Hospitality Management Assignment: Facilities And Service Provided By SkyCity Hotel

Question

Assignment: Research a hotel in Auckland (or Tauranga or Christchurch as relevant) that has at least 100 bedrooms and base your assignment on this hotel.

Task 1
a. Name and define the purpose of at least five departments of the hotel, one of which must be Front
Office. Describe at least three functions of each department and how each function contributes to
the effective management of accommodation service.
b. Explain the concept of perishability in relation to the services of a hotel. Analyse the impact that
perishability has on the profitability of the hotel. Your analysis must discuss at least three examples
of the concept of perishability and clearly explain the impact of each one.
c. Discuss at least one example from your research into this hotel that indicates how it has addressed
the challenge of perishability, what it has done and the effects of its action.

Task 2
a. Identify and profile a competitor hotel with similar target markets to your chosen hotel. Identify at
least three of the similar target markets of these two hotels which led you to choose this hotel as a
competitor and compare them in terms of demographics and market needs.
b. Based on your discussion in Task 2a, recommend four hotel products, two of which are goods and
two of which are services not provided by these hotels which would improve the commercial
operation of each hotel. Justify your recommendations by explaining the impact on aspects such as
customer satisfaction and hotel profitability.
c. List and justify specific resources, including human resources if necessary, required for the
introduction of each recommendation made in Task 2b.

Answer

Introduction
The present report on Hospitality management assignment is developed represent the various aspects of hospitality industry. The hospitality industry is one of the largest sections of the travel and tourism industry. The hospitality industry serves as a variety of businesses and services that are related to providing leisure and customer satisfaction. People who travel from one place to another require accommodation facilities. In the study developed in this Hospitality management assignment, the facilities and services provided by the hotel industry of SkyCity Auckland hotel have been briefly explained. This study also includes the comparison between this hotel and its major competitor, the m-social Auckland, based on the services they provide. This study provides a detailed description of all the mentioned facilities and the charges for adopting those facilities.

Initial research
As per the research carried on the Hospitality management assignment, it can be stated that SkyCity hotel in Auckland is a casino based hotel that is located in the centre of the city serving families, businessmen, travellers and gamblers all over the world. This hotel provides numerous facilities including premium rooms and many exceptional facilities. This hotel consists of a lot of branches that include categories such as, SkyCity Grand Hotel, SkyCity Entertainment. The rooms of the hotels are refurbished and are ranged from king-sized rooms to twin-sized rooms and executive suits too. The view from the hotel provides the shore harbour view of Waitemata harbour as the location is situated near water bodies (skycityauckland.co.nz, 2019). The room service facility of the hotel is offered all the time along with parking services. The free of cost Wi-Fi facility of the hotel gives it an attractive look for the customers.

Hotel Profile
Name of the hotel: SkyCity Hotel, Auckland
Quality rating: 4-star luxury hotel
The number of rooms: 323
Room rates:

Facilities and services provided by the hotel outlined in the context of this Hospitality management assignment:

• Free of cost Wi-Fi without limited data or time limit.
• Room service available for the whole day and night covering 24 hours service.
• Concierge services that provide the guests with assistance to book rooms and experience other facilities of the hotel including reservations of restaurants, movie theatres etc.
• Cardio room, to provide the guests who are staying in the hotel with fitness practices.
• Executive car servicing
• Currency exchange facility
• Babysitting services
• Car parking along with valet parking available for customers.
• Daily services including laundry, dry cleaning and press services.
• Availability of multilingual staffs in the hotel
• The Special welcome room service for private booking is also available for the guests who require arranging meetings and other gatherings.
• The hotel owns more than 20 restaurants, bars and cafes that offer contiguous flavours of cuisine for all types of people (skycityauckland.co.nz, 2019).

Task 1
a. What is the name and purpose of 5 departments of the hotel examined in the Hospitality management assignment?
In order to provide a suitable luxurious stay for the guests, the management is required to provide the customers with the required needs. As per the views by Williamson (2017), these departments include housekeeping, engineering, front office, accounting, human resource, security and most importantly the food and beverage department. This study used to develop this Hospitality management assignment elaborates the purpose of each department of the SkyCity hotel.

1. The Food and Beverage department is essential for a hotel to facilitate with because travellers often select hotels that comprise this facility as they avoid the trouble of searching for proper restaurants to have their food.
2. The Housekeeping Department is necessary for a hotel to maintain because of two reasons. As concluded by Bavik (2016), after each guest checks out, the housekeeping staffs have to clean up the mess as well as get the room ready for the next guests to arrive. Secondly, during the stay of a guest, the housekeeping staff members are responsible for providing guests with necessary equipment they need for comfortable stay.
3. The Engineering Department is necessary for hotel management to keep. The purpose of facilitating this is that during the stay of a guest a situation may arise where the guests face a failure of electrical or mechanical service. In such cases, the engineer is responsible for fixation of the occurred problem.
4. The purpose of setting up a Front Office executive staff is one of the most necessary services that a hotel should think of before the execution of their business. The Hospitality management assignment examined the reading of Gardner et al. (2016) which signifies that the front office executive plays an important role by dealing with the guests as soon as they arrive. They directly interact with the guests and arranging the guests with the necessary requirements during their stay.
5. As stated by Prayag, Hall and Wood (2018), security is the biggest issue that every guest searches for before booking a hotel. For SkyCity, the Security services are so tightened that every guest arriving at that hotel would feel themselves and their luggage, safe.

Description of 3 functions of each department
Reasons behind collaborating mentioned departments with the business of hospitality management have already been described. This section of Hospitality management assignment deals with functions of each department based on their designated tasks.

• Food and Beverage department

The food and beverage department of the SkyCity hotel is provided to the customers in the form of restaurants and bars. The hotel comprises of its owned 20 restaurants that provide the mentioned facilities.

1. Providing breakfast facility to the guests so that they do not have to go out for food.
2. To provide comfort to guests, a hotel would ensure that the food facility provided by them must be of good quality.
3. To attract more guests, a hotel would provide the functionality of the lounge so that guests would not go out of the hotel premises or order food from outside the hotel.

• Front Office

According to the findings obtained in the Hospitality management assignment, it is noted that SkyCity hotel provides efficient front office executive staffs to assist their guests. This provides the hotel with a remarkable impression towards the guests as they constantly strive to meet the customer needs. The function of a front office executive involves,

1. reservation of rooms for the guests on their arrival,
2. maintaining a balanced guest account to accommodate the guests with the proper room facility and other services,
3. To offer services that include handling of mails, faxes and other front desk needs.

• Housekeeping

1. The housekeeping department of a hotel concentrates on providing their guests with clean and updated room conditions so that the guests would not face any issues regarding accommodation.
2. The functionality of the housekeeping staff also comprises keeping a record of the supplies and equipment that are facilitated to guests during their stay.
3. The housekeeping executive is responsible for operating relevant departments based on guidelines stated by the general manager of the hotel.

• Engineering

1. Foremost function of the engineering department is to provide the guests with uninterrupted electrical, mechanical and plumbing facilities.
2. During a faulty situation of many appliances, the engineering department deals with fixing the issue.
3. As per the findings obtained in the Hospitality management assignment, another functionality of this department includes the maintenance of the appliances of each and every room of the hotel such that all the appliances of the rooms are working in order.

• Security

1. The security officers of a hotel are responsible to make regular rounds around the hotel premises in order to observe suspicious activities of any individuals. Thus taking relevant measures by investigating the event.
2. Safety procedures of the hotel are governed by the security staff so as to maintain the safety of the other hotel staff and guests.
3. Identification of the individuals arriving at the hotel premises and keeping a record of their entry time and exit time is necessary and falls under the duty of the security department.

Contribution of the functionality of the departments to the effective management of the accommodation service
Guests often avoid booking hotels that do not keep their rooms clean and tidy as soon as the previous guest leaves the room. As influenced by Mohsin and Lengler (2015), it has also been noted in the Hospitality management assignment that this leaves a bad impression on the reputation of the hotel and further leads the hotel to face customer gain issues. Time maintained food service is appreciated by the guests and helps in building up the reputation of the hotel. The front office of the hotel generally acts as the nerve centre of all the operations of a hotel that comprises of dealing with the guests on their arrival and assistance. The context of this Hospitality management assignment examines the words of Harkison, Hemmington and Hyde (2018) that the first impression of the guests is developed as they interact with the front office executives of the hotel. Providing the guests as well as the hotel staffs with proper security contributes to the reliability constraint of a hotel. A hotel that does not provide proper security often suffers lack of customer attraction as well as develops the anxiety of the staffs working at the hotel.

b. Explanation of the concept of perishability relating to the services of the hotel
Perishability is considered as one of the most important characteristics of a hotel to maintain a position in the hotel industry. According to the views by Jenkins, Cameron and Crompton (2015), perishability of a hotel could be understood as the service capacity that is provided by a hotel cannot be restored or refunded once it has been delivered to the customer consuming it. For SkyCity hotel, Auckland, the perishable nature of the hotel makes the hotel costly for a handful of customers and often lets them avoid the booking of the services. Once a service is sold or rendered to a customer, it cannot be reused and rendered to another customer. The Hospitality management assignment examines the words of Zhang, Kim and Goodsir (2019) that the perishable nature of service can be categorized in two ways. Firstly, the relevant resources, processes and other system services that are assigned during the delivery of the service are based on a particular period of time. On the other hand, the services, whose irreversibility vanishes as soon as it has been consumed by the customer, For instance, the second case can be explained, as a guest leaves the hotel after his/her allocated duration, the services consumed by the guest cannot be brought back to its initial position.

Analysis of the impact of perishability on the profitability of the hotel
The perishability of services of a hotel can affect its performance drastically. It becomes very difficult for a hotel to balance its perishability. This segment of Hospitality management assignment analyses the views of Zainol, Rahim, Salmi, Johari and Bahari (2016) that balancing perishability refers to predictions of demand of guests during their stay. For instance, if a hotel is able to predict the demands of a guest before they arrive, then it becomes easier for the management to arrange for the facilities in prior. Since the demands of guests fluctuate very rapidly, therefore it becomes very difficult to predict the demands and more difficult to maintain the quality of the services.

c. Discussion of the addressing of perishability along with the effects of its action
SkyCity hotel of Auckland overcomes the challenge of perishability in such a way that it continues to prove its guests with the quality of services without the wastage of resources. The hotel developed all the necessary requirements that a guest needs while they stay based on different sections. Instead of building their own services, the hotel collaborates with other organisations of the same industry to provide desired services to the guests. For instance, the hotel owns bars and restaurants that are operated by other organisations. The guests who need the food and beverage facility of the hotel can demand at any time and the hotel is eligible enough to provide the services to the customers just by addressing the restaurants it owns. In this way, the hotel SkyCity addresses its perishability issues and overcomes its disadvantages.

Task 2
a. Identification of a competitor hotel
Identification of the competitor hotel for SkyCity becomes easier as it stands as one of the largest community under the hotel industry. M-Social Auckland has been selected in this Hospitality management assignment as a competitor hotel which occupies a huge section of New Zealand’s hospitality industry. Being a standard, well established, successful hotel, it becomes a challenge for SkyCity Auckland to compete with M-Social Auckland. Both the hotels provide almost similar facilities to its guests and both are located at the heart of New Zealand’s most attracted spot.

How will you differentiate the two hotels selected in this report on Hospitality management assignment on the basis of demographics and market needs?
Comparing the demographics of SkyCity and M-Social, it becomes difficult to differentiate between the two as both the hotels stand out to be the best of all other hotels. As mentioned in the hotel profile section, SkyCity can accommodate guests on a total of 323 rooms whereas M-Social has features for 193 rooms suitable for all travellers. The specifications of the M-Social Auckland hotel made it become a competitor of the SkyCity Auckland hotel. One of the facilities that M-Social provides is a mobile booking app. M-social Auckland has developed its own room booking mobile app that does not involve any third party organisations to book a room for the guests. It has been stated in the context of this Hospitality management assignment that with the help of app, it becomes easier for the guests to book the room as per the guest choice and payment through the app becomes easier and risk-free as no third-party organisations are not involved.

b. Recommendation of four products and services of the two hotels that would improve the customer satisfaction and profitability
Product and services provided by both the mentioned hotels satisfy the need of the guests. The sections at which both the hotels should focus on for the betterment of the reputation are,

• Selling of branded products.
• Availability of maps and other articles related to the place.
• Availability of customer satisfaction feedback system.
• Providing guests with a local guide.

c. Justification of the specific resources based on the mentioned recommendations
The recommendations obtained in the Hospitality management assignment mentioned about the two hotels clarify that they need to enhance the facilities in order to attract more customers towards their accommodation services.

• The branded product facility includes serving the guests with the hotel’s own certified products such as mineral water, soaps, etc
• Availability of articles relates to guests who are addicted to reading newspapers may demand it. The hotel management must have provisions to provide the guest with the relevant product.
• Introducing the customer feedback system for the hotel provides acknowledgement to the management team, of the review of the customers after their stay. This would improve the quality of further services by the hotel.
• A local guide is needed for the guests who intend to place a tour for the place.

Conclusion
Therefore, considering the overall analysis of the readings explored in the Hospitality management assignment, it must be concluded that the hospitality industry provides various services for accommodation in the form of hotels and lodges. This provides the customers with leisure, pleasure, enjoyment, refreshment and many more experiences including necessities and essentials. Providing quality services to the guests within their requested time helps in maintaining the reputation of the hotel. Perishable quality of a hotel makes the hotel maintain a stable marketing position. For every hotel to run their business successfully, it is necessary to facilitate the guests with proper housekeeping conditions. Therefore, it is an important function for the hotel to maintain during the stay of a guest. Providing this facility to the guests, results in gaining an upper hand in the marketing environment for the hotel. It can also be noted after analysing the segments of Hospitality management assignment that SkyCity hotel gains its reputation and position by providing the maximum of their positive quality services to the customers. This offers the hotel in retaining its reputation in the overall market environment.

References
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Gardner, D., O’Driscoll, M., Cooper-Thomas, H., Roche, M., Bentley, T., Catley, B., ... & Trenberth, L. (2016). Predictors of workplace bullying and cyber-bullying in New Zealand. International journal of environmental research and public health, 13(5), 448. Retrieved on 17 October 2019 from: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/13/5/448/pdf

Harkison, T., Hemmington, N., & Hyde, K. F. (2018). Creating the luxury accommodation experience: case studies from New Zealand. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 30(3), 1724-1740. Retrieved on 17 October 2019 from:https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/IJCHM-05-2017-0247

Jenkins, A. K., Cameron, D., & Crompton, R. (2015). Supply chain management in the hospitality industry: A research agenda.Retrieved on 17 October 2019 from: http://eprints.hud.ac.uk/id/eprint/24977/

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Neill, L. J., Williamson, D., Powell, L., & Goodsir, W. (2015). Psychosocial factors impacting job dissatisfaction and burnout in New Zealand’s hospitality industry. Hospitality management assignment Retrieved on 15 October 2019 from: https://openrepository.aut.ac.nz/handle/10292/8396

Prayag, G., Hall, C. M., & Wood, H. (2018). I Feel Good! Perceptions and emotional responses of bed & breakfast providers in New Zealand toward trip advisor. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 27(1), 1-20.Retrieved on 14 October 2019 from: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/19368623.2017.1318731

Skycityauckland.co.nz (2019). Hospitality management assignment SkyCity. Retrieved on 16 October 2019 from: https://skycityauckland.co.nz/

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Zainol, N., Rahim, N., Salmi, S., Johari, R., & Bahari, K. (2016). Barriers and Discrimination in Hospitality Industry: Focus on Hearing Impaired Workers. Available at SSRN 2790725. Retrieved on 15 October 2019 from: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2790725

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