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In the last ten years low cost airlines such as Ryanair and EasyJet have transformed the face of international tourism in Europe. What is the secret of their success and, bearing in mind the mounting evidence that short-haul aviation is a major contributor to atmospheric pollution and global warming, what is their future?

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Contents (Jump to)

Introduction

Europe’s Skies After Deregulation

Conclusion

Bibliography

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Introduction

Ryanair signaled Europe’s entry into the low cost carrier market segment in 1991 when it transformed from a normal regional airline to one based on the U.S. Southwest Airlines model (International Civil Aviation Organization, 2003). In reality, the first successful low cost airlines was Pacific Southwest Airlines that began operations on 6 May 1949 and earned the distinction of low cost as it flew sailors for low fares serving San Francisco, San Diego and Burbank in the state of California (jeypsa.com, 2007). The modern day low cost Southwest Airlines initiated service in 1971 and has managed a profit in every year of operation since 1973, and represents the business model that low cost carriers have emulated (Southwest Airlines, 2007). In achieving a thirty percent yearly growth rate, Ryanair has transformed the market utilizing a strategy of serving the leisure market between Ireland and the United Kingdom, expanding to 22 countries (Ryanair, 2007a). The company has built upon is position of being Europe’s first low fare airline to achieve a brand recognition that carries with it that immediate connection in the minds of consumers. It also has aggressively increased its route structure, provides a pleasurable service experience, conducts memorable advertising, and held upon to pricing strategy to lure consumers (Ericsson, 2007). As a globally successful carrier in terms of profits, flights and passengers, Ryanair serves the fare conscious leisure and business segment of the market (Ryanair, 2007b).

Founded by Sir Stellios Haji-Ioannou in October 1995, easyJet serves the leisure and business segment of the market, like its competitor Ryanair, and operates in excess of 200 routes to 65 airports throughout Europe (easyJet, 2007). Like Ryanair, easyJet’s business model is patterned after Southwest Airlines, offering low cost fares, flight convenience and service that is comparable to Ryanair, thus their respective strategies are basically the same, with the exception that easyJet flies to more primary airports than Ryanair which utilizes secondary airports to save on operating costs (easyJet, 2007). Thus, fare pricing, name recognition, branding, services, and destinations are behind the success of this carrier. The success of the low cost carrier concept has taken Europe by storm, introducing the market to a “… cheap, fast mode of transport …” with the low fare carriers “… making ambitious expansion plans and placing large orders for new planes” (Bonggeli and Pompeo, 2002). However, there are environmental concerns that have come to the forefront as flying has never been easier, or cheaper, where short distance flights has spurred “… an increased demand for air travel …” (Bowe et al, 2004). Given the relative inexpensiveness of flights, the plethora of destinations, and the ease of Internet booking “The demand to fly in Europe is forecast to triple by 2030…” this has raised serious concerns among environmental groups concerning air pollution as well as the increased rate of greenhouse gas emissions (Bowe et al, 2004). One of the main underpinnings of the low cost airline system popularity is the availability of flights to almost any destination near a suitable airport, either a hub, prime, airport or secondary airport located further from the principle destination which means lower landing fees for carriers, and thus a viable aspect of their internal cost cutting measures (Bowe et al, 2004). The popularity of being able to compare flight costs, travel times, and destinations via Internet booking is a factor that consumers have also taken to, along with the more open travel that has resulted from deregulation that has allowed new entrants into the field.

The business model of low cost carriers seek to utilize airports with lower congestion near high population densities, and preferred travel destinations using a single type of airframe to reduce ground maintenance, and crew training/operating costs, to result in a flight turnaround of 25 minutes lacking frills in-flight, and a simple fare structure (ATR, 2006). The preceding operational mode is geared for higher fleet flights, increased labour efficiency, along with lower maintenance, and operating costs (ATR, 2006). Internally, the aircraft have only one passenger class, all with the same seating space, thus increasing cabin density permitting a higher per passenger flight carrying capacity to maximize on space, fuel and extract utilization to support the low fare structure (ATR, 2006). The elimination of food (frills) also eliminates waste, and reduces internal operating costs, add to this equation. Employees at low cost carriers at encouraged not to join trade unions, in order to avoid the unionised working practices that would cut into their efficiency stance (Vella, 2006).

All of the foregoing has meant increased flights, resulting in particle emissions in the form of soot, metals, and sulphuric acid that “… indirectly influence climate change by causing additional cirrus clouds to form …” which traps rising heat (Bowe et al, 2004). The environmental concern has resulted in the European Commission announcing a proposal in December 2006 that would call for airlines that fly “… within the European Union to follow carbon dioxide emissions trading in 2001 …” which would be imposed on all other flights in 2012 (The Washington Times, 2006). Under the plan, ˆ1.80 and ˆ9 would be added to the cost of tickets for intra European flights, and higher fees imposed for long haul flights (International Herald Tribune, 2006). The preceding means that alternative short trip transportation has become an increasing competitor. Alternative short trip transportation is represented by high-speed rail that results in substantially reduced CO2 emissions, which are estimated as being approximately 300% lower than air flight transport (Bowe et al, 2004). Ryanair is combating the new emission policy through the purchase of newer fuel-efficient airframes that carry more passengers, and in spite of using more fuel still generate less emission (Airline Bulletin, 2007). The airline, Ryanair, emits an estimated “… two to three tonnes of harmful greenhouse gases …” which makes it one of Ireland’s largest corporate polluters (UK – Airport – News.info, 2006). It is estimated that it would take 2.25 million trees until 2076 to offset the emission created by Ryanair in 2005 alone, not to mention its continued operations, or roughly one fifth of Ireland would have to be planted with trees for each one year of the company’s operation (UK – Airport – News.info, 2006). Low cost airlines are projected to capture 25% of the intra-European market by 2010 up from the 5% through 7% recorded during 2004 and 2005 (Schneiderbaur and Fainsilber, 2006). The issues of pollution as well as competition from high-speed short haul rail travel, and intense competition within the low cost segment that will bring about consolidation are environmental, and competitive issues, however the European appetite for the fast transportation solutions posed by low cost carriers will not be severely impacted by alternative transportation or environmental issues as airlines will defend and adapt to changing issues.

The airline industry is a highly concentrated one, with half of all airframes operated by just 17 carriers (AirlinesGate, 2001). The United States airline industry was deregulated in 1978, prior to which there was a governmental agency that “… determined the routes each airline flew and oversaw the prices they charged” (AirlinesGate, 2001). The Civil Aeronautics Board in 1976 asked the United States congress to eliminate the governmental regulatory system to allow the industry to operate under free market forces, which was followed by the Airline Deregulation Act of 1978 (Stanford University, 2001). The Airline industry in Europe, prior to a series of liberalisation measures that started in 1987, was a highly regulated market with a number of state owned airlines receiving subsidies, and the restriction that only national flag carriers could fly between countries (AirlinesGate, 2001). Subsidies and restricted access limited the ability of new entrants, and kept fares high, as well as limited service as the airline cartels set prices, and determined service. The airline industry in Europe prior to deregulation consisted of restricted bilateral agreements between the flag carriers of two countries, usually setting limits or terms concerning capacity, revenue sharing and fares (Button, 1996, pp. 70-80).

The European airline industry under a traditional bilateral agreement consisted of a singular “… designated airline per route from each country”, with the only routes permitted were those as specified in these agreements (Doganis, 1994, pp. 15-25). In terms of capacity, there was a 50- 50 sharing agreement, and the fares were subject to the approval of the government of both countries as negotiated through the International Air Transport Association (Doganis, 1994, pp. 15-25). Under liberalized bilateral agreements the airlines now operated under multiple designations, with open market access, capacity controls were eliminated, and fares were rejected only if the governments of both countries disapproved (Doganis, 1994, pp. 15-25). The 1993 European Union deregulation package provided for a uniform licensing criteria for airlines in all countries belonging to the EU, and eliminated distinctions regarding scheduled, and non-scheduled service. In terms of routes, it provides for open market access in all European Union countries, with capacity sharing restrictions removed (Doganis, 1994, pp. 15-25). Lastly, airlines were free to price fares with a very limited double disapproval, and it imposed safeguards concerning predatory fare pricing.

Europe’s Skies After Deregulation

The European Union embarked upon the road of the deregulation of airline policy in the latter part of 1980, proceeding on a staggered basis starting with the 1987 deregulation package under the Treaty of Rome competition articles (Button and Swan, 1996, pp. 259-282). This allowed for the EU to grant exemptions concerning the rules, thus gradually phasing in the process of deregulation to provide for an orderly entry towards liberalisation and the successive packages to follow (Button and Swan, 1996, pp. 259-282). The three-phased process ended in 1997 whereby carriers were granted permission to operate domestic routes throughout the EU (Button and Swan, 1996, pp. 259-282). The importance of the gradual process of deregulation eliminated the monopoly power that was in place that represented economic regulation that eliminated free competition and under economic theory lowers productivity, resulting in higher prices, and creates inefficiency (Winston, 1993, pp. 1263-1289). In effect the higher profits expected in a regulated environment that resulted in monopolistic power was offset by higher operating costs due to inefficiencies. Deregulation set the grounds for increased freedom in pricing, and thus increased operating efficiencies as a result of competition as new firms could enter a market and through their improved operations offer lower prices thus taking market share (Doganis, 1994, pp. 15-25).

Deregulation represented a change in route structures that was one of the most important aspects (Morrison and Winston, 1989, pp. 61-122). As a result of deregulation national flag carriers have had to contend with new entrants thereby increasing competitive pressures as well as fare changes. The preceding open door for new market entrants has seen a significant increase in regional airlines, and the low cost airlines (AirlinesGate, 2001). Increased competition has caused airline management to improve operations, introduce and seek new technologies, and overall heighten operational management sophistication and marketing. The marketing model of low cost carriers in providing low cost fares to markets through high flight utilization lowered internal operating costs, use where possible of secondary lower fee airports, higher airframe seating capacity, and no in-flight services providing European’s with new options concerning the manner they thought about air travel. The leisure class was affected the most in that the dramatically lower fares enabled consumers to think about three and four day get-aways and mini vacations outside of traditional vacation periods, developing to the point where weekends fitted the mode.

Prior to deregulation, “… the market was neatly divided … (with) … Scheduled carriers, focusing primarily on business travelers, controlled 75 percent of the intra-European market” and charter airline controlling the remaining 25 percent (Bonggeli and Pompeo, 2002). Charter airlines sold aircraft time and seating capacity to tour operators for tourists seeking sun filled vacations (Bonggeli and Pompeo, 2002). Low cost carriers changed these dynamics through their one passenger class, increased airframe seating, fast flight turnaround, no frills, Internet booking business model. These factors permitted low cost carriers to fares that are 50 to 70 percent lower than the flag carriers, or incumbents, attracting price sensitive travelers, but not appealing as much regarding the convenience and flexibility business travelers seek, even though Ryanair has managed to snag a goodly percentage of business travelers (Bonggeli and Pompeo, 2002). And the growth of the low cost carriers has not come at the expense of the incumbents, but rather as a result of their pricing and service policies. Lower fares have prompted people to fly as a result of increased affordability, opting for planes over rail, vehicles or not traveling at all (Shelley, 2005). And this extends even to the business segment of the market where companies that normally could not afford the expense of a business trip can schedule fares to conduct business on a face-to-face basis (Shelley, 2005). The large number of low cost flights as a result of the increased number of carriers means that finding a flight to suit business parameters is an easy task as a result of Internet booking. Thus the low cost model has grown not as a result of stealing market share, but rather from expanding the consumer base.

Low Cost airlines compete on price as opposed to quality, utilizing the aforementioned one passenger class, increased airframe seating, fast flight turnaround, no frills, Internet booking business model. However, the application of the preceding does vary. Ryanair, for example, primarily operates its routes to secondary airports, reaping the benefits of dramatically reduced airport fees that on average are 65 percent below primary airports (Bonggeli and Pompeo, 2002). This internal operational method permits Ryanair to offer fares that are the lowest in the industry, yet turn a profit when more than 55 percent of its seats are occupied (Bonggeli and Pompeo, 2002). EasyJet, which generally flies into main airports, and on average flies to its destinations three times per week as opposed to Ryanair’s two, needs a 75 percent capacity rate (Bonggeli and Pompeo, 2002). EasyJet, because of its increased flight schedule, contends that 50 percent of its passengers tend to be traveling on business (Bonggeli and Pompeo, 2002). The competitive nature of the industry to induce trial has seen Ryanair offer seats for free, requiring passengers to pay just the flight taxes and services charges, that usually amount to around ˆ19 or more, each way (Rockmael, 2005). The elimination of assigned seating, decent legroom, complimentary meals and or beverages, baggage policies and limited service are how low cost carriers cut costs.

Competition in this segment has increased to the point whereby there are approximately 60 low cost carriers in Europe, with names such as Flybaboo, JetFree, JetMagaic, Duo, Volareweb.com, Air Berlin, Germanwings and BMIbaby, to name a few (Rockmael, 2005). The efficiency drive at low cost carriers in cutting costs and utilizing standardized operations, and equipment has resulted in, on average, that they need just 80 employees to support each aircraft as opposed to the 115 utilized by incumbents (The Economist, 2004). And in Europe Internet booking has really caught on representing 99 percent of all low cost booking, as opposed to just 75 percent in the United States (The Economist, 2004). Search engines such as wegolo.com, applefares.com, searchlowestfares.com, skyscanner.net and openjet.com aid consumers in finding the lowest fares (Rockmael, 2005). The dynamics of travel in Europe are influenced by a number of geographical factors. In countries such as France, Spain and even Germany, low cost travel for pleasure as well as business can also be accomplished by high-speed rail, thus making alternative transport forms more competitive, which is not the case in the United Kingdom (Bonggeli and Pompeo, 2002). High-speed rail gains an advantage in that the departures are from city centre to city centre, thus cutting down on the time to commute to airports and the extra money for cabs or parking fees and gas. This explains the lower growth deferential of low cost carriers on Europe’s continent, as opposed to in the United Kingdom (Airline Bulletin, 2007). Located outside continental Europe, the UK has a higher concentration of easy to reach airports, also balanced with a high level of business and leisure traffic that does not have alternative travel means to the continent. The preceding has been a factor in the tremendous growth of low cost carriers based out of the UK on flights traveling to the continent that has increased by a rate of 25 percent, as opposed to intra European flights. Traveling to the UK has increased by just 3 percent, in all making the United Kingdom Europe’s biggest low cost market (Bonggeli and Pompeo, 2002).

Security issues at UK airports are resulting in delays in check-in that is affecting the low cost business model that calls for faster flight turnarounds resulting in massive flight cancellations (Capell, 2006). Air travel has changed dramatically from the glamour industry it once was, to one of transporting people. Fares have dropped to the point whereby a flight from London to Turin, Italy, can be as low as ?10 each way, plus ?15 in taxes (Backman, 2002). Ryanair grounded 270 of 750 departures during the summer of 2006, and easyJet suffered in excess of 500 cancelled flights as a result of new security rules delaying boarding (Backman, 2002). The higher security rules are threatening the UK’s low cost carriers, who are thinking of imposing a carry on luggage rule to combat the problem, and potentially adding limited food and drink to passengers to compensate passengers for their inconvenience (Backman, 2002). As a result, the increased delays, and higher ticket costs as a result of taxes have turned some passengers off utilizing short haul air flights. The preceding situation is aiding rail travel as passenger seek a less restrictive travel means in the UK as well as getting to continental Europe. Eurostar, which provides high speed rail to the continent has seen their passenger traffic increase 27 percent between the 10th and 13^th of August 2006 as a result (Airline Bulletin, 2006).

Conclusion

The issues of pollution, the CO2 emissions trading scheme, higher low cost fare taxes, airport security issues, alternative high speed rail travel, and stiffening competition presents new obstacles to the continued growth of low cost carriers. Thus low cost carriers are looking at long haul routes to offset a slowing short haul market, bringing them into more direct competition with incumbents such as British Airways, and British Midlands, both of whom “… have cut some fares on a range of short haul routes …” as have “… KLM and Scandinavian Airlines … and Lufthansa …” (Bonggeli and Pompeo, 2002). This means that incumbents represent another competitor factor facing low cost carriers as they see the high in sector competition weakening their position, thus providing a means for them to further eroded growth and recapture some business themselves in a market that does have finite growth potential.

The weaker players in the low cost segment “… such as SkyEurope and Hungary’s Wizz …” have higher survivability risks as newer entrants which the industry predicts will weed out weaked carriers through consolidation and business model failures (Capell, 2006). The continued realities of rising flight taxes, airport security issues, and carriers such as British Airways, KLM and Lufthansa, to name a few, are making concerted efforts to dip into the low cost model on selected high traffic routes, even though collectively, meaning the UK and continental Europe, holds just 7 percent of all intra European travel in terms of passengers flown, and are still short of the 25 percent market share achieved by low cost carriers in the United States. And that is the reason for the attack of incumbents now, as opposed to waiting for what happened to their U.S. counterparts (Forbes.com, 2002).

Incumbents and low cost carriers are converging in terms of each sector looking at the others markets as a means to increased passenger travel, with each adopting some of the features of the others operational model as Europe’s skies become more blended in terms of competing for growth and revenues. Thus the reduction of frills is bringing some incumbents into the province of the low cost carriers to block further passenger inroads. The future for low cost carriers is seemingly summed up by an article in USA Today (2003) that sees Ryanair and easyJet’s dominant positions, and UK flying base as long-term positives, while low cost competitors on the continent will face increasing competitive pressures from these two dominant players as well as from other low cost carriers and incumbents.

Bibliography

Airline Bulletin (2007) Is Ryanair the Low-Fare, High Emissions Airline? 7 January 2007. Retrieved on 9 March 2007 from http://www.airlinebulletin.com/ryanair/index.html

Airline Bulletin (2006) Security Fallout on European Low-Cost Airlines. 14 August 2006. Retrieved on 8 March 2007 from http://www.airlinebulletin.com/european_carriers/index.html

AirlinesGate (2001) Airline Industry. Retrieved on 7 March 2007 from http://airlinesgate.free.fr/industry.htm

ATR (2006) Low-fare, Low-cost Business Model in Europe: A Risk or a Chance for Regional Carriers? Retrieved on 7 March 2007 from http://www.atraircraft.com/downl/Fiche low-cost 2005.pdf

Backman, M. (2002) Europe shows the way with dirt-cheap flights. 30 May 2002. Retrieved on 8 March 2007 from http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/05/29/1022569791615.html

Bowe, R., Hartley, K., O’Connor, R. (20) Flying the Dirty Skies: Environmental Fallout from the Low-budget Travel Craze. September – October 2004. Vol. 15. E Magazine

Binggeli, U., Pompeo, L. (2002) Hyped Hopes for Europe’s Low Cost Airlines: Europe’s Most Successful No-Frills Carriers are Making a Lot of Money, but as They Mature They Will Have Problems Expanding. The McKinsey Quarterly

Button, K. (1996) Aviation Deregulation in the European Union: Do Actors Learn in the Regulation Game? Vol. 14, Number 1. Contemporary Economic Policy

Button, K., Swan, D. (1996) European Community Airlines – Deregulation and its Problems. Vol. 27, Number 4. Journal of common Market Studies

Capell, K. (2006) A Low Season for Low Cost Airlines? 16 August 2006. Retrieved on 8 March 2007 from http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/aug2006/gb20060816_732287.htm

Doganis, R. (1994) The Impact of Liberalisation on European Airline Strategies and Operations. Vol. 1, Number 1. Journal of Air Transport Management

easyJet (2007) Company overview. Retrieved on 6 March 2007 from http://www.easyjet.com/EN/About/Information/index.html

Ericsson (2007) The Ryanair Success Story. Price as Brand. Retrieved on 6 March 2007 from http://www.ericsson.com/telecomreport/article.asp?aid=10&tid=85&ma=1&msa=3

Forbes.com (2002) Hyped Hopes for Europe’s Low Cost Airlines. 10 October 2002. Retrieved on 9 March 2007 from http://www.forbes.com/technology/futuretech/2002/10/10/1010mckinsey.html

International Civil Aviation Organization (2003) The Impact of Low Cost Carriers in Europe. Retrieved on 6 March 2007 from http://www.icao.int/icao/en/atb/ecp/CaseStudies/Europe_LowCost_En.pdf

International Herald Tribune (2006) EU to include airlines in carbon trading program. 20 December 2006. International Herald Tribune

jetpsa (2007) The History of PSA. Retrieved on 6 March 2007 from http://www.jetpsa.com/index/history.html

Morrison, S., Winston, C. (1989) Enhancing the Performance of the Deregulated Air Transportation System. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity

Rockmael, K. (2005) The Dark Side of Europe’s Low-Fare Airlines. 25 February 2005. Retrieved on 8 March 2007 from http://www.budgettravelonline.com/bt-dyn/content/article/2005/06/04/AR2005060400819.html

Ryanair (2007a) About Us. Retrieved on 6 March 2007 from http://www.ryanair.com/site/EN/about.php?page=About

Ryanair (2007b) Strategy. Retrieved on 6 March 2007 from http://www.ryanair.com/site/about/invest/docs/Strategy.pdf

Schneiderbauer, D., Fainsilber, O. (2006) Low-cost Airlines Gaining Momentum in Europe. Retrieved on 7 March 2007 from http://www.mercermc.com/Perspectives/Specialty/MOT_pdfs/3-Low-Cost Airlines.pdf

Shelley, M. (2005) Get off to e flying start. 24 November 2005. Daily Record

Southwest Airlines (2007) We Weren’t Just Airborne Yesterday. Retrieved on 6 March 2007 from http://www.southwest.com/about_swa/airborne.html

Stanford University (2001) The Airline Industry. Retrieved on 7 March 2007 from http://adg.stanford.edu/aa241/intro/airlineindustry.html

The Economist (24) Turbulent skies. 8 July 2004. The Economist

The Washington Times (2006) Europeans Eye Tough Emissions Rules for Airlines. 21 December 2006. The Washington Times

UK-Airport-News.info (2006) Ryanair tops Irish air pollution league. 26 February 2006. Retrieved

on 9 March 2007 from http://www.uk-airport-news.info/stansted-airport-news-260206a.htm

USA Today (2003) European low-cost airlines fly high, but face hard landing. Retrieved on 8 March 2007 from http://www.usatoday.com/travel/news/2003-11-03-europe-lowcost_x.htm

Winston, C. (1993) Economic Deregulation: Days of Reckoning for Macroeconomists. Vol. 31. Journal of Economic Literature

Vella, M. (2006) The thrills of no-frills. 12 November 2006. Retrieved on 7 March 2007 from http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2006/11/12/t8.html

THE FUTURE OF LONDON’S MUSEUMS

Q. What does the future hold for London’s museums?

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ABSTRACT

The following research paper investigates the present condition of London’s museums, focusing upon three aspects: their historical development, their present issues and debates, and their strategies for ensuring future survival and prosperity. To ascertain these facts five senior management figures from five leading London museums were interviewed and asked to complete questionnaires discussing the themes mentioned above. The research focuses at much length upon the decision of the present Labour government to introduce free admission to London’s museums and to finance this policy with funds from the National Lottery. Another key aspect of the research was to determine the level of competition posed to London’s museums by European, American and other international museums; further, to discover how London’s museums might raise their performance to match this competition. A third central aspect of the research, viewed both from the sides of museum management and from the government, is the question of the strategies that London’s museums will pursue in the twenty-first century. The survival and success of London’s museums will very much depend upon the decisions made regarding such strategy and its efficacy once put into place. The present research assesses the likely efficacy of such strategies, and the consequences that their implementation will have upon the public’s ‘museum experience’. The results of the research paint double-sided picture: on the side, of optimism regarding the increased admissions figures witnessed since free admissions began, and, on the other side, a gloomy scene dominated by the London museums’ lack of financial support and by the negative consequences of the government insistence of putting attendance figures before a qualitative artistic and cultural experience.

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CONTENTS PAGE (Jump to)

Abstract

Section 1: Introduction

Section 2: Literature Review

Section 3: Methodology

Section 4: Results & Analysis

Section 5: Conclusion

Section 6: Bibliography

Section 7: Appendixes

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Section 1: Introduction

Since the foundation of the British Museum almost two hundred and fifty years ago, London has had an international reputation as the museum capital of the world, as the city with the finest collections, the best specialists and the most to offer the fascination of the public. In addition to the British Museum, London can boast the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, the London Transport Museum, the Victoria & Albert Museum and the Theatre Museum amongst numerous other world-class museum-experiences. In their early decades London’s museums flourished through the generosity of private donations and gifts, and through royal and government funding; these ample resources gave museums such as the British Museum unrivalled funds for the construction of magnificent architecture and the gathering of the most splendid specimens and pieces from across the globe.

But by the early 1990’s, and reflecting Britain’s changed economic circumstances, London’s museums found themselves in need of considerable new funds to pay for refurbishments and developments so as to keep pace with other museums in the capital cities of Europe and in America. The advent of the National Lottery in 1994, and the terms of its constitution whereby a majority of its funds would go to museums and galleries, apparently offered the very chance to bring about a revival in the fortunes and prosperity of London’s museums. Thus between 1994-2003 more than ?13 billion was given to good causes by the National Lottery and the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) (Selwood & Davies, 2005: p.3); ?1 billion was given to six hundred museums across the country (Selwood & Davies, 2005: p.3). These funds were intended for the construction of new buildings and exhibition halls, and to compensate museums and galleries for the loss of revenue that they would incur once free admission was introduced. A few smaller museums were also enabled to open in London because of grants from the HLF.

The next radical step in the recent history of London’s museums came when the Labour Party in their 1997 manifesto, promised that when elected they would introduce free admission into London’s museums — a move that it was anticipated would greatly increase attendance from members of the general public. In the event, this prediction turned out to be just right, particularly in the two years immediately succeeding the introduction of free admission. The government minister then in charge of museums in 2001, Estelle Morris, spoke of 2000 as ‘an unprecedented season of openings and flourishing’ (DOC, 2000) for London museums. The year 2000 witnessed nine major construction or refurbishment projects in London’s great museums and a total of ?379 million spent on this (?193 million of which came from lottery sources) (Selwood & Davies, 2005: p.4). The most spectacular of these projects was the construction by Norman Foster of the Great Court at the British Museum costing ?110 million (of which ?47 million was derived from lottery sources) (Selwood & Davies, 2005: p.5). All in all, it seemed that the lottery was proving a vital fertilizing force in the rejuvenation and restoration of London’s great museums. This optimism was very clearly reflected in the visitor figures following free admission. In 2001/2002 London museums that had previously received capital funding from lottery sources noticed a staggering rise in visitor numbers of 5.3 million when compared with the 1999/2000 season; in 2002/2003 this figure jumped again to 6.3 million extra visits compared with 1999/2000 (this representing an increase of 89%). In stark contrast London museums that did not receive lottery funding say they annual attendance figure drop by 7% in 2001/02 and 13% in 2002/03 when compared to the 1999/00 season. To take an individual instance, the Victoria & Albert Museum witnessed an increase in attendance from 75,773 in November 2000 to 132,882 in November 2001 (this figure even jumped 270% by March 2002). Likewise, attendance figures at the Science Museum rose by 120% and the National History Museum by 74% in the same period (All figures: Selwood & Davies, 2005: pp. 6-10).

Nonetheless, this stream of incessantly impressive and rising admissions figures masked a major concern unsettling many of the managers and director’s of London’s leading museums. These figures of course welcomed lottery funding as a vital means of rejuvenating London’s museums and making them competitive with museums found in New York, Paris, Berlin and elsewhere. Nonetheless, the advent of free admission introduced at the same time a far greater degree of vulnerability and uncertainty in the financial arrangements and security of London’s museums. It was obvious to museum strategists and directors that a great deal of lottery money would be needed to compensate for the loss of revenue endured once free admission was introduced. Crucially, it would be paramount that lottery contributions of the levels of 2001 would be sustained for the long-term; nothing would be worse that one spectacular year for two of prosperity and massive investment followed by ten or twenty years of under investment and decline.

It is recent charge imputed by many museum directors against the government and the HLF directors that they were naive in profoundly underestimating the levels of investment that would e required to sustain not only the rejuvenation of London’s museums but merely also their survival. The British Museum alone, for instance, according to its director Neil MacGregor stands to lose ?80 million over ten years from lost revenues and reclaimed VAT. Increased attendance figures are welcomed naturally by all museum directors on the absolute condition that sufficient funds are made available to pay the costs of this increased attendance. Selwood and Davies calculated that since the advent of free admission and 7.3 million extra visitors each of these visitors cost London’s museums on average ?3.56 per visitor — ?3.56 extra that has to be found by the museums from non-lottery funding (Selwood & Davies, 2003: p.8).

Thus free admission has had a bitter sting in its tale, and it may be said that presently a great many of London’s famous museums find themselves in financial difficulties, unable to pay for restorations and improvements; unable to compete with American and European museums for the finest pieces and exhibitions, unable to attract the brightest researchers and curators — and ultimately in danger of losing the great reputations that some have nurtured for as long as two centuries. It is clear to all, museum directors and government officials alike, that the present funding arrangements of London’s museums are precarious and that a serious strategy needs to be devised to offer such museums long-term financial security and thus a platform to compete with the other leading museums of the world.

This present dissertation conducted interviews, by way of questionnaires with five senior figures from five of London’s leading museums — the British Museum, the Science Museum, the Natural History Museum, the London Transport Museum and the V & A museum — to ascertain their thoughts and attitudes regarding the present state and the likely future state of London’s museums. These senior figures were questioned on their beliefs regarding the lottery funding of museums, on the advent of free admission, on the extent of government funding, on international competition, and on future strategy. The picture that emerges from these interviews is one of profound uncertainty over the future survival and prosperity of London’s museums; buffeted on the one side by the loss of revenue from free admission, and on other sides by the short-fall in promised lottery investment and the present government’s obsession with the quantitative aspect of museum attendance at the expense of the quality of the visitor’s experience.

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Section 2: Literature Review

It perhaps appropriate to preface this literature review with a few remarks about its undertaking. Often when undertaking research that refers to relatively recent events, the researcher finds that the academic world has not yet had time to catch-up in print and publish scholarly books and articles covering these events. With the present research however the proposition was entirely opposite; even though the subjects of lottery funding, free admission and so on are relatively recent, there is nonetheless an abundance of literature dealing with the specific question of the future of London’s museums. The task of the researcher was thus to sift this material so as to isolate its most pertinent and relevant parts. Another unusual aspect of this present literature review is its wide use of government documents and announcements. An overriding theme throughout the present paper is the intimacy of the relationship between the government and museum managers and directors. Naturally, the government perspective upon events is not published through academic books and journals, but by speeches, white-papers, press releases and so on.

This research of course made much use of the outstanding museum journals, pre-eminently Curator: The Museum Journal. Of the several articles from this journal used in this dissertation, one was of seminal importance in providing statistical and analytical evidence of the impact of lottery funding and free admission upon London’s museums, this being: S. Selwood and M. Davies (2005) ‘Capital Costs: Lottery Funding in Britain and Consequences for Museums. The article excellently articulates the dilemma that has crept upon London’s museums now that the inadequacy of lottery funding to meet extra visitors numbers has become apparent. There are hints in the above article to possible solutions to the funding crisis facing London’s museums, and these solutions are discussed in greater depth in R. Baron’s ‘Reinventing a State Program for Museum Funding’ (2003). Question marks as to the thoroughness and efficacy in practice of the government’s free admissions policy is raised in several places: Freudenheim’s ‘That Politics Problem’ (2005), Babbidge’s ‘UK Museums; Safe and Sound? (2000) and Sharp’s ‘Controversy and Challenge: British Funding Increases Nationally, But Not to National Museums’ all echo the apprehensiveness and fear felt by many museum directors and staff towards the financial liabilities that would arise in the wake of free admissions (2006). Freudenheim, in particular, highlights a certain naivety in government’s attitude towards the workings of national museums; citing in particular the government’s inveterate insistence upon the increasing of admissions figures no matter what the effects of this upon either museum costs or the aesthetic museum-experience of visitors.

The government’s position, and its obvious delight and sense of fulfilment at increased attendance figures since free admission, is given in a number of documents. Principally, the paper London Cultural Capital – Realising the Potential of a World Class City published by the London’s Museums Agency (2004) establishes the governments intentions and strategy towards the future of London’s museums. The paper gives fifteen government policies, under the headers value, access, creativity, and excellence by which the government’s museum strategies will be delivered in future. The government, in association with the National Lottery, has written in several places of its satisfaction at the results of the introduction of the policy of free admissions. In particular, the paper ‘One Year On – Visitor Numbers Soaring At National Museums Following Abolition Of Entry Charges‘ published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, 1 January 2003 gives a sense of the euphoria and achievement perceived by the government. Also, the paper ‘Two Years On – Free Admission to National Museums Draws Even Bigger Crowds‘ again published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on 9 March 2003 gives much the same impression. In each of these documents the government stresses its loyalty and commitment to the principle of free admission and to the extension of this principle as far as possible. At the same time, there is little reference in these documents to the nervousness and trepidation felt by museum directors and managers about the future prosperity of the institutions they preside over. It is in this absence of self-criticism, that the reader perceives the origins of the discrepancy between that government’s perception of the financial condition of London’s museums and the reality of their condition. The possible consequences of such as disparity increasing, and of a competition gap widening between London’s museums and those in America and Europe, are well delineated in Cain’s article ‘Museums and the Future of Collecting’ (2005).

In short, the extant literature paints the present picture of London’s museums as a time of grave uncertainty with respect to their financial predicament and thus their world-class legacies and reputations. These sources also acknowledge the considerable benefits already brought by lottery funding and free admission, and point also to the great future potential of these schemes; they instil in the reader at the same time a warning that idealism must be checked by pragmatic considerations before London’s museums can attain the future they deserve.

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Section 3: Methodology

The principal method of primary data collection for this research was the interviewing, by way of questionnaires, of several senior figures at five of London’s leading museums. The decision to interview senior management and directing figures, rather than members of the public, had the obvious advantage that the answers obtained would be the specialist opinions of people with an intimate knowledge of the subject matter of the research. Members of the general public, especially those living in London, often show much interest and curiosity towards the subject of the prosperity and fate of London’s museums, but at the same time are not professionals with direct experience of the key debates and consultations.

To arrange these five meetings, the researcher wrote fifteen letters to major London museums. Of these fifteen requests for an interview, seven positive responses were returned to the interviewer, of which five eventually furnished the opportunity of an interview. In requesting these interviews letters were sent to the director of each museum, irregardless of the sex, race, or religion of the person. Of the five eventual interviewees, three were men and two women; their ages ranged between forty-one and sixty-three.

At the behest of interviewees, all of whom preferred to speak off the record due to the sensitivity of many of the issues of discussion, neither their names nor their titles are given in the final publication of this research. Thus, in the transcripts presented in the appendix of this research, each of the five interviewees are referred to as ‘a senior figure’ and ascribed a coded number following the simple scheme 001-002-003-004-005.

This sensitivity, arising from the various present tensions over funding between London museums, the HLF and the government, clearly raises certain ethical questions about the present research. Above all, is it permissible to expose senior figures to possible embarrassment or worse, for the sake of the findings of this research. In answer to this question, the present researcher would say two things: firstly, that explicit consent for every interview was obtained by the researcher before the commencement of each interview, thus all interviewees participated at their own volition; secondly, following Utilitarian principles of seeking ‘the greatest good for the greatest number’, the researcher decided that the possible positive benefits and improved public understanding of the topic that might arise from this research could justify the slight ethical risks associated with the carrying-out of this research. It is a belief of the researcher that by informing the academic community and the public of the chief issues and controversies now affecting London’s museums, that the debate generated from this knowledge will lead to greater consideration on all sides being shown towards the preservation and improvement of London’s world-famous reputation as a museum centre.

A number of criticisms may be levelled at the methodology discussed in this section. Firstly, it might be asked, with some justification, whether or not the interviewing of only five museum figures can produce results characteristic of attitudes and opinions of London’s museums as a whole. Naturally, critics might ask how the researcher can infer from the collection of five opinions general trends governing the many hundreds and thousands of senior figures working for the management of London’s museums. Likewise, why does the report interview exclusively figures from museum management and not from the government or from the National Lottery? In response to the first question the reply must be that with limited resources and limited time, it seemed most prudent to the researcher to restrict the field of investigation to a narrow focus, where the results obtained could be subjected to a significant scrutiny and analysis — something which resource constraints would have rendered impossible had the field been extended much wider. Moreover, whilst only five persons were interviewed, these figures preside over London’s five largest museums which between them see greater attendance figures and government investment than all of London’s other museums combined. Thus the opinions of the figures interviewed actually are far more representative of London as a whole than would first appear likely. In response to the second question, a similar answer might be given: only museum directors were interviewed because they are the persons with the most intimate knowledge of the matters under discussion. If the present researcher were in future to extend the present research, then the opinions of others outside of museum management would certainly have to be included. As it was, the present report incorporates sufficient expert opinion, to make its findings relevant to the better academic and public understanding of the issues affecting the future of London’s museums.

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Section 4: Results & Analysis

The aim of the present research was to investigate the likely future of London’s museums; this research was undertaken by way of interviews with five senior figures from five leading London museums. From the information gained from the literature review undertaken by the researcher it seemed most appropriate to question these museum directors on five main subjects: lottery funding, the advent of free admission, international competition, future strategy and the employment of new researchers and curators. The expectation of the researcher was that the general opinion of these senior figures would have initially been one of welcome to the proposed lottery funding, but that this initial welcome would have turned to mild scepticism in the wake of free admission and the provocation of severe uncertainty following the extra costs incurred by increased visitor numbers and lesser-than-expected lottery investment. What opinions then did these results produce in actuality?

(1) Lottery Funding. The five interviewed senior figures unanimously (5 of 5) welcomed the original government proposals to aid London’s and Britain’s museums through funds made available by the national lottery. Museums such as the British Museum, with its newly built Great Court, was given considerable lottery funding amounting to ?47 million (Selwood & Davies, 2003: p.3). Museum directors were quick to concede that such developments would have been impossible without these lottery funds — or an extremely large, but unlikely, private donation. In short, museum directors were united in their praise for proposed lottery investment.

(2) Free Admission. The chief feature of the respondents’ answers to questions posed about free admission were twofold: on the one hand, respondents welcomed the opportunity to open their doors to ever greater numbers of people, thus disseminating cultural and scientific experience as far as possible; on the other hand, words such as ‘apprehension’ and ‘scepticism’ were used liberally by nearly all of those interviewed. What most strongly prompted this apprehension was the ‘twining’ of free admission introduction with the compensation for lost revenue by lottery funding. Directors confided that when allowed to charge admission fees their museums did at least have a degree of self-sufficiency and so could determine their own future strategies and successes. But lottery funding conditioned by the introduction of free admission policies has subjected London’s museums to a profound financial vulnerability and loss of independence.

These museums, now depend upon the HLF for often as much a half of their income; if controversies or difficulties arise with the lottery directors or with the ministers directing them, then the museums are forced to abide by outside instruction and policy. Moreover, the great fear that lottery investment would not be sustained appears to have come true for all of the five museums whose for whom senior figures were interviewed for this research. So too, insufficient lottery funding has been made available to compensate for the extra costs incurred by the vastly increased visitor numbers experienced after the introduction of free admission. Interviewees hinted at a certain naivety and lack of preparation on the part of ministers and lottery managers with respect to the projected visitor increases following free admission and the costs that would be incurred by this.

(3) International Competition. On the question of international competition there was further unanimity of opinion amongst the senior figures interviewed. Each respondent vigorously asserted that the collections of the museums he or she presided over as a manager were the equal of any equivalent museum anywhere in the world. Managers from the British Museum and the Natural History Museum, not to mention others, could rightly boast that their reputations were pre-eminent amongst international museums. At the same time, three of the figures interviewed (the exceptions presided over specialist museums with little international competition) confided that many American and European museums simply had far better funding and so purchasing-power than their own London museums. For the immediate future, this gap will mean that these international museums will continue to purchase new pieces of exceptional public interest whilst London’s museums will have to remain content with their existing impressive but static collections. In the medium- and long-term future, if this purchasing disparity continues then a qualitative difference will emerge ever more clearly between the museums of London and those of America and Europe.

(4) Recruitment. When embarking upon the present research the researcher did not anticipate that ‘the difficulty of recruiting new researchers and curators’ would be a major concern to London’s museums regarding their futures. Nonetheless, as the searching through the literature review proceeded and as the topic came into better perspective this problem seemed to be a central concern for several of the major London museums. Specialist museums like the V & A and the Theatre Museum do not, according to results, face such problems; but senior figures from the Natural History Museum, the British Museum and the Science museum may all face crises over recruitment in the near future. According to these figures the recruitment of new staff has been a subject neglected by the government in their ceaseless quest for higher admission figures and in ‘measuring the value’ of a museum-goers’ experience. The science museum can no longer attract top scientists and researchers because they are paid so little: ?20,000 as a starting salary, peaking at ?50,000 ( ). Commercial companies and American museums offer far better salaries and improved facilities. If this ‘brain-drain’ continues for much longer, then it may prove to be the greatest of all dangers to the future prosperity of London’s museums. These institutions are sustained not only by their pieces and specimens, but by the care and expertise of their curators and other staff; it is this expertise and the respect that arises from it that gives these institutions their world-class reputations. If this expertise evaporates, then no amount of increased admission or funding or improved strategy will protect the legacies and future prosperity of London’s museums. But towards the re-capture and enticement of these experts the government and the lottery fund seem somewhat blinded; given the extent to which London’s museums now rely upon government funding, it is precisely with the government that the responsibility lies for providing sufficient funding for home-grown and international experts to crave as they used to the opportunity to work in the prestigious museums of London.

(5) Future Strategy. The senior figures interviewed for this research are nearly as one when they declare that future strategy has to be built around the attainment of financial stability; this is to be sought through an improved, more efficient and more effective relationship with the government and the HLF. A better balance has to be struck between the government’s ardent desire for ever increased admissions and the practical and pragmatic methods by which these extra admissions, dragging with them their extra costs, will be paid for. If a resolution and balancing is not achieved here then the obvious and inevitable path down which London’s museums must slide is that of ever greater debt and so lesser purchasing-power for new pieces and so a general decline in the standing and reputation of London’s museums. The reality of this predicament is brought home, even as this dissertation is written-up, by the announcement today of the London Theatre Museum (BBC, 2006) that they face imminent closure unless a major cash injection from the lottery fund is received. The alternative strategies are these: firstly, an abrupt about-face by the museums whereby they begin to charge for admission. This path is unattractive as there are numerous legislative, ethical and civil obstacles to this policy’s reinstatement. Another alternative is increased public funding from a source other than the lottery; this however looks most unlikely in the short-term. Thus, setting aside the remote chance that a massive private donation will save them, museums must, in their strategising come to agreement with the government about how extra funding from the lottery may be obtained.

In short, the results obtained from this present research point to two things: firstly, that senior figures from the five museums interviewed welcomed in general lottery funding as a means to achieve rejuvenation and restoration; secondly, that this optimism changed to apprehension and tentativeness once it became clear the extent to which lottery funding would be dependant upon free admissions policies. Thirdly, it is obvious from all the interviews, that London’s museums are at a cross-roads and a defining moment in their illustrious history. To the left, is the danger of an ever greater financial disparity caused by increasing visitor figures and inadequate lottery funding; to the right is offered a sound financial structure that will ensure the continuation and prosperity of London’s museums’ world-class reputation.

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Section 5: Conclusion

In the final analysis, it seems mo

Chapter 1 Introduction

The purpose of this chapter is to give an overview of the Front Office department and the yield management. The term “Front Office” was introduced in the US, but now used in worldwide. Front Office is divided into sub-departments namely reception, concierge, switchboard, bellboys, reservations and guest relations. Nevertheless, as hotels vary in size and type, some of these sub-departments may not be present. Despite the size or the type of the establishment, the department is in many ways the “nerves” of the hotel. One reason for this is that the sale of rooms generates more than 50 per cent of revenue and profit of a hotel, thus it is compulsory that Front Office department maximize its sales. For instance it might be through the switchboard, in the process of making reservation over the telephone, by entering the hotel to check-in or to make an inquiry. It clearly depicts that Front Office is a strong marketing tool that generates business for a hotel through guests’ registration. It is the center for guest activity. Front Office is in fact a hotel department where guests check-in, request information about services that the hotel provides and at the end of their stay they settle their bills and check-out. The Front Office as well generates profit or revenue indirectly, for other departments such as restaurant bookings and up-selling of the hotel in general. Normally, up-selling is done by the team members to increase profit by offering other services to the guests. When guests inquire about those services then it is an opportunity for the staffs to persuade them to purchase these facilities. It is important that the department sets goals and objectives to be able to manage and control yield management so as to maximize sales revenue. The Front Office should however have its own mission statement for a successful management system.

Aim:

Planning and evaluating Front Office yield management for a better revenue management and for the success of the department

Objectives:

aˆ?Proposing a solution for an effective communication and how to eliminate all barriers

aˆ?Understanding the purpose of yield management and how to plan, manage and organize in the Front Office department

aˆ?Investigating the link between Front Office Operations and yield management: how it contributes in the department

aˆ?Implementing yield management in Front Office department

aˆ?Making Front Office department successful in controlling and calculating revenue obtaining from up-selling

Problem Statement:

There is an increase in communication barriers interdepartmentally concerning sales revenue. Messages are not passed accordingly to right person, to the right place and at the right time. It is noticed that employees are not convince to do up-selling owing to lack of training facilities and procedures. Thus, expectations are not met which results to a low revenue. The fact that there is misunderstanding, conflicts may arise among staffs and supervisors to make decision on how to increase sales. The time scale does not allow the employees to properly plan, organise and implement their task if managers do not set objectives and guidelines. Finally, owing to a miscalculation or a decrease in revenue and sales, it minimizes the profits.

In general, team members do not take their planning of task into consideration thus result to ineffective, inefficiently and less productive. Updated information is not usually circulated. Thus, outdated data is given to guests concerning the selling price of the products and services at the hotel. If there has been carelessness, guests get compensation, for instance a dinner free of charge on the beach. In somehow, reducing the revenue and sales.

Chapter 2
Front Office department

Front Office department is one of the departments within the rooms division. It is the “heart” center of the hotel and is the most revenue generating. Front Office is a noticeable department in a hotel with the greatest amount of guest contact and highly people orientated. It is designed as the first lasting impression.

The front office functions can be divided into six general areas:

1. Reception

2. Guest Relations

3. Bell service

4. Mail and information / Reservation

5. Concierge

6. Cashiers and night auditors

Front Office Structure

A hotel’s size and objectives determine the organizational structure of the Front Office. (Abbott,P. and Lewry, S. 1993)

A table of Front Office structures is shown below.

[Drawing]Front Office Manager

[Drawing]

Assistant Front Office Manager

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[Text Box][Text Box]

[Drawing]Reservation Manager

[Drawing][Text Box]

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[Text Box][Text Box][Text Box][Text Box][Text Box]

[Drawing]

[Text Box]

Planning and evaluating operations

There are seven management functions that have to be considered when planning and evaluating operations. These points are as follows:

1.Planning

2.Organising

3.Coordinating

4.Staffing

5.Leading

6.Controlling

7.Evaluating

Planning

Planning is an essential function in the success of different office operations. It is a procedure of setting objectives, developing plans and outlining tasks and schedules to accomplish the goals targeted. An effective strategic planning is done for the contribution of a successful operation and to maintain higher or constant revenue in the Front Office operation.

At the stage of planning, the Front Office manager determines the department’s goals and objectives. Therefore, the Front Office manager uses these goals as a guide for planning most specific and measurable objectives. Finally, through these goals, the front office manager determines the strategies and procedures to reach these objectives.

These aims will thus discuss to the Front Office staffs so as to plan and organise their task efficiently for the success of the department.

Organising

After setting the objectives, the Front Office manager organised the work to be done through dividing it among Front Office staffs. When organising the tasks, the work is distributed properly and is to be completed in a given period of time.

Coordinating

Coordination and team spirit are vital. It involves togetherness and using the available resources to attain planned goals.

Staffing

The right persons and experienced ones are recruited. It is important to introduce training to the employees for a better success of the department.

Leading

Leading involves supervising, motivating, training, disciplining and setting an example for the Front Office department. Leading is important to maintain the effectiveness of the tasks.

Controlling

Through controlling, it ensures that the concrete outcomes of operations closely match the plan results. Leading and controlling of task are mostly the duties of the supervisors.

Evaluating

Through evaluating, it determines the extent to which planed goals and objectives are actually attained. Furthermore, it involves appraising and when necessary reviewing or helping to revise Front Office goals.

Moreover, to maintain the successful of the department, every task are planned in advance. The room allocations for arrival of guests are well planned. Before the arrival of guests, the registration card which is a legal form is prepared on the eve of the day as well as concerning the hotel information sheets. The cold towels and the cocktail juice are also prepared in the evening for the arrival of guests on the following day. The departure and arrival check list are prepared one day before. If there are any group arrivals, a planning is done on how to do the check-in. A daily event record is prepared every evening by the Guest Relation Officers; showing all detailed information about arrivals and departures of guests including total guests- in- house. A daily event report is shown in the annex. If there is any early arrival, then, the housekeeping department has to be advised to prepare the room earlier.

Establishing room rates

The Front Office manager allocates to each room category a rack rate. In fact, the Front Liners are expected to sell rooms at rate unless a guest qualifies for an alternative room rate for example airline rate, commercial rate, group rate, day rate, package plan rate, complimentary rate, cooperate rate, promotional rate, incentive rate or family rate.

While establishing room rates management has to consider its operating cost, inflationary factors and competitions. In general, there are three well-known approaches to pricing room:

1)Market condition approach

2)Ruled-of-thumb approach

3)Hubbart formula approach

Market condition approach

Under this approach management look at comparable hotels in the geographical market to verify the prices charging for the same products. Thus, “charge only what the market will accept”. In contrary, this approach is endangered to some drawbacks as it does not take into account the value of the property and the strong sales effort to accomplish.

Ruled-of-thumb approach

In this approach, the rate of a room is a‚¬1 for each a‚¬1000 of construction and furnishing cost per room, assuming a 70% occupancy rate. However, this approach does not consider the inflation term, the contribution of other facilities and services towards the hotel’s desired profitability. The Front Office manager must stay in contact with the General Manager and controller to monitor room rate effectiveness.

Hubbart formula approach

This approach considers operating costs, desired profits and expected number of rooms sold, that is, demand. Generally, this approach lays emphasis on the factors such as operating expenses, desired Return on Investment (ROI) and income from different departments in the hotel; to establish room rates. This method relies on the Front Office to produce income to cover operating expenses, overhead and ROI for the hotel operation.

According to Hubbart formula approach, the procedure of calculating a room rate is shown below:

i.Measuring the hotel’s anticipated profit by multiplying the desired rate of return (ROI) by the holder’s investment.

ii.Measuring pre-tax profits by dividing the anticipated profit by 1 minus hotel’s tax rate.

iii.Measuring fixed charges and management fees. This calculation includes estimating depreciation, interest expense, property taxes, insurances, amortization, building mortgage, land, rent and management fees.

iv.Measuring undistributed operating expenses. This includes estimating administrative and general expenses and energy costs.

v.Assessing non-room operating department income or loss, that is, Food and Beverages department income or loss, telephone department income or loss.

vi.Measuring the required room department income which is the sum of pre-tax profits, operating department losses less other department incomes.

vii.Determining the room department revenue which is the required room department income, plus other room department direct expenses of payroll and related expenses.

viii.Measuring the average room rate by dividing rooms’ department revenue by the expected number of rooms to be sold.

These methods are guidelines only. Room rates must frequently monitored with regard to market conditions of demand and supply.

Furthermore, some more formulae are depicted below:

aˆ?Doubles sold daily = double occupancy rate x total number of rooms x occupancy%

aˆ?Singles sold daily = rooms sold daily – number of double rooms sold daily

aˆ?Singles sold daily x X + doubles sold daily x (X + Y) = (average room rate) x (total number of rooms sold daily)

aˆ?Whereby: X = price of singles; Y = price differential between singles and doubles; X+Y = price of doubles.

Forecasting Room Availability:

Forecasting room availability is to predict the number of rooms available for sale on forthcoming date. The kind of forecasting helps to manage the reservation process, guides the Front Liners for an effective room’s management and is used as occupancy forecast. Therefore, it is useful in attempting and to roster the essential number of staffs for a planned size of a department.

In order to predict room availability, the following information is needed

aˆ?Number of expected room arrivals/ check-ins

aˆ?Number of expected room no-shows

aˆ?Number of expected room walk-ins

aˆ?Number of expected room stayovers

aˆ?Number of expected room overstays

aˆ?Number of expected room check-outs

aˆ?Number of expected room understays

The above mentioned information helps the Front Liners to conduct various daily operational ratios. The formulae to calculate No-show percentage, Walk-ins percentage, Overstays percentage and Understays percentage are as follows:

i.No-shows percentage = (Number of no-show rooms) divided by (Number of rooms reserved)

ii.Walk-ins percentage = (Number of walk-in rooms) divided by (Sum of the number of rooms arrivals)

iii.Overstays percentage = (Number of overstay rooms) divided by (Number of expected check-outs)

iv.Understays percentage = (Number of understay rooms) divided by (Number of expected check-outs)

The predicted number of rooms available for sale for upcoming date can be likely successful by using the formula shown below:

Forecasted number of rooms available for sale = Total number of guests rooms -Number of out of order rooms – Number of stayovers rooms – Number of reserved rooms + Number of no-show rooms + Number of understay rooms – Number of overstay rooms

Under non-automated and semi-automated systems, total of rooms available for sale forecasts are measured upon demands and needs which vary from three-day to ten-day forecasts. Nevertheless, under fully automated systems, forecasts are done at any instant for imminent period of time. For instance, on opera system, room forecasts are already registered and considered, thus eliminating monotonous labour work and human error margins.

Budgeting for Operations

Hotels have to prepare annual budgets, which are profit plans that address all revenue sources and expense items for the next calendar year. Furthermore, the hotel annual operating budget represents against which management can evaluate actual outcomes of operations. In the twelve-monthly budget preparation process, close coordination efforts of all management personnel are essential. The annual operation of a hotel budget is generally divided into monthly plans which in turn divided into weekly and even daily plans for a better control over the current consequences. In addition, while preparing the Front Office department annual budget, the Front Office manager has to coordinate with the financial department to estimate only rooms’ revenue and related direct expenses. The hotel controller and the General Manager, therefore, have to revise this budget.

Forecasting room revenue

In order to predict room revenue, the Front Office manager considers the historical financial data such as past room revenue, past number of rooms sold, past average daily rate and past occupancy rates. Thus, compare and contrast for a better decision making.

Forecasting direct expenses

Owing to the fact that the Front Office manager is responsible only for his or her department direct expenses, that is, variable costs; the Front Office manager consult past financial data showing variable costs to room revenue ratios, in order to estimate department expenses.

Refining budget plans

If ever the external strong factors change considerably, in an unpredicted way, then the actual operating budgeted figures have to be revised.

Evaluating Front Office Operations

A successful Front Office manager has to continuously evaluate the outcomes of the department activities on a daily, monthly, quarterly and yearly basis. While evaluating, the following items and tools have to be considered:

aˆ?Daily operations report; for example Room move report

aˆ?Occupancy ratios

aˆ?Rooms revenue analysis

aˆ?Hotel income statement; for example Early breakfast sale

aˆ?Rooms division income statement or schedule; for example up-selling of rooms

aˆ?Rooms division budgets report

aˆ?Operating ratios and ratios standards

Daily operations report

This report is also known as the manager’s report, the daily report and the daily revenue report. It encloses a summary of the hotel’s financial activities during a 24 hour period. In addition, it assists as to reconcile cash, bank accounts and revenue and accounts receivable.

Occupancy ratios

Occupancy ratios measure the enhancement of the Front Office in selling the hotel’s guestrooms. Some common ratios that are used in the Front Office department are depicted below:

i.Occupancy percentage = (Number of rooms occupied) divided by (Total number of rooms available for sale)

ii.Multiple occupancy percentage = (Number of rooms occupied by more than one guest) divided by (Total number of rooms occupied)

iii.Average guests per rooms sold = (Total number of guests) divided by (Total number of rooms sold)

iv.Average daily rate = (Total rooms revenue) divided by (Total number of rooms sold)

v.Average rate per guest = (Total rooms revenue) divided by (Total number of guests)

Room revenue analysis

One prime report to succeed control over room revenue is the room rate variance report, that is those rooms that have been sold at rates other than their rack rates, for instance, airline rate, corporate or commercial rates and so on… Another form is the yield statistics, which is the ratio of the current revenue to the sum of the possible potential revenue if all rooms are sold at rack rates.

Formula of Yield statistic is shown below:

Yield statistic = (Actual room revenue) divided by (Potential room revenue)

Hotel income statement

This statement provides vital financial data about the outcomes of hotel operations for a given period of time.

Room division income statement

The room division income statement also known as a schedule has to be referenced on the hotel’s income statement. Furthermore, the room division schedule has to be prepared by the hotel’s financial division not by the hotel’s Front Office accounting agent, that is, the Night Auditors.

Room division budget reports

These reports are monthly budget form comparing to current revenue and expenses figures against budgeted amounts depicted both in Euro values and percentage variances.

Operating ratios

Operating ratios for instance occupancy ratios, yield statisticsaˆ¦ assist managers in evaluating the success of the Front Office operations. In addition, for the ratios to be meaningful they should be compared against proper standards such as prior periods, competitors or budgeted ratios.

Front Office Operations

A need for communication exists to communicate with other managers and staffs working other shifts. The reservation area is the sales department of the Front Office, thus a revenue center for the department in the sense that reservations determine on occupancy levels.

The Front desk staffs must compulsory alert the guests when their credit limit is exceeding. Lastly, the Front Office staff should take the check-out as an opportunity to offer the guest supplementary services; for example, proposing the guest to book a room in the hotel for the future. (Vallen, J.J. 1985)

Night audit, reception and Guest Relation are an essential element of Front Office department and claimed to be revenue generating department. The Guest Relation Officers have to convince the guests to accept upgrades. (Jones, C and Paul, V. 1993). There has to be a control process system to monitor the performance objectives targeted. Furthermore, the Front Office controls its cash or revenue sales.

Interdepartmental Communication

The Front Office staffs cooperate with all departments of the hotel including marketing and sales, housekeeping, food and beverage, banquet, controller, maintenance, security and human resources. Each department has a different kind of communication with the Front liners. These departments view the Front Office as a communication connection in providing guest services. The Front Office is a clearinghouse for communication activities.

Marketing and Sales department

The marketing and sales department depends on the Front Office to provide data on guest histories or concerning guest’s prior visit. The guest history is a valuable resource for marketing and sales as it uses the guest registration information to target marketing campaigns, develop promotions, prepare mailing labels and select appropriate advertising media.

Housekeeping department

Communications between the Front Office and the Housekeeping department is vital as it revolves around room status. Team members of the Housekeeping department provide a room status report to the Front Office department. Thus, follow-up can be done easily through this report.

Food and Beverage department

There are handovers which are used to communicate a charge to a guest’s account. It is essential that the Food and Beverage department communicates with the Front Office department to know the meal plan of the guests. This is to charge the guests accordingly prior to their meal plan they paid for.

Through interdepartmental communication, information is spread out to all the departments so as to communicate effectively for an enhancement situation of the hotel and to increase revenue. It is also essential for a better planning of work.

Intradepartmental communication

Communication within the department is essential for a better planning of work. After planning the goals and objectives for the success of the Front Office operation, it is important that all the Front Liners work together and communicate effectively to deliver a proper task. Through effective communication, the Front Liners may achieve their aims and increase their revenue in the operations. The team spirits and understanding are the prime factors to be considered for the enhancement of the Front Office department. There has to be an interaction between the Front Office manager, the supervisors and the Front Liners so as to determine the root of the problem and therefore find solutions to remedy the situations. Interdepartmental exchange of information is crucial to attain goals and objectives.

Barriers resulting to a decrease in sales revenue

Decrease in sales revenue leads to unsuccessful operations of the hotel. There is lack of co-operation between departments which results to barriers of communication. A decrease in arrival of tourists results to a negative outcome concerning a raise in revenue. That is, a low demand leads to low revenue for instance, a decrease in room sales, products and services revenue. The problem root comes primarily from the reservation department. There may be barriers in departments such as Financial department, Food and Beverage department and housekeeping department relating to sales. For instance, if a guest has an Half Board voucher and that on the opera system it is All-inclusive it creates confusion to the departments concerned. The All-inclusive minibar and that of the Half Board is completely different. If the Housekeeping, Food and Beverage and Financial departments are not advised or change the guest’s meal plan on the system by the Front Liners, may create loss in revenue. Lack of training procedures concerning up-selling will not increase sales revenue. The lack of skills does not convince the employees to make upselling. There may as well conflicts in different tariffs charged to guests for example; a Front Liner may charge a guest Rs 200 instead of a‚¬200 resulting to a huge decrease in sales revenue.

Ways to remedy the barriers relating to a decrease in sales revenue

Through effective communication, there may be an increase in sales revenue and a successful department. It is important to maximize rates when demand is high but if demand is low, special promotional package has to offer to guests to increase the demand. The Front Office manager has to well-trained the Front Liners to understand the meaning of yield management and how to increase sales or ensure sales revenue. The Front Office management has to set objectives to increase sales revenue and thus discuss with various departments of the hotel. Through these strategies, there is co-operation among the departments for successful revenue generated.

Front Liners have to communicate effectively and efficiently to departments such as Food and Beverage, Financial and Housekeeping concerning the guests’ meal plan.

Training allows team members to be successful in delivering good sales techniques. It is vital that each department provides training facilities and procedures to the employees so as to learn the methods to increase the sales revenue. The employees should be product knowledgeable; thus promote more profits and the staffs have to attentive when taking payment from guests. Questions have to be asked properly concerning the booking for accommodation and meal plan when guest reserved a room. It is important to keep a record concerning the financial transactions so as the Financial department may evaluate the ways to remedy the barriers relating to a decrease in sales revenue.

“It’s not always easy and often takes a lot of determination. But making an effort to remove the obstacles – tangible and intangible – that stand in our way, can be the key to building relationship that really works” – by Eric Garner

Yield Management

Yield Management is a demand forecasting technique used to maximize room revenue that the hotel industry borrowed from the airlines. It is based on the economics of supply and demand, which means that price rise when demand is strong and drop when demand is weak. Thus, the purpose of yield management is to increase profitability. Yield management allocates the right type of aptitude to the right customer at the right price so as to maximize revenue or yield per available room. (Kimes, S.E, 1989)

Yield management will monitor reservations and based on previous trends. Existing demand determines the number and type of rooms to sell at what price to obtain the maximum revenue. The yield management program will monitor the demand and supply and recommend the number and type of rooms to sell for a given day including the price for which to sell each room.

Planning sales revenue

The Front Office plays a vital role in promoting sales and the Front Office manager has to develop and implement a plan to the utmost to increase sales opportunities to the Front Office agents. This plan focus on areas of promotions, developing objectives and procedures, incentive programs, training program for staffs, budgets and tracking systems for employee feedback and profitability. Moreover, planning yield management includes setting up objectives, evaluating alternatives, drawing up budgets and developing an evaluation tool for feedback. The plan has to be discussed with the General Manager, department managers and Front Liners from different department to attain goals and objectives. The team members have to ensure that the profitable plan is accordingly developed.

According to Narula, (Feb 1987), some goals were provided to the Front Office employees to increase sales. The following are depicted below

aˆ?Sell rooms to the guests who have not make prior reservations.

aˆ?Upgrade is to be made to the guests so as to boost the customers to purchase higher priced product or service; to those guests having former reservations.

aˆ?Maintain the record of the rooms.

aˆ?Convey information about the product facilities available in the premises for sale, for instance, Food and Beverage and other facilities. The objective of the Font Office employees is to sell all facilities and benefits available at the hotel.

aˆ?Ensure that the maximum revenue is generated from the sale of rooms by prominent a stability between overbooking and a full house.

aˆ?Achieve guest feedback

Planning can only be started if there an increase of communication between Front Liners and Marketing and Sales department. It is essential to formulate an effective marketing strategy when there is a change in the market conditions. The eventual goal of a sales-oriented Front Office is to increase revenue from room sales, Food and Beverage sales and sales in various departments. The Front Office and other departments of the hotel have to plan on how much to increase revenue to accomplish the objectives set. Before decision making, several questions have to ask for a better planning of revenue management. Each moment new objectives has to plan for future months to generate revenue.

When developing and implementing a program to increase sales activities, the Front Office manager along with other department managers and employees, have to identify products and services to promote. A list of services and products to be promoted is shown in the annex.

Evaluating sales – Yield management in Front Office Operations

The Front Office team members have to determine which concepts to produce in order to increase sales re

One of the world’s leading operators of luxury hotels, Four Seasons, renovated George V and operated it as Four Seasons Hotel George V Paris in 1999, which is its first property in France. George V was opened in 1928 and since that has been a landmark which is located in the Triangle d’Or (golden triangle). In “Four Seasons Goes to Paris” case study shows how Four Seasons developed the diversity and adapted to French market, with the Four Seasons outstanding standards.

The purpose of this report is to analyse how Four Seasons, a Canadian company adapted the big cultural difference, also to be able to apply and explain the management principles identified in the case study and the management strategies in today’s reality. Furthermore, by understanding how the management adapt to become the French employer and what the company core values were implemented in Four Seasons team, in order to know how the management stand out in this process. Finally, comparing to Four Seasons years of management in Paris how does the current internal and external environment affect the managers to be more entrepreneurial.

Cultural awareness, Adaptation and Management Changes

“Cultural awareness can be thought of as internalized attitudinally insights about those common understandings held by groups that dictate the predominant values, attitudes, beliefs and outlooks of the individual.” (Adler, 1986:31) Four Seasons opened its first property in Paris and it was a huge challenge for the management to go into the local.

According to the case study, French is characterized by cultural researchers as having Polychromic Culture, which means they consider the importance of human relationships and they prefer building lifetime relationships. On the contrary, Americans are much more easygoing to develop short-term relationships. French do different tasks at the same time usually, but their attention can be taken away very easily. Additionally, the management explained that “there is simply an incredible pride in being French” and “the French have a very emotional way of doing things”. They cannot keep the standards and do not respect the Golden rules as it is too American as well as changing plans often because their decisions sometimes are unpredictable and not based on any reasons. For the management has to adjust to the French regulations especially in labor policy regarding to the staff working hours and conditions.

David Crowl, noted that “each hotel is tailor made” and adapted to its national environment. Four Seasons have learned across borders from different countries and properties, trying to incorporate the native elements inside the property. Richey, the president of Richey International, which was hired to audit service quality and he felt that Four Seasons adapted to the local market very successfully from a design perspective at the first place. Also they understand the national idiosyncrasies, business culture and labor laws in order to become a French employer.

Besides, Four Seasons hired Didier Le Calvez to be the General Manager of George V. He had 25 years working experience outside France and he acquired patience and tolerance to prepare the hotel opening. Four Seasons had assigned a 35-person task force which composed of experienced Four Seasons staff to help Le Calvez and his teams, to be “Four Seasonize” as well as making sure that the opening will be succeed. It helps to establish norms, attitudes and beliefs by reflecting the operating needs and is a good way for communicating the right information to all staff.

In addition, the management implemented the 35-hour workweek at George V in order to meet the spirit of French law. Besides, starting “direct line” meeting for General Manager with managers, supervisors and employees in groups of 30 once a month, in order to promote communication and address the problems.

It is very important for staff to be aware of different national and organizational culture because management is a process of coordinating work activities with the management skills in order to complete the work efficiently and effectively with and through people. (Robbins and Decenzo, 2008) It enables to work well with other people both in a group and individually, as hospitality is a people industry and about interaction with people from different culture, language and beliefs, communication can be improved by developing and understanding the cultural awareness Besides, a successful management for today should be able to be flexible, create ethical work environments and exhibit entrepreneurial skills when facing the changes. As we are not all the same and everyone is unique, we have to recognize the similarities and differences of each individual us, in order to achieve the same goal for the company.

Instilling the Core values into the team

Core values are “operating philosophies or principles that guide an organization’s internal conduct as well as its relationship with the external world.” (businessdictionary.com, 2010) It is important for stakeholders of the organization because it is a performance guide and clarification of what behaviour and attitude should be performed. According to Sharp, founder and CEO of Four Seasons, he mentioned that the reason for their success is no secret. It comes down to one single principle that transcends time and geography, religion and culture. It’s the Golden Rule – the simple idea that if you treat people well, the way you would like to be treated, they will do the same. (Fourseasons.com, 2010)

Sharp emphasized that “The Golden Rule is the key to the success of the firm”. It is not only a positive belief that provides consistently exceptional service and “just for you” to the guests, but also is a monitor to the employees and helps to shape relationships between the guests and staff. Base on the Golden Rule, the management needs to stand out by directing the activities of other people in the company with the functions of management, which is a “process have generally been condensed to the basic four: planning, organizing, leading and controlling” (Robbins and Decenzo, 2008:7)

Planning

It is a process to establish an overall strategy for achieving the goal of organization and helps to remind the staff what is the most important. (Robbins and Decenzo, 2008). The management mentioned the Four Seasons is a family and completes with rules, traditions and tough love. In order to provide consistently exceptional “just for you”, the Golden Rule was established to guide the family. The behaviour of all staff over the world were expected to follow the seven Four Seasons “Service Culture Standards” (Refers to Appendix I), Departmental Sample Core Standards and Four Seasons Goals, Beliefs and Principles. (http://www.fourseasons.com/about_us/service_culture) They are the foundation of the organizational goals and it shapes the relationships between staff and guests, as well as enriches the service culture.

Organizing

Structure of the Organization

The responsibility of the general manager is supervising the day-to-day operations of the property and the regional management structure of the company (Refers to Appendix II) is the most important of its ability to maintain and deliver “the highest and most consistent service standards in a cost-effective manner”.

Hire the right person with right attitude

Four Seasons is trying to look deep inside of the applicants in the selection process in terms of finding the potential employees with right attitude. Refer to Frederick Taylor, the “father of scientific management” believed that increased efficiency could be achieved by selecting the right people for the job and training them to do it precisely in the one best way. Hire the right person with right attitude and proper training, not only increasing the strength of the property, but also controlling relationship between input and output in order to minimize the resource costs.

Leading

“When managers motivate employees, direct the activities of others, select the most effective communication channel, or resolve conflicts among members, they are leading.” (Robbins and Decenzo, 2008:8) Le Calvez, carried out some programs for motivation such as the invitation to the employees and their families for an open event about three times a year, in order to break down the barriers and remind them the pleasantness of working. Furthermore, achievement was celebrated by launching employee-of-the-month and employee-of-the-year programs to let the staff understand the recognition and the work speaks for them.

Controlling

The basic controlling process is the responsibility for monitoring, comparing and correcting. (Robbins and Decenzo, 2008) The management of Four Seasons hired both external and internal auditors to audit and evaluate the service quality. It is very essential because the standards of Four Seasons “are the foundation for all our properties” and “it is based on which we build” according to a senior manager noted.

Therefore, the top management team gathers every morning for reflection and reviews in order to go over the mistakes, which have been done unprofessional and comparing to the company’s goal and service standards, then identify and address the problem for improvement.

How does Current Internal and External Environment affect managers to become more entrepreneurial

Compared to the year of Four Seasons management, it is very important for the current managers to be more innovative and creative, as well as flexible in order to become entrepreneurial to both change and adapt the changes.

Current Internal Environment Analysis

Management Change

Le Calvez worked with Four Seasons for 18 years and 8 years General Manager and Vice President in George V, he joined Shangri-La in 2007. He was credited for the renovation and his leadership while facing the adaptation and challenges.

In my opinion, it effected the work motivation of the managers but they should be able to adapt the changes all the time. “The hotel’s culture is embodied in the General Manager,” An F.S. George V manager noted and it is a opportunity to establish innovative ideas and new promotional strategy in order to create a new hotel’s culture.

Ownership

Four Seasons agreed to be taken private in 2007 and was sold to the company’s chief executive officer Sharp, as well as investment companies, one is Microsoft founder and Chairman, Bill Gates and the other by the owner of Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, the prince owned around 20% of Four Seasons already. (Usatoday.com, 2007) Gates and Prince Alwaleed invested on Four Seasons and there are opportunities to expand the Four Seasons and increase market share in other countries, where is the needs of luxury hotels and resorts. In this case the managers should work ambitious and pre-active to do market research in order to get the chance of promotions and working in another country.

Current External Environment Analysis

Political

There are more upcoming infrastructure including convention centres, highway, mobile portal and urban planning. Furthermore, Paris is strongly promoted as a sustainable tourism destination as long as global warming becomes serious. It is also the new trend to “being green” in these few years, hence it provides the opportunity to explore Paris in eco-friendly way and helps to create an image of “Paris is a green capital” (parisinfo.com, 2010)

As the French government promotes Paris as a green destination and it is part of the trend of tourism, the managers can create eco-friendly offerings and policies in order to enrich the reputation of Four Season through this opportunity.

Economical

“Even with a tax rate of 43% in 2008, France is the fifth most attractive place to start a business.” (industryweek.com, 2010) Therefore, the goods’ price in France is very stable as inflation rate is about 0.9 – 2% in these 5 years. The GDP contracted 2.1% in 2009 due to the financial crisis and there was world tourism collapse because of the Iceland volcano eruption in first quarter of 2010. Hence, there is a big lost since tourism is the largest income in Paris.

Paris is the capital and gathers with most of the culture and technology of France, the manager can through this opportunity to more establish innovative conference package and facilities as well as eco-friendly meeting offer to fulfil the new demands. On the other hand, the managers can learn how and what to do during the financial crisis especially know what strategy to do when the hotel was in low occupancy rate and how to reduce the extra costs and arrange the work schedule properly in order to survive in bad financial situation.

Socio Cultural

Paris is well-known as a floury city but full of artistic and cultural atmosphere. There are 25,000 artists living and working in Paris because of its historic and romantic atmosphere. (Hurriyetdailynews.com, 2010)

The managers will increase the cooperation with company which provides luxury city tour service as well as the training of the concierge service since the tourists come to Paris mostly for culture and sightseeing in order to create more revenue base on the advantage of the location and outstanding service.

Technological

France Telecom Group Orange Business Services and Disneyland Paris have built the wireless bar code of mobile messaging services for the visitors. (Technow.com, 2009) In meanwhile, the government is planning to increase building mobile portal. (Proximamobile.fr, 2009) It is very innovative and convenient and the visitors can access to the useful travel information.

The managers can cooperate with the telecom companies about implement the new hotel wireless system in order to attract new target markets and turn it into the new unique selling point. Then the guests will be able to find the information of the property as well as the tourist information through this innovative service.

Conclusion

To conclude, Four Seasons has grown effectively over half a century with the exceptional and unparalleled service. The success of Four Season all bases on a simple idea – Golden Rules “If you treat people well, the way you would like to be treated, they will do the same.” Likewise, Four Season George V has been renovated successfully through by understanding the cultural awareness and adapting to the local market with universal standards. The successful management is not only required the qualifications but also be able to take accountability for decisions and policies, with the positive attitude, exhibit entrepreneurial skills and flexibility to create ethical work environments. Besides, the internal and external environment factors need to be recognized and overcome by the management skills. Hence, the spirit of the Four Seasons consistent personalize service will be highlighted perfectly.

Appendix

Appendix I – The Seven Four Seasons “Service Culture Standards”

(Sources: Four Seasons Goes to Paris Case Study)

SMILE Employees will actively greet guests, SMILE, and speak clearly in a friendly manner.

EYE Employees will make EYE contact, even in passing, with an acknowledgment.

RECOGNITION All staff will create a sense of RECOGNITION by using the guest’s name, when known, in a natural and discreet manner.

VOICE Staff will speak to guests in an attentive, natural, and courteous manner, avoiding pretension, and in a clear VOICE.

INFORMED All guest contact staff will be well INFORMED about their hotel and their product, will take ownership of simple requests, and will not refer guests elsewhere.

CLEAN Staff will always appear CLEAN, crisp, well groomed, and well fitted.

EVERYONE EVERYONE, everywhere, all the time, show their care for our guests.

Appendix II – Four Seasons Reporting Structure

(sources: Four Seasons Goes to Paris Case Study)

Regional
Vice Presidents
Hotel
General Managers
Regional Marketing Director
Area Director of Finance
Regional Human Resource Director
Supporting

Tourism industry is one of the major industries of the world. Various sub-sectors of this industry have been developing special relationships among themselves to eliminate competition and cost. Tourism is an important part of economic life and is closely associated with services like travel, food and accommodation. A significant part of human activity is connected with tourism. We can consider the structure of tourism industry in a form in which certain countries offer better destination, quality, and improved programmes with innovations laced with ideas of establishing product differentiation.

The aim of this paper is to provide a practical approach towards the satisfaction pattern of foreign tourist behavior towards Indian tourism. This paper also depicts a clear study of behavioral understanding of foreign tourist which is presented through a qualitative research framework. Findings highlight the satisfaction level of foreign tourists with respect to Indian tourism. Gap is evaluated between satisfaction and dissatisfaction, and strategies to enhance Indian tourism are suggested for future to create a differentiation.

KEY WORDS: Tourism, customer’s satisfaction, differentiation.

INTRODUCTION:

Tourism is travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who “travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for more than twenty-four (24) hours and not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited”.

Tourism is an industry that operates on a massively broad scale: it embraces activities ranging from the smallest sea-side hotel; to air-lines, multi-national hotel chains and major international tour operators. Originally, non-traditional industries such as tourism emerged as a solution to strike a balance between ecology and industry. The tourism industry is now one of the largest sectors earning foreign exchange for the exchequer. In the face of such benefits, many countries have started assigning due weight age to the tourism industry in their national development agenda.

The Holistic view of Tourism Industry in India:

India has been ranked the “best country brand for value-for-money” in the Country Brand Index (CBI) survey conducted by Future Brand, a leading global brand consultancy. India also claimed the second place in CBI’s “best country brand for history”, as well as appears among the top 5 in the best country brand for authenticity and art & culture, and the fourth best new country for business. India made it to the list of “rising stars” or the countries that are likely to become major tourist destinations in the next five years, led by the United Arab Emirates, China, and Vietnam. India attracted about 4 million foreign tourists in 2006 that spent US$8.9 billion. The tourism industry in India generated about US$100 billion in 2008 and that is expected to increase to US$275.5 billion by 2018 at a 9.4% annual growth rate. The Ministry of Tourism is the nodal agency for the development and promotion of Tourism in India. It maintains the Incredible India campaign.

However, India’s tourism sector currently lags behind less endowed countries and faces serious challenges including shortage of hotel rooms and security of foreign tourists. In 2007, there were only 25,000 tourist-class hotel rooms in the whole of India. Among other factors hindering the growth of the tourism industry in India are stringent visa requirements and congested airports. Despite short- and medium-term setbacks, tourism revenues are expected to surge by 42% from 2007 to 2017.

Despite some upheavals, the upward trend in tourism is noticed almost everywhere. Terrorism, threats of wars and economic problems have not been able to harm the industry except for short periods. The overall global picture of tourism arrivals and revenues has been quite good everywhere. The basic spark for tourism comes from the quest for knowledge of different cultures and some illusive or real charms of distant destinations. Adventurous spirit acts as a magnetic pull for many people. Time and resources permitting, they want to leave their places of residence intermittently.

This gene of curiosity and favorable factors like politico-economic developments and technological change leading to increase in speed and comfort of travel has brought about a revolution in the tourist activity. After the stalemate of World War II, many countries worked hard to improve their infrastructure facilities for the tourists. The laissez faire tourism policy of leaving the job to bureaucrats or clerks was given up in favor of scientific management with high productivity and efficiency.

In several countries, a proper management of the tourism sector was undertaken and an intensive study of different aspects of innovation tourism was carried out. Some tourism inducing factors like favorable government policies, higher incomes, more holidays and leave opportunities have been conducive to the growth of tourism. People want to move out because of the increasing stress at work and tension and also because of the desire to get away from a polluted atmosphere. Social and seasonal pressures too, generate a short term feeling of the need for abandonment, peaceful relaxation or recuperation. It could be also escapism or an adventurous idea. Each situation gives rise to different types of tourists.

Marketing of tourism and tourist / consumer behavior:

Tourism is a service sector which earns a substantial foreign exchange to developing countries. In India, Kerala is one of the important destinations for the international tourists with its unique nature beauty with backwaters, mountains and beaches. To make the tourism a great success one has to take advantage of the modern technology to full extent. Present paper is an attempt to market tourism by adapting the service marketing approach for achieving great success. Being a service product it has to adopt Service marketing principles. This process is explained through the service triangle.

(SERVICE MARKET TRIANGLE)

a) Company:

The company in the Tourism Sector can be the Central Government, the State tourism Corporations, Tour Operators such as SOTC, ITDC, etc. The company carries out ‘External Marketing’ as well as ‘Internal Marketing’

External Marketing: It makes promises to the customers, for e.g. the Malaysian government’s advertisement “Malaysia, Truly Asia” that promises a veritable cultural paradise to the customer.

Internal Marketing: The Company enables the Providers to fulfill the promises made by it to the customers. For example, the Malaysian Government maintains the local transportation within the country, maintains the tourist spots such as KL Towers, etc.

b) Providers:

The Providers include all the entities that finally fulfill the Company’s promise to the Customers. They undertake ‘Interactive Marketing’, because they are in touch with the final customer. Thus in the case of the Malaysian government, this would include the transportation providers (Malaysian Airlines, Air India, local bus transportation, local trains in Kuala Lumpur, car and two-wheeler rentals), the different hotels within Malaysia (Tanjam Putri), souvenir outlets at tourist areas, tourist spots (Genting highland, KL Towers, Twin Towers, etc.), restaurants (KFC Joints, Mary Brown, Pizza Hut), etc.

c) Customers:

These are the end users of the final service delivered by the providers. The satisfaction and dissatisfaction will depend upon the efficiency of the delivery in the service process as well as the promises kept by the service providers. EX. If jet Airways promises to reach a particular destination on a given time, the satisfaction of travelers will depend upon the timely arrival of that flight.

Applications of the Gaps Model:

Perceived service quality can be defined as, according to the Gaps model, the difference between consumers’ expectation and perceptions which eventually depends on the size and the direction of the four gaps concerning the delivery of service quality on the company’s side (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, Berry, 1985).

Customer Gap = f (Gap 1, Gap 2, Gap 3, Gap 4)

The magnitude and the direction of each gap will affect the service quality. For instance, Gap 3 will be favourable if the delivery of a service exceeds the standards of service required by the organization, and it will be unfavourable when the specifications of the service delivered are not met.

First of all the model clearly determines the two different types of gaps in service marketing, namely the customer gap and the provider gaps. The latter is considered as internal gaps within a service firm. This model really views the services as a structured, integrated model which connects external customers to internal services between the different functions in a service organization. Important applications of the model are as follows:

The 10 determinants of service quality (Parasuraman, Zeithaml, Berry, 1985)

1. The gaps model of service quality gives insights and propositions regarding customers’ perceptions of service quality.

2. Customers always use 10 dimensions to form the expectation and perceptions of service quality.

3. The model helps predict, generate and identify key factors that cause the gap to be unfavourable to the service firm in meeting customer expectations.

Thus, Perception, expectation and delivery are three basic features on which the success of Tourism depends. Knowledge sharing, change and innovation in human societies, as well as economic renaissance have much to do with tourism, which is accompanied by a cross of experiences, social movements, nascent explorations, interaction and coordination of a variety of social system. A tourist is basically interested in a well satisfying experience at a tourist destination. His decision starts with a conglomeration of perception and expectation in the context of the place to be visited. An understanding of a tourist journey can be highly revealing if we can carry out an analysis of three basic factors associated with a tourist. These are his perception, expectation and delivery of the tour.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

The proposed paper has the following intended objectives:

To identify how foreign tourists influences the Indian tourism.

To envisage the attitude of foreign tourist about Indian tourism.

To suggest strategies to bridge the gap between expectation of tourist and delivery process.

HYPOTHESIS:

Following hypothesis were set for this study:

1. H1: Safety and security is an important factor in foreign tourism

2. H2: Foreign tourists experience overall satisfaction from their visit to India

3. H3: India’s rich diversity in culture plays a major role for attracting foreign tourist

RESEARCH DESIGN USED:

In this case, a descriptive research and causal research design study is used to study the relationships in question. Descriptive research facilitates the study to obtain accurate and complete information regarding a concept or a situation or a practice. The objective of a descriptive research revolved around who, what, when and how of a topic. Causal research facilitates the study to know whether one variable is having an effect on another variable.

DATA COLLECTION:

Here, both primary and secondary data is considered. Secondary data is collected from the international and national journals like Journal of Research in tourism, reputed working papers and other reputed journals. Primary data is gathered using Questionnaire as a tool for data collection.

Sampling Technique: Stratified Random Sampling is done for selection of respondents.

Sampling Population- place selected: The respondents were foreign tourists in Mumbai.

Sample Size: Total 100 foreign tourist respondents were surveyed in Mumbai.

DATA ANALYSIS: Data collected through Questionnaire was tabulated using Excel

Personal Details:
1. Gender:

Out of total 100 foreign tourist respondents, 53% respondents were females and 47% were males.

2. Marital Status:

Out of total 100 foreign tourist respondents, 57% respondents were married and 43% were single.

3. Country of domicile:

Out of total 100 foreign tourist respondents, 46% were American, 27% belong to Europe, 17% were from Asia, and 10% were from other country of origin.

4. Purpose of Visit:

Out of total 100 foreign tourist respondents, 50% of respondents visited India for conferences, 37% for holiday/ sight seeing, 7% came to visit friends and relatives, 3% came for studies and 2% came for business purposes.

5. Age:

From the above, it is seen that 40% respondents belong to 41-50 years age group, 33% belong to 31- 40 years age group, 27% belong to 20-30 years age group, none of the respondents were under 20 years and above 51 years.

DETAILED ANALYSIS:

The detailed analysis of the data is given below.

1. Levels of expectation on the following aspects before tour visit to India:
1.1 Information on India as a tourist destination:

The data presented reveals that nearly 57% of foreign tourist respondents had High expectation from Indian tourism and 17% of foreign tourist respondents said that they had very low expectation from Indian tourism.

1.2 Accessibility to India from other parts of the globe (ease of getting visa, availability of flights and trains):

The data presented reveals that nearly 77% (13% very high and 64% high) of foreign tourist respondents had high expectation with respect to accessibility parameter and 3% of foreign tourist respondents said that they had very low expectation for the same.

1.3 Quality of infrastructure, amenities of hotel/ lodge/ guest house/ hostel available:

The data presented reveals that 37% of respondents had very high expectation with respect to Quality of infrastructure, amenities of hotel/lodge/guest house/ hostel facility in India 43% of foreign tourist respondents had high expectation and 3% of foreign tourist respondents said that they had low expectation for the same, 17% of respondents said that they had moderate expectation i.e. neither to high nor to low.

1.4 Quality and variety of food:

The data presented reveals that 27% of respondents had very high expectation with respect to Quality and variety of food in India, 46% of foreign tourist respondents had high expectation and 7% of foreign tourist respondents said that they had low expectation for the same, 20% of foreign tourist respondents said that they had moderate expectation i.e. neither to high nor to low.

1.5 Level of hygienic condition:

The data presented reveals that 20% of foreign tourist respondents had very high expectation with respect to Level of hygienic condition, 40% of foreign tourist respondents had high expectation and 14% of foreign tourist respondents said that they had low expectation for the same, 3% of foreign tourist respondents said that they had very low expectation and 23% of foreign tourist respondents said that they had moderate expectation i.e. neither to high nor to low.

1.6 Postal and Banking facilities with money changing facilities:

The data presented reveals that 30% of respondents had very high expectation with respect to Postal and Banking facilities with money changing facilities available in India, 36% of foreign tourist respondents had high expectation and 7% of respondents said that they had low expectation for the same and 27% of foreign tourist respondents said that they had moderate expectation i.e. neither to high nor to low.

1.7 Travel agents and guide services:

The data presented reveals that 30% of respondents had very high expectation with respect to Travel agents and guide services available, 36% of foreign tourist respondents had high expectation and 7% of foreign tourist respondents said that they had low expectation for the same and 27% of foreign tourist respondents said that they had moderate expectation i.e. neither to high nor to low.

1.8 Safety and Security of Tourist:

The data presented reveals that 30% of foreign tourist respondents had very high expectation with respect to Safety and Security of Tourist in India, 40% of foreign tourist respondents had high expectation and 3% of foreign tourist respondents said that they had low expectation for the same and 27% of foreign tourist respondents said that they had moderate expectation i.e. neither to high nor to low.

1.9 Attitude of local people towards tourist:

The data presented reveals that 27% of respondents had very high expectation with respect to Attitude of local people towards tourist in India, 43% of respondents had high expectation and 10% of respondents said that they had low expectation for the same, 3% of respondents said that they had very low expectation and 17% of respondents said that they had moderate expectation i.e. neither to high nor to low.

1.10 Tourist information centers at prominent locations:

The data presented reveals that 23% of respondents had very high expectation with respect to Tourist information centers at prominent locations in India, 35% of respondents had high expectation and 13% of respondents said that they had low expectation for the same and 29% of respondents said that they had moderate expectation i.e. neither to high nor to low.

1.11 Responsiveness to customer complaints:

The data presented reveals that 20% of foreign tourist respondents had very high expectation with respect to Responsiveness to customer complaints, 40% of foreign tourist respondents had high expectation, 10% of foreign tourist respondents said that they had low expectation for the same and 23% of foreign tourist respondents said that they had moderate expectation i.e. neither to high nor to low.

2. Levels of satisfaction on the following aspects after tour visit to India:
2.1 Information on India as a tourist destination:

The data presented reveals that nearly 43% of respondents were satisfied from Indian tourism after their visit and 13% of respondents said that they were dissatisfied from Indian tourism, 44% of respondents said that they were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied from Indian tourism. None of the respondents were delighted from the same.

2.2 Accessibility to India from other parts of the globe (ease of getting visa, availability of flights and trains):

The data presented reveals that 53% of respondents were satisfied with respect to accessibility parameter to India and only 3% of respondents said that they were delighted for the same. 37% respondents said that they were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with respect to accessibility parameter to India and only 7% said that they were dissatisfied from the same.

2.3 Quality of infrastructure, amenities of hotel/ lodge/ guest house/ hostel available:

The data presented reveals that 57% of foreign tourist respondents were satisfied with respect to Quality of infrastructure, amenities of hotel/ lodge/ guest house/ hostel facility in India, 13% of foreign tourist respondents said they were delighted with the above said parameters, 27% of foreign tourist respondents said that they were neither to satisfied nor to dissatisfied.

2.4 Quality and variety of food:

The data presented reveals that 67% of respondents were satisfied with respect to Quality and variety of food in India, 23% of respondents said that they were delighted, 3% of respondents said that were dissatisfied for the same, 7% of respondents said that they were neither to satisfied nor to dissatisfied with the quality and variety of food in India.

2.5 Level of Hygienic conditions:

The data presented reveals that 47% of respondents were satisfied with respect to level of hygienic conditions in India, 13% of respondents said that they were delighted, 10% of respondents said that were dissatisfied for the same, 30% of respondents said that they were neither to satisfied nor to dissatisfied with the quality and variety of food in India.

2.6 Postal and Banking facilities with money changing facilities:

The data presented reveals that 47% of foreign tourist respondents were satisfied with respect to the Postal and Banking facilities with money changing facilities in India, 20% of foreign tourist respondents said that they were delighted, none of foreign tourist respondents said that were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied for the same, 33% of foreign tourist respondents said that they were neither to satisfied nor to dissatisfied with the Postal and Banking facilities with money changing facilities in India.

2.7 Travel arrangements (Travel agents and guide services):

The data presented reveals that 43% of foreign tourist respondents were satisfied with respect to Travel arrangements (Travel agents and guide services) in India, 10% of foreign tourist respondents said that they were delighted, 7% of foreign tourist respondents said that were dissatisfied for the same, 40% of foreign tourist respondents said that they were neither to satisfied nor to dissatisfied.

2.8 Safety and Security of tourist:

The data presented reveals that 43% of foreign tourist respondents were satisfied with respect to safety and security measures of tourist in India, 7% of foreign tourist respondents said that they were delighted, 7% of foreign tourist respondents said that were dissatisfied for the same, 40% of foreign tourist respondents said that they were neither to satisfied nor to dissatisfied.

2.9 Attitude of local people towards tourist:

The data presented reveals that 50% of foreign tourist respondents were satisfied with respect to Attitude of local people towards tourist in India, 10% of foreign tourist respondents said that they were delighted, 17% of foreign tourist respondents said that were dissatisfied for the same, 23% of foreign tourist respondents said that they were neither to satisfied nor to dissatisfied.

2.10 Tourist information centers at prominent locations:

The data presented reveals that 37% of respondents were satisfied with respect to Tourist information centers at prominent locations in India, 13% of respondents said that they were delighted, 17% of respondents said that were dissatisfied for the same, 3% said that they were very dissatisfied, 30% of respondents said that they were neither to satisfied nor to dissatisfied.

2.11 Responsiveness to customer complaints:

The data presented reveals that 47% of respondents were satisfied with respect to responsiveness to customer complaints in India, only 3% of respondents said that they were delighted, 30% of respondents said that were dissatisfied for the same, 3% said that they were very dissatisfied, 17% of respondents said that they were neither to satisfied nor to dissatisfied.

3. Miscellaneous:
3.1 Respondents visit to India before:

Out of total 100 respondents, 63% respondents said that they have visited India before, 37% respondents said that they have not visited India before.

3.2 Rating the overall satisfaction with respect to the respondents experience about touring in India:

The data presented reveals that 47% respondents said that they had overall satisfaction with respect to the experience about touring in India, 13% respondents were extremely satisfied, 33% respondents said that they were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with respect to the experience about touring in India, 7% respondents said that they were dissatisfied for the same.

3.3. Based on the experience, recommendation given to friends, relatives to visit India:

The data presented reveals that 13% respondents said that they will always recommend to their friends and relatives to visit India due to their own experience, 53% respondents said that they will almost always refer the same, 20% respondents said that they will sometime refer, 7% respondents said that they were rarely refer and 7% respondents said that they will never refer to their friends and relatives to visit India.

3.4. Rating the extent of importance by the respondents to each of the activities when they are on tour in India:
a) Getting away from stress:

The data presented reveals that 13% respondents said that getting away from stress is very important factor for them to come on tour in India, 17% respondents said that it is an important factor, 46% respondents said that getting away from stress is not at all an important factor for them to come on tour in India, 17% respondents said that it is not important factor and 7% respondents said that it is not important nor unimportant factor for them.

b) Health reasons:

The data presented reveals that 13% respondents said that health reason is very important factor for them when they to come on tour in India, 27% respondents said that it is an important factor, 7% respondents said that it is not at all an important factor for them to come on tour in India, 10% respondents said that it is not important factor and 43% respondents said that it is not important nor unimportant factor for them.

c) Learning about India and its culture:

The data presented reveals that 27% respondents said that learning about India and its culture is very important factor for them when they to come on tour in India, 23% respondents said that it is an important factor, 3% respondents said that it is not at all an important factor for them to come on tour in India, 10% respondents said that it is not important factor and 37% respondents said that it is not important nor unimportant factor for them.

Testing of Hypotheses:
1. H1: Safety and Security is an important factor in foreign tourism

Rating the expectation level about Safety and Security factor of Tourist:

The data presented reveals that 30% of respondents had very high expectation with respect to Safety and Security of Tourist in India, 40% of respondents had high expectation and 3% of respondents said that they had low expectation for the same and 27% of respondents said that they had moderate expectation i.e. neither to high nor to low.

Rating the satisfaction level about Safety and Security factor of Tourist:

The data presented reveals that 43% of respondents were satisfied with respect to safety and security measures of tourist in India, 7% of respondents said that they were delighted, 7% of respondents said that were dissatisfied for the same, 40% of respondents said that they were neither to satisfied nor to dissatisfied.

The above data revels that majority of foreign tourists have high expectations about security and safety parameter and at the same time most of them are satisfied and delighted from the same. This states that foreign tourist care about their security and safety. Thus,

H1: safety and security is an important factor in foreign tourism holds true.
2. H2: Foreign tourists experience overall satisfaction from their visit to India

Rating the overall satisfaction with respect to the respondents experience about touring in India:

The data presented reveals that 47% respondents said that they had overall satisfaction with respect to the experience about touring in India, 13% respondents were extremely satisfied, 33% respondents said that they were neither satisfied nor dissatisfied with respect to the experience about touring in India, 7% respondents said that they were dissatisfied for the same.

Thus, from the above it is seen that most of the foreign tourists are satisfied with their overall experience about touring in India.

H2: Foreign tourists experience overall satisfaction from their visit to India holds true.
3. H3: India’s rich diversity in culture plays a major role for attracting foreign tourist

Rate the extent of importance:

Learning about India and its culture

The data presented reveals that 27% respondents said that learning about India and its culture is very important factor for them when they to come on tour in India, 23% respondents said that it is an important factor, 3% respondents said that it is not at all an important factor for them to come on tour in India, 10% respondents said that it is not important factor and 37% respondents said that it is not important nor unimportant factor for them.

Thus, the above data shows that majority of foreign tourist visit India for its rich diversity in culture and heritage.

H3: India’s rich diversity in culture plays a major role for attracting foreign tourist, holds true.
CONCLUSION:

All types of tourism in India have registered phenomenal growth in the last decade ever since the Indian government decided to boost revenues from the tourism sector by projecting India as the ultimate tourist spot. The reason why India has been doing well in all types of tourism in India is that India has always been known for its hospitality, uniqueness, and charm attributes that have been attracting foreign travelers to India in hordes.

From the study it is evident that mostly male foreign tourist visit India mostly for attending conferences. India attracts tourism for its richness in diversity and culture of which Medical tourism is also picking up pace in India, attracting foreigners. Overall foreign tourists are satisfied with the tour in India, some gap exits in expectation and perseverance pattern. This gap is bridged in recommendations.

RECOMMENDATION:

The study revealed the gap that existed between perception and expectation of foreign tourist. This gap is bridged as follows.

a) Perception:

Perception is the process by which information from the environment is received and interpreted and used in decision making through the interaction of various senses with known aspects of the tourist activity. The accuracy and nature of a person’s perception determines the quality of decision and the subsequent action. Perception requires a stimulus which can be something visual or otherwise.

The perception about a tourist spot may depend on the nature of the spot under consideration as well as the nature of the tourist who is bounded by his own ideas, possibly based on his values and current attributes. The nature of the spot would be judged by its location, surroundings and characteristics depending on the taste of the tourist who may or may not be bothered about external appearances. A fun loving tourist will have a very different perception of a spot in comparison with an academic minded tourist.

Perception is used to make decisions. The actual experience which depends on the delivery pattern influences future decisions. Different individuals have different perception about the same thing. It may so happed some tourist are interested in some aspect of tourist spot which they consider specific or important. The differences of opinion may be based on their education and background. The int

Food and Beverage Operation Management

Contents

Task 1 Question

Task 1 Answer

Task 2 Question

Task 2 Answer

Task 3 Question

Task 3 Answer

Reference

Task 1 Question

1.1) Discuss the characteristics of food production and food and beverage service system

1.4) Justify the suitability of systems for particular food and beverage outlets

Task 1 Answer

I have been assigned by the management to turn up with a better method in the kitchen to enable the hotel to produce good production in order to cater customer demand. I understand that the hotel currently adopting a conventional traditional production method in the main kitchen as they believe the food must be prepared by experts to maintain quality and the originality of the food itself.

Conventional traditional production method is producing utilizing mainly fresh ingredients and traditional cooking methods (Foskett & Paskins, 2011). In this system, the organization of the kitchen is based around the division of tasks into areas or groups of people performing analogous task which is highly in cost such as salaries and their equipment although it allows for specialization and development of a high level of skill, however it is labour intensive.

Using conventional traditional convection method also means the production of the foods and beverages are masses and need to be similar or above the benchmarks which consume a lot of time to inspect the production and require more workers. In the traditional conventional system, they use the kitchen brigade where there can be many separate sections in the kitchen with staffs performing specific aspects of food production which is lead by the head chef.

Type of Chef

Roles

Head chef or in French Chef de cuisine

In charge of everything related to the kitchen, management of staff, menu design, ordering, purchasing, overall quality and kitchen budget

Deputy chef or in French Sous chef

Second in command after the head chef, direct assistant to the chef de partie

Chef de partie or known as head chef in section of the kitchen

In charge of a particular section of the kitchen

Cook or Commis in French

Working under a chef de partie to learn the duties of a station

Chef de partie

Responsibility

Saucier

In charge of the preparing the sauces

Poissonnier

In charge of preparing the fish dishes

Grillardin

In charge of preparing all the grilled dishes

Friturier

In charge of preparing all the fried dishes

Entermetier

In charge of preparing the hot appetizers

Garde manger

Pantry chef which in charge of the cold food such as salad

Boucher

In charge of preparing all the meat

Patissier

In charge of the pastries

Tournant

Moves between sections as needed

The method I have chosen which is superior to the conventional method is cook-chill method. Cook-chill method is food production storage and regeneration method utilising principle of low temperature control to preserve the qualities of processed foods. (Foskett & Paskins, 2011)

It is based on the normal preparation and cooking of food followed by rapid chilling storage in controlled low-temperature conditions above freezing point of 0-3 degree Celsius and subsequently reheating immediately before consumption which is done in the finishing kitchen. It is also used in volume catering such as hospital. In cook-chill system, they also use a traditional partie system which includes the head chef, deputy chef, chef de partie and cook but less staffs because cook-chill system does not use a large area and require minimum staff to work.

Type of Chef

Roles

Head chef or in French Chef de cuisine

In charge of everything related to the kitchen, management of staff, menu design, ordering, purchasing, overall quality and kitchen budget

Deputy chef or in French Sous chef

Second in command after the head chef, direct assistant to the chef de partie

Chef de partie or known as head chef in section of the kitchen

In charge of a particular section of the kitchen such as in charge of the reheating the chilled food.

Cook or Commis in French

Working under a chef de partie to learn the duties of a station such as chilling the food.

The reason I chose Cook-chill systems because it requires low capital investment and minimum staff. Almost any food can be cook-chilled provided that the correct methods are used during the preparations. And the ingredients are already been prepared expect for the portioning unlike the traditional conventional method where they had to prepare everything from scratch for example they had to buy the meat fresh from the market or the supplier and send it to the section to cut the meats and preparing it for portioning. The purpose of using cook-chilled system is to prolong its storage life which is ideal since the hotel also caters for the Royal Brunei In-flight Catering.

The advantages of using cook-chill system to the customer are it increased variety and selection, where there is a wide range of cuisine to choose from. It also improved the quality of the food because the standards are well maintained. The services can be maintained at all time regardless of staff absences because the foods are already prepared. Furthermore using cook-chill systems are less dependence on price fluctuation.

The disadvantages of using cook-chill system are the textures and flavour may changes if the foods are not prepared carefully which can lead to customer dissatisfaction. When customers are not satisfied, they tend to spread the news that the hotel’s restaurant are not up to standard which lead to loss of customers.

The service I have chosen for the hotel is American service. American service is portions of food are plated in the kitchen and served to each guest by waiter or waitress. The advantages of using American service are it is fast and simple and also inexpensive because it require less staffs to served the guest. Lastly using American service does not require staff to be highly trained technical staff hence less cost.

The disadvantages of using American service are there is less showmanship which means the presentations are not beyond the customers expectation compared to silver service or English service. Finally using American service reduces personalized attention. This is because there is less staff to attend the customer which may affect the satisfaction of the customer.

I am going to compare the seven stages in food and beverages between the traditional conventional system and the cook-chill system.

Traditional conventional methods

Cook-chilled methods

Foods In

All food purchased must be of prime quality

All food purchased must be of prime quality

Storage

Most of the ingredients are fresh ingredients that are bought daily hence storage are for the dry ingredients only. The dry ingredients are stored in a dry place to ensure the qualities are maintained.

Stored correctly under the requirement temperatures. The choice of container must protect and in some cases enhance the quality of the product at all stages.

Preparation

All food are transferred to specific section to be prepared and the finished ones are transferred to the hot kitchen.

All food must be prepared quickly under the appropriate conditions avoiding any possible cross-contamination and at the correct temperature.

Cooking

During the cooking process the centre of the food must reach a temperature of at least 70 degree Celsius or even 80 degree Celsius to achieve a greater safety margin.

During the cooking process the centre of the food must reach a temperature of at least 70 degree Celsius or even 80 degree Celsius to achieve a greater safety margin.

After cooking, all food must be chilled within 30 minutes of cooking and reduced to a temperature of 0-3 degree Celsius within 90 minutes.

Holding

All cooked food must be stored in the hot or cold cupboard or put into a tray.

All chilled cooked food must be stored in its own special refrigeration area. Never store cooked chilled product under the same conditions as fresh products. Always monitor the temperature of the product regularly.

Regeneration

All food are reheated either by convection or traditional method.

All cook-chill food must be reheated as quickly as possible to a minimum temperature of 70 degree Celsius, ideally 75 degree Celsius but preferably at 80 degree Celsius

Presentation

Some foods are presented in plates. While other either presented in trays, buffet or dishes.

In some cook-chill systems the food is chilled in multi-portion container then plated before reheating. The portioning process should be carried out in a controlled environment within 30 minutes of the food leaving the chilled store and before reheating commences at a temperature of 10 degree Celsius.

Task 2 Question

1.2) Discuss factors affecting recipes and menus for specific system

Task 2 Answer

As the manager of the food and beverage for The Empire hotel and Country Club and as the supplier for the Royal Brunei In flight catering, I have to discuss the factors affecting recipes and menus for the food and beverage system.

The first factor is about the type of menu choose for the in flight catering. There are two types of menu which are ala carte and table d’hote. Table d’hote is a full course meal that offers a limited choice within each course and served at a fixed price (Free Dictionary, n.d). Most airlines use table d’hote because it offers limited menus and use both in the business class and economy class. The prices are fixed which is easier for the airlines to calculate their cost and include it in the ticket bills. Meals that are included in the table d’hote are appetizer such as salad, main course and desert.

Ala carte is where the dishes are listed separately and individually priced (A la Carte, n.d). It is not recommendable for airlines to utilize because it is inconvenient and maybe hard for the customers to pay because they may change their money currency to other and maybe it is insufficient.

The best meal for in flight would be poultry because chicken is easy to prepare in a healthy way by grilling, roasting, sauteing, poaching, stir-frying and baking. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, we should be eating lean sources of protein, including chicken. However chicken are likely contaminated with Salmonella. Salmonella is a bacterium that occurs mainly in the gut of the poultry which causes food poisoning (Foskett & Paskins, 2011). But we make sure it doesn’t happen by checking with our supplier and make sure that our supplier has a certificate that shows they can legally and certified from the government to operate.

Healthy eating has become a trend nowadays as according to a study conduct by Nielsen (2015). The percentage of adults around the world is overweight with an increase of 30% over the past 30 years while children are 47%. According to statistic World Health Organization, WHO, shown that 1.6 billion adult are facing overweight and 400 million people are obesity. This is serious problem to the people in the world. Due to this problem, consumers from around the world are starting to become more health conscious. Therefore we will modify the food into more healthier such as using less oil, grilling and using olive oil instead of palm oil.

Different people have different needs. Some people have different outcome when consuming food or beverages. The dangerous thing is when they have food allergy which may be fatal if consume. Apart from that, the individual consumer need such as those with special diets for example; consumers with high cholesterol will need low a cholesterol meal while vegetarians will be offered a vegan meal. Other examples are gluten free meal, non lactose meal, low sodium meal, bland meal, high fiber meal, low protein meal, children and infant’s meal (Royal Brunei Airlines, n.d.). That is why individual customer needs special diets such as no sugar or no peanuts. The customers should tell the staffs or in their booking reservation that they need special dietary to ensure that they will receive exceptional meals with special dietary.

In accordance to Islamic law, any Islamic airlines are not allowed to serve pork or alcohol unless it is requested by the consumers. But since the Empire Hotel and Country Club Brunei’s restaurant has Halal certification, we will not serve any pork or alcohol.

Task 3 Question

1.3) Compare the cost and staffing implications for different systems

Task 3 Answer

Before I present my proposal to the management, I will make as any changes will incur cost, therefore I will compare the cost and staffing implication for each system which is the traditional conventional method and cook-chill method.

Traditional conventional

Cook-chill

Cost associated with products

Fresh ingredient has to buy daily to ensure the freshness and prime quality of the ingredient.
Products cannot last long
Ingredient can be stored in the chiller blaster to ensure the qualities are not spoiled.
The ingredient has to be top quality
Products last long

Cost associated with the equipment used

Lots of equipments needed for staffs
chiller blaster maintenance is expensive
less equipments are needed

Cost associated with employing staff

Various skilled staff are needed
Work time are not fixed
Skilled staff are needed but only few
Work time is minimal

From the table above, cook-chilled has proven to be better than traditional conventional method. From the cost associated with products, in conventional method, the ingredients have to bought daily and they need to prepare the ingredient right after it arrives unlike the cook-chill, ingredients are already been cut from the supplier and ready to be chilled to ensure its quality are not degraded which save a lot of time and energy of the staff. Also the finished product of the conventional method cannot last long unlike the cook-chill method where the product can last at least 5 days (Foskett & Paskins, 2011).

Although the machinery for cook-chill are expensive but for long term investment it is worth because there are less staff needed to operate in the kitchen which means it is easier to handle the kitchen. In addition, there are lesser equipments needed because most of the ingredients are already been prepared (James, 2012).

And lastly, only few staffs needed for cook-chill which means fewer salaries to pay to the employee unlike the conventional method where they need more staff to operate in different part of the kitchen and it is hard to keep track of their well being and the work time in the conventional method is longer because they have to prepare the ingredients from scratch (Royal Brunei Airlines, n.d.).

Therefore the method I have chosen is better than the hotel current method because it is effective and more efficient working environment to the hotel.

Reference

BusinessDictionary.com,. ‘What Is American Service? Definition And Meaning’. N.p., 2015. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

Culinarylore.com,. ‘What Is The Kitchen Brigade? – Culinarylore.Com’. N.p., 2015. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

Hotelambassador.co.uk,. ‘Table D’hote Menu // Wine & Dine @ Theambassador Hotel Llandudno’. N.p., 2015. Web. 28 Apr. 2015.

Singh, Hemant. ‘AMERICAN SERVICE ~ FOOD & BEVERAGE’.Fnbclasses.blogspot.com. N.p., 2010. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

TheFreeDictionary.com,. ‘Family Style’. N.p., 2015. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

Yourdictionary.com,. ‘Saucier Dictionary Definition | Saucier Defined’. N.p., 2015. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

table d’hote. (n.d.)Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged. (1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003). Retrieved April 23 2015 fromhttp://www.thefreedictionary.com/table+d%27hote

a la carte. (n.d.)Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged. (1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003). Retrieved April 23 2015 fromhttp://www.thefreedictionary.com/a+la+carte

Eat, We. ‘Reports | We Are What We Eat | Nielsen’.Nielsen.com. N.p., 2015. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.

Flyroyalbrunei.com,. ‘Inflight Meals – Royal Brunei Airlines Australia’. N.p., 2015. Web. 23 Apr. 2015.

Yourdictionary.com,. ‘Saucier Dictionary Definition | Saucier Defined’. N.p., 2015. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.

Introduction

The terms of food and beverage services gone from home forms a considerable element of the performance of the hotel and catering industry and like the industry of which it is a fraction , the food and beverage function is characterised both by its variety and its size. Outlets contain private and public division establishments and them choice from small privately-owned apprehension to large international organisations and from top-security reformatory catering to catering in the most luxurious hotels.

In this assignment I will try to find out the characteristics of food production and food and beverage service systems and food production and food and beverage service systems.

Task 01

Discuss the characteristics of food production and food and beverage service systems.

Characteristics of the food and beverage sector

A vital part of everyday life
Major contributor to the national economy
Generates employment
Promotes diversity through many different food concepts & cuisines
An chance to enjoy the company of friends, family and colleagues
Fulfils basic needs
Food is a basic need for everyday life

Food Production Methods

Food production may be definite as that phase of the food flow mainly apprehensive with the dispensation of raw; semi prepared, or prepared foodstuffs. The resulting product may be in a ready to provide state, for example in the conventional method (cook serve); or it may experience some form of protection, for example cook-chill or cook-freeze, before being served to the consumer.

Production systems

Traditional
Centralised
Sous-vide
Cook-chill
Cook-freeze
batch cooking
call-order

Traditional method

In the conservative parties method, the majority of food is purchased raw, very little falling into what we now call the ‘’convenience foods’’ category. Facilities are presented for the receipt and storage of goods, the preparation, cooking, holding and service of food.
The traditional method is used in most kitchen concern.

Cook-Freeze method

The expression cook-freeze refers to a catering system based on the full cooking of food pursued by fast freezing, with storage at a controlled low temperature of -18C or under.
The method is related to cook-chill apart from refrigeration temperatures.

Blast Freezing

To decrease the time spent in danger zone, a specially considered Blast Chilling or Freezer is required measure refrigeration equipment just is not competent of removing heat fast sufficient.

Blast Chilling

The temperature must be concentrated from +70C to +3C or below within 90 minutes.

Blast Thawing

To de-ice food, the air approximately needs to be relatively heater than the food itself so that heat can be transferred from air to food to dissolve the ice.
Hazard zone is between +8 C and +68C, where microorganisms multiply fastest, for as little time as achievable.
The germs split into two each 20 minutes.

Sous –vide method

Sous-vide are more fresh food processing technique residential in the late 1970s.
The sous-vide methods of food construction (vacuum cooking at exact temperature 138 degrees and time).

Advantages

Disadvantages

Pouches retain freshness, less hazard of cross defect during storage, less wastage of food, during re-heating juices are rained in purse and not lost.
Capital outlay in equipment and storage, not as fresh as traditional method, not all food appropriate for sous-vide method.

Centralised distribution

This method is frequently adopted by huge chains that are looking to subcontract all or measurement of their food production.

Advantages

Disadvantages

CPU is specialised in food and construction, high levels of hygiene during creation, outstanding to bulk production costs, prices are cheaper for buyers.
Pass control to another company, possible delays in delivery to function.

Cook-Chill method

This method is a catering coordination based on normal preparation and cooking of food pursued by rapid chilling and storage space. The Chilled food necessitates low capital outlay and minimum workforce.

Service Systems

Table/Plate service
Counter/Buffet service
A la carte
Table d’hotel
Silver service
Family service
Flambe service
Specialist food service

Table/ Service

Food is organized, placed on individual tableware and delivered to the consumers. This method is used in the hotel and self-determining restaurants.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Presentation, quality, segment control.
Need high quality and highly skilled chefs, consumers sometimes have to remain for food deliverance

Buffet service

Food is prepared in move forwards. Big quantities of food then placed in containers and served from a table in the restaurant. Used in consultation and banqueting.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Can serve large quantities of people, consumers have choice, smaller amount staff required, service staff needs less talents.
Get in line, food can run out, food presentation can be pretentious.

Family/ English service

Food is prepared and placed in dishes. Server then transportations to restaurant, it is placed in the centre of tables.
Chinese and Middle Eastern Cultures.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Less demands on kitchen, optical for customers, does not command high skilled services staff.
Food temperature can transform, food distribution can be unpredictable.

Silver/Russian service

Food is prepared/ cooked, placed on hot silver containers.
some fine dining, consultation and banqueting.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Condenses pressure on kitchen, highly custom-made service.
High labour cost, old fashioned, necessitate very highly skilled provision staff.

A la carte

Hotel or restaurant meal consisting of several differently priced dishes which are cooked frequently when ordered from a menu. A guest orders independently and pays for them separately.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Food is priced individually, menu if its matter rarely transform.
Difficulty finding seasonal ingredients, it is regularly more expensive.

Table d’hotel

Is generally a restaurant meal consisting of a predetermined number of already prepared dishes, at a fixed price for a complete meal for one person.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Price change are comparatively simple, consumer conclusions are easier.
Pricing intransigence, guest may experience it costs too much.

Flambe service/Gueridon

Food is prepared but not cooked. Attendant puts food on a convenient trolley and transfer into front of house neighbourhood. The food is prepared in front of the guests.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Visual and perfumed, highly personalised service, consumer feels more involved in the procedure.
High labour costs, not appropriate with huge numbers of consumers.

Specialist food service

A food overhaul specialist may arrange a selection of meals.
Most employers require their food service specialist to have at slightest a high school diploma.
Acquaintance of specialist food service should consist of: basic food handling, nutrition, sanitation measures.

Advantages

Disadvantages

Food is prepared to accurate customer specifications; condense the possibility of consumer complaints.
Requires exceedingly skilled employment

Discuss factors affecting recipes and menus for specific systems.

Factors affecting recipes and menus for specific systems

Size of operation
Objectives of the operation
Quality of the operation
Nature of the menu
Quality of customers
Budget of the customers
Customer needs
Availability of resources

The others factors affecting menu and recipes for specific system

Size of the kitchen, consumer’s contentment, and price of items programmed, management decisions costs, availability of items, type of service, customer’s value, and demographic features, food habits and predilections, flavour and appearance of dishes, nutritional importance.

Menu can be an outstanding selling tool to supplement the indicative selling of staff.

Customer perceptions: keeping your consumers happy can be harder than you suppose.

Happy customers result in: (repeat sales, positive company image, and high quality customer’s referrals)

Space and equipment in the kitchen will manipulate the composition of the menu;

Every establishment has a intention food cost to be achieved, the cost, preparation and production of the food items, have to well the target. Business stand up for profit; it is difficult for menu fashionable to make a customer and business friendly menu, to cover all costs.

Accessibility of ingredients in seasonality and suppliers require be taken into reflection.

Colour balance is essential; customers should be able to ‘eat with their eyes’.

Ethnicity and nutritional value: Nutritional balance is important to make certain that the dishes are produced as nutritiously as potential (protein, carbohydrates, and vitamins). Menu is made for customer contentment, but if the items do not costume customer’s ethnicity and nutritional importance then it is a big difficulty.

As we have only 60 guests, a medium kitchen is enough, the constituents we use in our menu are straightforward to find, and two or three waitress will be enough.

Buffet/Counter service has the next advantages: can be provide a large number of people, customer have choice, customers are part of the development, fewer staff required, service staff require less skills, fewer objections due to their decision-making;

Disadvantages: Queuing, food presentation can be pretentious; food can run out, food excellence affected due to temperature and mixing service crockery.

Plate service has the next advantages: presentation, placed on individual plates, quality, portion control.

Disadvantages of Plate service are: Require high quality and highly skilled chefs; consumers sometimes have to remain for food delivery.

Conclusion

Modern day food and beverage processes are progressing to get better in the quality, and the service.

Professionalism is increasing, through improved training and development. The quality of service is becoming the generally important differentiating factor when consumers are choosing between different establishments.

In this assignment I wrote about characteristics of food production and food and beverage service systems and affecting recipes and menus for specific systems.

The main objective of this research proposal is to discuss how the research process will be carried out on the selected topic. The topic for this research is “Service Industry (Food and Beverage industry) perceptive on implementing ‘Go Green’ initiative in Malaysia”. This topic is chosen due to the fact that there is a limited research that applies to the Malaysian F&B market.

The purpose of this proposal is to shows how the actual research will be carried out on the topic. However, due to the limitation of the research, the research content will contain background analysis of green practices in Malaysia as well as in other counties.

Other aspects of the research are based on demographic, attitude and behaviour of how the service industry has perceived in implementing such concept from its dimension of awareness, understanding and acceptance. By breaking down and studying these aspects, it will help to provide the actual information that is useful for the service industry players to become a sustainable F&B industry and take initiative on such practices.

This proposal will later discuss how this concept has been implemented in other countries. This is to develop a theoretical framework of these aspects and form a “Go Green” framework. This includes comparison of current implementations of “Go green” initiatives. Moreover, the research will also look into whether the government should enforce regulations on the F&B industry for “Go Green” initiatives as default practices.

Irrespective of industries, a business is governed with the intension of being Profitable, Sustainable, Productive and aims at achieving the highest level of customer loyalty towards their products and services.

Achievements of profitability in businesses are focused more on increased revenue, lower cost of operations and higher profits. Long term growth, consistent revenue and profits, low cost of labour and resources, and being self-sufficient is the focus of businesses in terms of sustainability. Optimal usage of resources, Better utilization and optimal usage of assets are the main focus of businesses for productivity. Increased customer loyalty and increase in customer traffic are the focus of businesses for customer loyalty.

In the above mentioned context, sustainability and productivity is a major impact to the F&B organization to achieve positive profitability. As a result of industry’s major impact, ‘Going Green’ concept focuses service industry to become sustainable and productive with low cost, and optimal utilization of both assets and resources.

Research Problem

The idea of going green is relatively new to the food service industry in Malaysia compare to other industry sectors. This is due to the fact that there is limited industrial research and government regulations undertaken on green restaurant concept implementation and its practices in Malaysian market context.

Malaysian F&B industry is not a highly regulated market by the Malaysian government. Licenses to operate a F&B outlet is not a combined effort of various agencies but limited to Ministry of Health and other licensing agencies. Department of environment and other agencies are generally not involved.

The legislations / rules and laws of Department of environment and other related agencies are more concentrated on environment issues that are generated by commercial establishments in terms of pollution control and not green initiatives.

Therefore, this research focuses on understanding and comprehension of various processes, methodologies and best practices for a “Go Green” framework for the food and beverage industry in Malaysia. There are two reasons that this research has carried out on this specific topic.

Green related articles were already published in Malaysia.

Environmental concerned green programmes have been implemented in Malaysia since many years ago. And also many articles that related to its programmes has being published in various sectors like waste management, green building, recycle policy, organic food sectors, hospitality and tourism sector, and etc. Especially in service industry perceptive, there are very limited or almost none have been published green related articles.

Provided government regulations are not clearly specify for service industry.

There available data like environmental education, green building index, green technology guidelines and process, however, there are no clear information that are stated for service industry to follow. Appendix 1 shows that industry commitment in ‘Green’ initiative has increased from 2008 to 2009, thus research was analyzed by restaurant industry forecast, 2010. However, such kind of focus has not been done in Malaysia restaurant industry. These shows that service industry in Malaysia has very limited research that give clear information on ‘Go green’ implementation. From this research, industry will benefit the actual information of industry players’ perceptive and the best suitable framework of ‘Go green’ implementation in Malaysian market context.

Research Objective

To measure the degrees of industry awareness towards the green restaurant concept in Malaysia market context.

To identify and understand existing “knowledge” of green restaurant concept among Malaysia market.

To discover the market acceptance ability of green restaurant concept.

Develop a framework for the industry to accept “Go Green” concept to be implemented for long term sustainability.

Objectives of the research aim to understand the used of ‘Go green’ concept in service industry. This is due to limited research has not been done in this particular study area in Malaysia.

The outcome of the research will not only benefits to the industry players but also will give a clear framework of how industry can sustain by developing this idea. Therefore, the research will carry out to investigate how industry perceived and identify needs of framework to implement the concept.

Research Questions

How good is the industry player aware of a “green restaurant” concept?

What is their understanding of the “Green restaurant concept”, and what is their current contribution towards going green?

What is their existing methods or processes of having a sustainable business?

Is the Malaysian Food and beverage market willing to accept green restaurant concept practises?

Is the food and beverage industry acceptable for the “Go green” initiatives to be a government regulation?

Literature Review
Definition

“Go Green or Going Green” is a concerned with the protection of the environment (Oxford Advanced learner’s Dictionary, 2000); steps to “conserve energy, reduce pollution and save money” (The U.S. Chamber of commerce Small Business Nation). Tauxe.C.S (2009) mentioned that green practices as a cost-saving response to the effect of high energy prices on operations and on supply and distribution chains, and these measures are valued first in terms of efficiency gains. In restaurant industry, green restaurants may be defined as “new or renovated structures designed, constructed, operated, and demolished in an environmentally friendly and energy-efficient manner” (Lorenzini 1994, 119) cited by Hu.H.H, Parsa.H.G and Self.J, 2010.

In Union for reform Judaism (2010) stated that going green defines as the activity of adding sustainability principles and considerations into the planning process of an event or organizational or personal lifestyle. According to Ministry for the environment of New Zealand defines a sustainable industry as an industry that anticipates economic, environmental and social trends to minimise risk and takes opportunities to improve comparative advantage.

A research of Schubert.F (2008) mentioned that companies across all sectors try to develop products and practices with minimized environmental effect as part of social responsible practices, but also in order to establish themselves in a new niche for consumers with environmental concerns this is also true for the hospitality and tourism industry where businesses often rely on the integrity of the environment. Hotels located in natural areas such as mountains or beaches for example, are especially dependent on the ” healthiness” of their sites, and therefore some have been engaging in green practices and eco-tourism for several years. Restaurants however, are often less dependent to such environmental factors and have therefore shown less care for these issues.

Areas of green practices

Green restaurant association (GRA) explained that fully transformed green restaurant provides a comprehensive and user-friendly method of rewarding existing restaurants & foodservices operations, new builds, and events with points in each of the green restaurant association’s seven environmental categories. Seven categories which compiled with water efficiency, waste reduction and recycling, sustainable furnishings and building materials, sustainable food, energy, disposables, and chemical and pollution reduction. Hence, the restaurant who are pursuing for becoming fully integrated green restaurant from GRA are also require to use products like- chlorine-free paper products, nontoxic cleaning and chemical products, renewable power, and green building and construction (Wallace.A, 2005).

One of the most popular going green concepts is done by practicing the 3R principle which is by reducing, reusing, and recycling the resources used, using organic products, and installing equipments with green technology. In the restaurant industry, small daily savings often make the difference between long-term profit and loss (Restaurant waste minimization guidebook, State of Hawaii).

In addition, a restaurant’s costs go up when it installs pricey equipment to make its operation more sustainable and pay extra to source ingredients that meet sustainability standards (Going Green: Will Customers Notice? 2010). Furthermore, Schubert.F (2008) highlighted that the details of creating an “Environmentally Sustainable Restaurant Industry”- Green restaurant association (GRA) has also provides guideline for the following areas:

Energy Efficiency & Conservation:
Energy efficient technologies and conservation practices exist for lighting, heating, ventilation, air-conditioning, foodservice appliances, office equipment and transportation.
Water Efficiency & Conservation:
Water efficient technologies and conservation practices exist for foodservice appliances, equipment, and landscaping.
Recycling & Composting:
Recycling services exist for many waste products such as glass, plastic, metal, cardboard, mixed paper, grease, ink & toner cartridge. Food waste can be diverted from landfills and made into nutrient-rich soil through the use of a composting service or an on-site system.
Sustainable Food:
Sustainable food products support the long-term maintenance of ecosystem and agriculture for future generations. Organic agriculture prohibits the use of toxic synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, irradiation, sewage sludge, and genetic engineering. Locally grown food reduce the amount of pollution associated with transportation primarily by fossil fuels. Plant-based food require fewer natural resources and create less pollution per calorie consumed.
Pollution Prevention:
Pollution prevention is achieved through source reduction, reuse, or improving operational practices.
Recycled, Tree-free, Biodegradable & Organic Products:
Recycled products are made from materials that are collected from post-consumer or post-industrial waste sources. Tree-free products are made from alternative plant sources such as hemp or knead. Biodegradable products are capable of being decomposed by biological agents, especially bacterial. Organic products are grown without the use of toxic synthetic pesticides and fertilizers, irradiation, sewage sludge, and genetic engineering.
Chlorine-Free Paper Products:
Chlorine-free paper products are unbleached or whitened with alternatives such as hydrogen peroxide, oxygen, and ozone.
Non-toxic Cleaning & Chemical Products:
Non-toxic cleaning and chemical products are biodegradable, free of hazardous ingredients, and are safe for people, animals and environment when used properly.
Green Power:
Electricity and power is available from renewable resources such as wind, solar, geothermal, small hydro and biomass. These energy sources cause dramatically less air pollution and environmental damage compared to fossil fuel, nuclear, and large-scale hydroelectric energy sources.
Green Building & Construction:
Green design and construction practices significantly reduce or eliminate the negative impact of buildings on the environment, occupants, and the local community.
Education:
Education of staff on the environmental impact of the restaurant industry and a path toward ecological sustainability.
Benefit of “Go Green”
Publicity

The GRA and its certified green restaurants have been featured in the following media outlets: NBC Nightly News, The Wall Street Journal, Time Magazine, CNN, The Washington Post, The New York Times, National Public Radio (NPR) and etc (Green Restaurant Association).

Cut costs

In dine-green website mentioned that some restaurants that are green certified save thousands of dollars each year, and through the help of the GRA’s consultants, are able to access rebates, incentives and other money saving programs.

Improve staff productivity and morale

Staff awareness of going green due to the fact that the industry is currently run by young entrepreneurs who are aware of the environmental issues. GRA have reported that staff productivity and morale increase upon their certification. Restaurant employees have demonstrated that they want to work for businesses that are making real, credible and transparent environmental changes. Being a part of the solution to our world’s environmental problems goes a long way in gaining a restaurant employee’s loyalty. (Green Restaurant Association)

Increase in new customers and customer loyalty

Eating out has always been considered a splurge or extravagance in the average American’s budget. The growing trend in restaurant dining is that consumers want to feel as if they have done something good, other than just having nice meal. This fact alone can drive in new customers and create loyal ones. (Green Restaurant Association)

Stay ahead of legislation

Environmental legislation for restaurants is sweeping across the world, from plastic bag and Styrofoam bands, to recycling mandates. More and more cities are in the process of either considering or passing legislation relating to matters of restaurants and the environment. Because Certified Green restaurants have already completed these important environmental changes voluntarily, when legislation strikes, the GRA’s restaurants are able to continue running their businesses while their competitors are scrambling to comply with the latest mandates. (Green Restaurant Association)

Industry perception of “Go Green”

“According to Oxford Dictionary for the Business World (1993), “perception is an intuitive recognition of and an aesthetic quality; a way of seeing, understanding”. Perception is the terms used to cover those processes, which gives coherence, unity and meaning to a person’s sensory input. It involves all those processes we use to select, sort, organise and interpret sensory data to make meaningful and coherent picture of “our world” (Rice, 1993).” cited by Ramli.K. I, Yusof.N.S & Mohamed.M.B.HJ (2004). A frequent research by Hu.H.H, Parsa.H.G and Self.J (2010) said that knowledge of sustainable restaurant operation is an important determinant of intention to patronize a green restaurant.

Although a restaurant’s costs go up when it installs pricey equipment to make its operation more sustainable and pays extra to source ingredients that meet sustainability standard (Going Green: Will Customers Notice? 2010), restaurant can easily make up these costs (Carley.N, 2010). For example, A restaurant that installs a $60 spray valve that release a maximum of 1.28 gallons per minute, compared to regular valves that release 2 gallons to 6 gallons per minute, can save $500 or more a year in water bill.

Research Conceptual Framework

Perception

Awareness

Understanding

Acceptance

“Go Green” Framework

Awareness of going green

The following are some points that will be made during the awareness stage.

Awareness of the businesses on the green initiatives,

Availability of information for these businesses about going green

Understating green objectives

The following are some points that will be made during the understanding stage.

Existing knowledge on going green

Knowledge on the impact of the current environment on not going green.

Knowledge on how they can be profitable and have a sustainable business by going green

Acceptance of going green

The following are some points that will be made during the acceptance stage.

Weather they are willing to invest in going green initiatives

Participation in going green by changing business processes

Investments into resources to go green

Methodology

Methodology of this research will be used base on the primary data and secondary data. Primary data will be collected by using survey questionnaires to the restaurant managers and owners around Kuala Lumpur. Secondary data will be gathered from the relevant academic journals, books, published magazines and articles, and also internet sources.

Basically, the survey questionnaires will be distributed to three different types of restaurant such as: fast food restaurants, casual dining restaurants and semi-fine dining or fine dining restaurants. Approximately 30 survey questionnaires will be distributed as sample. The questionnaires will be demonstrated in demographic, attitude and behaviour study on each type of restaurants. This is to ensure there is a balance in different types of service restaurants’ owner perceptive on “Go green” concept implementations in Malaysia. The outcome of this survey will give better understanding on how restaurant owners aware and deep analysis of their understanding on this concept. And also it will help to indicate the best options of practices needed for the Malaysian market context.

Secondary data will be collected from academic journals, books, relevant magazines and articles, and internet sources. This will enhance the better understanding on theoretical framework of “Go green” concept practices. In additionally, local government data and non-government organisation data will also include in this research. This is to clarify such concept has been performed in other industry sector as well as to identify the availability of “Green” supply chain in Malaysia.

From above mention data collections, this research will shows industry perceptive on implementing ‘Go green’ concept and it will also show the best options of practices for Malaysia market which may or may not be an exact practices to compare to other country.

Project Timeline
Weeks
Activities
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
Introduction
Literature Review
Distributing survey
Findings
Conclusion
Submission of Draft
References

Hu.H.H, Parsa.H.G & Self John (2010), The Dynamics of Green Restaurant Patronage, Cornell University, vol.51 Issue.3, pp. 334-362.

Schubert.F (2008), Exploring and Predicting Consumers’ Attitudes and Behaviours Towards Green Restaurants, The Ohio State University.

Tauxe.C.S (2009), ‘Shades of Green: Discursive Plurality in the Public Conversation on Sustainability’, Green Theory &Praxis: The Journal of Ecopedagogy, vol. 5 no. 1, pp. 14 – 25.

Wallace.A (2005), Creating a Sustainable Restaurant Industry with the Green Restaurant Association.

Going Green: Will Customers Notice?'(2010), Observer: Restaurant Hospitality, pp.20.

Carley.N (2010), Going Green in many ways, Community: Franchise Focus, pp. 26.

Ramli.K. I, Yusof.N.S & Mohamed.M.B.HJ (2004) Measuring Service Quality in Gourmet Coffee Restaurants in Penang, Universiti Utara Malaysia.

Restaurant Waste Minimization Guidebook, State Hawaii, Department of Health and Environmental Health Administration.

Conserve Solutions for Sustainability (2010), Greener Restaurants a„?

Wehmeier.S (2000) , Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary, 6th edn. Great Britain, Oxford University Press. pp.590.

Six Reasons to Become a Certified Green Restaurant a„?, Green Restaurant Association http://www.dinegreen.com/restaurants/benefits.asp [ACCESSED ON 1st November 2010]

What Is Going Green?, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Small Business Nation http://www.uschambersmallbusinessnation.com/toolkits/guide/P15_1001 [ACCESSED ON 18th November 2010)

Green Glossary: Greening/Going Green, Union for Reform Judaism http://urj.org/green/101/glossary/ [ACCESSED ON 18 th November 2010]

hat is a sustainable industry?, Ministry for the Environment Manatu Mo Te Taiao http://www.mfe.govt.nz/issues/sustainable-industry/ [ACCESSED ON 18 th November 2010]

Appendixes

Allotments gardens are a familiar and ubiquitous feature of the British landscape (Crouch, D. 1997) and an important one, particularly during the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign during World War II which saw people grow their own produce to boost their food supply.

However, despite the recent surge in demand for allotments, in the past few decades’ allotment numbers have been in decline. With the awareness of climate change and the importance of environmental sustainability, increasing food prices and challenges to stereotypes about allotment growers, have all contributed to large waiting lists for allotments in many areas (‘Can you Dig it’, 2009). Nationally, there are approximately 158,796 allotments in England across 323 councils, with a total of 94,124 people on waiting lists (NSKAG, 2010). It should be noted that these national figures appear to account only for local authority allotments and do not include private allotments (Lords debate in Hansard, 2004).

Allotments in Sheffield

The National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners suggest that there should be a minimum of 15 plots per thousand households (or 1 plot for every 65 households). For York (both City Council and other providers) there are 40 plots per thousand households. Other authorities compare the number of plots per thousand populations, which means that York with 9.8 plots per thousand populations compares well with Bristol 11.9, Sheffield 6.7 and Liverpool 4.2 plots per thousand populations. (York CC, 2006)

Locally in the borough of Sheffield, there are 3,305 allotments across 76 sites and 210 private allotment sites (Sheffield City Council, 2010) with the overall waiting list for plots now at 2,646 (BBC, 2010). Prime site examples include Heeley/Meersbrook, Carfeild Farm Community Garden and Heeley City farm allotments. During 2009, Sheffield Council created one new allotment site which was brought into use aˆ?in the Burncross extension. The total area of new land, approximately, 1,680m2, included 14 new plots each measuring 120m2. (Sheffield Council, 2010). Potentially, five new sites could be developed by the council under the ‘Community Food Growing’ scheme.

These include plots at Ecclesfield Park, Lane End in Chapeltown, the Old Jessops Hospital site, Page Hall and parkland at Parson Cross – all of which are currently derelict or overgrown (BBC, 2010).

All this is a positive move towards the current state of council allotments in meeting this surge in demand, yet could this be solved much more easily?

Are allotment plots in Sheffield currently being used to their full potential? Are all plots currently cultivated, unused, or just simply abandoned?

In a response to questions about the take-up of allotments, Mike Taylor (Sheffield Councilor) stated that there were around 500 plots in the City that had not been let and that the popularity of allotments was dependent upon their location because most tenants wanted a plot, which was near to their home. (Sheffield County Council, 2006).

In a survey of allotment performance (Appendix A) conducted in 2005, it stated that a there was a total of 3,257 plots, with 2,631 active tenancy, leaving 626 vacant. At the time, there was a waiting list of 435. Surely this could be solved by filling the abandoned sites?

Key allotment sites included Bowstead, with 36 plots, yet 31 vacant, Hagghouse in the south-west with 144 plots and a colossal 126 vacant. The same with Rivelin Valley which has 255 plots and nearly half are vacant. There is currently no up-to-date list in this area, and upon further investigation this data could be required and recorded efficiently.

Vacant plots appears to be an issue and could clearly help towards alleviating the potential demand. Perhaps self-management will help to keep vacant sites down and enable allotments to become more productive?

No sites owned by Sheffield City Council were self-managed and there had been no request from any allotment site tenants or society to take responsibility for a site. The only past experience of such an initiative was at the Rustlings Road site, but this had subsequently been returned to the Council because of management and administrative difficulties. (Sheffield County Council, 2006)

Community groups in the city like Grow Sheffield, Green City Action, Heeley City Farm and Sheffield Wildlife Trust have already said they are interested in managing and developing an area of land for food growing. (BBC, 2010)

This paper sets out to examine and explore the different models by which people are working the land in Sheffield and to offer a compartive and transferable data source to indicate why there is a high demand, yet so many unproductive sites through:

The use of GIS software to map out allotments within Sheffield in order to create a database of existing sites and their uses, examine the spatial layouts of allotments, commenting on their successes, and/or failures, and offering design solutions to remedy such findings such as plots too big/manageable

Offer solutions towards more productive allotment sites, identifying uncultivated plots.

Semi-structured interviews with allotment holders and key informants.

Offer ideas towards potential future sites.

Literature Review
Allotments

The term “allotment” is defined in the Allotments Act 1925 as “an allotment garden, or any parcel of land not more than five acres in extent cultivated or intended to be cultivated as a garden farm, or partly as a garden farm and partly as a farm.” An “allotment garden” is defined in the Allotments Act 1922 as an allotment not exceeding 40 poles (or 1,000 square metres) which is wholly or mainly cultivated by the occupier for the production of fruit or vegetables for consumption by himself and his family, and this definition is common to all the statutes in which the term occurs. An “allotment garden” is what people commonly mean by the term allotment, that is a plot let out to an individual within a larger allotment field. Local authorities’ duties and powers now in general only extend to allotment gardens.

In the late 1940s there were 1.4 million allotments. Popularity was high due to World War II and the ‘Dig for Victory’ campaign which encouraged people to grow their own food. In the 1980s and 1990s, plots were sold off by councils around the country primarily due to lack of demand. Today an insufficient supply of about 200,000 allotment plots remain. (LV, 2009)

This loss of sites and plots now poses a problem as demand for allotments has rocketed. The publicity and interest generated by TV chefs, such as Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, has helped encourage people to want to grow their own vegetables.

The urban allotment has been described by commentators as “both a sought-after commodity and an essential social accessory” (Miller, A, 2008). Harrods recently offered a ?300 consultation on how to create an allotment and offered a team of experts to come and develop a plot from ?1,000. (Osborne, H, 2007) Even the Queen recently turned a part of the garden in Buckingham Palace into a vegetable patch to provide a variety of home grown produce to the palace kitchen (Davies, C, 2009)

The economic downturn, rather than suppressing demand, has fuelled demand, leading one academic to claim that the outlook for allotments has rarely looked so promising (Wiltshire, R). The rising costs of living and increased food prices have led to a new call for allotments as people look at ways to save on household costs. A recent survey showed that allotment owners saved around ?950 a year by growing their own produce (LV, 2009).

The number of those interested in the idea of an allotment is thought to be approximately 6 million, illustrating the potential scale of demand (LV, 2009). This demand is only expected to grow in the coming years as a result of social and environmental pressures. According to a report from the Department of Communities and Local Government, ‘The need for allotments, community gardens and urban farms is likely to rise with the growth of interest in organic farming and as a result of rising housing densities and the consequential reduction in the size of many gardens.’ (DCLG, 2002)

The increasing mismatch between supply and demand for allotments is demonstrated by the rapid increase in waiting lists over the past decade. In 1996 waiting lists totaled around 13,000 but by 2008 the total was estimated to be around 100,000 (NSLAG, 2009). Waiting lists in one London borough are estimated to be as long as 40 years (LV, 2009). Waiting lists in some areas have grown so long that the local authorities have closed them – leading to a systematic under-assessment of the true demand (LGA, 2008)

This information coupled with the sum 500 (Sheffield County Council, 2006) sites not let within Sheffield proves startling even with Sheffield set at 287 hectares for allotments (CIPFA Returns, 2005/6) showing the city as a comparator with the core cities (figure 1) and therefore forms the basis of this research paper.

In addition, allotment sites should be strategically located close to demand and as far away from known sources of contamination as possible, such as old railways, bomb sites and some industrial brownfield sites (Perez-Vazquez, 2000)

Allotment size needs to take account f its intended purpose: therapeutical, hobby or recreational, commercial, self-consumption or mixed purpose. Allotments are considered by many people as a leisure activity rather than as a means for growing food (Thorpe, 1975)

The Benefits of Allotments

Allotments bring a number of benefits to both individual gardeners and the wider community. Over 70% of the population believes that spending time in their gardens is important for their quality of life (National Trust, 2009). Yet many people, such as flat dwellers, are frequently denied a space to garden and grow their own fruit and vegetables. To prevent exclusion from the opportunities that those people with gardens enjoy, allotments are a vital resource.

Evidence from the National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners shows that the average allotment site has up to 30% more wildlife diversity than a typical urban park. In Solihull, for example, most allotment sites are associated with adjacent public open space making them part of important wildlife corridors, linking areas of green space within the urban environment. (Warwickshire Government. 2005)

The House of Commons Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee which examines the expenditure, administration and policy of Government in these areas – recently stated that ‘Consumers will need to think more about the impacts of the way their food is produced, and that the Government will have to encourage them to do so. A formidable task, but it will be rendered less formidable if consumers are engaged with the concept of food production in the first place (House of Commons, 2009). Allotments help achieve this goal by reconnecting people with the food that they eat through actively involving them in the process of food production.

There are a wide ranging set of important educative benefits of allotments, particularly for schools or children’s groups to visit and learn. Educating children of the importance of healthy food and environmental sustainability is now considered to be an important role of local authorities and schools. Eighty per cent of the population are reported to believe that children should learn growing and gardening at school (National Trust, 2009). Brighton and Hove City Council have proposed that under the Sustainable Communities Act food growing is introduced as part of the national curriculum, either on or off school sites (Brighton and Hove Council, 2009).

At the UN’s ‘World Food Security’ conference in 2008, the UN announced that, to cope with rising demand, food production would have to increase by 50% by 2030. The Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee’s paper, ‘Securing Food Supplies up to 2050: The Challenges faced by the UK’, considered how the UK should respond. It concluded that production in allotments and gardens would have benefits for the security of food supplies (House of Commons, 2009). Following this report, Environment Secretary Hilary Benn has called for a ‘radical rethink’ on how the UK produces and consumes its food. As a part of this, producers, supermarkets and consumers were invited to suggest how a secure food system should look in 2030 (Kinver, M, 2009). We believe allotments could play an important part in this new future for food; producing readily accessible and easily accessible produce.

Allotments have multiple benefits, some direct and more obvious, others more tangential but no less important. What is clear is that there is a compelling case for them and their expansion, but the story of allotments is one of demand outstripping supply

Allotment Policy

The allotments legislation has a long history, some of which originates from the Nineteenth Century Enclosure Awards. The present legislative provisions are contained in the Small Holdings and Allotment Acts 1908 and the Allotments Acts 1922-1950. These place an obligation on allotment authorities to meet the demands of local residents wishing to cultivate allotments and to make provision for the acquisition, management and control of allotment sites.

Geographical Information Systems

GIS is a computer-based tool for mapping and analyzing feature events on earth. GIS technology integrates common database operations, such as query and statistical analysis, with maps. GIS manages location-based information and provides tools for display and analysis of various statistics, including population characteristics, economic development opportunities, and vegetation types. It allows us to link databases and maps to create dynamic displays. Additionally, it provides tools to visualise, query, and overlay those databases in ways not possible with traditional spreadsheets. These abilities distinguish GIS from other information systems, and make it valuable to a wide range of public and private enterprises for explaining events, predicting outcomes, and planning strategies.

GIS has a remarkable capacity to capture, manipulate and analyse spatial referenced data in order to display the result within a map or graphs. Moreover this technology can create links between various databases to assist a decision-making process.

The application of GIS technology within Landscape Architecture

Asche & Schreiber et al. investigated the use of GIS in environmental science and in landscape planning in Germany (Asche/Schreiber et al. 1999) and they came to the conclusion that all working-fields of landscape planning can be selectively accompanied by the use of GIS.

GIS has become of increasing significance for environmental planning, landscape planning and environmental impact studies in recent years. The main reason for this is the need, in Environmental Planning, to compare a great number of area-related data describing the affected natural resources and their sensitivity related to the effects of impacts. GIS can be used to couple area-related data with their attributes that represents a highly efficient instrument for such planning tasks and one of common use that is transferable to allow others to view/use and to allow for further research.

Methodology

This research paper has been chosen a type 1, investigative dissertation. Both quantitative and qualitative approaches will be used in order to gain an insight into the topic and allow for further investigation.

A range of methods will be drawn upon in order to gather the required data. These will involve initial data gathering through feasibility studies and interviews plotting the outcomes on allotment site locations. This information will be recorded using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). Secondary source material (online data such as MAGIC, CLG, DCMS, DEFRA, Sheffield City Council, Sheffield University resources) and site visits will also be utilised.

All data gathered from participants will require special precautions to ensure that it is stored appropriately.

Data gathered will be mapped using computer software applications such as Geographic information Systems (GIS) as a mode of analysis and representation. This provides a means of visualising and interpreting landscape data for studying changes in forms and functions.

Analysis of design and planning documents as well as literature review of secondary source material with an in depth study on the current condition of each site through the use of observation and photography will be involved within the research.

Practical requirements will involve travelling to each destination within Sheffield through either bus, tram or by private car.

Ethical Approval

The nature of this research area will require ethical approval. There will be considerable human participation through the use of interviews and questionnaires to allotment holders, groups and communities and possibly interaction with on-site allotment managers/Sheffield Council in order to gain access to each individual site.

Timetable

Task

Action

Deadline

1

Literature research – Finding out further information on the chosen topic, with up-to-date resources.

End of Decemeber

2

Gathering of initial data on allotment sites in Sheffield through interaction with County Council and observation techniques, plotting exact locations, sizes, plot numbers, plots used/unused/abandoned.

Early January to late April

3

Analyse data gathered.

Late January to late April

4

Semi-structured interviews with allotment holders and key informants.

Early April to Late May

5

Further analysis of data gathered. Mapping of data within GIS.

Early May to Late May

6

Further literature research, data gathering and analysis.

Early May to Late June

7

Dissertation first draft.

Early June – Early August

8

Dissertation second draft.

Early August to Late August

9

Dissertation hand-in.

Early September

References:’Can you dig it’ www.nlgn.org.uk/public/wp-content/uploads/can-you-dig-it.pdf – Accessed: 31-10-2010

International Data Base (IDB) – World Population” Census.gov. 2010-06-28. Accessed: 2010-09-12

http://www.parliament.uk/commons/lib/research/briefings/snsc-00887.pdf 2010, Accessed: 2010-07-19

http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/out–about/parks-woodlands–countryside/allotments, 2010, Accessed: 2010-09-12

Kipling, R. 1911. “The Glory of the Garden.” In Rudyard Kipling’s Verse. London.

Crouch, D and Ward, C. 1988. The allotment, its landscape and culture. Faber and Faber. London.

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm199798/cmselect/cmenvtra/560-iii/560iii02.htm Accessed: 01/11/2010

A comprehensive review of allotment history and policy is set out in the report of the Thorpe Committee of Inquiry into Allotments, published 1969 (Cmnd 4166)

http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/web/corporate/pages.nsf/Links/B2CFD669EFE874EF80256E910046AD35/$file/Allotments.pdf `2005, Accessed: 01-11-2010

National Trust (2009), ‘Space to Grow: Why People Need Gardens’, http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/ main/w-chl/w-places_collections/w-gardens/w-gardens-space_to_grow.htm Accessed: 01-11-2010

LV (2009), ‘Brits Rediscover the Good Life’, Press Release, Liverpool Victoria, 2 June 2009, http:// www.lv.com/media_centre/press_releases/brits-discover-good-life Accessed: 31-10-2010

Miller, A. (2008), ‘Up the Allotments’, The Telegraph, 24 May 2008, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ culture/books/non_fictionreviews/3673629/Up-the-allotments.html Accessed: 31-10-2010

Miller, A. (2008), ‘Up the Allotments’, The Telegraph, 24 May 2008, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ culture/books/non_fictionreviews/3673629/Up-the-allotments.html

Davies, C. (2009), ‘Queen turns corner of palace back yard into an allotment’, The Observer, 14 June 2009, http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jun/14/queen-allotment-organic-gardening

Osborne, H. (2007), ‘Harrods Unveils Rooftop Allotments’ The Guardian, 17 April 2007, http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/apr/17/homesandgardens.lifeandhealth

Wiltshire, R, ‘Growing in the Community: The Longer View’, Kings College London http://www.sags.org.uk/docs/ReportsPresentations/richardwiltshire.pdf

LV (2009), ‘Brits Rediscover the Good Life’, Press Release, Liverpool Victoria, 2 June 2009, http://www.lv.com/media_centre/press_releases/brits-discover-good-life

DCLG (2002), ‘Assessing needs and opportunities: a companion guide to PPG17.’

Sheffield County Council, 2006, Minutes of Scrutiny Board 20 July 2006, http://www.sheffield.gov.uk/index.asp?pgid=92019

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/sheffield/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_9002000/9002864.stm accessed: 04-11-2010

http://www.farmgarden.org.uk/ari/documents/mgtdocs/york/Allotments_Strategy_.DOC

accessed: 04-11-2010

http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/allotment_waiting_lists_165 accessed 04-11-2010

Asche, A.; Schreiber; K.-F. et al. (1999): RuI?ckblick auf uI?ber 20 Jahre landschaftsokologische

Forschung und Planung mit Hilfe Geographischer Informationssysteme. Online:

http://gis.esri.com/library/userconf/europroc99/html/vortraege/v18/v1803/v1803.html [Status:

1.12.2003].

Birmingham City Council (2009), ‘The Sustainable Communities Act’, http://www.birmingham.gov.

uk/Media/Proposals.pdf?MEDIA_ID=292879&FILENAME=Proposals.pdf

NSLAG (2009), Survey Data from ‘A Survey of Allotment Waiting Lists in England’, Transition Town

West Kirby and National Society of Allotment and Leisure Gardeners, http://www.nsalg.org.uk/uploads/

article564/ttwk_nsalg_survey_09.pdf

LV (2009), ‘Brits Rediscover the Good Life’, Press Release, Liverpool Victoria, 2 June 2009, http://

www.lv.com/media_centre/press_releases/brits-discover-good-life

Kinver, M. (2009), ‘Radical Rethink Needed on Food’, BBC News, 10 August 2009, http://news.

bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/8189549.stm

Population

Hectares

Expenditure 2005/06

Income

Net Spend

Net Spend per Head

of Population

Gross

Spend

Per

Hectare

Net

Spend

Per

Hectare

? ‘ 000

? ‘ 000

? ‘ 000

?
?

Birmingham

992,100

285

473

72

401

0.40

1,660

1,407

Bristol

391,500

108

150

103

47

0.12

1,389

954

Leeds

719,000

NA

74

22

52

0.07

–
–

Manchester

432,500

NA

NA

–
–
–
–
–

Sheffield

512,500

287

115

61

54

0.11

401

188

Bradford

477,800

NA

73

48

25

0.05

–

Leicester

283,900

115

58

21

37

0.13

504

322

Source: CIPFA Returns 2005/6

Local Government Assoication (2008), ‘Growing in the community.’

Perez-vazquez, a (2000). The future role of allotments in food production as a component of urban agriculture in england. Final report to agropolis-idrc. Imperial college at wye, ashford, united kingdom

House of Commons (2009), Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee, ‘Securing Food

Supplies up to 2050: The Challenges faced by the UK’, 21 July 2009, http://www.publications.

parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmenvfru/213/213i.pdf

National Trust (2009), ‘Space to Grow: Why People Need Gardens’ http://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/

main/w-chl/w-places_collections/w-gardens/w-gardens-space_to_grow.htm

Brighton and Hove City Council (2009), ‘2009 Proposals under the Sustainable Communities

Act’, Brighton and Hove City Council’ http://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/index.cfm?request=c1209775

Heeley City Farm Organic Food Growing

Sheffield Allotments & Home Gardens Federation

Grow Sheffield

Highcliffe Community Allotments Association

Norfolk Park Community Allotment

Tinsley Community Allotment

Women’s Allotment Group in Firth Park

Appendix A – 2005 Sheffield Council

NAME OF SITE

NO OF PLOTS

NO OF TENANCY

VACANT PLOTS

WAITING LIST

WATER

AREA

PANEL

Archer Lane

98

98

0

66

Y

Sharrow/Nether Edge/ Broomhill

Ash Street (Mosborough)

1

0

1

0

N

South East

Birley Moor Drive

3

1

2

3

N

South East

Birley Moor Way

6

4

2

1

N

South East

Bolehill Quarry

15

15

0

1

Y

Netherthorpe/

Hillsborough

Bowstead

36

5

31

0

N

Darnall

Brushes

25

15

10

3

Y

Brightside

Burncross

19

19

0

15

Y

North

Corker Bottoms

60

47

13

1

Y

Manor/Castle/

Woodthorpe

Crimicar Lane

4

4

0

0

N

South West

Crookes Marsh Lane

40

40

0

30

Y

South West

Crookes Quarry

35

35

0

9

Y

South West

Ecclesall

15

15

0

15

Y

South West

Edgefield

11

11

0

1

Y

Sharrow/Nether Edge/ Broomhill

Elm Crescent (Mosborough)

11

6

5

0

N

South East

Ferncroft

7

6

1

0

N

South East

Finchwell

28

26

2

0

Y

Darnall

Francis Fields

17

17

0

26

South West

Grimesthorpe

104

104

0

3

Y

Burngreave

Grimesthorpe Rd

9

7

2

1

N

Burngreave

Hagg House

144

18

126

0

Y

South West

Hagg Lane

162

157

5

9

Y

South West

Handsworth Crescent

2

0

2

0

N

Darnall

Hangingwater

94

93

1

55

Y

Sharrow/Nether Edge/ Broomhill

Harris Road

22

22

0

1

N

Hillsborough/ Netherthorpe

Hawthorn Avenue (Stocksbridge)

3

3

0

0

N

North

Heeley Common

24

19

5

2

Y

Park/Heeley

High Wincobank

85

34

51

1

Y

Brightside

Highcliffe Road

107

99

8

1

Y

South West

Hinde House

20

6

14

0

Brightside

Hinde House Lane

14

7

7

0

Y

Brightside

Holberry Gardens

20

20

0

6

Y

Sharrow/Nether Edge/ Broomhill

Hollinsend

23

17

6

0

Y

South

Hollinsend Rec

10

5

5

0

N

South

Junction Road (Woodhouse)

2

2

0

0

N

South East

Lamb Croft

37

32

5

2

Y

South East

Longley

7

3

4

0

N

Southey/Owlerton

Manor

74

27

47

0

Y

Manor/ Castle/ Woodthorpe

Mauncer Drive

8

8

0

0

Y

South East

Meersbrook

413

400

13

4

Y

Park/Heeley

Meetinghouse Lane

1

1

0

0

N

South East

Moor Crescent

3

0

3

0

N

South East

Morley Street

163

158

5

4

Y

Hillsborough/ Netherthorpe

Morley Street Gas

39

27

12

0

Y

Hillsborough/ Netherthorpe

Moss Way

82

55

27

0

Y

South East

Norton Lees

56

53

3

8

Y

Park/Heeley

Norton St Pauls

22

21

1

9

Y

Park/Heeley

Norwood

61

54

7

4

Y

Southey/Owlerton

Old Haywoods

9

9

0

1

N

North

Ouse Road

27

18

9

0

Y

Darnall

Oxley Park

9

9

0

2

N

North

Park Rifles

34

32

2

3

Y

Manor/Castle/

Woodthorpe

Plumbley Lane

30

27

3

1

N

South East

Reignhead Farm

34

34

0

6

Y

South East

Richmond

12

11

1

1

N

South East

Rivelin Valley

225

101

124

4

Y

Hillsborough/ Nethertho

Introduction

Since 1987, when the concept of sustainability was mentioned on a coordinated international platform, the movement towards sustainability had expanded across the globe. The governmental and non-governmental organizations, corporations and consumers those focusing on the need to exist in harmony with their surroundings and environmental footprints are increasingly. The hospitality industry also not exception, therefore the concept of sustainability has begun to gain momentum in this industry. (Ernst and Young, 2008)

http://www.hotelnewsresource.com/pdf8/e_y120408.pdf

Alison Sperry (2010) defined that Going Green means:

aˆ¦Going Green is making the daily decisions with responsible that benefits to the environment and also can reduce waste and pollution. This concept also encourages a lifestyle of recycling, using chemical-free products, using alternative energy sources such as wind and solar and reducing the dependency on fossil fuels for energy.

Hotel businesses developed and operated by the consumption of significant amounts of natural resources which are affected the sustainability of the natural environment. The field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) therefore, has grown considerably over the last decade due to an increasing number of companies formally recognising the impacts they have on the environment, on society and on the economy (Jones et.al, 2006).

Going green’s concept is a concept of people learns how to make the environmentally friendly choices. Going green also is a concept that supporters make some changes to encourage healthier and environmentally friendly living.

http://www.ehow.com/about_6681447_concept-going-green.html

Ernst and Young (2008) defined that “green: not a black and white issue.” The travelers that concerned about the environment were increasingly and they always make their own determination as to what constitutes “greenness” in the lodging industry.

http://www.ehow.com/about_6681447_concept-going-green.html

According to Deloitte Survey (2008) showed that, consumers, employees and individual travellers start to concerned more about the hospitality industry’s sustainability. Most of the individuals also start to changes their lifestyles and accepting higher green standards for themselves and also to the companies that they cooperate with.

http://www.deloitte.com/assets/Dcom-UnitedStates/Local%20Assets/Documents/us_cb_sustainability_190608(1).pdf

Marriott International has more than twenty-year commitment to start the environmental preservation. The Marriott International is “working toward a greener, healthier planet” and their operating units are employ methods to protect the surroundings of natural and resources (Marriott, 1996 – 2010).

Every year, the Marriott International and its owners had spent around 10 billion just for buy the products and services for its 3,300 hotels around the world. Marriott International also expanding its “green” hotels and buildings’ portfolios. Besides that, approximately 275 of Marriott’s hotels have received the “ENERGY STAR®” label from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (Marriott, 1996 – 2010).

http://www.marriott.com/marriott.mi?page=green_buildings

Last but not least, Marriott International also was ranked 42nd out of 100 in “The Greenest Big Companies” on Newsweek’s first-ever list. Moreover, Marriott International also gets the “2009 Tourism for Tomorrow Award for Sustainability” in the categories of the Global Tourism Business by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) (Marriott, 1996 – 2010).

The Problem Statement

The problem of this topic is about how Marriott International. Inc. practices their going green programs in their properties. Marriott International Corporation is a leading worldwide hospitality company (Marriott, 2010). Currently, Marriott has more than 3100 of lodging properties is in the United States and 65 is in other countries and territories across 17 lodging and vacation resort ownership brands (Marriott, 2009). Marriott has more than twenty-year commitment to environmental preservation (Marriott, 2010). In 2007, Marriott formed a Global Green Council, a cross-functional team of senior executives that collaborated with Conservation International, a global environmental organization, to evaluate its practices, set long-term goals, develop an environmental strategic plan and catalyze its progress (Marriott, 2010).

Five-point Environmental Strategy of Marriott International was developed in collaboration with Conservation International which are includes (Marriott, 2009):

Reduce Consumption of Water, Waste and Energy

Greener Buildings, expansion of LEED-certified hotels

Greening Supply Chain

Protecting the Rainforest with Carbon Offsets

Employee & Guest Engagement

Over the last decade, for, the Marriott International corporate organized the “Going Green” programs which involved in energy conservation by changed 450,000 of the light bulbs with fluorescent lighting, installed around 400,000 low-flow of showerheads and toilets and also introduced the linens reuse programs in their hotels worldwide (Marriott, 2009). Besides that, the Marriott’s Retro-Commissioning (MRCx) program, planning process and a comprehensive evaluation that helps their properties become as energy efficient as possible, was conducted at more than 30 of its largest properties (Marriott, 2009). Through projects completed over the last few years and those currently under way, Marriott anticipate saving 12 million kilowatts of power (Marriott, 2009). In general, properties find that after it implement all the recommendations that evolved from an MRCx assessment, it energy costs decrease 5 to 25 per cent and they are achieving, on average, a payback on their investment in just 1.4 years (Marriott, 2009).

In the Americas, Marriott achieved a 2.2 per cent reduction per available room (Marriott, 2009). In late 2009, through a partnership with a U.S.-based landscaping company, Marriott adopted a climate-specific approach to landscaping, using native plants and restricted colour palettes to reduce irrigation demands and cut the amount of fertilizer required to keep plants healthy (Marriott, 2009). In 2009, Marriott’s landfill waste in the USA totalled 726,993 tons which reflects a 17 per cent reduction from 2007(Marriott, 2009). Additionally, its recycling rate also was increased to 69 per cent and all the header quarters’ waste also was diverted from the landfill to the waste-to-energy plant (Marriott, 2009). Also, Marriott expanding its existing of ‘Reduce, Reuse and Recycle’ programs that already in place of 90 per cent of hotels which included guest room and meeting rooms (Marriott, 2009).

Forty Marriott International hotels are expected to receive the LEED certification from the USGBC (USGBC, 2010). In addition, Marriott international’s global Headquarters in Bethesda was received the LEED-Existing Building Gold status (USGBC, 2010). Moreover, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also had awarded Marriott International for three following years with its Sustained Excellence Award and more than 275 of its hotels also placed the “ENERGY STAR®” label (Marriott, 2010).

Marriott International has greening its supply chain by introduce the “greener” solutions at no extra cost (Marriott, 2009). For instance, Marriott has purchased 24 million of ‘Greener key cards’ which consists 50 per cent of recycled material, which had save around 66 tons of plastics from dumped into the landfill (Marriott, 2009). Moreover, Marriott’s will begin replacing the 100,000 synthetic pillows with those Eco-pillows that filled with material made from recycled bottles. In addition, one million of Earth-friendly towels that Marriott purchases in North America are no need to be pre-washed, which had save six million gallons of water (Marriott, 2009). Marriott hotels in Central Europe were used a laundry detergent that already cuts approximately 100,000 kg amount of phosphates released into waste water (Marriott, 2009).

Marriott has teamed up with many Corporation or organizations to help them support their efforts to preserve and protect the environment (Marriott, 2009). For instance, Amazonas Sustainable Foundation (FAS), Conservation International, ENERGY STAR®, International Tourism Partnership (ITP), and U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The Marriott’s protecting the rainforest strategy is help to protect 1.4 million of acres in endangered rainforest for the Juma Sustainable Development Reserve which partnership with the state of Amazonas in Brazil (Marriott, 2009).

Research Questions

The followings are some key questions addressed by his research:

Is the Marriott International had practiced the going green?

How the Marriott International practiced the going green in this industry?

Why the Marriott international will practiced the going green?

What level of going green programs of Marriott International?

What differences between Marriott International’s going green program with other companies?

Does the going green program increase the income of Marriott International?

Research Objectives

To answer the above research questions, this study seek to accomplish the following objectives:

To investigate going green practiced among all Marriott International’s properties.

To determine how the Marriott International practiced the going green.

To determine the reasons of Marriott International practiced the going green.

To examine the level of going green practiced among all Marriott International’s properties.

To compare the level of going green with other companies.

To determine the advantages and disadvantages of going green in Marriott International.

To determine the effect of going green programs to Marriott International.

Hypothesis Statement
Theoretical/ Conceptual Framework
Conceptual Framework
Marriott International. Inc.
Going Green’s Programs
The strategies and programs of going green in Marriott International. Inc.
The programs or strategies of going green in hospitality industry.
The Actions that practices by Marriott International corporate.
Theoretical Framework

This research mostly searches on the Marriott International Corporate practising the level of going green in most of their properties. The reason why Marriott International become famous in going green program because their organized a lot of events or activities to greening their companies. In the internet or newspaper, we can see that Marriott International corporate organized a lot of activities in greening and get a lot of award internationally in greening program. Besides that, their also is one of the famous go green corporate in the world. Moreover, the going green is not easy to practices in the companies because it need a lot of resources to make it really work.

Scope and Limitation

This study was carried out among all Marriott International in going green program. The Marriott International, Inc.’s operations are grouped into the five business segments which are North American Full-Service Lodging, North American Limited-Service Lodging, International Lodging, Luxury Lodging and Timeshare.

Significance of the study

The significance of this research is to evaluate the level of going green activities that practices or organized by Marriott International Corporate.

According to The New York Times (2009), the Marriott International announced that they would no longer deliver newspapers to every guestroom in the morning. They only will deliver to which guest rooms had requested a newspaper or can pick one up in the lobby. Although that change is arguably as much about saving money more than saving trees. Marriott had assessed that it would reduce the newspaper distribution at its hotels to about 18 million only annually.

http://zoominlocal.com/santa-rosa-press-democrat/2009/10/25/#?article=621947

Furthermore, this research is for acknowledge people around the world to know how important and advantages of going green in hospitality industries now a days. Now, most of the knowledge people are targeting the greening companies to cooperate with than normal companies.

This is why more and more companies going to practising greening in their company because followed by the trend of all around the world.

Chapter Two
Literature Review
2.1 Introduction

The literature review will begin with an essential understanding of the key points needed in order to accomplish the aim of the project. The research will be analysed in the literature to help construct an academic structure on the definition and concept of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The literature will also evaluate the purpose of sustainable development in the hospitality industry and its advantages and limitations. One area which has been particularly analysed is the going green programmes that practice by the hospitality industry as it contains most of the key areas. Furthermore, the literature reviews also analysing the views, theories arguments and perspectives of previous authors for assessment. The literature reviews also will finally perform as a source with which to analyse the differing perspectives on these key points identify gaps for argument and highlight key issues associated with going green programme in hospitality.

2.2 Corporate Social Responsibility Definitions and Concepts

The field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has grown considerably over the last decade due to an increasing number of companies formally recognising the impacts they have on the environment, on society and on the economy (Jones et.al, 2006). CSR issues are now being integrated into all aspects of business operations and explicit commitment to CSR is made in the visions, missions and value statements of an increasing number of companies all over the world (Ofori and Hinson, 2007).

Definitions of corporate social responsibility (CSR) have, however, remained an area of deliberation from the concepts very beginnings. A variety of definitions have been framed. The Commission of the European Communities (2001, p.6 ) defines CSR as:

“aˆ¦a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in the business operations and in their interactions with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis.”

CSR therefore, is not just fulfilling legal responsibilities but may also go beyond compliance to embrace wider social, environmental and economic goals (Commission of the European Communities, 2001).

The concept of CSR is one which has emerged over the last 50 years to occupy a significant role in certain aspects of organisational theory and has only been in wide use since the 1960s (Meehan et al., 2006). CSR was eventually recognised as businesses that are part of society and have the potential to make a positive contribution to social goals (Jones et al., 2006). CSR therefore seems to be synonymous with charitable and voluntary acts by business organisations designed to improve social skills. Conversely, Donaldson and Preston (1995) believe that businesses are not responsible to society but responsible to their stakeholders and view CSR from this perspective.

One of the more cited definitions of CSR is proposed by the World Bank (2003), which defines CSR as the responsibility of businesses to contribute to sustainable economic development-working with internal stakeholders, the local community, and society to improve the quality of life which is positive for business and development. The similarity among these different definitions of CSR is that companies should engage in CSR behaviour as part of their organisational strategy.

Bevan et al. (2004) list nine potential benefits of CSR which include reduced operating costs; improved profitability and financial performance; enhanced capability to innovate; better risk and crisis management; long-term sustainability for companies and the workforce; improved staff commitment and involvement; good relations with government and society; enhanced reputation and brand value; and enhanced customer relationships and increased awareness of customer needs.

2.3 The Sustainability Development of the Hotel Industry

International Tourism Partnership (2010) defines the term ‘green’ in business as originally related to environmental issues; it has evolved to embrace all aspects of sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR). Sloan et al. (2009) define a sustainable hospitality operation as one which manages its resources in such a way that economic, social and environmental benefits are maximised in order to meet the need of the present generation while protecting and enhancing opportunities for future generations.

Green Hotels Association (2010, p.2) provides a more resource-oriented definition of the Green Hotel:

“Green Hotels are environmentally-friendly properties whose managers are eager to institute programmes that save water, save energy and reduce solid waste, while saving money to help protect the earth”.

According to Green Hotels Association (2010), “Green Hotels” have gained a foothold in lodging operators’ contribution to society’s concern for the environment which focuses on programmes which are designed to save water, save energy and reduce solid waste. Programme components such as towel rack hangers and sheet-changing cards have achieved positive responses by hotel management staff as well as guests for over ten years (Green Hotels Association, 2010).

The UK hotel sector would appear to accept that it does have an impact on the environment (Brown, 1996). This is not only confirmed by exploratory research but also through the formation of the International Tourism Partnership (ITP). The ITP has published an environmental magazine, the ‘Green Hotelier’, whose readership cares about environmentally and socially responsible hotel behaviour as focused on positive sustainable travel and tourism development (International Tourism Partnership, 2010). According to research by the Carbon Trust (Green hotelier, 2010), rising energy prices and taxes are the biggest worries facing the British hospitality industry in 2010. This view is supported by Alexander and Kennedy (2002) who find that the most costly and wasteful use of resources in hotels are usually in the consumption of non-renewable energy, excessive water use, and the generation of waste

Brown (1996) argues that however the general manger of a hotel would appear to be restricted in introducing environmental improvements in the hotel unless a cost saving or other tangible benefit is identified. This view is supported by Butler (2008) who finds that the hospitality industry has been waiting for increased consumer demand and lower costs before it fully embraced green operation. In part, the slow adoption of green building standards has followed the approach that most hotel guests did not think that being green was that important, particularly if recycling or other green activities increased room rates or was inconvenient (Butler, 2008). Without consumers demanding green hotels, the perception of greater cost for green hotel development was an obstacle to the industry’s adoption.

2.3 Case study of Accor and Hilton

Based on their total room number and location of their hotels, the tho hotel groups selected for case study were Accor Hotel Group (Europe) and Hyatt Corporation (USA), being in 2009 the top 10 hotel groups in UK (Caterersearch, 2010). Marriott International Corporate also is one of the top 10 hotel groups in UK.

Company

Number of hotels

Number of rooms

Number of hotels worldwide

1

Whitbread Hotel Company

577+

40,000+

580

2

InterContinental Hotels Group

248

34,955

4,200

3

Travelodge

(Dubai International

Capital)

372

23,150

380+

4

Accor Hotels

138

19,996

4,000

5

Hilton Hotels Corporation

78

16,566

3,200

6

Best Western

285

15,305

4,035

7

Wyndham Worldwide

122

12,274

7,000

8

Marriott Hotels

58

12,015

3,200

9

Carlson Hotels Worldwide

50

9,718

1,030

10

The Rezidor Hotel Group

42

7.759

380

Table 1: Top 10 Hotel Groups in the UK, 2009 by number of bedrooms.

(Caterersearch, 2010)

2.3.1 Accor Group Hotels

Accor currently manages 4,100 hotels under 13 different brands worldwide (Accor, 2010). Accor’s philosophy is based on hospitality and respect for diverse cultures, incorporating environmental best practices in all its operations (Accor, 2010). The goals of their ‘Earth Guest’ programme, launched in 2006, are to reduce water and energy consumption, promote balanced nutrition and to double, in three years, the number of hotels that offer fair-trade products (Accor, 2010). The programme is divided into two parts which are a social responsibility development area (EGO) and an environmental responsibility development area (ECO) (Accor, 2010). EGO is includes programmes for local development, the protection of children, combating of epidemics and the promotion of healthy eating; and ECO is includes the reduction of water and energy consumption, and the improvement of waste sorting and recycling, as well as the preservation of biodiversity (Accor, 2008 and 2009).

The Hotelier’s Environmental Charter is Accor’s internal benchmarking tool and provides the local hotel managers with guidelines for environmentally sustainable business practices. According to the World Travel and Tourism Council (2010), the Hotelier’s Environmental Charter has been adopted by 88% of Accor’s 4,000 properties. The Charter gives hotel managers and employees clear instructions on how resources can be saved in the areas of energy, water and waste (Accor, 2008).

The first and second point of Hotelier’s Environmental Charter considers is energy and water (Accor, 2010). Compact fluorescent light bulbs are used in 82% hotels for areas that remain light 24 hours a day (Accor, 2010). Accor also continued to promote the use of renewable energy sources, installing solar-powered hot water systems in 32 hotels in 2009, with a total of 99 hotels now equipped worldwide (Accor, 2009). Accor is actively involved in water conservation measures and water consumption per occupied room was reduced by 4% between 2006 and 2009 (Accor, 2009). Moreover, flow-regulators have now been installed in showers and faucets in 89% of hotels (Accor, 2009).

Accor actively promotes waste sorting and recycling as well as eco-designed products for instance, 51% of hotels recover paper, cardboard and glass (Accor, 2008). Accor has improved its performance in waste management by manage with a dedicated waste management module that monitor the amount of waste produced per room, the recovery rate and the cost of waste disposal (Accor, 2009). Waste Traceability mainly concerns the separation of waste, where the company already achieves a high score in France owing to its proactive information policy (Accor, 2008). According to Accor (2010), their hotel prefers eco-labelled suppliers. In 2002, Accor dispatched an environmental purchasing charter to its purchasing organisations as well as to over 2,000 preferred suppliers (Sloan et al., 2009).

2.3.2 Hilton Hotels

Currently, Hilton Hotels Corporation has more than 3,200 hotels and 525,000 rooms in 77 countries. In 2009, Hilton is new global headquarters in McLean, Virginia which meets the highest environmental standard for his design, operation and construction. (Environmental Leader, 2009)

http://www.environmentalleader.com/2009/08/11/hilton-kimpton-hotel-chains-go-for-the-green/

Besides that, the sustainability target that aims in coming 2014 by Hilton Hotels was announced. Those include:

20 per cent: Reducing energy consumption from direct operations;

20 per cent: Reducing CO2 emissions;

20 per cent: Reducing output of waste;

10 per cent: Reducing water consumption.

Hilton has already begun to green its hotel operations. Through the introduction of carbon-free electricity at its facilities in the U.K. and Ireland, Hilton says it reduced CO2 emissions in participating Hilton hotels by more than 64,000 tons, or 56 percent of its carbon footprint. The company says it has also reduced its energy and water consumption 10 percent over the last two years.

Hilton Hotels reported in May that it has delivered energy savings of more than 10 percent last year across more than 80 hotels in Europe.

A 2007 survey conducted by the Association of Corporate Travel Executives and KDS revealed that only one-third of corporate travel policies promote sustainable tourism. While many travelers said they would prefer a green hotel, other factors such as price win out when they’re booking.

2.3.3 Summary

Most major chains are looking for ways to integrate green into their hotels, and water and energy conservation are popular routes. Marriott International has set the goal of lowering GHG emissions 2.2 million pounds by 2010, says Ed Fuller, president and managing director of the company. Wolfgang Neuman of Hilton Hotels sees near-term moves toward eco-friendly air-conditioning, solar heating, and heat recovery systems to extract waste water from one system and use it in another. And by 2010, 200 of Accor’s hotels in France will have solar panels.

Chapter 3
Methodology
3.1 Introduction

In this dissertation, in order to obtain broad knowledge about environmental operating practise in the hotel industry, a wide range of secondary sources will be reviewed. In addition, research strategy adopted was to conduct multiple case studies in three top hotel companies in Europe and the USA. The main data collection techniques used in this research study was documentation analysis and content analysis. This chapter is divided into three sections. In the first, the interpretive stance in the field of information system is examined. The next section is about the construction of the secondary research design which deals with the research design and covers the reasons for selecting resources. Finally, section three describes the research approach followed in case study research.

3.2 Research Design

Currently, secondary literatures have increase rapidly, particularly as new resources which are developed or ready through the internet (Saunders et al., 2009). In this research project, secondary research will allow the research to incorporate suitable and reliable data of green operation initiative in hospitality, so that all the gathered data can respond to the research questions relating to the green behaviour of hotel in Europe and the USA. Secondary research differs from primary research in the collection of the information is not the responsibility of the analyst. Stewart and Kamins (1993) point out that the analyst enters the picture after the data collection effort is over in secondary research. On the other hand, in primary research, the analyst is responsible for the design of the research, the collection of the data, and the analysis and summary of the information (Stewart and Kamins, 1993). Secondary data although, has lack of direct control of the date, type, and procedure for collecting and recording of the data (Sauder et al, 2009), however, secondary data is more financial and time saving. For instance, secondary data particularly not necessary to wait for or pay to marketing researchers for a research project to collect primary data. By using secondary data, author can has more time and effort in analysing and interpreting the data, as it has already been collected. Secondary research moreover may increase the quality of the research by targeting the real dilemma and mistakes. Consultation on secondary resources increases the efficiency of the research by targeting real gaps and oversights in knowledge.

Primary research therefore has not been used in this project due to the wide variety of secondary data has been found. Primary research methods such as, questionnaires or interviews will not provide relevant information for this topic. On this basis, it can be concluded that secondary research is the main source of information provided in this study including information from academic journals, books, corporate reports and internet. Nevertheless, author should analyse cautiously the information gathered to determine its validity and reliability. This is because the research only uses one kind of research models and the argument generated about research topic.

3.3 Sources of Data
3.3.1 Primary
3.3.2 Secondary

Secondary research is the key resource of information incorporate in this dissertation; however, different secondary resources might have different type of information. A guideline for obtain valid and reliable information from different resources therefore, has been designed which can found in Table 4.

Table 4

Type of information

Resources that might have that information

Established facts and figures

Reference books; official publications; government web sites

General information on a topic

Books of collected articles; text books; web sites of relevant organisations

Reviews of the literature on a topic

Journal articles; books of collected articles

Publications of recent research results

Journal articles; proceedings of conferences

Professional and academic debates

Journal articles; web sites of relevant organisations; newspapers

Table 4: The types of resources that provide different information.

In order to justify the author’s arguments and offer a range of information about the research topic, secondary resources such as academic journals, books, corporate report and the internet have been used.

Academic journals have offered different views and theories of Corporate Social Responsible (CSR) concept and environmental operating practise in hospitality. Journals such as “Cornell Hospitality Quarterly”, “International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management” and “Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research” illustrate some research studies that have been conducted concerning the green operation initiative in hotel industry. All the relevant information gathered from these journals will be analysed and used to evaluate the level of green behaviour of top hotel company. Journals however often assembled to research aims that differ from the current research; therefore, data and complex arguments has to be carefully evaluated, as well as understood and interpreted.

The information in books is normally written in more well-organized and accessible way which will help to clarify the research questions and objectives. In this research, text book is rarely used due to insufficient related books in library about sustainability in hospitality. “Sustainability