Executive Summary;
This paper aims at evaluating the Thurlstone Hotel. It encompasses the types of services that the hotel offers, the staff composition and catering and ethical considerations of the hotel.
Introduction;
The Thurlstone Hotel has a variety of food services that serve to its clients. The foods are divided into different categories such as; breakfast meal, lunch, dinner, buffet, family meals, conference meals, event meals and VIP meals. All these meals attract different prices depending on the type of customer and quantity of food. The hotel maintains the same food quality irrespective of the class of the client paying a visit to the hotel. The clients are divided into; economy class client, standard client and VIP clients. The economy class customer is an ordinary client who pays prompt visit to the hotel at any time. The clients do order for specific that are quite affordable. The standard client is a client who is a frequent visitor to the hotel. This type of client is given discount on the meals that he or he takes at any time of the day. Lastly, the VIP client is a posh customer who has special hotel room. These clients include the high ranking persons in the society, for instance; sir, governor, senator, millionaire, billionaire and even the prime minister. This type of clients’ needs a room that is secluded from the rest of visitors. They value privacy due to the nature of the roles that they do play in the society.
The hotel menu includes of various meals that serve all the persons paying a visit to the hotel. All these menus are designed in a manner that if a foreigner visits the hotel then he or she can get the food that they will order. The hotel menu is set in a manner that if a customer orders for a specific food then he or she will be served with a dessert while they wait for the main meal course. The menu takes a shorter time to prepare, the least time being five minutes and the maximum time being twenty five minutes. The hotel some of the best chefs and cooks in the world, therefore, efficiency and quality is maintained at the highest standards. The hotel waiters and waitresses of the hotel also keep a high standard of cleanliness around the hotel. This is according to the hotel safety standards.
Type of Service
The hotel offers a myriad of services; these services include the use of; Hydrotherapy Pool, Indoor Swimming Pool, Fitness Studio , Sauna, Laconium, Beauty Rooms and Steam Room with relaxation areas. Other leisure provisions include; 9-hole golf course, Outdoor heated swimming pool, badminton, tennis courts and snooker room, squash courts, and Danny the Dolphin Children's Club. Delco Beauty Spa and Hair rooms are also available for all the clients visiting. All these services are offered by the hotel considering the age of the customers. This is because the hotel allows a single family unit to pay a visit at ago. Therefore, all provisions should be made to ensure that the hotel accommodates both the kids and the parents in terms of accommodation. The type of services that the hotel provides can be analyzed using the servqual theory as follows;
• Reliability;
A given customer uses the first instance that he or she takes his or her time to pay a visit to the hotel; this first instance will determine whether the customer will come back in the future to the same hotel or will evaluate other available options. The services that this hotel offers are nothing but simply the best (Kuo et al, 2012:233). It offers a variety of services that can be relied upon by any single visit that pays a visit to the hotel. This hotel has the best of services offered in one place. The presence of a gym and spa gives one the idea of healthy program in case a client decides to pay a long-term visit to the hotel.
- Responsiveness;
The hotel staffs are trained in such a way that they are quick to offer assistance to any single visitor that pays a visit to the hotel and needs to use various services in the hotel. A perfect example of the technical sauna and laconium gives the clients a hard time when using these services. Therefore, a staff member needs to be on standby mode in order to assist any client that faces a rough time when using these services. The rate of responsiveness by the staff members as well the management in this hotel can be said to be efficient.
• Assurance;
The hotel is covered by the world leading insurance company. This insurance policy covers both the staff members as well as the clients. Every individual being is concerned on the welfare of their safety and health matters. Therefore, in case of an accident that is incurred in the hotel, the hotel management will be responsible for taking care of all medical expenses.
• Tangible (e.g. appearance of physical facilities, equipment, etc.
The environment of the hotel is maintained at high standards. Its proximity to the ocean gives it a unique oceanic view for its clients. The hotel garden is quite serene. The statistics show that over 1000 weddings bookings reach the hotel management every year. The hotel can always use the highest bidder technique to phase out some of the clients.
The strategic locations of the voyage spa give it a unique preference to most of the clients. Most clients love using the spa. Therefore, this allows the customers to consider paying a frequent visit to the hotel (Kandampully, 2011:21). Generally, every corner of the hotel is quite serene, and all the equipment’s and tools that are being used around the hotel are quite efficient and effective due to the high quality maintenance.
Staff;
The hotel has a total of 450 staff members. All the staff members are professionally trained from some of the best colleges in United Kingdom. Apart from the professional training that these staff members are exposed to, they are also enrolled through a thorough inductive training when they are shortlisted to work for the hotel. This training is meant to expose the students to real life experience on how the hotel conducts its operations and the techniques of offering quality services of customer satisfaction at any time of the year.
Catering events & ethical considerations;
The catering services offered by the hotel management are world class; this leads to more clients organizing for catering events at the hotel events. This is due to the state of the art techniques that the hotel uses in order to satisfy the goals of the clients. The hotel also organizes for an annual catering event that invites various caterers from the world. This event is aimed at searching for the best talent that can fit the qualities of the hotel. The general winner of this event often receives a token of being employed by the hotel management as one of their staff members.
There is a variety of ethical considerations that the hotel management looks into. Customer satisfaction is the key ethical factor that the management seeks to maintain at all times. They believe that when a customer is satisfied by the type of services that you offer to them, then there is a high chance that the same customer can come back visiting at other times.
PESTLE analysis of the hotel;
- Political factor;
The hotel meets all the political set of provisions that the hotel needs to concur with to the government. The hotel pays all the relevant taxes to the government and observes all the relevant labor laws to its employees.
- Economic factors;
The hotel uses the available market interest rate to determine its market prices for its goods and services. The hotel also uses the market exchange rate when serving foreign clients. They do not alter these rates as this might lead to economic crimes resulting to a legal issue.
- Social factors
The hotel considers the disparity in cultural practices across the globe. Therefore, the management aims to maintain an uniform cultural practice that doesn’t discriminate against the other one. The hotel has all the set conditions of accommodating people of all ages. Age distribution is taken into consideration by the hotel management.
- Technological factors;
The hotel uses state of the art technological across all its operations that require the application of technology. The hotel management also invests heavily in research and development to determine what is for its customers. This leads to innovation and quality improvement.
Conclusion;
The Thurlstone Hotel is a luxury destination hotel that ensures quality and efficiency to its customers. The hotel doesn’t discriminate against race or religion.
Bibliography;
Kandampully, J, Juwaheer, T, & Hsin-Hui, H 2011, 'The Influence of a Hotel Firm's Quality of Service and Image and its Effect on Tourism Customer Loyalty', International Journal Of Hospitality & Tourism Administration, 12, 1, pp. 21-42,
Kuo, N, Chang, K, Chen, M, & Hsu, C 2012, 'Investigating the Effect of Service Quality on Customer Post-Purchasing Behaviors in the Hotel Sector: The Moderating Role of Service Convenience', Journal Of Quality Assurance In Hospitality & Tourism, 13, 3, pp. 212-234
Yang, C, Jou, Y, & Cheng, L 2011, 'Using integrated quality assessment for hotel service quality', Quality & Quantity, 45, 2, pp. 349-364,
