Year 1, Sem 2 - Introduction to Management: Imperial Hotel Case Study

This case study examines the challenges faced by the Imperial Hotel in London, focusing on the problem of poor guest satisfaction. The report delves into the likely causes of this issue from both management and operational perspectives, highlighting factors such as lack of customer service, staff skill deficiencies, low cleanliness, and operational inefficiencies like long check-in times. A three-point plan is proposed to resolve these problems, including staff training, regular room maintenance, and improved billing practices. Furthermore, the study applies management and operations theories, such as system theory and business process re-engineering, to identify issues and suggest corrective actions. The conclusion emphasizes the importance of addressing guest satisfaction through strategic management and operational improvements to enhance the hotel's performance and reputation.

Case Study

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................................3
Overview of the problem............................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY.................................................................................................................................................3
Likely causes of problem from management and operational perspective.............................................3
3-point plan for resolving the problem....................................................................................................5
Application of management and operations theories for solving problems............................................6
CONCLUSION...............................................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
The Imperial Hotel is a three-star hotel located in London, United Kingdom. It is a five
minutes’ walk from British museum and four minutes from Russell Square tube station. The
hotel has been facing some problems recently and thus this report aims at finding a solution to
one of these problems (Ali and et.al., 2018). In this report, a specific analysis will be made on
likely cause of problem from operational and management perspective, a three-point plan for
resolving the problem. Also, application of management and operations theories and principles
will be made so as to find a solution of the problem.
Overview of the problem
The problem of The Imperial Hotel which will be discussed in this report specifically is
Poor Guest Satisfaction. This is a major problem which needs deeper analysis to solve it. It is
arising due to poor quality of rooms being provided to guests in the hotel, lack of quality service,
rude behavior of staff, over-charging etc. For finding a solution to this problem an agenda has to
be set and a plan needs to be made so that reviews given by clients for the hotel are improved.
This will help the hotel in attracting other customers towards it. It is essential that a positive
feedback is provided by the clients regarding the services of the hotel which will go a long way
in enhancement of its image. The hotel needs to take care that it must not let its customer base
shift towards other hotels which will not only reduce its revenues but will also damage its
reputation.
MAIN BODY
Likely causes of problem from management and operational perspective
The problem of The Imperial Hotel, London i.e. Poor Guest Satisfaction is the one which
needs urgent attention. The likely causes of this problem are explained as below-
From management perspective-
 Lack of customer service- Lack of proper customer service leaves guests disappointed at
the hotels. This can be due to the service standards not meeting the expectations of clients
(Altin and et.al., 2018). As The Imperial Hotel is a three-star hotel the customers have
certain expectations from it which are sometimes not fulfilled which leads to
dissatisfaction among the customers. This is linked with problem of staff turnover as the
efficient staff is heading towards working in other hotels.
 Lack of skills of staff- Lack of proper skills among the staff of the hotel leads to creation
of several issues and problems. As The Imperial Hotel is a three-star hotel the customers
have high expectations regarding the service the staff provides to them. Sometimes the

staff displays inefficiency and ineffectiveness in dealing with the clients which upsets
them and results in poor guest satisfaction. This is linked problem of house staff which
shows inefficiency in dealing with clients.
 No proactiveness- Proactiveness is required while dealing with the problems and issues
of the guests. Lack of it can cause complications (Chan and Hsu, 2016). As The Imperial
Hotel is a big three-star hotel there are various problems and issues which its guests face
during their stay. However, it has been noticed that there is a laxity and lack of
proactiveness among the staff to deal with the issues concerning the guests. Thus it is
required that there should be more of proactiveness so that problems can be easily solved.
This is linked with the problem of back of house staff which is not proactive enough to
communicate problems to front of house staff.
 Low interaction- There is a low interaction of the hotel’s customer care staff and the
guests. Also, there is no complaint addressal mechanism at the social media platforms.
Since The Imperial Hotel is competing with the top players which are its competitors it
needs to increase its presence at the social media and also facilitate solving of queries of
guests at social media platforms itself. This is linked with the problem of front of office
staff as its inefficiency hurts the prospects of hotel.
From operational perspective-
 Low cleanliness- This is the most important factor which attracts the guests towards
hotels. If there is lack of cleanliness in the hotel then it will lead to poor guest satisfaction
level. The Imperial Hotel’s rooms are not maintaining the cleanliness and hygiene
standards as required by the industry and expected by the clients.
 Lack of services- The price which The Imperial Hotel charges for its rooms and suites
are fair according to the industrial standards for three-star hotels. However, the services
which it is providing to the clients can be termed as below par in terms of overall
satisfaction level (Chang and Busser, 2017). Thus this leads to poor guest satisfaction
level. This is also linked with the problem of negative work culture at the hotel which
hurts motivation and morale of workers.
 More time taken at check-in and check-out- The time taken at The Imperial Hotel at
the check-in and check-out of guests takes more time than required which leads to
wastage of precious time of their clients. This problem arises due to lack of efficiency
and effectiveness of the staff at the counters.
 Technology not working in rooms- The technology which has been provides in The
Imperial Hotel in its rooms and suites to clients are high-class however it is of no use to
them if it is not working properly. This is another cause of poor guest satisfaction level at
the hotel (Rahimi and et.al., 2017). This gives negative review and feedback about the
hotel.

3-point plan for resolving the problem
A 3-point plan can be framed by the hotel to resolve the problems faced by guests and to
improve their overall satisfaction level. The plan in the context of The Imperial Hotel is as
follows-
 Special training sessions for staff- The Imperial Hotel needs to arrange special training
sessions for its staff members. This can be done at the hotel itself or at any other external
place. This is important as it will ensure that the inefficiency and ineffectiveness
displayed sometimes by the employees in dealing with the clients is reduced (Kuo, Chen
and Tseng, 2017). In these sessions, basic hospitality tips can be given to the staff and
also models of leading five-star hotels of the world can be used to provide guidance.
It is required that the hotel boosts the motivation and morale of the staff so that
they can provide efficient services to the guests raising their satisfaction level.
 Regular maintenance of rooms- The Imperial Hotel has to ensure that the maintenance
of rooms in the hotel is carried out regularly. It is essential because it finds out problems
with the rooms if any. The equipments which are not working have to be changed;
bathrooms have to be cleaned regularly for maintaining hygiene.
This will ensure that the maintenance aspect is taken care of very seriously at the
hotel. Also this will lead to operational efficiency and productivity of the housekeeping
and maintenance department workers which will raise the overall guest satisfaction level.
 Tracking of billing- The guests have been complaining about the tendency of staff at
The Imperial Hotel to over-charge them in their final bill. This leads to problems as these
clients give negative reviews and feedbacks at the online portals which in turn leads to
loss of business of the hotel (Lee and et.al., 2016).
Thus the hotel can keep a track of its billing process by automated computerized
bills for each of the services which are availed by the guests during their stay at the hotel.
Receipts of services can be provided as soon as they are utilized by them and should be
provided to them for their reference. Through this process, The Imperial Hotel can
provide transparency to the customers in its billing process by making everything crystal
clear to them from the start. This will ensure that a proper track of services which were
availed by clients is kept so that they are billed accordingly at the check-out. This will
lead to no over-charging of guests at the check-out process thereby reducing the chances
of negative reviews and feedbacks. This will improve the image and goodwill of the hotel
ultimately resulting in increase in its revenues.

Application of management and operations theories for solving problems
The Imperial Hotel should make use of the following management and operations
theories to identify its issues and problems and take appropriate steps to rectify them. A detailed
explanation of these theories in the context of hotel is as follows-
Management theory-
System theory-
Sub-system- These are the parts which make an entire organization (Litvin, Goldsmith
and Pan, 2018). In The Imperial Hotel these are various departments such as maintenance,
housekeeping, front office department, back office department etc. There has to be a correlation
between them so that the work can be done effectively and efficiently in the hotel and the clients
face no problem. Thus the hotel must aim to enhance cooperation and coordination between its
sub-systems so as to solve its problem of guest satisfaction.
Synergy- It means sum of total parts which is less than the whole (Min, Park and Kim,
2016). If the departments of The Imperial Hotel work independently then it will lead to low
output and productivity. Thus to ensure guest satisfaction level there needs to be cooperation and
coordination between them.
Open and closed systems- An open system interacts closely with environment while a
closed system does not. In The Imperial Hotel, the system needs be to an open one so that free
interaction can be done with the environment. This is necessary to adopt changes for improving
guest satisfaction level.
System boundary- A system has a boundary separating it from the environment. Thus
the system of The Imperial Hotel has to be flexible enough to adopt changes to raise guest
satisfaction level.
Flow- It means movement of inputs to facilitate the transformation into outputs Pizam,
Shapoval and Ellis, 2016). This flow needs to be maintained in The Imperial Hotel because their

sustained efforts in the form of inputs have to result in output of increase in guest satisfaction
level.
Feedback- Feedback mechanism can let The Imperial Hotel to know whether the output
has been accepted by the environment or not. Thus if it has been accepted then it is good and if
not accepted then it will lead to problems for it. Thus it needs to try and ensure a good feedback
through enhanced guest satisfaction levels.
Operations theory-
Business Process Re-engineering-
Business Process Re-engineering is an operational theory which The Imperial Hotel can
use to bring a dramatic change in productivity and its quality of services. Its main steps are as
follows-
Refocusing- In this step, The Imperial Hotel can refocus its business model to structure it
around the needs and requirements of the customers (Business Process Reengineering, 2018).
This will help it in finding of problems and rectifying them as soon as possible.
Redesigning- In this step, The Imperial Hotel can redesign its core processes so that its
long-standing problem of lack of guest satisfaction can be solved.
Reorganizing- In this step, The Imperial Hotel can reorganize business into cross-
functional teams to raise efficiency, effectiveness and productivity for increasing guest
satisfaction level.
Rethinking- In this step, The Imperial Hotel can rethink on basic issues of organizations
and people so that it can act accordingly to provide guest satisfaction.
Improving- In this step, The Imperial Hotel can improve its business processes across
the organization which will allow for achievement of efficiency and effectiveness raising the
overall guest satisfaction level.
CONCLUSION
From the above report, it can be concluded that The Imperial Hotel London is facing
major problems of which lack of guest satisfaction is hurting them the most. There are various
reasons for this problem discussed from management and operational point of view. A 3-point
plan can be used to find a solution to this issue. Management and operational theories can be
applied in the context of the hotel to improve performance so that this problem does not occurs
again.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals:
Ali, F. and et.al., 2018. An assessment of the use of partial least squares structural equation
modeling (PLS-SEM) in hospitality research. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management.
Altin, M. and et.al., 2018. Performance measurement and management research in the hospitality
and tourism industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Chan, E. S. and Hsu, C. H., 2016. Environmental management research in
hospitality. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Chang, W. and Busser, J. A., 2017. Hospitality employees promotional attitude: Findings from
graduates of a twelve-month management training program. International Journal of Hospitality
Management. 60. pp.48-57.
Kuo, C. M., Chen, L. C. and Tseng, C. Y., 2017. Investigating an innovative service with
hospitality robots. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Lee, P. C. and et.al., 2016. Educational technology in hospitality management programs:
Adoption and expectations. Journal of Teaching in Travel & Tourism, 16(2), pp.116-142.
Litvin, S. W., Goldsmith, R. E. and Pan, B., 2018. A retrospective view of electronic word-of-
mouth in hospitality and tourism management. International Journal of Contemporary
Hospitality Management.
Min, H., Park, J. and Kim, H. J., 2016. Common method bias in hospitality research: A critical
review of literature and an empirical study. International Journal of Hospitality
Management. 56. pp.126-135.
Pizam, A., Shapoval, V. and Ellis, T., 2016. Customer satisfaction and its measurement in
hospitality enterprises: a revisit and update. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality
Management.

Rahimi, R and et.al., 2017. Customer relationship management research in tourism and
hospitality: a state-of-the-art. Tourism Review.
Online
Business Process Reengineering. 2018. [Online]. Available through:<
https://www.bain.com/insights/management-tools-business-process-reengineering/>