Travelodge Case Study: Business Environment, Structure and Analysis

This case study analyzes Travelodge, a hotel chain operating in Singapore, focusing on its organizational structure and the factors impacting its business. The study begins with an introduction to the hotel industry and Travelodge's operations, including its hierarchical structure involving owners, executive managers, assistant managers, mid-level managers, and operational staff. The analysis explores the benefits and drawbacks of this structure, emphasizing streamlined operations and decision-making. The core of the case study involves a business environment analysis, utilizing SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) and PESTLE (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal, Environmental) frameworks. The SWOT analysis highlights Travelodge's affordable pricing and extensive presence as strengths, while room aesthetics and lack of room service are identified as weaknesses. Opportunities include the growing eco-tourism trend. Threats include intense competition and the impact of the pandemic. The PESTLE analysis examines external factors like political regulations, economic conditions (purchasing power, exchange rates), social trends (aging population, customer expectations), technological advancements (online booking), legal requirements (minimum wages), and environmental concerns (carbon emissions). The conclusion underscores the importance of an effective organizational structure and adapting to the business environment for Travelodge's sustainability. The report references several academic sources to support its findings.

TRAVELODGE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Organizational structure of Travelodge.......................................................................................3
Analysis of Business Environment..............................................................................................4
SWOT analysis on Travelodge....................................................................................................4
PESTLE analysis on Travelodge.................................................................................................5
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Hotel comes under the industry that is very competitive and there are many rival firms
operating that compete with the hotels. Travelodge hotels is located in Singapore. There are 537
hotels owned by the company in different cities which consist of around 40,000 rooms. It is
important to know about the internal and external factors that impact the operations of the
organization. Also, the hierarchical structure of the organization which is followed by all the
levels of management (Wu, 2021).
The report will be based on the organizational structure of the hotel company that is
operating in Singapore with the help of a detailed structure. Benefits of the organizational
structure and its drawbacks will also be discussed in the following report. It is further important
to know about the business environment prevailing within the organization. Different internal
and external factors will be discussed to understand how these impact the hotel business.
Meaning of business environment will be discussed in the report. Moreover, internal factors are
highlighted with the help of SWOT analysis which will highlight the strength and weakness of
the hotel. The external factors will be discussed by using the pestle analysis which will further
highlight the factors that affect the organization externally (Vlados, 2019).
MAIN BODY
Organizational structure of Travelodge
It is important for the hotel business to have organizational structure for effective functioning.
Each department is assigned with certain task which they have to perform with maximum
efficiency. Following is the organizational structure of the hotel: Owners and executive manager – A hotel consist of an owner and an executive manager
and generally in small hotel companies these position is occupied by the same person.
The work of the owner is to set the standards and policies and delegate these set standards
to the general manager. Further the manager manges the day to day operations of the
hotel. Assistant manager – Role of an assistant manager is to assist the general manager who is
responsible for all the daily tasks by communicating with the heads of the department.

 Mid-level managers – Mid-level managers can include positions such as marketing,
financial or human resource manager. Their role can vary according to their position
(Sołoducho-Pelc and et.al., 2020).
 Operational staff – This includes the role performed by different workers in different
departments of the hotel. Their role is to work according to the instructions given to
them.
Following are benefits and drawbacks of the organizational structure of Travelodge:
Organizational structure helps to maintain business operations in streamline and work is
to be performed in an order. It helps different departments in the decision-making process and
make the process effectively. Organizational structure can allow the hotel business to operate in
multiple locations locally, regionally or domestically. Further it enhances the performance of the
employees and focus on the increasing the sales and providing customer service (Sharma and
et.al., 2021).
There are certain drawbacks of the organizational structure in Travelodge that it
sometimes cause conflicts among the different departments as the lower level department feels
inferior to the upper level department. The structure is quite rigid and need flexibility to make
changes easily with changing environment.
Analysis of Business Environment
Business environment can be termed as set of all the factors that are external to the organization
but has a great influence on its functioning or growth. In the hotel business, external environment
consist of all the factors like political, social, economical and other factors that affects the day to
day functioning of the business.
SWOT analysis on Travelodge
Internal environment of the hotel company Travelodge can be understood with the help of
SWOT analysis:
Strengths
Travelodge runs its hotel business by offering prices which are affordable to its
customers. It provides discounts and keep the prices low for both the family or double room.
Facility to provide early booking deals are provided to the customers occasionally. Travelodge
feels that discounts and promotion is the best technique to attract the customers and increase

their income (Saidu, 2021). Its extensive presence throughout the company can act as the
strength of the hotel.
Weaknesses
The rooms provided by the hotel are quite boring and does not look attractive to the
customers which acts as a weakness for the business. Like its competitors who also provide
budget friendly and attractive rooms. This can result in loosing of customers for Travelodge. It
does not provide room services which are a major part of the hotel business. The hotel does not
provide choices and customers place more value on the experience which further results in
dissatisfaction among the customers.
Opportunities
There are certain opportunities in the way of Travelodge. In the past few years there has
been wide promotion of eco-friendly environment and green and ecotourism has become a new
trend. Travelodge has a very good image and reputation among the customers and this can
provide opportunities to the management of hotel business to earn more revenues (Puyt and
et.al., 2020).
Threats
Travelodge belongs to the hospitality industry where the competition is high on level.
This creates threat for the hotel business. The rivals are offering many substitutes like hotels
ranging from one to five star. Due to pandemic, people are spending less on hotels which makes
them stay in places cheaper than Travelodge. Its international presence is very low that makes it
difficult for the foreign tourist to hear about Travelodge and choose hotel which is situated in
their own country.
PESTLE analysis on Travelodge
Macro analysis of Travelodge can be understood by using PESTLE analysis as the tool. Here are
the following factors:
Political
The employees of the hotel are demanding more protection, better working condition and
information about the products which increases the operational cost of the business. Legislations
and trade unions can affect the business and standards can be kept by using these ways. The hotel
focuses on keeping good working condition which reduces the labour turnover and the workers
are more dependent upon the hotel (Namugenyi and et.al., 2019). As there are many barriers for

migrant workers in different countries so Travelodge can choose from large amount of skilled
workers even providing them minimum wages.
Economical
Most customers prefer budget friendly hotels which makes it important for Travelodge to
lower down its prices and offer prices which are affordable to everyone. Purchasing power of the
people has been decreased which reduces the overall profitability of the business. Further,
exchange rate, inflation and interest rates also plays a very important role as the economic factors
of the business (Kakko, 2018).
Social
The population in the country is growing at a high pace and most of the population is of
older age. This creates demand by this group of population for lowering the prices and expecting
more from the hotel business. The customer base of Travelodge is more informed and is not rigid
which make their expectations higher for more valuable and personal service. This can result in
the expansion of its business in more suitable places like the country side.
Technological
Technological advancement like sending emails to the clients which is very effective and
efficient. There is more security in the business which includes usage of CCTV cameras and fire
alarms in the organization for the protection of the staff and the customers. The online mode of
booking and online payment system for accommodation reduces the risk of frauds ion the
company (George, 2021).
Legal
Legal factor can comprise the amount paid to a worker for working in an organization.
Travelodge should provide its employees with minimum wages for the work they perform and
which is at least enough to meet the basic needs. They should seek knowledge about their
personal lives, hours for which they can work and offer them sick leaves, pensions and holiday
pay accordingly.
Environmental
Hotel uses air conditioned in their rooms which is a major cause of carbon emission and
causes pollution. This can be a serious problem with ever changing perception of people in the
society. Travelodge try to convince their conscious customers and maintain their brand image.

They can also shift to environment friendly alternatives like materials that can be recycled
(Chithradevi and et.al., 2022).

CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above report that organizational structure is very
important any organization to streamline the things and maintain sustainability. Everything has
to be in proper order which makes it an essential criterion for the company of Travelodge. It is a
hotel business operating in Singapore and its aim is to provide its customers with the best
experience possible. It can be summarized that with the help of swot and pestle analysis, internal
and external factors of the business environment can be understood easily. The report consisted
of the swot analysis on Travelodge. The analysis discussed the new opportunities and strengths
of the business with the increase of revenues. Also, the business focus on gaining knowledge on
the weaknesses and threats to the business to overcome the barriers in order to make the business
stronger. The external environment is discussed with the help of PESTLE analysis that discussed
the external environmental factors of the business. It can be concluded that Travelodge should
focus on the factors that affects the operations of the business by an effective organizational
structure.

REFERENCES
Chithradevi and et.al., 2022. Impact of Mobile Technology to Enhance the Customer Service
Experience in SME Hotels. In Disruptive Innovation and Emerging Technologies for Business
Excellence in the Service Sector(pp. 1-22). IGI Global.
George, R., 2021. Promoting and Advertising Tourism and Hospitality Products. In Marketing
Tourism and Hospitality(pp. 317-342). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Kakko, V., 2018. Assessment of Licensing Opportunities in Singaporean Tea Market-Case
Company X.
Namugenyi and et.al., 2019. Design of a SWOT analysis model and its evaluation in diverse
digital business ecosystem contexts. Procedia Computer Science, 159, pp.1145-1154.
Puyt and et.al., 2020. Origins of SWOT analysis. In Academy of Management Proceedings (Vol.
2020, No. 1, p. 17416). Briarcliff Manor, NY 10510: Academy of Management.
Saidu, H.M., 2021. The development and ways of implementation of international investment
project ‘Shipping container homes’ in Singapore (Doctoral dissertation, Університет імені
Альфреда Нобеля).
Sharma and et.al., 2021. Hotels' COVID-19 innovation and performance. Annals of Tourism
Research, 88, p.103180.
Sołoducho-Pelc and et.al., 2020. Between sustainable and temporary competitive advantages in
the unstable business environment. Sustainability, 12(21), p.8832.
Vlados, C., 2019. On a correlative and evolutionary SWOT analysis. Journal of Strategy and
Management.
Wu, S.Y., 2021. A Study on Promotion Strategies and Purchase Intention during the epidemic
situation-In the Travelodge Industry.

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