JW Marriott Singapore: Analysis of Operations and Recommendations

This report provides an in-depth analysis of JW Marriott Singapore's operations, specifically focusing on human resources and service quality. It begins with an executive summary outlining key findings and recommendations. The introduction provides background information on the JW Marriott brand and its presence in Singapore. The operational procedures section delves into the hotel's human resource needs, including staffing levels, duties, responsibilities, and future skill requirements. It examines the importance of employee welfare, including work scheduling, remuneration, and training, and their impact on customer satisfaction and employee turnover. The report also addresses visitor experiences and service quality, outlining the importance of quality control systems. The report highlights issues such as employee turnover, poor service delivery, and customer dissatisfaction, offering recommendations for improvements in employee training, management practices, and customer-focused strategies. The conclusion summarizes the key findings and underscores the importance of addressing these issues to improve the hotel's reputation and financial returns.

Running head: JW MARRIOTT SINGAPORE 1
JW Marriott Singapore
Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

JW MARRIOTT SINGAPORE 2
Executive Summary
JW Marriot Singapore is a 5 star hotel located at South beach in Singapore. It is part of an
international franchise spanning multiple countries across the globe. Its aesthetical value is
amplified by the modern architecture adopted plus luxurious services offered such as a sky
garden and an infinity pool. However, poor service delivery and quality of service affect the
customer experience lowering the reputation and hence the returns of the business. For that
reason, implementation of strategies that aim at first improving the welfare of the workers
would improve the quality of service. Customer focussed strategies also serve to match the
service delivered to that expected by the customer, thus improving their experience.

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JW Marriott Singapore
1. Introduction
JW Marriot is a well-established brand in the accommodation and hotel sector with an
international presence spanning across multiple nations around the globe (Marriot_Inc, 2019).
JW Marriott International, founded and named after its owner JW Marriott, has undergone
significant metamorphosis in its quest to become a giant in this competitive business. The
legend goes that, the current well-known establishment was started as a root beer stand by its
owners almost a century ago (Dhir, 2019). Its long-standing history is probably one of the
reasons for it's widespread and success as they have had a lot of time to practice, study the
market, regroup and develop. It is undoubtedly one of the largest establishments in the hotel
business worldwide, with close to 6000 luxurious hotels in different cities all over the world.
Combined, the hotels have a staggering capacity of more than a million rooms for
accommodation. JW Marriot is indeed a force to reckon with as it dwarfs similar business not
only in terms of growth and development but also returns wisely.
JW Marriott Singapore, in particular, is part of this franchise located in South Beach,
Singapore in the southeastern part of the continent of Asia. It is a landmark in this part of
Singapore and is well known for its modern architectural designs coupled with its flourishing
heritage. JW Marriot Singapore is composed of three huge individual buildings with an
additional two blocks (Wernick & Glinow, 2012). It’s a 7-star hotel standing next to the
famous Suntec City. It features over 600 standard guest rooms for accommodation purposes.
There are also 47 suites specially decorated and can be made to suit a particular occupant. JW
Marriott also takes care of the business-minded individuals by offering a grand ballroom and
about 17 meeting halls. Recreational wise, JW Marriott Singapore scores highly by availing
two outdoor swimming pools and a sky garden (Gunaratna, 2017). Some of these features

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such as the sky garden have made it become a key tourist destination for individuals seeking
to have an extra-ordinary experience right in the middle of the city with a touch of being
home away from home feeling.
1.1 Aesthetic appeal, cleanliness, maintenance, comfort, and security.
Additional recreational and luxurious services are also offered here. A spa is in the
East room, pool tables in all the bars and restaurants, an infinity pool conveniently located in
the building and a panoramic view of the city and its immediate environment completes the
grand experience (Charles, 2010). However, JW Marriott, in all its splendor and glory has
significant flaws that affect proper service delivery thereby affecting customer service. This
puts a dent on the reputation, popularity and eventually on the returns.
This article seeks to report on two aspects of JW Marriott Singapore. The report is based
on the assessment carried out on JW Marriott Singapore’s human resources, the experiences
of visitors, and the overall quality of services offered in this hotel in particular. This is done
with a view of bringing to light the current situation on the two aspects as studied from the
hotel and propose some strategies of improving areas that are still lagging.
2. Operational Procedure
2.1 Human Resources
At JW Marriott Singapore, the Human Resource is huge in terms of the workforce
available to provide various services needed to make the hotel function as a single organism.
With the hotel covering more than 2500 square meters ground space plus an equally
enormous volume skyward as a result of the tower that host this hotel, a large number of
workers are needed to give the guests the promised 5-star experience (Wilson, Zeithaml,
Bitner, & Gremler, 2016). As such, the hotel has hundreds of workers supporting different
departments. Customer service is one of the most noticeable departments since their services

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have an immediate effect on customers, and as such form, the general opinion customers have
on the hotel. The management also determines the opinion of customers on the hotel and also
determine the performance of all the other departments of which the customer service
department is part of (Bird, 2010). For this reason, most studies put their focus on these two
departments to determine the general picture of the business and the state of its human
resource in addition to the experiences of the customers.
The entire workforce is composed of both full time and part-time employees, a
selection of casual laborers and several volunteers. Among the full-time employees are office
and departmental managers, accountants, receptionists, and drivers. Par timers include but not
limited to waiters, shop attendants, analysts, and live entertainment providers. The casual
laborers make a small percentage of the entire workforce and serve to provide services such
as movement of luggage and other services that need a lot of human effort. Finally,
volunteers make up the final batch of this workforce and make the smallest percentage of the
workforce. Most of these volunteers work provide their services either based on humanitarian
reasons or educational purposes. All in all, they serve to provide some essential services that
would otherwise require extra fund to hire.
The franchise manager, JW Marriott Singapore manager, is at the helm of leadership
in this hotel, just like in other establishments around the world (Dabholkar, 2015). He/she is
responsible for the growth and development of the business by making decisions that support
the growth and development of the business in this part of the world. He/ she discharges
duties and responsibilities to his subordinates who oversee their implementation. The overall
manager is also acting as the representative of this branch in international meetings involving
hotels. Other managers at the departmental level are in-charge of the operations of their
respective departments. They oversee the day to day operations and are answerable to the
overall manager.

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There are employees under the respective managers who execute their assigned
duties. For instance, waiters serve guests at the bars and restaurants, provide room services,
and serve at functions. Laundry people provide laundry services for the guests, including
cleaning the beddings in the rooms and guest’s clothing at their request. The catering unit
provides catering services, such as preparing meals such as breakfast, lunch, and supper.
They also prepare meals at private functions organized both at the hotel and outside the hotel.
They also provide outside catering services hired by interested individuals/ organizations.
The transport is in charge of providing transport to guests and workers to and from the hotel.
Individuals involved such as drivers and attendants report to their manager/ immediate
supervisor who reports to the overall manager.
The Hotel and accommodation business is a competitive venture, and as such, those
in-charge and other stakeholders need to ensure that the services offered are top-notch. The
best Customer service, for example, should be provided to ensure customer satisfaction
(TripAdvisor, 2017). Quality services and products suited to the customers liking should be
the focus of the business. For, this reason, the workforce in the hotel should be in a position
to offer such services without fail. As a consequence, regular training to the employees
should be provided to ensure that the skills of the workers match the needs of the business.
Additionally, proper remuneration of the workers should be done to ensure that they are
properly motivated to provide quality service to customers. Therefore, the welfare of the
workers determines the performance of the business as it directly affects the quality of
services that they provide.
Because of the importance of customer satisfaction and its relation to the welfare of
the workforce, the state of the quality of service at JW Marriott was investigated and the
possible reasons behind the current state of things (Cornell_University, 2012). A recent study
on the JW Marriot Singapore hotel reported a high employee turnover. A further examination

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as to the reason behind this turn of events revealed that the welfare of the employees is not
well taken care of. First, poor work scheduling makes most employees unable to execute their
duties as expected. Fatigue and dissatisfaction are the main results of such schedules which
result in poor performance, poor customer services, and sluggishness in service (Hahn,
Sparks, Wilkins, & Jin, 2017). Second, remuneration of employees is below the expected
standard, and as such most of them leave the job after working for a while leading a too high
employee turnover. Third, insufficient training before assuming assigned responsibilities
results in poor performance, difficulty in execution of what should be simple tasks, and
dissatisfaction. Additionally, there is are insufficient training sessions for already working
employees aimed at sharpening their skills in a bid to improve their service delivery or bring
new ideas in the business. All these results in customer dissatisfaction which affects the
business in terms of financial gains and its brand.
Besides the normal employee’ welfare and their effect on the performance of the
business, the management is also responsible to a large extent. The policies and procedures
developed by the management should be aimed at improving the business (Lee, Wang, Chien,
Wu, Lu, Tsai, & Dong, 2016). However, the management of the JW Marriott Singapore hotel
fails in the implementation of some of these policies and decision making. A leader by nature
should inspire his/her subordinates to give their best in their duties. However, JW Marriott
Singapore leaders fail to bring this sought of inspiration to their subordinates leading to poor
performance, dissatisfaction and eventual resignation hence high employee turnover rates.
Based on the importance of employee satisfaction to the success of the business, JW
Marriott needs to take up measures to ensure that they are properly motivated and can
execute their duties as expected (Acharya et al. 2017). Conducting regular training and
educational seminars aimed at elevating their knowledge is one of the best ways of achieving
this. In such a business, some skills such excellent customer service skills are important as

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competition increases. Employees will also need to learn new languages and cultures as the
world continues to become an even smaller village (Heathfield, 2018). This will enable them
to effectively communicate and understand people from different backgrounds and treat them
accordingly. Such future needs in skills can be accomplished through regular pieces of
training.
The management should also be trained and restructured to enable proper governing
and inspiring of the people under them to achieve the goals of the business. Proper policies
and procedure should be put in place to allow leaders can tackle problems of the future as
technology advances (Irimia & Gottschling, 2016). As a result, the management personnel
will need skills in management and leadership for the proper functioning of the business now
and in the future.
Owing to the high turnover rate, plans are underway to recruit new staff to fill the
gaps left by employees leaving the organization. Improvement of the welfare of the
employees is a key strategy that the franchise has adopted to make the jobs at JW Marriott
Singapore lucrative (International, 2017). Proper remunerations and registration with welfare
services take care of employees. The hotel has also engaged websites such Glassdoor and
other sites in advertising their jobs for recruitment purposes.
2.2 Visitor Experiences and Service Quality
The splendor and gladness of the JW Marriott Singapore hotel take customer experience
to the next level. For instance, the panoramic view of the city, an infinity swimming pool, and
sky garden attract visitors in this part of the country (Morrison, 2010) (Patel, 2017). These
features give guests an awesome experience once they visit the hotel and as such play an
important role in marketing the business and improving the general image of the hotel.

JW MARRIOTT SINGAPORE 9
In spite of the amenities available at this hotel, some customer experiences have not been
at par with the standards expected from such a hotel. Reports about poor services delivered
by the hotel attendants have served to damage the good reputation of the hotel. At times
requests by guests are ignored by the very people supposed to serve them, rendering the
experiences by such guests bad.
Given the poor customer service and quality leading to bad customer experience, JW
Marriot Singapore needs to make necessary adjustments to improve its services. One of the
best ways to control the quality at such a facility is the implementation of a criterion that aims
to put the customer first and to meet their needs/ requirements (Bradić, Kosar, & Kalenjuk,
2013). Additionally, they can put up systems that compare the quality of service delivered to
what the customer expected. One such criterion is the SERVQUAL strategy. In this strategy,
five parameters are mentioned:
The first includes ensuring that the hotel should ensure there is reliability through the
improvement of quality services. Secondly there should be assurance in convincing the
customers that the hotel can provide what it has promised. Thirdly, the presence of tangible
commodities which include infrastructure such as buildings is essential. Another parameter is
the ability of the staff and management to understand the needs, tastes, preferences and
choices of the customer. Finally, when situations arise, it is crucial to have an immediate and
effective quick response to situations.
Performance standards detailed in the policies and procedure can be used to measure
how the business is doing. One way of doing is conducting reviews periodically to evaluate
the actual performance against set goals. The definition of quality has been volatile as
different scholars define it differently. However, they all consider the customer to be key in

JW MARRIOTT SINGAPORE 10
defining quality. Therefore, quality can be measured by comparing the service offered against
customer expectations.
2.3 Service Recovery and Customer Complaints
Improving customer service delivered to customers will take off customers. First, it
will help to manage the relationship between the business and the customers. Secondly, it
assists in achieving customer satisfaction. Proper training of employees also assists in
ensuring that customer satisfaction is achieved (Westcott, 2018). Thirdly, complaints by
customers are met easily once the aspect of customer service is achieved. This serves to gain
their confidence and trust besides assisting in service delivery recovery.
Conclusion
In Conclusion, JW Marriott Singapore is a high-class hotel located in south beach in
Singapore. It maintains a high aesthetical value through the modern architectural designs
implemented in the building and other amenities such as the sky garden. However, some
issues involving poor service delivery have led to bad customer experiences that harm the
brand. As such, implementation of strategies such as SERVQUAL would help improve the
quality of service. Additionally, efforts to improve workers welfare, such as proper
remuneration and training would help improve the quality of service delivered besides
reducing employee turnover.

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