Hospitality industry is the sector dealing with increasing change and witnessing a vast set of challenges which is driven by the customized personal and exceptional services and the growing customer expectations concerning the hygiene standards. In light of these identified facts, the objective of report is to identify the challenges faced by the hotels in the current year and in the future. The challenges faced by the hotel managers in the operations and how the planning, strategic priorities and expenditure are impacted is also accounted in the report. In this regard, the chosen hotel for the purpose of analysis is Hilton Hotel which is the largest brand of hotel operating in the world. It is the global leader in the travel and hospitality innovation (hilton.com 2019). The exceptional travel experiences foundation is provided by the Hilton Hotel and Resorts and the hospitality standard of providing services to meet the customers evolving need and innovation of new product. The challenges faced by Hilton Hotels in the context of staffing, hiring, revenue management, technological changes and growing concern about uncertainty and safety.
The hotel sector is extremely competitive and the success of the business is ensured by its compatibility with the latest and ongoing trend. One of the ways for delivering exceptional services to the customers by the hoteliers is to keep pace with the wider industry.
Some of the challenges that impacts the overall performance of Hilton has been elaborated in the section below.
Staffing- One of the biggest challenges faced by the hotel manager is attracting and retaining the staffs and the overwhelming concern for the whole hospitality industry is the discrepancy of overseas labor due to Brexit. In addition to this, the implementation of pay freeze and reduction of the staffs is the challenge faced by the hotel in light of increasing operation costs. For the majority of the respondents, staffing is the greatest challenge faced by the hoteliers (Grobelna 2015). The expansion of hotel chain of Hilton in country such as Nepal and Myanmar was faced with multitude challenge of developing a consistent and reliable talent pipeline. Such greenfield market entry to the country made the hiring, filling roles and training incompatible. In light of this very challenge, it was recognized that the hospitality workers were not trained. Employee engagement is one of the staffing issues witnessed by Hilton for which the company has developed the strategies for addressing the issue. The overall plan of employee engagement needs to be extended and focused are placed on employee experience elevation involving the combination of physical, cultural and technological aspects of working environment (Bolden 2018). In addition to this, the working environment for employees have made more inviting by upgrading the staffs and the unusual move in terms of focusing on hourly service worker workspace.
Revenue management- Since the customer expects a different relationship and experience with the hotel, the revenue managers faces some challenges in tacking with the customers for revenue generation. The objective of hotel managers is to optimize the revenue generated by the functions of hotel. With the growing advancement, it is essential for the revenue managers to market the changes in real time. Customers are provided services at ease with the hoteliers embracing technology that requires creation of integrated system, smart room keys, cloud services and mobile communication. Strategy the revenue so that adequate revenue is generated is crucial for any organization (Melissen et al. 2016). In the same manner, revenue management is critical to Hilton business due to the critical functions such as efficiencies in operation, optimization and channel costing, identifying the revenue rock star and investing in the people for improving the profitability. It has been found that low single digit growth was reported by Hilton in revenue from room and average daily rate for the quarter of 2019. Moreover, it is projected that the revenue growth from the management and franchise fees would slow. It was also predicted that the growth of overall RevPAR would slow for some market. There has been up and down in the pipeline and this is expected to impact the revenue generation (Forbes.com 2019). Furthermore, the development price tag has increased due to the rising cost of construction. Costs are also driven by rising labor costs .
For maintaining the revenue generation from business, it is important for Hilton that the direct channels offers customers with perceived value and most favorable experience along with focusing on the costs. The pricing structures, website copy and marketing campaign should incorporate the consumer psychology and knowledge on pricing. Managing revenue is the constant work in progress for the managers and is considered gigantic challenge for the business. Managing of revenue requires to deal with two critical factors such as pricing and forecasting that calls for the hoteliers to determine the projections of demand at various points of time (Snyman 2015).
Hiring- The hoteliers are facing the challenges of filling the positions or replacing the vacant position with the best talent in the environment of labor shortage. Hilton take all the efforts to provide their employees with greater opportunities and benefits. Hiring is one of the biggest challenges faced by Hilton in recruitment of fresh human resources and also in the retention of promising talents. It is required by the Hilton to keep a pace with the modern expectations due to shifting modern workforce demand. The hospitality industry has the stigma of shift work, long hours and late nights attached to it and Hilton is working on this by forwarding the message that the basic services has been automated due to technology. In addition to this, some program intended to make the staffs more focused, resilient and expectant about their role of functions in the company. In order to retain the employees, they are trained for getting an insight into the avenues they would get and the opportunities by centering on the lifelong learning. Another challenge in recruitment is associated with hiring of female talents in the countries where the rate of female participation in the total workforce is low. Conscious efforts is required to be taken by Hilton when hiring female in the countries such as Maldives, Sri Lanka and India. It is required by Hilton to recognize the best pool of talents and hiring for the goodness and performance of the organization (Trew 2018).
Sustainability- The fundamental reforms at Hilton is driven by the strategy of corporate responsibility and the approach of water resources and procurement of seafood. The sustainability challenge is faced in terms of the reduction in the environmental footprint along with zero soap to landfills and reduction in emission of carbon. With the growing environmental adversity due to the operation of hotel, it is required by Hilton to report, manage and improve the social and environmental impact across the global portfolio. Waste management and energy consumption is another sustainability challenges faced by Hilton in the current scenario (Shweta 2017). The reduction of carbon emission has been done by adopting the global standard for sustainable tourism and approving science based targets aligning with the Paris climate agreement. Huge initiatives would be taken by Hilton to address its sustainability challenges as incorporates in the 2030 goals. Such initiatives comprised of reduction in the waste output and consumption of energy by 50%. The main focus of Hilton is to create difference by making credible progress on the 2030 goals and its corporate social responsibility report disclosing all the progress made regarding sustainability improvement (Forbes.com 2019). In addition to this, a measurement system of corporate responsibility named Lightstay is used by Hilton to analyze, compute and report the social and environmental impact at each of its hotel. In addition to this, the water issues particular to the local context is addressed by the development of programs and incorporation of the efficiency measures in the operations using the stewardship efforts. The local challenges are addressed by the pilot programs that are underway in country such as South Africa, US and China by way of investing in the community water stewardship, implementing efficiencies and supplier collaboration. It has also been told by the guests that their decision of hotel booking incorporates the social and environmental efforts. It was found from the survey conducted amongst 72000 guests at Hilton in year 2018 that most of them actively sought the information related to environmental, social and ethical consideration while booking or prior to booking (Della Corte 2016).
It is also noteworthy to mention that sustainability challenges regarding the conservation of ocean are complex and wide ranging. It is believed by the organization that addressing of such issues requires investing in continuous improvements and clearly defining targets for which unique role is played by businesses, civil society, customers and governments. The huge step taken by the company in this regard is making commitment publicly and promising the accountability of such issue (hilton.com 2019). Therefore, the future challenges pertaining to sustainability is managed by redefining the sustainable travel intended to cut the environmental footprint in half and doubling social impact investment by 2030.
Procurement- The responsible sourcing practices across the operations at global level is a challenging task for Hilton. It would be ensured by the hotel chain that by 2020, sourcing of all the seafood is done in a responsible manner. Moreover, it is also ensured that usage of water is reduced by half across all its operation and thereby prioritizing stewardship. The supply chain design of Hilton supports the improvement to the fishery and the operation of hotel chain in a diversified market and all of them do not have access to sustainable seafood. The partnership approach of Hilton to work on the sustainability issues is done across various levels of operations. This would help in raising awareness of the matter amongst guests and make an improvement in the supplier workshop by tracing custody and collection of data. Furthermore, the existing supply chain of Hilton is supported with the fishery improvement project as such assistance is a direct approach towards sustainability (Ong, 2017).
Challenges related to global uncertainty about safety and security- The global hospitality pool has been flooded with the customers from developing and emerging economies and this has challenges the hoteliers with meeting expectation and different requirements of customers. Security challenges faced by the hotels are unique and distinct as it is required by the hotel business to secure their premises so that the customer experiences is minimally impacted. Another concern is the potential for accidents amongst the customers and occupational health and safety. During the peak season during the holidays, when the hotels are crowded, the common threats to security comes in the form of thefts, unauthorized visitors, safety emergencies, disorderly conduct, and theft relating to parking area, disorderly conduct and theft (Webster 2016). The security solutions and safety can be addressed by Hilton by the development of solutions that are customized and at the same time minimizing the risks in a cost effective manner. In addition to this, hotel such as Hilton also hires responsible professionals such as officers, field supervisors and management. Continuous investments can be made in innovative solutions by conducting audit and field inspection and compliance and continuous training (Businesstravelnews.com 2019). Moreover, the very basic of maintaining security is screening and recruiting that is done for ensuring that the policies adopted well aligns with the people hired.
Conclusion:
The report has been prepared for ascertaining the challenges faced by the company operating in hospitality industry. Hilton is the global leader in providing the hospitality services, however, it faces some of the operational challenges as well as challenges related to sustainability, recruitment, procurement and hiring. Some of the biggest challenge that is currently faced by Hilton is related to staffing and hiring while expansion in different countries and sustainability. While addressing the challenges by conducting in depth research, it has been found that Hilton intends to effectively address all such challenges and designs adequate measures so that the concerns are taken care of. In addition to this, the future challenges faced by the Hilton are effectively addressed by recommending appropriate measures.
References
Bolden-Barrett, V. (2018). Hilton Hotels to upgrade staff spaces to improve the employee experience. [online] HR Dive. Available at: https://www.hrdive.com/news/hilton-hotels-to-upgrade-staff-spaces-to-improve-the-employee-experience/520422/ [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
Businesstravelnews.com. (2019). Hilton Predicts 2019 Growth Ahead of Industry Trends: Business Travel News. [online] Available at: https://www.businesstravelnews.com/Procurement/Hilton-Predicts-2019-Growth-Ahead-of-Industry-Trends [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
Della Corte, V., 2016. The strategic environment of hotel chains. In The Routledge Handbook of Hotel Chain Management (pp. 83-94). Routledge.
Forbes.com. (2019). How Hilton Is Cutting Its Environmental Footprint By Half. [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/eshachhabra/2019/07/31/how-is-hilton-cutting-its-environmental-footprint-by-half/#72d17c6b6a3d [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
Forbes.com. (2019). How The Big Hotel And Lodging Companies Respond To These Challenges Will Determine Their Future. [online] Available at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/richardkestenbaum/2019/08/12/how-the-big-hotel-and-lodging-companies-respond-to-these-challenges-will-determine-their-future/#1316f3e33ca8 [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
Grobelna, A., 2015. Intercultural challenges facing the hospitality industry. Implications for education and hospitality management. Journal of Intercultural Management, 7(3), pp.101-117.
Hilton Press Center. (2019). Moon-walking Mini-breaks, 3D-printed Room Service and Hyper-personalised Spaces: Welcome to the Hotel of 2119. [online] Available at: https://newsroom.hilton.com/corporate/news/hyperpersonalised-spaces-welcome-to-the-hotel-of-2119 [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
Hilton.com. (2019). Hilton Brands | Global Hospitality Company. [online] Available at: https://www.hilton.com/en/corporate/#hilton-hotels-&-resorts [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
Melissen, F., Cavagnaro, E., Damen, M. and Düweke, A., 2016. Is the hotel industry prepared to face the challenge of sustainable development?. Journal of Vacation Marketing, 22(3), pp.227-238.
Ong, K. (2017). How Hilton Asia-Pacific is paving the way forward | HRM Asia. [online] HRM Asia. Available at: https://hrmasia.com/hilton-asia-pacific-paving-the-way/ [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
Revfine.com. (2019). The Latest Technology Trends in the Hospitality Industry in 2019 & 2020. [online] Available at: https://www.revfine.com/technology-trends-hospitality-industry/ [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
Shweta Jain, D. (2017). Hilton CEO bullish on Middle East despite challenges. [online] Gulfnews.com. Available at: https://gulfnews.com/business/tourism/hilton-ceo-bullish-on-middle-east-despite-challenges-1.2022605 [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
Snyman, J.A., 2015. Hotel Industry: Forming a Strategic Alliance with Tourism Service Providers. Collaboration in Tourism Businesses and Destinations: A Handbook, p.111.
Trew, M. (2018). From a Thrive toolkit to gamification of feedback: How Hilton is creating a “Great Place To Work” – WIT. [online] WIT. Available at: https://www.webintravel.com/brendan-toomey-thrive-at-hilton-workplace/ [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
Webster, C., 2016. Hotel chains, globalisation, and politics. The Routledge Handbook of Hotel Chain Management, p.459.
Www2.deloitte.com. (2019). [online] Available at: https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/us/Documents/consumer-business/us-cb-2018-travel-hospitality-industry-outlook.pdf [Accessed 22 Oct. 2019].
Essay Writing Service Features
Our Experience
No matter how complex your assignment is, we can find the right professional for your specific task. Contact Essay is an essay writing company that hires only the smartest minds to help you with your projects. Our expertise allows us to provide students with high-quality academic writing, editing & proofreading services.
Free Features
Free revision policy
$10Free bibliography & reference
$8Free title page
$8Free formatting
$8How Our Essay Writing Service Works
First, you will need to complete an order form. It's not difficult but, in case there is anything you find not to be clear, you may always call us so that we can guide you through it. On the order form, you will need to include some basic information concerning your order: subject, topic, number of pages, etc. We also encourage our clients to upload any relevant information or sources that will help.
Complete the order form
Once we have all the information and instructions that we need, we select the most suitable writer for your assignment. While everything seems to be clear, the writer, who has complete knowledge of the subject, may need clarification from you. It is at that point that you would receive a call or email from us.
Writer’s assignment
As soon as the writer has finished, it will be delivered both to the website and to your email address so that you will not miss it. If your deadline is close at hand, we will place a call to you to make sure that you receive the paper on time.
Completing the order and download