Changing Trends Of Hospitality Industry In India Tourism Essay
As the Hospitality industry is a very vast topic, therefore, in order to make my dissertation proposal probable, I had to narrow down the hospitality industry to hotels and bars only for some part of the project like the change in the viewpoints of consumers, and for certain hotels which have their locations all around the world. My key focus would be mainly the top Players in the Industry owing hotels and lounge.
In the recent past years, India has witnessed a tremendous boom in the hospitality industry, just like many other segments. The fact that the India’s economy had been growing rapidly and India as a whole had been facing a huge challenge of being “under roomed” gave a juncture to the hospitality industry. In order to leverage this opportunity a lot of real estate developers have also been investing into this business. (http://www.iloveindia.com/economy-of-india/hotel-industry.html, viewed on 28-dec-2010)
However, with an increase in the tourism industry, IT, BPO segments, foreign travelers, affordable airline fares, etc, there has been a growth in the hospitality industry. Many other factors such as Commonwealth Games in Delhi have been fueling the need further. The middle class is becoming more opulent and the native Indian tourist travel has been growing rapidly, particularly in places such as Goa, Kerala and Rajasthan.( http://www.iloveindia.com/economy-of-india/hotel-industry.html ,viewed on 28-dec-2010)
It was often said that a hotel must have a beautiful location and a succulent food in order to succeed. However, in today’s competitive world, even an inconsequential mistake can prove to be jeopardous. The contribution in the information technology segment has also strengthened and so the growing hospitality industries have started looking for new areas to improve their work and efficiencies. The IT first came into start at an upfront desk where the receptionist would look for the names of the customer and then provide them with a room. In order to improve the operations, big hotels started setting accounting system and software’s for their back offices. As the chain of hotels started progressing in their process across the country, it was much required to look after their assets. This gave rise to the demand for a system to manage the property, which allowed hospitality groups to keep a track of their assets across different states. It was during the same period of time, that the big hospitality chains also felt the need for centralizing the system. This period saw chain of hotels being networked and then connected to a central server. Just like the Taj Group of Hotels have linked a WAN that’s named Taj Net, which connects the groups of 55 properties across India, Nepal and Sri Lanka. There are many advantages in having a centralized system. As the Hotel industries has been dependant on Travel and Tourism industry to a great extent, the combination of this travel and tourism has also helped in building up hospitality industry. (www.expresshospitality.com viewed on 03-Jan -2011)
RECIPIENT FOR THE RESEARCH WORK
The recipient for this research work would be:
The key recipient – Myself
My research adviser
Top Hotels/ Resto- Bars in India and their Managers
The Customer’s of Hotels
RESEARCH SUITABILITY
The topic that I have chosen for research relates to me very well. In the present day scenario, the global market trend sights that the survival of the fittest companies are competing with each other and the quality and service that these companies provide are the key concept for any companies’ growth. My research is focused much towards the support and service that is provided after occupying the hotel room and for any organization it would be a basic foundation concept to satisfy their customers and understand the need of their customers. As we can see many of the leading MNC’s are paving their path to countries, which could provide them with services with better quality.
LITERATURE REVIEW
The hospitality industry is one of the largest employers in most of the countries with being geographically dispersed in different sectors. The globalization of the industry has advanced under the influence of the “advances in technology, transportation and communication, deregulation and elimination of political barriers as well as thriving competition in the global economy (Clarke and Chen, International Hospitality Management ,w. 2007). The hotel as a whole is basically a mix of five characteristics: its location, its mix of facilities, its image, the services that it provides and the price it charges (Holloway and Neil Taylor, 2006, Pg. 2003).
As said by Amadeus, “the global hotel industry is driven by globalization, new
Technology and a new breed of customers”. The hospitality industry, which has been with unparalleled opportunity, is undergoing a period of extraordinary transformation. A report accredited by the Amadeus group to learn about the hotel industry, recommended that the hospitality industry stand to face major difficulties from the emerging new technologies such as bookings through tele or mobile phones and from the online social networking sites. Guests can now easily exchange views about what they think of the hotels through social networking. Quality is now given more priority than before. Hotels are under threat to deliver the highest standards of excellence as the knowledge and level of exposure of travelers has increased. The hotels have been awaiting to modify their technology and communication systems
as mobile booking has expected to become a very common practice.(HayHurst,2008).
In recent years, the organizations in the hospitality industry are undergoing a
great deal of distract as due to the pressure of globalization, the competitive forces
within their businesses have been modified. Therefore, in order to survive, most companies have realized that they must frame a competitive advantage by relying on their employees to improve the quality of delivery (George Bohlander, Scott Snell, 2009 – Business & Economics)
Hoteliers are now able to identify the value of risk taking, novelty, and the intense search for opportunities as primary drivers of growth and value creation (Jogaratnam G., Vol. 18 No. 6, 2006). In addition, there has been an increase in the usage of technology as a mode of making online reservations through several distribution channels. These channels can be interpreted as an organized and serviced system that is paid for, out of the marketing budget and is used to provide an access to the customers, who are away from the location of production and consumption (Middleton and Clark, Marketing in Travel and Tourism, 2001).
Usually in India, customers would make a reservation by either directly approaching the hotel or by booking through a travel agent. However, now the electronic distribution channels like the Global Distribution System (GDS) and the internet have been steadily gaining popularity. (Dabas and Manakt., Vol. 19 No. 5, 2007). Because of the perishable nature of the inventories, its very crucial for the hotel to have an economical distribution. (O’Connor ,Vol. 4. pg 1-15, 2002).
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY
Every research methodology includes a research design which may be defined as “the set of conditions organized hypothetically for the collection and analysis of data that aims to integrate relevance to the research process with economy in procedure”
Research Problem:
Understanding the development in hospitality industry along with the current trends and, how the companies have been affected the need for their consumers as well as their perception.
Research Question:
The changing trends of the Hospitality Industry in India
Research Objectives:
1. The performance of Hospitality industry in India.
2. How has the trend transformed in the past few years.
3. Analysing the demand and supply of accommodation and growing
prices in different Indian hospitality industry?
4. How has the perception about the restaurants/hotels and bars changed in the minds of consumers?
5. Who are the chief players in the Indian market as well as the ones that have branched outside India?
Approach:
Since there is no relationship between the Hospitality Industry and the conclusion, the research would be fully prelusive so that the conclusion, which is being analysed using different methods of survey and study, would support the research.
Strategy:
The strategy that will be followed for the research work will be Surveys. Surveys will be taken from either the Hotels or Resto-Bars in India and also from the customers of different hospitality segments.
DATA COLLECTION
My data collection processes for this research would consist of series of procedures, which would be further branched into primary and secondary data collection.
PRIMARY DATA COLLECTION
The main processes that I would be relying on while using my primary data collection would be through questionnaire based on the information, that will be done by personally meeting the customers and by sending them posts and by meeting the staff of the hotel in person.
The questionnaire I would be working on, would be divided in a way that would be most efficient in handling them and by keeping the time factor into consideration, the most applicable system would be applied to the best suitable group. While applying a wrong process in gathering information would result in delaying the whole operation. The research topic requires a Qualitative method to evaluate the findings aimed for. A well framed questionnaire will be given in person.
The appropriate tool for my research proposal would be a type of a survey, because the best way to obtain the required data , in order to find answers for my research questions ,would be asking a set of questions.
Every methods of data collection have its own advantages as well as disadvantages. For example:
Internet survey: Survey done through e-mails and file sharing.
The advantages of Internet as a mode of survey are:
1. Survey can be set up faster.
2. Survey results are faster.
3. Response can be administered by allowing pre and post questions.
4. The skip-pattern questions can be used to eliminate interviewer error.
5. Respondent can answer at their own convenience.
6. Cost of interview in minimal.
Although, Internet survey has many advantages, it might not be the most appropriate method of surveying for this dissertation. The reason behind this is the anonymity of the web, which makes any type of affirmation difficult, if not impossible.
Postal Questionnaire is yet another type of survey which has the following advantages and disadvantages :
Advantages
Their costs are relatively low.
Data can be obtained from large sample areas.
Can avoid interview bias.
Privacy settings can be enhanced for the respondents.
Rating scales can be flexible.
Disadvantages
Poor response rates.
Respondents may misinterpret questions.
The intended person may not be the one who completed questionnaire.
The relative nature of the questions to be posted is supposed to have confidential information, has made me to decide that postal questionnaire might be the most appropriate form for collecting information.
The methods for data collection range from the simple use of postal questionnaire to face-to-face interviews, where an interviewer uses tape recorder and note taking as their tools for collecting information. Few of the methods are expensive but they surely guarantee a good response rate, while others being cheap to administer but are most likely to produce a poor response (Les Oakshott, 2001)
SECONDARY DATA COLLECTION:
The secondary data are the type of data that are made by others for their own purposes. The secondary data for my research proposal would be gathered from the companies own data archives and from their annual financial reports. In addition, the findings of former research studies on outsourcing an accounting process would give an ample amount of historical data or decision-making patterns. I would also be using Internet to get some more information about the industry and use journals for getting instruction from the past researches on this topic.
TOOLS FOR DATA ANALYSIS
The data collected from the questionnaire would be analyzed through the SPSS text analysis. Different mode of SPSS analysis will be used in analyzing the data from the questionnaire.
RESEARCH : NEW AND RELEVANT?
Lately this topic has been quiet popular , with a boom in the hospitality industry there have been a lot of researcher working on this topic in order to understand the needs and behaviour of the people, so that they could suggest steps to improve and help grow the industry. The topic for this research is also a hot subject as the tourism industry is also connected with the hospitality industry and the tourism industry has progressed alot.
