Introduction
As the name suggests our company runs a chain of top-class lodges and resorts operating in four states in the US. The company began operations as a simple hotel before pursuing the horizons and expanding. The journey to expansion hasn’t been a bed of roses all along as there have been many ups and downs.
Our business entails the provision of hotel and lodging facilities.
Company history
In early 1950, a man by the name of Sir Richard Maloney started a small guest house in Las Vegas. Having served as a pilot in the Second World War Sir Meloney had made a lot of friends in the line of duty has been more associated with the evacuation of troops from the war fields, many army men regarded him as the symbol of hope in the war fields where pain and inhuman conditions were the order of the day. As such he received a lot of respect from the soldiers whose lives he had saved. With the end of the war, he decided to start a family business together with his wife who was only a housewife by then. His choice of town as he was later to confess to his children was because retired army men were known to while away gambling drinking and reliving the war with unending stories of their heroic acts during the war, stories of which most were exaggerated to make them more captivating.
The town of Las Vegas is very famous for its casinos and gambling and also its strips clubs a favorite combination for the ex-army men. It came to his attention that familiarity with most of those retired army men would make them favor his joint other than other joints where they were treated as ordinary senior citizens. He realized the potential in it and immediately seized the opportunity and opened up several guest houses in the outskirts of the city, after nights of gambling and heavy drinking the men found a den where they could retire to among their own. The guest houses were made to resemble a miniature military base, something that brought them an adrenaline rush and they’re too blood boil in their aging veins. With time the guest houses became so popular that any former army man who had not visited them felt left out and with time it transformed into a meeting place for the ex-soldiers. As time went by Sir Meloney together with his wife retired leaving behind their two sons Christopher Meloney and Wilbert Meloney, to run the family business.
Unfortunately, the heirs of the business had no military inclinations thus the theme of the business did not go down well with them. Again the ex-soldiers were also aging and were less involved in travel thus a decline in the number of customers. Something else that was more innovative and creative had to be put in place to replace the old system. A change of business was vetoed by the older Meloney. The only other option that remained open to them was to change the customer base so as to be more inclusive. The military look was immediately done away with, and a more civilian look was adopted.
A new customer base was hard to come by and still, there was the issue convincing them of the new management and what it stood for. The results were not forthcoming hence a change of name was necessary. The name Stella hotel was taken. This name had real meaning to the two men only that it was easy to pronounce and was also a test of their creativity. With the expansion of the business to include lodges, the present name was taken.
As of now, the company runs 9 hotels and lodges spreading from Pennsylvania to New Orleans operating under different names but all under the umbrella company Spatella Resorts and Lodges with a permanent staff of 1 347 people. Given the diversity in this field, the staff incorporated in making this company successful has gone through intensive training so as to achieve the desired level of performance and service provision. To reward this dedication to quality service the company was early last year awarded the ISO 2000 certification which has enabled it to go international. Some of the factors that have been considered in the company’s decision to spread our wings in Spain are the Spanish language, culture, relations with other countries, the economy of the country, and the market.
Spain is one of the countries that are rapidly expanding in the world of football and as such has continued over the years to receive many visitors with interests in football. The company management board has found it wise to invest in this field through service provision. To maximize the market share in the world of football, the company has planned of putting up hotels and lodges near stadiums of popular football teams in this country.
At the moment the country is experiencing good economic performance occupying the 9th position of Europe’s largest economies with an average annual growth rate of over 3%. The town that is to benefit from the test operation has been earmarked as Barcelona. With the recent successes of FC Barcelona, it is understandable to procrastinate that the area will be receiving more visitors keen on familiarizing themselves with the team. The town also boasts of a very up-to-date infrastructure and communication network a prerequisite for any developing town. The area also receives many tourists who visit the country to experience an array of activities such as the Spanish culture famous for bullfighting, flamenco dancing, and other Spanish festivals. Generally, Spain has been named among the most preferred tourist destinations by world re-known travel magazines. A feasibility study and market research were carried out giving a positive answer that approved the expansion plan. A working market entry strategy had to be devised for the plan to be a success.
Strategizing on Market entry
Technological advancement and transportation accessibility have made it easier, more convenient, less expensive, and more profitable for organizations to expand their businesses globally to service more customers across many cultures and languages. Facilitated by the aforementioned factors and the long-term strategy of this company, it has come to a time when the company is planning about entering new markets. The management has been apprehensive about the prospects of a new market following previous shelving of this plan to go international. Fortunately, this is already stated in the company’s long-term objectives thus the decision requires no further authorization but just a simple nod and execution at the right time. A good new market entry strategy should corroborate the company’s objectives and views in order to have harmony and compatibility in operations and management.
When an organization has made a decision to enter an overseas market, there are a variety of options open to it. These options vary with cost, risk, and the degree of control that can be exercised over them. The simplest form of entry strategy is operating using either a direct or indirect method such as an agent, in the case of the former, or countertrade, in the case of the latter. More complex forms include truly global operations which may involve joint ventures.
It is interesting to note that researchers warned that direct modes of market entry may be less and less available in the future. Growing trading blocks like the EU or EFTA means that the establishment of subsidiaries may be one of the only ways forward in the future. Apparently, this line of thought was not appealing to the company but instead, a customized market entry strategy was designed. This strategy borders on the service adaptation strategy and the total adaptation and conformity strategy, a decision like this were necessary given that the hotel industry is nothing new in Spain and the appreciation of stiff competition has made the management aware of the need to be more unique so as to differentiate our services from the competitors without deviating from our specialty. Room for variation in this industry is minimal and the most convenient way to be relevant in this industry according to the research conducted by our company is to segment our market and restrict ourselves to the upper end of the society.
Entry
Having decided on the form of entry strategy, decisions have to be made on the specific channels through which to familiarize the company with the existing local and federal government requirements to ensure the legality of our operations in Spain. Health and sanitation aspects have been streamlined with the local authorities’ requirements. Work permits have also been sought for the transferees.
Staff management
A consultancy firm has been hired to carry out training of the targeted staff and their families regarding the change of residence and prepare them psychologically for the change of residence, culture, language, climate among other changes expected with a change of continent.
The company’s staff is involved in the correct marketing promotion and provision of better services than those that already exist so as to beat the competition that will ensure the company will never be short of customers.
Conquering new lands and territories time has proved to call for adequate prior planning and perfect execution of the work at hand to armies and companies alike. With a change in language as the foremost stumbling block to our staff, several steps were taken to prepare them to absorb the shock of the change and make them embrace the new culture and weather. A seminar is to held attended by all the staff affected by the relocation. It aims at achieving the following,
- Helping them understand their role in the relocation.
- Introducing them to the target destination.
- Giving them practical information on life in the new country.
- Providing them with coping strategies to employ when missing home.
- Encouraging them to embrace the new culture.
Intercultural training is a practical and beneficial preparatory step if conducted with the seriousness it deserves as deviation from the resident culture may lead to the business rubbing the locals the wrong way. This training is to be conducted prior to the international assignment in order for the staff to confirm their acceptance since it would be improper to assume that all the affected staffs are ready for the relocation. This also gives the company enough time to replace the staff that may opt-out of the deal. In demystifying the host country culture and preparing transferees and their families for life in their new home, intercultural training has proven to dramatically increase the chances of assignment success and transferee adjustment and satisfaction.
Bridges offer fully-customized personal cross-cultural training on the impact of culture, effective global communication skills, international negotiations, international management skills, culture shock, and family adjustment issues, as well as country-specific business and social etiquette.
Training may include:
- Fully customized training sessions, conducted at the transferee’s place of work, home, or temporary accommodation in either their homes or at our already conference facilities.
- An introduction to how ‘cultural programming’ shapes attitudes and values, and how these inform preconceptions and behavior and the success of our venture into Spain.
- Strategies for managing cross-cultural adjustment — tuition in mechanisms for being receptive to new cultures and adapting to different environments.
- Detailed information on the drivers of culture and behavior in the host country, delivered by one or more specialists in the host country’s culture. This includes up-to-date profiles and protocols, including guidance on how to behave in specific work and social situations to conform to the prevailing and accepted Spanish lifestyle.
- Business behavior briefings, providing tips on how to relate successfully to colleagues, clients, and suppliers in the host country.
- Where feasible, a practical question and answer session, with a professional person of the same nationality as the transferee, who has lived in the host country.
- Language training for transferees and their families where required, either as a stand-alone service or as part of intercultural training
The training is expected to attain the following goals
- Helping them understand their role in the relocation.
- Introducing them to the target destination.
- Giving them practical information on life in the new country.
- Providing them with coping strategies to employ when missing home.
- Encouraging them to embrace the new culture.
Organizational structure
As their facilities grow in size, lodging managers are faced with the need to group certain jobs in order to ensure efficient coordination and control of activities. These job groupings are usually called departments. In general, departments might be grouped as the front of the house (those departments in which employees have guest contact, such as a front desk), and back of the house (where employees have little guest contact, such as accounting stores, etc). However, separating departments by function is the most common method of organizing a hotel or a lodging business. Our trial branch in Barcelona is to have 500 rooms, a hotel, swimming pool, gymnasium, restaurant, and a bar. A detailed structure showing how duties and responsibilities are shared is a vital element in an organization and thus a lodge is no exemption.
The structure below shows the heir achy in management from the headquarters to this new independent branch in Spain, how as per the organization’s policy duties and responsibilities are not to be shared through given criteria but to be done to fit best the prevailing circumstances as determined by location, size, and market dynamics.
Typically, the rooms department (called the front desk department in a limited-service facility) includes reservations, the front office, housekeeping, and telephone. In smaller full-service hotels, security and engineering might also be included in the rooms department but given the size of our hotel, we had to separate the two to increase efficiency. Responsibilities of the rooms department include reservations, guest reception, room assignment, tracking the status of rooms (available or occupied), prompt forwarding of mail and phone messages, security, housekeeping of guest rooms and public spaces such as lobbies, and answering guests’ questions. To perform these many duties effectively, the rooms department may be divided into a number of specialized subunits. To complicate matters, in many instances these subunits are also referred to as sections. For example, the laundry department is responsible for cleaning and pressing the entire hotel’s linens and employee uniforms as well as guest laundry. Because of its specialized function, little of the knowledge and skills required to manage a laundry operation are transferable to other areas of hotel operation.
The primary function of the food and beverage department is to provide food and drink to a hotel’s guests. In earlier times, when the first Spatella hotel started operation it had a single dining room that could hold a limited number of guests, this was a fairly simple task. Today, however, providing food and drink is much more complicated as the customers may be lodging in our facilities for long a time hence to the need to keep them excited on the prospects of a good meal always. A large hotel might well have a coffee shop, a gourmet restaurant, a poolside snack bar, room service, two banquet halls, and ten function rooms where food and beverages are served. This all has been put into considerations of an expansion plan to be carried out if the first two years of operation are promising. There is therefore the possibility that the hotel might also have a lounge, a nightclub, and a lobby bar in times to come. On a busy day (or night), it’s quite likely that functions will be booked in many outlets at the same time. In addition, some outlets may have multiple events scheduled for a single day. As you can see, there is great diversity in the types of activities performed by a food and beverage department, requiring a significant variety of skills on the part of its workers.
Leadership and motivational system
The company had forecasted the problems that would be expected to affect the staff hence had been duly trained on that. However, some unexpected problems are bound to pop up despite the training on how to handle them. As such the staff has to be kept motivated and be rewarded for their sacrifices. This is done by awarding better allowances and counseling. A way has to found on how to keep the transferees in contact with their families and loved ones through paid-for return trips home once a year. The management has sought the services of interpreters due to communication problems who are only temporary as plans to offer Spanish language training are underway.
References
Helen, Deresky. International Management: Managing across borders and cultures 6th edition, New York: Wesley, 1999.