Managing People and Profitability

Mr. William Mackay
Vice President & General Manager
Four Seasons Hotel Hong Kong

Beyond the comfort of the bed, the beauty of the flowers, or the serenity of the spa, it's the people of Four Seasons who make each experience so exceptional. The deeply instilled Four Seasons culture is personified in its employees – people who share a single focus and are dedicated, highly skilled and inspired to offer great service.

Managing people is accorded the highest priority in Four Seasons because we know that it is our people who make the hotel different and what it is. It is the highly motivated employees who will give our guests the fond memory and bring them back as satisfied customers.

The question of how to create, nurture and keep the most important asset in a hotel will be discussed and illustrated with examples. The relationship between people management, service quality, corporate culture and their impact on the bottom line will be explored, with the help of practical models. The session will also cover bottom line contribution as a result of seamless integration of different departments.

E-Marketing and Distribution in the Hospitality Industry

Dr. Peter O'Connor
Professor of Information Systems, ESSEC Business School France &
Co-Director of Institute de Management Hotelier International, France

Ecommerce has become a key feature of the hotel sector in recent years. An increasingly complex environment of call centres, Global Distribution Systems, Central Reservations Systems and an increasing array of Web based channels has to be managed from both an operational and a strategic perspective. Choosing between the bewildering array of options available, and getting maximum benefit from each channel used, is difficult. Key questions include: Which portfolio of channels should you use to effectively distribute your product? How should you distribute over the Web? What information should you include on your Website to effectively sell your product? How do you people aware of its existence and encourage them to visit and transact business on it? How can you include online reservations facilities in a cost effective manner? Can you find out more information about your customers and use it to market to them more effectively? These and many more questions are the focus of this course.

Creating and Selling Customer Service Experience

Prof. Cathy Hsu
Associate Head & Graduate Programs Director
School of Hotel & Tourism Management
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

In an era of competition based on quality, creating and selling customer service experience is paramount to the success of any hospitality organizations. This seminar will take a look at the implications for hospitality operators based on the unique nature of services. The people, process, and physical evidence elements of service experience, which supplement the traditional marketing mix of 4Ps, will be examined and strategies of maximizing the effects of those elements provided.

Service quality management will be discussed in details, including customer expectations, service blueprinting, and service guarantees. The application of servicescape in hotels will also be explored, with examples given. Customers' role in service delivery and strategies for enhancing customer participation will be shared. Points will also be given on communication with customers to create realistic expectations of the service experience.

Understanding the Service Profit Chain

Prof. Dennis Reynolds
Ivar Haglund Distinguished Professor of Hospitality Management
College of Business and Economics, Washington State University

The overarching goal of most firms is to maximize profit. Yet too few hospitality managers understand the complex service-value-profit chain. Through highly interactive discussions, demonstrations, and experiential exercises, this session provides you with research-based tools and heuristics designed to increase and fully leverage key aspects of the service-value-profit chain including service delivery, customer equity, and—of greatest importance—profit. Topics include: What is the meaning and cost of customer “sacrifice”?; Understanding the science of service recovery; Identifying internal and external customers' value drivers; Recognizing management approaches that enhance from service delivery; and Creating operation-specific action plans designed to increase the bottom line.

Hospitality Financial Management for Non-financial Managers

Prakash K. Chathoth, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
School of Hotel and Tourism Management
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

The success of the service firm lies in the capabilities of its managers to add value to the business on an ongoing basis. While managers of hospitality businesses play an important role in the management of services in their organizations, it is the role they play in managing the value of transactions that provides the impetus and direction for their firms to succeed from a financial perspective. This then underscores the value-adding role of the manager.

What are the financial tools that would enable hospitality managers to view operations from a value-adding perspective? What are the frameworks that managers could use to assess their strategic orientation from a financial perspective?

his session provides two perspectives to develop the value-adding role of the hospitality manager while addressing the foregoing issues. First, it lays the foundations of financial management by reviewing financial statements and basic financial analysis pertaining to hospitality operations. Then, it develops the strategic financial management framework to provide hospitality managers with the tools to manage operations as well as the business from a value-adding perspective.