Background to the Business
The concept of home in the hospitality is taking center stage in the industry. Organizations that are interested in making the customers feel like they are in their homes are making sure that the services provided are in line with their home needs. It is imperative to note that the concept of home is implemented from different perspectives. The hotels are designing their rooms in a way they depict homes, providing services in a friendlier manner, cooking food that is embraced by the culture, availing essential amenities to the customers for luxury and comfort, and creating an environment that makes the customers feel as part and parcel of the community. The purpose of the report is to look into ways in which the hospitality industry has embraced and implemented the concept of home in most of the hotels. The report will also offer suggestions on how the organization at hand will use the concept of home and why it should use it.
The organization that will be used in this case will be named Melbourne Comfort. Melbourne Comfort is a hotel that is owned by one of the business persons in Australia, and it has done well in the last few years. The hotel is only eight years old, and it has been doing well in the market, and this has been seen in the way that it has been offering stiff competition from some of the major organizations in the hospitality industry. The hotel is a five-star organization with smart accommodation and technologically advanced. Some of the services that the hotel offers are accommodation, conferencing, food, bar, tours around Australia, and also outdoor events. The hotel is located in Melbourne, but soon some of its branches will be opened in different locations around Australia. The targeted customers in this hotel are the local community members and the international tourists. The hotel is able to reach people from all over the world through the internet, and this is because it has a website where the tourists can search the products they want and book for accommodation.
The concept of home in the hospitality industry refers to the aspect of making sure that the facilities and the environment of a hotel reciprocates a home. The concept is broad, and this is because there are many aspects that make up a home (Neuhofer, Buhalis, and Ladkin, 2015). The concept of home can be divided into two broad sections. The first section is associated with the tangible things that are associated with the concept. These may include food and other tangible materials that one needs to feel at home. The second section is associated with the feeling of a home. A home does not become home only because it is designed to be one but it becomes a home because there is a certain feeling or atmosphere. The hotels are trying to make sure that the feeling of home is retained and promoted.
From the tangible section, the concept of home is fulfilled in the following areas; food, interior design, rooms, entertainment, and technology. When it comes to the aspect of food, hotels are investing a lot in understanding the culture of their customers (Zaitseva, Goncharova, and Androsenko, 2016). it is essential to note that the culture of a customer has an effect on what the customer eats. Some of the meals that are appreciated and loved by one cultural group can be restricted in another. It, therefore, becomes essential for a hotel to understand the foods needed by the customers. The hospitality industry has done two things to make sure that the home concept is embraced from the food perspective (Harris and Reynolds, 2004). The first step has been to give customers a chance to preorder food of their choice and the second step has been to provide the customers with the kitchen appliances thus giving the customers an opportunity to make their food the way they wish. When a customer is provided with the freedom to make his or her food, the difference between the hotel and the home is only the location.
The Concept of Home
The hotels have also focused on interior designs which have been made to look more of those at home. From the lighting of the rooms to the hanging of pictures, interior designing has been made to look more like home. Unlike some years ago where the hotels were only rooms with the requirements of the customers; today, the rooms look livelier, and the setting has been improved to look the same way as the settings that are in most homes. The set-up of the rooms has been taken to a higher level that has never been seen before (Kim, Vogt, and Knutson, 2015). A few years ago the hotels were taken care of the accommodation of the clients alone without minding about the environment. The set-up of a bed and the wardrobe was promoted and if one wanted to work from the hotel room, he or she could not. Today, the rooms are designed in a way that they promote a good working environment. A customer can choose to work from the hotel room without any inconvenience.
Entertainment and technology in the modern hospitality industry have been taken to a higher level. At home, people have unlimited access to radio and television; the same concept has been transferred to hotels (Leung, Bai, and Stahura, 2015). Many hotels have radios and Bluetooth enabled systems that make it easier for the customers to use the devices to play music. The availability of Wi-Fi in most of the hotels is also another aspect that makes most of the hotels look like homes.
The concept of home has also touched on the feelings of the customers through the services and the local communities. Service delivery in a hotel means a lot to the customers. Therefore, when the service is delivered in line with the expectations of the customer, the customer’s level of satisfaction is likely to be boosted (Dedeo?lu and Demirer, 2015). The culture of delivering services in many organizations has changed by a significant percentage, and that has helped the customers to feel like they are at home (Harzing and Pudelko, 2016). At home, the friendly treatment makes the members of a family become happy and establishes a strong bond. In the hospitality industry, the service providers are taking care of the guests in an outstanding way, and that has helped the hotels to implement the concept of home (Oskam and Boswijk, 2016). The delivery of services entails the aspect of making sure that the international customers reach the destination without a challenge. The aspect has been embraced in the hospitality industry and some of the hotels the services of receiving the customers at the airport. As a result, the customers feel like they are being welcomed to another home.
The concept of home in the hospitality industry also promotes the coexistence of the customers and the members of the communities around. Many bars embrace the traditions of the host community members, and they engage the customers as well. The availability of resources that are also used by the community members such as playing grounds and swimming pools bring the concept of home to life (Kayaman and Arasli, 2007). The reason behind it is because the customers have a chance to observe the activities as they would have observed at home. Summarily, the concept of home entails the aspect of making sure that services provided in the hospitality industry are structured like home services. At the same time, it entails ensuring that the accessibility of the resources that a customer may need to feel at home is not limited.
Tangible Aspects of Home Concept
The accommodation providers are making use of the home concept in different ways. The first way is associated with the design of their rooms. The designs of the rooms have been changed to look more like homes as opposed to only hotel rooms (Kandampully, Zhang, and Bilgihan, 2015). A good example can be taken from the availability of a different sitting room, kitchen, and bedroom. Accommodation providers have been concentrating more on the aspect of bed in the hospitality industry (Torres and Kline, 2006). Not long ago, a hotel only provided a bed and a chair beside the bed. In the modern day, accommodation providers have changed the set up where a person can book accommodation and move in with the family members without the stress of separated rooms.
The accommodation providers have also upgraded to the concept of home by availing some of the essential home needs (Guttentag, 2015). A good example can be seen in the case of the provision of Bluetooth enabled sound system, the radio, Wi-Fi, and the television. In many modern homes, Wi-Fi has become a necessity, and this is because of the large exposure to technological advancements. The accommodation providers are making sure that the availability of Wi-Fi is prioritized. Radios and televisions are present in almost every home. They help by a significant percentage. Their availability in the accommodation sector helps the customers to associate the services provided with those provided at home (Jauhari and Bharwani, 2017). For example, when a person leaves a conference, gets back to the accommodation room and switches on the television to watch the news, one feels like he or she is in his or her home and that promotes the concept of home.
Friendliness in service delivery is an aspect that cannot be ignored when it comes to the concept of home. One of the reasons why families are happy is because of the atmosphere of the environment (Gibson, 2016). In this respect, the accommodation providers have adopted new organizational structures that make the environment joyous. Some of the services entail making sure that the customer is taken care of at all time as well as meeting the needs of the customer.
The hotel will create the home experience in different ways. The first way is through the design of the houses that play host to the customers. Not all people who come to the hotel are business persons; some families come for holidays. In this respect, there will be rooms with one, two, and three bedrooms (Dedeo?lu and Demirer, 2015). The rooms will have fully furnished kitchens and sitting rooms. All rooms will be installed with the Wi-Fi, and this is to make sure that all customers are covered. Families are different, and whereas some are comfortable having fun together, some families like the privacy of the children to be observed. In this respect, there will be different swimming pools and parents who like to be separate with their children during this moment will have been served well (Barrows and Powers, 2008). Social services within the hotel where people can meet and have fun will be promoted. They will include children games, adult games, and bars. The venues will help the customers interact with the community members and their fellow customers. The choice to order food from the restaurants or to cook in the house will be solely given to the customers. Some customers love to cook together as a family and doing so will promote the concept of family by a big percentage. The reason for creating the concept of home is to make sure that more customers are attracted to the business.
Conclusion
It is with no doubt that the concept of home is embraced in the hospitality industry. The concept has helped the hotels to make the customers feel like they are in their homes. The concept is essential because it attracts more customers who like to have services that are similar to those they receive at home. Organizations that have adopted the concept of home are advantaged over their counterparts in the business.
References
Barrows, C.W. and Powers, T., 2008. Introduction to Management in the Hospitality Industry, Study Guide. John Wiley & Sons.
Dedeo?lu, B.B. and Demirer, H., 2015. Differences in service quality perceptions of stakeholders in the hotel industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(1), pp.130-146.
Gibson, S., 2016. Mobilizing hospitality: The ethics of social relations in a mobile world. Routledge.
Guttentag, D., 2015. Airbnb: disruptive innovation and the rise of an informal tourism accommodation sector. Current issues in Tourism, 18(12), pp.1192-1217.
Harris, L.C. and Reynolds, K.L., 2004. Jaycustomer behavior: an exploration of types and motives in the hospitality industry. Journal of Services Marketing, 18(5), pp.339-357.
Harzing, A.W., and Pudelko, M., 2016. Do we need to distance ourselves from the distance concept? Why home and host country context might matter more than (cultural) distance. Management International Review, 56(1), pp.1-34.
Jauhari, V. and Bharwani, S., 2017. An exploratory study of competencies required to create memorable customer experiences in the hospitality industry. In Hospitality Marketing and Consumer Behavior (pp. 159-185). Apple Academic Press.
Kandampully, J., Zhang, T. and Bilgihan, A., 2015. Customer loyalty: a review and future directions with a special focus on the hospitality industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(3), pp.379-414.
Kayaman, R. and Arasli, H., 2007. Customer based brand equity: evidence from the hotel industry. Managing Service Quality: An International Journal, 17(1), pp.92-109.
Kim, M., Vogt, C.A. and Knutson, B.J., 2015. Relationships among customer satisfaction, delight, and loyalty in the hospitality industry. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 39(2), pp.170-197.
Leung, X.Y., Bai, B. and Stahura, K.A., 2015. The marketing effectiveness of social media in the hotel industry: A comparison of Facebook and Twitter. Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Research, 39(2), pp.147-169.
Neuhofer, B., Buhalis, D. and Ladkin, A., 2015. Smart technologies for personalized experiences: a case study in the hospitality domain. Electronic Markets, 25(3), pp.243-254.
Oskam, J. and Boswijk, A., 2016. Airbnb: the future of networked hospitality businesses. Journal of Tourism Futures, 2(1), pp.22-42.
Torres, E.N. and Kline, S., 2006. From satisfaction to delight: a model for the hotel industry. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 18(4), pp.290-301.
Zaitseva, N.A., Goncharova, I.V. and Androsenko, M.E., 2016. The necessity of changes in the system of hospitality industry and tourism training in terms of import substitution. International Journal of Economics and Financial Issues, 6(1), pp.288-293.
Zervas, G., Proserpio, D. and Byers, J.W., 2017. The rise of the sharing economy: Estimating the impact of Airbnb on the hotel industry. Journal of Marketing Research, 54(5), pp.687-705.
Order an Essay Now & Get These Features For Free:
Turnitin Report
Formatting
Title Page
Citation
Outline
