HM601 Consultancy Project Report: Challenges and Strategic Planning

This report, HM601 Consultancy Project for Hospitality Management, analyzes the causes and effects of managerial challenges within the hospitality sector, focusing on The Cliff at Dinham. It examines issues like competition, hiring, technology adaptation, and changing customer expectations. The report delves into management theories, interprets industry-specific problems, and evaluates the outcomes of decisions made. It explores the impact of infrastructure, productivity, sustainability, and reputation on the business. The report also emphasizes staff turnover and customer satisfaction. The report applies professional competencies in management decision-making and strategic planning, offering a comprehensive overview of the challenges and potential solutions within the hospitality industry.

HM 601- Consultancy Project
for Hospitality Management –
Report

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................3
Analyse the cause and effects of managerial challenges in hospitality sector.................................3
Explain management theory, analyse & interpret variety of complex industry-specific managerial
problem & issues.............................................................................................................................7
Exercise initiative & take responsibility for outcomes for their decisions or proposed actions and
to evaluate impact of outcomes.....................................................................................................12
Practice a range of professional competencies in the development of management decision
making and strategic planning.......................................................................................................16
CONCLUSION..................................................................................................................................20
REFERENCES...................................................................................................................................21

INTRODUCTION
Management refers as the administration and coordination of tasks to attain a goal. In
addition, it is the process of setting and accomplishing goals via the execution of five basic
management functions such as planning, organising, staffing, directing and coordinating; that utilise
financial, human and material resources (Gilligan, 2018). It can be defined as the essential process
of managing and monitoring the affairs of the organisation, irrespective of its type, size and
structure. Hospitality is the direct relationship between a host and a guest, wherein the host receive
the guests with goodwill, including the entertainment and reception of visitors, strangers or guests.
Therefore, hospitality management refers to the study of the hospitality industry that covers
destination marketing organisation, restaurants, hotels, amusement parks, cruise ships, country
clubs, conversation centres and many mores. Hospitality management is dynamic and changing
takes place according to the trends in market. Implementing a consultancy project for hospitality
sector is not easy and requires a proper planning to execute the project in appropriate manner. The
cliff at Dinham, headquartered in UK is 3 star hotels which provide variety of food and beverages.
Cliff at Dinham is a commination of delicious food, relaxed atmospheres and charming rooms that
will make visitors visit one to remember. It is a perfect Ludlow hotel for a relaxed lunch This report
includes causes and effects of managerial challenges, analysis of management theory-problems &
issues, outcomes of decision and responsibility evaluation and assessment of sources.
Analyse the cause and effects of managerial challenges in hospitality sector
In service and hospitality sector, firm faces wide range of challenges and issues in business.
They affected the business at wider and broader level. Many of the hotel managers should juggle
variety of the tasks from marketing business and also encouraging many booking in order to
balancing the expenses and revenues. In this present time, managers are facing the various issues
that in the past time due to the new technological developments as well as consumer behaviours. On
the other hand, demand for the hotel has transformed dramatically. The managerial challenges have
impacted way hotels and some other services are to be operated. These issues develop the
bottlenecks which mainly impede expected development. Better understanding of management
complexities would give hospitality managers clear edge over competition (Brunt, 2017).
In the hospitality sector, consumer behaviour has change and it has impact on the
management as well as the marketing activities of hotels across globe. New technologies and the
new expectations have been evident in international hospitality market. The hotel managers should
have to be handle the many tasks which may consists marketing business and also encouraging the
booking to balance the expenses and revenues. Changing the times have brought with this changing
demand and issues have through far grown from what have been past tomes with technological

development and customer behaviour. The Cliff at Dinham also faces such challenges because
several factors. There are various managerial issues that impacts on hospitality industry. There are
some main issues that will be explained as below:
Causes
Growth and entry of new business- In hospitality industry, many new business of the same
field are growing at rapid level and this cause a problem for The Cliff at Dinham because more the
growth, higher will be the competition in the sector (Cabral, 2019).
Recruiting & hiring- Further, when it comes to hiring talented staff it become difficult for
hospitality management to search the skilled employees. In relation with The Cliff at Dinham, they
face such problems because of which profit and sales revenue get affected.
Adapting to the new technologies- In this present time, guests are tech savvy. They mainly
require concerns to be properly addresses and sometimes it can be main challenge. Through this
operational efficiency, there should be high right from the front desk to the housekeeping so their
demands are meet on the right time. In regards to this, with ITAs bringing the sales as well as
growing to managing them and compliance is another concern. There are several smart solutions
available such as complete hotel PMS with the booking engine and channel manager. Speed at
which the technology is mainly revolutionizing sector over past years is mainly alarming. In regards
to this, modern hospitality solutions are user friendly but used to the traditional methods, the
hoteliers search complexities in adapting the new technologies (Tabari, 2020).
Trends- In this industry, trends in market always changes periodically regarding the food,
service, taste of people etc. This also cause issue for service industry to operate their functions and
operations in proper manner.(Evanoff, 2016).
Labour and skill shortages experienced- It is about housekeepers and service staff, it goes
way beyond supervisors to departmental managers. Searching the tech savvy managers which can
integrate and manage information system of hotel to decision making is not easier to fete. The
hospitality business required well trained, mannered and disciplined staff. In regards to this, when
available staff are trained and invested in, there is not the guarantee as to sticking around when they
search better offer. For such kind of people, irregular working hours and also not encouraging pay
might contributing the customer satisfaction is main objective of hotels and profit less after. Better
remains training programmes, courses and certifications which could assist skills of staff and
assuring that employees are take care.
Findings & keeping valued customers: The growth and success in the industry and
increased rivalry could be a contributing factor to hospitality business’ capability to attract as well

as retain customers. About half of managers, owners and staff surveyed said as they experience this
challenge. This is a major issue for hospitality industry that highly and directly impacts on
hospitality sector. This also effects on their productivity and profitability level. This issue directly
faced by hotel manager. In case of Cliff at Dinham, this is one of the biggest issue that directly
impacts on the their profitability and profitability level (Hu, 2016).
Hiring the best staffs: This is another main managerial issue that effects on hospitality
industry in direct manner. Finding the best employee is a major issue for all employers, but it can be
especially challenging for hospitality businesses. The issue of hiring as well as retaining employee
is a biggest challenge experienced by 54 percent of all hospitality business owners and managers. It
is essential for hotel manager to find best staff members who have knowledge about the hospitality
business. This will helps them in increasing of sales and also market ratio. Cliff at Dinham also
faced such issue which impact on their brand image as well as sales (Gursoy, 2019).
Continued technological changes and regular innovation: It is consider as another issue
that is arise within hospitality sector and impact on the overall performance as well as profitability
level. Technology is changing rapidly and due to this the requirements of customer is also changed
as they prefer to buy or consume those products that is innovative and new in market. In relation to
Cliff at Dinham, it is significant for the higher authorities to adopt innovative technology in order to
improve their service and offer something new to customer which attract them towards brand. On
the same time, using of new technology arise cost to hotel that decline their revenue level so it is
important for an organisation to make effective use of technology and maintain their level of
performance in an effective manner.
Changing customer expectations: The requirements as well as expectations of customer is
changing because of various factors such as technology, culture, society and many more. Dealing
with the changing customer expectations is one of the managerial issues faced by hospitality
industry. With reference to Cliff at Dinham, it is analysed that organisation conducts research on
regular basis and also take feedback from its customer in order to gain knowledge about their needs
and requirements. This help company to develop effective strategies and meet with the customer
expectations which in turn assist in attaining competitive advantage at marketplace. It is determined
that if the hotel is not able to meet with customer expectations then it is difficult for them to retain
customers and sustain in market for longer time period. In addition to this, it will also occur high
loss to the organisation and decline its brand image in market as well.
Effects
Infrastructure- This includes management, staff members, processing and production
process etc. In relevance with The Cliff at Dinham, when trends changes in market, it affected the
whole infrastructure of the management and business. This leads to reconstructing and redesigning

of infrastructure (García-Lillo, 2016).
Productivity- Hiring the efficient staff and employees in the organisation is beneficial for
business because inefficient staff work with low pay and also decreases the productivity of firm at
deeper level.
Sustainability- It is an increasingly relevant problem as it can affect hospitality industry in
many ways. These issues includes, enhancing brand image, as visitors are drawn more as well as
more to environment-friendly organisations and potential staff members are looking to be an
important part of business that make a difference within the community, enhancing cost efficiency,
by developing better working procedures and also environmentally friendly technologies or
techniques that end up maximising the profitability of hotel.
Reputation- The reputation of hotel is what the guests say about hotel by the online
reviews, photos and comments. Many of reviews are made on the social media such as Facebook,
TripAdvisor, Instagram and Yelp. These all are the high ranked platforms. In regards to this,
hospitality sector has been battling to be establish the relationship with the guests. Regardless of
sector of national economy, high trust level should be maintained among service provider and
customers. It is key to efficient as well as effective economic transaction.
Arisen Unprecedented factors- As hotel managers are dealing with the environmental
factors which may impact that business is complex because there are the factors beyond control.
Weather could be bad at the unprecedented times and rate at which the guests troupe in could be on
low. In context to this, political terrorism and threats could be issue. Managers can have secure the
high tech equipments along with the trained security personnel in order to keep guests safe which
could expensive to be maintain(Lynn, 2019).
Staff Turnover- It is analysed that employees are the key asset of a business entity who
perform effectively and help in attaining growth and achievement of objectives within time period.
Staff plays an important role as they carry out all the functions as well as activities which enhance
the productivity and profitability of an organisation. It is important for a company to focus on
satisfying the requirements of employees and retain them for longer time. In context to Cliff at
Dinham, it provide training and development session to its employees in order to enhance their
skills and capabilities which help in both personal and professional growth. Moreover, the
organisation also provide both monetary and non-monetary benefits to employees of their good
performance in order to motivate them towards achievement of objectives. This will help company
to attain higher profit and enhance their revenue level.
Customer satisfaction- Dealing with the customers or complicated guests, there could be
more than just the natural instinct to be patient or calm. Getting the staff trained on providing the

customer service would go longer way to help, staff and manager of hotel make the efforts in order
to satisfy the consumers whatever way required or lose to competitor. In regards to this, customer
satisfaction is main objective of hotel. In the present time, consumers are hard to be predict,
complex to understand and speaking honestly hospitality catchphrase that consumer is right always
does not help situation. In regards to this, hotel managers have to struggle in order to understand
consumer from moment when they mainly book hotel to moment they leave and satisfied (Shum,
2020).
Retaining and searching talent- Growth and success of hospitality industry based on state
of global and the global economies. As sector continues to be bulge, attracting and retaining the top
talents will be priority. For the organisations to edge out the competition, they will have to be assure
that they have staff members with the top skills. The employee sustainability is main challenge.
Challenges
 The chosen enterprise face challenges
such as difficulty in decision making.
 Also, it is possible to find efficient
workforce for the work or task.
 Moreover, in selected entity is unable
to attract customers due to rise in
competition.
 Resources and sources for business
are difficult to find in the market.
 Furthermore, it is also not easy to
access international market.
Time frame and Cost
 For a determining time frame for a
project, a detailed analysis and statistical
data will be used.
 Completion time period will be around
5-12 months.
 Cost which occurred during project is in
between average monthly sales revenue
of firm (Mooney, 2019).
Explain management theory, analyse & interpret variety of complex industry-specific managerial
problem & issues
In every organisation, managers are required for managing and handling the staff and
employees. It is the responsibility of manager to guide the employees and take the correct decisions
which is in favour of company and staff members both. This develops the positive impact
performance level of employees and company. Management theories are important because they
help in solving and issues and problems of management as well as assist them in making effective
decisions. There are various types of management theories such as scientific management theory,

system management etc. The management theories are collection of ideas which recommend
general rules for managing the business. They mainly address how the supervisors execute
strategies to attain organisational objectives and in what manner motivate the staff members in
order to perform art high ability. The management theories are important because these assist
company to communicate, evolve and focus. Using the management theory at workplace permits
leadership to be focus on main objectives. When management theory is to be implemented then this
streamlined automatically top priorities for company. In industry there are various types of industry
–specific managerial problems and issues which are discussed below-
Uncertain future- In industries, market and trends are changeable and dynamic in nature.
This is the major problem in hospitality industries that managers are unable to predict the future
events. It is not easy but effective measures are to be taken or consultancies are to be hired to be
prepared for uncertain activities (Kužnin, 2017). This is the major issue that mostly company faced
at the time of expanding the business. It is not an easy task for company to change their policies and
aspects as per continuous basis. Due to this, company fail in attaining all the market goals and
objectives in an effective manner. (Mooney, 2019).
Hiring best staff- Searching better staff is issue for all the managers but this can be
challenging for the hospitality businesses. In context to this, challenge of recruiting and sustaining
employees is challenge experienced through 54% of all hospitality organisations as well as
managers. This is necessary to search better hospo staff, as this was found that the bad or slow
services can be attribute to the revenue loss. In regards to this, company should find out the many
ways such as applications and social media. The staff should be hard-working and able to provide
the better experience to consumers otherwise it will develop the negative impact on employee
performance and customers expectations.
Monitoring Performance- In industry, it is difficult to measure and monitor the
performance of every employee. So, to measure performance KPI’S are used for evaluating
performance in management. In relevance with The Cliff at Dinham, due to unskilled employees it
is not possible to use KPI’s in effective manner.
Technology- In hospitality industry, it is not easy for firm to use advanced technology in
management. This is because high level of skills and expertise is required to implement technology
in management. Thus, in relevance with The Cliff at Dinham, due to cost expensive they use limited
and out-dated technology software in the business which is a big issue (Vartianen, 2019).
Evolving Customer Expectations- Ability to be satisfy as well as anticipate evolving
consumer requirements continues to be main priority. Mainly, consumers are enhancing
sophisticated in technology use in order to investigate, choose and buy the lodging. The consumers

are resisting chain mentality and there is a better opportunity to developing unique as well as
customized experiences while minding bottom line. In context to this, marketing approach will
require to be adapted as well as updated to reach at consumers effectively. True differentiation is
complex to attain luxury market as this has became the mainstream.
Improper marketing effort- As technology is improving rapidly, there are many options
available for hotels in order to capturing market space online. According to the survey in year 2016,
around 70% of hotels across world follow old marketing practices. From the poor marketing efforts,
brand recognition and sales both are highly impacted. Current trend denoted that the hotels are
moving towards the OTA marketing slowly and also the hotel management software in order to ease
workload and enhance ROI (Alvarez-Risco, 2020).
There are many management theories which has positive contribution towards improvement.
Evolving Customer Expectations of the organisational functionalities. All these are defined below:
Scientific management theory: This is management theory that focuses over analysing and
synthesizing workflows of an organisation. This works with the purpose of improving economic
efficiency and labour productivity of an organisation. Under this theory, earliest attempt were made
to include science in management process. This theory has lots of successful influences in
improvement of the organisational functioning. This specially helps the manufacturing organisation
to perform activities as per the standards. This mainly part the work in smaller jobs and allow to
perform in systematic form. This brings coordination among the working abilities of different
personnels so they bale to accomplish their work on time and according to the manner as described
by management. The benefit of same will be ascertained by management and an organisation as
attainment of desired goals. Other than this, its rise has been evident within the manufacturing
sector and the service industry has been slower to use rationalisation principles. Questions should
therefore be asked why has industry been slow on uptake of beliefs and could reason for this give
argument against suggestion of inevitability of principles within hospitality sector. In context to
overcome from the managerial issues, it is necessary to hire the well talented and trained employees
so they can work in a better manner. On the other hand, scientific management is applied through
franchiser industry within hospitality sector. The stress of franchiser importance in the working
methods through centralised control as to assure that each of the franchisee gives similar goods as
well as services.(Zhang, 2019). It is mainly useful in the The Cliff at Dinham hotel whereby the
high labour turnover often result in the more training cost of the staff. This can be seen that
technological revolution has aided more, indeed encourages, application of the scientism
management in service industry implying that management of hotel is inevitable. In context to this,
hospitality industry have been reversed the scientific management principles in order to relieve the

monotony, job satisfaction, enhance efficiency and also improve morale. There has been enhancing
emphasis on enhanced participation of employees at workplace.
Systems management theory: This theory works over the point of collecting different
aspects together so able to accomplish end goals and objectives. These are also of different types
such as open system etc. This has the major aim related to performance of functions in combination
so everyone gets knowledge of the work of each other and able to perform in effective manner that
contribute in achievement of organisational objectives. The general systems theory is regarding
developing the applicable principles and concepts as comparison to the principles and concepts
which are particular to single knowledge domain. This distinguishes the active or dynamic systems
from the passive systems. In regards to this, active system are structures which interact in the
processes and behaviours. On the other hand, passive systems are components which are being to be
processes. The Cliff at Dinham should use online technology for an instance social media
promotions and digital marketing in an effective manner in order to reach at potential consumers.
Other than this, hotel should be focus on the behaviour of employees and focus on improving them.
From this, employees can able to provide the better services to consumers along with the better
level of satisfaction. On the other hand, staff members are necessary component of firm. Other
components are important to success of the different departments of company, business units and
work groups. The managers are needed to examine events and patterns in hotel to identify better
management approach. They can collaborate on various programs so they can able to work as
collective whole than isolated units. (Rowson, 2016).
Bureaucratic management theory: This theory was proposed by Max Weber and is
emphasis on structuring an organisation in an hierarchy manner that will assist in clearing the rules
to staff members so that activities is systematically and smoothly implemented. It proposes that run
the company included group of the people which organised into hierarchical structure and also
governed through rational legal decision making rules. This theory involves principles such as clear
division of labour, strict & consistent rules, chain of command, selection and promotion of staff
members and many more. in addition to this, such theory plays an important role in developing
procedures and standards which are the core of most of the business entities. The management style
of Max Weber regarded as the bureaucratic management made this not possible for the creativity as
well as collaboration in order to thrive in work environment. The main principle of Weber for
developing ideal bureaucratic system consists clear division of the labour, hierarchical chain of the
command and separation among organisational and personal assets. Bureaucratic management
theory stated that complying with the rules and regulations is essential for a person or company to
be succeed. Company and owners are mainly bound through policies which mainly force them to be

behave in standards manner. Staff members and consumers are mainly assured that demand and
practices will be properly addressed and they would not treated in different manner from all other
entities outside and inside company. In relation to Cliff at Dinham, adoption of such theory assist in
directing employees in a proper manner. In addition to this, it also assist in systematically
implementation of activities that has direct impact on performance of hotel in a positive manner.
This will help in developing the positive impact on reputation of company in an effective or
efficient manner.
Contingency theory: One of the main primary focus of this theory is that no particular
management is appropriate for every situations arise within the organisation. The theory was
developed by Fred Fiedler with a motive to concerned people that there is no best management
approach that is suitable for all companies. Fiedler assumes that a leaders traits were directly
associated to how effectively lead their team. In addition to this, such theory assumes applying
management approach by analysing the situation is effective and feasible in order to resolve the
situation. Moreover, it is significant for an organisation to be dynamic and flexible so that they can
deal with diverse environment. If it is talking about Cliff at Dinham, it is analysed that its leaders
assumes the situations and them apply management approaches which assist in gaining positive
outcomes (Chen, 2016). Moreover, it also help hotel to deal with the changing business
environment in an appropriate and effective manner. By using this type of theory company can
easily influence their employees at working area. For am example, in changing marketing
environment, contingency theory play a significant role in managing all the necessary aspects that
change due to market condition. As manager of company provide proper guidance to their staff
members as per changing environment. With the assistance of this, they can execute and perform
their activities to maintain positive working environment wherein all the staff members can easily
manage their working activities. One of the main advantage of using this theory is that help in
resolving the issue that create due to continuous change in market.
Human relations theory: It is consider as another management theory which was proposed
by Elton Mayo who conducted experiments design to make improvements in productivity by
developing human relations among employees prevailing within the organisation. The theory
mainly focuses on break times, length of workday and many more. It is stated that developing
human relations help company to maintain positive working environment and enhance the
performance of an organisation. In addition to this, it assist company to retain staff members for
longer time period that saves the cost of company to hire new employee and provide training to
them. Moreover, marinating and focusing on human relations not only develop positive working
culture but also create brand image of an organisation at marketplace. It is determine that staff

members are feel valued and important if a company give them personal attention and make them
pat of group discussion. It is analysed that higher authorities of Cliff at Dinham allow employees to
participate in the decision making process and give their opinions and suggestions to seniors that
brings out something new and creative at workplace. In addition to this, it develop confidence
among the staff members and increase the performance of employees in an effective and efficient
manner. Increasing employee engagement is major benefit of using human relation theory because it
focus in promoting positive and healthy working environment wherein each and every employees
share their values with each others. This will contributes in improving overall performance of
workers and at the same time also build positive and healthy relation. With the assistance of this,
company can easily attain competitive success at market place. This is only possible by motivating
and encouraging staff members towards their job roles and responsibilities that they performed at
working area (SahiL 2017).
Exercise initiative & take responsibility for outcomes for their decisions or proposed actions and to
evaluate impact of outcomes
Every business organisation face issues at the time of executing their operational activities
that affect the entire activities in negative manner. In relation to this, The Cliff at Dinham is a
hospitality organisation and also facing various managerial issues. Due to this, company also reduce
their positive performance at market area. Thus, it is significant for manager of company to take
appropriate initiatives for handling issues and obstacles arise within the operational activities, This
can be beneficial in improving performance of company and its employees. Commonly, there are
various managerial issues that company has facing like decreased performance level of employees,
lack of communication, poor teamwork, absence of structure, improper time management,
inadequate support, Uncertain future, Hiring best staff, Monitoring Performance, Technology,
Evolving Customer Expectations, Improper marketing effort and many more. For managing all
these issues, manager of company take initiative that help them in resolving the issues and obstacles
at working area:
 Manager of The Cliff at Dinham is responsible for hiring right and capable workers who
have enough knowledge about the job roles. If employees are able in executing and
operating their organisational activities than they easily attain all the set goals and objectives
in an allotted period of time.
 Proper implementation of organisational strategies and policies are also significant that
provide path on which employees perform their activities. This will beneficial in improving
the chances of accomplishing their allotted targets without any kind of issues and obstacles.