Operational Issues in Hospitality: A Case Study of Rosewood Spa Hotel

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Individual Report based on Operational Issues for a
chosen tourism or hospitality organisation
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Executive summary
The report has identified skills and abilities required by a General Manager of Rosewood Spa
Hotel. It has demonstrated examples of essential abilities including observational,
organisational, teamwork and other skills. Customer service process followed within the hotel
has been stated in the report. It is observed that Rosewood faces operational dilemmas such
as dynamic customer expectations, regular innovation and others. The report has identified
solutions to deal with such dilemmas.
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Introduction
Hospitality and tourism sectors are major fields in the service sector. The sub-sectors of these
industries may include travelling, lodging, food, theme parks, event planning and others.
Organisations operating in tourism and hospitality sectors are coming across many
operational issues such as skill or labour shortages, changing demographics, technology,
distribution revolution, global emerging markets and others. The selected hospitality
organisation to explore operational issues is Rosewood Spa Hotel. The hotel is a resort
company and international brand hotel having more than 27 properties in 15 countries
worldwide (Rosewoodhotels.com, 2019). It was established in 1979. It aims to provide guests
with personalised services. The report shall describe leadership and managerial qualities, and
style of services required by an effective General Manager. It shall provide alternative
solutions identified for Spa manager to address operational dilemmas.
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Main body
Style of service
It demonstrates types and ways through which Spa professionals deliver service to guests.
According to Hall (2012), professionals should learn functionalities various Spa styles
including deep tissue massage, aromatherapy, Thai massage, abdominal massage,
acupressure and others. They should practice each style to become competent and expert.
Leadership and managerial qualities
A General Manager of Rosewood Spa Hotel requires following qualities to function
effectively.
 Good observational skill: Observation is the practice of getting information about
attitudes, objects, moves and phenomena using senses (Tesone, 2012). The skill is
necessary for a manager to identify patterns of behaviour among service users that
may need attention. It helps in determining and addressing problems quickly so that
these cannot affect overall business operation. Sometimes, employees and service
users face negligence and abuse in the hotel. With having good observational skill, it
is easy to spot these misconducts. The managers can notice areas in business
operation that can be improved through observational skill.
 Exceptional people skill: The skill is required to identify the latest techniques, trends,
consumer needs and others. As opined by Jackson (2015), managers can communicate
with employees and reduce the possibility of miscommunication through people
skills. They can resolve workplace conflicts and disputes between service users and
employees by applying people skill. The skill helps managers expressing their
opinions in better ways and encourages them to listen carefully to clients and then
react immediately to a problem. Managers of Rosewood can use people skill to
promote and publicise the business and keep a team motivated and informed.
 Organisational skill: Spa General Managers play an active role in the back and front
of house. Wasting time to find any important data, reports and files is not a
productivity activity. Effective organisational skill helps managers to carry out all
activities in scheduled time. Managers can perform goal setting and strategic planning
without any interventions by organising their works. Organisational skill is important
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to manage forecasts, targets, sales projections, staff training, trends and other aspects
associated with the business. Effective Spa General Managers plan, define urgent and
important works and use good planner tools that make them different from other
managers.
 Team player: Effective General Managers are good team players. They work closely
with all staff members across all departments. They respect opinions of other teams,
provide support in case requirement. They appreciate and recognise the effort of each
team member and focus on team effectiveness. Teamwork skill is necessary for
creating synergy in the workplace, supporting employees in challenging situations,
encouraging multi-disciplinary works, and fostering responsiveness and flexibility in
all activities.
 Leadership abilities: Spa General Managers should have effective leadership ability to
lead, supervise and manage employees. They must communicate well with staff by
applying verbal, written and non-verbal communication methods. In Rosewood Hotel,
some difficult situations are diffused with little empathy and diplomacy. As depicted
by Bharwani and Butt (2012), leadership ability is necessary to identify root causes of
challenging situations and resolve them with greater efficacy. Managers can use open
communication, encouragement and tactics to ensure that team members stay
informed, motivated and encouraged (Goleman et al., 2013). Managers need to act
professionally by conduct and appearance to lead people. In order to function
effectively, they should make great decisions by moving boundaries and pushing the
spa business in a forward direction.
Apart from above qualities, General Managers should identify complex problems and review
related information in order to develop options. They need to develop creative and practical
solutions to show initiative and independence. A Spa General Manager has many
responsibilities that are extended to IT skills. Therefore, managers should understand the use
of social media, CRM tools, and others. They should understand and formalise budgets, yield
management, forecasts, profit and loss for effective business operation. As a part of
accountability responsibility, they must acquire excellent marketing and financial
management skills.
Limitations and ethical considerations
There is an ongoing concern for ethics seen in hospitality industry, as managers are facing
ethical dilemmas in daily business operation. Rosewood Spa Hotel is coming across
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interesting and complex issues that affect its business. General Managers need to follow some
ethical principles that shall help them in effective business operation. They need to be truthful
and honest. Involving in deceiving and misleading activities can degrade reputation of
Rosewood Hotel. General Managers should have the courage to stand for the right things
even they are pressurised by others to follow specific paths (Zoghbi-Manrique-de-Lara and
Guerra-Baez, 2016). They should be candid and trustworthy in delivering information to
service users. They are not allowed giving justifications for escaping their commitments and
promises.
Spa General Managers should demonstrate loyalty to the hotel in devotion to duty. They
should avoid conflict of interest and respect proprietary information of former employers. If
they disclose any credentials of Rosewood, it may take necessary legal actions against them.
They must seek to build and protect morale of employees and reputation of the hotel by
engaging in honest and loyal conducts (Lashley, 2016). Additionally, they must be equitable
and fair in all business dealings. They cannot use power arbitrarily to take advantages of
others’ difficulties and mistakes. They should treat all employees and service users with
equality by accepting all diverse characteristics.
Customers service Process at Rosewood Spa Hotel
As the Spa industry continues to increase, Rosewood aims to offer high-end customer service
to users. Some specific action items demonstrate their customer service process. Firstly,
employees greet and welcome users on their arrival. Front desk employees register names of
guest and show enthusiasm through polite tone of voice. If guests arrive on any special
occasions, employees share information on offers and discounts that they can avail on special
services. Employees focus on phrases such as ‘my pleasure’ and’ ‘absolutely to interact with
customers. Once users have checked into the Spa, next service is found in wet-room or locker
room area. According to Lo et al. (2015), staffs welcome guests by giving brief orientation on
every activity including shower, vanity, lounge area, sauna and others. The Spa maintains
cleanliness by keeping towels, shoes, and robes free from stains and odours. Hotel attendants
oversee activities to ensure all amenities are clean. They try to make positive impacts on
guests by showing simple gesture such as offering juice, tea, and coffee. They ensure all
interactions made with guests are respectful, quiet and unobtrusive.
The Spa knows how to keep guests engaged by making a positive and pleasant conversation
with them. Estheticians and massage therapists of Rosewood Hotel play an integral role in
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customer service. They are aware of necessary standards of business operation including
product knowledge, proper draping, pricing quotes, time and others (Zhang et al., 2012).
They prioritise preferences and comfort of guests. The high-end spa service provided by
Rosewood put positive influences on guests by keeping specific places for phones, jewellery,
music options, adjustable tables and others. The hotel is stocked with adequate supplies
including warm stones, essential oils, neck rolls and others to meet guest needs and demands.
Front desk employees may show pleasure to guests for coming and invite for next visit.
The hotel tries to ensure higher customer satisfaction at check out. If guests come across ant
negative feedback, front-desk professionals address them immediately (Brotherton, 2012).
They ask guest to make additional appointments for next weeks or months. They record guest
experience, positive and negative reviews stated by guests. Sincerity, loyalty and
commitment of employees demonstrate excellent customer service process of Rosewood Spa
Hotel.
Providing immediate response is another part of the customer service process. Employees use
text messaging and social media to solve queries of guests. Rosewood hotel has an auto-
response system to address several mails of customers. It allows customers to make
appointments and request information through the company website.
SWOT Analysis
It demonstrates opportunities and threats that Rosewood Hotel can face from the hospitality
industry. Internal strengths, capabilities and weaknesses can be identified through this
framework.
Strength
 Rosewood has a global reputation due
to presence of iconic luxury hotels
worldwide (Rosewoodhotels.com,
2019).
 It has the flexibility to capture local
culture that makes it unique
 The Spa offers an array of
personalised services influenced by
natural resources and local tradition.
Weakness
 It focuses on individual brand
strategies for which customers cannot
find any connection between its
properties.
 Inconsistency in marketing and
branding strategies results in reducing
in a number of guests each year.
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 It has separate locker rooms for
women and men each featured a wet
lounge, charming outdoor courtyard,
and relaxation area
(Rosewoodhotels.com, 2019).
Opportunity
 Increased growth of the Spa industry
is an opportunity for Rosewood
Hotel, as it can get diverse consumer
groups.
 The hotel may implement a reward
scheme for guests to increase loyalty.
 It can take advantages of the UK’s
growing economy to serve in
different areas through improved
service segments.
Threat
 Increase in labour cost can increase
the cost of business.
 Rosewood Spa is facing tough
competition from Four Season Spa,
Akasha Spa, Bamford Haybran,
Cowshed and others in the UK.
Table 1: SWOT analysis
(Source: Created by the learner)
Operational Dilemmas
Key operational dilemmas faced by Rosewood include unavailability of skilled labour to
serve customers during peak season, changing the expectation of guests, regular innovation,
and others.
 Shortage of skills among labour: It is the major dilemma faced by Rosewood.
Increase in competition and high turnover have added flame to this issue. In order to
manage Spa business smoothly, workers have to learn unique skill sets. Less than
10% of leaders in Spa industry exhibit strategic skills, which are not adequate as per
industry standard (Van der Wagen and Goonetilleke, 2015). Therefore, it has become
essential for Rosewood to develop strategic leaders and thinkers. Training and
development programs can incorporate new skills among employees, but it increases
operational expenses.
 Regular innovation in Spa industry: Rapid innovation in spa industry has made
some organisations more established. Some noticeable innovations include
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aromatherapy shower systems, sensory showers, salt caves and others. These
innovations can improve the operational efficiency of Rosewood, but it comes with
additional expenses. Skilled labour force is required to operate new technologies. It
creates a dilemma of whether to implement new technology and innovation or not.
 Changing consumer expectation: Customers are centre to business operation in Spa
Industry. The sole purpose of Rosewood is to make customers happy. It aims to
provide high-end customer service that can improve customer satisfaction. With an
effort to make customer happy, the profit margin of the hotel is decreasing (Liu et al.,
2013). It has become necessary to fulfil the gap between guest perception and actual
delight.
Solutions to operational dilemma
Solution for the shortage of skill
Skill shortage and skill gap is a major concern for Rosewood Spa Hotel. The hotel should
review its recruitment and retention strategies to tackle skilled staff shortage. Despite
investing only in training and development, it should modify its criteria for hiring candidates.
Skill test, behavioural test, technical expertise test, direct interview and situational-based test
can be included within the selection process to hire the best candidates in the Spa industry.
Online materials, assessments and classes can improve skills among employees but at a lower
expense. In order to address specific business needs, the hotel should recruit an array of a
diverse workforce. This shall enable employees to share each other’s knowledge and work
collaboratively. The HR department of Rosewood should ensure that its job advertisement is
reaching at best possible audience, who can serve guests with higher efficiency and
productivity. Employees should be given time to develop hard and soft skills required for Spa
operation. Paying employees with industry-specific salaries and benefits may motivate
employees to utilise exhibit skills and gain efficiency (Torres and Kline, 2013).
Solution for regular innovation in the industry
All innovations come with a collective sense of purpose. Rosewood should identify
opportunities associated with a particular innovation. If a new technology is capable of
improving business operation and customer service, the hotel should adopt it. Innovation
brings changes for employees and service users. Therefore, Rosewood should give necessary
training to employees on how to operate new technology and make its effective use to bring
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operational efficiency. It should hire trained candidates, who are equipped with advanced
technical skill sets. This can reduce the expenses associated with training.
Solution for changing customer expectations
Rising and dynamic customer expectation is posing an operational dilemma for Rosewood
Spa hotel. The best solution for this dilemma is to serve them at a customised and personal
level. Professionals should use the right mixture of well-trained staff, ambience, and quality
services retain customers. Some customers are demanding facilities for mediation and
exercise in spa centres. The hotel should emphasise on these small and specific needs of
guests to increase customer loyalty. With an increase in personalised spa experience and
services, the number of guests during a period may increase (Brotherton, 2012). The hotel
may perform an online market survey to identify personalised needs of consumers.
Additionally, consumers want more options to connect with the business. They do not want to
avail similar types of Spa service always. Therefore, introducing new variants in each type of
Spa can be a great initiative to manage customer expectations. Application of advanced CRM
tools would be helpful in tracking the moves and preferences of consumers. The hotel should
connect with customers over chatrooms, phones, and through social media platforms and
community groups to identify individual needs.
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Conclusion
The report has demonstrated the managerial and leadership qualities required to operate
effectively as a General Manager of Rosewood Spa Hotel. Qualities identified in the report
arean observational skill, leadership ability, teamwork, exceptional people skill and others.
Managers should maintain integrity, transparency, honesty and equity while dealing with the
business process of the hotel. Rosewood aims to maintain excellent customer service in each
point guests interact with it. The report has identified key strengths, possible opportunities
and anticipated threats through applying SWOT framework. The hotel undergoes some
operational dilemmas such as shortage of skills among employees, regular innovation,
dynamic customer expectations and others. These dilemmas can be faced with bringing
changes in recruitment strategy, introducing unique Spa services and others.
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Reference List
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of emotional intelligence. Harvard Business Press.
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