Hospitality Trends And Problems In Hawaii
The Hilton Hawaiian Village at Waikiki Beach Resort is an island paradise that is located on Waikiki’s widest stretch of beach that has an impressive property that is nested on 22 oceanfront acres that offers the best Waikiki resort experience. This is unique environment and culture of the Hilton Hawaiian Village Waikiki beach resort is an exquisite hotel. It has lash tropical gardens, waterfalls and exotic wildlife and priceless artwork. This is surely a one of a kind hotel resort where there are luxurious accommodations, food available in over 18 restaurants and lounges and an opportunity to shop for souvenirs’ .there are also a wide range of activities that are enjoyable to the entire family. It is attractive due to the following reasons; the oceanfront location, many swimming pools and watersides, Duke Kahanamoku lagoon for swimming. Waikiki Luau at the hotel, there are cultural activities that include hula, lei making, there are night Hawaii entertainment and Friday night fireworks show. The traditional hospitality industry focused on physical products but now the customers are in greet demand of consistent delivery of the brand that is now in the upscale to luxury segments. The most successful brands in the near future will be those that are in a position to engage efficiently with consumers distinguish clearly between them and their competitors. In unstable times the hospitality industry needs to find the best practices that will minimize the shocks that come as a surprise and are unexpected. Some of the impacts can be such as recessions, impact f terrorist attacks, natural disasters or major health scarce on travel to the specific destinations (Hilton world wide,2011).This paper will look at the possible trends in the hospitality industry and professional outlook. It will further look at the various problems that can be encountered in the industry as well as the possible causes and solutions to the problems.
The hotel industry in Hawaii is so soft even though tourism has gone down the hotel rates are still high. The hospitality landscape is greatly evolving and at a quick rate as it is demanded by technology that hotels get more social and more engaging in the way they carry out their marketing strategies. Travelers are looking for the best value for their money in terms of the propositions available from the industry. The demand for customers is increasingly pushing the demand in hotels to make concerted efforts on their property upgrade an improvement. The industry is expected to be better and brighter but all this is because of some new factors that drive the market. This hospitality industry has some trends that are been seen to shape the future of the industry.
In Hilton Hawaiian Village at Waikiki Beach Resort there have been an increased number of international visitors. There has been an increase in the number of visitors from Korea, china .this means that the industry is growing such that the resort does not only attract local people but also gained exposure to the rest of the world and they are increasing in numbers to come and witness and enjoy what is available in the resort.
The largest single hotel has put an end to its in –room table service and replaced it with new services like takeout and delivery serrvice.this trend is said to be geared toward modern visitors that have active and casual lifestyles. This is due to the fact that they view today’s guests as those who respond in a positive way since it is cheaper and amore convenient alternative. Over the last decade room service orders in Hilton Hawaiian village have decreased significantly and it is through the demonstration by the customers that the management found out this and resolved to take this new alternative (Schaefers, 2010).
Another trend in the industry is the fact that hoteliers re now continuing to invest in reinvigorating the properties so that they can take full advantage of the market. The industry has gone through delaying capital expenditures, the hotel companies are no getting better and trending towards renovating their property. Many hotels are now renovating their lobbies, restaurants, bars as well as fitness centers. They are even going to an extent of replacing beds and TV sets. This will lead to absolute outcomes of improved markets that will further push for more renovations (Rauch, 2011).
Another trend is in the booking through online channels will continue to grow. Millions of people are doing research online on the available resorts and hotels and they even go ahead and actual book and make reservations in these resorts. Online travel markets have gone through great maturity and it is still expected to grow modestly and get more stable. There will also be an increased number of mobile research and booking .this will pave way for booking as well as direct communication n room preferences with the hotels this channel of booking has greatly improved over time and it is also projected that mobile research and booking of hotels will soon overtake PC’s as the most common web access device. There is also development and optimization of websites by hoteliers for mobile users so that they can easily capture the potential mobile transactions.
Another trend is the development of revenue collection, it has now developed from being an rt to a science managers have lowered prices so that they can be able to stimulate their sales when there s weak demand and at the same time raise prices when there is a peak demand period. There are also proliferations of distribution channels that have a large impact on the pricing; it is vital for hotel owners and operators to stay on top of distribution landscapes that are increasing constantly. There are popular sales tools like meta-search, flash sales and mobile channels that go beyond simple awareness of the simple mediums that are available to sell the hotel rooms the hoteliers should always know the different costs of the use of the different distribution channels that are available and what they should expects returns.thy should therefore prefer rate parity and their brand by their sue of the most cost effective channel of distribution instead of using desperate measures to sell their inventory (Rauch, 2011).
Another trend is the fact that brands will put more money into deals that are expanding the market share. The hoteliers should always be ready to prepare for growth .in the next years the industry is expected to take an annualized double digit growth. Demand is expected to stabilize and rates grow beyond the rates of inflation meaning that the rates and profit values will improve markedly.
Social media will also continue being n the play of the hospitality industry. The industry will increase its use on social media further than the current 22% in use (Rauch, 2011).This will also be an important key component of the search engine results page algorithms. Posts that are made on Facebook are now undergoing integration with Google search. Hotels are now not in a position to linger the adding of social media to their marketing mix.
On the professional side employees are now raising the bar in terms of education. When it comes to hiring there is a distinct trend in employers looking for prospects in candidates who have relevant educational background in the hospitality field. There is no longer the use of traditional hands on or practical learning and there is a move to programs that form part of the drive for professionalism in the industry.
Another trend is the fact that there is higher technical training that has replaced the traditional approaches in the industry. Today in the industry employees are working towards the updating of personal skills. The hospitality industry is gradually going green and the employees will also be expected to follow suite and be green hotels and resorts are now incorporating environmental friendly materials when they are carrying out their operations.
There are various problems that hotels face in the hospitality industry. Problem solving is the process where there will be bridging of gaps between what is not correct and the measure to solve the problem. There is various problem tat Hilton Hawaii Village resort faces in the hospitality industry. The major problem is as a result of a positive impact in the resort. Due to increased popularity there have been increases in the number of travelers to the resort from the locals to even international people. With this comes a great challenge since there are only limited members of staff who will attend to the visitors and their specific needs. This is due to the fact that the visitors come from different countries and hence speak different languages. This means that there is limited staff who can talk to the visitors from Korea, Chinese Madrid and even Japanese. Most of the staff is just able to speak basic Japanese but this is not enough for the vast number of visitors. This will lead to communication difficulties between the staff and guests. There are some cases where there can be a guest service agent who might be handling japans guests but may not understand what the guest exactly needs and hence will need to ask for help and may lead to a long period of waiting. This leads to decrease in the efficiency of the services the resort offers since there can be a time when there is no one available for translating and the guest has to wait until someone is available this leads to the guests getting impatient and hence it was discourage the guest from visiting the resort some other time. This is an eventual decline in international guests since there is no efficiency in handling them. The communication barrier between the staff and guests is something very bad and if not taken care of well can lead to serious negative implication to both the image of which will trickle down to the visitors of the resort.
The root cause of the problem is in the staff that is hired by the hotel management. This is in terms of their lack of training. The staff does not have any exposure or knowledge of some of the foreign languages that are spoken by the international visitors. This ultimately due to the lack of appropriate resources that are needed for employing this staff .there is also no much emphasis of such requirements as language knowledge in the job designs when they are recruiting. Therefore serious measures should be taken so that the problem to be tackled.
There was the creation of a position of the guest ambassador for the Hilton grand vacation which is one of the departments of the resort that work at the hotel side as well. The function of this position is helping in the check-in and check-out lines by giving directions to guests to the different locations for their needs as the front desk is the only one that is in a position to answer their needs and results to easing of lines .the guest ambassadors are Japanese or people who can speak the language. They offer assistance in translation at the front desk when the guest service agent or the guests are not in a position of understanding each other. The primary work of the guest ambassador is being the first person to interact with the guest and to get them develops an interest in going to the concierge desk so that they can get a welcome gift or an experience card where the guest can get discounts on prices as they shop or dine within the resort. This is not the reason why they want the guest to visit rather they want them to interact and help the guests with their needs and getting to know about the Hilton grand vacation timeshare and hoping that the guests would soon attend the presentations. This sharing of staff between departments is not a good thin g for the resort.
There are several possible solutions that need to be implemented so that the problem can be solved .raising the education level of the potential employees who seek a chance to work in the resort. This means that anyone who seeks employment should at least be conversant with one or more international languages .this will reduce the burden on other departments as well as overdependence reduction. The ultimate solution is the hiring of people ho actually has knowledge of other languages and this should be in great numbers so that they can serve all the departments in the resort. This is a very feasible solution since the resort is in a position to pay as may employees as possible since the is need and they have to ensure that they have efficient service delivery to its staff. It is an acceptable solution since this is a pressing issue in the resort as there is an increase in the number of visitors and hence the resort should beef up its resources and the employees are part of the resources of the organization (Jamieson media, 2012).
To implement this solution there should be funds set aside for the taking up of new employees in the company. This means that these costs to be incurred are calculated and included in the financial plans of the organization, there should be also provision to train the current staff in these languages so that they can be retained. This calls for employees who are flexible and not rigid so that they can embrace the changes with no problem developing.
If more staff is employed then it means that all the needs of the guests are taken care of. If the guest and staff can understand each other it means that the guests will enjoy their stay in the resort and will not hesitate to come back there because they will have enjoyed their stay to the maximum. This means that there will not be any misunderstandings or miscommunications and hence the services offered by the resort will be efficient. More and more international guest will consider the option of visiting this resort s it will be clearly sated that their staff are rich in the knowledge of the various languages spoken n the world.
The outcome of whether the solution is effective can be measured by looking at the statistics on the number of new visitors from international countries that are visit in the resort for their first time.thy can also evaluate through the use of feedback that is gathered from the guests on their stay in the resort and how they found it. Finally they can seek possible rankings in the hospitality industry in terms of their service as compared to other hotels in the industry.
References
Rauch, R. (2011).Top 10 hospitality trends for 2012.Retrieved December 11, 2012 from http://hotelmarketing.com/index.php/content/article/top_10_hospitality_industry_trends_for_2012Ako, D. (2012).Hawaii Hotel Industry Lags. Retrieved December 11,2012 from http://www.hawaiinewsnow.com/story/6507725/hawaii-hotel-industry-lagsThe Moscow times. (2012).Hospitality industry trends. Retrieved December 11, 2012 from http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/business_for_business/article/hospitality-industry-trends/459453.htmlRauch, R. (2012).top 10 hospitality trends for 2013.retrieved December 11, 2012 from http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4058659.htmlSchaefers, A.(2011). Guest Trends of Active, Casual Lifestyles Prompts Hilton Hawaiian Village, Hawaii’s Largest Single Hotel Property, to Replace High End Room Service with Plainer Fare. Retrieved December 1,012 from http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2012_4th/Oct12_HiltonHawaiian.htmlHilton world wide.(2011).more pools, more beach, more paradise. Retrieved December 11, 2012 from http://www.hiltonhawaiianvillage.com/Hcareers. (2009). Crystal-ball Gazing: Top trends in the hospitality industry.Retrived December 11, 2012 from http://www.hcareers.com/us/resourcecenter/tabid/306/articleid/278/default.aspxJamieson media. (2012). Hospitality Recruitment Trends: The Employability Problem.
Retrieved December 11, 2012 from http://www.hotel-industry.co.uk/2012/08/hospitality-recruitment-trends/.
