Unit 12 Hospitality Provision in Travel Tourism Assignment Copy

Programme	Diploma in Travel and Tourism
Unit Number and Title	Unit 12 Hospitality Provision in Travel and Tourism
QFC Level	Level 4

Executive Summary

The hospitality is one of the major industries that are a service provider for the travel and tourism sector. It comprises of each and every business that helps the tourists when they are out on a voyage. The whole of the travel experience of the travellers is as per the services they get. They are an essential element of the on the whole know-how, and have to live up to the principles which are usual by customers and those which are laid down by the business. The latest web pages lay down the benchmarks as per the assessment by people on the basis of the personal experiences (Chon and Sparrowe, 2000). The different people access these reviews and thus make their opinion regarding different services while making a selection, i.e. for accommodation, travel, sightseeing packages etc.

Task 2

2.1 Analyse the implications of integration to the hospitality industry.

Industrial integration is a main prerequisite for the future of the businesses. Merging the implicit as well as the authentic world makes it feasible to attain a totally fresh kind of worth, competence, and flexibility. It helps in attaining the economies of scale, by which they could have an advantage of lesser cost of operating (Brown and Hepner, 2009). This integration also helps in cost-saving as there is no need for outsourcing, any further. By means of this kind of integration, the firms can easily develop the worldwide presence and also raise the share in the market.

 

Vertical integration is a technique by which a corporation acquires an additional corporation in the delivery chain, or penetrates a merger contract. This is first and foremost made to make the most of profitability and advantage as of inferior operating costs. It is usually described by forward, backwards and tangential integration.
Horizontal integration is significant for firms which desire to develop their consumer base, gain from economies of scale and primarily, make the most of prosperity. It arises when a corporation purchases or merges with a corporation at the similar phase of the supply chain.
The integration implies adding the value and expansion to the business.

 

Market control

A few of the big travel agents have bought hotels in different parts of the World. Thusly, they find themselves able to manage their hotel rates further bolstering their good fortune, perhaps getting more moderate packages to their customers whilst expanding their deals. Despite the fact that this sort of action is helpful to the organization, it can be negative to littler organizations in the business (Iverson and Roy, 2004).
Integration among substantial firms without a doubt represents a danger to more modest associations, and it is unavoidable that workers and their families will endure as the bigger associations’ takeover. Despite the fact that regularly shocking, travel and tourism basically relies on upon the endurance of the fittest, the organizations which have the capacity tender the finest harmony among quality, amount and worth for funds.
In specific occasions, the development of the Internet is constraining the capability of forward integration, especially regarding holiday packages. It has tossed some travel operators as bankrupt, since they didn't have the essential investments to move their substantial operations to virtual stages. The beginning of element packaging was likewise a real risk to these organizations, to such an extent that UK visit administrators are at present shutting down retail outlets to lay stress all the more on web offering. Albeit prospective customers will profit from lower costs over the web, this can represent a serious danger to society as a great many individuals may experience the ill effects of unemployment.
Direct sales over the web are generally utilized by hotels that have their web booking frameworks. This reserves the spot transform a great deal more straightforward, less expensive, and less time intensive for potential visitors, and in addition for hotels. Be that as it may, a reservations group is still needed for those bookings which are made specifically with the hotel via telephone or at the front desk(Baker and Bradley, 1990). Some individuals consider more great making physical imbursements in light of the fact that they may not wish to give their individual private details over the web. Then again they might basically appreciate the human dealings.

Branding

The Brand is the main thing that can relate to the business. The success of the tourism sector relies on the ways of branding adopted by the business and the way they can reach to the maximum customers. It is necessary to maintain the value of the brand name attached to a hospitality service. For e.g.: If a repeated customer of Starwood Hotels gets bookings done in Dubai, he would expect the same luxury treatment that he has been getting in any other Starwood group of hotels. This chain of Hotels is available all over the World.

High Globalization

Whenever a hotel has settled in the place of origin, the next step is to look for opportunities abroad. The globalization is expanding all over the globe. This can be both within the organization and outside. If the hotel employees are linked with other employees of the same hotel, all over the globe, it’s the internal globalization. In case of outer globalization, the hotel employees connect to the customers all around the globe. This has been raised due to high use of internet and lesser barriers to trade.
For e.g.: The Starwood Hotel is one of the biggest chains of hotels which are there all over the globe. This Hotel group acquired the Le Meridian group, which also had 130 properties in the World. So, the base of Starwood’s increased the operations and Le Meridian could also progress well (Ninemeier & Hayes, 2006).

2.2 Discuss how integration has affected a hospitality business.

Integration has led to a number of benefits for the hospitality industry. It has brought standardization, which otherwise is a time consuming process. If the selected hotel has standardized processes, then these have to be followed all over the World. At any place one travels, the processes are identical. This makes the hospitality sector as efficient, predictable, manageable and time-oriented.
Standardization is conceivable in hotels; in any case it is constrained. The method in which a phone administrator answers the telephone can be institutionalized, along these lines can the behaviour in which visitors are welcomed while check-in. inconsistency will dependably be an issue, as the diverse areas inside an organization are controlled by distinctive people, who each one have their principles and methods for managing the circumstances.
It is not necessary that quality will be better due to the integration; however the things totally depend on the owners. In case a hotel is acquired by any other, the operations might get better in case the new owner is capable of improving the quality of operations. There is also a risk of the old employees with rigidity to accept new employers and follow the new rules. So, it’s necessary for the new management of the hotel to apply an approach which is employee friendly (Kotschevar and Tanke, 1996).
The integration can also help in attaining economies of scale and higher profitability. In case a tour operator acquires the hotel, then he might have huge benefits in the long run. The integration of tour operations with hotel services will lead to less dependency of the tour operator on the accommodation providers. So, this would save time, efforts as well as costs for the tour operators. This would also increase the sales of the hotel rooms as the clients might find it less expensive to buy a reasonable package from a single agent.

Task 3

3.1 Develop a rationale for a selected project clearly justifying decisions linked to target market

Concept

The hospitality industry is a big sector in UK market. I wish to start a café in UK because since like Italy and France UK has also been moving towards the well-set café culture nation. There is a rise in the market of cafes with an open space to relax and read a newspaper. The people of UK need coffee all the time, and also want it to be fast (Vallen and Vallen, 2000). Most of the consumers need a good place to sip a coffee with a relaxed atmosphere rather than considering the brand.

Research

I have researched from the internet and other published articles that now the awareness is increasing and customers are looking for the sources of coffee and the way it is brewed.  It is also significant to be familiar with the competition. We need to research what the most admired brands have to offer and how it can benefit the business. Here’s a listing of the UK’s well-liked coffee brands to grant a beginning:

Name	Outlets	Market Share
Costa Coffee	1,342	40.4%
Starbucks	743	30.7%
Caffè Nero	490	14%
AMT Coffee	65	1.7%
Caffè Ritazza	55	1.4%
Café Thorntons	37	0.9%
Esquires	35	0.8%
Coffee Republic	29	0.6%

A lot of these firms are listed. Examination of their financial records and annual statements might disclose the most money-making parts; in addition I will be supposed to provide this type of exhaustive information if we are thinking of getting a bank loan.

Target market

The targeted market would be the coffee and hot drink buyers, who take it while on a stroll. This can be the coffee drinkers of all age groups.

Location

It is good to choose a busy urban place where a lot of pedestrians can be seen. Though, the land in this kind of vicinity is quiet expensive. But as we stated earlier, the people prefer a good location for drinking coffee. So it is better to buy a large space in rural/suburban area where one might get a good space for sofa and fresh air flows to coffee table. It would be good if this café is opened as a part of, or near any hotel or a motel. This would bring many travellers, or hotel guests to sip a coffee in the open area of the café.

Scale

It would not be very big initially; however the size of the café would be as per the location. For a small café I would need 800-100 sq.ft. that provides space for 15-40 clients at a time. And in case, I chose a rural area I would prefer bigger space, say 2000 sq.ft. i.e. for 50-100 persons to be seated at a time.

Funding

I would like to invest 30%-40% of the business with my personal funds, and the remaining can be done by a bank loan. However, I wish to retain some funds for bad times as well. The bank loan would help me to invest the balance amount for land, café construction, raw material, machinery and appliances, advertisingcost and other set up costs.

Products and services

Along with the coffee, I would be offering other hot and cold drinks with some snacks like sandwiches and burgers that can be munched with the coffee. This would add different segments of the business and give people an option to choose, in case they need to quench a small hunger.

Licensing

For licensing I would need to apply with FSA i.e. Food standard agency, which is a body that has been setup by the government for all the standards related to food safety (Machiony, 2004). There is not any law at present, which sets any prior guidelines or training needs to start a café, still it is better to be trained before starting a café business. I will also like to learn HACCP, i.e. the ‘Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point’ that is a food and safety program that has been recognized all over the World. I need to apply for the licenses for food and safety to start a café in UK.

3.2 Develop a plan for hospitality business including the operational requirements of the business organizational structure in relation to human resource allocation.

Design

The first thing, before starting a café is to decide a name and a logo for the business. These have to be ones that show creativity and reflect hospitality as well as have the capability to attract more customers. The name and logo together make a brand. This brand can help in increasing the footfall and hence, adding to the profitability of the café. The café needs to have an ambience wherein people can relax and get fresh. The small tables for people and comfortable chairs are needed with the inlet for fresh air. Or even, the tables in open area would be preferred. There can be a band employed to play the soft music while the customers relax with their cups of coffee (Higley, 2000). The brand should be of high quality, since it is also one of the criteria on basis of which the clients chose the coffee shop. The interiors of the café need to be lively and relaxing. The exteriors also need to be attractive and clean. The customers expected would be higher during the office hours, as the passers-by would like to refresh and have a look at the daily newspaper. So, the café should have most popular local newspapers available in the café. In the evening, the young ones and people from hotel can be expected. The targeted market would be the tourists also who can drop in and munch some snacks with the cup of coffee. To maintain the stake in the industry, it is to be seen that we add new products or new brands every now and then, with different tastes and flavours (Foskett, Ceseriani & Kinton, 2004).

Operation

For the proper functioning of the café, we need to opt for staffing by functional areas. At a café, there is always a need to be on your toes, so it is advisable to hire active and lively people. There is a need for the specialists who perform the operations as per their expertise. There is a need for accounts manager front office, and back-office staff and other staff who can make and serve the drinks and snacks in the most hospitable manner. We would also require a cleaner who is there to wipe off the mess for the whole day and clean the tables, as soon as any client leaves.
The hotel industry has long been inundated with towering employee turnover rates which are upper than the majority of industries that rely on their human resources and struggle to magnetize fresh ones. Since workers have turn out to be the mainly priceless asset of hotels, a corporation’s accomplishment is dependent very much on a work atmosphere that draws personnel and surpasses their hopes.
The hospitality business presents a broad choice of occupations with varied human capital necessities. Diversity might root perplexity among natives with an assortment of settings, and it is inescapable in the hotel business. Considerate of the diversity of the labour force is compulsory for construction of constructive mutual relations among workers and managers, in addition to among workers and their colleagues. Recognizing job-satisfaction aspects and worker’s attitudes on the way to other co-workers are essential in measuring an employee’s intensity of contentment with the work surroundings.
The employees should be aware of HACCP, and the food and safety regulations which would help in attaining the right expertise. Different products are seasonal, however the seasonality would not affect a café and also, there would be high sale of hot coffee in winters and we can expect higher demand of cold drinks and cold coffee in the summer season. We have to keep a range of various flavours of coffee which are liked by the Brit people. The recruitment policies need to be laid wherein we would fix a salary bracket for every employee. As such, there is no law which is a mandate for the café operations however it is advisable to maintain the minimum standards of a café in UK. For the café business, one has to promote sales by simply offering free locusassignments.to taste, to the people who passes by, so that they can form a perception of the taste. Even initially fewer prices can be setup for the first buyers, so that they can at least try the product. There can be various categories set up for the product depending on the flavours or varieties. However the pricing decision also to some extent depends on the expected profit margin, which has been laid while setting the objectives of the business, but it cannot neglect the market prices based on market demand and supply (Lillicrap and Cousins, 2006).
The café can be promoted by rigorous advertisement and with the pricing based on competitors and the costs invested. The combination of different strategies needs to be used for right pricing of the products. These strategies are profit margin setup as well as analysis of the market prices and market demand and supply, on the basis of the most reasonable annual statements of the competitors.

Conclusion

Transportation and accommodation suppliers help in making the travel and tourism sector active since some individuals would have the motivation to travel in case there are not any right places to leisure and visit. There are hotels and transports which provide services for diverse target markets. Businessmen may oblige a business arranged accommodation which presents the greater part of the important conveniences for business operations, at the same time as a family might pick a resort location where they can invest a large portion of their time unwinding by the poolside. The diverse hotel star evaluations give prospective visitors an exhibit of convenience suppliers to go with their pockets. On the off chance that they don't desire to reside at a hotel, they might then select a motel which presents normalaccommodation at small rates, a guest house which puts forward a plain setting and home cooked suppers, or a cabin, where visitors mightchill out and profit from the fresh air.
The hospitality industry should work as one along the travel and tourism industry to furnish voyagers with a consistent experience, where all segments have to be cautiously designed to present the most excellent value for cash. It is at the time such integrations fizzle that individuals will pick different associations, or more awful, different places. It is subsequently to the greatest advantage of any association that correspondence between integrated firms is apparent and correct.
Integration is inescapable for a few firms which intend to extend their organizations. It provides for them control over suppliers at diverse or the alike phases of the supply chain, by the point of expanding market share, lessening operating expenses, enhancing quality and attaining the maximum profits. Organizations coordinate as it is regularly less hazardous than initiating new organizations, since most frameworks would as have now are set up. It will likewise require significant investment for individuals to create a feeling of trust for a hospitality organization (Whether accommodation or transportation in this case) that has recently begun (Kusluvan and Kusluvan, 2000).

References

Baker, S & Bradley, P. (1990). Front Office Operations. Hong Kong: The Hong Kong Polytechnic
Biederman PS, Lai J, Laitamaki JM. (2008).Travel and Tourism
Chon, K. & Sparrowe, R T. (2000). Welcome to Hospitality…an Introduction. United States: Thomson Learning
Foskett, D., Ceseriani, V., & Kinton, R. (2004). The Theory of Catering (10th Ed.). London: Hodder & Stoughton.
Higley, J. (2000). Hospitality leaders promote diversity during conference. Hotel and Motel Management.
Hinkin, T.R., Tracey, B.J. (2000) The Cost of Turnover: Putting a Price on the Learning Curve. Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly 41: 14-21.