Sustainability And Hotel Business Criteria Assessment Answer

Discuss about the Sustainability And Hotel Business Criteria.

 

Introduction

Marriott hotels and Resorts which was earlier known as Marriott hotels is a chain of hotels and resorts that operate in an international level and currently headquartered in Washington DC, United States.  Initially, the business organization was set up by J Willard Marriott and as of the year 2017, the business organization has more than 570 hotels and resorts spread across 85 countries throughout the world and those properties are administered, owned and managed by independent operators by Marriott. Marriott hotels and resorts has become a flagship brand and can be looked at as one of the major hotel brands in the international market. the hotels and resorts of this company are generally located in the prime areas and the target customers of this hotel are the niche population as the management of the organization has set the standards of the hotel high and as they provide world-class facilities with world-class service, their pricing structure is naturally higher than other general hotels operating in the same market (Al-Refaie, 2015). Majority of their hotels and resorts are located near the airports, popular vacation destinations and in major city centers that makes the organization more niches in terms of other hotels and resorts. The management of the organization provides various services and products and high end luxuries in their hotels and resorts and the quality of the food and beverages provided by the management is of world-class quality (Tracey et al., 2015). It can be said that the management quite flexibly offers a serviced accommodation and they can accommodate for various types of individuals with different requirements.

Findings

Identify, and briefly assess the relationships with key stakeholders.

External stakeholders	Interests
Customers	Buying services and products in cheaper rates >
Communities	The type of impact of the business activity to the community
Government	Corporate taxation, compliance with laws, business employment relations, rules and regulations
Media	Corporate conflicts, employee relations, corporate performance
Suppliers	Long term partnership which is beneficial to both them and the business organization

Figure: interests of the external stakeholders

Source: Created by author

It can be said that the relation between tha management of Marriott hotels with the external stakeholders of the company is somewhat goo, but in some cases there are discrepancies in the relationship between the internal stakeholders like the employees of the organization with the management of the hotel chain. It is seen that due to some issues related to governing and administration these issues has raised and if the management does not fix the issue right away, it may expose the company to various challenges related to the organizational effectiveness that can potentially harm the profitability and productivity of the company.

Determining the key strategic issues that have impacted on the relative success/failure of the company and assessing the external environment and the customer portfolio.

The management of Marriott hotel aims to provide the best in class services to their visitors and that is how they want to get recognized in both domestic and international market of operation. It is a matter of fact that the effort the management of Marriott hotels put in order to serve their visitors, it is expected that they will earn a reputation in no time. Indeed that hotel chain is famous as their staffs are courteous and they have the ability to satisfy the frequently changing demands of their customers. The reason behind it is the management’s aim to continuously engaging in training and developmental programs for their employees (Altinay, 2016). Not only that, the managerial body of the hotel chain is ensures that the induction training of the newly joined employees has to be good so that they have a clear knowledge of what the management expects from them and what they can possibly expect from the management of the hotel chain. It is possible that the employees of the organization achieved their professional competence by engaging in numerous training and developmental programs in the workplace and that have inarguably enhanced the organizational performance (Wong, French & Wickham, 2017). It is a matter of fact that the management’s effort for providing best service to their customers is satisfied and that is why the organization has earned a huge reputation. As the business organization operates in the service industry, reputation matters a lot in determining the success of the company, which is behind the management’s incessant effort to increase the level of services. It has been observed that the management of Marriott hotel significantly emphasizes on maintaining a good communication within the workplace because they feel that in an organization operating in the service industry sustaining both formal and informal communication is important for sustenance of the organizational performance. The management believes that if they can create a culture of good communication within the workplace, that can effectively increase the organizational performance and that can contribute to the profitability of the organization. It is a matter of fact that the if the management of the organization is able to create an environment in the workplace where the communication among the workers and the managerial body is undisputed, the sharing of knowledge and sharing of experiences will increase and that can effectively contribute to the overall increase of the organizational performance.

External environment (PESTLE analysis)

Political: The management of the hotel chain tries to comply with all the set regulations by the government of their area of operations in order to avoid any political issues. It is a matter of fact that the changing policies regarding tourism in many countries are invoking some challenges for the hotel chain as due to their contribution in the challenges faced by the environment, the governments are nowadays significantly changing their policies in order to sustain the environmental balance (Al-Refaie, 2015). It can be said that the management of Marriott hotel is trying to increase their reputation in both their domestic and international market of operation by getting engaged in numerous CSR activities and that is actually increasing their reputation politically.

Economical: The management of the organizational aims to improve their economic condition, but the slowdown in the economic growth in their market of operation and the economic turmoil of Europe is affecting the business organization’s profitability (Ferrary, 2015). The economic turmoil is restraining the tourism industry and people are getting deluded about touring and that is having an adverse effect on the productivity and subsequent profitability of the hotel chain. Not only that, the higher exchange rate of currency of America I discouraging the Americans to travel and also the other tourists to visit America, and naturally this is affecting the profitability if the hotel chain in a significant manner.

Social: it can surely be said that the social factors are actually helping the management of Marriott hotels to increase their productivity along with the profitability in their market of operations. To support the above statement it can be said that between the years of 2013 to 2014 the management have experienced an increase of 13% in the visitors list of the hotel chain and it can be regarded as a good progress in the given economic situation throughout the world (Simón, Narangajavana & Llorente, 2016).  The cultural changes in their numerous market of operation could have been some potential threats for the company, but the management of the business organization has effectively retained a workforce where the cultural intelligence is significant making it easier for the employees to deal with the visitors who come from different ethnicity or socio-cultural background.

Technological factors: It can be said that technology plays a significant role in determining the company’s profitability. As the managerial board of the hotel chain has adopted the latest technologies in their operations to maintain all the records and to sustain the safety and security of the visitors of the hotel. It is a matter of fact that the management of the hotel understands the importance of implementing latest technologies in the workplace to increase the organizational effectiveness.

Legal: The major legal factor that can effectively improve the hotel chain’s effectiveness is the status of services like Airbnb. It is seen that authorities in the cities as diverse as New Orleans, New York and Barcelona has already fined Airbnb and the hosts of it regarding violating zoning laws along with the standard regulations of hotels and safety and health regulations. It has been noticed that in the operational market of America, the management of the hotel chain faed possibility of an increased minimum wage and this has increased the annual budget of the company and thus it can be said that changing policies and regulations can either help the organization to thrive in challenges or can expose the company to numerous threats.

Environmental: it can be said that in contemporary times the increase in the cost of fuels have a negative impact on the profitability of the business organization as it has led to a decrease in the tourist’s flow in the hotel chain. Apart from that the management of Marriott hotels have faced severe challenges for not complying with the set regulations in some of their operational markets and those can expose the company to face some challenges. It can be said that the hotel business is liable for harming the balance of the environment and that is why the management of the business organization should engage themselves in performing various CSR activities that can help the management to gain significant recognition in their both international and domestioc market of operation.

Customer portfolio

Target customers	Age group
Visitors for business trips	30 to 50 years old
Family vacation	12 to 50 years old
Regular customers for business trips	30 to 40 years old
Visitors who visit the hotel annually for recreational purposes	20 to 40 years old

Personnel management of Marriott hotel

It can be said that the management of the business organization has a long history of prioritizing the needs of the workforce in order to sustain a workforce that is motivated and loyal towards the business organization (Prayag & Hosany, 2015). The board of directors stated in a press meet that they always try to ensure that all the employees of the organization should feel that they are a part of the concern and only that can keep them motivated and loyal towards the organization (Chen, 2015). This approach of the management has been backing up their profitability and t reputation in the market since they have realized the importance of a motivated workforce. In this regard, it can be said that the management understands that the workers are the nucleus of the company and without their cooperation the management will not be able to do anything to experience profitability as there will be no productivity (Kim et al., 2019). Therefore managing the human resources has huge importance in sustaining the profitability of a business concern.  It has been seen that in the recent years the management of the business concern has improved their HR policies and have amended it in order to satisfy the demands of the employees of the organization to experience more profitability and productivity with high quality. It has been observed that the management of the business organization should understand that if they can effectively keep the workforce motivated and loyal towards the organization it would immensely help them to achieve the desired profitability and reputation in their market of operation in a very short time and thus they have exactly done that (Li, Wong & Kim, 2016).

Apart from that the management of the business organization emphasizes on continuous training and developmental programs for the employees to enhance their professional skills and that has effectively helped them to attain desired productivity. As the company operates in the service industry, maintaining the quality of the productivity is significantly important and therefore the management of the business organization has rightly implemented various training and developmental programs in the workplace to sustain their productivity and reputation in both domestic and international market of operation. the management’s continuous try to enhance the skills of the employees by introducing number of programs related to training and development of the employees have been significantly beneficial for the employees of the business organization and that has rightly helped the business organization to experience more productivity while maintaining the quality of the services they provide to their clients. It is seen that the hotel chain is widely known for their good treatment with the employees and it is also a matter of fact that in the service industry Marriott Hotel is one of the leading organization in terms of retaining a motivated and loyal workforce for a long period of time.

Recommendation:

It has been observed that in contemporary times the performance of the business organization is improving and the visitors of the hotel chain are returning with immense satisfaction as they are receiving good services and the employees are courteous and has a friendly attitude towards the clients. This has been possible due to the good treatment of the management of the company with their workforce and being motivated and loyal towards the organization, naturally the level of performance of the employees of the organization got better with time (dos Santos, Méxas & Meiriño, 2017). In this regard, it can definitely be said that It has been noticed that the management’s continuous try to maintain a good communication in the workplace has helped the workforce to get better in terms of productivity as a good communication in the workforce can effectively increase the bonding among the employees of the business organization and that can have an impact on the quality of their work (Mejia et al., 2016). Not only that, good communication in the workplace invokes sharing of knowledge and it can effectively help the management of the organization to experience better productivity along with profitability. Sharing of knowledge within the workplace can effectively help the employees to get to know the experiences of the colleagues and from their failures the other employees can learn and that can potentially reduce the mistakes in the operations.

Conclusion

Therefore to precisely conclude, it can be said that, as the business organization operates in the service industry, the above mentioned programs which were introduced by the management of the business organization has immensely helped the management to sustain their business in both the domestic and international market of operation . Thus, it can definitely be said that in order to experience more profitability along with productivity, the management of the business organization should introduce numerous new policies and training and developmental procedures for the best interest o the company.

References

Al-Refaie, A. (2015). Effects of human resource management on hotel performance using structural equation modeling. Computers in Human Behavior, 43, 293-303.

Altinay, M. L. (2016). MSc International Hotel & Tourism Management. Management, 3294, 3294.

Chen, J. (2015). The Role of Human Resources in Hotels in China. In Educational Strategies for the Next Generation Leaders in Hotel Management (pp. 164-181). IGI Global.

dos Santos, R. A., Méxas, M. P., & Meiriño, M. J. (2017). Sustainability and hotel business: criteria for holistic, integrated and participative development. Journal of cleaner production, 142, 217-224.

Ferrary, M. (2015). Investing in transferable strategic human capital through alliances in the luxury hotel industry. Journal of Knowledge Management, 19(5), 1007-1028.

Kandampully, J., Bilgihan, A., & Zhang, T. C. (2016). Developing a people-technology hybrids model to unleash innovation and creativity: The new hospitality frontier. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, 29, 154-164.

Kandampully, J., Zhang, T., & Jaakkola, E. (2017). Customer experience management in hospitality: a literature synthesis, new understanding, and research agenda. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, (just-accepted), 00-00.

Kim, Y. J., Kim, W. G., Choi, H. M., & Phetvaroon, K. (2019). The effect of green human resource management on hotel employees’ eco-friendly behavior and environmental performance. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 76, 83-93.

Li, J. J., Wong, I. A., & Kim, W. G. (2016). Effects of psychological contract breach on attitudes and performance: The moderating role of competitive climate. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 55, 1-10.

Mejia, C., Aday, J. B., Phelan, K. V., & Yi, X. (2016). Subordinates' perceptions of Western expatriate hotel managers in China: The effects of conflict avoidance. Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism, 15(4), 388-415.

Nassar, M. A. (2018). Human resource management practices and organizational commitment in four-and five-star hotels in Egypt. Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism, 17(1), 1-21.

Prayag, G., & Hosany, S. (2015). Human resource development in the hotel industry of Mauritius: myth or reality?. Current Issues in Tourism, 18(3), 249-266.

Simón, F. J. G., Narangajavana, Y., & Llorente, R. (2016). Information systems management in hotel chains. The Routledge Handbook of Hotel Chain Management, 324.

Tracey, J. B., Hinkin, T. R., Tran, T. L. B., Emigh, T., Kingra, M., Taylor, J., & Thorek, D. (2015). A field study of new employee training programs: industry practices and strategic insights. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 56(4), 345-354.

Wong, T., French, L., & Wickham, M. (2017). An Examination of the Knowledge Management Process in the Emerging Chinese Hotel Industry. In Knowledge Management Strategies and Applications. InTech.