Introduction
No firm is an island and so it should be responsible not only in its internal operations and profits but also be aware and responsive in the external environment. This paper presents the attributes of Oxford City Hotel and the implications of its resources and capabilities to industry and external events. This will emphasize the role of internal organization to the context, and in return, the context effects to the unconcerned firm.
The Oxford City Hotel: Future Problems and Suggested Solutions
Q1: The Oxford City Hotel is modern hotel that caters to both local and foreign tourists alike. It offers flexible leisure break in an environment that combines cosmopolitan and traditional experiences (Skoosh) with the vision to become the most prestigious four-star hotel venue in Oxford (Home Initial Page). It competes against Oxford-Spires Four Pillars Hotel Overseas, Randolph Hotel and Cotswold Lodge Hotel in that category wherein it nearly coincides with a three star price () and -price of the lowest charging Oxford-Spires hotel. Exceeding Randolph and Cotswold in terms of price and the presence of business facilities including availability of disabled facilities and tolerance of pets, it also undermines the pricing of Oxford-Spires because the latter is located in an isolated Thames historical environment (Home Initial Page).
The supply of similar tourist industries, however, is prevalent aggravated by the emergence of University accommodation services. Common staying visitors are foreigners from USA and Australia who usually arrive for business meeting purposes. Most of them are professional and have continuous income that can settle the price of the four-star hotel particularly Oxford City Hotel that is the most-equipped hotel with business facilities among its category. Its family-oriented amenities include cribs for children, fitness center and spa hub including services such as medical, postal, laundry and currency exchange. The business site has facilities for meeting, secretarial, fax and business support.
In Oxford, the most preferred overnight destination of one-day and staying visitors is Oxford City, a location and brand name advantage of Oxford City Hotel, while the Oxfordshire comes second. The common purpose of local visitors is leisure while foreigners are business meetings. They opt to stay in hotels, relatives and friends’ abode, and University accommodation. Whatever option they choose, they regarded the service in terms of quality and value of for their money as good. Due to these, Oxford City Hotel exemplifies flexibility and value against its competitors all over the supply side of tourism sector.
Q2: The 2005 terrorist bombing in London, the gateway to the rest of United Kingdom (Price Water House Coopers), could impede the tourism sector in the short term particularly the hotel services. Demand, especially foreign would tend to be latent even there is potential. Because of this, local visitors who are aware of the “real” threats and are informed about the risks would tend to be the tough (undecided/ neutral) customers of South East hotels and attractions. Due to the nearness to the doubted security at London, Oxfordshire hotel industry will replicate some of demand softening effects in tourism both local and foreign.
In 2004, 80 million passengers boarded the low cost airline of United Kingdom while 25% of the UK population has traveled using this (The Info Shop). The inability to stimulate the percentage of adult population who preferred to use low cost airline could hamper incentives of local tourists to visit Oxfordshire aggravated by the latest news on bombing London. The percentage is limited and need to be worked-out in order to alter the adverse effects of relevant issues.
The internal tourism within country population was previously threatened with rail disruptions, foot-and-mouth disease and petrol blockage (Hotel News Resource). Partly due to these and the bombing incident, the 2009 forecast identified the outbound market as the biggest contributor for the expansion of the country’s travel and tourism market (Hotel News Resource). The tendency of finding refuge abroad could be a natural response to unwanted phenomena but as the previous paragraph had discussed, this is rather of short-term period. The good thing for UK tourism is that after this short-term external migration, the 2012 Olympic Games expected to held in London (Hotel News Resource) has the capability to deter all untoward image it had experienced and echoed locally and throughout the world. Expansion continues despite the expected fall in external migration as every local business prepare for the pouring of developing countries’ delegation.
The problem, outbound migration, could impede the prosperity of hotel industry in particular. It was deemed as a tool of travel expansion, although has bad effects in the tourism sector. The difficulty, if the pessimism persists for a couple of years, is that hotel owners could loose profits and operate at a lost for a longer period. At the time the Olympic Games imported international delegates and prospective markets, the hotel sector could be caught unprepared with their facilities due to the impact of loosing internal customers in the previous years. The quality of service could also be tarnished due to bottleneck in the previous demand. These adverse possibilities are likely to radiate in the nearby destinations around London particularly In Oxfordshire.
Being an integrated industry to tourism and hotel accommodation, the five-year forecast (2005-2009) of lowering local demand to fast foods and home delivery products (Hotel News Resource) could affect the value-added services within the area of operations of hotels. Implications to hotel sector are closing of food partners inside and outside hotel premises and limited food choices that can be largely inclined to relatively high costs of customized menu from restaurants.
Q3: Terrorist issues cannot be substantially solved by hotel owners without the aid of the state and intensive support on security matters. It is a national issue that could not be simply “forgive and forget” by private advertising claiming such. In the case of Oxford City Hotel, the management should initially coordinate to local and national officials about the present conditions and maybe seek permit to accept foreigners and report any questionable character. Reinstating the peace of the country especially of the locality and the hotels in general, could be printed in newspapers and aired in radio. Internet interfaces and use of direct mails could also provide the environment for customers to feel the promise of peace of the hotels.
If the tourism industry would like its sector to maintain profitability, it should counter the effects of the turmoil by providing incentives occurring in the supply chain. Otherwise, a problem (bombing) cannot be mitigated by another problem (failure to market low-cost airline as tourist incentive, at least at the local level). The potential of transportation costs to divert the attention of the risk-averse local travelers is probable. For the part of Oxford City Hotel, it can create alliance with a local airline to be able to integrate travel and accommodation services in a coordinated chain both meeting the objectives of the low-cost airfare (airline) and hospitable hotel (Oxford City Hotel).
The short-term migration trend of local population can be seen as another opportunity for Oxford City Hotel to bring out its marketing prowess and improve its services like it never did before. The situation calls for it. Through its sole solution method to mitigate the transfer of local market, it could send direct mail to regular ones that embodies the Hotel’s established relationship with local authorities and strict inspection of languages particularly on foreigners. In the mail, it should establish its strengths and flexibility of operations. One positive branding can be stated: ”A hotel for the family who cares about the peace of rural ambience and seek to experience modern amenities”.
Another option can be done with fellow hotel operators in the area. They can use their organization to lobby to the local or national government to deploy additional peace keepers (police, sniffing dogs) in hotel-populated areas. As it is reiterated, terrorism is a national concern that business establishments should be concerned not to individual, short-term and opportunistic profits rather sectoral, long-term and cooperative effort that can bring back the positive impression to East of the country that instantly was hang in thin air.
Since food and hotel sectors are complementary industries, slow growth in the former due to increasing competition and market saturation should also serve as areas for hotels to ponder about especially in a long-run cognition. In an individual effort, Oxford City Hotel could not only increase the size of its bar and restaurant but also diversify to a more healthy offerings in the menu. In a cooperative scale, economic authorities should be informed that competition should be monitored. This will provide inputs to the state on what industry will the business start-ups incentives or tax holidays could be rewarded as to diplomatically control over-supply of a particular food industry.
Conclusion
Even though Oxford City Hotel has competitive advantages in terms of location, price and flexibility of amenities, questions of national security, transportation cost issues and health concerns remain hindrance to fully realized gains. This firm advantage is also blurred by the enormous competition in hotel industry that presently accounted universities and non-commercial houses as tourist stay-in quarters. It can perhaps produce substantial attention to foreigners, particularly those in business purposes, and local prospects that do not have relatives or friends in the East. The potential of internet can highlight its competitive price, location and amenities apart from others. The hotel is amenity- and serviced-oriented that calls for both physical and human resources investment. This fact should not undermine the partly-rural partly-modern environment of the hotel’s surroundings that require state investment in land and infrastructure factors.
In the brighter side, the services (laundry, currency exchange, restaurant and bar) are variable in nature and the customers should be charges accrue in their transaction with owners. In this manner, any change in demand will not have substantial effect to its operations because air-conditioning units and television are kept closed while other amenities remained unused. Such instances somewhat cut demand looses through savings in electricity, water and depreciation expenses. Human resources can also be contracted if necessary especially when the firm hires contractual employees.
Problems have its solutions and Oxford City Hotel will not be ran-out of alternatives because its operations, resources and cost structure are flexible. It only needs strong managerial leadership in every decision wherein sometimes cooperation from industry competitors and partners are crucial. Top management should also see the problems and threats in the external environment as an opportunity to enhance state coordination of issues that is national in scope and relevance. As a result of these public relations, the firm can execute effectively its advantages in a socially-conscious manner.
Credit:ivythesis.typepad.com
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