Introduction to Hospitality:Hospitality as defined by various dictionary is a friendly and generous reception given to the guests or visitors and taking

care of their entertainment and leisure. Hospitality is one of the leading sectors in the service industry today. This industry is the fastest growing industry which has several billion dollars moving through it. This sector consists of various sub-industries like hotels, restaurants, theme parks etc. The basis of this industry is dependent on the two important grounds mainly first the leisure time that people have and second is the disposable income that they have to spend on this sector. According to a latest research by Delloite Hospitality alone consists of 21% of the global GDP which makes all the more important to understand this sector and its parts. (DELLOITE, 2013) Hospitality in UK Hospitality sector in the UK economy is a booming industry with the bigger giants like Marriot, Seasons or Hilton having their presence predominates in the industry. In UK hospitality sector alone contributes to 11.4% of the GDP and creates 3.79 million jobs a year as reported by Delliote in one of its latest reports. This is a predominant reason why one should look at this booming sector closely and in this assignment further we will cover most of the important highlights of the hospitality sector in UK as a basis of discussion. (DELLOITE, 2013) Structure of the Hospitality Sector Hospitality as an industry is divided into various small types and businesses which include everything right from a five-star hotel to the nearest fast food joint at your neighborhood. Structure of the hospitality sector is divided into 14 major parts which are: Hotels- Hotel industry is further divided into Star rated hotels(stars are the ratings given to a hotel on the basis of its amenities, features, services etc) Non-star rated hotels( hotels which are more like lodges who have no stars to them) For example:- Hotel Ritz London is one of the premier hotel in UK which has got a five star rating to itself and on the other hand Westholme Lodges in Yorkshire is an example of unrated hotel. Restaurants Pubs Nightclubs Clubs Gambling Zones Contract Catering Hostels Bars Travel Service providers Visitor Attraction Theme parks or Holiday parks Tourist service providers Self Catering

This is how broadly we can divide the total pie of the hospitality sector in to 14 different pieces and each piece having more or less equal importance and growth opportunities. We can also divide these 14 parts of Hospitality industry in yet another specific way on the basis of three variables which are:1) Is the business catering to Commercial or service sector:- To divide each business under the umbrella of hospitality sector one has to decide whether the purpose of existence of business is solely commercial or is it because of servicing the human race or dependence of humans on it like hospitals etc. 2) Is the business profit making or working with a pre-defined budget: - Here the premier question is whether the business is there to earn extra profit or just to run with a specified budget. For example- The important purpose of a canteen in an organization is to provide low cost food to employees and not to make profits. 3) Who is the customer base of the business: - Is the business is open for all the consumers or has a restricted set of consumers. For example: - in a train, part of travel industry seat availability is limited to the customer base who occupy them first thus the services are closed. Commercial Service Profit Working to a Open for all Restricted making budget customer base Hotels Hospitals All the Prisons above mentioned 14 industries mostly Canteen of an organization, charity etc. Hotels, catering etc Casinos, trains etc.

All other business which have profit making as their aim

Colleges, prison etc

This is another way how we can divide the total hospitality sector. Let us now analyze the organizational structure of a Hotel to understand how the hospitality sector functions day in and day out:-

General Manager

Assistant General Manger

Director-House Keeping

Director-Sales

Director-Secuties

Chief Controller

Chief/DirectorEngineering

Director-Human Resource

Director-Food and Beverages

Assistant Executive House Keeping

Sales Manager

Supervisors

Assistant Controller

Assistant Engineers

HR team

Assistan directorFood and beverages

Supervisors

Sales Executives or Account Executives

Security Officers

Front desk team and general cashiers

Chief chef

Room Attendants

Team of chefs and kitchen team

b) In this section we will consider various professional bodies in the Hospitality sector and their role in the industry (KELCHNER, Luanne, 2012) Confederation of Tourism and Hospitality (CTH):- Confederation of tourism and hospitality is one the premier professional body in the field of hospitality in UK. It a body which awards qualifications to the young and budding talent in the hospitability sector. Established in the year 1982, CTH has been a very active organization having its base at Great Tichfield Road, London. CTH has been instrumental in providing vocational, on-job training through the certificates, diplomas, masters degree that it awards to the young budding talent. The degree or certificate awarded by CTH is regulated by DCELLS (Department for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills) and CCEA (Council for the Curriculum, Examinations & Assessment). This body also has close affiliations to giants like Marriot Hotels, Virgin Atlantic, Radisson Edwardian, Sheraton Hotels, and many other prominent names in the UK hospitality arena. Role of CTH in the hospitality sector is mainly to provide the aspirants in the hospitality sector with a complete and all round knowledge of the various happenings and problem solving techniques used in the sector by giving them proper training. Thus the most important role of CTH is to develop the talent which will further enhance this sector. Visit England: - Visit England is a tourist board of England which merged with the Britain Tourism board to be called as Visit Britain however it was in the year 2009 that Visit England was re-launched after some problems with the Britain board and this time this was a tourism board only for England. Like many tourist board round the world Visit England also has a goal of promotion of tourism in England and thereby earn more revenue through tourism industry. Role of Visit England: - Visit England has the most important role of rating various tourism sites and accommodations like giving stars to hotels of giving importance to tourists sites etc.

In addition to these two organizations there are other professional bodies like Institute of Hospitality, British Association of Sports and Exercise Sciences etc. The role of most of the professional bodies and associations can be grouped into 4 major roles namely: Provide standardized ratings:- It is the role of the professional bodies and organizations to rate various tourism places on the basis of standardized points of evaluation, this makes it easier for the consumers to choose amongst the lot of tourist places to visit, Fulfill the talent search requirements of the industry:- This is regarded as the most important role of the various professional bodies in this field as mentioned above that UK hospitality sector has 3.79 million people working for it, thus we can see how big the industry is and how many new requirements would be coming up every year thus it becomes the most important role of these bodies to give proper training to the talent and thereby make them ready and fit for the organization, Set standards:- It is also the role of the professional bodies to make and set standards that are to be adhered to by the hospitality firms in day to day course for example- food standard etc. Regular review and checkings:- This is also one of the important role of the professional bodies to review and check the functioning of the businesses and bring out any point of concern in case found. Thus be it any kind of professional body it will have the role or responsibility to be somewhat matching up with any of the four above mentioned areas. c) Evaluate Staffing structure and responsibilities there on (KELCHNER, Luanne, 2012) The staffing needs and the training imparted to the staff of the hospitality sector are unique at the same time different from other industries. Characteristics of staffing need of hospitality sector are: Seasonal work:- Requirements in the hospitality sector is seasonal as it is during peak seasons like some events or wheatear changes etc, the requirements of staff rises however as soon as the season again slows down many staff is churned out or they themselves leave seeing the quantity of work. Lower Pays and Wages:- As most of the hospitality firms work on NO CLOSURE approach like a hotel does not closes its open 24*7 for its customer thus the staff have to work a longer time and the pay which they get after working hard is lesser than other industries. Customer Servicing Issues: - Being customer centric is one of the most important cultures of hospitality firms thus the pressure on employees rises as there is very fine line between making customer happy and satisfied and dissatisfied. Also it is important to note that the staff or the new recruits should have proper communication skill and training beforehand so that they can keep the stompers happy and satisfied. These are various features of a working for a hospitality firm. However the need or requirements of a hospitality organization are of following type: The needs are seasonal in nature as during peak more staff will be needed and during slack staff will be churned out,

 Need of well groomed and trained staff as dealing with customers is of the most import part of working for a hospitality organization, thus to keep the customers satisfied and happy one need to know how to do it, which need proper training and skills, Many a times mangers are needed who are supposed to be leaders having the ability to lead team of staff that can be unskilled and uneducated at times. For example- A floor manager may deal with a staff who cleans floor and who is less educated. Thus here also skills will come into force that is a manger will have to get work done from such staff and also communicate effectively with him/her. Roles and responsibility of staff: - The staff in a hospitality industry may be needed to perform any of the roles or a collection of the under mentioned common roles like: Attend the customer directly( Front desk roles), Work on the backlog(attend telephonic queries, or work in IT department), Incharge of cleanliness( Hygienic issues related roles), Specific business roles( for example in case of hotel specific roles are food and beverage head, floor managers etc and in case of a nightclub security staff will be more of a discharge role who calls for the customer cars and finally sees to it that customer boards it safely and moves) Discharge roles(Roles related to preparing final invoice or charts before the customer leaves) Qualification requirements: - The staff of the hospitality sector should be well groomed and trained in order to handle adverse situations. Role specific and business specific general learnings should be there. Most importantly the staff must possess the needed skill of negotiation will be of great use to make the customer satisfied and happy with the organizations services. Thus no specific degree is required however training and professional etiquettes are needed to be imbibed in the people who are working for this industry. Some of the qualification one can get in UK for this industry is from organizations like CTH (Confederation of tourism and hospitality) through the various degrees, diplomas etc offered by it or through various other organizations of the same sorts. d) Current Image of the Industry: Currently the industry can be put in nutshell through the following features namely: Highly competitive Customer expectations have risen Survival cost has gone up Staffing issues as the organization is not able to find the required manpower as and when needed thereby creating a gap, Highly growing industry and one of the most profitable industry High GDP generating industry for the economy. In a nutshell Hospitality industry is still in a growing phase and it is this sector which will define the future outlook of any economy in times to come.

Task 2 a) Issues effecting the industry Following list of issues is currently faced by the hospitality sector in my view (GRAHAM, Annie, 2013): Globalization: - With the globalization the tourism industry has blossomed and more and more flow of tourism has started ever since the inception go globalization. However along with higher flow of tourism issues relating to globalization and higher tourism has also into force like with higher tourism the staffing requirements have risen also with more international tourism coming in the infrastructure improvement issues have also come into force. Safety and Security: - With higher international tourism more and more security issues are also coming up like tourist kidnappings, robberies or assaults. Thus safety and security of guests are becoming a matter of great concern. Although governments round the world have made specific laws for the international tourist but still these incidents are rising with each day passing by, Technological issues:- With the high degree of technological advancements and changes the dependence of every business on technology has risen to a great deal, and hospitality sector is no exception to it with Internet Bookings, or softwares to communicate directly with the staff of the hotel or other hospitality firms, the technological advancements have crept in this sector. The issue behind this technological advancements may be many like technological glitches may sometime effect the customer organization relationship or the cost of procuring these technological advancements may be very high for the organization as well, Price-Value: - Today the guests have become educated and informed price and value has become two important variables for the guests while choosing for the hospitality firm within the industry. Value is a psychological satisfaction that the customer gets by using or consuming a product or service. Value can also be defined as what you get for what you pay. Price is the consideration a customer has to pay for using the services. The relationship between price and value from a customers perspective will always be inverse i.e. a customer will always try to pay less for more value. This is the notion that the hospitality firms will have to break in the minds of customer to earn more revenue. Thus notion building is another issue faced by the hospitality firms today. High Completion between firms: - Another issue in todays current scenario that the hospitality firms are facing is that of high level of competition between all the firms as the service provided is the same it is differentiation in the level of service provided by various firms that makes the difference. However with every firm in the market to make profits and money competition between the firms is one of the most important issues that the hospitality sector is facing today. Service quality:- Service quality is defined as the extent to which the guests were satisfied from the services provided to them, as satisfaction differs from customer to customer and is more of a psychological aspect thus another issue that the hospitality firms face is to determine when is the customer becoming satisfied and when is he getting dissatisfied.

b) Future Trends of the Hospitality sector (KAPIKI, Soultana (Tania), 2012):With the current share in GDP of 11.15% and employment being 5.6% it becomes all the more important to understand what future has for this sector and how this sector can overcome issues that it is facing in present turbulent times. Some of the future trends: Staff retentions techniques:- As the turnover ratio of workers being very high there is a problem of shortage of human resource and thus organizations in this sector will have to come up with more techniques of staff retention like increasing pays, reducing work shifts etc, these retention techniques would ultimately benefit the organization as the old trained staff would not move on and thus cost of procuring new talent and then training him on role would also be reduced on the organization, Increased use of technologies making the environment sophisticated:- A s today is the technological age thus hospitality firms will have to use more and more technology to cater to their guests and also give them better services some examples can be allowing the guest to book room in a hotel online by seeing the live status of the room and also by taking a look at each and every specification of the room, Availability of the services required at the door steps:- It one of the very important issue that organizations will need to answer i.e. do not allow the customer to come to the market space rather take your organization to the customers door steps because if the customers comes t o the market he may move to the competition thus by organization reaching to the customer sale is guaranteed and the chances of competition creeping in reduces significantly, Bouquet of service provided under one roof: - The hospitality firms instead of being socialist and providing individual services should be generalists by providing a range of services all under one roof so that customer end up buying more and the organization ends up gaining more for example: - Lets say a catering service provider who only provides food at various events starts giving decoration services as well. Thus the customer will not go to a specialist decorator and will award both fooding and decoration contract to the same firm. Thereby saving the efforts and time of customer and at the same time increasing revenue for the service provider. Usage of internet as an effective marketing and distribution channel: - As internets user and usage is increasing by day, the organization have found opportunities to advertise themselves and their products on internet from time to time as with the same cost the reach could be enhanced many folds, thus businesses should try and use internet which has become a sensation in todays time to maximize their reach and thereby attain more and newer customers by promoting their services and products. Conclusion Todays world which is characterized by high completion, financial turbulence, staffing issues, low customer loyalty etc, it has become very important for businesses to analyze what the current situation of there business is and what do they expect from the future and then plan accordingly in order to achieve the future goals set.

References DELLOITE. 2013. Tourism: jobs and growth The economic contribution of the tourism economy in UK. London. GRAHAM, Annie. 2013. Emerging Hospitality Industry Trends in 2013. [online]. [Accessed 18 December 2013]. Available from World Wide Web: <http://www.hotelcluster.com/blog/8-emerging-hospitalityindustry-trends-in-2013/> KAPIKI, Soultana (Tania). 2012. Current and Future Trends in Tourism and Hospitality. The Case of Greece. International Journal of Economic Practices and Theories. 2(1), p.14. KELCHNER, Luanne. 2012. The Requirements in the Hospitality Industry. [online]. [Accessed 18 December 2013]. Available from World Wide Web: <http://work.chron.com/requirements-hospitality-industry4555.html>