1) Hotel

TYBMS - SEM V - SSM Compiled by Kripa Kalro

SECTOR 1: HOTEL AND CATERING SERVICES (HOSPITALITY) CHAPTER CONTENTS:

 4 Characteristics  Innovations  Technology  Users  Segmentation  Classification of hotels  8 P`s  PEST Analysis  Additional matter INTRODUCTION: The concept of hotel originated in the 6th century B.C. in the form of Inns. These were run by couples and provided sleeping arrangements in big rooms, similar to dormitories in the youth hostel. Hence the hotel industry has its roots in the past in almost every country. According to welester : “A building of institution providing lodging, meals & service for the people.” According to “Chamber twentieth century dictionary.” says: “It means a superior house for the accommodation of strangers” A hotel is a place where all who conduct, themselves properly and who being able and ready to pay for their entertainment, accommodation and other services including the boarding like a temporary home. It is home away from home where all the modern amenities and facilities are available on a payment basis. The aforesaid viewpoints regarding the hotel clarify that hotel is a public place where all possible facilities are made available to a person or persons who stay. The facilities like entertainment, food, accommodation etc- thus become the core services of a hotel. 4 CHARACTERISTICS OF HOTEL INDUSTRY 1) Intangibility: Intangible services are difficult to sell because they cannot be produced and displayed ahead of time. They are therefore harder to communicate to prospective customers. Marketers of services can reduce these risks by stressing tangible cues that range from the firm's physical facilities to the appearance and demeanor of its staff to the

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TYBMS - SEM V - SSM Compiled by Kripa Kalro letterhead on its stationery to its logo. Thus the industry has to provide these tangible cues.

Strategies to deal with intangibility  Visualization – it promotes the tangible element of a service. For example, a hotel depicts the benefits of dining at its restaurant with its ads, which shows beautiful interiors, well laid facilities, etc.  Association- while promoting the hotel, the service is associated with a tangible person, object or place. For example: Mc Donald’s has associated itself with Ronald, the clown in order to appeal to children.  Physical representation – services when represented by some physical representation help in building the trust of the customers for example: restaurants dress their service providers in uniforms to emphasize visibility, reliability and cleanliness, attractive menu cards also help.  Documentation- documentation is sued by service providers to tangibilise their intangibles. Hotel orchid advertises the awards received by it in the recent past and emphasis its hotel as an environmentally sensitive hotel.  Branding- also adds tangibility to intangibles. Brand help in differentiating the service from that of its competitors in terms of name, logo, mascot and other identifying features and forms an important component of the communication mix 2) Inconsistency : The services performed in the hotel industry are largely dominated by relationship management- that is performed by individuals. Since no human is perfect, it is difficult to standardize the quality of the human effort in this industry. The fact that service quality is difficult to control compounds the marketer's task. Services are performances, often involving the cooperation and skill of several individuals, and are therefore unlikely to be same every time. The only solution to this problem is to design services to be as uniform as possible. Mc Donald’s- the world’s largest fast food chain is renowned to standardize the quality of its service by making the whole process as standardized as possible. This is supplemented by training personnel to follow closely defined procedures, or by automating as many aspects of the services as possible. The appeal of some service personnel - particularly, the hotel industry- lies in their spontaneity and flexibility to address individual customer needs. The service provider must find ways to reduce the perceived risk due to variability - one method is to design services to be as uniform as possible – by training personnel to follow closely defined procedures, or by automating as many aspects of the services as possible. The hotel industry’s ability lies in their spontaneity and flexibility to address individual customer needs. The danger with too much standardization is that of loosing customization and hence reducing much of their appeal. A second way to deal with perceived risk from variability is to provide satisfaction guarantees or other assurances that the customer will not be stuck with a bad result. 3) Inseparability: Many services require the participation of the customer in the production process. Unlike goods, which are often produced in a location far from the

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TYBMS - SEM V - SSM Compiled by Kripa Kalro customer and totally under the control of the manufacturing firm, service production often requires the presence and active participation of the customer - and of other customers. Depending upon the skill, attitude, and cooperation and so on that customers bring to the service encounter, the results can be good or bad, but in any event are hard to standardize. In hotel industry, the customer has to go to the service provider in order to avail the service. He cannot use the services just by sitting at his residence. Thus hotel industry is an inseparable service. 4) Perishability: If the full capacities of the services are not utilized, the service becomes perishable. If a hotel having an accommodation facility of 100 rooms is able to lease out only 70 rooms a particulars day, then the remaining 30 rooms or 30% capacity gets perished a can never be reversed. The product is perishable a room not sold tonight is lost forever. Hoteliers hence give off season rates, do contract bookings with large tour operators etc. They also try to do maintenance/ room renovation during non-peak seasons. Strategies to deal with Inventory: The nature of demand for hotel services is more – less seasonal. In case of peak seasons, the demand is much greater than the supply capacity. However in case of off seasons the demand is very less as compared to the potential supply. This is more relevant in case of hotels located at places of tourist attraction like Matheran and Mahabaleshwar. During off-season; hotels can tie-up with some agencies like travel and tourism agencies. These agents play a key role in recommending services to the customers and can form an important distribution channel. Also hotels can design attractive packages and schemes to attract customers. The best example of this is the Taj. INNOVATIONS IN HOTEL INDUSTRY • Auto check-in and check out • New items in menu • Specialty restaurants • Food festivals (Kebab Festivals) • Information desks • Shopping arcades • Bullet/ Capsule Lifts • Underground/ Underwater Hotels (Burj-al Arab) TECHNOLOGIES IN HOTEL INDUSTRY • Satellite channels • International direct dial • Safe Deposit Lockers • Online booking • In-house entertainment: DVD library • Database of past guests: birthdays, anniversaries, preferences • Ecotels: Ecofriendly hotels: orchid

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TYBMS - SEM V - SSM Compiled by Kripa Kalro •

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USERS OF HOTEL INDUSTRY In marketing hotel services, it is important to know about the different types of users availing the services with diverse aims and objectives. This would ease 'the task of marketers specially while studying the behavioral profile. Below given is the classification of different categories of domestic and foreign users. Domestic – Pilgrims, Students, Officials, Film stars, Intellects, Sportsmen, Business Executives, Tourists. Foreign - Political Representatives, Trade Representative, Educationists, Tourists, Sportsmen, Cultural Representatives, Pilgrims, Business Executives. It is natural that we fined a difference in the intensity of both the categories of uses. Domestic Users: In the group of domestic users, the different categories are pilgrims visiting the sacred places, students on educational tours, officials on deputation, political representatives, and film stars on location shooting. Knowledge seekers on developing their credentials, sportsmen playing national games. The domestic users stay in hotels with a different motive. We find a change in the level of domestic users. Generally the domestic customers pay less attention on value and more on price, a majority of the domestic users are found price-sensitive and therefore the hoteliers are supposed to make pricing decisions motivational. Foreign Users: In the group of foreign users, we find political representatives on peace mission, trade representatives on business promotion, educationists, sportsmen, cultural representatives, film stars, pilgrims etc. These categories of foreign tourists visit-hotels with diverse aims and objectives. They normally prefer to stay in the classified hotels where the services are found standardized. We also find cases where foreigners stay even in the unclassified hotels- To be more specific the existing world wide economic depression has made even the foreign users sensitive to price and this makes it significant that policy makers and the senior executives assign due weightage to this new development. MARKET SEGMENTATION FOR HOTEL    

Geographic: North, South, Eat , West Demographic: Age, Gender, Income Psychographic: LifeCycle, Buying Motive, Knowledge Behavioral: Occasions, Benefits sought, User status, Usage rate, Loyalty status

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TYBMS - SEM V - SSM Compiled by Kripa Kalro CLASSIFICATION OF HOTELS A. Classification on the basis of Nature: 1) Residential Hotels - They are also referred as apartment hotels as they serve as apartments. These hotels charge rent to their customers on a monthly, half yearly or yearly basis. They are generally located in big cities & towns. No meals are provided to the customer. Initially, these hotels were set up in USA. 2) Commercial Hotels -Commercial hotels are meant for people who visit places of trade & commerce or for business purposes, thus these hotels are located at commercial & industrial centers. These hotels focus their attention on individual business travelers. They also provide added facilities like computer access, Internet facility, fax, conference rooms, etc. 3) Beach Hotels - Resort hotels are meant for holidaymakers, tourists & those who seek a change in environment & atmosphere mainly on healthy grounds. These hotels are located near the sea, mountains or other areas having an attractive landscape & a healthy climatic condition. Peninsular India bounded by the Arabian Sea, Bay of Bengal, Indian Ocean 4) International Hotels-These hotels are modern luxurious hotels classified as on basis of various international guidelines. These hotels are further classified into various star categories. 5) Floating Hotels - These hotels are located on water surfaces – sea, river or lake. These hotels provide all facilities and services that are made available in good luxurious hotels. In India, the houseboats in Kashmir’s lake are an example of floating hotels. 6) Heritage Hotels - In the past four decades, certain architecturally distinctive properties such as palaces and forts, built prior to 1950, have been converted into hotels. The government classifies such hotels as heritage hotels B. Classification on the basis of standards and controls: On the basis of standard and control, we classify hotels into two parts, such as Approved and Unapproved. The approved hotels are found of international standards where the accommodations are made available as per the criteria laid down by the Ministry of Tourism and Civil AviationSince they have the stamp of official recognition, the customers trust on them. The unapproved hotels may also offer quality services but they lack official recognition and therefore, the customers or prospects don't believe offering of service-promised without making any distortion. C. Classification on the basis of star: The department of tourism has classified hotels under the star system into various categories from one to five stars deluxe and heritage

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TYBMS - SEM V - SSM Compiled by Kripa Kalro hotels. The department also classifies these hotels after every 3 years to see that the requisites standards are maintained by them. 1) Premium or Luxury segment - This segment comprises of the high-end 5 star deluxe and 5 star hotels, which mainly cater to the business and up market foreign leisure travelers and offers a high quality and range of services to cater to the target segment. Over 80% of the clientele of the premium segment comprises of business guests. This segment has been the fastest growing segment in India. 2) Budget Segment-This segment comprises of the 3 and 4 star hotels, which are generally located in smaller towns and tourist destinations and cater to the average foreign and domestic leisure traveler. This segment also caters to the middle level business travelers since it offers most of the essential services of luxury hotels without the high costs as this segment is not as heavily taxed as the premium segment and enjoys a lot of incentives from the government. D. Classification on the basis of number of Holdings: 1) Chain of Holdings - These are groups of hotel owning a chain of hotels throughout the country. Following are the 4 major players in India holding a chain of hotels & falling in the premium category of hotels. These hotels had an established presence in one or more metro cities prior to the tourism boom in the eighties. (The TAJ Group, The Oberoi Group of hotels, Welcome Group, The Ashoka Chain of hotels) 2) Stand Alone Hotels -Stand-alone hotels have come up after the tourism boom of the eighties and nineties. Due to the lack of prior experience in the hotel industry, these players have preferred to opt for operating/ management arrangements with international players. Some of the companies in this category are Hotel Leelaventure (with Kempinski), Asian Hotels (Hyatt International Corporation) 3) Localized Hotel Companies -They comprise of mainly early entrants like the Surya, Ritz who have not preferred to expand during the tourism boom and have instead focused on building and catering to a loyal customer base. The private players among the hotel chains are industry leaders. ISM/ 8 P`s WITH REFERENCE TO HOTEL I.PRODUCT LEVEL

CONTENTS

EXAMPLE

CORE

Basic

Food

EXPECTED

Basic+ minimum conditions

Kitchen, serving space, menu availability

AUGMENTED In addition to expected

Sparkling floors, employees, ambience

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Smiling

TYBMS - SEM V - SSM Compiled by Kripa Kalro POTENTIAL

Exceed expectations

Welcome flowers, Welcome Drink

Beyond the usual

Service Flower

Locker facility

swimming

Card room

transport

CORE: Food and shelter

shopping

casino Medical services

lounge

Supplementary services

At the very center is the core product which satisfies the basic need of the consumer. The core product in the hotel industry is ACCOMODATION. The role of Hotel International is to provide basic accommodation facilities. Like a bed for the night and a room with a bathroom. II.PRICE The pricing decision is monitored by a number of factors: • Room space • Quality of furniture • Carpeting • Furnishing • Bath, toilet, shower, hair dryer and trouser pressing equipment • Telephone, Colour TV, radio • Fridge, tea and coffee making equipments • Personal computer, office facilities and others There are a number of ways of Pricing in Hotels: a) General Pricing: Seasonal Discounts: Found applicable in the hotel industry. Customary to charge lower prices, especially during the off-season. Trade Discounts: Found applicable in the hotel industry as tour operators and travel agents are offered

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TYBMS - SEM V - SSM Compiled by Kripa Kalro discounts. Special Discounts: In the hotel industry, we find special function room rates for overnight convention. b) Pricing for Room Tariffs: The average room rate should not be much higher than the competitive hotels otherwise the market will not welcome it. A hotel may also adopt a policy to give high pay roll to provide a higher standard of services which the customers are ready to pay. c) Pricing for Food and Beverage: We can't deny the fact that pricing food and beverage is much more complicated. In a majority of the hotels, there are three or four types of rooms but so far as the menus are concerned we can have dozen of dishes. There are some of the important points to be considered in the process: • Do you find that your guests are eating in the hotel restaurant or coffee shop where the competitive restaurants are very close to the hotel. Generally a proportion does eat in but a significant proportion goes out. • Where a hotel has two or more restaurants, they compete with each other and help splitting the market down the middle rather than offering a true price. • The business in the function room. d) Pricing for Function: European plan: Room Continental Plan: Room + B Modified American plan/ Half Board: Room+ B + L/ D American plan/ Full Board: Room+ B + L + D III.PLACE Location: Location involves considering where to deliver the services to the customers. As far as the service location is concerned, we normally encounter three situations: 1) Customer goes to the service provider 2) Service provider goes to customer 3) Service provider and consumer transact at an arm’s length In the Hotel Industry, it is the customer who goes to the service provider. In case of Restaurants, the customer s goes to the service providers to satisfy their hunger. In case of hotels, the customers go to the hotel both to satisfy his hunger and for the purpose of accommodation. Hence in order to receive the benefits of hotel services, the customer must physically enter the service system, i.e. the service factory. However in case of free home delivery, it is the service provider that goes to the customer. Since in most of the cases it is the customer that goes to the hotel, the location assumes a very important role. A well-located hotel/restaurant can pick up demand, as the customers will locate these hotels easily, quickly and comfortably. The customer today has become convenience oriented. Hence it is very important to locate the hotels at a convenient place. Hotels should be easily accessible. Accessibility can be measured in terms of visibility and proximity to different modes of transport. Similarly it makes more sense in locating a five star hotel in a sophisticated area.

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TYBMS - SEM V - SSM Compiled by Kripa Kalro Zero Level Distribution: This is a process of direct distribution without any middlemen. The hotels book, confirm and cancel with the help of their own system. One level distribution: We find one-level distribution system where between the hotel companies and their ultimate users, we find travel agents responsible for distributing or processing the services. Two-level Distribution System: Here there may be 2 levels of intermediaries in hotel service delivery The aforesaid facts and figures make it clear that all the three systems of distribution are found important to the hotel companies. IV.PROMOTION Promotion mix of hotel industry like any other service encompasses of following communication mix. These are Advertising, Personal Selling, Sales Promotions, and Direct Mail. 1) Advertising: The media used by medium is:  Business Publications to attract business class people.  Tourist Publications to attract tour travelers.  Directories like Yellow Pages esp. by small hotels.  Direct mail to tour operators.  On the other hand, media like T.V., radio, etc. are rarely used by Hotel industry. Many hotels have cars with the hotel name and logo printed on the car, which serves as indirect medium of advertisement. 2) Personal Selling: It is rightly said that ‘Receptionist is the nerve of the hotel’. An effective receptionist must possess an impressive personality, should have high degree of knowledge about his hotel - variety of room. Receptionist should also be provided with facility like computer containing up to date information about room availability and other information about hotel so that he can answer any unique query of the customer. Also attractive photograph of different types of rooms available should be displayed at the receptionist desk. 3) Sales Promotions: These are paid form of marketing communication activity (other than advertisements) to stimulate the customer to come to the hotel. Tools of Sales Promotion a. Brochures: It is a device to stimulate customers and motivate them to visit a hotel and avail of the benefits offered by the management of the hotel It is a detailed publication helping hotel companies in promoting their business. The guests, clients get detailed information from the brochure.

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TYBMS - SEM V - SSM Compiled by Kripa Kalro b. Folder: We find folder the most commonly used sales promotion tool. In this respect, it is essential that folders have an impressive appearance in totality. The particulars are required to be in brief but clear. The hotels can use folders for promoting the business. c. Packaging: We call packaging an attractive wrapper of product. When we talk about packaging in the hotel industry, our emphasis is on the outer cover and internal layout of brochures and leaflets. d. Attraction leaflets: This is exclusively meant for presenting a view of the different theme parks, museums, amusement parks, outstanding points of attraction in the hotels or so. e. Merchandising: It is found helpful in promoting mass-market- This tool is found significant to restaurants and bars. The merchandising involves displaying of food stuffs and drinks in the right location. f. Direct Mail Materials: The sales letters are found to be a direct mail material which can either be used alone or in combination with brochures and folders. g. Display Materials: In the materials to be displayed at sensitive points are posters, dispensers, exhibits etc. We can use these materials in the offices of the travel agents, tour operators or at the places where tourists come, such as tourists spots, resorts, airports, railway and bus stations. h. Competition and Exhibition: We find organization of competition and exhibition for promoting the business. 4) Public Relations: Hotels keep the data base of their past customer and send them ‘good wishes’ card on their Birthdays, Anniversary. This creates good image of hotel in the mind of old customers. 1) Hotel sponsor various TV quiz shows & contests, and the person winning this contents will get some nights free day stay at that hotel. This creates indirect publicity of the hotel. 2) Hotel also give free or low priced rent to travel shows like ‘Musafir Hoon Yarro’ and other TV serials, which also creates indirect publicity of the hotel. 3) Hotels also maintain good relation with travel agents & tour operators as they form a link between customer & the hotel. So, to keep them happy & satisfied hotel gives these tour operator & agent – high commission, Gifts like bags and also informing about various scheme hotels introduces. 5) Telemarketing: In the hotel industry, the telemarketing can be helpful in promoting the business since the tour operators, transport operators, travel agents and the users develop a number of confusions and misunderstanding about booking, confirmation, cancellation, and availability of package tour, a change in the hotel tariff or so. We are well aware of the fact that hotel is a multi-segment industry in which a number of industries are found involved in the process. 10

TYBMS - SEM V - SSM Compiled by Kripa Kalro V.PEOPLE Below mentioned are the functions to be performed by each of the 3 managements: Marketing: Create ongoing relationships with specific types of customers by delivering a carefully defined service package of consistent quality that meets their needs and is perceived as offering superior value to competitive alternatives. Human Resource: Recruit, train, motivate and retain managers and other employees who can work well together for realistic compensation package to balance the twin goals of customer satisfaction and operational effectiveness. Operations: Create and deliver the specified service package to targeted customers by selecting operational techniques and operational staff that are well equipped to understand customer needs and preferences.

Operations Management

Marketing Management Customers

Human Resources Management

VI.PHYSICAL EVIDENCE It’s the front of the hotel that the guest sees; so must be designed in such a manner that it - sells the hotel to the potential customer. This includes the space, color, light & such other element; as these affect guest impression about the hotel. Lobby- It being the first & the last part of the hotel that the guest sees; its designing plays a very important role. It must be designed with fine art, elegant finishing & comfortable furnishing. And also the lobby must be functional with receptionist area apparent to the incoming guests. Though, the architect of the lobby grabs the customer’s interest but it’s the guest room that keeps them coming back. Guest room with conformable furnishing, space, color is a must. VII.PROCESS It’s the manner in which service is delivered. Since, in hotel industry service are rendered by hotel & experience by the customer simultaneously, because of the inseparability

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TYBMS - SEM V - SSM Compiled by Kripa Kalro nature, the process in which these services are delivered becomes very important. This is because every process is carefully by the customer & the customer is judging the quality of the service on this basis. Service Encounter: There are around 250 moments of truth in a hotel industry where the customer comes in direct contact with the service provider, equipment, and physical asset. Out of these 250 service encounters, there are certain encounters which make the customer extremely delighted or extremely disappointed. These are: Check-in -If the customer who had booked the hotel in the room arrives & to his surprise finds that no room is vacant or him. Another hand, if in a festival season when there no hotel rooms available in the city, a hotel makes arrangement for accommodation for a customer who has not booked his room in any hotel. Bell person carrying the luggage to the room- When the bag arrives in the room, its in extremely bad condition. This leaves a negative impression in the mind of the customer. Food - Quality of food, time taken for food to arrive Wake up call- As wake call not made by the receptionist, the customer misses his flight) Check out- too much time taken, procedural failure. BLUE PRINT OF HOTEL

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TYBMS - SEM V - SSM Compiled by Kripa Kalro

VIII.PRODUCTIVITY AND QUALITY RELIABILITY

Ensuring that quality of food and stay is unto the mark.

ASSURANCE

Trust the big names Security, fire alarms

TANGIBLES

Gate of bldg, surrounding area, park, car park, Lobby, Lift, Brochures, Menu, Tables

EMPATHY

Room Service, Jain Food, Sugar Free/ Diet Food.

RESPONSIVENESS

Room Service/Housekeeping/ Reception answer the phone onetime.

PEST ANALYSIS 1) Political Analysis:

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TYBMS - SEM V - SSM Compiled by Kripa Kalro •

•

• •

•

•

•

An unstable political situation in India made the foreign investor cautious leading to both a slowdown in foreign investment and business travel. However, government is trying its best to boost tourism in India which will further boost hotel industry. The hotel industry is at present going through one the toughest periods. Weak economic conditions have lead to a steep decline in foreign as well as Indian business arrivals. Tourist arrivals have also seen a major decline following 9/11 and because of increasing terrorism. The US government’s appeal to its citizens not to travel to Asian & African countries affected the tourism & hotel industry as the occupancy crisis hit the industry. Crumbing to WTO pressure Government of India has reduced the tariffs & duties on various items which proved attractive for foreign traders to invest & perform business in India. With improved relations & trade affairs with other countries encouraged trade & travel which proved to be a boon for the Indian Hotel industry. The FDI policy on 100% investment through the direct route is still offshore this has created confusion in the minds of foreign venture capitalists as the laws in Joint Venture investment reveal a different story. With the limitations on granting of visas by the External Affairs Ministries & policies of the embassies in granting visas & maintaining relations has affected the growth of hospitality industry over the years. The Central Government and the State Governments are expected to be taking various opportune steps in the hotel sector like divesting its stake in the Indian Tourism Development Corporation (ITDC) and the Hotel Corporation of India, both organizations own a large number of hotels in prime locations.

2) Economic Analysis: • •

• • • • •

The economic liberalization of the early 90s led to a boom in the hotel industry, especially in 1994: When the economic conditions are favorable, hotels enjoy high occupancy rates. This gives them the flexibility of increasing their room rates. During the boom phase most hotel companies operated at very high occupancy rates, which gave them the leeway of increasing their room rates. Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) is entering Indian shores and foreign institutional investors (FIIs) are increasing their exposure to India. All these positive signals spell more business travelers and better times for the hotel industry. The hotel industry is heavily taxed. Expenditure tax, luxury tax and sales tax inflate the hotel bill by over 30%. Effective tax in the South East Asian countries works out to only 4-5%. As these taxes are the domain of the state government, the rates vary accordingly. These units will be allowed to import capital goods under the EPCG scheme at zero duty, the minimum amount of imports being capped at Rs10mn. The infrastructure facilities like the Airports, Communication facilities & commuting facilities not being at par with oriental countries affects the attractions of the tourists. Generally 50% of the hotel’s revenue is dependant on the tourism industry. The Average Room Revenue (ARR) has increased from 3.47 USD in 1947 to 347 USD in 2002 (AH&LA report).

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TYBMS - SEM V - SSM Compiled by Kripa Kalro 3) Social Environment Analysis: • • •

•

Globally, leisure and entertainment are seen to be growing industries. Hence stable sociopolitical and economic conditions coupled with an improvement in infrastructure facilities (roads, airports etc) will improvement the sentiments of the tourists towards India. The hotel markets its business with the help of the local festivals and long trusted & cherished Indian culture like Ayurveda in Kerala, Beaches in Goa and traditional melas. Consuming beef is considered as a taboo for Hindus. Similarly, India being the place of domicile for 24 crore Muslims ranking 2nd only to Indonesia in the world is highly influenced by the ‘Islamic’ culture and Poke is considered as a taboo for Muslims. But, Beef is a part of the daily food for the foreign tourists. Hence, the hotelier has to cater the needs of various people from both Occidental and Oriental culture. Indian customers are highly price sensitive. Many of them compare service offered with price. There is always a limitation on the part of the hotelier to design the service within the price constraints. 4) Technological Environment Analysis:

• •

• •

Technology has influenced not only the basic product in the hotel industry, but also the supplementary services to a great extent. Right from order taking to billing to payment has been computerized nowadays. Technology has revolutionalised the booking system in hotels. One of the major source of booking is Global Distribution System (GDS) where the travel operator can book for various hotels though it. Also, hotels provide online booking systems where the hotelier tries to personalize the booking and minimize the customer interaction. The hotel is now equipped with all the modern facilities which adds to the service offering. System allocation is the key to any hotels success. The frontline service provider should be able to satisfy customer’s demands. Eg:- Hotels provide LCD, Laptop & conference facilities. ADDITIONAL MATTER 1) MOTEL — THE CONCEPT Initially the term motel was meant for local motorists and foreign tourists traveling by road- Basically motels serve the needs and requirements of these travelers and meeting the demand for transit accommodation. We can also call a motel a transit overnight stay. Some of the important services offered by motels are parking, garage facilities, accommodation, restaurant facilities- Motels are found equipped with filling stations, accessories, service of elevator to the automobile entrance restaurants etc. Motels are found located outside the city, preferably by the side of high ways and important road junctions. The accommodation available in a motel is more in the category of a 'chalet facility'- Which has a dining hall with fixed menu. Characteristics of a Motel: • Meets the demand of travelers for transit overnight stay • Usually located on highways and outside city limits

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TYBMS - SEM V - SSM Compiled by Kripa Kalro • • •

Usually provide facilities like car park, garage, accommodation Some motels are also equipped with filing stations Eg. Suman Motels

2) APPARTMENT V/S TIME SHARING CONCEPT Apartment hotels are also called residential hotels. They charge rent on a monthly or half yearly or yearly basis. Services provided are like a well managed home. Example: Wellington Mews. Time sharing concept is applicable when a group of people use property by dividing among themselves the rights to use the property for specific periods of time. Time sharing concepts are used in houseboats, campgrounds and recreational vehicle parks, besides hotels. The develop divides occupancy of each unit into time based intervals. No financial and property management burdens are felt by users. Each time sharing user “shares” usage of property along with all the other owners. 3)CHAINS OF INDIAN HOTELS The Oberoi Chain (now Hilton Hotels): They run some of the finest hotels in India and abroad. The group was founded by M. S. Oberoi who was honored by the American Society of travel agents and admitted to ASTA Hall of fame for his contribution to the hotel industry. Today Oberoi chain has thirty hotels in nine countries. The Ashoka Chain: it is the largest chain of hotels in India and is run by the Indian tourism development Corporation which is a public sector undertaking. It runs hotels all over India. Their accommodation includes five star deluxe hotels as well as motel types. The Taj Group: This group is managed by the Indian Hotels Company Limited. It was Jamshedji Tata who opened this hotel in Mumbai in 1903. by 1983, the company had 17 hotels in India and 11 overseas. Others: The Ritz Chain The Hotel Corporation of India The Calrkes Group Pride Hotels The Sarovar Plaze (Marine Plaza) 4)FLOATELS These are hotels which are surrounded with water. They maybe either houseboats or cruises or even hotels in the middle of the ocean or sea. Examples: 1) Lake Palace Udaipur, 2) The Floatel, Kolkata 3) House Boats, Kerela and Kashmir

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TYBMS - SEM V - SSM Compiled by Kripa Kalro 4) Star Cruises 5) ECOTEL Ecotel is a new concept in hospitality that claims to work for environment protection and preservation. They recycle things, ask customers to reuse towels, etc. All eco-certified hotels must pass a detailed inspection and satisfy stringent criteria designed by environmental experts. The ecotel certification process requires undercover inspections and staff interviews. Example: Orchid Hotel • Natural Lighting in the Atrium • Water Conservation • Cisterns and Flushes • Sewage Treatment Plant • Drinking Water Treatment (Aquazone)

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