Le Meridian Piccadilly London

Introduction

            The hotel that I visited was Le Meridian Piccadilly. Le Meridian Piccadilly Hotel is one of the luxurious five-star hotels that are located in England, in the city of London. The hotel was founded in 1908 and was initially known as the Piccadilly Hotel. It is one of the best hotels for the travelers and tourists who need accommodation in England. One of the unique characteristics of the hotel is that it offers different types of rooms to customers, depending on the target customer segment. They include Executive Junior Suites, Club Rooms, Deluxe Rooms, and Classic Rooms. The rooms have private bathrooms, where one is provided with cozy slippers and bathrobes. The customers occupying the rooms have access to free newspapers, CD player, 24-hour room service and refrigerator (Booking.com 2017). Also, the hotel offers free Wi-Fi services to the guests in all its major areas, and this makes it attractive to the digital generation (TripAdvisor 2017).

            Additionally, the hotel has a health club, where the guest can engage in a physical exercise using state-of-the-art gym facilities and equipment. The hotel also, has an outstanding indoor pool, racquetball court. The health club usually has a steam room and relaxing spa tub (Booking.com 2017).  Furthermore, the hotel has four different types of bar and restaurant targeting different types of customers (LPH 2017). The hotel also has a shopping section, theater, and park where one can relax with a family or friends or go shopping during one stay in London. 

The Market

 The LPH operates in the hospitality and tourism sector. It usually offers target tourists and travelers with its services. The hotel has facilities, products, and services aimed at making the life of the tourists and travelers in London or the surrounding regions interesting (Booking.com 2017). It also offers healthy food products and beverages to the target customers. Therefore, LPH operates in the hospitality market. Its operations are found in one of the most competitive markets, as it has to compete against other five stars, four stars and three-star hotels operating in London, such as Intercontinental Hotel and Hilton Hotel. This makes the hospitality industry in which the hotel operates in to be highly competitive. According to Lashley (2008) to market hospitality products and services in a highly competitive environment, an organization has to invest heavily in the area of marketing.

            The hotel has invested heavily in marketing, such as promotions and advertisings, with the aim of increasing awareness among the target customers about its services and products. However, the hotel operates in a market, where there are many small players, which poses a major threat, especially in the food market segment, as it competes with renowned brands, such as KFC and Macdonald for customers who need food services. The target customers of the hotel are mainly rich and middle-income customers. The services and products it offers are priced high compared to other similar five stars hotels operating in the London region. It targets middle and rich class who need outstanding and high-quality accommodation services for different occasions, such as business meetings, family holidays, and others.

Service Offerings

            The LPH offer different products and services to customers. One of the major services offered to the customers of the LPH is accommodation services. It has 280 rooms which are subdivided into direct sections based on the target customer segments. The rooms are designed and built in a way that they meet the needs of different groups of customers. For example, there are rooms specifically designed for the young people. Another major service that is offered by the hotel is room service, which is available to customers 24-7 hours. One only needs to place a call, and the needed service will be provided (LPH 2017). 

            Additionally, the hotel offers hospitality services to the target customers, such as food and beverages in four of its bar and restaurants located on its premises. One can place an order for different types of food, which are of high quality and appealing to the eyes of the customers. The foods are well prepared and healthy. There are a variety of foods which a customer can choose from, making the restaurants inside the hotel the best regarding offering foods that are in line with preferences and needs of various types of customers. The beverages offered by the hotel include wines, spirits, beers, coffee and tea to the clients. Also, the hotel provides park, shopping, and health club services to the target clients. One can shop for any types of products, such as gifts while inside the hotel, by visiting is a shopping area.

Organization and Ownership

 Since it, formation LPH has been under the ownership of different individuals and institutions. However, it was purchased by Le Meridien in 1986. The hotel has new owners currently, since 2010 when it was purchased by Host Hotels & Resorts. Before the sale of LPH to its current owners, it underwent huge refurbishments to make it modern worth £ 6 million.  The owners have selected a group of managers who are responsible for learning the hotel on their behalf. The managers are responsible for developing strategies and making major decisions concerning operations of the organization. Under the senior managers are the departmental managers responsible for overseeing the day to day running of their respective operational areas, especially in line with prevailing organizational, operational standards and values. The organizational has a total of 200 employees who work under the leadership of senior and junior managers. The functional organizational structure is used in running the operations of LPH, whereby, it is subdivided into different major units for smooth management of its activities.

Number of Employees

 Employees play a vital role in the success of any hospitality business. The employees are responsible for serving customers, and their ability to offer quality and satisfactory services to the clients is critical in helping a hotel to retain and attract customers (Hsu and Powers 2008). When it comes to Le Meridian Piccadilly London, it has a total of 200 employees operating in its different departments and units. There are those who hold senior management roles and other junior roles. The employees of the hotel are highly trained, in matters to do with customer relationship management. According to Hudson (2008), the ability of a hospitality business employees' to relate well with a customer is critical in building a customer base that is loyal to an organization. All the 200 employees working at the hotel are well trained and show high levels of professionalism, especially the services persons and those working in the customer care unit when dealing with different types of customers.

Main Revenue Centers

 The hotel has different revenues centers. The revenue centers are areas of an organization that helps in generation of revenue, such as sale of services to target customers (Reid and Bojanic 2009). One of the revenue centers in Le Meridian Piccadilly London is rooms division. The hotel has around 280 rooms available for accommodation purposes to customers. The room division is responsible for marketing and selling rooms available in the hotel. It is responsible for ensuring that appropriate standards are met in all the rooms available in the hotel for purposes of making them attractive to different types of customers. The room division targets different types of customers with accommodation services, such as families, business persons and executives with the service it offers. The second revenue center for the hotel is restaurants. The hotel has different restaurants that target various types of customers. There is one that targets families, friends, and lovers. The restaurant division is supposed to offer high-quality services to clients, regarding food quality so as to make it generate higher revenues at all times.

            On the other hand, bar is another major revenue center for the hotel. The bar unit is responsible for selling drinks and beverages to the target customers. The hotel has four units responsible for offering different types of beverages to customers, such as tea, coffee, beers, and wines and acts as the main sources of revenues for the hotel (LPH 2017). The laundry division also contributes to generation of revenues for the hotel. It is responsible for offering cloth cleaning services on behalf of customers at a fee. It plays a significant role in ensuring that hotel can generate maximum revenues from the visitors. Also, the room service unit is vital revenue center within the hotel. It is responsible for offering services to customers from their room. It takes orders from customers and delivers the requested products or service. Finally, the gift shop is crucial in generation of revenues for the hotel. This revenue center is responsible for offering gifts to customers at their request. Therefore, it makes it possible for customers to have access to gift of their choice within the premises of the hotel.

Outsourced Aspects of the Business

            One of the aspects of the LPH operations that are outsourced is management information system. Given that the hotel depends on information system technology for purposes of enhancing its services quality and efficiency to customers, such as payment, booking of rooms, and placing of orders, it has outsourced the aspect of managing and running it to a third part. The main goal of outsourcing information system management and running to a third party is to enhance its efficiency and to reduce cost of having the technology in the hotel. The third party contracted has vast experience in offering information system management services in the hospitality and tourism sector. The experience of the contracted service provider makes it possible for the system to operate in a smooth and effective way to the satisfaction of the target customers (Wearne and Morrison 2013). The outsourcing of information system management activities allows the company to benefit from quality services offered by an organization that specializes in issues of information system technology integration within a hospitality firm.

Impression by the Business

            After visiting the LPH, I was highly impressed by some things concerning its operations and management of all its hospitality related activities. First, I was highly impressed by the professionalism that is exhibited by its service employees. The employees act in a professional way, even when dealing with irritating customers. I believe this is one of its strengths, as it allows it to offer professional and satisfactory services to the target customers. Scott, Laws, and Boksberger (2009) notes that hospitality services needed to be highly professional so that they can be attractive and satisfactory to the target customers. In the case of LPH, its ability to offer highly professional services to the target clients has helped it to build a brand that is respected by many travelers who come to London.

 Additionally, I was highly impressed by the quality of their products and services. Despite, the services and products being expensive, their quality is high making the price charged for them worth. I have visited in the past five-star hotels, and they offer poor quality services, but LPH is unique as it offers services and products that are fully satisfactory to the clients. Furthermore, it offers a variety of services and products, and this is something impressive as the need and preferences of different groups of customers are addressed.

Conclusion

 LPH is one of the best hospitality organizations around London. It is offer services with a commitment to ensuring that target clients are fully satisfied. It is also committed to ensuring that it continually improves the quality of services/products it offers to the target customers. In conclusion, LPH is a good example, of how a hospitality business should be run in a strategic manner.