The client

A subsidiary of a major quoted South Korean conglomerate, the hotel company comprises two large and owned hotels in Korea.

What did Hotel Solutions Partnership achieve for the client?

A journey has begun; ultimately the client has to self-enable and this period of intensive consultancy has acted as an incubation of people, organisation and processes that the client’s most senior executives see as unique and highly valuable.

Background

The Board has determined that expansion strategy calls for the brand to be expanded overseas and to be repositioned into a higher quality category. As a result, the company has recently been engaged in building new capabilities. Management recognised that additional expertise needed to be brought into the company to enable the company to achieve its ambitious growth and quality targets.

Consultants: Ann Adenius, Doreen Boulding, Larry Bowman, Doug Fiedler, Peter Fitzgerald, Ian Graham, Daphne Hampson, Duncan MacArthur, Miguel Ruano and Mike Wrigley.

Project objective

The client requested Hotel Solutions to support the implementation of many of the items on the change agenda. The consulting was provided throughout a six month period in four different but linked work streams – Brand, Operations, Technology, and Distribution – as well a limited amount of project direction.

Project scope

Within the Brand, we were charged with researching and writing a Brand Standards Manual, mentoring the client through the writing of Brand Design Guidelines, and advising the client in respect of brand website strategy.

Within the Operations, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of both back of house and front of house processes and reported as a Gap Analysis against expectations. We researched and wrote Service Standards and Standard Operating Procedure Manuals. We also gave advice on competitor analysis as well as compliance to the Uniform System of Accounts.

Within Technology we assessed the current state of back and front office systems, developed meaningful plans for upgrades, replacements and additions to technology infrastructure, assessed what to prioritise to support brand positioning and assessed what to leave on home country / parent company infrastructure and what to create as a platform for international growth.

Within Distribution, not only did we bring in Revenue Management expertise from Revenue by Design but we also helped the client better use current tools and partners for the management and distribution on of the rooms element of the brand.

Methodology

The team was designed and coordinated by Ian Graham. Before deployment, and using a mixture of conference calls and meetings, the team built an understanding of each others roles and the inter dependencies. Everyone went through a MBTI assessment and the team MBTI profile was discussed and evaluated. The team was provided with training in Korean business practice. The team travelled to and from Korea regularly over a six month period. On arrival in the hotel, the team members worked with hotel executives and the client’s project team, and in the evening shared experiences, challenged each other and learnt from each other. The teams’ findings, recommendations and deliverables were presented in a variety of formats including mentoring sessions, formal Board room presentations, written reports and PowerPoint presentations. In many of the live events, a translator was used. The audience varied from the Group CEO to the room revenue manager.