Hilton Hotel and a B&B analysed

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Unit 6:Business Online        Michael Osodi

                

Introduction

Hilton Hotels Corporation is recognised as one of the leading global hospitality companies. Hilton Hotels Corporation is also renowned for providing guests and customers with the finest, most exclusive accommodation and service anywhere in the world and brings value for business or leisure. Hilton Hotels offer guests the widest possible variety of hotels, including city centre hotels, convention properties, all-suite hotels, extended stay, mid-priced focused service, destination resorts, vacation ownership and airport hotels.

Hilton Hotels Corporation offer products and services such as Hilton Weddings, Hilton Meetings, its very own café, Caffè Cino, Hilton Hen & Stag Weekends, Hilton Bars, Room Service, Hilton Breakfast, Hilton Executive Floor & Lounge for busy executives and finally, Hilton Connections, which offers high-speed Internet & Wi-Fi access as well as state-of-the-art technology in conference and business suites.

Hilton Hotels Corporation has many different brands that its runs under. These include Hilton Hotels, Conrad Hotels, Doubletree, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hampton Inn, Hampton Inn & Suites, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Grand Vacations Company, Homewood Suites by Hilton, The Waldorf-Astoria Collection, Hilton HHonors & LivingWell Health Clubs. Hilton also works with other companies in order to provide the best service available. Their partners include BT Openzone, TeleAdapt and iBAHN Managed Conference Solution.

As of April 2007, Hilton has 2,645 hotels and 485,000 rooms, employing 101,000 people in more than 80 countries.

Hilton Hotels Corporation is owned under a public limited company (PLC). 5% of the company is owned by the Hilton Family.

Task 1

Every business operates in one-way or another and is therefore classified as either b2c (business to consumer) or b2b (business to business). B2c businesses sell directly to its consumers. Some of them are small and local and do not use the Web to attract or sell to customers. They tend to use traditional methods such as word of mouth, local newspaper adverts and even their shop window as a way of advertising themselves to the public. Examples of b2c businesses are supermarkets like Waitrose, clothes shops such as Hennes & Mauritz, hairdressers and newsagents. B2b businesses sell directly to other businesses. Most of them are very large and use the Web for selling and buying activities respectively. Examples of businesses that can be classified as b2b are mobile phone manufacturers such as Sony Ericsson, soft drink manufacturers such as Coca-Cola and footwear manufacturers such as Adidas.

Businesses are also classified as either bricks-and-mortar or clicks-and-mortar. Bricks-and-mortar businesses have a traditional physical premises used for its operations and offers face-to-face service. They trade physically and also tend to not have an online presence for trading. This helps these kinds of businesses to save money for fixed costs such as rent and rates. However, they do have to account for depreciation on machinery and the building. Examples of these are businesses like local bakeries, launderettes, hairdressers etc.

In contrast, clicks-and-mortar businesses have an online presence for trading. They use the Web as a shop window to trade electronically, as consumers purchase their products directly over the Web. This benefits customers because they can browse for products and services from the comfort of their own home, in their own time. Their fixed costs are relatively low – simply because the place they choose to locate where they do not have high rent and rates. Examples of these are businesses like Currys, Littlewoods and travel agencies such as lastminute.com

Nowadays, most businesses combine both their ‘bricks’ and their ‘clicks’, so that customers can have the convenience of both options. An example of a business that combines both is Waterstone’s. You can buy book from the local high street store or you can order online at waterstones.com.

I would describe the Hilton Hotel as more of a bricks-and-mortar business because most people know about the buildings much more than their website that offers online booking. Their customers normally go to their hotels and enquire about and book a room rather than go online. However, being a clicks-and-mortar business would benefit Hilton greatly, as customers will be able to check offers on products and services available at any time, anywhere in the world.

The aims and objectives of Hilton Hotels Corporations are:

To be the first choice of the world's travellers, building on the rich heritage and strength of our brands by:

  • Consistently delighting their customers
  • Investing in their team members
  • Delivering innovative products and services
  • Expanding our family of brands
  • Continuously improving performance in their balanced scorecard

Hilton Hotels aim to achieve their vision, as well as:

  • Increase shareholder value
  • Create a culture of pride
  • Strengthen the loyalty of their constituents

Hilton Hotel’s online presence supports them to achieve their aims and objectives in many ways. An online presence has the following attractions:

Global audience – Their website can help them to accommodate a large amount of customers in one time. The Hilton website can help to present and promote their products and services round the clock to people all over the world. By doing this, it will help them achieve the aim of consistently delighting their costumers.

24 –Hour Access – Hilton’s website is available at all times, which enables customers to view and shop for products at any time of the day, therefore, exposing itself to the whole world. Also, the costs of running online are minimal compared to the costs of maintaining it as premises. Running as a website also enables Hilton Hotel to operate costumer service 24 hours a day. By doing this, it will help Hilton to achieve the aim of consistently delighting their customers.

Educational – Hilton’s website offers information about their products and service as well as its history, corporate information, legal information, investor relations, annual reports and many more. This information can also be accessed at any time when needed, which benefits students with their studies because they do not need to contact Hilton’s Head Office to obtain any information needed. By doing this, it will help Hilton to achieve the aim of consistently delighting their customers.

Information – Hilton’s website provides information in detail about the current deals on offer as well as information on how to download an eBrochure of a hotel of choice, how to check an existing booking, how to gain membership etc. Showing information will help them display an image of themselves to people interested and assist people if things go wrong. By doing this, it will help Hilton to achieve the aim of continuously improving performance in their balanced scorecard.

Recreational and commercial – Hilton use their website to advertise, promote and sell their special offers from around the world. They promote city breaks, beach breaks, skiing holidays and even last-minute deals that include luxury massages, fitness suites, spa and beauty centres. They also promote offers on trips to different cities such as Paris, Rome, Amsterdam as well as the continents of Asia, Australasia and Africa. By doing this, it will help Hilton to achieve their aims to deliver innovative products and services, increase shareholder value and consistently delight their customers.

Increased flexibility of location for both consumers and providers – Hilton’s online presence gives them & its consumers many benefits. The Hilton website’s benefits to its consumers are that they can look through the website from the comfort of their location, be it in their homes, at work or anywhere else convenient. Consumers can also browse for as much information or products and services needed before deciding on what to choose. Finally, the Hilton website benefits consumers because they do not need to be near a local Hilton hotel before they can get information.

Hilton’s online presence benefits them because the running costs of the website are minimal once it is set up. Also, Hilton’s online presence can lay out much more information about products and services on its website rather than its brochures. Finally, the Hilton’s online presence benefits them because they can access a wide market from a small location, therefore, selling more products and services. By doing this, it will help Hilton to achieve its aim of consistently delighting their customers and strengthening the loyalty of their constituents.

Join now!

Follow up website visitors – Websites that are set up well will attract attention and allow follow-up communication from ‘cookies’. For most websites, it is essential to keep a record of browsers that have shown an interest in the goods and services offered. A cookie is a small file that a web server places on a computer so that it can see who has been browsing. This enables the web server to observe what browser the visitor is using, what pages they requested and how long the visitor browses for. Cookies also enable web servers to store this information through ...

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