Hospitality Services Team Decision Making

The setting

The GRANDVIEW has taken two bookings for the same ballroom on the same Saturday: a wedding booked well over a year ago, and a corporate conference booked later that is worth more and brings repeat business.

Your role

You and your partner are to assume the roles of events associates at the GRANDVIEW.

Your task

The director of events (judge) wants you to recommend how this is resolved. Explain how you would resolve a hospitality conflict of this kind, explain the nature of guest recovery for whichever client is displaced, explain how you would accommodate the specific requests either client has already made, explain the importance of meeting and exceeding expectations when you cannot meet the main one, and describe the services the industry offers that could form part of an alternative.

Performance indicators

• Resolve hospitality and tourism related conflicts for customers.
• Explain the nature of guest recovery.
• Accommodate special needs/specific requests of customers.
• Explain the importance of meeting and exceeding customer/guest expectations.
• Describe services offered by the hospitality and tourism industry.

The judge will ask

1. 1.Which booking would you move, and how do you justify it?
2. 2.What do you offer the client you displace?

The setting

The WESTPORT INN advertises accessible rooms. They are on an upper floor, and the lift has been out of service for weeks with a part on order. Guests who need those rooms have been arriving to find they cannot reach them.

Your role

You and your partner are to assume the roles of operations associates at the WESTPORT INN.

Your task

The owner (judge) wants you to recommend what the inn does. Explain how the specific needs of these guests should be accommodated while the lift is out, explain how staff should anticipate what a guest will not always say aloud, explain how you would resolve the conflict with guests already booked, explain the guarantees the property is making by advertising those rooms, and identify the factors affecting evacuation procedures for guests on an upper floor without a lift.

Performance indicators

• Accommodate special needs/specific requests of customers.
• Anticipate unspoken customer needs.
• Resolve hospitality and tourism related conflicts for customers.
• Explain guarantees in hospitality and tourism.
• Identify factors affecting evacuation procedures/protocols.

The judge will ask

1. 1.Do you keep selling those rooms while the lift is out?
2. 2.What do you tell a guest who has already booked one?

The setting

A sports organiser block-booked a large number of rooms and cancelled close to the date. The contract allows a charge; the organiser books several similar weekends a year and has said so more than once.

Your role

You and your partner are to assume the roles of revenue associates.

Your task

The general manager (judge) wants you to recommend what the hotel does. Explain the company's selling policies and what they should say about cancellations, explain how you would determine this customer's needs well enough to keep them, explain how the relationship with them should be established and kept, explain the factors that motivate an organiser to choose one property over another, and explain how the hotel maintains the relationship whichever way it decides.

Performance indicators

• Explain company selling policies.
• Determine hospitality and tourism customer/guest needs.
• Establish relationship with hospitality and tourism customer/guest.
• Explain factors that motivate people to choose a hospitality and tourism site.
• Build and maintain relationships with customers.

The judge will ask

1. 1.Do you enforce the charge? Defend it either way.
2. 2.What would you change in the contract for next year?

The setting

The LANTERN HOUSE has slipped down the review sites. Reading the recent reviews, most of the low scores mention roadworks outside the building that will run until spring and are nothing to do with the hotel.

Your role

You and your partner are to assume the roles of marketing associates at the LANTERN HOUSE.

Your task

The general manager (judge) wants you to recommend what the hotel does. Describe the concept of promotion in this industry, explain the promotional methods the industry uses that could help here, explain the relationship between promotion and the guest's expectations on arrival, explain the factors that motivate people to choose a property once a rating has slipped, and explain how digital media could be used to enhance the guest experience after they leave.

Performance indicators

• Describe the concept of promotion in the hospitality and tourism industry.
• Explain promotional methods used by the hospitality and tourism industry.
• Explain the relationship between promotion and brand.
• Explain factors that motivate people to choose a hospitality and tourism site.
• Use digital media to enhance customer post-sales experience.

The judge will ask

1. 1.Do you mention the roadworks at booking? What is the argument against?
2. 2.What could the hotel do that would genuinely improve a stay?