Hotel

HANDLING GROUPS Groups can bring in huge revenue for a hotel but they make a lot of work. This statement is very much true as groups take up a number of rooms in a hotel all at once bringing in a huge amount of income at one particular point in time. In order for this to go smoothly,all hotel departments need to be given details of group arrivals well in advance so each department can make their own necessary arrangements to be able to handle groups.

Various departments would have to work closely together, front office would need to send out copies of group arrival list to all departments atleast one week in advance so that other departments can make appropriate adjustments to number of staff that would be required during those times. The flow pattern for a succession of individual guests is quite different from the flow of group arrivals so housekeeping has to pay close attention ensuring rooms are ready for group arrivals.

Head porters also have to arrange necessary number of staff to be ready to move a large quantity of luggage as quickly as possible so as to not have the group transport around for long periods while unloading. All departments need to have good communication during these times, listen, ask and prepare. When best would hotels accept groups and why? Groups to a hotel can include conference delegates, unexpected group of passengers forced to stay overnight because of bad weather or maybe technical problems.

Hotels sometimes are not given the opportunity to plan/prepare further ahead so they must always have a set procedure and guideline in place for un-for-seen times. Hotels would best accept groups during their slack periods, this will help to fill up the rooms and also by charging the highest possible rates for the rooms. This would also bring about the use of yield management where the hotel would be able to fill up all the empty rooms at that point, instead of having so many vacant rooms

Five factors to consider when booking groups: 1. Negotiation- particular attention when negotiating with group leader over price, as the leader will be in a more powerful bargaining position than individual guests as they are providing the hotel with large amount of business at once so group leaders tend to bargain extremely for low rates and discounted use of facilities etc. 2.

Group reservation request form- hotels needs to ensure group leader fills in and submit this form which is usually listed on hotels websites or calling direct to the hotel giving the information and also through group reservation specialist collecting all necessary information about the number in group, number of rooms, type of rooms, special requests, arrival and departure dates and times etc. 3.

Payment arrangement- the arranged package prices are transfer to the group leader ledger account, it is safe for the hotel to open a separate extras account for group members individually for them to get drinks, laundry, room service on credit if this credit was not extended and this should be clearly noted and understood by both the group and hotel departments so as to prevent any uncomfortable situations. . Additional administrative arrangements- document a summerization of details and outline the arranged dividing of hotels responsibilities to group members and that of the group leader to it’s members, this document would include if a separate check in area is provided for the group check in which would help in avoiding long queues at reception and also to foster the feeling of group collision. 5.

Couriers arrangement- when groups travel they usually have a courier/tour organiser and sometimes a driver which are free/at a reduced rate, these things should be made note of especially if the courier took care of administrative tasks as well, which would have then had to be done by the hotel own staff. Five factors to consider when checking in groups: 1. Pre registration- hotel can print off individual registration forms along with a prepared welcome package, prepare two keys for double occupancy rooms and arrange special envelopes with group keys in ascending order. . Special code reference for each group- on check in enter group code and guest automatically transfers the agreed accommodation and meal charges to a master bill, and all extras are charged on a individual account for group members if so desired. 3. Pre arrival registration form- hotel gets the individual registration forms to groups for them to fill out on their way to the hotel, so this part is dealt with even before guests arrive at the hotel, so information is only rechecked at point of contact with reception. 4.

Rooming list- hotel should obtain a copy of rooming list from the group leader in order to update individual guest profiles proving names, addresses and passport numbers into the pms system. 5. In house report/groups- immediately after check in hotel should update the system to enable all guest names, room number, special request etc, and print a copy of group in house room reports and circulate to all departments such as front desk, housekeeping, concierge, room service. Five factors to consider when checking out groups: . Ensure all group billing are prepared and billed carefully, as in some instances some group members may stay on longer after the rest of the group have left the hotel, so to ensure those individual guest are billed separately for the group rates and their individual rates. 2. Extras- making sure all other charges incurred by all individual group members are billed separately and not added to the agreed contract between hotel and group leader of accommodation and specific meal option. 3.

Collecting of all key passes to rooms from individual group members, where provision was made to provide two keys for a number of single/double rooms. 4. To enquire about actual check out times of individual group members to have various departments on standby eg. Housekeeping to start cleaning and preparing rooms again for new expected guests/walk-ins, and for porters to help remove belongings from individual guest rooms in a timely manner. 5. Hotel should at check out of groups try selling single packages to individual group members, or even family and other group packages as well.

The researcher choose bar and grill as a food service establishment that they will use in determining. The service quality it provides because many of the restaurant found in Bulacan is bar and grill. The service quality of some of the bar and grill restaurants found in Bulacan has been observed to be poor and unsatisfying to other customers.

The causes must be found on the remedial measures may be done. The researcher will use the SERVQUAL instrument developed by Mr. Eduardo Castro of College of Engineering in Bulacan state University.

The Current Business Status of the Recovery Room Restaurant and Bar

This study focused on the analysis of the current business status of the recovery room restaurant and bar. It is primarily to develop innovative management policies and new marketing strategies that should be done and implement to improve the operations management of the establishment.

This also aime to improve the current business status of the recovery room restaurant and bar to achieve customer loyalty, to achieve total customer satisfaction, to boost productivity among their employees, to assume financial stability and to boost sales and beat the competitions. The respondents of the are the recovery room restaurant and bar top management level, personnel and customers.

The Acceptability of Doughnut on a Stick as a Healthy Street Food Option

The focus of the study was to determine the acceptability of donut on a stick as a healthy-street food option.The respondents of the study were the students of all school level like nursery, elementary, highschool and college. The selection was done at random basis.

Other respondents were passer’s by that includes parents, instructors or professor and other individual that were not classified as students to assure how effective and efficient the study was the respondents were also the customers who bought the doughnuts from 10:00 in the morning up to 5:00 in the afternoon which was important in evaluating the product.

Assessment of Trainees Competencies

This study focused on the local training fifty students trainees of Bachelor of Science in Hotel and Restaurant Management at Bulacan State University. The aspect to be studied was limited to the competencies of the trainees during their local on the job training. The respondents of the study were fifty students from Hotel and Restaurant Management course at Bulacan State University, City of Malolos, Bulacan batch 2010-2011 who have undergone local training.

• Comparative Analysis of the Technical Skills and Management Competencies of Hrm and Non-Hrm Graduates Employed in Selected Hotels in Bulacan

The study evaluated the technical skills and management competencies of HRM and NON-HRM graduates employed in selected hotel in Bulacan. It examined the amount of training that should be provided in college and industry. The study attempted to learn the responsibility of the school in equipping their students with skill-building opportuinities so their students can compete effectively in the hospitality industry.

Problems Encountered By the Hotel and Restaurant Management Practicums In Their On-the-Job-Training

• Customer Service

One of the main issues that management has to face in the hotel and restaurant industry is dealing with difficult customers. Dealing with these customers takes patience, finesse, and knowing what steps are possible for management to take. A manager usually has the power to provide a free meal, entree, or even to comp a room for a night for a guest when there is a difficult problem.

The manager has to know what is appropriate given the current situation. For example, a customer who finds glass in their food expects that meal to be replaced and to be free. A person may also expect a hotel room to be free for at least one night if there was a problem with the room’s plumbing, the reservation or something similar. It is the job of the manager to placate the person correctly and solve the problem without giving too many free items away.

• Maintenance problems

Maintenance problems can often arise with hotel and restaurant management. On the job training in a practicum situation may see an issue arise with the plumbing or there may be other issues with regards to maintenance. One would have to figure out how to solve the issue appropriately and quickly to ensure no loss of customers and minimal after effects.

• Food and timing

The timing of food being ordered and delivered to the table can be a problem that comes up in a practicum because restaurants get busy and the chefs have to keep up. When they do not, or if food arrives at the table cold, a manager has to solve the issue with the employees and placate the customer.

Introduction

The Oberoi Group, founded in 1934, employs about 13000 people worldwide and owns and manages about thirty hotels and five luxury cruisers as of 2012. The company was incorporated in the year 1949 by Rai Bahadur M. S. Oberoi to run “Oberoi Group of hotels”. The group of companies, affiliated through common ownership interest, has to offer first class luxury hotels, airline catering, airport bars and restaurants, corporate air charters, travel consultancy, limousine services and project management.

With hotels being spread out in Mumbai, Delhi, Calcutta, Chennai etc. , we can see it covers almost the entire p of the country. It also has properties abroad in places such as Cairo and Aswan in Egypt; Bali and Lombok in Indonesia; Mauritius; Medina in Saudi Arabia and a new property coming up in Dubai in UAE. EIH, the flagship company of The Oberoi Group is generally preferred by business travellers because of its consistent and high quality service across different locations. Exhibit 1 displays some reviews posted by customers who have had the pleasure of staying at an Oberoi hotel.

As can be seen from their reviews, the main highlights of their stay were the ambience/facilities and highly motivated and well trained staff who provide exceptionally attentive, personalised and warm service. Such a holistic experience can be achieved by an organization through consistent efforts. Thus the purpose of this report is to understand these efforts which Oberoi has synergized and use it to study effective organization strategy and culture. Growth and Strategy “Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi was born on 15th August, 1898 in erstwhile undivided Punjab, which is now in Pakistan.

He was only six months old when his father died. Success and fortune did not, therefore, come easily to him. Initiative, resourcefulness and hard work, combined with the capability to face and overcome the most overwhelming odds can best characterise this phenomenal entrepreneur. ” The above words about the founder, speak of the qualities he employed to make the Oberoi group reach the pinnacle it is at. When M S Oberoi first reached Shimla, he took up work as the desk clerk at the Cecil hotel. Today, the hotel is owned by the Oberoi Group and is called The Oberoi Cecil.

The then manager of the hotel was happy with the work put in by Mohan Singh and asked him to assist him running another hotel he acquired, Clarkes hotel. With this first-hand experience of operating a hotel, Mohan Singh set out on his entrepreneurial venture. In 1934, he acquired two hotels, The Clarkes Hotel in Shimla and Delhi by mortgaging his wife’s jewellery and all his assets. The Company was incorporated as a public limited company in India on 26 May 1949 and its initial business activity was as the lessee and operator of The Oberoi Palace Hotel in Srinagar, Kashmir.

It was in 1965 that they built their first hotel, The Oberoi Intercontinental, now The Oberoi, New Delhi. It offered facilities that no other hotel in the country could match and was India’s first luxury hotel. In 1966, The Oberoi School of Hotel Management later renamed the Oberoi Centre for Learning and Development was formed. It provided high Quality professional training in hospitality management. The complete list of events that shaped Oberoi’s growth is given in Exhibit 2. Mr Oberoi was the first Indian to work in association with international chains to woo international travellers to India.

This caused a large number of international travellers to offer their patronage. The foreign occupancy rose to a healthy level of 85%. Mr M S Oberoi had great vision and imagination. He converted dilapidated palaces and buildings into magnificent hotels. Some of these are the Windsor in Australia, Mena House Oberoi in Cairo and Oberoi Grand in Kolkata. The Oberoi Cecil in Shimla, built in the early 20th century, reopened in April 1997 after extensive and meticulous renovation. Strategy: Thus the Oberoi Group’s strategy under Mr M S Oberoi’s leadership was quite clear.

Since the start, they have focused on expansion of their operations by catering to newer markets. The decision to offer world class hotels to International travellers was the mind of an ambitious businessman looking to expand his offering. Also multi location presence helped reduce concentration risk. It is this for this international image that foreign properties were acquired and assimilated into the luxury and top quality services from Oberoi. The search for newer markets was responsible for introducing its second brand of hotels, ‘Trident’. Trident hotels are five-star hotels that have stablished a reputation for providing the best in excellence bundled with an affordable price tag. Thus catering to the middle income segment and corporate clientele was the strategy. With this new brand, spread across nine locations in India, Oberoi now had a major share of the hotel industry. Exhibit 2 also mentions the strategic partnership with Hilton for the international marketing and handling of reservations of the “Trident” hotels. The hotels, as part of this partnership, were to be re-branded “Trident Hilton”. However with Hilton trying to establish its own Garden Inn hotels in direct competition with Trident caused Oberoi concern.

Thus it abandoned the arrangement with Hilton and re-marketed its hotels under the name Trident itself. The Oberoi Group, along with its subsidiaries and other brands, stands as one of the most decorated hotel chains in the world with many of its group hotels bagging various awards and accolades from Travel+Leisure, Conde Nast Traveler, Forbes and Galileo. While the business strategy and outright aggression in expansion has been a key to this success, it needs to have been supported internally though a resilient culture and committed human capital.

Let us now try to uncover some key aspects of The Oberoi Group’s culture and workforce. Structure As facilities grow in size, hotel or lodging managers find the need to group certain jobs in order to ensure effective coordination and operational control. While departments may be grouped as front of the house (having guest contact) and back of the house (employees with no guest contact), Oberoi follows the practice of separating departments by function. Exhibit 4 shows the structure of a typical full service Oberoi hotel.

Even though such a structure is normally followed by a hotel with size over 500 rooms, the sheer size of some of the Oberoi properties require such an elaborate structure. The divisional structure followed by Oberoi is in line with its culture and its objectives. The functional division promotes specialization. This specialization in turn increases worker productivity and efficiency. Culture The core values of The Oberoi Group are articulated through their dharma, which was developed by their own employees. Their dharma articulates their commitment to display core values through their action and behaviour.

Elements of the dharma include Conduct of the highest ethical standards; a Focus on teamwork and mutual trust; Maintaining excellence in guest service; Protecting the safety, security, health and environment of guests and each other. The Dharma has more aspects as well which together apply to all aspects of the group’s business (Exhibit 3). The employee is expected to make all decisions and all interactions based on the Company Dharma. By placing robust mechanisms and communicating specific conduct expected from each employee, the company has made it possible to put this Dharma into action.

Oberoi does not believe it is in the business of hotels, instead it claims to be in the business of memories. The company empowers its employees to believe – “I don’t just work here. This is my hotel. ” The Power of 1500 – Any employee in the hotel can offer anything at a cost value of INR 1500 without seeking prior approval, any number of times, to any number of guests – no questions asked. The objective is to create guest delight. Guests who have received the power of 1500 have been happy with the service they received.

The real power of this program is that because of the freedom employees have, guest get an incentive to spend more, they come back and share their positive experience by word of mouth. This directly affects the company’s bottom line. It’s these small ideological differences which make a difference in sustaining the culture over time and across borders. The People The Oberoi Group takes pride in having the best service professionals in the industry. Throughout the year, the organization stimulates and rewards exceptional performance that best exemplifies outstanding service.

Some of these awards are i) Outstanding Performance Award, ii) Employee in Spotlight, iii) Peer Recognition Program, iv) Star of The Month etc. Oberoi has employees who continue to celebrate a long tenure with the organisation, in some cases over 30 years. Many of their employees have completed their certification from the Oberoi Centre for Learning and Development (OCLD) and have built successful careers up to the general manager level and in some cases senior executive positions with the corporate office. In mid-management positions, their average tenure is around six years.

As the war for talent continues across many industries, their retention strategy encompasses a variety of different elements. They undertake regular employee opinion surveys to understand employees’ needs. Their surveys reveal that while compensation remains an important component for people, they are increasingly focused on clear career plans, access to “best in class” learning and building a work-life balance. By catering to these requirements, they have been successful in providing the best experience to their customers through a committed and engaged workforce. Technology

In the hospitality sector, ensuring the comfort of your guests is paramount. However, in today’s increasingly demanding consumer marketplace, meeting that need could be a real challenge. This is especially true for Oberoi Hotels, a luxury group of hotels favoured by government officials and business travellers. Not only does the hotel have to cater for well-heeled makers who want to make use of features such as interactive TV, IPTV and wireless networking, it also has to meet the stringent security requirements of business users who want to be sure that whatever data they access during their stay will remain secure.

In addition to this, it has to ensure that its fire safety, car parking and networking facilities meet the demanding safety standards required by government officials and high-profile business people. In response the hotel installed a highly available and highly secure network that would enable it to deliver the security and functionality required by its guests. In terms of fulfilling the networking demands of the business itself, the solution provides a solid, reliable platform for running all the hotel’s crucial applications – including reservations, billing, internal accounting, and digital signage.

Size and Organization Life-Cycle Size: For the Financial Year ended on 31st March, 2012, the Company’s Total Revenue was Rs 1147. 33 crores. The company posted a net profit after tax of Rs 122. 42 crores against Rs 64. 54 crores during the previous year, which is a 89. 68% growth or Rs 57. 88 Crores over YTD March 2011. It is one of Asia’s leading hospitality companies. Even though the company has multinational presence, there is a lot of decentralization in decision making at the lowest rung. As mentioned above, policies such as “power of 1500” enable employees to exercise a fair amount of decision.

This is on account of being in a business centred on customer satisfaction. This amount of leeway translates to good customer experience directly increasing repeat business and word of mouth publicity. The formalization is well set. A company operating on the scales of Oberoi needs to have well-structured and standardized operations. Though the overall themes and products may differ the rules and procedures are well defined for each employ to enable him to work in synergy with the Oberoi Dharma. Life Cycle: In the entrepreneurial stage, Mr Oberoi didn’t have to devote a lot of time to develop a product or service.

His experience in managing the operations of Clarkes Hotel already gave him enough knowhow on the business of running a hotel. Thus he could provide the strong leadership that was required to propel the company. In the collectivity stage, again it was Mr Oberoi’s well guided leadership which kept the sails flying high. They were focussed on expansion, but took enough time to mobilise resources. There was enough gap between 1934 when he acquired the first hotel and when the company got incorporated in 1949.

Again there was almost a 15 year gab before which Oberoi group set up their own hotel. These timelines gave enough time for the newly formed workforce to grow along with the values of the founder and the organization. This also helped in the formalization to the elaboration stage. The rules and procedures which did get established were in line with the culture of the organization. This meant that the different properties established across the country or acquired world over, could inculcate the same culture all over without there being too much red tape.

Decisions such as setting up their own printing press to maintain high standards all over in stationery are an example of how strict procedures or standards were maintained while not causing problems within the internal management. The management in different hotels did not need to coordinate now with each other for procuring same quality of stationery. Presently the Oberoi group is in the elaboration stage, with different subsidiaries handling their different businesses. They are structured similarly and with varying controlling interests, Oberoi now is in a stable position in its sector.

Its plans involve expansion and other ventures and partners to collaborate with.

Complexity-Stability Model

The patterns and events occurring in the environment can be described along the two major dimensions. These are the Simple-Complex and Stable-Unstable dimensions. Complexity: The Oberoi Group, dealing majorly in hospitality, is subjected to Complex environmental factors since the hospitality industry has many players and has to cope with numerous dynamic governmental regulations, competition for quality employees ; new trends etc.

Thus it is affected by numerous diverse external elements. Stability: The Stable-Unstable dimension refers to whether elements in the environment are dynamic. A domain is stable if it remains the same over a period of months or years, whereas under unstable conditions, environmental elements shift abruptly. As mentioned above, there areas number of dynamic factors which affect the hospitality industry. With budget hotels also eating into their share by offering value for money and the economy in recession, corporates are taking their patronage to relatively greener pastures.

Thus the hospitality industry and Oberoi group face complex, unstable environments. The Competition The major domestic competitors of the Oberoi Group of Hotels are Taj Group, ITC, De-Meligan and Leela Group of Hotels. This presents a tough competition to Oberoi as in the luxury segment, supply exceeds demand in several cities, as per an analysis in EIH Ltd’s annual report. India has often been cited as one of the most lucrative albeit difficult markets to develop properties in with a long development cycle of three-five years, adding to the cost.

Apart from the domestic competitors, the Oberoi group faces immediate concerns with major international brands, which are expanding their presence in India. Some of these brands are The IHG group, Wyndham Hotels, Marriott International and Hilton Worldwide. These international hotel chains are not just targeting the luxury and premium segment, but also the upscale, mid-scale, budget and upper budget segments. Another advantage to these chains is that International travellers are accustomed with these international chains and so it is very difficult for Indian chains to break the associated loyalty.

However, to fight competition, Oberoi and its domestic competitors such as The Taj Group are looking to add newer properties, ranging from the budget category to luxury. Exhibit 4 – lists out the existing hotels of International chains and the upcoming ones with their planned dates and categories. It shows how International Hotel chains are gaining ground in India and are bullish on their India expansion plans, giving tough competition to home-grown biggies. Conclusion We have just gone through the organizational design of The Oberoi Group.

We have studied its strategy, its culture and people, the competition and business environment it operates in. So what exactly does the organization do right to cater to all these external factors and still come out as one of the leading hospitality companies in Asia and the world? Strategy is one important factor that affects organization design. Oberoi group’s strategy has always been one of expanding markets through targeting different income segments, acquiring new properties and setting up hotels in different countries.

This strategy makes a lot of sense if we consider the constantly changing environment of the hospitality industry as discussed in the Complexity-Stability Model. By changing the target segment along with the market trends, the company has been able to keep up its high standards with the customers. Its present size and elaborative stage in its life-cycle also enable it to follow this expansion strategy. Due to the brand value it garners, additional investments will also continue to reap in business despite the competition. Another point to note from the unstable-complex environment of hospitality industry is the structure of the organization.

As we have seen above, the structure is highly differentiated and is highly organic. The differentiation is accompanied with high integration as well. The decentralized decision making at the operation level is required to have a participative workforce working towards customer satisfaction. Seasonality, economic upheavals etc. requires a lot of forecasting and the decentralized atmosphere allows the required high speed response. Lastly, the culture of the organization which is centred on the Oberoi “Dharma” is also in sync with its structure and design. Formalization is high at Oberoi.

The rules and procedures are well defined which implies every employee is well aware of his responsibilities. Thus he can exercise his discretion with complete freedom while making decisions. Also this formalized structure allows standardization across its hotels across the world. Thus we can see that the design of the organization fits its workflow in a complementary manner. This has helped Oberoi keep its head above its competition and sustain itself successfully for over 75 years. The strong leadership has guided it with smart focus on targeting segments that offer new opportunities.

Thus we can see that Oberoi is a good example of an organization that has used its structure and strategy to forward its business and remain successful. Exhibit 1 Customer Reviews About “The Oberoi, New Delhi” About “Mena House Oberoi Hotel, Giza, Egypt” Exhibit 2 Major events in the history of the Company Year| Major Events| 1949| The Company was promoted and incorporated by Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberoi and Oberoi Hotels (India) Limited, in May 1949. | 1956| The equity shares of the Company were first listed on the BSE.

Took the Maharaja’s palace in Srinagar, Kashmir on lease and converted it into The Oberoi Palace Hotel. | 1957| Started the flight services business. | 1965| Commenced operations at The Oberoi Hotel, New Delhi. | 1968| By a scheme of merger approved by the Calcutta High Court, The Associated Hotels of India Limited and Hotels (1938) Private Limited merged into the Company. By virtue of the merger, the Company acquired The Oberoi Grand, Kolkata, Maidens Hotel, Delhi, Palm Beach, Gopalpur-on-sea (operation suspended), The Oberoi Cecil, Shimla, The Mount Everest, Darjeeling (operation suspended). 1973| Commenced operations at The Oberoi Towers, Mumbai. | 1974| Established a printing press in Delhi primarily for the Company’s in-house needs. | 1979| Bonus issue of 1,337,745 new equity shares of the Company of Rs. 10 each in the ratio of one new equity shares for every five equity shares held by the shareholders. | 1984| Bonus issue of 4,953,131 new equity shares of the Company of Rs. 10 each in the ratio of two new equity shares for every five equity shares held by the shareholders. 1986| Made a foray into the airport services business by entering into a ten year contract with the International Airport’s Authority to operate all the snack bars and restaurants at the domestic and international terminals in Mumbai. | 1992| Bonus issue of 4,720,704 new equity shares of the Company of Rs. 10 each in the ratio of one new equity shares for every five equity shares held by the shareholders. | 1994| Listing of GDRs on the London Stock Exchange. | 1996| Change of name of the Company from The East India Hotels Limited to EIH Limited. Bonus issue of 17,464,299 new Equity shares of the Company of Rs. 0 each in the ratio of one new equity shares for every two equity shares held by the shareholders. | 1997| Commenced operations at The Oberoi Rajvilas in Jaipur, our first luxury leisure hotel in India. | 2004| The Company entered into a strategic alliance for international marketing with Hilton International. All the “Trident” Hotels were re-branded as “Trident Hilton”, and the Oberoi Towers in Mumbai was re-branded as the Hilton Towers. | 2006| Sub-division of the face value of equity shares from Rs. 10 to Equity Shares of Rs. 2. Bonus issue of 130,984,657 new equity shares of the Company of Rs. each in the ratio of one new equity share for every two equity shares held by the Equity Shareholders. The Company acquired a 66. 67% equity stake in Mercury Car Rentals Limited, a joint venture with Avis Europe for car rental business. |  | The printing press established by the Company in 1974 was granted permission by the Indian Banks’ Association to print security stationery for banks. | 2008| The alliance with Hilton International ended and “Trident Hilton” and the Hilton Towers Hotels were renamed “Trident” Hotels. Establishment of EIH Flight Services Limited, Mauritius as a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company.

Entered into a joint venture agreement with 26% equity interest in L;T Bangalore Airport Hotel Limited for a hotel project near the Bangalore international airport. Terrorist attack at the Trident, Nariman Point and The Oberoi, Mumbai in November, 2008 resulting in interruption in business and closure of both the hotels. The Trident Mumbai re-opened on 21 December, 2008, after the terrorist attack. | 2009| Entered into a joint venture agreement with 16% equity interest in Golden Jubilee Hotels Limited for the proposed Oberoi and Trident Hotels in Hyderabad. 2010| The Oberoi, Mumbai re-opens after full renovation subsequent to the terrorist attacks in 2008. EIH International Ltd, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company completed an acquisition of approximately 46% of the equity interest in its international hotels joint venture company EIH Holdings Ltd. Pursuant to this acquisition, EIH Holdings Ltd is now a wholly owned subsidiary of EIH International Ltd. | Source: Information provided at website of EIH Ltd, a subsidiary of Oberoi Group (http://www. eihltd. com/about_eih/milestones. asp) Exhibit 3 – Dharma: Fundamental code of conduct

Exhibit 4 – Department Structure Exhibit 5 – International Hotel chains in India GAINING GROUND International hotel chains are bullish on their India expansion plans, giving tough competition to home-grown biggies| Group| Existing hotels| Planned hotels** (in Rs)| By when| Category| Planned new brands| IHG*| 12| 150| 2020| Mid-market| Holiday Inn Express| Wyndham Hotels| 14| 60-70| 2017| Mid-market| Howard Johnson| Marriott International| 18| 80-100| 2015| Across segments| Fairfield, Ritz| Hilton Worldwide| 8| 50-60| 2016| Luxury/ premium| Hilton, Double Tree, Hilton Garden Inn, ; mid-market Hampton,

Conrad and Waldorf Astoria| Accor| 13| 90-100| 2015| Luxury, mid-scale and budget| Formula 1, Sofitel and Pullman| Choice Hotels International| 27| 100| 2017-19| Mid-market| Sleep Inn, Cambria Suites, Econo Lodge| Best Western International| 34| 66| 2017| 3/ 4 and 5 star| Best Premier| Starwood Hotels| 33| 50-60| 2015| Across segments| St. Regis, W| Carlson| 46| 100| 2015| Mid-market and premium| Regent| Hyatt Hotels Corporation| 8| 50| -| Premium| Hyatt Place, Hyatt House| *InterContinental Hotels Group; ** Estimate Source: Industry and ICRA estimates|

References

1. Oberoi Hotels ; Resorts. (2012). [online]. Viewed 2012 October 15. Available: http://www. oberoihotels. com/
2. The Oberoi Group. (2012). Careers at The Oberoi Group. [online]. Viewed 2012 October 19. Available: http://www. oberoigroup. com/careers/index. htm SHRM India. (28/06/2012).
3. The Oberoi Group of Hotels–Translating Dharma into Best Practices in HR. [online]. Viewed October 22. Availaible: http://www. shrmindia. rg/oberoi-group-hotels%E2%80%93translating-dharma-best-practices-hr
4. P Mullick, 2012, ‘Oberoi Group: Social media increasingly important as recruitment tool’, Hindustan Times, October 18 S Baggonkar, 2012, ‘Taj,
5. Oberoi under pressure from foreign hotel chains’, Business Standard, July 17 M Kaushik, 2010, ‘Guest Star: The Oberoi’, Business Today, September 5
6. Audited Financial Report for EIH Ltd. for the year 2011-12 Oberoi Hotels and Resorts. (2012). [online]. Viewed October 22. Available: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Oberoi_Hotels_%26_Resorts

Crytek Art Notes [Company Name] [Street Address] [City, ST ZIP Code] [Recipient Name] Art Notes [Hotel Name] [Street Address] [City, ST ZIP Code] Dear [Recipient Name]: I am a frequent traveler and have been a loyal customer of your hotel for many years because I appreciate your emphasis on value and excellent service. Yet a recent episode at your hotel has made me question my loyalty. [Describe your experience. For example: I stayed in your Lilburn, Georgia, hotel, room 203, from Monday, September 1 through Thursday, September 4.

Throughout my stay my towels were consistently dirty and the bathroom plumbing was faulty. To make matters worse, one of my neighbors was extremely loud and entertained visitors until 3:00 AM. I complained to the front desk manager and requested another room but was told there were no other rooms available. No one from the hotel spoke to the noisy guest on my behalf. Despite my repeated complaints, it was not until the third day of my stay that the plumbing was fixed and my towels refreshed.

Because of the noise, I was unable to sleep comfortably for two nights, and hence, my business meetings were far more stressful than they needed to be. ] I am writing to encourage you to improve your customer service. It is extremely distressing for a loyal, frequent traveler to experience such poor service. I enjoy staying at your hotel for a number of reasons. Overall the atmosphere makes me feel as comfortable, as if I were at home. I hate having my positive feelings about your hotel ruined by one visit. I hope this problem will be corrected prior to my next visit. Sincerely, Crytek

The Portman Hotel Company was a relatively small hotel with only 348 rooms and 21 floors located in San Francisco’s booming hotel district. It was influenced with Asian philosophy of services, to provide high quality hospitality to its guest at affordable rates. On paper, the hotel sounded like a great success, one that would definitely flourish amongst the competition. However, even with this philosophy, there were numerous problems that plagued the Portman Hotel. A few examples of these problems are the common mistake of fundamental attribution error (FAE), expectancy theory, as well as operant conditional theory.

This essay will explain how these three things can potentially bring down an entire company very quickly. First we will look at FAE and how it relates to the Portman Hotel. To find an example of FAE located in The Portman Hotel case, we must first define what FAE exactly is. Fundamental Attribution Error is the tendency to over-value dispositional or personality-based explanations for the observed behaviors of others while under-valuing situational explanations for those behaviors. It is typically most visible when people explain the behavior to others.

Essentially, what FAE suggests, is that we, as human beings, tend to be too judgmental of others without actually seeing that there might be external factors causing that individuals behavior. Now that we have defined exactly what FAE is, we can begin to identify an example of this contained within the case. One great example of this common error in action involves the personal valet’s (PVs) of the company and Spencer Scott. Scott criticizes the PVs for always taking on additional tasks and pursuing new needs and even states that they want to do everything, which causes them to suffer short attention ps.

He is so focused on the PVs being a group of freethinkers that he has failed to remember his companies purpose, which is to cater to every desire the hotel guests might have. He has failed to realize that the guests are to blame for ordering the PVs around getting them to tend to their every need. In this specific case, the guests are the external environmental forces that are causing the behavior. If Scott had realized that his employees were just doing their job, then his opinion of them would be a lot different and would begin to realize that he might need to change something about the companies’ day-to-day processes.

Next we will discuss the Expectancy Theory (ET) and how it relates to this case. Again, first we must define what exactly ET is before we can know how it relates to this case. ET proposes that a person will decide to behave or act in a certain way because they are motivated to select a specific behavior over other behaviors due to what they expect the result of that selected behavior will be. Now that we have defined what ET is we can relate it to the case. Due to the social and environmental forces pushing down on certain PVs, they tend to engage in “shirking”.

An example of this act is when a few PVs began to be lazy and not do their fair share of the work, other PVs had to begin picking up the slack of their colleagues. After a while of doing this, they began to wonder why they were working twice as hard and getting paid the exact same. The PVs that were picking up the slack for the others then became less motivated to perform which lead to all of the valets lost their sense of responsibility. So to go back to the original definition, the PVs that were originally working harder than the others began to work less hard because they knew that they weren’t going to be fired.

Lastly, we will look at the Operant Conditional Theory to see why supervisors would choose to avoid using the Portman’s disciplinary procedures. Operant conditional theory is defined as, getting people to do things because they want to by applying positive and negative reinforcements to move them in a particular way. The supervisors of the Portman Hotel were adamant about avoiding formal disciplinary actions towards their employees. The supervisors believed that discipline was actually going against what the hotel’s philosophy was.

Therefore, instead they used positive reinforcement under the operant conditioning theory as a means to motivate the poor performers. Spencer Scott tried to persuade the poor performers to believe that good performance had many rewards, such as good tips. He felt that with showing the valets the benefits of working hard for the guests, that those same guests would in return graciously reward them. Now that we have analyzed and pointed out the flaws of the Portman Hotel, we can begin to describe some simple solutions to these problems.

First, with the FAE, the problem is with management. If Spencer Scott attempted to figure out why his PVs were running around everywhere he might figure out the source of the problem, instead of jumping to conclusions as he did. He might explore other options such as; hiring additional PVs so that the current ones aren’t always so busy, or attempt to figure out a different strategy in assisting the guests with their high demands. Secondly, we must analyze the problem with the PVs and their constant habit of “shirking” and how we could fix it. Shirking” is a bad habit that happens in a lot of work places no matter what industry a person is in. The difficulty is finding a way to overcome these types of action and being effective at it. One way to overcome this dilemma is to begin to figure out which few are the individuals initially starting it and begin to discipline them accordingly. If discipline is not the answer, the managers could sit the entire PV staff down at once and explain that they are beginning to notice a downward trend in performance and that there will be a new set standard for what the expectations are.

With this new standard, if anyone fails to meet the standards of work, then they will be disciplined and eventually let go if it continues. Finally, we have the obstacle of the supervisors choosing to avoid using the Portman’s elaborate disciplinary procedures. Unfortunately, implementing a formal system of disciplinary actions would be violating the ideals that Portman wanted to establish. The solution for this would be for the management team to be stricter on their expectations of the employees.

I feel that the good employees are not being praised enough for their actions while the bad employees continually get worse. It is a common behavioral understanding that people want to reach and operate at the “normal” level of standards and not do anything more or less. In order for them to strive to be better employees, there must be a rewards system in place. Performance reviews should be put in place to analyze, which employees are the good employees and which are the bad employees.

Once management establishes this, they will begin to understand where the problems are and how to correct them/discipline them by giving them written warnings. All in all, there are numerous obstacles that each and every company has to overcome throughout the company’s lifetime. Some are easily remedied while others take much more time and thought to correct. Using the theories; FAE, ET, and Operant Conditioning, almost any company can begin to understand where the real problems consist, which will allow that company to begin taking action and fixing them.

The Official Oxford English dictionary defines genocide as the `deliberate killing of a very large number of people from a particular ethnic group or nation. ‘ It also is said as a holocaust. Holocaust is the great or complete devastation or destruction or any mass slaughter or reckless destruction of life and it is normally referred to the genocide of the Jews that happened during the period of 1939 to 1945. The two genocide we are focusing on are the genocide of the Jews during the second world war and the Rwandan genocide of the Tutsi’s in 1994.

Directed by Terry George in Hotel Rwanda and Mark Herman in The Boy in Stripe Pyjamas, they have a similarity between the films they are both rated a 12 year old. Instead of recreating the horrors of genocide in both films they use the naivety of a boy and the hope of survival to present the story mentally. The difference between the films is the fact that one is a fictional representation of a real event and another one is a true story recreated. The effect of this is to compare the feelings of someone who actually been through a genocide and someone who have not been through this.

Hotel Rwanda was released in 2004 and is based on a true story about the genocide of the Tutsi’s in 1994, it documents the life of Paul Rusesabagina during the period he housed over a thousand refugees in his hotel Hotel Mille Collines. Directed by Terry George who is also the co-write of the book and with Paul’s help they manage to make the film as truthful as possible and changing fewer things as possible and they done this perfectly but also managed to avoid recreating the horror of the genocide and haunting the survivors again.

Lasting only 100 days, over one million Tutsi’s and Hutu’s were brutally massacred. But despite the incoming fear of ever Tutsi being wiped out, Paul managed to save 1268 Hutu’s and Tutsi’s. Two recurrent themes jump out from the movie. First, that everything has a price. Paul Rusesabagina pays for his families and neighbours’ freedom and life by bribing an army officer, even negotiating the price for each. He is able to purchase beer and scotch for the hotel from the distributor, as long as he is willing to pay the price demanded.

He consistently bribes the army eneral for protection for the hotel’s occupants from the armed militia. And when the bribes run out, so does the protection. The second major theme is one of self-reliance, or absence of external help. Throughout the movie it is repeated that the “West” refuses to help or does not value the Rwandans enough to intervene in the genocide. The West’s refusal to intervene is seen when the UN peacekeeping force has orders to not use their weapons. It’s seen in the size of the UN peacekeeping force, reduced to 260 men at the beginning of the genocide and civil war in 1994.

In the movie this last reduction proved a false hope for the survivors holed up in the hotel. UN `reinforcements’ arrive, only to evacuate many UN peacekeepers and foreign citizens from Rwanda and the hotel, respectively. There is also an episode where certain Rwandans who have foreign connections are granted visas to leave the country because of the intervention of their friends. The contrast of this action to the West’s non-intervention is stark. “Who you know” becomes a factor in survival. The distributor where Paul purchases supplies is a member of the Hutu militia.

But because he knows him and has had a business relationship with him for years, he’s able (at a price) to still secure supplies for the hotel residents. The film started with a black screen, this is to make the viewers think of a certain way abut what happened in Rwanda in 1994. This is a story about good verses evil. An ominous African voice in heard, in real life, it was a Belgian broadcaster called George Ruggiu, clearly the broadcaster of RTLM a Hutu extremist propaganda, broadcasting 24 hours a day. The voice is saying the Tutsi’s are `coachroaches’.

The voice is black and cataclysm unfathomable, and the black screen underscores the evil darkness of Africa and the evil yet to come. The voice of terror returns throughout the film to haunt the innocent but terrified Tutsi’s, the effect is to make the audience fear, to experience what the Tutsi’s felt, the constant danger approaching. In the film, the good guys are the Tutsi’s, the victims of genocide. They aren’t he killers in the movie: they were never the killers. The Interahamwe were portrayed as the violent killers and were responsible for the slaughter of one million Rwandans.

Formed by groups of young Hutu’s, they together carried out the horrendous act. During the period of tension, before the genocide officially happened a lot of machetes were purchased from various places and prepared to wipe out the next generation of Tutsi’s. Vice President of the Interahamwe was George Rutaganda, he paid HIV infected men to rape the women and children in order to ensure that the next generation cannot at all exist, despite the fact that it was the Hutu’s destroying the Tutsi’s, the President of the Interahamwe, Robert Kajuga, is a Tutsi and helped to wipe out his own people.

Majority of the time we were looking at Paul’s’ perspective as the camera looks over his shoulder and present to us what he is seeing. The music at most of the scenes was terrifying and dangerous, it portrayed danger and threat inside it, but when the scene with the orphans, the song shows hope, terror yet mixed up with light, brightness, new and fresh, the song is called `A million Voices’ but it is quickly abandoned when the French soldier said “No Rwandans” it starts to get gloomy, cold, miserable and rains heavily.

This film gives you alot of hope, but the hope quickly distinguished and broken into little pieces their hope of life. This is to make the audience value life and learn to respect and look after it, but also gives peaks of tension throughout the film, and making your terrified, yet so wanting to see the ending. At the end of the film, when the guerilla force is shown the rebels of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) they are rescuers. They are disciplined and organised.

They kept a tidy United Nations camp safety behind their lines. They don’t kill nurses and charity workers or orphaned children, and in the film: they reconnect children to their families and gives them hope to live on. But the RPF were equally dehumanizing and vicious, but the film does not tell us this, both sides were fighting to wipe out their enemy, not to protect their kind. The theme of genocide is presented to you so it doesn’t visually tell you the story they do that mentally.

They paint you a picture throughout the film, the rapidly descending darkness and bloodshed, but of course the glimmer of hope remains above it, the hope is Paul Rusesabagina (Played by Don Cheadle). He shines like a angel, throughout the film over 1200 refugees relied on him, when they have no where to go, he harbours them, when they have nothing to eat, they trust him to bring food back from the Interahamwe camp, when they need to bribe for protection, they gave him all their money to bribe for protection and police.

He protects them with his life, and they think he is a great hero. was released in 2008 and directed by Mark Herman and written by John Boyne. It is about the Jewish Holocaust in 1939 to 1945, and is portrayed through the eyes of a native 8 year old boy who had his childhood innocence destroyed. To make the audience believe that a 8 year old boy didn’t know why Jews were bad and how they corrupted German citizens was difficult especially when everyone were taught how Jews were so bad in the 1940’s.

But eventually childhood innocence can really portray this film successfully. It isn’t just the physical descriptions of the two homes that create contrast. The way characters behave and react to events also adds atmosphere. In his Berlin house, Bruno can see far and wide and likes what he sees. But when he arrived at his new home, the camera angle shot up, making the house look intimidating and gloomy, a place where he is trapped without friends, so eventually he picked up the courage and went exploring before meeting Schmuel.

Bruno first met him when he when he was bored and went out exploring, then he found this electric fence and saw Schmuel sitting their on his own, his first impression of him was a mixture of happiness and weariness. He wanted to become friends with him, and thinks he’s extremely lucky to be able to play with friends and participate in a game, their numbers on their `funny uniforms’, but never will Bruno guess this is a concentration camp where people are brutally tortured and killed And his father is the commander of this camp.

After a few meetings with Schmuel he finally realises he is a Jew, and his tutor taught him `Jews are the most horrible kind of people on earth, they corrupt our people and they are the culprit of making us lose the Great War” with this he was terrified of Schmuel, he quickly made up a excuse to go and was horrified of befriending a Jew, especially when he’s grown up being taught Jews are the worst race ever, and blonde hair, blue eyes are the superior race. But after considering what he is being taught over again, he quickly forgets the difference between them two and became friends again.

He asked about the place where the horrid smell came from, without realising it is a gas chamber, and nor did Schmuel know. During a regular release of German Propaganda film, Bruno happened to peek inside and view the video, after realising the supposingly good condition the camp was in he was extremely proud of his father, never did he know again that his father made the fake film, and is actually keeping the Jews weak and close to death before killing them. This shows he strongly believes in what he is shown, the naivety of the young boy.

He soon forms a strong bond with Schmuel, they became good friends and that’s what sent Bruno to his death. After Bruno died his father realises the terror and the pain of knowing a family member or own child being gassed to death, he finally saw the blood on his hands and regrets it. During the last bit, when the picture of the door to the gas chamber expands out, it plays sad and gloomy, dark and lifeless music, the music sounds like a heartbeat, but soon ends and with the never ending room where they put the pyjamas it shows us the amount of Jews they gassed.

Both films featured alot of complex camera angles. For example, it pans into Bruno’s face when he saw the camp which he thought was a farm, this is to show his confusion off why the camp is there; it also let us view his emotions displayed on his face. Another scene is when Lieutenant Kotler goes vivid at Schmeul for eating a cake, the camera is looking up to him to demonstrate Lieutenant Kotler’s power and superiority over a little Jewish boy. This is to create utter fear and decreases our thoughts of a happy film.

In Hotel Rwanda, some of the scenes that have this effect is the bit where Paul clambers out of the truck and is petrified to see the amount of bodies, the camera angle there stretches into his perspective and letting us see the countless amount of bodies; they also have dislocated arms and bodily parts and blood in them – the reason for this is to make us realise the horror and fear the reality of genocide. Another part in Hotel Rwanda is when a Hutu extremist climbs into the truck deporting Tutsi’s away; they camera angle zooms in close to Paul’s wife showing her fear and paralysed to do anything while being threatened by a machete.

Although both these film portrayed a incredible sadness to them and a bit of blood, they are rated 12 because it doesn’t actually show use anyone in the process of getting killed. Both of the ending is different from one and another. In The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas it ended with despair and hopeless but in Hotel Rwanda it ended with sadness yet hidden there is a spark of hope and happiness. At the beginning of Hotel Rwanda it start with a black screen and a voice of terror speaking, and in The boy in the Striped pyjamas it start with the theme of child’s innocence, both films started and ended dramatically different, creating a contrast.

In conclusion I think Hotel Rwanda left a more distinctive image with me, as the sadness and hope sticks in my mind especially after they created this effect of hope rising and quickly distinguishing alot of times over a short time. The scenes in Hotel Rwanda that stands out is firstly the scene where he saw the bodies piled across the road and the what’s happening outside of the Hotel when they left to go to collect provisions.

Assignment #4 Observation Report A: Describe one on-the-job problem of issue encountered and how it was resolved. I first encountered this problem two weeks into my internship with Raffles Hotel Marketing Communications. After my orientation week, it was finally time for me to take on projects on my own and start communicating with some of the clients and media the department would follow up from time to time. One of the projects that I was tasked was to prepare the Arabic version of Raffles Hotel’s fact sheet for the Saudi Arabia sales trip that the Director of Sales and Marketing will be doing at the end of the week.

This request came in as a last minute project as there were several delays in the process of translation and positioning of the facts and information. In what limited time I had, it does seem that I would not be able to complete to the fact sheet in time due to the constant delays from the Translation Company and external help that took quite some time to get back to me. Time wasn’t on my side and I knew I cannot afford to mess up this project. That was when I decided to adopt one of the many values that Raffles Hotel believes in – taking ownership of guest requests.

Instead of sitting around waiting for things to happen and emails to be replied, I decided that it was time for me to take action and get what needs to be done, done. The issue was eventually resolved after I made personal trips around the hotel, asking for help from colleagues from various departments that have knowledge in the Arabic language. I managed to prepare the Arabic fact sheet of Raffles Hotel in time for the Saudi Arabia sales trip and have shown my managers that I am someone they can trust to get things done on time and to the best of my abilities.