Dynamics of Hospitality Industry Management - Assignment Example

? Dynamics of Hospitality Industry Management Executive Summary The discussion in this study intends to analyse and depict a clear view regarding thedynamics of hospitality management for the sustainable development and a secure future of this industry. With the aim to obtain a critical understanding of the strategies applied by organisation to mitigate the issue of sustainability, two organisations have been studied, i.e. Hilton Hotels and Westin Hotel Macau which are often regarded as two real giants of the global hospitality industry. Correspondingly, the study reveals the various initiatives taken by these organisation with due significance towards environmental cleanliness and social development. The study further concludes recommending few noteworthy measures which shall be beneficial for both the organisations in obtaining adequate competencies when aiming at sustainability through effective Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) practices. Table of Contents 1 Executive Summary 2 1.0Introduction 4 2.0 Brief Background 5 2.1 Westin Hotel Macau 5 2.2 Mission Statement 5 3.0Brief Background 6 3.1 Hilton Hotel 6 3.2 Mission Statement 6 4.0 Comparative Analysis on Environmental Aspects and Sustainable Business Practices 7 4.1 Water Wage Management 7 4.2 Food Wastage Management 8 4.3 Recycling Process as well as Initiatives 9 5.0 Identification of Gaps 10 5.1 Gap in Cultural Aspects 10 5.2 Gap in Terms of Resources 11 5.3 Gap in Mission as Well as Objective 11 5.4 Gap in Utilisation of Country Resources 12 7.0 Recommendations 13 Reference List 14 Bibliography 17 1.0 Introduction In the modern day context, the hospitality industry has emerged as a major economic dimension in the global platform being directly related with the tourism and the transportation sectors. Subsequently, with the rising complexities in the various dimensions of hospitality industry, the management approach adopted in this context has also become quite challenging in the current era (Clayton W. Barrows and Tom Powers 2008 ) Among the identified challenges in this context, Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) can be illustrated as one of the significant issues witnessed by hotel when practicing hospitality management, apart from being influences by rising environmental concerns and competitive forces. CSR can be defined as the notion focused on accomplishing mercantile success through ethical values as well as respecting the people, communities as well as natural surroundings which constitute of company stakeholders. In this particular juncture there has been no universally accepted definition, but overall it can be defined that doing business ethically imposes positive impacts on the society as well as on the environment which is the core social responsibility of any organisation (William Smith Clark 2006). Emphasising on these aspects, the discussion henceforth intends to perform a comparative analysis of two globally renowned hospitality companies, i.e. the Westin Hotel Macau and Hilton Hotels, in the context of the strategies applied by these organisations towards sustainable development of the society and to create a better world taking special concern on communities as well as environment through the effective implementation of CSR strategies. 2.0 Brief Background 2.1 Westin Hotel Macau The Westin Hotel Macau is a part of Starwood Hotels Group (SHG) which comprises a chain of 185 Westin Hotels as well as resorts globally. Westin Hotel Macau is one of the leading luxury resorts situated in Greater China since 1985. The 208 rooms comprising hotel is positioned within a picturesque site to give the visitors long lasting and memorable experiences. To differentiate its services, the hotel has been providing a lavish variety of amenities as well as services, such as individually controlled air conditioned accommodation, satellite and cable programs, restaurants and bars, frivolous and sports facilities that includes swimming pools, ocean driving assortment, aqua aerobics, child care room and book library among others. In addition, the hotel are also provides various other value adding services including 24 hours retail shopping benefits, car rental services as well as internet Wi-Fi services among others. The hotel is often regarded to offer world class facilities to its customers with the main objective to provide cheerful experiences to the guests, which in turn is likely to yield greater customer retention and enhanced brand value to Westin Hotel Macau. For this reason the authority of the hotel has recruited qualified management professionals focused on the effective utilisation of resources ( Macau Hotel Association 2013). 2.2 Mission Statement In the context of mission statement the hotel focused on sustainable development, therefore the management of the hotel has also occupied various innovative environmental as well as financial energy management programs and has simultaneously invested in extensive technological developments for the succession of these initiatives. The hotel focuses on creating better world experiences to its customers rendering due significance towards the communities and environment as an inseparable part of its stakeholder group ( Macau Hotel Association 2013). 3.0 Brief Background 3.1 Hilton Hotel Hilton hotel and Resorts is one of the most recognised names in the hospitality industry with regards to forward thinking global leaders with over 92 years of experience. Hilton welcomes the guests with more than 540 hotels as well as resorts in 78 countries across six continents providing a wide range of amenities as well as services. The key vision of the company is to establish its brand in almost every corner of the globe bringing a revolutionary change in the hospitality industry signifying class and elegance, but simultaneously taking due care of its obligations as a corporate citizen (Hilton 2013). 3.2 Mission Statement The chain of hotels under the umbrella of Hilton has been based on the value of sustainability in the hospitality business dimension. Taking care of environment as well as society is often signified by the hotel chain as one of its major social responsibilities which not only ensures its long-run sustainability but also indicates towards its efficiency to preserve long term alliance with its stakeholders. Correspondingly, the company has been focused on environment management through wastage management, water as well as electricity usage efficiently as few of its principle CSR obligations. As a result, Hilton has been able to develop a unique sustainability management system, accredited as Light-Stay management system, for the benefits of environment and saving the natural resources with minimum consumption of energy and thereby reducing the wastes generated by the hospitality organisation ( Hilton Worldwide 2011). 4.0 Comparative Analysis on Environmental Aspects and Sustainable Business Practices Westin Hotel Macau and Hilton Hotel both are regarded as global landmarks with substantial experiences in the hospitality industry. Owing to this reason, the administrators of the hotels are perceived to be well aware of the values of effective utilisation of the natural resources for the sustainable development as well as bright future of the business in this industry. Focusing on this context, both the global brands have taken particular initiatives that are being discussed below with the intention to find out the similarities and dissimilarities of the strategies applied: 4.1 Water Wage Management The hospitality management notion followed by Westin Hotel can be identified to render due significance towards addressing environmental hazards caused due to the wastes generated by the industry as well as the huge amount of energy consumed by the hotels in conducting its operations. As a result, conserving energy as well as reprocessing the wastes generated is deemed as the key challenge for the management to contribute towards a better environment, society as well as sustainable future. As per the finding of research by Seattle Public Utilities (2002), Westin was recorded to consume water amounting to approximately 212 gallons per day from every room of the hotel which also pressurised the organisation to take adequate measures with respect to its CSR initiatives (O’Neill, Siegelbaum & The RICE Group 2013). Therefore, the authority of the hotel, with the intention to cope up from this vital situation identified the process of substantial water conservative opportunities through replacing the older equipments and installing the upgraded equipments to save approximately one-third of the recorded water consumption. Furthermore, the hotel has been manifested through the installation of low-flow showerheads and faucet restrictions to control the water consumed by guests in the hotel rooms. The outcome of the strategy was further assessed to have abridged the water consumption around 25-30% which in turn contributed to the growth of the hotel’s financial health in the long run performances of business (Haggar & Salah El 2007). On the other hand, in this context, Hilton is unquestionably one step ahead for the unique initiatives of implementing the Lightstay measurement system. It is technologically considered as an advanced method which is able to perform around 200 unique operational practices that include water usage, paper wastage, housekeeping, chemical storage, food wastage and air quality among others. Apparently, this technique provides Hilton a better understanding and achievement to reduce total waste output by around 20%. In this context, Hilton recorded a substantial reduce in its carbon output by 10.9 percent, water usage by 7.5 percent, energy usage by 9.7 percent as well as waste output by 23.3 percent which was further accredited to the virtues of its Lightstay management system (Hilton Worldwide 2013). 4.2 Food Wastage Management Wastage of food is not only the concerning issue of the Westin and Hilton, but for the industry on the whole which has attracted debates in the diplomatic level owing to the poverty conditions witnessed all over the world. It can be define as an unprocessed orientation of the inputs required for food production. Therefore, the hotel industry needs to be concerned with due regard to this particular issue for the minimisation of costs and save such valuable resource as food by investing on modern compost procedure (Lockyer 2007). Applying a similar concern, Westin has taken various measures as a food waste prevention program for the reduction of food wastage as much as possible not only caused by its operations but also caused by carious other players in the similar industry. For this purpose, the organisation has taken few steps including the utilisation of reusable nylon coffee sifts as well as dishes, using washable hats as well as aprons for the employees working in kitchen to control water usage and food wastage as well as purchase required grains in bulk and store those properly in the reusable container to illustrate a few (CLIGS 2012). On the other hand, Hilton also has taken a bold step for the reduction of food wastage as well as landfill problems it has been facing as a consequence of its operations since long. Contextually, the organisation has focused on hiring a waste contractor for the purpose of recycling the work process and reducing landfill through food wastes, by around 20 percent on a year-on-year basis ( Zero Waste SA 2009). 4.3 Recycling Process as well as Initiatives It has often been argued that recycling is one of the best methods to save the environment with controlled utilisation of the natural resources. As per the recent statistical reports, it was found that around 50-60 percent wastage generated from the hotel are recyclable (Potts, Christenbury & Wolak n.d.). With this concern, the authority of Westin has taken an effective initiative for minimising the wastage of natural resources as well as maximise its re-usage. Consequently, Westin has installed water purifying technology for the efficient utilisation of water in the various sections with the elimination of once throughout cooling water and re-using the consumed water in laundry as well as dishwashing. Besides, for the recycling of the wastage as well as mitigation of the landfill problem, the organisation maintains a continuous contact with the recycling corporations (Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide n.d.). In the similar context, recycling in Hilton also has taken a bold step through influencing the suppliers to recollect the wastage package as well as chemicals. In this context, Mr. Chris Ehmann, the general manager of the company, had taken a bold step focused on the development as well as implementation of hotels sustainable program. For the success of this process, the management attempted towards rendering environmental program training facilities to all the department heads so as to obtain success in almost all the functional dimensions of hospitality management with respect to waste management. In this context, Hilton Sydney showed a remarkable achievement through recycling almost 85 percent of the hotel wastage in the year 2012 (Hilton Sydney n.d.). In regards to the key findings through comparative analysis, the initiatives taken by both the organisations for the environment cleanliness as well as sustainable development imply that both the organisations are very conscious in this parameter. Both the hotels tend to apply a very conservative managerial approach in this regard. However, it is suggestible that in terms of energy, both the organisations need to focus on implementing as well as using renewable energies in the hotels owing to its criticality in the hospitality industry. 5.0 Identification of Gaps 5.1 Gap in Cultural Aspects The terms of cultural aspects for any organisation, the judgement of two parameters can be identified as mandatory, i.e. internal culture as well as external culture followed by the organisation (Sagepub n.d.). Regarding the internal as well as external culture followed by Westin is observed to be based on three values i.e. play as a team across all the team members in the organisation, doing the right thing for the communities, partners, stakeholders, environment as well as for the owner and lastly go the extra step in terms of loyalty towards the guests. This particular aspect has further been observed to increase complexity in the hospitality management approach taken by this organisation which can be observed as its limitation in cultural management approach3 (Macau Hotel Association 2013). On the other hand, Hilton Hotel, as a part of Hilton Worldwide, also should be focused on internal cultural integrity through providing proper information as well as training to the team members in terms of environmental impacts and the values of social responsibilities for the sustainable development of the organisation (YANG Xiao 2010). It has been observed in this regard that both the organisations comprise of diver workforce, which again increases the significance of cultural integrity within the organisations. 5.2 Gap in Terms of Resources In the context of Westin, the organisation can be criticised to be lacking in terms of high technology to minimise the utilisation of natural resources. Though the management as well as administrative bodies of the hotel has been determined over it and taken some important steps to change the instruments which however occupied a high cost and not incredibly effective as like as modern technology. As a result, it is also incapable in terms of proper utilisation of resources3 (Macau Hotel Association 2013). On the other hand, Hilton has been prospering in the market for more than 92 years. As a result, for its sustainable development, the hotel has also been focused on technological development and taken a unique initiative for the implementation of Lightstay measurement system. However, in this context also, Hilton was criticised to be incapable to implement the system in its network properly. Therefore, in comparison to Westin, Hilton can be stated as one step lacking behind in this parameter (Bohdanowicz 2006). 5.3 Gap in Mission as Well as Objective Westin and Hilton, both have universal landmarks with respect to their hospitality management dynamism applying enormous knowledge in the hospitality business. With this motive, the administrators of the hotels recognized the values of effective exploitation of the natural resources for the sustainable development as well as competitive future of the business. Nevertheless, the main challenge witnessed by hotels in this context simultaneously also focus on its financial health development owing to which, both of the hotels have been lacking to obtain the complete capability to satisfy their obligations in terms of social responsibility as well as environmental cleanliness (Bhagwa 2011). 5.4 Gap in Utilisation of Country Resources ‘Country resources’ is used as a broad term which includes various parameters such as human power, natural resources and finances among others. Both the hotels have multinational landmarks which in turn creates a substantial obstacle for the organisation to effectively utilise the available natural resources that are obtained through national markets. Also, because of significant complexities in the hospitality management process have led to certain complications in the controlling of country resources (Diouf 1996). 6.0 Conclusion Through the overall analysis it was observed that both Westin and Hilton are very renowned in the global hospitality industry which in turn embarks their obligations to perform effective CSR activities. Owing to this particular fact, the hotels have been very much concerned with the application of CSR as well as sustainable development. Applying a holistic concept concerning on the necessity of such initiatives, that includes meeting the present requirements of the business without harming the future needs of the society, these hotels have been practicing effective strategies to sustain ethically in today’s competitive world. The main objective of the sustainable development strategies applied by these hotels, following the CSR notion is to secure economic development, natural environment as well as maintain social equality within the business environment. 7.0 Recommendations In terms of saving the natural resources through effective utilisation of technology and consciousness about the value of environment has been revealed as a quite important aspect for obtaining a sustainable growth by the hospitality organisations in the current day context. Based on this particular context and the identified gaps in the hospitality CSR management of Westin and Hilton, few recommendations have been described below. Focusing on the competencies of Westin with respect to CSR, it is suggestible that the organisation should render greater focus on energy conservation measures like utilising the solar power system as a renewable power source to save the energy, eliminating the usage of harmful chemicals in laundry services to mitigate water pollution problems, improving the recycling process for the proper utilisation of the water as well as controlling of wastes. On the other hand, when focusing on Hilton, it shall be recommendable for the organisation to donate an amount to the charitable funds who are working for the betterment of the environment annually. Undoubtedly, it will be helpful to recognize the brand with some of the world’s most environmentally conscious foundations and go a long way towards environmental sustainability. Reference List Bohdanowicz. P, 2006. “Responsible Resource Management in Hotels- Attitudes, Indicators, Tools and Strategies” pp. 1-24, (accessed May 20, 2013). Bhagwat, P, 2011. “Environmental Protection”, Corporate Social Responsibility and Sustainable Development, (accessed May 20, 2013). CLIGS, 2012. “Resource Efficiency Technical Document”, pp. 1-22. (accessed May 20, 2013). Clayton W. Barrows and Tom Powers, 2008. Introduction to Management in the Hospitality Industry, (New York City, John Wiley & Sons). Hilton Sydney. “About Our Hotel”, http://www.hiltonsydney.com.au/about-our-hotel (accessed May 20, 2013). Hilton. “A Legacy of Innovation”, http://www3.hilton.com/en/about/index.html (accessed May 20, 2013). Hilton Worldwide. 2007. “Hilton Worldwide Announces 2011 LightStay™ Sustainability Results”, http://news.hiltonworldwide.com/index.cfm/newsroom/detail/22692 (accessed May 20, 2013). Haggar and Salah El. Sustainable Industrial Design and Waste Management, 2007. (United States, Elsevier Academic Press, pp. 371-386, (accessed May 20, 2013). Jacques Diouf, “In Situ Conservation and Development”, 1996. Global Plan of Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, (accessed May 20, 2013). Macau Hotel Association. “About MHA”, http://www.macauhotel.org/about_us (accessed May 20, 2013). O’Neill, Siegelbaum and the RICE Group, (2002). “Hotel Water Conservation a Seattle Demonstration” Seattle Public Utilities, pp. 1-127, (accessed May 20, 2013). Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, No Date. “Features & activities overview”, http://www.starwoodhotels.com/sheraton/property/features/environmental_details.html?propertyID=127 (accessed May 20, 2013). Sagepub, No Date. “Organizational Culture and Performance”, (accessed May 20, 2013). Timothy Lockyer. 2007. The International Hotel Industry: Sustainable Management, (United Kingdom, Routledge publishers, 2007). Thomas D. Potts, Joyce H. Christenbury and Francis J. Wolak, No Date. “Recycling for the Hospitality Industry”, (accessed May 20, 2013). William Smith Clark. (2006). “Corporate social responsibility: A marketing tool for major hotel brands”. HSMAI Marketing Review 23 (2006): 42-45, (accessed May 20, 2013). YANG Xiao. (2010). “The Importance of Staff Training in the Hotel Industry”, (accessed May 20, 2013). Zero Waste SA. (2009). “Hotel reduces ecological footprint”, (accessed May 20, 2013). Bibliography European Commission DG ENV, 2011. “Developing a Food Waste Prevention Programme”, Guidelines on the Preparation of Food Waste Prevention Programmes, (accessed May 20, 2013). Southwest Florida Water Management District, n.d. “Water-related personal behaviours, attitudes and knowledge”, Water Conservation Media Campaign (accessed May 20, 2013). Read More