The Continuous Improvement Process In Hospitality Tourism Essay

The introduction section discuss about the Continuous improvement process in Hospitality and Event management operations. The process of continuous improvement for various organizations is inherent part which determines the way organization is doing its business. The main programs of the continuous improvement include TQM (total quality management) and JIT (just in time). The main purpose of implementation of these programs is to maintain the efforts in enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency at work place. Different types of work practices are adopted to improve continuously at the work place.

The continuous improvement process has become vital in the hospitality and Event Management industry because it forces the organization to achieve the short term strategies along with the long term strategic options. The continuous improvement will provide the foundation for maximizing the efficiency of competitive strategies through adding value and it achieves best practice (Heizer, 2011). The organization in this industry will have to foster and identify the key competencies and develop them through supporting variations in behavioural routines. The continuous improvement processes also assist in matching the internal response with the external activities in order to transfer the benefits to customers and other stakeholders.

The changes taking place in the demand and supply of Event management and Hospitality throughout the world are similar to the change in manufacturing industry. AS similar to the manufacturing industry, it has become evident to measure the strategies of Continuous Improvement in the Hospitality industry. The hospitality organisations should develop competitive advantage through creating long term value and continuous improvement will be the mechanism to measure such activities (Render, 2011). This paper discusses about the continuous Improvement process at Ritz Carlton and the strategies and measure it implements to achieve it.

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Discussion

The Ritz-Carlton, Berlin is environmentally friendly in all aspects. According to the high standards of the demanding European environmental management system EMAS (Eco-Management and Audit Scheme), the hotel now gives a binding environmental statement which aims at continuous improvement of environmental protection and sustainability. All areas of the hotel are not only environmentally scrutinized and tested rigorously, but are also involved in the future of environmental management system and regular reviews (Frances, 2009). The Ritz-Carlton, Berlin is thus the first five-star hotel in Europe that combines exclusive luxury with sustainability.

“Environmental protection is a good idea – not only at home but also outside their own four walls, such as on business trips or vacations. This starts with an environmentally safe arrival and will stay at the hotel, “said by Robert Petrovic, General Manager: The comfort should not stand it, and the measures go much further than to give up paper towels and disposable bottles. According to Petrovic the importance is that all employees follow suit. “Ensuring a healthy environment is part of our quality strategy (Marshall, 2009). The environment is now established as a corporate principle and incorporated into all parts of our house”. Internally cares in the Berlin Grand Hotel as well as in other buildings of the Ritz-Carlton Group, a specially compiled “REACT” team about implementing the guidelines to comply with and to identify new opportunities. The acronym stands for “Ritz-Carlton Environmental Action Conservation Team”. A separate environmental officer directs to it. Its place has been specially created to support sustainable operation of the building and to emphasize the importance of environmental management (Ahmed, 2012). The following are some of the measures taken by Ritz-Carlton to continuously improve in environmental reporting.

Light, water, Heat: Environmental protection at all levels

Ritz-Carlton has replaced Green Light by the new energy saving lighting concept as compared to the previous year already 16.7 percent of the energy savings. In addition, Ritz-Carlton, Berlin refers to 100 per cent green electricity. Ecologically and “really clean” also works housekeeping when washing and cleaning are paid to environmentally friendly cleaning products. Many measures contribute in saving a considerable volume of water consumption in different areas of the Hotel (Dane, 2012). Through the installation and of water aerators and small cisterns in all rooms and public areas, the water consumption of the entire hotel is reduced by up to 50 percent.

Recycling – from waste paper are exercise books

Aggressive water conservation and recycling programs support the hotel in all areas of environmental exposures. Currently, the entity contracting with Berlin Sales Office operates at complete paperless. To avoid paper waste in the form of paper towels energy efficient hand dryers were installed in all staff areas. Since 2008, the Ritz-Carlton Berlin, together with recycling accumulates the waste paper and produces the school notebooks. Per quarter, approximately 25 tons of papers are collected and it produced 1,300 books. These are distributed to various social welfare organizations in Berlin and abroad (Clarke, 2012).

Colonies – benefits for the environment and guest

since mid-2011, the hotel has three hives on the hotel roof. Overall, the winter will be about 9,000 to 15,000 bees in the summer and expects an estimated 50,000 to 150,000. In this manner, per year production approximates around 70 and 120 kilograms, of which the hotel decreases even 40 pounds a year for its guests. The guests also enjoys the organic breakfast self made. This means that all products involved have been independently awarded (Terry, 2003).

Suppliers – Inclusion and motivate

While considering efficient use of resources and sustainable environmental protection, the members and guests of the suppliers are actively involved. The deliveries of goods are made in deposit boxes and Ritz-Carlton continually refuses to use the disposable bottles, and packaging materials are returned to suppliers.

The major issue faced by Ritz-Carlton in achieving continuous improvement is to satisfy the customer at 100% level. If any of the customer’s expectations are not met then it means that specific customer is lost to the competitor entity. Ritz-Carlton has also won many awards on delivering Quality service to customers (David, 2003).

Top quality management (TQM) and Inspection are other ways for the Ritz Carlton to monitor their continuous improvement in quality. Not only does it cost the Ritz-Carlton less to “do things right” the first time, it affects every company; it even affects individuals in their daily lives/activities. If the Ritz-Carlton “half-assed” everything they did, they would lose a lot of money, customers wouldn’t be satisfied, employees would be unhappy, and eventually the Ritz-Carlton would have a bad image (Hansen, 2005). The Ritz-Carlton performed their “self-examination,” to improve future quality, as well as giving employees opportunities to take additional hotel training in hotel operations. Everything that Ritz-Carlton did, has won them many outstanding awards.

Taking care of the guests, building strong relationships with them, resolving their problems, and being responsive in a timely manner to their requests will keep them coming forever. I know when we have been treated well in a Hotel, we always go back, and tell all of our friends about the experience. “Word of mouth” is a great non-financial way to keep returning customers, and new customers coming to the Ritz-Carlton (Michael, 2011).

The implementation of policies & strategies and information communication is the major feature of TQM which Ritz Carlton must give attention to control the Quality and link them with the short and long term goals of the organization (Cherrill, 2011). Ritz Carlton has focused on five aspects which lead to the continuous improvement in the work place:

Benchmarking practice: It is becoming increasingly common in the Hotel industry. Ritz Carlton is selecting one of the industry leaders and copying them in order to achieve continuous improvement and adopt their level of standards.

Zero Error Rate: Any mistakes committed in the Hotel impacts the Goodwill and reputation of the Hotel. A minor mistake might lead to the loss in potential customers. The managerial level at Ritz Carlton is focusing to reduce the errors at zero level so that there is no negative perception by the customers.

Teamwork: A single customer is been served by different segments of the Hotel. Ritz Carlton is implementing collaboration and Team work at the work place in order to provide Quality service to the customers.

Quality Training: The Training and development of staff serving the customers is also essential in the hotel industry. Ritz Carlton has initiated Training programs which enhance the skills and abilities of existing and new staff as per the standard of doing right first time.

Demand Estimation reducing waste: Ritz Carlton is also emphasizing to minimize the wastage and recycle the resources. It has adopted a strategy that is working to reduce the global wastage.

In the year 1991, Ritz-Carlton has won 121 awards relating to Quality and was ranked first in all three ratings of the Hotel organizations. In the past Ritz-Carlton has benchmarked with baldrige winners and this provides the understanding of leadership factor in continuous improvement. The company views that executives are responsible for strategic planning and the employees must know their team members before deciding on the level of improvement they wanted to achieve (Bacon, 2003).

Continuous training

Apart from the luxury brands there also lies a continuous training program for new Products, sales processes, and addressing the corporate values. The Employees of Ritz-Carlton get 230 Hours of training per year, nearly four times as much as the employees of competitors. The top brands have all established processes to measure customer and employee satisfaction. The Hotel centers on the customer standing & employee loyalty and financial success to continuously improve the performance and service offering. This holds up the company’s enthusiasm and results in the low employee turnover (Mary, 2009). Although there is no such process to ensure customer satisfaction, but there are four principles adopted by Ritz-Carlton. Firstly, it creates a customer-centric culture which defines the Core value of service and it always nourishes and strengthens again. Secondly, the Hotel follows a rigorous selection process that strengthens the organization with first class sale and service professionals. Thirdly, they train their employees at regular basis, by guiding fundamental values ​​of the company, its products, processes and optimal control. Fourthly, they systematically measure and reward the customer-centered behavior on sales and service in order to strengthen the high standards and to exceed customer expectations (Leila, 2009).

The quality system used by Ritz-Carlton is fully dynamic. No permits remain static thus adapting to the dynamics of the hospitality market. It is also flexible enough to adapt to the specific needs of each of the Hotel guests. This is based on the values ​​and principles of the company, also known as the Gold Standards which always point towards achieving the company’s Vision and Mission using as a springboard the Critical Success Factors, which integrate their Clients, Ladies and Gentlemen, Owner, Product and of course profitability (Doris, 2010).

The model of the National Quality Award in Mexico and the U.S. Malcolm Baldrige, development platform have been in the system of Hotel’s Total Quality. Both are very similar and interact perfectly. Using a fusion of these models, Ritz-Carlton has created a solid platform to start competition in the hotel business, residences, clubs and restaurants (Robert, 2011). The customer focus enables Ritz-Carlton to reach levels of competitiveness in the market that they are seeking. At the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co LLC is not sufficient to achieve satisfied with having guests stay free of defects but they go one step forward. What they seek is the emotional commitment of their guests to the brand (Herriott, 2012). They build relationships with their guests. Ritz-Carlton anticipates customer needs; create exceptional memories in order to get their loyalty to the level where they cannot imagine a world without this Hotel.

Ritz-Carlton uses different tools to achieve Quality, analyze, integrate, implement and measure the systems, processes and indicators. These tools use cause and effect diagrams, force field, histograms, Pareto, 6 steps to solving opportunities, 9 steps to creativity and innovation, among others. A fundamental part of their tools are also the internal and external audits of company standards at both process and service level (Jabnoun, 2002). The internal communication system, allows them to share knowledge, increase participation and involvement of the ladies and gentlemen in the planning of their work and maintain a strong organizational culture, which eventually leads to the core of Hotel’s Critical Success Factors.

Conclusion

The market in which Ritz-Carlton is operating is changing and highly competitive, that is why it requires continuous improvement in a dynamic and flexible form which is able to adapt to the needs of internal and external customers. The Strategic business planning also plays a fundamental role in Total Quality at the Hotel. It took into account all market projections, anticipate customer needs, analyze the competition and understand our internal strengths and weaknesses in order to create a functional strategic plan, real and flexible to allow Hotel to achieve the business objectives in the short, medium and long term. This also helps to implement continuous cycles of constant and consistent improvement in each of the subsystems and processes involved in the daily operations.