BIS 303 Hospitality Extraordinaire Case Study

Hospitality Extraordinaire Case Study

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Hospitality Extraordinaire Case Study

Define Hospitality Extraordinaire strategy. How does IT factor into this strategy to support or enable it?

The Paris-based Hospitality Extraordinaire strategy is the aggressive growth that focuses on product quality and consistency, use of IT, sharing of resources across all entities, and streamlining the product line that creates an unmatched competitive advantage. The company aims to be the best as it seeks new ways to apply information technology to increase revenue, streamline its operations, create competitive advantage, and attract guests.

IT is aligned with the strategy of the business, its projects are consumer-centric, focus on delivering value to the bottom line and leverage the firm’s core competencies. Impressively, if a project does not reduce costs, enhance customer service, improve employee capabilities, increase revenue, open up new business opportunities, or increase the shareholder value, the project is not funded. Nonetheless, technology has enabled the organization to gain economies of scale, share resources, and newfound market efficiencies. Moreover, efficient use of IT has enabled the hotel to have a better cost structure, new sources of revenue, segment customers, reduce operating overhead, maintain brand loyalty, and find new business opportunities.
Identify the core technologies used by Hospitality Extraordinaire. Discuss the value each contributes and any competitive advantage derived.

At the heart of Hospitality Extraordinaire exemplar, are the employees who include corporate IT support, a portfolio of IT applications, seasoned management team, a secure franchise network, a great set of products, and a capable technology infrastructure. Each team has its unique function but when the activities are combined what results is competitive advantages, which are tacit, explicit, and difficult to duplicate. Consequently, this sets the company as a global leader and the envy of the industry. Notably, core technologies used are PMSs, ROOMsnet reservation system, RevMax Revenue Management system, thank you rewards program, project connects, and INN Touch executive information (Nyheim & Connolly, 2013)

Client relationship building tool, optimizing revenue and ensuring products do not compete among themselves rather they collaborate, is enhanced by project connects. Revenue management system supports the company strategy of running all entities as a larger entity in an extended organization. Additionally, the ROOMSnet reservations system has set trends in booking capabilities, functionality and integrating with other systems (Nyheim & Connolly, 2013). The thanks you reward program has great reviews from consumers and maintains brand loyalty. The payroll system is efficient as it remunerates the employee fairly and maintains their satisfaction. Lastly, the INN Touch executive information system supports cluster management that manages the company many entities. The cores technology supports the hotel competitive advantages as competitors cannot be able to identify the contributing factors neither copy them.

If you worked for a competing hotel company, what traits would you find most admirable in Hospitality Extraordinaire and why/what would you do to compete?

Hospitality extraordinaire has created a strategy that maintains growth without compromising quality, service, and consistency standards. This strategy can work for the competing hotel and will allow things to be done in a different, cheaper, faster, and better way than before. Additionally, use of IT at the heart of project adoption and decision-making, sharing of resources and expertise across the product line is a significant trait to adopt. Cluster management is also a trait that is admirable from the hotel. To compete efficiently, it will be crucial to redefine the hotel strategy, identify all activities, projects, and resources, and align them using IT to sustainable standards. Then, position products can follow so that they do not overlap, improve service delivery, and streamline the product line. Hospitality extraordinaire has a diverse portfolio of products that complements each other and eliminates duplication. It is difficult to match these tools, but the competing company can create a stronger presence in the marketplace.

If you worked for Hospitality Extraordinaire’s IT department, what challenges might you face? What recommendations would you have for new technology initiatives or directions?

A possible challenge in the IT department is tracking how resources are shared across the company’s entities because; the hotel has a complex ownership structure. Another problem may emanate from the sophisticated monitoring systems that require a high degree of expertise and analytical skills. Besides, the hotel operations are managed centrally, and this could provide challenges in keeping up with large data with the many systems. The challenges can be overcame through team building and adding expertise on technology systems. A recommendation on new technology initiatives can be, for instance, it must conform to the company strategies, consumer needs, trends, opportunities, and competitive threats. Another suggestion is using new technology to push limits, change business conditions, and add value to the existing system the company uses.
What are the key teaching points in this case? Why are they important, and how will you apply them in your professional career?

A key teaching point from the case study is the essence of sharing resources in the hospitality industry. Hospitality extraordinaire shares resources in its every activity, projection, department, and among employees. Sharing of resources across the product line is crucial for efficient operations. Hospitality extraordinaire has an initiative that tracks how resources are utilized and in return creates a cost advantage. For instance, there is no need for accounting, human resource, budgetary oversight services, and other functions that are implemented in a cluster. Significantly, the company is able to maintain quality, diversity, consistency and manage across product lines. Another important teaching point is learning to create products that complement each other as a team and continuously win business. In the professional career, I can apply these tools in product development, identifying the target market, choosing IT tools and determining the right product site. The case study shows how IT leverages resources, boost innovativeness, and sustainable competitive advantage. Therefore, this is vital in building a successful career in the hospitality industry.

What tools would you use to leverage the power of information in Hospitality Extraordinaire?

Hospitality extraordinaire shares data with all its stakeholders especially the employees by using IT tools such as corporate web-based applications, smartphones, and laptops that update them on operating results, news and trend analysis. Employees underline the power of information and should be on board with every tool used. This form of IT tools enables decision makers quickly compare, analyze, and generate reports on significant trends of the company. The power of information can be leveraged by expanding management team so that they can keep accurate data on all the company contracts and services. Further, the control of information must be in line with external environment for it to fully function and optimize the entire cluster of the group hotels. In building strong IT systems, the power of information require continuous research and managing cost.

Based on your experience, which IT tool or strategy do you think has made the biggest impact on the company’s success?

Cluster management has provided the hotel with tools that enhance unprecedented opportunities through economies of scale, resource sharing, and capabilities that make other hotel providers experience a stiff competition from the hotel leader. The competitive advantage of the hotel emanates from its technology, capital, and employees. These resources are complemented by quality and commitment to product consistency. As a result, a culture of innovative leadership and sharing of resources and process develops which is hard to duplicate in other firms leading to a lasting advantage. Cluster management tool, when combined with state of the art hospitality extraordinaire IT and infrastructure, creates a basis for success both in the long and in the short term.

Reference

Nyheim, P. & Connolly, D. (2013). Technology Strategies for the Hospitality Industry (2nd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.