel Ritz to make decisions regarding strategies through which consumer get lavish services.
These days, here is requirement of more personalised services, so managers can plan this through
taking feedback and research and development in market.
Weakness
Hospitality industry has a high dependency over the travellers and visitors in order to
earn high profits. Also, this industry has a greater dependency according to the seasonal sales
as most of the people prefer to travel during the vacations. So, it can be a great weakness to
the industry. However, it is considered to be low sector employment for most of the people
which also restrict the Hotel to hire qualified professionals for the hotel. Some of the Ritz
hotel weaknesses are:
- High employee turnover rate
- Poor perception in mind of customer regarding security issues
- Providing the experience
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- Sustaining the brand image
- Fluctuating demands
Managers of Hotel Ritz have to make decisions regarding security measures in hotel for
guest because they have negative perception regarding it. This assist in making long term
relations with guest and they prefers to avail hospitality services from there. Apart from this,
there is requirement of motivation techniques through which employees can be retained at Hotel
Ritz. This assist in providing better services by experienced workers. As demand of consumers
are fluctuating, so it is essential for managers of Hotel Ritz to analyse consumer's feedback and
preferences. This helps to meet out current market trends and outshine in industry.
Opportunities
Opportunities refer to the favourable external factors that could give an hotel organization a
competitive advantage. High prices and substandard services won’t stop people from
travelling and this is one of the reasons why the hotel industry is here to stay.
The demand of luxury products exists for hotels is expected to grow in the next two
decades. For Ritz hotel we identify some opportunities as:
- Growing preference for luxury
- Hight price
- Improvement in security
Measures have to alter their decision regarding price of services offered by Hotel Ritz can
be reduced. This is possible with the help of proper analysis of resources such as suppliers of raw
material, proper innovation techniques, etc. Decision have to be taken regarding improving
quality of services, so niche consumers can be targeted.
Threats
Threats can be external or internal and are anything which can adversely affect the hospitality
industry. External threats could be inflation, new legislation, or a new competitor in their market.
Internal threats could include a skill or staff shortage within hospitality industry.
Periodic investment on technology and innovation may be a threat as it may reduce the profit
margin of the firm. Some of the Ritz hotel threats include :
- Competition
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- New entrant with innovation can be a threat.
- Rise in security threats due to terrorism
- Recession may impact on hotel growth
There is requirement of planning and decision making regarding competition in industry.
As there is recession in hospitality sector, so it is important for Hotel Ritz to maintain heritage of
country where people get knowledge about culture. This has positive impact on growth of hotel
industry. In order to improve working style of workers, managers must plan for training of
workers and feedback has to be taken regarding experience of consumers and corrective actions
has to be taken.
SWOT Analysis is a simple but useful framework for analysing the organizations strengths and
weaknesses, and the opportunities and threats that they face.
P8 Implication of the current and potential trends within the hospitality industry
As the technology is rapidly growing, it influences the people to adopt the modern
culture. So, people are now more conscious towards exploring new places, and various trending
demands of the customers. Therefore, the Hospitality industry has been undergoing tremendous
changes over the last two decades. So, there are various current as well as potential trends which
will help in reshaping the industry such are:
Digitalised guest Experience
The latest trend which various Hospitality industries are adopting to increase the
customer approach and popularise the hotel is the Digital guest experience (Marasco and et.al.,
2018). Since, people are now more attracted towards the social media, so by taking proper
reviews and feedbacks from the customers, companies engage customer’s satisfaction and also
improve the quality of the services to make the people comfortable.
Adopting various software's and updated technology help the company to improve the
efficiency and effective performance. So, this helps the hospitality industries to understand the
marketing trend which allow them to meet the expectations and demands of the consumers. With
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