Hotel lodging operations and management

Hotel Lodging Operations:

Analysis of the Host Country Resort Industry:

I will assume the general manager's position in Kenya's hotel tourism industry. Kenya is an East African country which is mainly a tourist destination for tourists all over the world. In fact, tourism is the third largest foreign exchange earner in Kenya ("Investing in Kenya" par, 1). This industry is always on the upward growth trend as a result of diversification of tourist generating markets, liberalization initiatives and the Government's dedication to provide a suitable environment for tourism. Political stability and successful tourism promotion by the Kenyan government has led to the creation of many opportunities for investment. These investment opportunities in film production, recreation and entertainment facilities are available in cultural tourism, conference tourism, cruise ship tourism, eco-tourism and travel tourism. Potential investors in these opportunities are encouraged to take full advantage through direct investments or joint-ventures with Kenyan entrepreneurs.

In addition to this, investment opportunities also exist in the construction and development of countrywide tourist hotels and game lodges. The country has a wide range of potential tourist attractions that have not been fully utilized. Most of Kenya's tourism industry activities have been mainly concentrated in the coastal area and the National Parks and Game Reserves. This means that there is a similar potential for tourism attraction areas within the country that is yet to be exploited. As a matter of fact, the government of Kenya has adopted a policy to encourage the regional diversification of tourism industry. The Kenyan government argues that there is a need for identifying other tourist attraction sites beside the existing one in National Parks, Game Reserves and Beaches.

For Kenya to ensure that there is an extended stay of safari tourists, all the investors should emphasize on the development of inland resorts which are situated next to National Parks and Game Reserves. The development of these inland resorts has been severely affected by lack of enough investment capital. As a result, the involvement of investors in such investment ventures and opportunities will be very much encouraged by the Kenyan government for the sole purpose of utilizing the tourism potential in these areas.

The other important information about the tourism industry is that it's one of the most important sectors of Kenyan economy. It is believed that the tourism industry provides direct and indirect employment opportunities to thousands of people. In addition to being the second highest foreign exchange earner after the agricultural sector, the tourism sector has been growing tremendously in the last one year. With the step up marketing especially in non-traditional markets and Kenya Airways widened area coverage, Kenya's tourism sector has had a 28% increase in the number of visitors either by air or sea. This increase can also be attributed to improved security in the tourism circuits and the new tourism ventures in Western and Northern parts of Kenya. Furthermore, the tourism sector is expected to continue growing in the coming years due to the stepped up marketing campaigns amongst other reasons.

In addition to the reasons stated above, Kenya serves as Africa's main tourist destination to many tourists because it is a country with seven wild habitats (savannah beaches, sandy beaches, river deltas, coral reefs, wild deserts, snow-capped mountains and deep forests). Apart from this the country also has a diverse culture consisting of 42 different ethnic groups, different major archaeological sites and a wealthy sporting history.

The basis for choosing Kenya's hotel tourism industry as an international resort market is due to the many advantages that this kind of investment has as compared to the disadvantages. Due to the swift increase of tourism arrivals in Kenya, the country is faced with a heightened shortage of beds. In its effort to address this challenge, the Kenyan government is foreign direct investments. These investments should be in the improvement of hotels, lodges and vacation rentals in Kenya. Tour operations and group handling are the other areas of interest in this sector.

Programs and Property Renovations:

I have chosen to take the general manager position of Paradise Hotel in Mombasa. This Israeli Hotel in Kenya was attacked by a group of terrorists on 22 November 2002. The beautiful Israeli hotel on the African seashore was designed and built solely for the Israeli tourist market (Atzmon par, 2). Since the 2002 terrorists' attacks on this hotel, business has not been as usual. The hotel was booming in business prior to the attacks and has since been on the downward trend due to fear of future attacks.

The hotel was officially launched in 2001, a year later after it started to operate. The workers were recruited from the surrounding hotels. Initially, most workers were rather happy but things deteriorated speedily soon after the official launch. Given the fact that the idea to erect an Israeli hotel in Kenya in the late 1990's failed, Paradise Hotel was slowly picking up until the Israeli extravaganza cropped in. The humiliating practice by Israeli travelers three years after the inception pf the hotel has left an open wound in the memory of some female hotel crew veterans.

For example, the female hotel crew veterans were all forced to gather near the entrance gate and chase the leaving busses while crying dreadfully in front of the Israelis who were checking out on their way back to the airport. The crew would be ordered to do this once a week, and shouting 'Why do you leave us?', 'We miss you', and 'We love you.' As they female crew caught up with the busses they would bang its metal frame with tears dropping from their eyes. Some of the Israelis believed that the women were genuine while others would take a video of the scene. The female crew who rejected the order would risk losing their jobs. According to the management, this weekly bus chasing was just one of the many examples of the way the staffs were supposed to care for the Israeli guests. Such principles were obviously humiliation, stripping of dignity and hard labor of the female crew veterans.

The Management's objectives in subjecting the workers to these guidelines were to make the clients happy and ensure that the clients return. The most burdened workers were the female ones in the entertainment team. Once a week the workers were taken to the airport and forced to sing "Hello, Hello" to the arriving guests. While the guests enjoyed every bit of it, the local Kenyans thought that the workers were crazy. As if not enough, the workers were ordered to sing loudly in the night and scream until the last Israeli left the dance floor. The manager threatened the workers with a wage cut if they fell asleep along the way. In cases where the Israelis would stay longer in the dance floor, the workers were required to stay with them until they go to their rooms. This continual demand to entertain the guests ensured that all the workers were utilized including pulling some of them from the kitchen to entertain the guests.

For the purposes of maintaining an authentic African spirit, the workers were coerced to put on very minimal clothes. As compared to the other hotels in the surrounding area, the male workers were walking around half naked and with bare feet while in other hotels the men serve in uniform. On the other hand, the female staffs were forced to put on just a minimal fabric on their breasts and pubes. This mode of dressing was unchanging even when temperatures dropped. With this kind of treatment, even the most basic working conditions are lacking in Paradise Hotel in Mombasa, Kenya.

After the terrorists' attacks, Paradise Hotel Mombasa was closed and reopened under a new management two months later. The management now comprises of one Israeli, one French and one American. Unlike the previous management, this new management will try to change the hotel's image by leaving the Israeli market behind and focusing to appeal to both the European and American international resort markets.

In order to bring back the hotel to its original state in business, I intend to carry out renovations on programs and the property. The program will be designed in such a way that it is inclusive of all visitors to the country as opposed to being focused on the Israeli tourists alone. As the general manager, I have realized that by making the hotel all inclusive, many travelers will visit the hotel and as a result, the hotel will experience tremendous growth. Part of the program includes offering an America couisine suitable for all American travelers who visit the hotel. The hotel will infuse the American couisine with other African modes of cooking. This will help the travelers feel at home and also get a taste of the African food cooked in the American style.

Looking at the hotels in the region, there are less hotels that offer the Christian fraternity an environment where they can relax. To counter this need, the hotel will create a section that will specifically target to offer these facilities. The section will provide non-alcoholic drinks and an environment where Christians can feel like they are in "paradise." This will as a result ensure that the hotel enlarges its target group. By including this, Paradise Hotel will be a suitable destination for all including domestic tourists who will get an opportunity to enjoy their local delicacies as well as a taste of international delicacies.

The hotel will feature fully renovated and modernized guestrooms with an extra intimate hot tub and relaxation space. The new look hotel will include an elegant late-night poolside lounge which will comprise of sun-loungers, day beds and decks. The main idea behind the renovations of the pool is to transform outdoor spaces into outdoor living rooms that offer flexible dining, drinking, events and relaxing spaces. The intimate spa will have floor cushions and new striking lights. With these renovations in place, the hotel will therefore provide a romantic atmosphere for couples alongside other services.

To ensure that the hotel also provides great services for families, it will introduce newly designed kids club and teens den. The kids club will take care of a particular age range (between 3 -- 12 years) while the teens den is basically designed for teenagers to relax while on holiday. For the teens den, the most recent technology that includes of large screens and famous games consoles will be fitted. The general renovations of the hotel will also see an improvement to elegant furniture, soft goods, well-suited laptop safes, more flat screen LCD televisions, iPod stations and MP3 stations.

Market Analysis:

Mombasa Kenya has some lavish beach hotels which are located along the Kenya beach strip. These hotels offer three to five star rooms amongst other facilities that include jet-skiing, pool, diving and wind surfing. Mombasa Kenya also acts as the largest tourism destination for many tourists from all over the world and domestic tourists. Due to the various numbers of hotels that exist in this region, the hotel industry is experiencing stiff competition.

For the success and profitability of this business, Mombasa's market conditions have a significant impact. Hotel Lodging operations tend to make more profit during the summer season because of the many tourists who visit the region. In addition, there is a boom in this business during the December holiday season as many domestic tourists visit the region. Throughout the year, this hotel tourism industry continues to make profits. The other competitors in this business offer the following services and facilities:

Resort Locations:

Most of the hotels in Mombasa are located along the Kenya beach strip with the top ten hotels in the region being beach hotels. Hotels located in this kind of areas always target to generate most of their profit from leisure travelers. These travelers always see the lodging facilities and the vicinity as their destination. The different types of lodging operations require different locations. For example, the Nyali Beach hotel is located at the southern end of the beach because voyager cruise services that it offers (Muhoho par, 3). Quite a few hotels in Mombasa are in the commercial locations.

Target Group:

Due to the fact that most of these hotels and motels are situated along the Kenya beach strip, their target group is quite clear. Most of the hotels target leisure travelers and tourists who are taking time out to relax and reflect from their otherwise busy schedules. The leisure travelers may be individuals who are taking time off from their busy work schedules and lifestyles, couples or families that are out on a trip or even small groups. The travelers can also be either domestic or international tourists who are visiting an area for a vacation, for sporting or social events, for shopping, or visiting friends and relatives. These travelers may be staying in the area because they are simply on transit to other destinations. want to learn more about the country and the coastal strip. Mombasa is basically a tourist attraction to many people because of the recreation facilities and national parks.

Therefore most of these hotels in this area mainly target leisure travelers because of the natural or scenic sites as well as recreational facilities. it's important to note that the hotels in this area majorly targets the international leisure travelers because they out number the domestic travelers. Very few locals take time to visit the area due to a number of reasons which include the prices considering the fact that a higher percentage of the population is living in poverty.

However, hotel lodging customers in this are not only leisure travelers. There are other categories of visitors which include group meeting travelers. These group meeting travelers usually visit the area for both the leisure and business purposes. They include groups for school activities, athletics events and bus tours as well as business meeting groups.

Prices:

All the hotels in the area have different range of prices depending on whether it's a low or high season. The high season is usually during weekends, summer months and holiday periods while the low season is usually during winter season. The prices also differ depending on the visitor i.e. whether they want single beds or not. Averagely, most of the hotels have charge an average of $100 for single beds during the low season and $250 for the high season. These prices are different for double beds with an average of $250 and $400 for the low and high season respectively. There are also variations in leisure room rates depending on the day of week and time of year.

Foods and Beverages:

Our competitors in the market mostly offer African, American and European delicacies as well as alcoholic drinks. Most of these foods in the various restaurants are usually prepared by local workers who have received adequate training from recognized hotel and tourism management institutions. There are a variety of drinks that range from American to European to African drinks. However, very few hotels have majored on the provision of non-alcoholic drinks for the customers.

Re-training and Motivating the Staff:

Given the background of the hotel, there is a great need for re-training and motivating the staff for the efficiency and profitability of the business. To help in building a healthy relationship between the workers and the management, I will adopt the following strategy as the general manager:

Assessment:

My first initiative will be to evaluate the employees' work habits by reviewing the history of the relationship between the past management and the workers. This review will be conducted in collaboration with the employees to identify the employees' and the hotel's hidden problems. Employee surveys and one-on-one interviews will be the major tools to be used in review. This will in turn actively involve the employees in the development and re-structuring of the hotel. Their ideas for improving efficiency and waste elimination will be respected and taken into consideration. The goal of this assessment is for efficiency improvement and making the workers feel that they are valued in the hotel.

Supervisors and Front-Line employee Training:

My second step will be to adopt a Supervisors and Front-Line employee Training Course. Due to the fact that the supervisors' behavior is a necessary factor, supervisors will be trained in order to reduce the number of workplace injuries, increase high-quality productivity and retain valuable employees. Through the supervisors' training course, the supervisors will learn leadership and team building skills that promote and support a positive attitude in the subordinate staff, their work and safety procedures. The supervisors will be taught how to recognize and reward safe and efficient behavior in the monthly supervisor training program. They will also be taught how to effortlessly eliminate at risk behavior on a daily basis.

On the other hand, the front-line employees will be taught how to learn new skills and develop correct habits through the front-line employee classes. Unlike most of the employee training programs which fail because of only telling employees what to do, the adopted employee training will enable the employees to experience what to do. The first batch of employees will go through the training and once they resume their duties, the next batch of workers will be trained. To ensure that efficiency is sustained, the employees will have a monthly refresher course.

Reward & Incentive Programs:

There will also be on-going rewards programs that are geared toward rewarding the best performing workers and positively reinforcing the lessons learned in the training classes. This will motivate the employees to work hard and efficiently as well as give a chance to the best performing employees to feel appreciated and honored. However, the employees' reward and incentive programs will not be limited to best performing employees. All employees will be periodically rewarded for their contribution to the success of the business.