Four Seasons Hotel
Several hospitality services are offered today, ranging from hotels, restaurants, and casinos, among others. Of these all, hotels are part of the facilities which have become an essential part of most travelers in the world. Every person needs a place to relax after having a long day or somewhere to relax on vacation. As a result, many hotels have been established around the globe. This paper aims to discuss the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
Four Seasons Hotel and Resorts was founded in 1961 by Isadore Sharp in Toronto, Canada. It has entered into a big market full of big companies with big traditional establishments (Segal,2019). In 1974 it almost collapsed due to the cost overruns nearly leading the company to bankruptcy. The only way to survive in such a market, it offered unique services such as having caring staff who attended to every need or request of the customers and big rooms. This was possible due to its size. The focus was on the quality of service offered. Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts has grown from 1 hotel to 100 plus, in 40 plus countries having 10,001 plus employees (Segal, 2019). It is competing with large sized hotels. It has become the known mid- exceptional size hotel that offers distinct services. You may be wondering how. This is because it was the first hotel to introduce services that no hotel operator had reduced before.
It was the first one to introduce standard items like hairdryers and robes in North America, first to provide in-room dining every day and style concierge in Europe. Four Seasons Hotels introduced many other services long before any other luxury hotel operators. For example, they added two times housekeeping daily, one-hour pressing, dry cleaning, and so on. In 1984, Four Seasons had their first custom made Four Seasons mattress (Alawar, 2015). In 1985, they gave residential options, which included having private residencies as well as residential rentals. People had the opportunity to choose from. In 2012, Four Seasons introduced private jet tours where they took travelers around the globe on regional tours. The company launched a fully customizable mattress. Guests had the option of choosing the firmness of their hotel bed. These made the guests even comfortable residing in Four Seasons Hotels.
Four Seasons Hotels branded the private jets as the Four Seasons Jet. This was a big move. The same year they introduced an official app to enable the guests to check-in and out for booking airport transfers if needed as well as to make dining reservations without physical movements to the offices. In 2017, they introduced Four Seasons Chat, where the guests could communicate with the staff on any matters arising or any suggestions to be improved on. This enabled Four Seasons Hotels to have feedback from the guests hence able to adjust next time.
Past and Current Problems
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts faced some challenges in the past. They faced a challenge in Paris due to government laws and regulations. As they ventured into the market, they have to adhere to the rules and regulations of the government concerning tax. In Paris, the government collects high taxes; hence, the Four Seasons Hotels did not have a choice but to adhere to the rules even though it meant low incomes since they were new in the market. Secondly, the Four Seasons Hotels faced a problem with finances. They do not own the properties. They use real state properties in which they were just involved in the design of the features as they were constructed. As the Four Seasons Hotels were expanding, they faced a challenge in finance in that they almost collapsed due to bankruptcy.
Right now, Four Seasons Hotels are facing several challenges. Currently, they are facing the problem of changing expectations of customers. The behaviors of people are changing hence their hopes on the hotels. As a result, the Four Seasons Hotels are forced to improve on how they offer their services to cope with the change. Another problem is the challenge of the language barrier in that most of the staff speaks one language which. This a challenge since the customers nowadays come from different areas with different styles. For example, in Paris, Customers who talk in English only have a hard time. There is a lot of misunderstanding and mistakes since there is no effective communication.
The other problem faced is modified food. Some customers complain that the food they are used to is no longer served. What is served is a modified version of what they used to have. This is because of different cultures among the chefs and staff. Some guests are very conservative about what they are used to in that they do not want a change (Site, Mary&Mary,2018). The hotels as well are trying to cope with the mixture of different cultures among the guests. The other challenge is the entrance of competing hotels which provide the same services as Four Seasons Hotels. The hotels have to share labor force with other companies leading to a shortage of labor force or even staff being poached by competitors. The new companies have led to the sharing of customers; hence, the Four Seasons Hotels have to put more effort into maintaining their customers.
Solutions
One of the solutions the problems would include providing a self-service guest portal in which the guest selects different services he or she wants, for example, drop-offs. In this portal, the expenses incurred should be included so that the guests can know precisely how they spend their money. This way, there will be transparency, which will add to the satisfaction of the guests. They will be able to see the value of their money used.
The other solution is making sure each hotel as at least one representative of the common languages or hire employees who can speak multiple languages to cut on the cost of having excess employees. This will enable the hotel to avoid miscommunication between the guests and the staff. Concerning the problem of modified food, the management should make sure the culture of the majority guests is considered. What do I mean by that, in areas where most of the guests are of the same culture, the food prepared should be of that culture. That does not mean anyone who wants modified food should not get because someone from another culture might come.
To avoid instances where a guest request for either the traditional or the modified and is told only one of it is available, both should be prepared. The management can as well choose to make the leading food and the modified food on request if the majority of the guests request for traditional or the other way around if they require more modified. To address the problem of shortage of labor, the hotels should train their staff to have multiple skills to cover the gaps which are there due to limited staff. Instead of hiring many employees who are not even available, the company has to introduce work rotations so that the staff can learn skills in the different departments of the company. As a result, each team can perform any duty (Liu,2012). They should as well improve on the services to maintain guests.
Impacts and Improvements
From the above strategies, the Four Seasons Hotels will be able to be at per with the guest’s expectations, and as a result, they will be able to deliver their services more effectively. The guests would have gotten what they expect from the hotels, and this will boost the market of the hotels. More guests will be willing to use those hotels since they get the expected services. Hiring staff with the capability of speaking multiple languages will allow effective services to the guests due to effective communication hence having high-quality customer satisfaction, which is useful to the company. Satisfied guests in terms of what kind of food they are getting is an added advantage to the company since they will not lose customers due to lack of traditional or modified food.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I have seen how incredible the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts are from how they receive their guests to how they treat them and their willingness to improve on that. Different guests look for various hotels with different expectations and needs. For those who are looking for a high-quality services hotel, then as we have seen, the Four Seasons Hotels are where to look for such. They have some challenges to address, but with the solutions above put into consideration, then everything will be perfect. Imagine what it will be without those problems if at the moment they are giving such excellent services.
References
Segal, D. (2009). Pillow fights at the Four Seasons. New York Times, 27.
Alawar, R. S. (2015). Strategic HRM effectiveness in the case of the Four Seasons Hotel. Theses, Dissertations, and Projects.
Site, H., Mary, B., & Mary, M. 2018.The Four Seasons: Inequality in Luxury Hotels.
Liu, P. (2012). Optimizing hotel pricing: A new approach to hotel reservations. Cornell Hospitality Reports, 12(10).