Abstract For companies based in the hospitality industry, provision of services to clients is the lifeline of their business. It is, therefore, crucial that such organizations dedicate a lot of efforts and resources towards service innovation. By so doing, such companies will successfully improve the quality of their services and as a result, the satisfaction of their customers. This paper will apply the five step road map by following the requirements of the IBDM proposal. The focus for the paper will be on Hotel Harvey. The organization is a leading player in the hospitality industry. Its customers exceed 25,000 annually. Business growth in this organization is credited to its innovation in service delivery. However, as opportunities arise, so will Hotel Harvey take them. This paper outlines the steps that Hotel Harvey will apply in order to take advantage of the unmet opportunities. Introduction A service can be defined, generally, as any performance of a type of duty or work either for a superior person or client in a view to receive compensation for the duty performed. Most industries are characterized by service provision; either solely or in combination with other goods. In the hospitality industry, service provision is key since it determines the ranking of such firms. Firms with high quality service provision charge high prices and are ranked top in this industry. Quality in the hospitality industry is measured in terms of polite members of staff, delicious meals and comfortable rooms. Firms in the hospitality industry have to dedicate efforts towards guest satisfaction and retention. However, improvement of service quality can always be stretched so that customers are increasingly satisfied. When firms in the hospitality industry adopt such measures, they are able to increase their overall performance and consequently profits. Of major interest will be an assessment of the situation, problem identification and creative concept development. This will be followed by prototype development and implementation and validation (Cohen & Cooper, 2007). Unique nuances of innovative service development It is essential that specific and crucial nuances are recognized when a company applies IBDM in it service innovation. In order to carry out an innovative service development in the hospitality industry, customer service must be upheld in high regard. This is because it is the most important concept and the primary reason why service development is done. Hotel Harvey has managed to create an innovative solution for its customers. One of the main strategies that Hotel Harvey uses is a quality self evaluation. This is done through comment cards in the guest rooms. This hotel also applies online questionnaires in order to identify and solve problems (Walker, 2009). The Innovative business design model In order to improve service innovation, Hotel Harvey will apply several steps so as to improve its service delivery. This is in response to the increased competition in the hospitality industry. Hotel Harvey will apply these steps in line with its corporate objectives of providing top quality services to its clients. The hotel wishes to maintain consistency by constant monitoring and excellent leadership. In addition, the hotel will incorporate flexibility concerns so that the alterations may be relevant both at present and in the future. Trends in the hospitality industry have to be looked at as well as culture so that Hotel Harvey may have a competitive advantage in its line of business (Bill, Schwartz, & Lacan, 2004). Step 1: situation assessment The general manager of Hotel Harvey is faced with a challenge of improving service quality and at the same time keeping costs at a low level. The general manager conducts a review of the factors that are faced by the hotel. In this case, there is an assessment of both the internal and external business environment. The situation that Hotel Harvey is facing warrants for such intervention. The major reason is that the hotel has been witnessing a decline in its customer numbers over the last three months. In addition, the business has had its profits decline by 15% in the last financial year. Therefore, the manager has to assess the opportunities that can be exploited in order to counter this situation. The manager has decided to create a number of unique nuances in a view to restore its competitiveness in the industry. Step 2: Problem and opportunity identification After conducting an online survey, the management team of Hotel Harvey has found out that failure in most hotels is caused by poor customer management. This, in turn, leads to a reduced turnover which, of course, is responsible for business failure. In a view to obtain all the necessary factors that are affecting the hotel directly, the management team decided to conduct an internal survey. The results of comment cards in guest rooms reveal that the quality and variety of their meals has gone down. This alleviates the fear that the rooms of the hotel may be the issue of concern. The management team, therefore, identifies an opportunity that could make the hotel rise from its current status. The major ways to improve service quality is offering delicious meals to the clients and expand the range that is served. The team has decided on these quality dimensions after researching on some big players in the hospitality industry based in other countries. Step 3: development of creative concept At this point, the management has to employ critical thinking so that it may come up with unique nuances that may assist in reaching a solution. There has to be a creative concept development which is based on creative thinking. The creative concept that the management comes up with is providing high quality meals in a wide variety and at a relatively cheap cost. Arriving at this decision is tough for the management since the hotel had just retrenched some of its staff eight months earlier. Going with the results of the retrenchment, it is clear that quality has declined. This is due to the fact that some skilled and experienced chefs had been sent away. On the other hand, the management is fully aware that the retrenchment has successfully reduced its operating costs. This paradox is tough for the management to meander and come up with a working solution. After a lot of meetings, discussions and professional consultations, the management decides that it will try an automated, self service. By so doing, the management will reduce the waiters and gain an advantage of increasing the chefs. This will improve the quality of meals, their variety and simultaneously keep the costs down. Step 4: Prototype development As far as prototype development is concerned, the management stations two machines in one of its hotels based at a coastal city. Evaluation of its effectiveness will be conducted here, and if it is successful; the same strategy will be adopted in the other two hotels based upcountry. The management takes a lot of care to ensure that the process is given its chance without external interferences. In addition, the management is subjective towards the results so that any bias is eliminated. At this time, the coastal branch of Hotel Harvey is under a lot of scrutiny. Customers are also informed on how to use the automated serving method. In addition, surveys are conducted to determine possible channels of improvement and any inherent challenges. The management employs these policies so that the new process can be transferred to other branches with minimal challenges and inefficiencies. Step 5: implementation and validation After the development of the prototype, the management has to refine the findings obtained. Going with the efficiency of the new machines, there is a positive sentiment that Hotel Harvey stands to benefit from this new opportunity. The results of the prototype reveal that the new machines have kept the costs low and led to increase operation efficiency. The hotel can, therefore, improved customer service and simultaneously operate profitably. The only concern raised by the customers is that the machines are not operational in the event of power outages. In response to this issue, the management purchases power generators for each of its branches so that power is available on a 24/7 basis without interruption. In order to implement this strategy, the management purchases two machines for each of its three hotels based in different cities. Conclusion The IBDM model has been crucial for Hotel Harvey as far as identification of opportunity is concerned. Therefore, IBDM model can be applied by practitioners in the hospitality industry to identify and utilize business opportunities that may arise.
References
Bill, D., Schwartz, A., & Lacan, J. (2004). Critical Management Techniques in the 21st Century. The New York Times , 29-32.
Cohen, J., & Cooper, R. (2007). Streamlining Operations for Business Efficiency . Journal of Management , 21-23.
Walker, R. (2009). Gaining a Competitive Edge in the Hospitality Industry. Journal of Marketing , 12 - 14.
