Holiday Inn Hotel Chain, Business Proposal Example

Abstract

The hospitality industry is characterized by fierce competition. When the Holiday Inn first began its business in 1952 in Memphis, Tennessee by Kemmons Wilson. At that time, Holiday Inn desired to make provision of accommodations that were less expensive for families in the United States. The Holiday Inn chain was the leader of the motel market and was a setter of standards for competitors such as Ramada Inn, Days Inn, Best Western and Howard Johnson – all of which had copycatted Holiday Inn’s model for business. Between the 1980s and 2006 Holiday Inn’s dominance of the market diminished. This work conducts a SWOT analysis of the Holiday Inn hotel chain as well as stating the hotel chain’s mission and vision.

Introduction

The hospitality industry is characterized by fierce competition. When the Holiday Inn first began its business in 1952 in Memphis, Tennessee by Kemmons Wilson. At that time, Holiday Inn desired to make provision of accommodations that were less expensive for families in the United States. The Holiday Inn chain was the leader of the motel market and was a setter of standards for competitors such as Ramada Inn, Days Inn, Best Western and Howard Johnson – all of which had copycatted Holiday Inn’s model for business. Between the 1980s and 2006 Holiday Inn’s dominance of the market diminished.  (Holiday Inn, History-Brands, 2010)

The Holiday Inn chain needs to be revitalized not only in terms of room accommodations but as well in terms of overall amenities offered by the Holiday Inn business model. Toward this end the mission and vision statement in this work will set out certain goals, which are achievable and which will serve to bring the Holiday Inn business model back to the forefront of the world of hospitality and tourism once again.

Mission Statement

The mission of the Holiday Inn business model is to expand the offerings of the hotel chain to customers which are generally family-oriented groups to include amenities and other extra services that will draw visitors to the hotel and that will result in the return visits of hotel guests and positive word-of-mouth references to families and friends of Holiday Inn guests. The ultimate mission of the Holiday Inn is to provide such excellent service and special services and amenities that will promote the return of guests and positive referrals geared toward making the Holiday Inn brand prominent in the hospitality and tourism market once again.

Vision Statement

Holiday Inn management and staff envision the Holiday Inn brand to be the future leader in the hotel industry due to excellent service provision and provision of amenities and special services. The special services will include such as delicious and nutritious foods that are centered on health eating and that is a family-oriented menu with food items to fit every age and nutritional requirement category.

SWOT Analysis

The SWOT analysis conducted in this section identifies the ‘Strengths’, ‘Weaknesses’, ‘Opportunities’ and ‘Threats’ that are present and relevant to the Holiday Inn.

Figure 1

SWOT Analysis – Holiday Inn

Other Relevant Information

The work ofUllah, et al (2010) entitled “P & G Management Report: Holiday Inn Hotels” reports that the positive side of the Holiday Inn hotel are inclusive of the following factors:

• Regarding customer as the king;
• Adaptability according to the customer requirement;
• Use of technology;
• Maintaining the essence of a 4-star hotel;
• Expanding as required; and
• On-line reservations. (Ullah, et al, 2010)

The negative side of Holiday Inn hotels is stated to be inclusive of the following factors:

• Lengthy recruitment process;
• High tariffs that tend to attract exclusive class only;
• Non diverse work force;
• Less percentage of women employees;
• Not involved in any corporate social responsibility. (Ullah, et al, 2010)

Summary & Conclusion

The Holiday Inn Hotel chain has a great amount of potential for growth and expansion. Hotel management and strategic planning executives will necessarily be required to focus on emphasizing the strengths of the hotel chain, minimizing the weaknesses and concentrating on the reduction of threats by increasing the opportunities that the hotel chain takes advantage of in the future. Because the Holiday Inn hotel chain bears a very old and prestigious as well as respected name, this hotel chain has a great potential for success that exceeds the past successes of this hotel chain.

References

Ullah, Noor (2010) P & G Management Report: Holiday Inn Hotels. The University of Lahore. Available online. Retrieved from: http://www.scribd.com/doc/27129689/Holiday-Inn

Holiday Inn – History, Brands (2010) Online Encyclopedia. Retrieved from: http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/articles/pages/1168259/Holiday-Inn.html