Quality Manager Report: Travelodge UK - Challenges and Solutions

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of quality management within Travelodge UK. It begins with an introduction to quality management principles, emphasizing their importance in the hospitality sector. The main body of the report delves into the specific challenges Travelodge faces, including those related to COVID-19, meeting customer expectations, cleanliness, operational issues, and the high cost of technology implementation. The report then explores the benchmarking technique, recommending Premier Inn as a benchmark and discussing the advantages and disadvantages of this approach. Finally, the report concludes with strategic recommendations for Travelodge to improve its quality management, enhance customer satisfaction, and maintain a competitive edge in the UK hotel market. The report uses relevant academic sources to support its findings.

QUALITY MANAGER REPORT
FOR TRAVELODGE UK

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. Quality Management................................................................................................................1
2. Challenges that currently Travelodge experienced in the United Kingdom............................2
3. Benchmarking technique.........................................................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
RECOMMENDATION...................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................8

INTRODUCTION
Quality management of an organization refers to ensuring and maintaining the quality standards
of the goods and services offered and manage consistency in its operations. It includes to assure,
control and improve the quality of the products and services of the company. This project shall
provide deeper insights regarding the concept of quality management and how it is achieved in
Travelodge hotel chain. It shall also highlight the issues that are currently faced by the
Travelodge hotel in UK and analyse the possible solutions to tackle them. Apart from that it shall
also reflect the impact that can be felt by applying the techniques of quality management like the
benchmarking and the balanced scorecard. Lastly it shall recommend certain strategies that
should be applied by the company to improve and manage the quality of its services that are
offered to its guest.
MAIN BODY
Travelodge is a hotel chain which has established in UK and has expanded in Ireland. It
is the second leading hotels in UK after the Premier Inn. It is famous for generating value for its
services. It has wide network built in UK of approximately 570 hotels where rooms are available
at affordable prices.
1. Quality Management
Quality management in a company shall be referred to as the philosophy for undertaking
a business with a desired level of performance and excellence in the business operations. Quality
management is the process to assure, manage, control and improve the quality of the goods
produced and the services offered by the company (Mukhopadhyay, 2020.). It can also be
referred to as the total quality management which is the long term objective whereby the profits
can be maximized and the growth can be established. This can be undertaken by enhancing the
level of customer satisfaction causing a rise in the retention rate of the customers.
Higher the quality higher shall be the value for the money paid by the consumers for the
services of the company. As long as the customers derive value for the money they pay, they
shall remain satisfied and shall be making repeated purchases with the brand. Quality
management is also essential in the company as this helps build an edge over their competitors in
the hospitality industry and have greater chances of assuming the market share (Bacoup and
et.al., 2018).
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A well-established quality management system is required to properly coordinate and
direct the activities among the employees such that quality is maintained in all the processes and
procedures that are undertaken by the company. There are certain prescribed principles that
needs to be followed to ensure that quality in the organization. The principles are:-
Customer focus- This principle shows that the quality must be such that it meets the expectations
of the target customers of the company (Kiran, 2016).
Leadership- It is also an important aspect wherein the leaders of the organization maintain a
single direction for the subordinates to follow ultimately helping in the achievement of the
organizational objectives.
Employee Engagement- Engaging the employees at all levels in the company helps it better
establish the quality controls and effectively improve the operations.
Process Approach- It refers to integrating the specific activities and its resources such that a
particular activity can be efficiently completed.
Improvement- It is the important aspect which involves improving on a continuous basis.
Relationship Management- It involves building relations which ensures coordination and shall
create value for the company.
Decision-making- It is another principle of quality management that shall ensure decisions are
made in the right direction such that goals are fulfilled.
The quality management in Travelodge is good but not best as compared to its competitors
Premier Inn. The customers of the hotel are moderately satisfied with the room services that are
provided by the hotel (Pambreni and et.al., 2019). They need to improve their policies in order to
maximize the customer satisfaction level and loyalty so that long term profitability and growth
prospects can be ensured by the hotel.
2. Challenges that currently Travelodge experienced in the United Kingdom
Tarvelodge is one of the leading hotel chain brands in the world, it provides
accommodation, food & beverage and other hospitality services as well as products to
consumers. The success and growth of company get affected due to varied challenges which
impact in negative manner upon sales, productivity, progress and customer base of chosen brand.
COVID-19 change current management practices-
The biggest challenge that Travelodge in recent time has faced is related to management
activities and decision-making, which impacted due to COVID-19 (Gursoy and Chi, 2020).
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Coronavirus is one of the external factors that directly impact the way firm provide its services to
consumers and also way through which manager take decision to operate its venture within
hospitality industry. Furthermore, because of current pandemic, company take decision to closed
its hotels in March. Not only this, firm faced more challenges due to above discuss element. The
management within chosen organization, change overall process in context of make list in
context of grocery purchase which enable them to cook food or prepare meal for guests. Because
of pandemic, hotel face challenge in regard to services provided by workers as they all need to
follow guidelines governed by national and local authority.
Challenge relate to retain potential guests -
It is quite challenging for each brand to meet the expectations, demand and requirements
of target segment, especially when market trends are changed. Just like other companies
Travelodge in recent time has also faced another challenge that is meeting expectations of its
guests. People change the way he or she eats food as most of them adopt new trend that is vegan
consumption (Lee and et.al., 2019). This modification bring challenge for company in term of
retaining potential buyers. It is very complex task for firm to do as it require a lot of hard work,
extra workforce and most important current information relate to market which enable
management to retain guest for longer period of time. It is quite different obstacle that every
company while operating in hospitality sector has faced. It may affect in negative manner.
Cleanliness-
Driven by increasing consumer expectations in context of exceptional service, hygiene
standards and customized personal experience, Travelodge is facing a vast set of barriers. Most
of Travelodge consumers given his or her reviews relate to current concept (Five challenges
facing the hotel industry, 2020). They experience all the negative things about cleanliness within
rooms and bathrooms. As their expectations were higher than services offer by company and
because of that reason firm face challenge in regard to clean rooms according to people need
twice a day or more than it (Awan, Shamim and Ahn, 2020). Demand for cleanliness and
hygiene from customers sides, affect housekeeping activities and work of housekeeping
department workers. Firm face this challenge especially when the government ordered most of
the people to quarantine themselves in hotels after their his or her entry into home towns just to
stay family safe from infection of harmful disease.
Operational issues-
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Travelodge customers obtain bad experience due to operational problems within
company which relate to attending guests and maintain cleanliness in hotel rooms. When
customer service staff could not pay attention towards customers queries and concerns it leads to
decrease consumer satisfactory level and productivity of hotel as well. Operational issues are
included in list of problems that firm currently being experience which directly impact brand
image in market and sales level. Consumers feel more frustration when customer service
department do not attend calls and revert it back to people. It leads to fail to retain and attract
target segment which decrease profitability of business. This challenge impact in negative
manner upon existing customer base and satisfactory level of individual guest. Long failure
resolution times may include in list of top 5 challenges that hotels like chosen one has faced.
High cost of technology implementation-
In order to give excellent and memorable experiences, many hotels has implemented and
updates management as well as operational systems, which bring challenge for Travelodge in
term of increasing cost. It is one of the most medium and significant term of challenge that affect
planning function of administration and profitability of business in negative manner.
Implementation of advanced HRM systems, security & data privacy programmes and rooms
locking systems would require initial cost which leads to decrease financial performance of firm
and increase requirement relate to money. Electronic check in and check out in today's customer
service become more essential and popular in context hospitality sector as it need system update
at time when new version occur.
The rationale proves that the reliability dimension of the quality of services is weak in
Travelodge as its services are of poor quality and are incapable in meeting the customer
expectations.
Apart from that it can also be considered that the degree of responsiveness of the
management is also low as the complains of the guests are not tackled on time and their
expectations are not met.
3. Benchmarking technique
Benchmarking is the practice or technique that can be used by the Travelodge hotel to
ensure effectiveness and quality of services that are provided to their customers. A benchmark
needs to be set which is best in the industry so that against it the company can also improve its
standards. The technique facilitates the comparison of the performances and business operations
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as against the strong competitor which has edge over the company in the industry (John and
Eeckhout, 2018). The standards must be set as that of the benchmark and the actual performance
of the company should be measured against it which helps in continuous improvement and
achieving the quality management targets. It helps the company build efficiency in its systems,
processes and areas such that the customer satisfaction and loyalty can be ensured.
The Travelodge hotel can be benefited by the benchmarking technique if they set the
leader in the hospitality industry of UK as their benchmark. If Premier Inn is established as the
benchmark against which the quality of its products and services is measured then they will find
the deviations. Such deviations should be analysed and worked upon and strategies to be
developed to rectify the variances. This rectification shall boost the levels of efficiency in the
operations of the business leading to positive positioning of the brand of the hotel. This shall
ultimately boost the success and result orientation of the hotel.
There can be certain advantages and disadvantages that are posed by the benchmarking
technique which are as follows:-
Advantages:- Enhances quality management- This technique has the most prominent advantage of
improving the quality of the goods and services that are offered as they are standardized
as per the benchmark company. This helps in improving the quality and reducing
wastages. Up-gradation of technology- Benchmarking shall also lead to the advancement in the
technology and introduction of the faster and efficiency style of working in the
organization (Klychova and et.al., 2017). It shall automatically enhance the operational
efficiency of the business and also reduce unnecessary errors. Customer satisfaction and Loyalty- For any business operating in the hospitality industry
achieving the guest satisfaction is the major objective. This objective is fulfilled by
employing benchmarking and formulating decisions and policies according to that of the
competitor.
 Competitive advantage- In order to survive in any market it is very essential for the
business to compete effectively in the market and meet the competition levels. To acquire
larger share of the market the quality of the company must be better than that of the
competitor to take advantage of the rivalry.
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Disadvantages:- Time consuming and costly affair- To employ the benchmarking technique is a costly
and a time-consuming affair for the business that already is struggling with the
inefficiencies of the business. Experts and analysts are required to compare the
competitor's performance with that of the company. Lack of understanding- Lack of understanding is also an issue that is faced in
incorporating the pattern of the competitors business (Beyer, Löwe and Wendler, 2019).
The methods, techniques, assumptions and valuations are different which makes it
difficult to compare as well as incorporate. Increases dependency- It increases the level of dependency and reduces the freedom to
try out unique systems. To facilitate such comparison the company has to be exactly like
the other which makes it difficult and reduces the complexities.
 Lack of information- Gathering appropriate information is also a concern for the
business as there are chances that the company may not be able to arrange the
confidential data of the business and the competitor may also avoid providing its data and
shall lead to development of cut-throat competition.
The scope of benchmarking increases for the business since its lagging behind in the market and
is also facing severe issues that it needs to tackle. Some issues that the business is facing are lack
of appropriate room service facility, covid- 19 circumstances etc.
One example could be that the Premier Inn company offered the Covid – 19 stay at its hotel
whereas this wasn't offered by the Travelodge hotel, instead they vacated the rooms as soon as
the lock down began.
CONCLUSION
By summing up above discussion, it has been concluded that Travelodge has overcome
challenges and issues in effective manner by using key approaches and following above
suggestions. It has been identified that by using KPI as total quality management technique, firm
has improved its operational efficiency and increased productivity. Apart from that
benchmarking is also an effective tool to accomplish the quality management in a company. By
choosing a market leader and following its accomplishments the continuous is also generated for
the company.
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RECOMMENDATION
 From above discussion, five different types of issues and challenges has been identified
that Travelodge faced while operating its hotel chains in hospitality sector. It context of
operational issues, firm should take appropriate actions or use methods.
 HR manager to build strong workforce at workplace who will give quick revert and
response to customer should adopt effective approaches. For example, training is the key
source or technique that work effectively and provide desire outcomes in form of
enhancing skills and competences of workers which enable them to handle reservation to
customer service operation in systematic manner.
 This considers as cost effective method where experience leaders, managers and other top
authority members by sharing personal experience and working ways would enhance as
well as improve current practices of staff which is really very essential to boost.
 Furthermore, along with above suggestion, Travelodge would recognize other possible
recommendations as well, which are quite beneficial for its business growth in term of
improving quality relate to products or services.
 Hotel management must use KPI as effective total quality management tools which
enables manager to identify barriers in success of ventures and determine factors that
foster progress of company. Key performance indicator is measurable value that
identified how successfully firm is achieving set goals and business objectives (Nestic
and et.al., 2019).
 It makes chosen brand able to examine its success at reaching target market and gaining
competitive edge which is important to gain in today's competitive business environment,
where competition between existing hotel brands is high.
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REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Awan, M.I., Shamim, A. and Ahn, J., 2020. Implementing ‘cleanliness is half of faith’in re-
designing tourists, experiences and salvaging the hotel industry in Malaysia during
COVID-19 pandemic. Journal of Islamic Marketing.
Bacoup, P. and et.al., 2018. From a quality management system (QMS) to a lean quality
management system (LQMS). The TQM Journal.
Beyer, D., Löwe, S. and Wendler, P., 2019. Reliable benchmarking: Requirements and
solutions. International Journal on Software Tools for Technology Transfer. 21(1). pp.1-29.
Gursoy, D. and Chi, C.G., 2020. Effects of COVID-19 pandemic on hospitality industry: review
of the current situations and a research agenda.
John, L. K. and Eeckhout, L. eds., 2018. Performance evaluation and benchmarking. CRC Press.
Kiran, D. R., 2016. Total quality management: Key concepts and case studies. Butterworth-
Heinemann.
Klychova, G. S. and et.al., 2017. Benchmarking as an efficient tool of social audit
development. Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences. 12(19). p.4958.
Lee, S and et.al., 2019. Hotel restaurants’ challenges and critical success factors in Klang Valley,
Malaysia: the inseparable roles of support centers and revenue streams. Journal of
Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism. 20(1). pp.16-43.
Mukhopadhyay, M., 2020. Total quality management in education. SAGE Publications Pvt.
Limited.
Nestic, S and et.al., 2019. Ranking manufacturing processes from the quality management
perspective in the automotive industry. Expert Systems. 36(6). p.e12451.
Pambreni, Y. and et.al., 2019. The influence of total quality management toward organization
performance. Management Science Letters. 9(9). pp.1397-1406.
Online
Five challenges facing the hotel industry. 2020. [ONLINE]. Available through:
<https://www.rentokil-pestcontrolindia.com/hospitality/challenges/>
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