Why a Hotel S Lost and Found Policies Are Important

Westin Arlington Gateway The company being researched is the Westin Arlington Gateway, located at 801 North Glebe Road in Arlington, Virginia.

The Westin Arlington Gateway is one of more than 200 hotels and resorts located worldwide owned by Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, and the company boasts in its corporate website that "everything we do is designed to help you feel your best." In fact, in 2016 the company has launched the "Westin Well-Being Movement," a smart marketing strategy for guests weary from the stress of traveling in a world where social and political conflicts are very real.

The well-being movement pitches this to travelers that they will "Sleep Well, Eat Well, Move Well, Feel Well, Work Well, and Play Well" (Westin). The Westin Arlington Gateway is just a few minutes from Washington, D.C., and access to the nation's capitol is available by train at the Ballston Metro Station (just a short walk from the hotel). Also nearby are the Arlington National Cemetery, the Artisphere, East Potomac Park and the Kettler Capitals Iceplex where the NHL Washington Capitals play hockey.

An important fact about the Westin Arlington Gateway is that it is not only close to the nation's capitol, but this upscale facility is in the midst of the epicenter of Arlington; the Ballston area is exploding with companies that conduct research, with high-rise buildings offering office space for thousands of small and medium size businesses. There are green spaces and pedestrian-friendly walkways and neighborhoods surrounding the hotel.

For the business guest, the Westin Arlington Gateway has 10,000 square feet of meeting space, 17 meeting rooms, a flexible 7,000 square foot ballroom, audiovisual services and a 24-hour business center. The hotel offers an indoor pool and whirlpool, in-room spa treatments, a "Westin Kids Club" and a workout / fitness center. Pets are welcome and there is complimentary WiFi but only for SPG Members. The parking is valet only and is $29 per night.

The hotel also features easily accessible outlets on the desk of each room, which allows the guest to power digital devices; the hotel also has a "beta-testing technology check-in option" and offers "Tangent," which is a high-tech meeting room designed for " .. quick, last-minute meeting" that can be rented by the hour (prweb.com). The business guest and the guest on vacation -- and others staying at the Westin Arlington Gateway -- have the option of getting out of their rooms and enjoying "The variety and diversity of local activity choices ..

giving them much to do after a long day" in meetings or other activities (prweb.com). For guests that enjoy coffee drinks, the hotel recently underwent a multimillion dollar renovation, which provided an upgrade for the lobby, guest rooms and included a Starbucks Cafe located adjacent to the lobby. The Starbucks features over-sized comfortable chairs with "cluster seating" for chats and family moments (prweb.com). As an important part of the new upgrade the Westin Arlington Gateway features the Pinzimini Restaurant & Lounge, that serves breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Particulars and Positives for the Westin Arlington Gateway hotel The Westin Arlington Gateway turned ten years old on March 20, 2016, according to www.prweb.com. While it carries the name Westin, and is part of the family of Westin hotels and resorts, this facility is actually managed by Crescent Hotels & Resorts, which operates a hundred hotels in North America, including 15 in the Washington, D.C. area (prweb.com).

When the Westin Arlington Gateway opened ten years ago it gave a pleasant shock to some of the first attendees to the opening ceremony. The smell of white tea was everywhere in the air, because "hidden vaporizers" were producing the pleasant aroma. Several dozen business people and politicians were there, and two women appeared from behind a stage " .. and covered themselves in two white drapes hanging from the ceiling ..

the music came on and the women climbed the drapes and performed several soothing -- yet daunting -- acrobatic feats" (washingtonpost.com). When their acrobatics were finished, the women held up a long, light-green fabric and a few men in tuxedoes brought scissors," cut the ribbon, and the opening was official. In fact the hotel was supposed to be built in 2001, not 2015, but when the hijacked jetliners smashed into the World Trade Center, the travel industry "collapsed" and the "project hit the shelves" (washingtonpost.com).

The past ten years since its launch as a luxury hotel have seen the facility open its doors and pitch in to become involved in a number of community and charitable organizations. For example, the Westin Arlington Gateway has sponsored the "Toys for Tots" program for underserved children at Christmas time. Hotel manager Michael Broadhurst said that "Being in the service industry, it is our nature to give back to our community, especially when we can make an impact in our neighborhood" (prweb.com).

Another special event that the Westin Arlington Gateway helped sponsor on its premises was the "Brides Against Breast Cancer" (BABC) held in 2009 (Goff, 2009). The hotel welcomed the nonprofit BABC and allowed the nonprofit to put on display about 1,000 wedding gowns for future brides to review and purchase at a much-reduced price. Most of the wedding gowns displayed sell normally for upwards of $8,000, but Brides Against Breast Cancer sold the 1,000 gowns for between $400 to $800, a substantial discount (Goff, p. 2).

Brides and brides-to-be were not only looking for a dress at a reasonable price, they were doing it to help the "Making Memories Breast Cancer Foundation," which grants wishes (like "Make-A-Wish") to women who are battling Stage IV breast cancer (Goff, p. 2). Problems within the Westin Arlington Gateway Every hospitality facility no matter where it is located is going to have flaws and foibles to some degree. When a big operation is being managed and promoted by a hotel, there no doubt are going to be negative issues that occur.

In the case of the Westin Arlington Gateway, security has been an issue. There has been a problem with items missing in the housekeeping department, like sheets, towels, linens and other items. Sometimes guests have reported items missing from their rooms. But subsequent to some of these events, I have been told by the director of sales and marketing that housekeeping has been responsible and those hired understand they would pay a steep price by losing their jobs and their income if they are caught stealing anything.

Meantime, the director told me that housekeeping staff has been trained to be fastidious when it comes to preventing theft; in fact, all housekeeping staff persons realize there are cameras positioned throughout the hotel and the security system can track movements by all staff: the security system can reveal where any employee went, into which rooms, and all movements, hence, if any staff person had an idea of becoming a thief, that person would be identified by "big brother" security cameras.

Meantime, another issue that has become apparent to management at the Westin Arlington Gateway has to do with lost and found. Apparently there is no system or policy of what to do with items that end up in lost and found. You might say, the hotel is "lost" as to what to do with items, other than to store them in a room that is secure.

Most of the items are not expensive; I was allowed to go into the storage room where the lost and found items are kept, and there were many shirts, pants, shoes, towels, keys, sunglasses, and phone chargers for digital devices. Occasionally, the manager explained, the hotel does find phones, wallets and even laptop computers and other digital devices that are considered very valuable by guests. And yet, those items are left, and it is not always easy to locate the person to whom the items belong.

"Many times the customers never call," the manager explained. The 5 C's Customer Needs: While the hotel tries to provide services to meet any need, it doesn't always work out that way. An article in the Washington Post explained how a visitor to the Westin Arlington Gateway in August, 2010, had the good and the bad. The hotel website offered a dog-friendly "oasis of calm," and Becky Krystal and her husband took the hotel up on it.

They brought their dogs, and even though Becky forgot to ask the concierge about the "Heavenly Dog Bed" the marketing literature offered, there was a knock on their hotel room door and a housekeeping staffer brought the bed and a pair of bowls for the dogs. Everything else seemed to be perfect except one showerhead leaked, and "the toilet screeched like a banshee when flushed" and they were situated in a room directly across from a loud construction site (Kyrstal, 2010).

Clearly not everyone that stays at the Westin Arlington Gateway is fully satisfied, nor are everyone's needs fulfilled. The "Guest Reviews" reveal problems and negative issues. On March 10, of this year a customer vowed never to come back. The room he was in smelled of stale cigarette smoke. The handle on the shower came off in his hand. The hallways smelled of chlorine, and after notifying the front desk, "nothing was ever done." Another guest (March 12, 2016) also complained of cigarette smoke, in rooms and on the elevator.

After complaints, "The staff didn't seem to care and offered nothing in return for the inconvenience." A guest on March 6, 2016, said the "service was mediocre," the check in process was "slow" (a long line of guests waiting to check in were not assisted), and the water in the shower "was tepid rather than hot." On January 28, 2016, a guest claimed he was overcharged for his room (he found out when he got his credit card statement).

On January 13 a guest complained that the ice machine was not working, the room was noisy, and dirty clothes from another guest were found under the bed. Also, no utensils were delivered with the room service food. On January 12, there was no soap in the room and the restaurant and bar was "badly understaffed," a guest wrote. A lot of noise kept guests awake when pipes were knocking.

On August 3 another problem with the restaurant was raised; a party of 12 waited over an hour for their food and one meal that was supposed to be with shrimp had no shrimp. On June 18, 2015, a guest mentioned noisy pipes again. And the air conditioning did not cool off the room. Another June 18, 2015, complaint came from a customer who ordered queens but got double beds.

The air conditioning again wasn't satisfactory and the guest said "the hotel is pretty run down, not what I would expect from a Westin Hotel (Guest Reviews). Company: As mentioned in the introduction, there are approximately 200 Westin Hotels and Resorts, and the company overall has a good reputation. The "Well-Being Movement" is a very positive marketing tool but judging from some of the complaints from customers Westin has some work to do to improve services.

As to company ownership, a Chinese consortium is "challenging Marriott International's $12 billion takeover of Starwood Hotels, operator of upscale hotel brands including Westin" (Gara, 2016). That consortium is offering $76 a share for Starwood, but Marriott is due a $400 million breakup fee if Starwood accepts the Chinese offer (Gara, p. 6).

Competition: A number of decent (if not luxury) hotels provide competition for the Westin Arlington Gateway: Doubletree by Hilton (Washington D.C.); Embassy Suites by Hilton Crystal City (National airport); Virginian Suites Arlington; Holiday Inn Arlington at Ballston; Hyatt Arlington; Hilton Garden Inn Arlington / Shirlington; Hilton Crystal City at Washington Reagan National Airport; and Hampton Inn & Suites Reagan National Airport (TripAdvisor.com). Collaborators: The Starwood Hotel group and Westin collaborate on their properties.

Context: The Westin Arlington Gateway is in a physical position close to Washington, D.C., so it will always be a place for visitors and businessmen to visit. SWOT / TOWS Matrix Strengths Westin is a big hotel with a good name and is located near the nation's capitol. It offers many services and has access to public transit Weaknesses Guests complain of poor service when there are problems. Check-in is often sluggish.

The restaurant does not always satisfy customers Opportunities The Westin is located in a great spot and has a reputation for opening doors to nonprofit community groups. It could enhance its image.

SO Strategies The "Westin Well-Being" campaign is smart, if the hotel can truly live up to the hype; The Westin name needs to be more fully utilized in marketing campaigns WO Strategies Instead of just expecting visitors to the nation's capitol to be guests, Westin could reach out to middle class families by offering special rates for weekday stays for families Threats Another terrorist attack could hurt the Westin; another recession could also hurt the Westin.

ST Strategies Becoming more involved in the local nonprofit community could produce an image of corporate social caring WT Strategies A new marketing campaign could be launched featuring half-price admission to Washington D.C.'s most popular venues (the Smithsonian, for example). Porter's Five Forces Threat of Substitutes: The nearby hotels mentioned under "competition" could undercut Westin by lowering their room prices and offering more services for families and business guests.

Threat of New Entrants: If Starwood sells its hotels or merges with a big Chinese corporation, the new company must pay close attention to its competition, because newer and fancier hotels could come into the Arlington area and steal the spotlight from Westin. Intensity of Competitive Rivalry: The competition is very stiff in Arlington due to the nation's capitol being right next door.

Every hospitality company wants to assure that its rooms are sold as many nights as possible, so Westin can be smart, look ahead, and plan to have a better plan than any new rival coming into the market. Bargaining Power of Customers: It is easy to see that customers / guests have so many other choices when it comes to lodging in the Arlington area, they can use that as leverage and try to get better rates from the Westin.

Bargaining Power of Suppliers: Most suppliers would like to raise the price of their services and goods from time to time, as their costs go up; but the Westin and other hotels have many choices among supplies in this vast urban Washington D.C. / Virginia region, so the suppliers have to walk a fine line before trying to raise their prices. Identification of Alternatives When it comes to a better system for the handling of lost and found for Westin, there are better strategies for returning lost items to customers.

Doug Kennedy writes in the publication 4hoteliers.com that he often leaves items in hotels but rarely gets satisfaction when trying to retrieve the items. This story he shared involved his family taking a summer vacation at a beach resort (rather than stand in line at Disney World). The kids (7 and 8) had a great time building sand castles and running in the surf. However, his youngest.