Generally, the hospitality industry consists of numerous fields, which most popular are restaurants, transportation and tourism. It is not a secret that the success of the hospitality industry depends on disposable income. Tourism services as well as leisure ones are considered to be the sectors the hospitality industry includes.
The professionals from fast moving consumer good companies held the leading positions in the hospitality industry. The companies or the firms the professionals came from were famous for their innovations. That is why the companies’ strategic shift towards franchise can be explained so easy.
According to Michael Ottenbacher (2011, p. 1)
Hospitality firms develop innovations with specific objectives and goals in mind and have several approaches to measure performance accordingly.
However, no research in hospitality innovation has addressed the question of whether hospitality firms should have different approaches depending on their objectives for the individual innovation projects.
The topics of our investigation are considered to be the distinctive features of the hospitality industry and leisure one, the relevance of fast moving consumer good experience to the hospitality industry, the meaning of brand management in the hospitality industry and the required skills for the leading positions people are to hold.
As far as the hospitality industry is considered to be people-orientated business, the experience in FMCG (fast moving consumer goods) companies seems to be quite important. On the other hand, taking into account the parallels between the hospitality industry and the FMCG companies, one may point out that it is a dynamic relationship which is recognized to be an important issue for both sectors.
There are also some contradictions concerning the importance of the experience in the terms of marketing. Thus, there is an opinion that understanding of different cultures and the work of various international organizations seems to be much more important than branding experience.
From the outside the hospitality industry as well as leisure one seems to be a global; however, one is to take into account that there are numerous aspects which influence the industry fragmentation, i.e. various ownership structures as well as the real estate dimension.
The hospitality industry which includes hotels can operate with management structure which includes numerous constituents. Thus, a General Manager, middle managers and administration are the most important parts of a hotel management. The innovations they follow are numerous hospitality management studies or various certification programs which impact on the popularity of a hotel.
Moreover, there are various innovations which impact on the types of a hotel. Thus, the most widespread hotel types include: upscale luxury, full service, select service, limited service, extended stay, timeshare and destination clubs.
According to Flora Gailliard (2011, p.1), ‘Hospitality management involves the planning, organizing, directing and controlling of human and material resources within the lodging, restaurant, travel and tourism, institutional management, recreational management and meeting and convention planning industries.’
While discussing the innovations of the hospitality industry, one is to take into account that the hospitality sector is considered to be much more conservative than the sector of FMCG.
Consumer insight, innovation and marketing are all considered to be the burning issues. Thus, according to Spencer Stuart (2006, p.4), ‘a lack of strategic thinking about consumer expectations and behaviors is considered to be one of the biggest gaps.’
Using consumer data is recognized to be another step to understand the needs/requirements of the client.
Developing talent inside is considered to be one more important innovation of the hospitality industry. It is said that the hospitality industry could know more about persons’ development from FMCG studies/investigations.
Glenn Withiam (2011, p.1) is of the opinion that
One issue for the industry to resolve is its relationship with third-party websites, or online travel agents (OTAs). The OTAs have been instrumental in helping hotels sell distressed inventory, but at the same time, price transparency has presented a challenge for hotels that wish to restore prices to pre-recession levels.
References
Gailliard, F., 2011. ‘The Hospitality Industry’,The Black Collegian Onine. Web.
Ottenbacher, M., 2011. ‘Innovation Management in the Hospitality Industry: Different Strategies for Achieving Success’, Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Research. Web.
Stuart, S., 2006. ‘Innovation and Brand Management in the Hospitality and Leisure Industry’. Web.
Withiam, G., 2011. ‘Cautious Optimism: CHRS Examines Hospitality Industry Trends’, Cornell University School of Hotel Administration. Web.