HMG 6446 Learning Activity 2

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

Hospitality Extraordinaire is a pioneer in the lodging industry. Their success has come from the company’s ability to effectively utilize its resources in an everchanging business market. Their strategy utilizes IT to compete with and stay ahead of the competition while seeking new methods to continue their quest of being the best of the best. Hospitality Extraordinaire has many lodging brands and utilizes cluster management to focus on the product or concept differentiation instead of price competition. Hospitality Extraordinaire constantly seeks new ways to apply IT to operations, revenue management, and marketing to provide consistent service and maintain high service standards across all brands. Using IT, resources and costs are shared across product lines as is expertise and information which equates to improved and consistent services across properties, a better cost structure, and new sources of revenue.

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 does more with less. My motto is “work smarter, not harder” so I feel that these two go hand in hand. Leading in technology initiatives like PMS and ROOMSnet reservation systems is another trait to admire. I used to work off a DOS reservation system and there was no training manual for it. It was very difficult to learn. Fortunately, the days of DOS reservations are gone, at least in my world. I have worked at multiple hotels with different operating systems and having the latest and greatest technology will indeed give the employees the upper hand at assisting guests quickly and efficiently. I also admire the cluster management approach. This concept allows Hospitality Extraordinaire to collaborate rather than compete and capture more rooms. To compete, I’d have to have similar or better reservation systems, PMS, communications, and better staff. Overall, you can have the best technology in the world but if you don’t have the right people, your ship will sink.

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?

Given that the employees are so connected with their technology (laptops, smartphones, web based apps) I imagine that some individuals would require assistance on a regular basis. These machines are not fool proof. People make mistakes, drop their phones in water, lose them, crack screens, etc. so a top notch IT department is a must. My company has a pretty good IT department, and I often get to speak with the same technician for different issues. It’s nice to grow that relationship. I have been fortunate that my technicians are well versed in our iphones, ipads, and PC’s. I recommend that when adding new programs and devices into the everyday work place, the IT support must be there and able to solve every issue as quickly as possible.

What are the key teaching points in this case? Why are they important, and how will you apply them to your professional career?

I’m taking away the benefit of cluster management from this activity. To focus on what the customer needs and wants and not drawing attention to the price is a smart way to play the field. Not every consumer needs the same type of hotel room and they’d willingly pay for something they need versus something they don’t need. And obviously, having the best IT you can possibly have will assist in your employee’s abilities to better serve your guests. I am currently learning a new catering program and I’ve been told that I can request reports with information specific to my needs. If that’s the case, this will save me hours each week putting together the schedule. I will be contacting my Catertrax help department to see if this is something that can really happen.