Vision and Mission Statement Comparison: Hilton and Marriott Hotels
Introduction
The objective of this document is to compare and contrast the vision and mission statement of two industry leaders in the hospitality sector: Hilton Worldwide and Marriott Hotel Group. Well-formulated and effectively supported by the communication and marketing elements, generic strategy is the key for sustainable development and Brand reputation. Both companies are exemplary businesses, proving with their experience and history strong alignment of corporate values and strategy with the external environment. Hilton business model differs significantly from Marriott Hotels, which helps to understand the underpinning principles of their communication strategy with stakeholders (Peng, 2014). First of all Hilton focus is corporate segment and business traveler, while Marriott is aiming at combining both leisure and vocational tourism and business customer segment. Secondly, Hilton Worldwide pursues organic growth strategy and own very asset-heavy model, while Marriott is building its brand through strategic affiliation with a number of facility providers and, thus, highly depends on the agreements and buy-in from their partners, but benefits from less asset-intensive strategy.
Vision and Mission Statement
Hilton Worldwide is a company with the strong focus on Corporate Social Responsibility and customer experience driven strategy. Visual and verbal communication of the organizational values is critical for the organizational marketing and generic strategy. Both, vision and mission statements, along with the Core Values of the company are available on the corporate website (HW, 2013).
Hilton Vision Statement: “To fill the Earth with the light and warmth of hospitality”
Hilton Mission Statement: “To be the preeminent global hospitality company - the first choice of guests, team members, and owners alike”.
The introduction into the corporate values is supported by the value statement, which includes: hospitality, integrity, leadership, teamwork and now into the core values, hidden in the name of Hilton itself. Mission and Vision statement accompany the organization since the foundation date in 1919 and attempt to bring forward the value of innovation, quality and success.
Marriott Hotels
Mission and Vision statement of the Marriott Hotel Group is available on the corporate website of the organization through the corporate press release section. It is, however, not as explicitly introduced to the customer as the one from Hilton Corporation.
Marriott Vision Statement: “To become the premiere provider and facilitator of leisure and vacation experiences in the world.”
Marriott Mission Statement: “To enhance the lives of our customers by creating and enabling unsurpassed vacation and leisure experiences.”
Founded in 1972, Marriott Hotels re-formulated its vision and mission statement twice in order to align organizational values and ambitions statement with the generic strategy and external environment. The company emphasizes innovation and change as the core capabilities and elements of the Group Brand identity.
Similarities and Differences
A comparison of the two mission statements allows highlighting the difference in the overall strategy of the companies, outlined in the introduction Hilton Worldwide are focused on the hospitality services and premium experience, while embracing all stakeholder groups in the strategic focus. Marriott Hotels attempt to build their Brand Image around the experience of leisure and vacation, as opposed to the limitations of the hospitality. Focused and narrow focus, visible in Hilton mission statement adequately supports its strategy of quality and exclusivity of hospitality at their own premises. Experiential and even sensual mission statement of Marriott also correctly addresses the “needs” and “desires” of their customer segment.
There are certain common traces in both mission statements. First of all, both companies are pursuing a global strategy, outlining their ambitions of becoming the top choice for their clients. Secondly, both mission statements are simple, relevant and memorable. At the same time, it is possible to see the focus on the present, rather than long-term strategy.
Quality Assessment
According to Sadler (2003), mission statement should constitute the objectives of the company, its differential and approach to the business. Based on that, it is possible to argue that a good mission statement should be able to address three questions: “What is the business about? What is the current position and the near future plan? How does a business plan to get there?”
With the above questions in mind, the document will assess both mission statement with regards to the clarity and accuracy of addressing the above objectives. Hilton Worldwide outlines the role of the business in a single statement of “hospitality”, which provides concise and definitive answer on the nature of the business. It also states the objective to remain preeminent player in the global industry and places people, team and owners as the major stakeholders. Marriott Hotels Group, on the other hand, leaves the first question unanswered as it mentions the enhancement of life through leisure and vacation experience. This leaves a lot of room for assumptions about the nature of the business. The statement, however, clearly states the current and near term position and the means of getting to the desired state. Given the overview of the mission statements, it is possible to conclude that both statements reflect quality and coherency with the only downside in the Marriott Hotel statement, related to the clarity of the business model definition.
Recommendations
Hilton Brand adapted Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) – driven strategy long time ago and it is recommended to further emphasize this drive in the mission statement of the company. This, arguably, can positively affect the image of the company and increase its visibility among CSR-aware stakeholders. Marriott Hotels place “emotions” deeply inside the mission statement, which may at times, make the statement difficult to memorize and refer to. With that in mind, one of the key recommendations would be to make the statement more concise and address the issue of business model definition (Welsh and Welsh, 2008).
Vision Statement Comparison
The comparison of the vision statements is based upon the capacity of both to address the following characteristics: statement of purpose and long-term goal, challenging and inspiring (Collins and Porras, 1996). Both statements are ambitious and future-oriented. Marriott Hotels vision statement, however, lacks the differential and uniqueness, when placed side by side with the mission statement. It creates an impression that current position of the company is not premier and the ambition behind the vision statement is lower than the one expressed in the mission statement. This can be judged as the lack of clarity in outlining the purpose. Hilton Worldwide Group, on the other hand, demonstrates clear and challenging goal, which outlines the ambitions of the long-term, as opposed to the near future-oriented mission statement. Overall, it is evidenced, however, that both companies are aiming in the same direction, taking into consideration the differences in the functional strategies and relative differential of their market product proposition.
Part II: Hilton Worldwide
Corporate Social Responsibility at Hilton Worldwide Group
Annual Corporate Social Responsibility Report, prepared by Hilton Group outlines multifaceted focus on internal and external CSR-policies. The company embraced community, performance and diversity in its CSR-driven initiatives. Some of the most recent actions include community involvement in volunteering, youth training program Bright Blue Futures, which involves over a thousand individuals worldwide and integrated performance measurement and “green” initiatives within the supply chain (HW, CSR, 2013; Pohl and Tolhurst, 2008). The integration between internal and external focus of CSR activities is evidenced in the organizational approach to Human Resource Management (HRM) and employee empowerment. Hilton is one of the exemplary local and equal opportunity employers, which provides internal training and aims at bringing shared value culture to the employees and the customers. The company explains its CSR-drive as the realization of the travel activities being the drivers of the global progress and, therefore, to achieve this progress, the company should contribute towards the creation of shared values in the “communities where we live, work and travel” (HW, 2013).
SWOT Analysis
Conclusion and Recommendation
Hilton Worldwide Group pursues CSR-driven strategy with a strong focus on the local communities. It is evidenced that shared values culture is well-communicated and explained to all the major stakeholder groups, such as employees, customers, partners and owners. The communication channels include mission and vision statement, Annual Reports and CSR outlines. Hilton places a lot of emphasis on strategic HRM planning, which enables stronger bonds between the organization and employees. The relevance of this strategy is seen through high retention rate and globally aligned and quality and customer service standards. Organization is focused on the organic growth strategy, which involves significant investment levels. Current debt ratio position, however, requires further focus on cost reduction and recovery of the liquidity ratio.
References
Collins J., and Porras J. (1996). Building Your Company´s Vision. Harvard Business Review. Retrieved 30 March 2014, http://hbr.org/1996/09/building-your-companys-vision/
HW (2013). Corporate Social Responsibility Report. Travel With Purpose. Hilton Worldwide Corporate Website. Retrieved 30 March, 2014, http://cr.hiltonworldwide.com/
HW (2013). Discover our Vision, Mission and Values. Hilton Worldwide Corporate Website. Retrieved 30 March, 2014, http://www.hiltonworldwide.com/about/mission/
Marriott Hotels (2013). Marriott Hotels. Marriott Hotels Corporate Website. Retrieved 30 March 2014, http://eeacroft.awardspace.com/Marriott.ppt
Peng M. (2014). Global Strategy. 3rd Edition. Mason, OH: South-Western Publishing. Print.
Sadler Ph (2003). Strategic Management. 2nd Edition. London: Kogan Page Limited
Welch, J., & Welch, S. (2008). State your business: Too many mission statements are loaded with fatheaded jargon. Play it straight. Businessweek, 4066 (80). Retrieved 31 March 2014, http://www.businessweek.com/stories/2008-01-02/state-your-business
Pohl M. and Tolhurst N. (2010). Responsible Business: How to Manage a CSR Strategy Successfully. The Evolution and Revolution of Corporate Social Responsibility by Visser. Chester, UK: John Willey & Sons Publishing. Print
Hilton Worldwide (2013). Investors Presentation 2013. Hilton Worldwide Corporate Website. Retrieved 31 March 2014, http://ir.hiltonworldwide.com/files/doc_presentations/2014/Investor%20Presentation_Jan%202014.pdf
