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.
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