Viability Of Outsourcing Kitchen Cleaning In Hilton Hotels

Roles

Question:

Discuss about the Accommodation Management of Hilton Hotels.

Hilton Hotels& Resorts is one of the most popular names in the global hotel industry. The chain is popular for many things that also include the sustainability approach, which is rare in existence. However, outsourcing is now much in practice that carries both advantages & disadvantages with it (Plugge, Bouwman and Molina-Castillo 2013). This particular study is aimed at analyzing the viability of outsourcing of the selected department to get the expected benefits.

The selected department to proceed with is the “Kitchen Cleaning”. Kitchen needs to be kept clean to prevent hygiene related damages done to the foods and the cooking utensils (Ariffin and Maghzi 2012). This is indeed a very vital department from the perspective of serving the customer’s needs. Notably, Customer service is a key to the success of the hospitality industry. Hotel sectors probably need to put much emphasis on customer service. The much needed customer service in the hotel sector is achieved with the help of numerous factors such as the efficiency of the accommodation manager to take appropriate decisions suitably.

Their orders are delivered in this department. Keeping this clean and free from Rodents & Pests are the two challenges that puts pressure on the respective hotel. Hotels are needed to back up the food preparation and keeping the premise clean & tidy with capable strategies and sufficient number of workforce. Additionally, they are also required to keep the expenditures low. This is necessary to widen the gap between the expenditures and the Return on Investments (ROI). Such identified requirements can be attained by resourcing the cleaning works of the department (Darko, Mills-Robertson and Wireko-Manu 2015). This may serve a dual purpose, which is to enhance the customer service standard and increasing the profitability margin. Keeping the premise free from Pests is necessary to avoid food contamination that may result in food poisoning. Henceforth, this is threatening for the hotel’s reputation. Cleanliness and sanitation are the key aspects of hotel’s kitchen. Outsourcing the functionalities will reduce the pressure from the existing workforce (Upadhyay, Vadam and Mohan 2015).

Roles

Hotel’s kitchen plays an important role in producing, retaining and raising the reputation of the company. It does so through offering quality and hygienic foods to customers or the visistors. The two identified variations depend much on the safety measures in the kitchen and the quality workforce. An efficient safety measure ensures the avoidance of food contamination, which is quite possible if effective pest control is not in action. Quality workforce ensures a quality production of food (Upadhyay, Vadam and Mohan 2015).

Tasks

Tasks

The kitchen department in hotels has the task to deliver the order on time with quality and hygienic food. The purpose can be served with the help of some factors such as using a capable pests control measures, recruiting the efficient professionals and implementing the latest technologies. The use of effective preventive measures will prevent the food from food contamination, which is necessary to raise the customer service standard. Efficient professionals will help in preparing quality food and will keep the premise clean. The use of technology will ensure a quick preparation of food, which is necessary to reduce the delivery time (Mirela and Borza 2014).

Functions

The functionality of the kitchen is to deliver the innumerous kinds of orders within the hotel’s scope. Functions also include keeping the raw materials free from Rodents and Pests. Keeping the premise clean are the other functionalities. Monitoring the entire functionalities of the kitchen is also one of the essential functions (Penner, Adams and Rutes 2013).

Role of customer and their needs do have a very high influence on the kitchen department. This actually encourages them to take numerous strategies and invest a huge sum on the entire process. Customers are the one who drive the business for the hotels. Their demands can be different in nature; however, food preparation is their essential task. This is a very vital sector where different brands are tested on terms of food quality and the delivery time. Such restaurants are most preferred by the customers that specialize in quick delivery of quality food. Such demands can be served if the respective hotel has adequate staffs to support the entire process. Additionally, the use of latest technologies to manage the stock and to prevent the foods from pests do also support in enhancing the customer service standard (Lu et al. 2015).

Customer’s responses can also hamper the reputation of the respective hotel. There can be ample number of factors, which could make the customers feel unsatisfied. Such factors are low quality food, unclean ambience, customer service and the price range. Low quality food in particular can be affected from a less cleaned kitchen and also from unprotected raw materials& the cooking utensils. Such failures can be prevented if the entire functionalities are operated in a systematically designed premise. Such purpose can be served through recruiting the local professionals. However, outsourcing the few of the functionalities may effectively reduce the average expenditures (Lamminmaki 2012).

Functions

Role of accommodation manager is of high importance as it handles the few of the core functionalities of a hotel. Such functionalities include the maintenance of human resources, inventory and budget. It is the responsibility of the accommodation manager to ensure that skills professionals are hired. Additionally, this will also ensure that quality training has been imparted to the professionals. It is also within his or her scope to ensure whether the raw materials are up to the quality standard of health & safety and hygiene. Infrastructure maintenance is also their responsibilities. They are also responsible to have positive attitudes and interpersonal skills as this will improve their communication with the employees and the customers. Effective management strategies can help to attract customers for multiple times. Customer satisfaction is an intangible factor for the business’s growth (Chan 2013).

Outsourcing the Kitchen Cleaning business to expert resources may produce ample of benefits and the drawbacks as well.

Benefits

Outsourcing will provide full time employed professionals who will be available to take care of the cleaning works. This will also help in reducing the expenditures, which are normally required to keep the kitchen premise clean. Outsourced employees are available at comparatively low wages. This will significantly reduce the expenditures on employees and hence, this will produce a reduction in the gross expenditures. Such things are necessary to enhance the profitability margin. Outsourcing will also provide additional services such as security features. Respective personnel will not be required to head for a different agency for different task. With the outsourced agencies, cleaning works will be ensured. This is indeed very difficult with the local staffs. They are expected to deliver the cleaning jobs on time as they are professionally trained cleaners. Moreover, outsourcing owners will be responsible for any shortfalls in the service level (Chang and Gurbaxani 2012). 

Drawbacks

There are few drawbacks as well. Companies do not have their direct control over the selected outsourced agency. This may cause the communication to hamper. Such communication gap might hamper the quality of work as well as any complaint will take time to get resolved. Additionally, switching over to another outsource company will not be a fairer idea either. In addition to the identified issue, staffs of outsourced agencies might escape away for a better option. This will hamper the workforce and will also hamper the daily tasks. Filling the gaps by recruiting the fresh staffs will not be a productive idea either (Tayauova 2012).

Importance of Customer Needs

Conclusion

Hilton Sydney Hotel should go for the modernistic approach, which is to hire an outsourcing agency to get some tasks done from them. This move will help the company to reduce its expenditures on the cleaning works in the kitchen department. Moreover, the cleaning work will now be made possible at a comparatively low expenditure. This will consequently help to enhance the profitability margin. Staffs will be available to take care of the cleaning works, which means the premises will be kept cleaned for a longer period of time. Outsourcing the kitchen cleaning task will bring other benefits as well such as additional services. Some outsourcing agencies provide multi-tasking benefits. Despite the entire benefits, outsourcing does also carry many much drawbacks with it. One of such drawbacks is the attrition, which can be a common issue with the outsourced staffs. They are irregular hunt for a better option. Such attrition can hamper the daily tasks in the Hilton Hotel. There exist a communication gap in between the outsourced agencies and the parent company. Such communication gap can affect the proficiency level required to attain the set objectives. Training is required on the work module. Moreover, this is possible that effective modules have not been delivered to the external staffs.

It is unpractical to avoid the expected attrition. However, accommodation manager can play a very vital role here. The manager will be required to impose some strict work policies on the outsourcing agencies. The manger should ask for a quick repairing of any attrition if at all it happens. The agencies should be given strict guidance to provide an immediate repairing of the attrition. Moreover, there should be a good relationship in between the outsourcing agency’s owner and the accommodation management of the hotel. Staffs are also needed to be aware of the cultural values of the hotel. This will help them integrate with the organizational values.

Communication gap is another challenge, which could hamper the performance. This can be improved by putting the employees on continuous training processes. Training will help the employees understand their work and most importantly, the cultural demands of the hotel for which they work. Moreover, the accommodation manager of the Hilton Hotel needs to visit the selected outsourcing agency on a regular basis. A continuous communication is also required to be established through professional means like e-mails. This will help to circulate the important instructions to the outsourced branch.

References

Ariffin, A.A.M. and Maghzi, A., 2012. A preliminary study on customer expectations of hotel hospitality: Influences of personal and hotel factors. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(1), pp.191-198.

Chan, E.S., 2013. Managing green marketing: Hong Kong hotel managers’ perspective. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 34, pp.442-461.

Chang, Y.B. and Gurbaxani, V., 2012. Information technology outsourcing, knowledge transfer, and firm productivity: An empirical analysis. MIS quarterly, 36(4).

Darko, S., Mills-Robertson, F.C. and Wireko-Manu, F.D., 2015. Evaluation of some hotel kitchen staff on their knowledge on food safety and kitchen hygiene in the Kumasi Metropolis. International Food Research Journal, 22(6).

Lamminmaki, D., 2012. A management accounting perspective on hotel outsourcing. Accounting and Financial Management, p.341.

Lu, C., Berchoux, C., Marek, M.W. and Chen, B., 2015. Service quality and customer satisfaction: qualitative research implications for luxury hotels. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, 9(2), pp.168-182.

Mirela, S. and Borza, M., 2014. Measures Concerning Sustainable Consumption in Hotels. Acta Universitatis Danubius. Œconomica, 10(3).

Penner, R.H., Adams, L. and Rutes, W., 2013. Hotel design, planning and development. Routledge.

Plugge, A., Bouwman, H. and Molina-Castillo, F.J., 2013. Outsourcing capabilities, organizational structure and performance quality monitoring: Toward a fit model. Information & Management, 50(6), pp.275-284.

Tayauova, G., 2012. Advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing: analysis of outsourcing practices of Kazakhstan banks. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 41, pp.188-195.

Upadhyay, A., Vadam, C. and Mohan, S., 2015. Sustainable Operations in Hotel Industry. In 26th Production and Operations Management Society (POMS) Annual Conference.