Hyatt Regency Dubai Profile Of Service Tourism Essay

Hyatt Regency Dubai Profile Of Service Tourism Essay Hyatt was founded on September 27th, 1957 by Jack D Crouch and Hyatt R. von Dehn who purchased a motel called Hyatt House located next to the international airport on Los Angeles. After a few years, it was sold to Jay Pritzker who along with his brother Donald, worked with family members who were interested and grew Hyatt into a hotel company ownership with Northern American management. They went public in 1962. The development of Hyatt International occurred in 1968 and eventually became a public company separately. Hyatt International Corporation along with Hyatt Corporation was privately held in 1979 and 1982 respectively by Pritzker family business interests. Every hospitality asset they owned along with the Hyatt Corporation and International became combined under one unit, Hyatt Hotels Corporation. Their mission statement is: Our mission is to provide authentic hospitality by making a difference in the lives of the people we touch every day Hyatts first venture overseas occurred in 1969 with the opening of the Hyatt Regency Hong Kong. Park Hyatt and Grand Hyatt were introduced in 1980. Hyatt has more than 340 hotels around the globe as of today. Hyatt Hotels Corporation proudly celebrates more than fifty years of history with a deep rooted status as an industry innovator which encourages the company to a bright future in enhancing creative hospitality. 4.0 HYATT REGENCY DUBAI. 4.1 OVERVIEW Hyatt Regency Dubai is a luxurious, modern hotel situated in the Deira district of Dubai adjacent to the Deira Corniche, a notorious boulevard in Dubai. Situated at a convenient distance from the textile souk, spices souk and gold souk, it is also just 7km away from the first mega mall in Dubai, Deira City Centre. The hotel comprises of 14 luxury rooms and suites that face the breathtaking Arabian Gulf. In terms of leisure, the 5 star hotel provides a spa, Club Olympus and has a golf course on its premises. They have an ice skating rink, tennis court, outdoor swimming pool and a fitness centre. Dubai is a major tourist hub attracting people with its dhow cruises, sandy beaches, dune bashing, camel racing, recreational parks and much more. 4.2 MARKET ANALYSIS. Hyatt Corporation has dramatically changed the view and impact of the hotel hospitality industry. Hyatt has specialized in providing luxury hotels, catering the needs of high-end business travelers by providing facilities for meetings and other related amenities to enhance their lodging experience. Having various brands such as Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt, Park Hyatt and Andaz catered mainly for high-end business customers. Hyatt Regency hotels are a core brand of the Hyatt Corporation, located at the metropolitan areas, targeting exclusive business travelers. Hyatt Regency, Dubai is a typical business transit hotel positioned to serve the upscale business traveler market segment by providing high quality services, accommodation and facilities served for business and conventional purposes (Executive Manager of Hospitality Hyatt Regency). The main strength of Hyatt Regency being the Loyalty amongst guests, they believe in the happy customer, more sales approach. Thus they have emphasiz ed their quality of services and distinguished themselves amongst other competing hospitality businesses in that manner. Hyatt Regency is one of the oldest and well known hotels in Dubai; also it is one of the only hotels in Dubai that has an indoor ice-rink and a shopping mall located within the Hotel to ease and enhance the stay of the guests, also located in a metropolitan area in Deira it is near the Dubai Gold Souk and a lot of cultural and local sites to make ideal stay for a tourist visiting Dubai. 4.3 COMPETITION. Hyatt is challenged with direct competition from hotels like Hilton and Marriott internationally and other hotels in Dubai that serve business customers. Hyatt Regency aims at providing a high-standard lodging experience that would encourage the frequency of their guests. Hyatt Worldwide has a Gold Passport frequency loyalty program that they believe is a strategy to increase their appeal and thereby their frequency of guests, therefore being loyal to the Corporation internationally and also helps in capturing other segments. Hyatt Corporation has a double dipping program with airline associates such as Emirates Airlines and these Skywards passengers are given special offers and discounts as mentioned by the Executive Manager of Hospitality at Hyatt Regency, Dubai. Besides the competition from major business hotels Hyatt also faces competition from leisure related hotels, also the location of Hyatt Regency is considered unsound being located in the old-Dubai business central and since Dubais business Central has been shifted to other locations e.g. Jebel Ali, etc. other hotels in these areas can stand as competition to Hyatt Regency. Another issue with Hyatt being their promotional strategies, they believe in advertising abroad in Europe, and other continents, but fail to advertise and promote the hotel in Dubai and the Middle East. But overall Hyatt Regency has been profitable over the years with its well known base of loyal customers and by exceeding the quality services and standards of Hyatt Corporation. HYATT REGENCY DUBAI PROFILE OF SERVICE 5.1 ROLE Guest The guest will arrive at the service factory. Once he enters the service factory, he will approach the front stage service provider and check in. He will be provided with all the facilities needed by him which are available. He then pays his bills and checks out. Service Provider (Hyatt Regency). The staffs are always ready at the desk. As guests arrive, they will greet them answer their questions and check them in. Often they will suggest or assist the guests with their decisions. The guests are provided with all the services without a say of No and all the services provided are recorded. 5.2 SCRIPT: Guest: Arrive at the Hotel Enter the Hotel Doorman: Greet and direct the Guest Front desk staff: Greet guest Guest: Enquire and book room Front desk staff: Answer question and check in guest Elevator/ Hallway Staff: Greet Guest: Goes to room enjoys supplementary services and core service/ service consumption Pay and check out Front desk staff: Greet and checkout guest Guest: Exit service factory 5.3 FLOW CHART. 5.3.1 FRONT STAGE ACTIVITIES: Greeting Guests Providing Information Service Consumption Payment Registering Guest 5.3.2 BACKSTAGE ACTIVITES: Preparing Food Doing the Ironing Scheduling/ Training Staff Cleaning/ Interior Designing Doing Inventory Check-In Entry Spend Time in Room Room Service Activities Payment Check-Out Room Prepared Prepare Request BLUEPRINT. FLOWER OF SERVICES Hyatt Regencys flower of services consists of the core and supplementary services provided by the hotel. The core service is the central component of the flower which supplies the principal. The core service of Hyatt Regency is to provide a bedroom for a hotel client and a hall for an event client. The petals surrounded by the center are the supplementary services which come as a package and also as optional services which are discussed below in detail. KEY: Facilitating Elements Enhancing Elements 7.1 FACILITATING ELEMENTS. 7.1.1 INFORMATION. Information about the services provided by the company are available locally i.e. in the UAE and internationally through many modes of mediums. The hotel website is the most informative medium of the hotel which provides every piece of information about the hotel from the prices, services, location, activities, hotel background, schedules, and offers to the other hotels in the chain etc. Information is also provided through leaflets in airports, travel agents, newsletters, magazines and newspapers in brief but detailed information can be obtained by calling the hotel anytime and enquiring the front desk with your query. 7.1.2 PAYMENT. Direct and indirect payments can be done through credit card transaction or cash payment. During direct payment credit card transactions are allowed in high and low contact services i.e. in the front desk itself or through online while booking for hotel, car or flight. Cash payments can only be made through high contact service i.e. in the front desk of any service centre of the hotel. During indirect payment the payments can be made either way to the intermediary such as the travel agent, airlines company, tour guide etc which will be passed on to the hotel eventually. 7.1.3 BILLING. Billings for normal guests are done under their name and contact details basis and every service the guest acquires, the time, quantity and the price are printed clearly on a transcript for the customer to check while they check out. Bills signed for each service such as food and beverage or the bars are also maintained to provide a proof for the guest if they lack the knowledge of acquiring a particular service. Billing of members are done under their membership numbers here the same procedure takes place as mentioned above but the members can earn incentive points for the amount of the service and records will be available for them online in their account. 7.1.4 ORDER TAKING. Reservation of rooms fall under this category and in this process the guests are firstly shown the options they can choose from and relevant forms should be filled with provision of secure commitment to delivery. When the decision is made by the guest it is recorded in the registration system under the guests unique field. The order taking of room services are done backstage and in a low contact manner for all services through telephone the order is recorded again on the registration system and delivered within the time frame given and the options are available for the guests in the room leaflets. For other activities such as restaurants, bars, lounges, golf etc the order taking is done front stage and the same procedures as above mentioned are carried on. 7.2 ENHANCING ELEMENTS. 7.2.1 HOSPITALITY. As a service that is hospitality related, utmost importance is placed on the level of interaction by the service employees (concierge) with the customers. Customers are greeted upon arrival. Staffs at Hyatt Regency are also given training in different languages so that customers do not have trouble with communication. Presence of cleanliness was evident in the lobby and lounge areas with on hands cleaning staff. Hyatt Regency provides rooms that are specially designed for the physically challenged. Since business guests tend to be pushed for time and hate lengthy check outs, Hyatt Regency offers onsite Express check-out services. Good hospitality becomes a key factor for customer loyalty. Bellboys and porter services are available to assist guests with their baggage. The hotel also provides free shuttle bus services to various locations around Dubai, like Deira City Centre and Dubai Mall. 7.2.2 CONSULTATION. Counseling that is usually given to a customer to help understand their situations and decide on solutions. During our interview, the Executive Manager of Hospitality mentioned that customers, who are undecided about choosing between featured activities such as the spa or sightseeing, are helped by concierge that are able to provide customized solutions. Since Hyatt Regency is mainly business guests oriented, consultation is also given on packages aimed at stay of corporate groups. 7.2.3 SAFEKEEPING. A factor of safety provided to the customers at the service site. Hyatt Regency has a host of safekeeping services from valet parking, baggage handling by the bell boys, private parking facilities for guests and baby-sitting service on prior arrangement. There was presence of security at the regular level just outside the hotel entrance. During our visit inside the hotel, we observed that there were many Hyatt Regency trained security purpose personnel who stationed themselves at positions to prevent people from entering off-limit areas (i.e. VIP only rooms). The hotel also had 24 hour video security system. 7.2.4 EXCEPTIONS. This supplementary service comes by a way of training to act in situations where policy doesnt play a role. During the interview with the Executive Manager, he mentioned that service personnel were given training in scenarios to deal with special situations. He also mentioned that, if a customer is unhappy with a particular service, the hotel provides extra stay at no extra charge. On special request, the hotel also caters to a customers taste palette if a certain food item they order is not present on the hotel food menu. Hyatt Regencys special request also entails the service of a 24 hour house doctor on call. One way in which Hyatt Regency handles customer complaints/suggestions/compliments is through a site called Trip Advisor that gives reviews and ratings. 8.0 SWOT ANALYSIS. Strengths: Brand image Hyatt has a well recognized brand image and is widely known internationally for having premium offerings and high quality services. Well distinguished services and amenities e.g. the only hotel with an indoor ice-rink and Revolving Restaurant (Al Dawaar) in Dubai. (Hyatt,2010) Rated 5 stars and a part of a well-respected international hospitality chain.(visitdubai, 2010) Hyatt Gold Passport frequency loyalty program encourages more guests. (Hyatt, 2010) Weaknesses: Located in an unsound environment away from the new business and leisure central. (i.e. Jebel Ali, Sheikh Zayed Rd.) Concentrated targeting on business customers can leave over-looking other growing market segments. Failure to market and promote the hotel within the Middle East. Opportunities: Special offers for commercial customers and using different methods to target niche markets. Using methods to promote the hotel within the U.A.E, to increase awareness. Increasing leisure activities during the low-peak seasons i.e. April to August, and targeting family oriented customers. New development in that site such as the Palm Deira which is currently on hold, once completed would increase the attractiveness of that area which will in turn result in more customers. Threats: Political factors can affect the business, such as labor laws, health and safety rules and regulations can change the business practices. Economic fluctuations such as recession or inflation can affect the profitability mainly because its targeted at high-end exclusive business travelers. The negative perceptions about the region can influence potential customers. HYATT REGENCY DUBAIS MARKETING MIX STRATEGIES. 9.1 PRODUCT. Hyatt Hotels Corporation has several chains located all around the world. Hyatt divides its brand into various sub-categories of hotels that differ from each other by the services it provides. Some well recognized brand categories are Park Hyatt, Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency and Hyatt Resorts. Hyatt Regency in Dubai mostly caters to business travelers and resort vacationers. The core service that Hyatt Regency offers is the accommodation of guestrooms to its customers. The hotel has around 414 stylish and contemporary guestrooms including 26 suites. Offering over various different styles and classes of room some of which are Gulf View King, Regency Suite King, Regency Executive, Emri Suite and Royal Suites gives customers a variety to choose from. Hyatt Regency also offers convention and meeting facilities since the majority of its customers represent business travelers. The hotel also has a ballroom [1,157 square meters] that can accommodate over a thousand people for events. Hyatt Re gency has around 9 flexible and divisible meeting rooms, two with natural daylight. Their convention and meeting facilities usually offer meal services to the rented rooms, with a selection of food items and cuisines that range from finger food items to lunch buffets. Customizable bookings of rooms make Hyatts core service very flexible to adapt to the requirements of the customer since its main target is towards customer stay satisfaction. Apart from Hyatt Regencys core service of accommodating customers, the hotel also offers a large variety of supplementary services to people. The premise consists of a number of restaurants, bars and lounge, their most famous revolving restaurant Al Dawar located on the rooftop of the hotel. Other places like Focaccia, Miyako, Shahrzad, The Kitchen, Carpenter Bar gives customers a variety of cuisine choices. Hyatt Regency also has recreational facilities which add value to customer stay experience at the hotel. The Club Fitness and Spa, Golf Park and the only hotel which has an ice rink include in these recreational facilities. 9.2 PLACE. Hyatt Regency stands tall towards the edge of Dubai around the cornice area in Deira. This spectacular location overlooks the whole of Dubai, with great views of the Arabian Gulf and the city. The hotel is located only 12km away from the Dubai International Airport and is close to the oldest business sectored area of Dubai. Although it doesnt reside in the heart of the city, it has a lot of tourist attractions minutes away from the hotel. Some of these places would include the shopping areas around the hotel, the Gold Souq, Mamzar Park which is a minutes drive from the hotel, historical museums and also the Creek. The location of Hyatt Regency now isnt that busy as businesses and other commercial activities tend to move towards the west side of Dubai (towards Jebel Ali). However, its location shouldnt be seen as a negative thing to business travelers, the peaceful and the not so busy side of Dubai does make customers see it as an advantage. The construction of the world famous projec t of Dubai, the man-made island known as Palm Deira, (although this project is temporary on hold) would bring forth a lot of opportunities to Hyatt Regency. Once this project is completed there would be great business attraction towards this side of Dubai which would be beneficial to Hyatt Regency since it is known as a business hotel. The channel of distribution that Hyatt Regency uses is more direct since it is a service sectored business. There is close contact with customers where their desired needs would be passed onto the hotel management to cater to, to fully satisfy customer stay experience. 9.3 PRICE. There are many factors that influence the prices charged on services. Hyatt Regencys pricing strategy is kept very flexible due to these factors. Hyatt Regencys prices are very sensitive to the market, which means their prices are highly influenced on the demand of their services they offer. Dubai being a tourist attracting city has led to the increasing number of hotels being set up around the busy areas of Dubai. This makes Hyatt Regency consider focusing on being competitive in the market following a competitive pricing strategy. The current prices of rooms average to around AED900 for a nights stay. This price usually fluctuates based on a number of factors. Firstly, the prices charged to customers are value-based, that is related to the different type of rooms available and the added services chosen by customers. Seasonal changes influence room rates too. The winter season in Dubai is much more pleasant than during the summer, so these rates are often raised during the peak seas on which is between October to March. Another factor that influences price rates is the availability of the rooms, like any business prices charged on the few rooms that are left and available would be more than the regular rate. The time between booking a room and staying in that room can change price rates (immediate bookings are more expensive than advanced bookings). Although all these factors can influence the room rates that Hyatt Regency charges customers they have to be careful not to flee potential customers to their substitutes because when it comes to hotel services in Dubai the cross elasticity of demand is always positive and very sensitive to competition. This means that Hyatt Regency should play its strategy right in the pricing market in the making maximum profit without losing out on sales. 9.4 PROMOTION. Hyatt Regency is known to be more of a business hotel than a tourist attraction. Promotion isnt focused upon as much in the local media. Most of its above the line promotion is carried out in countries outside the UAE, advertising in Western countries and Europe. Hyatt Regency usually gets its customers by associating their hotels with companies that recommend its workers a Hyatt stay. It also attracts customers from airline companies like Emirates. Hyatt Regency does focus on below the line promotional methods, by holding special offers to interest customers with a bundle package of their services, Hyatt Business Plan or the Time for Family special offer packages which are currently promoted to them. There are a lot of reward schemes that Hyatt Regency offers which encourage payment from customers. Every payment transactions made in Hyatt Regency allows the redeemable of Skywards reward points, a good persuasive method of payment. The hotel also introduced a loyalty scheme for custo mers, especially the ones that most frequently stay at Hyatt Regency. This loyalty scheme, the Gold Passport Program, where a customer can collect points on his account based on the number of times he stays there which can be used to request for discounts on his/her next visit at Hyatt. The hotel also has the issuing of gift cards which is seen as a splendid way to attract new customers to experience Hyatts service. 9.5 PROCESS. In Hyatt most of all the processes take place in the backstage which is invisible to the consumer and it is all carried out by the backstage staff and the registration system. The process begins with the guest reserving a room in the hotel and ends when a particular guest checks out. The primary process is the registration process carried out with the input of front desk staff of all the guest details, followed by the various invisible processes such as when the guest calls for a room service from the room for a service staff taking the order, process in the kitchen, filling of carts with requested supplies, adding guest requests in registration system etc. when the customer acquires services out of the room but in the hotel itself also requires processes such as preparing the food in a restaurant, mixing a drink in a bar which is a front stage process, registering signed bills into the transcript etc. The final process involves checking out the guest from the registration system fla gging task has been successfully accomplished by the front desk staff. 9.6 PEOPLE. In Hyatt Regency the culture is based on ethics and integrity which is partially employee driven recognizes the importance of employees and associates as its guests. It is essential for Hyatt Regency to recruit staff that share common interests in culture. The associates are educated to make a difference from day one, and they are offered with quality training to expertise in operational areas and also on management skills to deliver customer service. (Hyatt, 2010) Hyatt goes to great means in providing high quality health care insurance and retirement schemes for employees and family members. There is also educational re-imbursement program that provide an optimal learning experience to keep the associates up-to-date and ahead of competition. Hyatt Regency employees have a strong commitment and motivated through promotion opportunities within based on their performance and they are also offered with empowerment awards such as Hyatt Star which is a monetary reward for their performan ce. It is also possible for the associates to provide feedback through the Employee Opinion Survey. There are various advantages of working in a huge corporation like Hyatt from being able to have discounts on not only hotel rooms but also on a variety of other service products. Guests seldom make perceptions about the quality of services they receive through their interaction amongst employees. As the main goal of Hyatt seeking to be the most preferred brand among guests, they achieve this by providing high quality services but in turn the guests play a significant role in the delivery of service. The guests are also involved in co-production; they follow the hotels rules and guidelines which allows them and other guests to have to have an optimal experience and satisfaction. 9.7 PHYSICAL EVIDENCE. Hyatt Regency Dubais exterior seems somber but as a guest enters its doors, the interior creates an impressive, striking first impression. The floors are paved with smooth ivory marble across a vast reception area. The concierge is available on the left and a porter service on the right. The entrance to the Galleria is straight ahead and directions to each part of the hotel are clearly shown. There are elegant stairways as well. One of the many restaurants, The Kitchen provides an ambience of lounge music, sofas and a lounging area for guests who have just arrived, to relax in. There are gifts and souvenir shops as well as rental car shops all available with easy access for the guests. To transport guests baggage to their rooms, bellboys are available. The hotel has a contemporary look, cool neutrals and dark wood veneers providing a lush look to the interior. The staff at the concierge is very helpful and willing to help you with anything. The Galleria entrance provides access to th e ice rink and shopping facilities. ATMs are also provided inside. Internet WI-Fi is available to guests too. 9.8 PRODUCTIVITY Hyatt Regency Dubai ensures its customers its top most priority but also maintain that it is their employees who make the Hyatt experience, an outstanding one. Based on their Corporate Values, they empower their staff towards career development rather than just jobs. Business is conducted with an entrepreneurial attitude and innovation. Hyatt aims to draw and preserve a work force that are provided with a luxurious hospitable environment where they are comfortable and motivates them to provide high quality service levels. As Hyatt says We believe we can accomplish this by being a listening company of well-informed, impassioned people. Hyatt Regency Dubai provides extensive training regimes to inform and keep their employees up to date. They initiated a program called School Of Hospitality. This course provided courses which were standardised and customised to satisfy employees training needs as well as boost performance. Hyatt hopes to achieve higher customer focus, innovation and co nsistency whereas mainly offering authentic hospitality to each of their guests (Khan, T, 2009). 10.0 RECOMMENDATIONS. As we have analyzed the service delivery of Hyatt Regency Dubai, using the flower of service, SWOT analysis and their marketing mix strategies we have identified their issues and suggest the following recommendations. Hyatt Regencys customer segment should include more focus on leisure guests rather than just placing importance on business guests. Leisure guests can be accommodated at the Galleria apartments which are situated right next to Hyatt Regency and take advantage of the amenities and activities. The reason for this recommendation being that business guests are less likely to avail the facilities offered by the Galleria which are shopping, the salons, the eateries and the ice rink. By increasing their customer base, Hyatt can experience even greater revenues. Hyatt Regency having been in the UAE for almost more 30 years, they havent done any direct form of advertising for their hotel. Because of this, it has been seen that even some of the people who have been staying for more than 20 years in Dubai still dont know about Hyatt Regency. The hotel needs to re-review their modes on promotion. During our interview with the Executive Hospitality Manager, he mentioned that Hyatt Regency doesnt do any direct promotions in the UAE, but mostly in Europe and other international regions, because of the fact that their target customers are mainly business customers. This way Hyatt Regency can make its presence known more locally. Hyatt will also have to face the fact that many new hotels, are emerging, who use advertising to promote services similar to that of Hyatt Regency. A suggestion would be for Hyatt Regency to branch out and have few hotel apartment buildings located within certain parts of the city where businesses are mainly concentrated. Since many of Hyatts guests are business people, it would be more beneficial for them because at current, the location of Hyatt Regency is in area a bit away from the city. Possible solution would be to open up hotel apartment branches in business locations like Media City and Internet City. This would allow business guests to access the business sites much easily. Another huge concern that we observed about Hyatt Regency was that visitor parking behind the hotel was strewn with garbage. Being a 5 star hotel, Hyatt must take responsibility for looking after the cleanliness, not just of the hotel but also the premises within which it is located. Hyatt Regency needs to take steps to keep the parking lot clean, otherwise it would reflect badly on Hyatt Regencys image. 11.0 CONCLUSION. In conclusion, it is clearly evident that Hyatt Regency has been successfully able to target and satisfy their guests, mainly business customers. As a hotel that has been upholding its 5 star status for almost 3 decades, it is no doubt that Hyatt Regencys quality of service and hospitality is of top notch allowing the hotel to stand up to the tests of time. As the Executive Hospitality Manager said, many hotels offer the same service, but the amount of effort by Hyatt Regency to deliver those services is what differentiates it from the competition.