• Millennium Dome (now called the 02 Arena) - London
The Millennium Dome officially re-opened as the O2 on 24 June 2007. A world class entertainment venue in the iconic Greenwich dome. The 02 Arena is an entertainment complex which holds various events to a capacity of 20,000 people. The O2 is home to indigO2 a state of the art live music club, an 11 screen multiplex cinema, an exhibition centre (The 02 Bubble), Entertainment Avenue, an entire street of bars, restaurants and leisure attractions, and most breathtaking of all, The O2 arena.
This arena plays host to the most sought after names in rock, pop and classical music, as well as staging must-see sporting events, including the 2012 Olympics, theatrical productions and shows for all the family.
• Alton Towers - Stoke on Trent
Alton Towers is a theme park and resort located in the grounds of a former stately home in Stoke-on-Trent, based in the little village of Alton. It attracted over 3 million visitors in 2008, making it the second most visited theme park in the UK. Also on site are two hotels; The Alton Towers Hotel and Splash Landings Hotel, so if visitors can book in the hotels and stay for any duration they wish.
• The London Eye – London
The London Eye is one of London’s top tourist attractions, it is also an extraordinary piece of engineering design and architecture. It is a big wheel which slowly revolves so you can see the sites of London. A flight on the London Eye last’s around 30 minutes taking you to a height of 135 metres
A lot of the major built tourist attractions are located in London or outside the capital; these attractions could be the reason why London attracts so many tourists.
Describe the different components of the UK hospitality industry using the current examples of organisations and practises from industry?
The hospitality industry is an industry that is fuelled by an ongoing need for nourishment. It consists of three groups: management, kitchen workers and servers, Each plays a very important role in the operation of a food-service/hospitality establishment. In many ways hospitality has been used as a term to describe activities that were called ‘hotel & catering’ in earlier times. “In Search of Hospitality: Theoretical Perspectives and Debates by Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001”
In recent years, the term hospitality has become increasingly popular and may be interpreted in a number of ways whether it is commercial, industrial or public services. The keys to successful hospitality in both the commercial and private sectors include knowledge of what would evoke pleasure in the guest and hospitality as a process that includes arrival, providing comfort and fulfilment of guest’s wishes, and departure. Tourism industries are not the same as other industries. It is because we provide services to the customer while some industries provide the tangible product. Thus, hospitality and tourism can not be separated, as hospitality is the key to success in the tourism industry. The following paragraph will discuss the importance of hospitality in relation to the tourism industry.
Firstly, there are several components in the tourism industry, for example, food and beverages, lodging, place of attractions, and transportation. All these components are related to hospitality. Also each of the components has a connection to each other. So, in order to make sure that the customer will feel satisfied using tourism services we have to ensure that the customer feels satisfied using each of the components. We need to apply hospitality to the food and beverages, so that customers will feel well treated during their lunches, dinners or other meals.
We also need to apply hospitality to transportation providers so that customers or passengers will feel comfortable during their journey. Other tourism components also require hospitality.
This has demonstrated how hospitality is very important to the tourism industry.
Secondly, what we provide in the tourism industry is the intangible product. Customers will never feel or experience the product offered unless they have bought it. So, when they buy the services offered we must provide them with the best service possible so they will feel comfortable using our services. All the services provided such as, guest greeting, and providing a clean and tidy room, showing the facilities provided, and others are all forms of hospitality. For example when the guests check into the hotel, we can not simply just give them the room key and let the guest look for their room without any assistance. This is not hospitality. Hospitality is more than that; we have to be friendly, courteous, helpful, and so forth.
Finally, the importance of hospitality is to encourage the guest to return again and become repeat customers. In the tourism industry, people are not just looking at the facilities or the price offered, but also at the services provided. If they felt satisfied with their previous experience using the service they might come again and even promote the services to others. This situation will generate more revenue for the company. Allowing the company to work less to promote their services. They just have to concern themselves with the services provided to customer and fulfilling the customers’ expectations. This is more valuable than just providing the best facilities but with the worst service. Tourism related companies must emphasize hospitality in order to succeed.
In short, tourism is not just providing facilities to customers; services or hospitality is the main key that will determine the success of the tourism company. As a service provider we should provide the best services ever and must exceed the customers’ expectations. Only excellent services provided will satisfy customers using any tourism service.
An example of an organisation and it’s practices within the hospitality sector is The Hilton Hotels.
Whichever major city you find yourself in, you have a big chance of coming across Hilton Hotel. Hilton International Group is a leading global hotel brand and the company, with an expanding portfolio of hotels, mainly Hilton Brand. The company operates 380 hotels worldwide and is represented in 66 countries. Its 80,000 strong workforce looks after an average of 8 million guests every year. Article, 2002; Annual Report 2003, A skillsoft case study: Hilton hotels,
The quality of the Hilton brand is such that customer service and operational excellence is higher than in most industries. With all service businesses, the contribution of people is of central importance to Hilton’s success.
Hilton International is totally decentralised; splitting into countries, cities and individual hotels. This meant that hundreds of managers had to be convinced about the initiative – an exercise in which SkillSoft played a fundamental role. “Article, 2002, A skillsoft case study: Hilton hotels”
Bibliography
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Article, 2002, A skillsoft case study: Hilton hotels,
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- In Search of Hospitality: Theoretical Perspectives and Debates by Butterworth-Heinemann, 2001
- Tourism: Principles and Practice By Chris Cooper, Stephen Wanhill, John Fletcher, David Gilbert 2005
