Roles Within the Hospitality Industry

Skills required for roles within the hospitality industry and current skill shortages

Hospitality Industry is one of the most complex and dynamic industry which requires employees to perform at their best every day to satisfy customers within their organisation. The managers and employees of the hotels are required to possess certain skills which could help the firm satisfy each guest and enhance their profitability in the market.
The employment roles along with their current skills shortages are mentioned below:

Hotel Manager: A hotel manager is a person within a hospitality organisation who undertakes management of activities in a hotel. In hospitality industry, hotel managers play a prominent role and is required to effectively handle guests and needs. The skills required by hotel managers are mentioned below:

• Effective Communication Skills: Hotel manager of hospitality industry must possess effective communication skills as they are required to interact with almost every guest walking through the hotel doors (Law, Buhalis and Cobanoglu, 2014). Moreover, it is not necessary that these guests belong to the same nationality as the manager. So it is of vital importance, that the manager effectively communicate with these guests so that their needs are completely satisfied.
• Leadership Skills: The hotel manager is required to manage tasks given to employees. There are times when these employees get demotivated due to various reasons such as repetitive tasks, insufficient pay scale, pressure, etc. Hotel managers must ensure that under any circumstances, the employees stay motivated to perform at their level best.

Hotel Managers of hospitality industry in the country possess effective communication skills, but lack in implementing leadership skills at the workplace, which reduces the productivity of employees.

Chef: In hospitality industry, a chef refers to a professional cook who is required to be proficient in every aspect of food preparation. Hotels are required to serve multi-cuisine food items to serve guests from all over the world (Bowie and et. al., 2016). The skills needed for chef in the organisation are as follows:

• Decision-making: Chefs must have outstanding decision-making skills and must take effective spontaneous decisions at times of extreme pressure.
• Time Management: It is required that the chefs of the hotels in hospitality industry have effective time management skills to motivate the team and get items prepared and serve on time.

Chefs in the industry possess effective time management skills. However, they are ineffective in decision-making which results in delayed delivery of food items to the customers.

Event Manager: The event managers in in the hospitality industry is referred to a person who manages all the different events that happen in a hotel. It is essential that these managers be effective. This is because to enhance customers relationships, it is prominent that events performed by the hotels exceed their expectations. The skills required by event managers are as follows:

• Organisation Skills: The events must be performed in a systematic order in hotels and resorts to ensure the comfort, satisfaction and entertainment of guests. Event managers are required to possess effective organisation skills to organise each activity and their procedure effectively, eradicating any possibility for a flaw (Cavallar, 2017).
• Creativity: People tend to get bore of similar themes and designs of events. Event managers must be creative enough to ensure that something new is offered to the guest every time they participate in an event (Wang, Tsai and Tsai 2014).

Event managers of hospitality industry lack organisation skills despite creativity which reduces the optimization of resources available to the firm.

Marketing Manager: In simple terms, marketing manager refers to an entity that undertakes all the marketing activities required by a firm. It is very important in hospitality industry that essential marketing strategies be used to enhance the popularity of the hotel and attract more customers towards the hotels. The skills required by marketing managers are discussed below:

• Commercial Awareness: Marketing managers in the industry must be aware of the current commercial trends as well as various methods of commercialization which are according to market needs and reduces the cost of marketing firm's services.
• Adaptability: Since the commercial methods and marketing trends change regularly, it is required from industry's marketing manager to be adaptive to these needs and modify the marketing strategies accordingly (Bretherton, 2017).

It is realised that marketing managers are not quite aware of the trends and this results in repetitive methods being used for marketing the companies' activities.

Review of the skills gap within the hospitality industry in relation to operational roles

Assessment of the external environment factors that affect the development of organisations operating within the hospitality industry

External environment of any business has an impact on the operations of an organisation. These factors influence the functions and management of a company and success or failure of any firm depends heavily on these external pointers (Kandampully, Zhang and Bilgihan, 2015).
Following is the PESTLE Analysis of Hospitality Industry to determine the external pointers affecting their development:

1. Political Factors: These factors considers the political scenario of the country which affects the operations of hospitality industry. It is very necessary that the country has a political stability which could attract customers all over the world to visit their country (Gibson, 2016). In case of political instability, the new regulations might not support the country's allegiance with other nations which could affect the business of hospitality industry in the country. For instance, the biggest political event in the UK currently is BREXIT or British Exit which was an event happened in 2016 where a referendum was signed regarding the Britain leaving the European Union (EU). This event has seen its major impacts on the hospitality industry of the country.
2. Economical Factors: These factors determine the economic performance of a nation. It considers all the factors that contribute towards enhancing the operations of hospitality industry, The value of currency, changes in taxation, economic growth of the country, interest rates and so forth (Jones, Hillier and Comfort, 2016). In UK, post-Brexit, the country witnessed a substantial fall in the value of Pound. Moreover, the economic performance of the country became really unstable. These factors had significant impacts on the hospitality businesses in the country.
3. Social Factors: These factors refer to all the social and cultural aspects that have an impact on the demand for services provided by hospitality businesses. These factors include the availability and willingness of individuals to work, their cultural preferences, current social trends etc. These trends impact the business of firms in hospitality industry. For instance, in UK the cultural trend has its impact on the lodging preferences. More individuals within the country are preferring private accommodations for stay. In addition to this, international customers are emphasizing more towards anti-discrimination practices within the organisations. These social aspects affect the working of hospitality industry.
4. Technological Factors: One of the major factors of external environment is technology. The world is experiencing major technological advancements lately. Specifically, all the major aspects of the hospitality industry are shifting online (Ikkala and Lampinen, 2015). Through internet, people could book their hotel rooms from any corner of the world with few taps on their smartphones. In addition to this, the daily operations of hotels and restaurants are shifting online as well. Companies are adopting different technologies to provide ease to the customers as well as employees.
5. Legislative Factors: These factors take all the legal aspects which influence the working of businesses in hospitality sector. Legal environment of a country is essential for the growth of hospitality business. There have been substantial changes in the legal front of countries regarding the hospitality industry. For instance, the hospitality industry in the UK is required to focus on various regulations regarding the safety of the customers as well as laws regarding labour. In addition to this, there are laws about labour age as well which have an impact on the working of hospitality businesses.
6. Environment Factors: These factors considers all the environmental aspects which could encourage or discourage various practices at the hospitality industry. These refer to the changes in weather, the environmental conditions of the country, regulations regarding the environment and so forth. Countries like the UK are focusing on shifting towards ecotourism, this could really impact the function of hospitality industry. There are countries who are encouraging wildlife protection. All these factors are impactful enough to shape the industry (Stephenson, 2014).

Evaluation of the impacts of external factors on the development of organisations operating within the hospitality industry

There are significant impacts of external environment factors on the development of hospitality businesses. These factors are responsible for the companies to implement effective strategies that could make these factors favourable towards the industry. Some of the impacts of external environment on hospitality business are as follows:

• The uncertain and unstable political environment can be a threat to hospitality businesses of countries like the UK where the industry is facing workforce pressure due to its dependence on immigrant labour. In addition to this, in the country, the skills gap in the workforce is increasing and it is becoming more complex to hire local employees who are skilled.
• Since the value of Pound has suffered a drop, the UK Hospitality Industry is facing sever pressure as inflationary pressure is increasing in the country on disposable income. This is one of the major threats on hospitality organisations (Stephenson, 2014). Moreover, the unstable currency has the impacts on the daily operations of the company. There are no fixed rates of vendors and this is exerting pressure on the firms.
• Socially, with increased customer awareness, there has been seen establishment of ethical culture in hospitality organisations which could contribute in their development. Moreover, changing customer trends can be an opportunity if the firms pace along the changing preferences of their customers.
• Hospitality Organisation in developed countries like in the UK have always been inclined towards the latest technologies and is continuing to do so. These advanced applications of technology would enhance the firms' competitive edge. These technological advancements will ease the daily operations of the companies that would reduce the pressure on employees as well as enhance the productivity
• The legislations and laws defining the hospitality industry have perhaps the greatest impact on the organisations. These organisations have to abide by the safety laws. They must ensure that every employee or guest within the organisation stay safe at any cost. They will even have to address the labour laws governing the rights of the workforce. If these firms are abiding by the rules rightfully, it would help them hire skilled labour. This adopted structure would attract more customers knowing their safety is the company's priority (Schuckert, Liu and Law, 2015).
• Lastly, the environmental laws of wildlife protection would impact the organisations as their major food items include animal products. Another threat the firms might face are the forestation laws which restrict them to deforest certain areas which could have been used for expansion of the infrastructure.

SWOT analysis for a hospitality business and review of how this can inform the decision-making process

Hospitality is a type of business which provides services to customers and focus on satisfying their needs which would provide them a great experience. This business depends on income and free time of visitors. People tend to visit a resort or a hotel when they have free time and extra money to spend it on leisure activities. Hospitality business provide travel, accommodation, food and beverages etc.

Britannia Hotels is a private hotel chain located in the UK. It is headquartered in Hale, Greater Manchester, England. It deals in hospitality and property development. Services provided by Britannia Hotels are health club memberships, conference room hiring, banqueting functions etc. There are approx 12,000 employees and more than 50 hotels across the UK.

SWOT Analysis of Britannia Hotels

SWOT analysis is used to evaluate position of an organisation in market. SWOT stands for strength, weakness, opportunity and threats. It is an assessment model for Britannia Hotels to analyse their position in hospitality industry. It is a measurement of what a business can do or what it cannot do. It provides a framework of using strength to overcome the weakness and get opportunity to retain long term in hospitality industry by earning maximum profit (Jauhari and Bharwani, 2017).

STRENGTHS

1. Management held by Britannia Hotels is world class and bring innovative thoughts which attracts more visitors and retain the existing customers.
2. Britannia Hotels is a brand name in hospitality business which helps to recognise their presence in market to all over the world. It become a strength for a company because it make positive perception about the brand in the minds of people.

WEAKNESSES

1. Networks are not much developed in Europe and some other countries which become a weakness for Britannia Hotels.
2. Britannia Hotels is highly dependant on proprietors which does not claim the greater part of their lodging networks.
3. Britannia Hotels is a large hotel so it is a cause of lack of flexibility.

OPPORTUNITIES

1. This hotel is situated in the UK which is turning into one of the world's largest economies which is an opportunity for the hotel to expand its business in the country.
2. The reduction in the value of Sterling would attract more overseas visitors in the UK. This can be a vital opportunity for the company as they could apply effective marketing techniques to market their services and attract more customers.
3. Britannia Hotels are being associated with event planners in different parts of the world. It will help the business to establish greater image in market and increase customer support.

THREATS

1. There is a high competition in hospitality business. It is a big challenge for Britannia Hotels in terms of revenue and increasing number of customers.
2. There seems to be a constant pressure from the employees to raise their salaries.. It has become a threat for Britannia Hotels because it increases cost of the firm.

SWOT Analysis role in decision-making

SWOT analysis help firms to know their core competencies as well as opportunities and threats affecting their business operations (Molz, 2016). This analysis has a vital role in decision-making process of Britannia Hotels. The role is briefly discussed below:

• This analysis could allow the firm to build on their strengths. This means that even through few factors are in favour of the firm, yet this analysis would help them make these aspects stronger. For instance, the company could use its brand image to attract more customers in the world. Further, the company could use more innovative methods to become efficient and sideline the competition.
• To eliminate the weaknesses, the firm could take decisions which improve their local networks. This would help them in receiving impressive deals from the vendors and other local dealers.
• Lastly, the firm must decide on giving incentives for good work to ensure commitment of employees towards the organisation.

Implications of current and potential trends in the hospitality industry

The hospitality industry all over the world is experiencing boom. People are inclining more towards using their services. Moreover, with rise of customer awareness and increase in standard of living, this industry is welcoming more customers every year (Brown, Thomas and Bosselman, 2015). However, there are some current and potential trends that have an impact on the industry as well as on the operations of Britannia Hotels. These trends are described below:

1. Automated services: The current scenario of hospitality industry requires hotels and restaurants to enhance their service qualities. With expansion in technology, customers need services that could provide them with ease. Currently, this trend is shaping up the businesses in hospitality industry. Hotels provide the facility of checking in even before the arrival of the guest. Moreover, they provide tablets at every table to manage their orders in the restaurants themselves. This trend has a wide impact on Britannia Hotels. With more than 50 hotels, it entertains customers from all around the world. It is required to advance its operations and introduce these automated technology which could make it more competent and appropriate seeing the current trends.
2. Online Booking: With rise in smartphones and tablets, customers are having an ease in booking their rooms at a hotel or a table at a restaurant. This technology is widely used in hospitality industry across the UK and even beyond it (Lu and Stepchenkova, 2015). This complete eradicates the concept of time for bookings. Customers could use mobile apps of these hospitality organisations and could book without waiting for the opening hours of the firm. This enhanced services surely is necessary for any hospitality organisation operating today. This even has an impact on Britannia Hotels it is expected that the firm shift these operations online.
3. Health: This trend is continuously pacing up in the current world scenario and customers are being aware of potential health hazards of foods and beverages they consume. Thus, it is of vital importance that business organisations in hospitality industry serve healthy food In addition to this, more people are adopting veganism, that means they will not be consuming animal products. Even policies by government of various developed nations have regulations against animal poaching. This current trend would have a direct impact on Britannia Hotels which serve non-vegetarian food as well.

Evaluation of the ability of Britannia Hotels to develop products and services to meet current trends

Since the current and future trends are changing constantly, Britannia Hotels is required to cope up with these trends in order to sustain in the market (Phillips, P. and Moutinho, L., 2014). The ability of the hotel for developing new offerings to meet current needs is discussed below:

• The firm could enhance the automated services given to its customers. They could use smart devices like Automated Parking Machines, or Customer Relationships Management software which would allow the firm to track the satisfaction level of the customers. The firm is already implementing various technologies to serve the current needs of the customers, so it can easily adapt these measures to pace up with the trends.
• The company is using online services to satisfy the needs of its clients all over the world. It could improve the service quality by providing manual booking and expected arrival time of the food items in the hotels. This way, the company could reduce waiting of the customers and enhance their satisfaction level.
• With health however, the company might face a slightly negative factor. This is because food items in the company's food menu include animal products. With the trend of veganism being hyped, the company might lose its profit margin. To battle this however, the firm must innovate the dishes for vegan customers and introduce effective deals so that they have extra meals at the hotel.

CONCLUSION

Thus, it is concluded by the above report, that it is essential for hospitality industry to employ skilled candidates who could enhance the productivity of the company. For hospitality businesses, it is very important to scrutinize the external environment which helps the firm build its operations according to the external factors affecting the organisations. SWOT analysis enables a firm to denote the potential strengths and opportunities so that it could develop strategies that eradicate weaknesses and threats. Lastly, for any organisation in the hospitality industry, it is prominent to operate according to the current and potential trends. This would strongly has an impact on these businesses and would increase their profit margin.

REFERENCES

Books and Journals

Bowie, D. and et. al., 2016. Hospitality marketing. Routledge.
Bretherton, L., 2017. Hospitality as holiness: Christian witness amid moral diversity. Routledge.
Brown, E.A., Thomas, N.J. and Bosselman, R.H., 2015. Are they leaving or staying: A qualitative analysis of turnover issues for Generation Y hospitality employees with a hospitality education. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 46. pp.130-137.
Cavallar, G., 2017. The rights of strangers: Theories of international hospitality, the global community and political justice since Vitoria. Routledge.
Cook, R.A., Hsu, C.H. and Marqua, J.J., 2014. Tourism: the business of hospitality and travel. Boston, MA: Pearson.
Gibson, S., 2016. Mobilizing hospitality: The ethics of social relations in a mobile world. Routledge.
Ikkala, T. and Lampinen, A., 2015, February. Monetizing network hospitality: Hospitality and sociability in the context of Airbnb. In Proceedings of the 18th ACM conference on computer supported cooperative work & social computing (pp. 1033-1044). ACM.
Jauhari, V. and Bharwani, S., 2017. An exploratory study of competencies required to cocreate memorable customer experiences in the hospitality industry. In Hospitality Marketing and Consumer Behavior (pp. 159-185). Apple Academic Press.
Jones, P., Hillier, D. and Comfort, D., 2016. Sustainability in the hospitality industry: Some personal reflections on corporate challenges and research agendas. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 28(1). pp.36-67.
Kandampully, J., Zhang, T. and Bilgihan, A., 2015. Customer loyalty: a review and future directions with a special focus on the hospitality industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 27(3). pp.379-414.
Law, R., Buhalis, D. and Cobanoglu, C., 2014. Progress on information and communication technologies in hospitality and tourism. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 26(5). pp.727-750.
Lu, W. and Stepchenkova, S., 2015. User-generated content as a research mode in tourism and hospitality applications: Topics, methods, and software. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management. 24(2). pp.119-154.
Molz, J.G., 2016. Cosmopolitans on the Couch: Mobile Hospitality and the Internet 1. In Mobilizing Hospitality (pp. 65-80). Routledge.
Phillips, P. and Moutinho, L., 2014. Critical review of strategic planning research in hospitality and tourism. Annals of Tourism Research. 48. pp.96-120.
Schuckert, M., Liu, X. and Law, R., 2015. Hospitality and tourism online reviews: Recent trends and future directions. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing. 32(5). pp.608-621.
Shani, A., Uriely, N., Reichel, A. and Ginsburg, L., 2014. Emotional labor in the hospitality industry: The influence of contextual factors. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 37. pp.150-158.
Stephenson, M.L., 2014. Deciphering ‘Islamic hospitality’: Developments, challenges and opportunities. Tourism Management. 40. pp.155-164.
Wang, C.J., Tsai, H.T. and Tsai, M.T., 2014. Linking transformational leadership and employee creativity in the hospitality industry: The influences of creative role identity, creative self-efficacy, and job complexity. Tourism Management. 40. pp.79-89.

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