HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
Hospitality businesses, products, services
The hospitality industry is a multi-billion dollar industry that is dependent on the availability of leisure time, complete customer satisfaction, and disposable income. There are four segments of the hospitality industry; they include food and beverages, travel and tourism, recreation, and lodging. Food and beverages are the largest sector forming the hospitality industry. According to statistics, food and beverage provide approximately 50% of foods eaten in the United States in a day. Food and beverages constitute establishments primarily dedicated to the preparing meals and beverages for consumption in or away from the premises (Novak 2017). Food and beverage can be structured with other services for customer satisfaction.
The travel and tourism segment entails services of moving individuals from place to place. The segment constitutes all means and modes of transport. Individuals spend money on food, recreation, and lodging in vocational trips. Additionally, individuals on business trips may spend their time and money on lodging, food, and engaging in recreational activities. Recreation is a wide sector in the hospitality industry that includes activities of relaxation, enjoyment, and rest. Recreation serves to relax one’s body and mind. Businesses that provide relaxation, enjoyment, and rest make the recreation sector of the hospitality industry.
Lastly, lodging refers to accommodation or resting in a place for one or more nights. Place of accommodation includes motels, fancy hotels, youth, and elder hotels, camping sites, and any other places that provide room for sleep for individuals over one night or many nights. Lodging is essential for business travelers, leisure travelers, and other special travelers such as governmental officers on missions.
The contribution of the hospitality industry to the local and national economy
Hotels are important economic contributors in a local and national economic context. Communities, cities, and countries offer certain incentives to promote segments of the hotel industry. Incentives may include tax breaks and giving out grants to hotel enterprises. In return, hotels impact the economy in different ways.
First and foremost, hotels get direct revenues from the services and products offered to customers. The hotel staff is part of the community and in turn, they get a payout and can drive the local economy (Suzuki 2011). Local and national governments collect a substantial amount of taxes from hotel premises through revenues collected from services and products offered, taxes from hotel employee payroll, property taxes, and local government tax from lodging sites and camping grounds.
The hotel sector provides job opportunities for various residents of a nation. Apart from the hotel employees, job opportunities arise from supply and delivery services, contracting services, housekeeping services, telecommunication, and other hotel related vendors. There is induced impact as a result of employees either full-time or temporary re-spends their wages on other services or products in the local markets. The economy thrives through enhanced transactions. The economic impact of the hotel industry is either short or long-term with a great impact on the GDP of a country.
The contribution of the hospitality industry to international economies
According to Oxford Economics, in 2017, the hotel industry contributed a total of US $8.3 trillion to the world’s GDP, which was 10% of the total global GDP. A total of 313 million jobs were created through the hospitality industry. A total of US $882 billion of investments were achieved through the hotel and tourism sector accounting for 4.5% of the total investment.
The hospitality industry is a dynamic tool for economic development and job creation in a global context. In 2017, the hospitality industry directly contributed to 119 million jobs (Travel and Tourism 2018). The global hospitality industry constitutes mostly travel and tourism activities, impacts including a domestic and international marketplace for leisure and business. The hotel industry can be termed as an export sector, with foreigners traveling to international destinations. A total of US 4.2 trillion were spent in the form of travel in search of leisure, with business travels accounting for only 23% of all the travels. The international economy is largely dependent on the hospitality industry, making it a great component in the international economy drive.
Rosewood London – a luxury hotel ‘surgery’ (insight view on organizational structure; SWOT analysis)
Rosewood is a luxurious 5-star hotel located in London. The hotel is situated at a focal point in the City of London. The hotel boasts from favorable proximity of renowned gallery, museums, and theatres that customers can enjoy just a walk away. The hotel is one of the world’s most luxurious places with great interiors filled with Cuban mahogany and different types of marble including the rarest pieces from Sweden. The Renaissance design is admirable attracting different individuals from across the globe (Citmagazine 2020). The hotel has only been open since October 2013 but has earned many awards including the Best New Hotel in 2014, The Hot List 2014, Hotel Team Restaurant of The Year 2018, and The It List 2014 among other awards.
The hotel has a Central Reservation System (CRS) that enables clients to connect to the global Rosewood Group hotels and get to know about their preferences and have better-individualized services at their disposal. The hotel has the potential to improve its cross-property usage basing the information on customer feedback. In sustaining a large customer base, the hotel can provide random customer promotion in the services offered. The hotel can emphasize its brand image across the globe.
However, the hotel has low brand awareness in the stiff competitive hotel industry (Impos 2017). The hotel does not have a strong marketing platform and its focus remains on individual attention instead of group packages. Although Renaissance design is unique, it cannot stay in the market over a long time. Rosewood hotel has a limitation in increasing popularity to the public, due to their rare advertisements.
The hospitality business environment
The hospitality business environment comprises four key areas which include; international tourism that comprises of journeys and activities of individuals to a foreign country. Different overseas tourist destinations attract tourists from different countries. Europe is one of the most successful tourist destination points.
Domestic tourism includes all forms of tourist activities within an individual’s country. It may include leisure and business travel within a country. Business tourism and travel include different journeys individual make to meet their customers, attend meetings, conferences, and attend to work obligations (David 2019). Leisure travel includes different forms of tourism activities for relaxation, amusement, and enjoyment. Leisure activities take place in the form of holidays, picnics, hiking, among others.
Current and potential trends and developments affecting the UK hospitality industry
There are various trends in today’s hospitality industry. Sustainability has grown popularity over the past decades, with tourists advocating for sustainable and viable activities that do not pose negative impacts to the environment. Consequently, many hotels and tourist destinations are adopting environmentally friendly initiatives such as natural energy and the use of reusable and recyclable materials in the industry (Masset 2019).
Local experience has attracted a new trend of tourism across the globe. Initially, tourists used to crave for superficial attractions, but now they are attracted to local experiences, culture, food, and lifestyles. Tourism enterprises across the globe now provide tourists with the opportunity of indulging in local experiences.
Technological evolution has changed the hospitality industry gradually. The internet has enabled individual tourists to choose a destination from the comfort of their keyboard. Virtual reality and artificial intelligence have positively turned the tourism and hotel industry.
Guest or customer client is increasingly becoming important to hoteliers in the personalization of the guest experience. Data collected from service consumers are used in strategic marketing and opportunities in understanding customer experience (Fancourt 2020). However, customers are now wary of the exploitation of the data by hoteliers and the infringement of customer rights. Data security breach claims have spurred headlines degrading entities’ reputation. Consequently, the European Union has adopted the General Data Protection Regulation introducing new obligations regarding personal data privacy (Gretchen 2017). Hospitality establishments are required to be subject to the policy.
The COVID-19 pandemic has crippled various industries across the globe. The hospitality sector has suffered a lot with stringent measures on community spread and group travels. The cancellation of events, conferences, and tours and travel schedules has led to a great negative impact on the hospitality industry. Cafes and hotels have been closed in many parts of the country (HLB 2020). Business enterprises have an opportunity to come back through insurances and delivery of certain home-based services and products. The opening of hotels should come with stringent measures to curb the spread of the virus among the employees and guests.
References
Alan Suzuki (2011).The Economic Impact of Hotel Development. Available at: https://pinnacle-advisory.com/press-room/the-economic-impact-of-hotel-development/ (Accessed: 22 June 2020).
COVID-19 Implications on the Hospitality Industry | HLB (2020). Available at: https://www.hlb.global/covid-19-implications-on-the-hospitality-industry/ (Accessed: 22 June 2020).
Gretchen Scott (2017)Goodwinlaw.com. Available at: https://www.goodwinlaw.com/publications/2017/02/hospitality-and-leisure-trend-watch (Accessed: 22 June 2020).
Jo David (2019) Howandwhat.net. Available at: https://www.howandwhat.net/current-potential-trends-hospitality-industry/ (Accessed: 22 June 2020).
Major Issues Facing the Hospitality Industry | Impos (2017). Available at: https://impos.com.au/blog/hospitality-issues-2017/ (Accessed: 22 June 2020).
Mark Fancourt (2020) Hotels, COVID-19, HIPAA & Technology. What Is Hospitality’s Role In Information Gathering? | By Mark Fancourt – Hospitality Net, Hospitality Net. Available at: https://www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/4098462.html (Accessed: 22 June 2020).
Peter Novak (2017). What Are The 4 Segments Of The Hospitality Industry | By Peter Novak – Hospitality Net, Hospitality Net. Available at: https://www.hospitalitynet.org/opinion/4082318.html (Accessed: 22 June 2020).
Phillipe Masset(2019) 2019 Top Hospitality Industry Trends. Available at: https://hospitalityinsights.ehl.edu/2019-top-hospitality-trends (Accessed: 22 June 2020).
Rosewood London: hotel review (2020). Available at: https://www.citmagazine.com/article/1225721/rosewood-london-hotel-review (Accessed: 22 June 2020).
Travel & Tourism’s contribution to the world’s economy (2018). Available at: https://www.traveldailynews.com/post/travel-tourisms-contribution-to-thw-worlds-economy (Accessed: 22 June 2020).