Enhancing Intercultural Competence: A Travelodge Hotel Perspective

This report delves into the significance of intercultural competence within the hospitality sector, using Travelodge Hotels as a case study. It explores the importance of cultural intelligence (CQ) and intercultural communication skills for hotel staff to effectively serve international guests. The report examines the cultural backgrounds of guests from various countries, including China and the UK, and provides practical 'do's and don'ts' for staff interactions. Key aspects covered include the necessity of adapting service styles, addressing language barriers, and providing culturally sensitive experiences to enhance guest satisfaction and build a positive hotel image. The report emphasizes the need for staff to understand and respect cultural differences, ensuring a welcoming and inclusive environment that fosters customer loyalty. The conclusion highlights the crucial role of skilled staff in delivering high-quality services, ultimately improving the economic conditions of the country and the standard of living.

Hotel Hand Book For
Intercultural
Competence

Introduction
In the present era, Hospitality industry is considered as the most important sector with the
assistance of which economic condition of a country will be improved. Hospitality industry is a
wide field which includes accommodation services, food and drink services, event planning,
lodging and many more. Furthermore, it includes restaurant, bars and hotels which provide wide
range of services to their domestic as well as international customers. For this, it is essential for
the management team to have well manner and skilled staff members so they can provide high
quality service to their customers in an efficient manner and retain their guest for long duration.
In the present report, Travelodge Hotels Limited is chosen as the base organization which is a
private company operates in hotels as well as hospitality sector within the marketplace of United
Kingdom, Spain and Ireland. Travelodge is considered as UK's largest independent hotel brand
and having around 570 hotels all over the marketplace of UK. In the present report, discussion
about different countries guest are included along with do’s and don’t for the staff members
while serving international guest are also going to be discussed in this report.
Main Body
The current report is totally based on the sector which is hospitality in which Travelodge is
considered as the base business entity on which the whole report is going to be framed. This is
the organization based in the marketplace of UK and operates its business functions in different
countries. Similarly there are number of guest came to experience the services provided by
Travelodge hotel chain from different countries. Different people are from different countries
having different language, culture and background which is very essential for the management
team to consider all the factors in an effective manner so that each and every person feel satisfied
by consuming the services of the organization. It can also be understand with the help of an
example, for instance Travelodge operates its function at the marketplace of UK and they have
their guest from China, then they must analyze their needs and demands. Reason behind this is
that they have quite different background, culture and language from UK which makes it
difficult to understand the concept of UK. For this, managers are required to have a person who
can understand their language and communicate with them in an effective manner. Along with
this, they must provide the food which satisfy their requirements as they prefer to eat with chop
sticks there must be availability of such elements at the hotel premises. This will assist them in

order to fully satisfy their needs and requirements and retain them for a longer period of
duration.
Critically evaluation why cultural intelligence is necessary for hotel personnel.
It has been identified that Cultural Intelligence commonly known as Cultural Quotient (CQ),
refers to the capability in order to use to adopt innovative cultural setting in an effective manner
and produce favorable results from it. In addition to this, it has also been analyzed that
individuals who have high cultural quotient does not consider as expert in every sort of culture
and have knowledge about various culture. In simple term, these people are not culture expert
and does not have enough knowledge about various cultures. Furthermore, it has also been said
that influence of culture is considered as quite complex and interconnected having very
important and significant influence on the overall performance of the business entity. This as a
result says that cultural intelligence significantly influence the overall growth as well as
development of the business organization at competitive environment.
On the other hand, if talking about intercultural competence it is considered as the skill or
capability which leads to the entire business functions in an effective manner across the cultures
as well as also communicate it with the staff members at the working area. This is the term
which is also associated with the cultural as well as communication where people are usually
belongs to different culture, nation or background. In addition to this it usually consist of various
factors such as attitude, skills, knowledge along with the support shows to the behavior &
communication which is more appropriate in intercultural interaction in context to various other
countries. Therefore, it is very crucial for the business organizations to examine the behavior of
customers, their culture and customs before offering them services. As a result this will help in
enhancing the experience of customer which as a result directly affects the image of organization
at the international level.
In this context, two famous countries are selected which are China and UK in order to
examine their culture, language, custom as well as background. Individual from these countries
have their own culture which is quite essential for Travelodge to understand it before providing
them services and gaining positive response from them. Along with this, they must consider
there background and customs in an effective manner which have direct impact on the growth
and development of the Travelodge Hotel and assist them in order to grab competitive

advantages at the marketplace. Therefore, it is necessary to examine the cultural background,
customs and behavior of people who belong to China and UK before providing them services so
that they can easily gain positive response while doing business operations at the competitive
environment.
Do’s and Don’t which need to be followed by hotel staff.
For every hotel, restaurant and bar, having skilled and good staff members are the key for
their success at the competitive marketplace. This is one of the huge factor on which success and
growth of the organization is based on. The image and goodwill of a hotel is highly based on the
staff members of the organization and the services provided by them to their guest. For this,
manager of a hospitality organization need to develop some standards for their staff members
which needs to be followed by them while serving to their guest and clients. These do’s and
don’t help the managers of Travelodge in order to enhance the experience of their clients in an
impressive way and retain them for longer duration of time. In relation to the present context of
Travelodge, higher authority of the organization frame some do’s and don’t which need to be
followed by the staff members while serving to their national and international guest. Along with
this, they must modify their do’s and don’t as per the culture, language and background of the
guest so that they can gain positive experience. Some of the basic elements required to be
followed by every individual are going to be discussed as follows:
Do’s for the hotel staff
1. First and the foremost essential thing required to be performed by each and every staff
member is that they must interact with their clients in a well defined manner. Eye contact
is must while doing interaction with guest as it shows the confidence level and attract the
person towards their organization. Along with this, there must be a smile on face while
doing interaction with clients as the first person leaves the impact of whole organization
on the guest.
2. Furthermore, as in a hotel people came from different countries so it is quite attractive to
meet and greet them in a traditional way. Front desk officers are the first one who meet
the guest and leave the impact on them about the whole organization. Therefore, there
must be proper manner in which they greet the customers.

3. In addition to this, another necessary think which is required to be performed by the staff
members while serving to their international guest is that talk to them in their domestic or
English language. This will make them feel comfortable and easy to understand things
communicate by the staff members. As a result, client experience high quality and
satisfying services from the organization while going for a trip in other country.
4. Apart from this, another important thing which need to be done by the staff members is
that they must clean all the organizational premises on a regular basis so that every single
guest feel healthy, safe and hygienic and gain unmatched experience. Therefore, manager
is required to set time for cleaning all the rooms and corridors and personally examine
everything.
5. In addition to all this, managers need to take follow up of every little things given to the
guests and meet them once in a day personally and ask whether they face any kind of
difficulty. If they face issues then it is required by them to resolve the issues within given
time period and in effective way.
Don’t which need to be followed by hotel staff
Just like do’s for the staff members there are some sort of don’t which are required to be
considered by each and every staff member while doing their business functions. These are the
factors which needs to be avoid by hotel staff while serving to their guest so they can experience
high quality and hurdle free services. Some of these factors are as follows:
1. One of the most essential factor which need not to perform by the staff members is that
there must not be any kind of discrimination arise at workplace on the basis of guest
nationality, culture and language. Every guest need to be treated in similar manner and
fulfil all their accurate demands in an effective manner.
2. In addition to this, there must be proper interaction with clients and solve all their queries
without doing any kind of interference. Also, the tone must not be high and harsh while
communicating with guest and try to resolve all their issues in an effective manner.
Doing misbehave with customers creates negative impact of the hotel at the competitive
marketplace.
3. Also, it is suggested to the house keeping staff members that they must not involve
themselves in any kind of arguments with their guests as it might leads to a big argument

and affect the image of hotel. Therefore, it is suggested to the management team to take
care of such incidents and try to resolve them in a polite way.
Above stated are some common do’s and don’t which are required to be taken care by the
hotel staff while providing services to their guests. As a result, if consider all these elements
effectively then it will enhance the experience of clients and retain them for a longer duration of
time period.
Conclusion
As per the aid of above mention report, it can clearly be concluded that hospitality sector is
one of the key industry which help in improving the economic conditions of the country and
develop the standard of living of the nation. It includes different hotels, resorts, restaurants and
bars mainly provide services to both their domestic and international guest. In addition to this, it
is also very necessary to have skilled staff members so that they can provide high quality service
to their customers and satisfy their demands by serving them within stipulated time frame. There
are some guidelines which need to follow by the staff members of a hotel or restaurant so that
they can eliminate negative impact from their functionality and provide high quality service to
their customers. Furthermore, it has also been identified that due to international customers staff
members sometimes face issues such as language barrier and cultural differences. Therefore, it is
required by the managers to consider all the issues and problems in an effective manner and
develop strategies accordingly so that they can easily eliminate the difference.

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