Marriott Hotels

Executive Summary/ Overview of the company: The international hotel industry has a lot of potential with more people participating in leisure, business and tourism all industry participants are formulating and implementing top notch strategies and offering premium services and products activities.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Marriott Hotels – Product: â€Å"Expensive Rooms† specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The flagship brand of Marriott International, the Marriott Hotels and resort is one of the world’s most leading and legendary hotel franchises with over 2,800 hotels in about 68 countries. The hotels generate close to three quarters of the total income generated by Marriott International and the rest from timeshares. Marriott international is not only well renowned in the hospitality setting but in the top companies of the world. Establish by Willard J. Marriott in 1927 as a hospitalit y company at first known as Marriott Corporation in Arlington County, Virginia but was later separated into two, the Marriott international and the Host Marriott Corporation in 1993. The Marriott’s headquarters today is based in Washington D.C. and headed by J.W. (Bill) Marriott, Jr. (son of founder Willard J. Marriott) who is the chief executive officer of the franchise. Marriott International is simply Marriott group’s hotel and lodgings chain with the amount of business transacted over recent times, is approximated at about US$ 13.3 billion. The hotel chain employs close to 15,000 workers worldwide and operates a number of full service hotels and resorts around the world. A poll conducted by times magazine in 2009 placed the Marriott Group fourth overall in an employee fulfillment research done among UK companies. Marriott’s endeavor to offer the best luxurious service to their customers and clients is well embodied in the words and thinking of the founder of the franchise, Willard J. Marriott: â€Å"†¦A man should keep on being constructive, and do constructive things. (Lim, 2009). Marriott therefore intends to exist and compete with other industry performers such as Hyatt and Hilton and outshine them by offering the complete customer experience.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Overview of the Company Marriott International Inc. is one of the premiere global operators and franchiser of hotels and associated lodging services. As of the end of 2006, the business owned over 2,800 hotels with a presence in 68 nations. It acquires approximately three quarters of its income from its hotel business and one forth from timeshares. The company has more than 85 percent of its possessions rooted in the U.S. In the fiscal year 2006, the firm announced revenues of USD 12.2 billion along with net proceeds of USD 608 million in comparis on to returns of USD 11.6 billion with net profits of USD 669 million in the previous year. The growth of the company in terms of compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) was recorded at 7.4 percent in the time span of six years from 2000 to 2006 (Oviedo-Garcia, 2008). The Marriott Hotels and Resorts is the flagship brand of the Marriott International. It has several full service hotels and resorts. The head quarters of the company is situated in Washington D.C. It is one of the most renowned companies in the World, not only in the hospitality industry but also in the foremost companies in the World. In a recent poll conducted by the renowned The Times magazine in the year 2009, the company was placed in the fourth position in all the companies of UK in the sphere of employee satisfaction. The brand operates more than 482 hotels and resorts worldwide (Cho, 2010). Initially the company was named as Marriott Corporation. It was a hospitality company and the company existed from 1927 to th e year 1993. The founder of the company was Willard Marriott and Frank Kimball. The first Marriott Hotel was opened in a place called Arlington County, in Virginia. Historically the first international hotel was situated in Mexico in the year in the year 1969. In the year 1993, the company was divided into two parts, the â€Å"Marriott International Corporation and the Host Marriott Corporation† (Cho, 2010).Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Marriott Hotels – Product: â€Å"Expensive Rooms† specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Marriott International It is basically the hotel chain of the Marriott Group. In recent calculation the hotel chain has around 3100 investments which provide lodging facilities in the United States, and over 67 in other countries. The recent turnover of the company is estimated at US$ 13.3 billion. More than 150000 employees work in the Marriott hotels chain worldwide. Ther e are different business segments in the hotel chain and they are as follows: Full Service and Lodging Select Service and Lodging Extended Stay and Lodging Timeshare Synthetic fuel. Some of the very important hotels under the brand are like Marriott Hotels and Resorts, J.W. Marriott Hotel and resorts and Renaissance Hotels and Resorts. In our discussion we will concentrate on the Marriott Hotels and Resorts. The longest running hotel in the Marriott brand is the Key Bridge Marriott which is situated in Arlington. It was opened in the year 1959. If we look at the history of the company we will surely see that the company has rapidly evolved into an international brand name (Oviedo-Garcia, 2008). One of the very important acquisitions of the Corporation happened in the year 1995. In that year Marriott purchased 49% of the share of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co. The other very important brands in the Marriott family except the Marriott Hotels and the Ritz Carlton Hotel Corporation are, R enaissance Hotels and Resorts, Marriott Conference Centers, Courtyard ( by Marriott), Fairfield Inn, Springhill Suites, Residence Inn, Tower place Suits, Marriott ExecuStay, Marriott Executive Apartments, Horizons, Ritz-Carlton Club, Marriott Executive Apartments, and the MVCI or the Marriott Vacation Club International (Cho, 2010). Important Brands of Marriott International Renaissance Hotels: The Renaissance Hotel Chain is a boutique like hotel chain which is managed by the Marriott Group. There are a number of hotels in the chain, and some of them are also managed by other franchise license. Marriott Conference Centers: Especially designed for Corporate and other types of conference, the Marriott Conference Centers are one of the most important brands of the company. Courtyard by Marriott: This is a type of hotels that is designed for the business clients and customers. The rooms are fully equipped with different types of facilities, and they are direct competitors of the hotels like Wingate Inn and the Hilton Garden Inn, which are regarded as very important hotels in the Hospitality Industry (Anastasiadou, 2008). Fairfield Inn: It is a low cost hotel brand which is also franchised by the Marriott International. The basic purpose for the hotels is that to provide a place to sleep for the guests with few amenities. The specific chain of hotels allows rents in a very cheap price and is very popular among the regular travelers throughout America. SpringHill Suites: This is especially designed for the all purpose suite system in hotels. As in the year 2009, there were 210 SpringHill Suites in all of America (Lugosi, 2008). Company Mission According to J. Willard Marriott:Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More â€Å"A man should keep on being constructive, and do constructive things. He should take part in the things that go on in this wonderful world. He should be someone to be reckoned with. He should live life and make every day count, to the very end. Sometimes it’s tough. But that’s what I’m going to do† (Lim, 2009). The vision of the Marriott International is to become the Numero Uno in the World in the sphere of Hospitality Service provider. To achieve the target, the business goals of the company centre on the growth of the company, along with special care to the guests and finally keep a strict check on the financial developments of the company (Chung, 2008). As with all the other companies there are some very important foundations of The Marriott International. They are like the employees, the guests, the shareholders, the service providers. In the next paragraphs we will discuss the different visions of the company and how they will help the company to realize their mission. The Business of the Marriott In the hospitality management sphere, Marriott International is the best. They are devoted to bring their guests comfort and satisfaction with their services. There is no blue print in their success, and their only choice is to care their guests in the most efficient as possible. The company believes that they will continue to expand their business with their skills and they will successfully utilize their skills for complete customer satisfaction in different areas, without losing their traditional customer bases (Oviedo-Garcia, 2008). The Shareholders of Marriott As with any business, whether it is international or national, the interests of the shareholders are highly valued in the context of the Marriott Hotels. According to their website, they will guarantee of unquestioned strength to their share holders. To keep this, the company strictly maintains the highest standards in the industry. They also regularly check their pos itions in the stock markets. The financial strength and the market factor help the company to complete their mission. They also give surety of strong and sustainable growth for their shareholders (Cho, 2009). The Customers The most important pillar of strength of the Marriott International is their customer base. The company promises that they will provide World Class services to their customers in every circumstance. The Employees The employees of the Marriott thrive to set high expectations from themselves and the business. They employees will try to build an employee culture among the organization. Individual growth is highly appreciated in the organization. Other than that working successfully in a team will help to realize the expectations of both the management and the guests of the organization. All the employees are determined to spend some of the times to make the community and the environment a better place to live (Cho, 2010). Mission Statement Providing the guests with the finest services possible in the given atmosphere. Every service that will be rendered to the guests and the patrons will be done effortlessly, and this will ensure â€Å"fair price† for the customer. On the other hand it will interest the stock holder for a sound investment choice (Anastasiadou, 2008). Customer is always the first choice, and meaning this as a whole. The Marriott Group is among the World Leaders in innovation, efficiency, along with quality and finally customer satisfaction. Everyone working in the organization has to take care of the brand name of the company, and value it more than anything else (Lim, 2009). Always expect the best from every person working in the concern. Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Ethics According to J.W. Marriott, Jr., the chairman and CEO of the Marriott Hotels, â€Å"We need to stand together to ensure that the travel and tourism industry is always a positive force for good in the world† (Chung, 2008). The Marriott Hotels is a World famous brand and they try to take different corporate social responsibilities to help the society in different ways. The company strives to high ethical quality along with uncompromising standards in their different procedures. The code of business that is followed in the concern enables the managers and the employees to stick to the right path to conduct business. And for that the seniors of the concern always take out their hands of support to the juniors. The processes include many aspects, like advising the employees to the laws related to anti-trust. Unfair contributions from any sphere of society and most importantly, any unfair political connection is strongly reprimanded in the Marriott Hotels. The organization says a strict no to any kind of bribery, whichever type it may be. Also they do not unfairly use their purchasing power. The training program in Marriott Hotels has a specific chapter called â€Å"How We Do Business Is as Important as the B usiness We Do† (Lugosi, 2008), and it teaches the employees what are the required qualities from an employee, and most importantly what are the different human rights the organization thrives to maintain. All the employees, including the senior managers have to go through a yearly internal survey based on the â€Å"Legal and Ethical Conduct† (Lugosi, 2008) of their actions. It is done to see if all the employees adhere to the Marriott Hotel’s â€Å"Ethical Conduct Policy† (Lugosi, 2008). The company also respects the protection of human rights in all the spheres where the business of the company is spread. All the business operations of the company are designed according to their Human Rights policy. Human Trafficking and Exploitation of Children are the two main agendas of the organization. From 2006, Marriott Hotels published their first Human Rights Policy Statement. All the rights issued in the statement have been conveyed to the employees and also pub lished internationally to show the organization standing against these crimes. Most importantly, the Human Rights Policy of the Marriott Group is carefully alienated with the Government and other Non-Governmental Organizations who are relentlessly working on these aspects. The organization regularly and very actively engaged with these groups to endorse the best practices with the aim to stop this improper human conducts. Another very important aspect of the organization is their relation with the suppliers. As per the business context of the company, the suppliers play a very important role in the aspect of maintaining their excellent track record in the field of hospitality. They ensure that they only use high quality products and services. They always endorse organic products as the raw materials and many suppliers have been benefited for their choice of raw materials. And as expected, they want their suppliers to follow all the applicable laws and follow a very high ethical stan dard. And in most cases both the parties maintain the standards and the business becomes ethical (Oviedo-Garcia, 2008). Expensive Rooms The Marriott Hotels guarantee the best deals available in the sphere of hotel rooms. As per the rate of the customer, the organization tries to provide the best suited room for the customer with the help of their â€Å"Marriott Look No Further Best Rate Guarantee† (Cho, 2009) program. It is said to be a generous rate matching program offered by the hotel chain for all their hotels. In the Marriott hotels there are different deals available as per the expensive rooms are concerned. All of them have world class facilities and services. In September 2005, the company unveiled their new rooms. The rooms were made by looking at the new generation and they feature updated technical aspects. Marriott have a special edition of beds that are called Marriott Bed.. All the luxury rooms in the Marriott chain of hotels have these facilities (Oviedo-Garcia , 2008). In the JW Marriott Hotels (it has total 46 hotels under their brand name) the most expensive rooms have a number of facilities. From special butlers to pool tables, the rooms define luxury. The guests have their own luxury cars for transport, with chauffeurs. All the rooms have in built home theater system; libraries and sometimes a multifunctional gym for work out too. J.W. Marriott, another very important flagship brand of the company has special amenities for the most expensive hotel rooms. All the guests with having special butlers and chauffeurs, get free entry to the very special destination lounge called â€Å"Mixology†. In some of the hotels the guests are treated with complementary rides to riverside theme parks. Renaissance Hotels are specially designed to cater to the upper class of the population. The hotels have established its reputation as the boutique hotels in United States. The Ritz Carlton Hotel is one of the most published hotels in this chain of the hotels, and their expensive rooms are something to awe for (Cho, 2010). Generally in all the properties of Marriott International, the most expensive rooms are suites. The suites are especially designed for the ultimate pleasure and satisfaction of the customers. All the suites have multiple rooms and they have more space than any standard hotel room and most importantly, more facilities as mentioned earlier. One of the most important aspects of the Marriott Hotels is that they provide special dinning and office facilities in the suits. In properties like Marriott Conference Centre, the suits are designed for the business purpose and in some suits they can hold official business meetings too. According to the management of the Marriott Hotels, most of their expensive hotel rooms are being used by a special class of people. Sometimes people from wealthy families check into the hotels when there is some remodeling done in their homes. Sometimes film stars pop artists and others al so stay in these rooms. Political leaders also prefer to stay in these rooms (Anastasiadou, 2008). External Analysis A company’s strengths and weaknesses take a critical look into internal factors such as company resources, culture and structure while on the other hand opportunities and threats take a look at a company’s external environment (Wheelen and Hunger 2002). In the business management, external analysis is one of the most important factors of the existence of the company. The basic external analysis is an attempt to match an organization with the outside impacts in which the business is situated and how this influences overall strategy. To understand the external analysis on the Marriott International, we have to concentrate on one property of the hotel. The SWOT analysis on the Hotel is a very important aspect in the case because it assists companies to develop strategies that will either assist them capitalizes on strengths and opportunities while at the sa me time minimize weaknesses and avoid threats (Lugosi, 2008). Opportunities: Emerging Asian Travel and Tourism markets are expanding worldwide, together with the possibility of come up with low-end brands, distinction amongst hotel services offered, Marriot can benefit from the decreased cost of real estate in the United States and Middle East and it can venture on eco-tourism. Furthermore economic integration of markets worldwide also offers a wider range of opportunities that Marriot can pursue using its corporate and unique business strategies (Camillus 1986). Threats: one of its brands, Timeshare, is decreasing on popularity; it was greatly affected by the economic meltdown, which lowered consumer’s spending power; threat from terrorists and extremists who ride in the philosophy of anti Americanism especially in Asia and furthermore tight competition from other industry participants such as Hilton and the Grand Hyatt pose a threat to the comfort that Marriot may enjoy in the hotel and hospitality market and may affect future profits and volume of consumers that Marriott serves therefore Marriott should further create long-term and periodic tactics that will minimize the threats that face their business (Lim, 2009). Internal Analysis The internal analysis of a company basically focuses on the strength and weaknesses of the organization itself, and how they impact the total business scenario of the concern and company strategies (Wheelen and Hunger 2002). In this aspect one thing is very important, what can be determined as strength can change into the weakness in another aspect. There are factors like finance, marketing, and the service providing capabilities, the macroeconomic factors, the technological changes and most importantly the different legal matters that come with the maintenance of the properties (Chung, 2008). Strengths: One of the key strengths of Marriot is that it has a wide range of brands, Marriot strategic locations which as quite advantageous and convenient for consumers; furthermore Marriot has experienced top and well experienced employees who assist in delivering its premium hotelier services making it a global leader in the hospitality market; furthermore Marriott heavily relies on innovative communication techniques such as its website and social networking in conducting its business; Marriot has focused divestiture efforts particularly with international companies; it has implemented successful strategies to attract and retain a pool of staff; it has embraced eco-friendly ways in its operations; and its culture retention balancing against the identities of the products. It is the above strengths that make Marriot’s aggressive expansion and competitive business strategy succeed (Chung 2008). Weaknesses: Marriot Has an organizational culture of heavily relying on the United States market instead of global markets which may offer more opportunity and growth and revenue furthermore over-reliance on luxury products instead of having offer low-end products which may double consumer traffic. Another possible weakness may arise out of the flat organizational structure that Marriott uses such a structure may cause confusion amongst management and also make it hard or difficult for expansion programs to take place because it is highly unsuitable for very big organizations with many employees (Koontz Weihrich 2009). But Marriott has minimized these threats by strategically positioning their hotel chains in high end areas that are highly secure and furthermore contracted security firms of high caliber. Long Term Objectives As per definition, the long term objectives of an organization can be dubbed as â€Å"the performance goals of an organization, be it commercial or non commercial, and the plans are intended to be achieved within five years(in some cases ten years)â€Å" (Lim, 2009). Generally, the long term objectives of a concern deal with different aspects of the concernâ€℠¢s development. As per the classical systems, there are seven different types of Marriott Hotels by the differentiation factors like location and types, and each of the categories are targeted to a different customer base. The hotel industry is one of the most important segments of the service industry. The industry is guided by all the philosophies by the concern. So many commentators believe that to attain all the objectives in the hotel industry, one must do as per their plan and let see what happens. The long term objectives for the Marriott Hotels are mainly concerned with the expansion of the market and retaining its market leader status. For any organization, rather than multinational concern or brand name like Marriott Hotels, plans can be viewed as a direct expression of the different strategies of the concern. For the successful completion of all the objectives, the basic properties of the concern, like the employees and the funding are two most important factors (Porter 2 004). The organization, before enlisting any employee takes them through a thorough training program that helps the employees to integrate inside the organization better and understand all the company policies. But to ensure that the employees understand the long term objectives of the company. It is really tough for the new recruits in a company to understand all the objectives of the company as well as ensure revenue. In this aspect the company has to rely on the effective recruitment procedures. Before recruiting any person the company has to decide what the long term objectives are and how the new recruitments will fit into the scheme (Cho, 2009). After that, they will have to select the candidates who can successfully mould themselves with the different needs of the company as time passes. The employees are the main pillars of a company and only they can make a company successful, and as Marriott always takes care of their employees they are ahead in the aspect. Another very im portant aspect of realizing the successful long term developments is the company must keep a steady finance. It can be insured by a healthy market position. It will lure the investors to invest more and more money on the Marriott Hotel, which can help the organization in many ways. They can increase their hotel chain by acquiring new properties, by building hotels or taking lease on hotels, or redecorating to attract new customers. In recent times corporate tie ups play a very important role in the hospitality industry. The Marriott Hotels can try to attain as much as corporate tie ups as possible, which will indirectly promote the brand name of the hotel chain. All these will be considered as the long term objectives of the Marriott Hotels (White, 2005). Business Strategy Keeping in line with its vision and values Marriot strives to be the top most and well known and famous, especially for its products, skills and expertise as a hospitality service provider worldwide. Achieving thi s is not easy that is why Marriott Hotels has set out the company’s organizational objectives which focus on giving special attention and concern to guests while still at the same time checking on the business’s financial growth, all this with an aim of growing the company and maintaining a very competitive strategy that aims to highly differentiating their products (Porter 2004). Marriott hotels has divided its operations into five different business categories which include: Full Service and Lodging; Select Service and Lodging; Timeshare; Extended Stay and Lodging; Synthetic fuel (Camillus 1986). Marriot intends to use competitive strategies to appeal to the market. Companies can either choose to differentiate their products while serving a narrow or a wide market (Bradford et. al 2000). The other option is for a company to follow a cost leadership competitive business strategy which mainly aims to attract consumers by offering affordable products for a wider or na rrow market. Marriot through its expensive rooms pursues a highly differentiated product and service approach which often involves charging premium for its services. Therefore Marriot is able to attract consumers who desire to enjoy the highest quality of products and services and are willing to pay for it. Not every Hotel within the industry can be able to pursue such a strategy and therefore in turn Marriot is able to stay ahead of other Industry participants. Marriott’s strengths lie in its strong brands that make it well renowned and a market leader in its industrial market share. It has based its operations in most of the considerable in size, extent, degree, and significance markets worldwide through its brands that include Marriott Hotels Resorts, JW Marriott Hotels Resorts, The Ritz-Carlton, Bulgari Hotels Resorts, Grand Residences by Marriott, Courtyard by Marriott, and Towne Place Suites by Marriott. Marriott enjoys extraordinary brand recall for its products. An other aspect that makes it a cut above the rest is the numerous awards that it has achieved, it was voted the most admired company, 10 years in succession in 2008 by fortune magazine. This list is comprised of players within the hospitality industry and they evaluate the industry using eight accepted standards used in making a decisions and judgments about the hospitality service industry which include; corporate asset utilization, social accountability, financial reliability, management quality, long-term investments, innovation, quality of services and products and people management. The franchise has embarked on launching an innovative sales initiative focused on building a customer base centered at or constituting the customers’ needs. This strategy is termed as the- Sales Force One. The newly launched strategy is intend or planned to prove strong enough to enter and spread through unexploited new markets and in the process simplify Marriott’s sales process for c ustomers. This is made possible du tot the strategy’s structure formation which enables customers to transact business with just a singular contact point that acts as a representative of the Marriott franchise (Camillus 1986). This new innovation was brought about by researches undertaken by Marriott identified less motivating general tendencies, behaviors and movements from their customers due to a feeling of disappointment, disorder, exasperation, and weariness caused by unsatisfied desires as a result of having to go through many Marriott employees in booking and reserving rooms. By identifying with this situation where customers found it a very complex method of making their bookings Marriott undertook researches to find out whether their current strategies were efficient and effective in the growth of sales performances among the employees and the business as a whole in both external and internal environments (Chung 2008). Their researches took into consideration all sta keholders associated to it and its employees too as they are the major driving force behind Marriott international. Reactions obtained from a cross-section of respondents who included the company’s sales leaders and contacts interviewed proved clearly and convincingly the need for the franchise group to put in place a logical and unconfused framework of roles and responsibilities for achieving individual goals within the members of the sales team. Consequently the Marriott group in undertaking the creation and implementation of the Sales Force One strategy intends to strengthen and focus on a more customer base centered sales process that defines individual and personal preferences and in turn provides customers with personal sales contact people (Bradford, Duncan Tarcy 2000). Strategies The company can take several strategies to retain its position and competitive edge in global market and further enhance on its popularity. The strategies will centre on keeping the loyal cu stomer base alive and adding up new customers. They will have to regularly update their facilities to ensure they must not lag behind in the break neck completion of the global market (Porter 2004). The hotel industry is a highly dynamic industry because consumer needs are always changing and the business environment is subject to technological advancements and other forms of innovation that take place regularly. Keeping the Customer base: Every company in the consumer World has a loyal customer base, and the loyal customers are the most important factor of their company. The company has to device some important promotional strategies so that the customers always come back to their concern. These strategies include providing a superior customized service for its premium products that is consistent with the specific consumer needs (Bradford, R. et. al 2000). Trying to acquire new customer: As with all the aspects, the hospitality industry is getting competitive day by day. So the com pany has to device new strategies to allure new customers and try to retain them as far as possible. These will increase the boundaries of the company in a new level. The Marriott has devised many plans and they have recently offered different types of economic class hotels for customers from all the economical bases (Cho, 2010). Furthermore consumers are likely to refer to others using word of mouth and therefore the leadership and staff of Marriot has made it clear to the staff the importance of maximizing the consumer experience so that consumers will always have something good to say. When consumers use Word of mouth and lure other consumers it is cheaper than using other means such as advertisement. Increasing Security: In recent times security has been a very important concern for the Marriott Group. A number of hotels of the Marriott group hotels have been under devastating terrorist attacks in recent times. These attacks not only affect the company financially, they also ins tall fear into the minds of the guests too. The company must take strong security policies and try to increase the budget on the security aspect more than ever. Trying to acquire new properties: There are a huge number of Marriott Hotels throughout the World, but still they have to keep on concentrating to expand their business. Expansion and is a corporate strategy that involves either acquiring and opening up new branches with the aim of serving a larger market in order to increase revenue. Always keep an eye on the competitors: Every day new and new organizations are entering into the hospitality market and many of them are entering into the field with very huge financial backing. It is a known fact that Marriott is a very important brand name, but still they have to keep an eye on the companies and what the strategies the companies are taking to make their concerns popular. Marriott has to devise different strategies to encounter these concerns only to keep their customer base ( Anastasiadou, 2008). Organizational Structure: Organizational structures within companies cause or allow views to be brought forward, or presented as a model to be studied on how those businesses are managed and run. If an organization has a clear framework/structure put in place, it is made very clear within the departments in the organization on who does what and so forth thus leaving no room for sloppy work and blame games erupting due to unfulfilled objectives. Different organizations employ different organizational structures depending on their objectives and what they intend to achieve after a set period of time. These structures may either be flat or tall for example Marriott’s organizational structure takes a flat format. These structures are also used to measure subordinates responsibility levels depending on which department they are in. Organization Structure Organizational structures try to explain the relationships between authorities and communication lines in t he organizations (Koontz Weihrich 2009). Organizational structures within companies cause or allow views to be brought forward, or presented as a model to be studied on how those businesses are managed and run. If an organization has a clear framework/structure put in place, it is made very clear within the departments in the organization on who does what and so forth thus leaving no room for sloppy work and blame games erupting due to unfulfilled objectives. Different organizations employ different organizational structures depending on their objectives and what they intend to achieve after a set period of time. These structures may either be flat or tall for example Marriott’s organizational structure takes a flat format. These structures are also used to measure subordinates responsibility levels depending on which department they are in. Marriott’s organization structure is a flat type of organization structure. Such an organizational structure has a limited numbe r of levels of authorities that govern the relationships management between staff and managers. The main advantage is that such a systems aims to highly train employees so that employees can be empowered to take part in the decision making process. Frequently consumers in the hotel industry require quick decisions to be made and therefore bureaucratic type of organizational structure is most likely to fail by increasing consumer dissatisfaction and complaints. Marriot hotel is able to apply such an organizational structure because of the numerous franchise units it owns which exist as semi autonomous units. Flat organizational structure encourage a more decentralizes decision making process and therefore elevating the level of responsibility among baseline employees and eliminating unnecessary levels of management (Koontz Weihrich 2009). In such organizational structures the process of decision is much quicker and more efficient in line with customer needs and wants (Kotler 1999). Leadership and Culture Marriott international prides itself in their strong business leadership culture that focuses on making their employees feel more enthusiastic, confident, and stimulated by having strong foundational values which are vital to their continued growth and excellence in the hospitality industry by catering to the exact needs of their consumers with precision (Koontz Weihrich 2009). Achieving objectives and set goals for any organization is very much hinged on having strong leadership frameworks put in place by the management of the organization so as to be able to uphold its core values, vision and purpose that it has set out to achieve in a given time frame. This is evident in the structure organization of the Marriott franchise where strong firmness is put on a strong business culture, aiming to be the top of not only the hospitality industry that it is a huge player in, but over other top companies worldwide(Kocher, Pogrebna, Sutter 2009). A strong leadership culture is a key aspect in the maintenance of the interrelationship between top management and employees. Top management must lead the organizations’ employees by setting of examples of efficiency and effectiveness within the work place through walking the talk in terms of behavior, action, values and cultural practices within a company. Set out objectives and goals compounded with values and visions of an organization do not mean anything where an organization does not have a clearly set out culture in and of leadership (Kefela, 2010). This results to bogus employees and a lack of loyalty from customers. Managers can learn from past practices on how to instill a strong cultural leadership by not only talking and making big speeches to their employees but by acting out whatever they speak, as workers learn better from watching examples. Becoming a strong leader within any organization is not inborn and has to be learned and achieved. Kefela (2010) argues that it is a process whereby the top managers are supposed to inspire their subordinates through: building team morale and being able to keep it up at a high; maintenance of a high set of standards of discipline; clearly defining and arbitration of roles for the employees; designing logical work plans; proper resource allocation; periodical employee appraisal; proper communication between management and the team; quality control and periodical performance checks; be able to tackle individual problems of different employees; praising and giving credit where it is due; handling conflicts and being able to reconcile them and providing team training on a constant basis. Organizations resolved to meet their set out goals and objectives and capabilities are obliged to adjust and align themselves towards development of the necessary or appropriate frameworks for a specific purpose in its internal composition. All the above aspects should be able to maintain particular standards or/and repeat particular tasks with minimal variations to set out objectives which needs to have the top management’s devotion and dedication, continuing without changing, stopping, or being interrupted in space or time as a necessary precondition to achievement of their objectives. Comparison to another company Grand Hyatt Is a distinct participant in the hotel industry which serves both business and leisure oriented consumers in with five star hotels and resorts located in major cities (i.e. Dubai, Singapore, New York, Australia, Mumbai, Seoul) of the world. The core geographic location of their business is located in Asia. Grand Hyatt is known for their high quality and impressive lobby environments, dining facilities, state of the art technology, fitness facilities and business facilities (Stem 2006). Furthermore Hyatt aims to satisfy its customers by ensuring a highly comfortable stay and therefore the company has gone ahead to offer consumers individual air conditioning facilities, high internet spee d facilities together with iPod docking facilities. A high degree of service and product differentiation can be a good strategy for competing with other industry participants and therefore Hyatt maximizes on these (Kotler 2003). The grand Hyatt hotels are five star hotels with superior interior deco that is in line with the company’s business strategies of offering highly differentiated premium services that give their consumers the total consumer experience (Stem 2006). It is by having superior facilities and services that Hyatt is able to maintain a competitive edge above many industry participants. For example The Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay is located in the middle of 35 acre wildlife preserve and is only two miles from the international airport making it very convenient for both business executives and also leisure clientele (Stem 2006). Hyatt and its worldwide franchises are known to offer excellent customer services, high degrees of cleanliness, and good strategic geographic positioning that is likely to make it easy for consumers to move from place to place. Conclusion The hotel industry exists in a highly complex and dynamic industry which requires that consumer needs and desires be taken very serious. Opinions and desires of consumers are therefore the key to success of this industry this is because the process of planning and creating short-term and long-term strategy depends on the needs and wants of the market. Even more essential is the implementation of the plan and the key to achievement is innovation. Planning is not a static issue. It is inherently iterative. This is where business models come into play. Alex Osterwalder defines a business model as â€Å"nothing else than a representation of how an organization makes (or intends to make) money† (White, 2005). Nevertheless, the actual definition of a business model remains ambiguous. Rightly so, because it is something perceived by a manager who is an individual entity and each individ ual has his own perception. The concept of business model gained popularity only in the recent past. Owing to reduced processing costs, accumulating and distributing information to business units and other intermediates and finally to the client became possible. New methodologies stared being used. Innovation became the order of the day which lead to mature products and services and increased customer base. In the context of the study, the company is already a world class brand name with more hotels and resorts than any other concern. It has a stable loyal customer base and it recently added economic accommodations. They are considered to be the best in many aspects of hospitality. The recent addition of expensive rooms are not only an worthy addition of their brand name but also can be promoted as a marketing strategy as the furniture of the room can be sold in market successfully, like the Marriott bed. Thus, with proper decisions and marketing application the company can surely b e the World leader in Hospitality. References Anastasiadou, C. (2008). Stakeholder perspectives on the European Union tourism policy framework and their preferences on the type of involvement. International Journal of Tourism Research, 10(3), 221-235. Bradford, R. et. al (2000). simplified strategic planning: a no-nonsense guide for busy people who want results fast. Worcester, MA: Chandler House Press. Camillus, J. (1986). Strategic planning and management control: systems for survival and success. Lexington, KY: Lexington Books. 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