Communication For External And Internal In Hotel Management System: An Analytical Study

Discussion

Discuss about the Communication for External And Internal.
 

The following report is the critical analytical study of use of Social Media as a tool for establishing external and internal communication in a hotel management system. The modern age is marked for the development and usage of social media as a source of communication. According to Osterrieder (2013), the influence and effect of social media over the tourism and hotel industry is noteworthy. In this report the good and bad effects of social media on the communication process in the hotel have been critically analyzed with reference to different authors and writers. Different social media tools like Facebook, Twitter & Instagram and different social websites like Tripadvisor, Make-my-trip can act both for promotion and communication processes. 

The 21^st century had been marked by the astonishing development of social media as a platform for internal and external communication. Recent studies by Kim, Lim & Brymer (2015), have shown that the hotel industry has seen a remarkable growth due to the extensive promotion in Social Medias. There has been an overwhelming response from the customer with the help of communication and authorization of guest involvement that has provided new opportunities for progress. Thompson (2013), has different views on the usage of the social site for communication. He states that for applying the Social Medias for communication, it is necessary for understanding the fundamental goal that is required to achieve in the hotel management.

Lee & Oh, (2013) have said that in hotel administration requires proper management of staffs and clients that can be achieved only by use of effective internal communication. The hotel managers require effective communication with his superiors, subordinates, and peers. The employees at the hotel long to achieve and do the work efficiently, but in the absence of proper understanding of the expectations and goals set by the ownership. But Radovic (2015), defines the most effective way to communicate goals to the employees at the work is by making them involve in the development of the motives for the hotel organization. The hotel management team has developed the ability to the communication of the process and more significantly the reason for the process that has been undertaken. They have formed innovative and constant modulation in the effective communication process. Authors like Hoefnagels & Bloemer, (2014) have stated that the hotel management process requires communication level with its client too from the perspective of hotel managers. The Internet can be used as the most effective communication tool. Many times it is seen that the website of the hotels acts as the communication tool with the customers. The website is updated with the comment and review section by the customers where they can provide their views regarding the hotel or suggest something for improvement. According to Chang, Kuo, Hsu, & Cheng (2014), the website acts as the platform for the first introduction to the customers. It helps in establishing communication with the customers by stating the favorable factors or benefits of selecting their hotel. The social media tools for holiday destination selection like TripAdvisor, MakeMyTrip, etc. also serve a significant role for establishing communication between the hotel owners and the customers. On the other hand Sarjanoja, Isomursu & Hakkila, (2013) have explained that Facebook, Myspace can be used as a promotion platform as well as for communication process. Hotel managers require more of operational and marketing task nowadays which can be ensured only by using effective communication by these social sites.

Formal Communication in Hotel

According to Quirke, (2012), the ways for improving the internal communication in a hotel environment can be classified in five ways like; accessing the knowledge base for the Employees, increasing the transparency in the communication, initiating workshops for the employees, enacting the BYOD policy in the hotel culture and operating the platforms for mobile messaging. The quantity of data available about the client and hotel plans is extensive. Therefore the employees must be acquainted with the effective knowledge of communication for properly completing the job. For that Jani & Han (2013), state that the hotel management system must install a communication system for channelizing the information such as; onboarding initiatives, info about the guests staying in the hotel and health and safety data. Sharing the sales figure, goals of the hotel and reasons behind the management decisions with the staffs and employees not only result in the growth of trust and engagement with them but also roots good communication process between the employees and higher authority in the hotel. The various and regular workshops can be helpful for providing the necessary reinforcement practices in the hotel culture. These workshops can be useful for establishing effective communication with the employees as it provides them a platform for speaking out their problems and ideas. But Cheong, Ling, & Teh (2014), have focused on the idea that the current age is the age of Smartphone and people have become acquainted and addicted to the usage of Smartphone in every sphere of life. If the hotel starts the BYOD policy, it will encourage more employees to access the necessary information at any instant of time. BYOD can be helpful in easing the work and establishing the effective communication. The new communication tools provide ease of flexible, safe and operative messaging between the management and hotel staffs. It helps in segmentation and fast notification to the employees by delivering the message within a short time. The email, push notifications, and messaging services help in establishing the effective communication. It helps in engaging the employees for increasing the communication.

Allen (2016), have classified the formal communication in hotel occur in four different forms. Downward communication is the form of the communication process in which the superiors declare the instructions, orders and other works using the emails, memorandums, bulletins, etc. Upward is the process in which the subordinate reports work related matters to their immediate superiors either in written or verbal form. Navarro, Garzon, & Roig-Tierno (2015), have contradicted it for the communication stages in the hotel with respect to the communication process. The hotel owner and higher authority who determines the goals of the hotel is the sender. The plan and schemes for marketing and attaining the end goal could be termed as the message. This message (plan and schemes) are given the form of deals and offer which is similar to encoding. The channel for communication in the hotel structure is the meetings that happen at regular interval. Tuten, & Solomon (2014), have shown that various platforms like LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube serve not only the purpose of marketing but also online functionality and monitoring purposes. These sites can be used for interaction with the customers in all the three phases of experience; before, during and after vacations.

Social Communication in Hotel Management System

Rubin, Prizant, Laurent & Wetherby (2013), have stated Social Communication process has played a significant role in the management process and attaining the managerial goals. Social media communication has facilitated the direct customer communication with low cost expenditure. As stated by Park et al., (2012), direct communication acts as a two-way communication process between the customers and hotel authority. It helps in promoting the honesty and transparency. On the other hand, Bartlett, Reffin, Rumball & Williamson (2014), have stated the argument that the growth of use of social media can also be misleading. Virtual communication lacks the tangible form that was mainly seen in the traditional form of communication. Apart from it, Social Medias communication has greatly opted for marketing and advertising. Fuchs, (2013) has views against the use of Social Medias for communication in Hotel Industry because of the lack of real communication form and no scope for face to face meeting.

Roebuck, Siha, & Bell, (2013) have expressed the main advantage of utilizing the social sites for communication as the cost factor. Most of the social sites are free of cost. Thus it provides easy communication without any expense. The creation of a profile for hotel and posting the information is simple and interactive. On the other hand, Goh, Heng & Lin (2013), have contradicted this cost effective method of communication with the security issues on these sites. The profile requires filling up of details on these sites. There is a possibility that these details can be utilized in a wrong way.

Rapp, Beitelspacher, Grewal & Hughes (2013), have expressed that by using Social Sites for communication in the hotel provides the advantage of achieving the target and attracting the customers for voluntarily joining or in the Twitter sense following the link. The attractiveness of the social site and ease of communication can result in customers wanting the information about the hotel. In contradiction, Wu et al., (2015), have ideas that the communication storage on these social sites is volatile in nature. It is available for only a short time because with newer post and messages, and the older messages get shifted. Stajner et al., (2013), have stated that the communication using social sites spreads automatically with the passage of time. The social sites have options like pay-per-click that encourages customers to spread the news with their known persons. It helps in expanding the reach of the people for the particular hotel information. Tuten, & Angermeier (2013), have pointed that these social sites can be used for creating a bad image of the hotel as well. It is possible that faults and false news of the hotel can also be spread using these social sites. 

According to Duhe & Wright (2013), communication in social media can be used in two prime ways for hotel communication context. The commonly studied part for communication is the usage of social communication tools for establishing effective communication with external bodies like; guests, service suppliers, and the public. However, He & Yan, (2013) have stated that the customer blogs available for the hotel guests require keeping under control and supervision. Proper investigation is necessary specifically for the communication process in which Social Medias are used.

Ru-Chu, (2013) has explained the benefits of using Facebook as Social Media for establishing the communication. Three simple steps are required to be done for establishing the communication. At first, a creative page for the hotel should be made, and the guest and followers should be added to the page. Now the wall would serve as the communication platform for the guests and establish the external communication. On the other hand, Ahmed, Abed, Hassoon, & Ahmed, (2016) have pointed out the process of utilizing the Instagram as the communication tool for the hotel. It is a trending fashion for communication used in a social site. The hashtags and pictures of the hotel can be used with the comment section for effective communication.  However, according to Lasorsa, Lewis & Holton (2012), twitter has the most number of people, and even celebrities use it. Therefore, it can be used for effective communication. Adding the link of the hotel’s website in the trending section with GPS availability allows the hotel managers to communicate with people on a large scale and making them aware of the happening in the hotel.

Wrench, (2013) has classified the strategies of external communication using social media as per the requirement of each step. The first step deals with auditing the current communication tools along with their drawbacks and advantages. The second step requires measuring the options that could be used for gaining the drawbacks of the existing situation. The last step is the implementation of the communication tools developed. Ding et al., (2012), contradict the idea for implementing the new tools because it would require buying new technology and hiring new people for dealing with the new communication tools. There is the costing factor that would act as negative point for the implementation of the new communication tool.

According to Muhic & Lundberg, (2016) the strategies that are required for implementing the external communication using social medias consists of creating awareness among the hotel guests and clients for utilizing the social media for checking about the hotel and communicating with the authorities. The system required for gathering the perception and knowledge of the employees who would promote social media communication to the customers. On the contrary, Shimp & Andrews, (2012) have put the focus on developing the plan for the promotion of communication using social Medias in the hotel management. 

Conclusion

The report is a critical analysis of social media tools that helps in understanding the role of social media as a communication tool in hotel system. The social media can be used effectively for communication both internally and externally. The plan developed should convey the message clearly too all its clients and service providers for establishing the effective communication. The essay above has developed communication process using Social Medias in the hotel administration for effective management and communication between the hotel mangers and clients. On the other hand, there is a probability of misusing the social media for creating bad impression for the hotel. Therefore it is necessary to use the Social Medias effectively for communication along with security measures. 

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