Imperial Hotel, London: Operation Management Challenges and Solutions

This report analyzes the operation management challenges faced by the Imperial Hotel, a 500-bedroom hotel in London. The case study identifies key issues such as communication barriers between departments, departmental conflicts, employee issues, technical errors in the PMS system, and leadership deficiencies. These problems lead to poor guest satisfaction, low room occupancy, and high employee turnover. The report proposes a three-point plan: automating daily tasks, streamlining housekeeping and maintenance processes, and creating an issue management system. It also applies management theories like division of work, authority and responsibility, and discipline to address these challenges. The analysis aims to improve operational efficiency, enhance guest satisfaction, and foster a positive work environment within the hotel. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the problems and solutions, supported by relevant management theories, offering valuable insights into the hotel's operational issues and potential improvements.

THE IMPERIAL HOTEL

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION.................................................................................................................................3
Task.......................................................................................................................................................3
Analysing the problem.......................................................................................................................3
3 Point Plan.......................................................................................................................................6
Management and operation theories..................................................................................................7
CONCLUSION.....................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES......................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Operation management is defined as managing all operations associated with the
organisation in such a way that each functional activity of the company achieves best level of
work efficiency. This report is based on the case study of Imperial Hotel. The hotel was built
between 1905 and 1911. Charles Fitzroy Doll is the architecture of the hotel. The original
hotel was demolished and replaced with the new building. The building also shares the lodge
with President Hotel. The hotel consists up with 500 bedrooms, conference room, leisure
centre, bars, restaurants and conference rooms. In this report case study will be discussed on
the Imperial Hotel in regards to its operation management task. In recent time the hotel had to
bear losses the case study will identify the key barriers behind the under performance of the
hotel.
Task
Analysing the problem
The reception staff of the hotel using the system calls as a Micros Fidelio reservation
and Property Management System (PMS) to share the required information with all different
function departments of the hotel. In recent time the communication barrier has been resisted
as one of the key barrier hotels has witnessed. Communication is one of the primary feature
involve in operation management function at the hospitality organisation that allow company
to manage all different functional activities efficiently. As the hotel consist up with various
functional departments and also the all departments of company are intimidated with each
other in order to perform the individual operations also. In recent time the operation
management of the Imperial Hotel has witnessed a lack of communication between different
functional areas that has caused to poor guest satisfaction, inefficient operations of hotel, low
profitability, low room occupancy rate and many other issues.
Possible causes of the problem
Following are the possible causes behind the problems Imperial Hotel is facing in
present time.
Communication barriers between employees: In case of hospitality organisation operation
management is segregated into multiple functional areas. Communication plays a crucial role
for operating all such functions in hospitality organisation. Recently the Hotel faced the

communication barrier between employees from different departments in the hotel. Due to
communication barrier proper coordination could not be established between the employees
belong to different departments (Alananzeh and et.al., 2019). Front office staff could not
convey the proper information about guest arrival in the hotel, departure of guest from the
hotel to housekeeping department. As a result of that housekeeping department could not
make the rooms ready fort guest stay that further causes to guest has to wait for longer time to
get the room. This communication barrier between functional departments has resulted into
low guest satisfaction rate from the services of the hotel. This could also damage to the brand
value of the hotel.
Departmental issues in company: A possible cause behind the problems Imperial Hotel is
facing in present time is may be the company is facing some departmental issues. Clashes
might be going on between departments in the hotel. In case of hospitality organisation
various functional department are associated with the organisation hierarchy (Dunning,
2019). All such departments needs to work together to achieve the best level of work
efficiencies. In recent time employees of inter departments could not communicate properly
which further resulted into low guest satisfaction, low room occupancy rate and many other
issues of the hotel. Individual issues between departments of hotel can be the possible reason
behind all the issues company is facing in current time.
Issues between employees: It is possible that employees of other departments not like to
communicate with the employees belong to other departments in the Imperial Hotel. This can
also be another possible reason behind all different problems at the Imperial Hotel. Many
times due to some individual problems employees not like to work with other employees not
belong to their own fictional department (Gannon, Rodrigo and Santomà, 2016). This could
also be another possible reason behind all different issues hotel is facing related to
coordination and information sharing. In case of hospitality organisation to have a proper
operation management it becomes necessary that employees from all different departments
work together to achieve the best level of guest service. Due to this issue proper coordination
between employees are not able to establish apart from the effective information technology
system.
Technical errors: This can also be a reason behind the issues hotel is facing in present time.
The hotel is using the Micros Fidelio reservation and Property Management System (PMS) to
communicate about different information related to guest arrive at the hotel. In recent time

the information could not be deliver on time to other functional departments as a result of that
guest needs to wait for occupying hotel room (Jaykumar, 2018). Due to technical glitch the
information is not getting delivered in other department on time. Information technology
system is a machine that operates the entire system. Many times the system can suffer with
technical issues which not allow the system to perform its duties efficiently.
Leadership issue: Leadership at the Imperial Hotel can also be a possible reason behind all
the problems employees are facing in the hotel. Many times due to improper leadership the
work culture at the organisation gets affected. Inappropriate leadership can also be causes to
poor employee satisfaction and poor behaviour with employee’s part of the hotel. Poor
leadership also might affect to the employee issues not being solved in time. The Imperial
Hotel London is serving the high employee turnover rate which denote that hotel do not
provide a complete support to employees and do not focus on achieving the bets level of
employee satisfaction rate. All these can be a possible reason behind the issues hotel is facing
in current time.
The above mentioned reasons can be a possible reason behind all different issues
hotel is facing in present tie related to operations management. Many other reasons can also
be possible causes behind the issues hotel is facing like low salary, inappropriate time shifts
and many others.
Relationship with other problems
The main problem Imperial Hotel is facing right now is poor team working and
ineffective use of IT system of company. This issue of company is further spoiling the
operation management of company and the employees of company are not able to coordinate
with each other properly. As a result of that rooms are not available to guest n time which
caused to poor guest satisfaction for the hotel (Kozak and Kozak, 2016). Issues between
employees from other departments also causes to ineffective work culture at the hotel.
Ineffective work culture always sustains to low employee sustainability at the organisation
which caused to the problem of high staff turnover at the hotel. Issues between employees at
the organisation create a negative work culture. The poor use of information technology
system at the hotel further results into ineffective coordination between the house keeping
department, kitchen and all other functional department. This has resulted into the not
fulfilment of the demands of the guest at the hotel on time. All problems are interconnected

with each other at the Imperial Hotel. Proper planning can be a possible cause to deal with the
issue at hotel.
3 Point Plan
Three point plan for dealing with the operation management issues at the Imperial
Hotel can be projected in the following points.
Automate daily task to keep team focused on standards
Automation of daily task to all employees associated with the Imperial Hotel. The
operation management is conducted with the support of Micros Fidelio reservation and
Property Management System (PMS). Irrespective to that system it becomes important for
the individual team leaders to remind the individual duty of all employees’ part of the hotel.
This strategy works in case of hospitality organisations where the entire operation
management is divided into multiple functions comprises with multiple departments
(Okumus and et.al., 2019). This practice would guide employees on a daily basis to what are
the duties they need to fulfil in a given day. This practice will improve the coordination
between employees and make employees aware about their individual roles in the
organisation. Management at the Imperial Hotel can also utilise the hotel audit tools and
software to improve the work efficiencies at the hotel. Schedule will also assign in this
practice related to the recurring functions like housekeeping, property maintenance,
cleanliness and food safety. All these functions are the basic activities at the hotel and will
improve the customer satisfaction from the proper operation management.
Streamline housekeeping and hotel maintenance process
Imperial Hotel management can follow the practice of streamlining housekeeping
practice and hotel maintenance process to improve the operation management. In this practice
checklist will be used related to the guest at the hotel and also related to the maintenance in
the hotel. This checklist will ensure proper room set ups, guest needs, cleanliness, building
lights, elevators and all other basic functions at the hotel (Rahimi and et.al., 2018).
Employees will be guided to constantly check all the check list to remind about all the roles
they need to play in the Imperial Hotel. Technical team at the hotel would operate the
maintenance of the system. It becomes important to maintain the IT system in the proper way
than it can serve the best level of advantages. This is an important practice hotel can
implement to improve the operation management and to improve the level of customer

satisfaction at the hotel. These practices would empower employees at Imperial Hotel to
deliver the best level of work efficiencies at the hotel.
Creation of issue management process
Operation management team can implement the issue management process at the
hotel. With the support of human resource department this process can be follow to deal with
all different issues employees at the Imperial Hotel is facing. The process would involve
proper way to fetch the problem employee is facing, a team that will look up all the issue and
also the standard time frame within the issue must get solve by the team (Yao and et.al.,
2019). This practice would support the Imperial Hotel for dealing with all different problems
and issues employees are facing at a hotel. The employee sustainability rate at the hotel is
very low which indicate that many issues of employees get unsolved which results into high
employee turnover rate of organisation.
The above mentioned plan will support the hotel to deal with all different issues hotel
is focusing in present time.
Management and operation theories
Management play a crucial role in achieving high level of work efficiencies in the
hotel. Following are the theories that Imperial Hotel management can channelizes to deal
with all different issues at hotel.
Principle of division of work: This theory work on the fundamentals that all operations of
the hotel must be distributed into small functions. Division of work play an important role in
case of hospitality sector where the different functions are associated with different
department. Proper division of work will allow management at Imperial Hotel to manage all
different functions of hotel.
Theory of authority and responsibility: This theory give emphasis to distributing authority
and responsibility of all different hospitality functions (Ulker-Demirel and Ciftci, 2020). This
theory plays an important role in achieving the best level of operation efficiencies at the
hotel. Segregating authorities will allow the employees to take decisions in time.
Theory of discipline: This is an important theory Imperial Hotel can implement in the hotel
to achieve the best level of work efficiencies at the hotel. Discipline is the fundamental that is
required in every operation to achieve the best level of outcome.

The above mentioned theories would support the hotel to deal with all different issues
and guides in achieving the best level of work efficiencies at the hotel.
CONCLUSION
Hospitality management is all about managing different functional activities at the
hotel. Different causes can be possible reasons behind all the problems Imperial Hotel is
facing like inappropriate leadership, improper communication and many other reasons.
Different steps van be taken like Automate daily task to keep team focused on standards,
Streamline housekeeping and hotel maintenance process, Creation of issue management
process to deal with the problems hotel is facing right now.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Alananzeh, O. and et.al., 2019. The association among employees' communication skills,
image formation and tourist behaviour: perceptions of hospitality management
students in Jordan. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality
Research.
Dunning, J. M., 2019. Professional superheroes: Are changes in higher education stretching
hospitality management academics' professionalism to the limit?. Journal of
hospitality, leisure, sport & tourism education. 25. p.100200.
Gannon, J., Rodrigo, Z. and Santomà, R., 2016. Learning to work interculturally and
virtually: Developing postgraduate hospitality management students across
international HE institutions. The International Journal of Management
Education. 14(1). pp.18-27.
Jaykumar, P., 2018. HOSPITALITY MANAGEMENT INSTITUTES-THE SKILLS
TRAINING INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE. Journal of Services Research, 18(2).
Kozak, M. and Kozak, N. eds., 2016. Tourism and hospitality management. Emerald Group
Publishing.
Okumus, F. and et.al., 2019. Strategic management research in hospitality and tourism: a
perspective article. Tourism Review.
Rahimi, R. and et.al., 2018. Mobility patterns of Asian students: the case of tourism and
hospitality management students in the United Kingdom. Journal of Hospitality &
Tourism Education. 30(2). pp.85-94.
Ulker-Demirel, E. and Ciftci, G., 2020. A systematic literature review of the theory of
planned behavior in tourism, leisure and hospitality management research. Journal
of Hospitality and Tourism Management. 43. pp.209-219.
Yao, S. and et.al., 2019. Effectiveness of error management training in the hospitality
industry: Impact on perceived fairness and service recovery
performance. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 79. pp.78-88.