Hilton Hotel Differentiation Essay Example for Free

Hilton Hotel Differentiation Essay Hilton Hotels is one of the biggest players in the US lodging industry. It contributes to about 9% of the total rooms in US lodging market. It has presence in over 78 countries with more than 2500 hotels. Lodging industry is highly capital intensive industry, so to reduce capital expenditure Hilton Hotels opted for self-owned Hotels as well as franchising model with the real estate owners. One of the key features of lodging industry is low switching costs for customers. There is very little margin to differentiate from the major competitors in the industry which include Marriott international, IHG, Accor etc. Key success factor in lodging market is quality of service one provides. Hilton Hotels are highly focused about their service level by providing excellent care to the customers. Traditionally, standardization of service delivery operations has been one of the very difficult tasks in the industry as one has to operate in different geographies. To resolve this issue and to maintain consistent service delivery across different hotels they installed an integrated technology infrastructure called OnQ. CRM system built over OnQ helped the firm to provide excellent service to the customers and provide competitive advantage over its competitors. OnQ facilitated the firm’s CRM (Customer Really Matters) initiative at each customer touch point. Reason for successful implementation of CRM * The major organizational factor that facilitated the CRM initiative is that the firm had the same technology platform and distribution footprint throughout the brand. * Sharing the risk with the hotel owners and avoiding separate technology charges encouraged the owners to adopt the CRM system. * Moreover its focus on delivering efficient service to customers also laid the foundation among the people for the acceptance of CRM initiative. Issue faced in CRM Implementation The major problem during the implementation of CRM initiative was the delivery of consistent services across each brand event after the CRM systems were in place. This was mainly due to the large number of diversified hotels in the chain across the globe Issues resolved by CRM package * With the help of CRM along with recognition of the customer providing personal services was also possible. This helps in tailoring the experience according to customer needs and creating a long term relationship. For eg. Rooms can be pre-assigned and prepared according to customer preferences. * It was also possible to classify customers along different levels (Gold, Diamond etc.) and providing them with differential services. Tiered system allowed the hotels to prioritize pre-assignment and service delivery by identifying most valuable guests. This results in improving efficiency of service by focusing more on most valuable customers. * To maintain brand name uniform services are to be maintained across the hotel chain. With centralized OnQ infrastructure, it became possible for Hilton Hotels to replicate their services across the various hotels across the globe. * The CRM systems helped the company in differentiating its service as well as optimizing some of the activities which lead to the reduction in operational costs. For eg. OnQ Reservation used data from the CRM, allows the agent to access callers’ personal dossier and update their preferences. This helped in reducing the call time as well as promoted the cross selling. Another example is having information prior to arrival of customer helped the firm in maintaining efficiencies especially during later in the evenings when less staff is available. * It also helped in service recovery. If a client had some problem during the last visit, identifying the problem helped in responding better next time. * The SALT (Satisfaction and Loyalty Tracking) survey helped in getting essential feedback from the customers. * Monitoring of the various brands across the chain for quality assurance also became easy. It also enabled the firm to open new hotels at a faster pace and consistently deliver the same service. Summary of Analysis CRM system implementation at Hilton hotels provided with various benefits in term of improved services, cost reduction improved efficiency. Maintenance cost of CRM system is low as compared to the overall revenue of the firm. Currently Hilton Hostels are able to leverage CRM system better than competitors. They still need to search for further options available in improving service using CRM.

Strategies of CSR in Business

Strategies of CSR in Business EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: This is a business report submission of my Understanding of approaches to Business Management, strategic planning and Corporate Social Responsibility challenges in Micro, SMEs and Corporate Businesses or organisations. INTRODUCTION I would like to look into the definitions or meaning of sustainability in business, strategic planning and CSR, before I commence fully on this report. Strategic planning:-Its the concise and clear plan that is put in place for a business to achieve and meet its objectives and goals if the organisation wants to survive, succeed and thrive. Sustainability: according to (Cavusgil, 2017) Meeting humanitys needs without harming the future generations. Corporate Social Responsibility : definition hasnt been widely accepted according to (Godfrey and Hatch, 2007), but its definition simply is corporate social responsibility and this is not just limited to multinational companies but to micro, small medium sized enterprises as well, in that it has a responsibility to its stakeholders and shareholders in dealing with their needs in ensuring that trading is ethical and that employees have rights within the organisation, aiding the   the community as well is impacted positively   and that the environment is not negatively affected with their business dealings and no illegal dealings in their transactions but home and abroad. DIFFERENT APPROACHES OF MICRO, SMEs AND CORPORATE BUSINESS TO BUSINESS MANAGEMENT, PLANNING AND CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY According to (Eweje, 2014) findings   is that Multinational enterprise that are in operation in developing countries do contribute to job creation growth and development and poverty alleviation there, but when compared to developed countries they do not pay much attention to CSR and sustainability. In SMEs operations since they do not usually have enough capital and have fewer employees compared to corporate business enterprise, this makes them more adaptable in their business dealings and transactions either locally or internationally. Business plan so that they can achieve their goals e.g. in using the swot analysis by analysing situation internally which is the strength and weakness of the organisation and external analysis looking at the strength and weaknesses. Its through corporate governance that multinational companies ensure that corporate social responsibility, sustainability and strategic management are been undertaken. For Micro, SMEs and corporate Businesses, their approach to Corporate social responsibility is quite similar in that they ensure that the human rights of their employees are a priority, ensuring that employees do have a right to join any union, health and safety is been observed at workplace, also that there is no child labourer working for the organisation and that they do not contribute to global warming e.g. recycling,   no illegal dealings either nationally or internationally, and that they support poverty alleviation in developing countries. DIFFERENT TYPES OF STRATEGIES THAT BUSINESSES USE TO OPERATE IN AN ETHICAL AND SUSTAINABLE WAY When companies observe Corporate Social Responsibility and basically incorporate it into the daily culture of the organisation they are behaving in an ethical manner. When an organisation, firm or enterprise observe some of this practices such as ensuring that there is no water wastage by recycling it, clean water, minimises air pollution, reducing an organisations carbon footprint ensure health and safety at workplace, they are operating in a sustainable way that will lead them having a competitive advantage over other companies. Also they are operating strategically and in a sustainable way when a company looks for ways to ensure that it makes an impact in the community by creating jobs locally, probably in a community that it is obvious that it is disadvantaged. If it does not use children as staff i.e. child labour or does not do anything that might negatively impact the health and wellbeing of its worker, wages and salaries should be fair, recruitment as well should not be discriminating   a safe working environment, creating opportunities for career development or improving skills of employees, which will lead to employees been retained rather than looking for other job opportunities that will improve their prospects in the future, also providing benefits for those that will eventually retire, which will make employees have something to look forward to. Ensuring also that pollution is not an issue and that waste are been reduced in their manufacturing processes. HOW COCA COLA, ADNAMs AND SMEs IMPLEMENT CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY Coca cola implementing corporate social responsibility in India, according to (Vikalpa 2014, p.100) in summary, Coca-Cola in India   initiated   some steps   in   implementing   sustainability when there was scarcity of water in the region of Rajasthan,   they provided irrigation that led to the supply of water   to farmers   by doing this they   were able to provide water to the local communities , this action   enabled them to gain the confidence of the villagers   and the initially sceptical   eventually developed   trust in them   and also ended up cooperating with them. Coca cola invited the villagers and their leaders to come to the factory and see their water management processes, they used resources, labourer, contractors from the community and they ensured they were quite open in the use of the funds REFERENCES Cavusgil S Tamer, Knight G, Riesenberger John R. (2017) International business [electronic resource] : the new realities :Pearson, Global Edition, 4th Edition Eweje .Gabriel.(2014) Corporate social responsibility and sustainability [electronic resource] : emerging trends in developing economies   :Emerald Publishing,2014 Godfrey PC, Hatch NW.2007.Researching corporate social responsibility: An agenda for the 21st century.journal of business Ethics 70(1):87-98. Maria-Alejandra, Gonzalez-Perez and Liam Leonard.(2013) International business, sustainability and corporate social responsibility [electronic resource] : Emerald,2013 Paul J and Adrian Woods. (2001) Strategic Management: a fresh approach to developing skills, knowledge and creativity Chaklader B and Gautam N, 2014, Efficient Water Management through Public-Private Partnership Model: An Experiment in CSR by Coca-Cola India: Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision makers. Jan-Mar2014, Vol. 39 Issue 1, p97-104. 8p.

Middle East Crisis Essay -- essays research papers

The Middle East Violence in the Middle East must be stopped for the good of humankind. Fighting in recent days has been hazardous and fatal. There are many things that can be done to prevent this violence. A permanent cease-fire must be in effect, the international community should get involved and land claims must be worked out. These three things are necessary in order to resolve this situation. A permanent cease-fire would be very important. If a permanent cease-fire was in effect, the death tolls will be dramatically lowered. The first step in the cease-fire process would be to unite both the Israelis and the Palestinians in an international peace conference. This conference would make both countries realize that the violence that is occurring is serious and horrible. The Palestinians must cease their protests. These protests in the recent days have been turned into bloody battles because of the â€Å"rock throwers†. The rock throwers cause the Israelis to return fire. In the worst case, this violence could turn into a mass murder. The violence might become so violent, that there would be many unnecessary deaths and a potential genocide, which has happened in other countries such as Yugoslavia with this similar situation. This is not the only thing that has to take place in order for the peace process to proceed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The international community should be involved in the peace process. The United Nations condemns this violence and should ...

Essay --

There are many uses of technologies in our daily life. Now a day’s people use technologies to do different kinds of tasks. This is very significant for young, older and anyone who is taking benefit for modern technology, and how it will affect on us, and how it can improve our lives or other people lives. However, what is essential about modern technology which makes a real diversity in our lives. Its verification that people are using internet to receive information, especially about current or main events, and Majority of people surveyed, who is happy with their skills by using internet technology. Modern Technologies play a very important role in our lives. For instance, modern use of technology increases efficiency. People have always used modern technological devices for development of a culture to solve problems; in earlier days of life ancient people have taken benefits of writing to communicate an idea with someone. They used to draw pictures to find solutions to public issues on their cave walls. If we look back to early human history when the ancient people recorded and spoken words were used to convey information from one generation to the next generation. Now a day’s Modern technology helping us for doing work with less effort, even though it’s helping us to passes knowledge to groups and individuals. So, people can develop self regulatory skills to increased more efficiency and accomplishing simple to complex everyday tasks. Now, people can also make an appointment with their doctor by using online modern technology. The uses of modern online technologi es like uses of internet, television, radio, laptop, cell phones are tremendously revolutionized the world. We can also pay our bills without going somewhere, with mos... ...by using online modern technology, and even if they got more confident enough to accommodate to a more difficult competition. Modern technology also providing tools to change people lives and it’s also helping us to improve their conditions. These people who can feel better in their proficiency by using the instrument of a culture. they are more likely to move forward to learn new skills and become more self dependent and successful. They also motivated to achieve higher and difficult goals. Technology advances very fast nowadays at such lightening speed. We cannot even tell which technology is passing trend and what technology is helping us better in order to learn about modern technology. You might confuse when you saw first time self checkout machine at utility store; or, you might have thought lost when you had to make your first video call over the internet.

Open Mine Eyes :: English Literature Essays

Open Mine Eyes 'Open my eyes and allow me to behold the wealth of each curtained acre. Allow me to stand amidst the true complexity of land and hold me hostage beyond the hand of illustrations. As any mind may have it, such beauty is held too deep, so far away no ordinary soul could see. I ask you to bring forth the beauty of such things. Describe to me, young man, the definition of America . . .' Close your eyes and open your mind. Feel that slightly chilled breeze upon your cheeks, barely rustling through your golden hair. Reach out now and grasp the unknown, hold within your hand the temperament of unrestricted air. Now breathe deeply, and allow yourself to inhale that refreshing sweetness. Only you know that its the cause of the shallow whispering of the world around you. Now, in your mind, open your eyes and look beyond that reach. As far as your eyes can see, lays an open field of amber grain. Acres and acres of an un-chartered beauty. Though, what makes such emptiness beautiful? Behold, the white and scattered clouds, now accented by the blue sky and illuminated by the rays of purple, yellow or pink brilliance from the rising sun beyond the horizon. I witness the world grow smaller. I see, in the distance, the annually alternating colors extending from green and yellow, to orange and brown. A painted portrait of freckled or dimpled ground lies towards the horizon. Look above, a great royalty in heavens plains extending his prided wings over the appreciated air. The eagle watches carefully over his kingdom. Though it may not seem much, he prides himself with the restless content of the waving grain. The mild whispering of the wheat battling each other for unity and for serenity, for direction and for time. Though through this complexity, he watches his kingdom dance. You, alone, stand in his shallow pond of grain. When the wind picks up it creates waves of confusion. The careful breeze pushes them one way, and in restraint they push back. Though when the wind s lets up they have strained so much, when they are released, they lurch into the other direction, creating an elegant swaying motion. The individual composition of form, and with the subtle motions they mold a dance of serenity. You must understand, in order to visualize such beauty, a person must be willing to look further than the word America.

Four Seasons Goes to Paris

Four Seasons Goes to Paris: 53 Properties, 24 Countries, 1 Philosophy Four Seasons is the world’s leading operator of luxury hotels and resorts. They are well known not only in the U. S. but they are a huge international hit. They have been successful over the last thirty years because of their strengths of diversity and originality. Four Seasons does not want to be a globalization of markets like McDonald’s, where everyone is the same. They are not a â€Å"cookie-cutter company. This is a great tactic to have because then you would not be such a high class hotel and resort. Also, when you go international you have to be in touch with all of the cultural changes which can make or break your business. They have done an exceptional job of adapting to the different cultures. When you walk into a four seasons hotel â€Å"it does not scream four seasons at you. † Another reason why they are so successful is because the top management have been around for over 25 year s. This means that they are extremely familiar with to the company and how everything works and they can easily train the new employees. Once trained then they become part of the family. â€Å"Both corporate and field managers often referred to the firm as a family, complete with rules, traditions, and tough love. † I believe this is a one of the main reasons why they are so successful. If your employees are happy to wake up and come to work in the morning knowing everyone is basically a family member makes them work a lot harder because you do not want to let down a family member. The workers made the guest feel so comfortable and at home that the guest wanted to buy the linens to remind them of the stay. The seven four seasons â€Å"service culture standards† rules make the guest always feel welcome in the hotel and make them always want to come back and tell people how well of a stay they had. The last and I think the most important reason why the four season have been successful for the past four years is because the emphasis on the golden rule. â€Å"one should treath others as one would wish to be treated. If you work in a people oriented business where you need to please your guests, this is the mindset you should be in for a successful business. â€Å"Despite the success of four seasons, approach and philosophy, management knew that entering France would be a challenge. † I feel that how they entered was perfect. They entered in a very powerful manner by deciding to manage the George V which is right in the middle of the French capital an d is the â€Å"highest possible quality asset in the best location. They basically came in and took over and told everyone how it is going to be run. They did respect a lot of the working hour rules, and the hours by a window rules and stuff like. I really liked the aspect that they kept the hotel running like it always has been even though in France they do things a lot differently with customer service. It was good that they hired depending on the attitude. â€Å"What we need is people who can adapt, either to guests from all over the world or to operating a variety of countries. I like this because it says that the workers need to adapt to the guests no matter where they are from because that is how the four seasons does it. If they would of came into this situation any different, I feel that they would have been pushed out and the hotel would of turned bad. They only bad thing I can come up with is that they did change a lot of the culture around because the French are differe nt on their customer service than Americans. They are polychromic people compared to how we operate as a monochromic people. If you are a firm entering a market you have to be very familiar with what the culture is your are dealing with. Some cultures are very religious and if you try to change their ways then it could be going against their religion. But in the lessons from this case I believe you can enter a market like they did but you have to be cautious of what you change because if it goes bad then your reputation could go under and then you are bankrupt in that market.

Zombies

Zombies There is a current fad of entertainment in popular culture about zombies and zombie apocalypses. Have you ever heard of a real â€Å"Zombie†? Have you ever thought of where this idea of â€Å"Zombies† came about? Theyre history does not stem from Hollywood or comic books. Zombies have a real history as well as an actual scientific capability of existing. Isak Niehaus (writer for The Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute) explained the cultural connection to zombies in Africa, and Wade Davis (writer for New York: Simon & Schuster) researched the reports in Haiti of he zombie culture there.Ker Than researched the topic for National Geographic news and came up with startling possibilities of a zombie-like outbreak. Just about everybody knows about fictitious zombies, but less are familiar with the facts about zombies. There are many people zombies are very real. They aren't a fable and are something to be taken seriously. Belief in magic and witchcraft is widespread throughout Haiti and the Caribbean, often in the form of religions such as Voodoo and Santeria.The Oxford English Dictionary, the term â€Å"zombie† initially showed up in English around 1810 when historian Robert Southey declared it in his book â€Å"History of Brazil. † But this â€Å"Zombi† wasn't the typical Hollywood version of the brain-hungry horror. Instead it was a West African deity. The word â€Å"zombie† later came to propose the human life force exiting the body, ultimately leaving a creature human in form but lacking self-awareness and intelligence. The word was introduced to Haiti and to other places from Africa through the slave trade.Isak Niehaus found that the term Zombie is used to describe a spellbound person deprived of cognizance and self- wareness, yet able to move and react to immediate provocations. Though many people treat the current â€Å"zombie apocalypse† as a fun pop culture meme, Haitian culture † li ke many African cultures † is greatly immersed in faith in magic and witchery. Belief in zombies is related to the Voodoo religion, and has been widespread in Haiti for many years. Haitian zombies were said to be people brought back from the dead through magical means by voodoo priests called bokors or houngan.Sometimes the zombification was done as punishment which struck fear in those who believed that they could be abused even after death. Often the zombies were said to have been used as slave labor on farms and sugarcane plantations. A mentally ill farmer claimed to have been seized captive as a zombie worker for two decades, though he couldn't show researchers where this had taken place. Researchers pursued a case in Haiti, 1937 of rumors that the affected persons were given a powerful psychoactive drug, but they were not able to locate anyone willing to offer much evidence.After many years the researchers concluded that there is more to Voodoo than ritual and that there is a medical base behind what is going on. Several decades later, Wade Davis, a Harvard ethno botanist, offered a pharmacological case for zombies some of his books. Davis went to Haiti in 1982 and, after investigations, claimed that a living being could be changed into a zombie by way of two specific powders being put into the circulatory system, most of the time by an open wound.One of the powders includes tetrodotoxin (TTX), a potent and often tatal neurotoxin tound in the putte The second powder consists ot dissociative drugs like datura. These powders could induce a deathlike state where will of the eing would be completely open to that of the bokor. Davis also popularized the story of Clairvius Narcisse, who was claimed to have succumbed to this practice. Davis described the case of an initial state of deathlike suspended animation, followed by reawakening into a psychotic state.The insanity induced by the drug and psychological trauma was hypothesized by Davis to strengthen s ocially learned beliefs and to cause the individual to rebuild their characteristics as that of a zombie, since they actually thought they were dead, and had no other role to play in the Haitian society. Though dead humans can't come back to life, certain viruses can induce such aggressive, zombie-like behavior, scientists say in the new National Geographic Channel documentary The Truth Behind Zombies.For instance, rabies, a viral disease that infects the central nervous system can drive people to be violently mad. If a rabies virus was to combine with the ability of a flu virus, in order to spread quickly through the air, you might have the makings of a zombie apocalypse. The first signs a human has rabies, such as anxiety, confusion, hallucinations, and paralysis ont typically appear for ten days to a year after infection, as the virus incubates inside the body. This is very unlike movie zombies, which become reanimated almost immediately after infection.Once rabies sets in, thoug h, it's fatal within a week if left untreated. If the genetic makeup of the rabies virus went through enough changes, or mutations, its incubation time could be condensed dramatically. Many viruses have naturally high mutation rates and constantly change as a means of evading or bypassing the defenses of their hosts. For the rabies virus to cause an event like a zombie pandemic, not unlike the ones ou might see in a movie, it has to be much more contagious.Typically a human could catch rabies after being bitten by an infected animal and the infection usually stops there, but thanks to pet vaccinations, people seldom get rabies in the U. S. nowadays, and even fewer people die from the disease. For example, in 2008 only two cases of human rabies infection were reported to the U. S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A faster mode of transmission would be through the air, which is how the influenza virus spreads. The movie 28 Days Later depicts a scenario of a age virus. If ra bies somehow became airborne this movie would be very plausible.In order to be transmitted by air, rabies would have to mutate or use traits from another virus like influenza. Elankumaran Subbiah, a virologist at Virginia Tech, states that diverse forms, or strains, of the same virus can change pieces of genetic code using reassortment or recombination. Unrelated viruses, although, don't Just randomly create hybrids in nature. Likewise, he also said â€Å"They're too different. They cannot share genetic information. Viruses assemble only parts that belong to them, nd they don't mix and match from different families. It's theoretically possible for scientists to use a rabies virus and an influenza virus, though extremely difficult, to create a hybrid rabies-influenza virus using modern genetic engineering techniques. Sure, you could imagine a scenario where you mix rabies with a flu virus to get airborne transmission, a measles virus to get personality changes, the encephalitis viru s to cook your brain wit n tever and throw in the ebola virus to cause you to bleed from your guts. You would probably get something like the zombie virus, but nature oesn't let these things to happen all at the same time.Yet†¦ There is a vast history of zombies, from Africa to Haiti and other trade lands, all the way to Hollywood. The general focus of zombies is the entertainment of it all. To this day there are still cases of zombie voodoo and stories of dead people coming back from the grave. The focus should be on the possibilities of the future though. If Just one team of scientists with access to the means to hybrid existing viruses the entertaining idea of zombies on a TV would not be funny at all. It's not all that unreal now is it?