Contemporary Hospitality Industry Analysis: Travelodge and Skills Gap

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of the contemporary hospitality industry, with a specific focus on Travelodge Hotels Limited. It begins by defining the different types of businesses within the hospitality sector, including hotels, food and beverage, travel and tourism, and entertainment, and outlines the products and services offered by each. The report then delves into the operational and functional departments within Travelodge, detailing their roles and inter-relationships. A key aspect of the report examines the contribution of the hospitality industry to regional, national, and international economies, highlighting employment generation, tax revenues, and investment. Furthermore, it assesses the influence of franchising and licensing agreements on the global development of the industry. The report also analyzes the impact of global growth, franchising, and licensing on the economic worth of the industry, identifies different operational roles, and assesses required skills and skills shortages, providing solutions to address the skills gap.

Contemporary
Hospitality Industry

Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................1
Part A...............................................................................................................................................1
Task 1...............................................................................................................................................1
Explain different types of business within hospitality industry along with range of products
and services offered by them..................................................................................................1
Operational and functional department within Travelodge Hotels Limited...........................2
Contribution of hospitality industry to regional, national and international economy...........3
Inter-relationship between operational and functional department of Travelodge Hotels
Limited...................................................................................................................................4
Assess how franchising and licensing agreements have influenced the global development of
hospitality industry.................................................................................................................5
Task 2...............................................................................................................................................5
Analyse how global growth, franchising and licensing have contributed towards the economic
worth of hospitality industry..................................................................................................5
Different operational roles within hospitality industry..........................................................6
Skills required for roles in hospitality industry and what are the current skills shortage......7
Review the skills gaps within hospitality industry in relation to the distinct operational roles
................................................................................................................................................7
Impact of skills gap on hospitality industry along with void solutions to address the skills gap
................................................................................................................................................8
Part 2................................................................................................................................................9
Task 3...............................................................................................................................................9
Covered in PPT.......................................................................................................................9
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................10
References:.....................................................................................................................................11

Books and Journals...............................................................................................................11

Introduction
Hospitality industry is recognised as the broader segment of service industry which constitute
several business and services aimed primarily to provide leisure and customer satisfaction.
Unlike other business that caters to the needs of the customers, service industry serves to provide
experience, enjoyment, pleasure and luxury to their clients and guests who make use of their
services. Lodging, food and beverages, event management, Themes Park, travel and tourism are
the part of a broad hospitality service industry (Walters and et. al., 2021). Travelodge Hotels
Limited is a business operating in lodging and accommodation of hospitality industry across
United Kingdom, Ireland and Spain. The Private limited company was founded in the year 1973,
headquartered at Thames, England. Travelodge is an independent largest hotel chain in United
Kingdom with more than 550 hotels across UK, 11 in Irelands and 5 Hotels in Spain. Objective
of report is to examine the current structure, scope and size of Travelodge along with
determining current and anticipated skills requirement in hospitality industry.
Part A
Task 1
Explain different types of business within hospitality industry along with range of products and
services offered by them
Broad category of hospitality industry is further classified into sub-categories which are
known as the components and together provide a products and services for the leisure,
enjoyment, pleasure and experience of the guests.
 Hotels: Lodging and accommodation sector is concerned with providing a place to
customer for stay on a temporary basis in exchange of tariff or free cost depending upon
the nature and type of place. Hotels, motels, resorts, bed and breakfast, time sharing and
services apartments are the examples of lodging and accommodation. Products and
services offered by them are rooms, catering, concierge, venues, excursions, guided tours
and car rental services (Li, Hudson and So, 2019) .
 Food and drinks: Food and beverage sectors are responsible for preparing and serving
food and drinks to the guests, customers, tourists and locals. This sector includes quick
service establishments, catering business, institutional food services, welfares and full
services restaurants. Restaurants, fast food chains, takeaways, casinos, hotels, bars and
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pubs are sub sectors within F&B business. Products and services offered by Travelodge
are plate services, buffet services, platter service, family style and self services. Travel and Tourisms: Travel and tourism is the backbone of hospitality industry as these
businesses are engaged in moving people from origin to destination or vice and versa.
People travel for several reasons such as leisure, business, education, medical, spirituality
etc. Trains, flights, cabs, cruises, ships, are the modes used to make movements of guests
and travel tickets, accommodation, restaurants, transportation, guided tours, entry for
museum, historical sites and cultural events are the products and services offered by this
sector (Alnawas and Hemsley-Brown, 2019). Entertainment: This sector of hospitality industry focus on entertaining and enjoyment
of guests. People travel in order to refresh mind and take a break from a daily routine,
lacking of recreational activity would not meet the objective of travel as these activities
are designed for rest, relaxation and enjoyment. Marinas, nightclubs, bars and pubs,
themes park, theatres, zoo, museum are all part of recreational sector. Services provided
by them are live dance and music shows, cultural events, fairs and festivals.
Operational and functional department within Travelodge Hotels Limited
Operational department of Travelodge Hotels Limited Front office department: Front desk is regarded as the nerve of the Travelodge Hotels as
they perform the central role in hotels operations such as reservation, registration,
reception, room assignment and clearance of bill payment. Staff personnel greet and
welcomes guests, allocate rooms, transfer luggage and handles queries and complaints
from clients. Housekeeping department: Housekeeping department of Travelodge looks after the
cleanliness, maintenance and pleasing upkeep of rooms, lobby area, gardens, swimming
pool and other areas of hotels. The department ensures that rooms and other surrounding
areas are tide, clean and in organised manner to deliver quality of services to guest and
clients (Abaeian and et. al., 2019).
 Kitchen department: Food and beverage served in Travelodge Hotels are prepared in
kitchen. Guests visit destination to experience cuisine and culinary, therefore it is
essential for the Travelodge to focus on culinary preparation along with knowledge of
food preparation and techniques.
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Functional department of Travelodge Hotel limited Engineering and maintenance department: This department within Travelodge ensures
that all the equipments, furniture and fixtures installed are in a good state of working and
conditions so as to avoid any disruption in the hotel services and inconvenience to the
guests. Maintenance departments repairs and maintains plants & machinery, boilers and
water heaters, water treatment and distribution, lighting of room and other areas,
electronic appliance and sewage treatment to provide hassle free services to guests
(Houran and et. al., 2020). HR department: HR department is responsible for acquisition, managing, controlling,
training and development and retraining the staff members of Travelodge. The
departments ensures that Hotels always have a adequate staff members with desired set of
skills and are working effectively to deliver warm and friendly services to the guests. Purchase department: Purchased department of Travelodge makes purchase of behalf of
other departments, issue and allocate inventories to ensure that resources are utilised
effectively leading to a profit maximization and minimal wastage of resources.
Contribution of hospitality industry to regional, national and international economy
Hospitality industry is one of the significant sector is the broader services industry which
contributes more towards the economic development and creation of wealth for a nation.
Hospitality industry has been made several significant contributions at regional, national and
international level of economy which are as mentioned below:
Employment generation: Hospitality industry is at forefront in providing job opportunities to the
people at national and international level. Travelodge provide direct job opportunities to the
people in their hotel properties and indirect jobs by supporting other sectors of an economy such
as food and beverages, transportation, agriculture, business services like marketing and
advertising etc (Rather, 2019). This sector had provided approximately 2.5 million jobs which
represent around 8.5% of the total UK employment and is regarded as fourth largest industry in
terms of employment. Other indirect jobs are tour guides, travel agents, artists, drivers etc.
Tax revenues: UK government’s major source of income in taxes and VAT generated by
hospitality industry as it had contributed approximately £40 billion to the exchequer in the year
2014. This income is generated from the hotels and other business operating in hospitality
industry along with taxes paid by the employees on their earning and savings. Tourists, who visit
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the country stay in hotels, use local transport, eat in local restaurants, and use other services such
as medical, entertainment and travel services which generate income for the UK government in
form of Tax (Malik and et. al., 2020).
Exports/Inbound spending: Foreign tourists visiting United Kingdom makes spending in the
foreign currency which accumulates to the foreign reserves of nation required in making imports
and exports of goods. In bound tourist and exports of nation generates foreign earning which was
estimated as per the report was £10 billion in the year 2014 of foreign exports and spending
made by overseas visitor excluding international students was estimated to be £22 billion of the
same year.
Investments: Hospitality industry also extend its business to the overseas market and companies
from foreign markets makes investment to establish their business, in both the cases international
economy is developed by the infrastructural development and generation of employment for the
local people. Total foreign investment made by the hospitality industry in UK was approximately
£5 billion which lead to the development of other services and sectors along with rise in income
level.
Figure 1UK direct hospitality employment sub-sectors
Source: (Oxford Economics, 2015)
Inter-relationship between operational and functional department of Travelodge Hotels Limited Front office and house-keeping department: These two departments are the core part of
the functional department in Travelodge and works in coordination with each other to
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ensure hotels operation runs smoothly and efficiently. Front office maintains and keeps
the records of room inventory available for allotment which is provided by the
housekeeping department only after cleaning and preparing a room as soon as guests
leaves (Mensah, Appietu and Asimah, 2020). Housekeeping department ensures that
rooms are cleaned and prepared on time to be available for further allocation and
coordinate with front office department to inform which room is left for cleaning and
which one is already cleaned. Purchase and kitchen department: Purchase department of Travelodge acquires
materials and necessary resources on behalf of other functional department and maintains
to desired inventory to keep right balance between demand and supply. Kitchen
department gets all the food materials from purchase department and ensures that there is
good and high quality of materials to prepare food. Also it is the responsibility of
purchase department to make effective allocation of resources on the basis of FIFA
model and makes sure that there is minimal wastage of resources through utilising it
before time of expire and being rotten.
Assess how franchising and licensing agreements have influenced the global development of
hospitality industry
Power of brand plays a significant role in influencing the hospitality sectors as the
customers prefer to choose the trustworthy and loyal brands to get services (Kaushal and
Srivastava, S., 2021). Franchising and licensing are the two business agreements where a brand
owner (franchisor) grants permission to the foreign business that puts capital into business and
makes use of successful brand and business model of a franchisor. Hospitality industry has
flourished under these agreements as there is intense presence in foreign market and brand
promotion which makes customer to build trust and loyalty towards the hotel brand. Franchising
is covered under licensing agreements where Travelodge Brand allows the other business to use
its unique attributes such as logo, design, structure, trademarks etc for the successful of a
business. Franchisees get benefits from the support of Travelodge Hotels (franchisor) in form of
technical know-how marketing and promotion techniques and effective training and development
programmes to maintain desired standards and practise of the business to deliver same quality of
services. Franchising and licensing agreements allows brand owner to have access of foreign
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market at low cost, limited risk and liability, preventing from rigid laws and regulations, and
build customer loyalty through wider customer segment (Hu and et. al., 2021).
Task 2
Analyse how global growth, franchising and licensing have contributed towards the economic
worth of hospitality industry
Global growth is referred to as the developments and advancements taking place across
world in every aspect such as business, education, research, medical, science and technology. In
context of hospitality industry several countries are well known for some of the famous iconic
buildings, historical monuments, palaces and museum which attracts tourist from the world and
contribute to the economic development. United Kingdom is known for its historical significance
and renowned attraction across globe which has increased the tourist foot fall and thereby
increased in the tax revenues and foreign earnings. Franchising and licensing agreements have
allowed hotel brands to establish their operations in foreign market which brings huge amount of
capital into an economy, development of infrastructure and creation of job opportunities at
regional and national level (Lv and et. al., 2021). Employment generation and influx of tourist
into a nation increase the revenue for government as people with high disposable income makes
large spending and tourist generates revenue for the hospitality businesses which in turn pay
taxes to government. This not all, with the franchising and licensing several international hostel
brands are stepping into United Kingdom which also support and provide development for other
industries too such as agriculture, technology, communications and FMCG.
Different operational roles within hospitality industry
Operational roles in Travelodge Concierge: This is entry level job in Travelodge which is concerned with providing
several services to customer while interacting with them. They respond to the customer
queries and determined in advance what guests would expect. Concierge needs to be
problem solver along with good customer skills with patience and calmness to handle
different temperament customers. Event planner: Apart from the facility of accommodation and restaurant, Travelodge also
rent out event spaces such as conference room and outdoor venues for several events.
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Event manager of the hotel is responsible for making all necessary arrangements and
ensures effective execution of meetings and conferences (Romero and Tejada, 2020). House-keepers: These personnel are responsible for maintaining desired cleaning and
hygiene standards in the properties of Travelodge Hotels limited. They do cleaning of
rooms and other areas including lobby, garden, swimming pool, restaurants etc.
Housekeepers make bed, change and stock linen, do laundry, clean washrooms and other
chores. Porter: Porters are assigned with handling baggage and makes a transfer of baggage from
room to lobby and lobby to room at the time of check-in and check outs. Another position
is that of parking attendant or valets who park guest’s vehicle as they arrive at hotel,
restaurant and other venues.
Skills required for roles in hospitality industry and what are the current skills shortage Customer service skills: Most of the job roles in hospitality industry involve interactions
with customers therefore in order to meet the expectations of customer and to deal with
different temperament it is imperative to have good customer services skills (Sadeh and
Garkaz, 2019). It is the customer service skills which determine the positive and negative
experience of customers thus, it is essential to be polite, friendly and professional at
work. Cultural awareness: Guests visit country and hotel across the globe and each client have
different values, customs and traditions; therefore adapting easily to different attitudes
and beliefs; and cultural awareness is crucial for the employees of Travelodge to work
effectively with diverse range of clients to deliver positive experience. Communication skills: Although this skill is required in every business sector but in
hospitality industry it is crucial to have communication skills as it helps in
communicating and dealing with diverse clients of different culture, language, age and
temperaments. These skills help working professional in understanding customer and
deliver clear and understandable message (Keshavarz and et. al., 2019).
Skills shortage in the industry Language skills: Good command over secondary language, especially foreign language
adds extra benefit to the career of hospitality personnel. These skills are crucial to
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communicate with foreign customer and to solve their queries effectively. Apart from
this, employees can be sent as expats to handle foreign operations. Innovation and creativity: Hospitality industry operates in a environment where
customer should be delivered exceptionally quality of services to make their visit or stay
memorable. Hospitality industry is lacking in creativity and innovation as these services
can be changed overnight and required certain process to deliver services.
Review the skills gaps within hospitality industry in relation to the distinct operational roles
Skills gaps in relation to distinct operational roles
 Team working skills: These skills are essential to work coherently with the other
functional departments as Travelodge’s operational and functional department is inter-
related with each other and contribute towards delivering good and hassle free services
(Walters and et. al., 2021). For instance, purchase department with kitchen department or
front office with housekeeping department should work collaboratively.
 Work ethics: It is imperative for employees of Travelodge to work with integrity and
commitment to be successful and make customer experience memorable. Lack of work
ethics and tendency to skive has led the industry to face large employee turnover and
shortage of workforce. Multi-tasking skills: Travelodge is facing shortage of multi-tasking skills in workforce
due to which there is increased in work pressure and growing distress among employees.
Hospitality industry needs an employee to be multi-tasking and handle several things at a
time to deal with the work pressure and daily operations of hotel. ICT skills: Advancements in technology and accessibility of internet based technology
has made it imperative for hospitality business to integrate technology into hotel
operations. Present workforce lacks in ICT skills making them incompetent to keep up
the pace with competitive environment and work productively (Li, Hudson and So,
2019).
Impact of skills gap on hospitality industry along with void solutions to address the skills gap
Hospitality industry focuses on leisure, enjoyment, relationship building and leniency rather
than focusing on the needs of customer unlike other sectors. It is necessary for hospitality
industry to have several skills which contribute towards delivering exceptionally good, warm and
friendly services to guests. Lack of these skills have declined the performance and profitability
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of Travelodge as incompetent and unskilled workforce makes customer experience bad and lead
to dissatisfaction. Customer’s expectations are changing and in order to be relevant and increase
brand image it is essential for Travelodge to provide adequate training and development
programmes to enhance their skills makes necessary changes in the process as per the trends to
increase the competitiveness and profitability of a Hotel brand (Alnawas and Hemsley-Brown,
2019).
Part 2
Task 3
Covered in PPT
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Conclusion
From the above report it is concluded that in order to work efficiently and effectively in
hospitality industry there is requirement of several skills which have a direct influence in
delivering good or bad services to the customers. Furthermore, there are distinct operational and
functional departments in the industry which works in coordination with each department to
deliver uninterrupted and high quality of services. In order to minimise the impact of external
factors it is essential to conduct PESTLE analysis which helps in determining future treats and
challenges company is more likely to face in near future. Furthermore, it has also been revealed
that hospitality industry is a huge sector in service industry which is regarded as largest
contributor towards economic development.
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References:
Books and Journals
Abaeian, V., and et. al., 2019. Motivations of undertaking CSR initiatives by independent hotels:
a holistic approach. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Alnawas, I. and Hemsley-Brown, J., 2019. Market orientation and hotel performance:
investigating the role of high-order marketing capabilities. International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Houran, J., and et. al., 2020. Paranormal tourism: Market study of a novel and interactive
approach to space activation and monetization. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly. 61(3).
pp.287-311.
Hu, F., and et. al., 2021. Dealing with pandemics: An investigation of the effects of COVID-19
on customers’ evaluations of hospitality services. Tourism Management. 85.
p.104320.
Kaushal, V. and Srivastava, S., 2021. Hospitality and tourism industry amid COVID-19
pandemic: Perspectives on challenges and learnings from India. International Journal
of Hospitality Management. 92. p.102707.
Keshavarz, Y., and et. al., 2019. A comparative study of outcome quality, perceived value, and
loyalty in four-star and five-star hotels. International Journal of Tourism Cities.
Li, J., Hudson, S. and So, K.K.F., 2019. Exploring the customer experience with
Airbnb. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research.
Lv, X., and et. al., 2021. Does a cute artificial intelligence assistant soften the blow? The impact
of cuteness on customer tolerance of assistant service failure. Annals of Tourism
Research. 87. p.103114.
Malik, S.A., and et. al., 2020. Measuring service quality perceptions of customers in the hotel
industry of Pakistan. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence. 31(3-4).
pp.263-278.
Mensah, C., Appietu, M.E. and Asimah, V.K., 2020. Work-based social support and hospitality
internship satisfaction. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism
Education. 27. p.100242.
Rather, R.A., 2019. Consequences of consumer engagement in service marketing: An empirical
exploration. Journal of Global Marketing. 32(2). pp.116-135.
Romero, I. and Tejada, P., 2020. Tourism intermediaries and innovation in the hotel
industry. Current Issues in Tourism. 23(5). pp.641-653.
Sadeh, E. and Garkaz, M., 2019. Interpretive structural modeling of quality factors in both
medical and hospitality services in the medical tourism industry. Journal of Travel &
Tourism Marketing. 36(2). pp.253-267.
Walters, G., and et. al., 2021. Commercial hospitality in tourism: A global comparison of what
culturally matters. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 95. p.102939.
[Online] Available through: <https://www.ukhospitality.org.uk/general/custom.asp?
page=economiccontributio
>./
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