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Four Seasons Hotel Chains Strategic Management
Introduction
All the businesses involved in the tourism industry have received considerable damage during the COVID-19 pandemic due to restrictions on traveling and communicating with people in general. In this context, competent and wise management is the key factor, which may prevent an organization from bankruptcy and lead a company to further development. A hotel chain Four Seasons is among businesses, which had to cope with significant losses. All the hotels around the world could not operate due to threats to employees and customers health. However, today, it is vital to adjust to such circumstances in order to avoid total closure of the organization. Despite all the hardships, the companys management contributes to making it resilient and adaptive to new conditions, which may predict the successful development of the organization in the future.
Background
Four Season is a large chain of luxurious hotels and resorts, situated around the globe. The organization built 188 hotels and resorts in 47 countries (Al-Akkad et al., 2020). It was founded in 1960 by Isadore Sharp, who was a businessman in Canada, and for this reason, its main office is located in Toronto (Al-Akkad et al., 2020). These days, it presents a large company, employing 45,000 staff members and having a revenue of 4,3 billion dollars (Al-Akkad et al., 2020). The mission of the organization is to provide its guests with exceptional quality of service and careful attention. Four Seasons is aimed to supply the opportunity to stay at luxurious hotels and rest in relaxing resorts at any point of the world (Al-Akkad et al., 2020. Guest are offered to receive esthetic pleasure, being surrounded by superior design and finishes. Consequently, the company provides all the necessary conditions for satisfying every customers needs and serving a variety of tastes.
However, during the coronavirus pandemic, the tourism industry had been damaged significantly, leading a range of businesses in this field to bankruptcy. Four Seasons also had to cope with negative consequences of lockdowns and other preventative measures, such inability to accept an appropriate number of guests and deliver all the services (Al-Akkad et al., 2020. For this reason, the current activity of the company is directed to overcoming these hardships and return the usual level of revenue. In this context, the importance of competent management cannot be underestimated.
Analysis
Planning
The primary positioning strategy for further development of Four Seasons is adapting to the current conditions and restrictions, providing guests with high income with a possibility to relax and receive services of exceptional quality. In order to follow this direction, an industry-level goal was established, which guarantees the security of customers and employees health in pandemic conditions. For this reason, a cooperation with a company Lead With Care was signed. The responsibility of Lead With Care implies educating personnel on caring for the customers and employees health competently and supplying access to the latest and effective technologies and tools in this regard.
The corporate-level aim involves continuing the development direction of Four Season. In the near future, managers plan to open new branches in Tokyo, Madrid, San Francisco, and Bangkok. This measure will allow to receive maximum possible profit after the end of the pandemic and compensate the losses during the lockdowns (Ponnahennedige, 2020). The firm-level goal implies avoiding high turnovers and maintaining the regular system of payments for staff members. In addition, all the employees should be educated on ways of delivering high-quality service without posing threats to the health of guests and their colleagues. Therefore, the company will not only overcome the negative consequences of the coronavirus pandemic, but also increase the loyalty of customers and develop their performance (Ponnahennedige, 2020). In general, all the described purposes may be considered to be helpful in sticking to the primary positioning strategy, which beneficial for further growth.
Leading
In order to enhance the ambitious aims and maintain effective performance, a significant amount of attention in Four Season is paid to leadership. An illustrative example of the companys strategy may be the leadership style of Anna Filipopoulos. She is one of the key figures in the organization and occupies the position of Executive Vice President and Chief People and Culture Officer. She marks: The success of our culture is about nurturing an inclusive environment where individuals are seen, heard, and valued. Its about cultivating an employee community united in their dedication to common goals (Corporate info: Anna Filipopoulos, n. d., para. 1). Her responsibilities and functions involve considerably more than it is required for a typical human resource manager. Anna Filipopoulos does her best to create a healthy working environment and provides essential help for career promotion for prominent workers. In addition, she contributes to supplying decent and convenient working conditions for all employees, from directors to waiters.
Anna Filipopoulos adheres to a democratic approach, which allows to increase the competitiveness of Four Season and encourages using specific talents and unique knowledge by staff members. Such a leadership style appears to be beneficial for guaranteeing effective organizational performance and contribute to the companys development in the long run (Nagendra & Farooqui, 2016). Therefore, democratic leadership and a healthy working environment may make the organization more resilient, successful, and profitable.
Organizing
In order to accomplish the standards of exceptional service, Four Seasons employs numerous professionals to perform a variety of tasks. First of all, all the essential tasks are divided into 5 spheres: restaurant services, kitchen, housekeeping, spa & fitness, and front office management. All of them are controlled and led by administration members, and the hierarchy is depicted in Scheme 1. Division of labor allows employees to concentrate specifically on their tasks and improve their competency gradually (Jabar et al., 2019). Therefore, such an organizational structure is helpful for delivering services of high quality.
Controlling
In order to monitor the performance of employees, precise standards were established. Different departments have their own requirements and rules for completing their tasks, which take into consideration the specifics of their professional activity. Managers in all spheres are responsible for explaining the companys standards and control adherence to them. Their duties include completing reports on performing the essential requirements and guests statistics, which are helpful for comparing the planned and actual results. Another method of monitoring the performance of employees implies receiving feedback from customers. After their visits, all of them are offered to evaluate their stay on a variety of criteria.
Employees are granted monetary perks for perfect adherence to the companys standards, which are included in the budgeting process. They may also receive additional bonuses in case of positive comments from customers on a particular worker. Such a complex approach allows to receive an objective assessment of the organizational operation (Wang et al., 2016). In addition, it is helpful for indicating mistakes and weak points and elaborate sufficient solutions (Wang et al., 2016). Apart from these factors, employees are encouraged to do their best, as they comprehend that it will be valued by managers.
Conclusion
In the context of present-day developments, the hotel chain Four Seasons has to cope with significant challenges. They lead to considerable revenue decrease and may result in bankruptcy. However, competent management is the factor, which makes the company resilient and guarantees its further development in the market. These days, Four Seasons is ready for economic recovery from the coronavirus consequences for compensating all the losses. The organization has precise and ambitious aims and strong culture. Moreover, managers do their best to maintain a healthy working environment. In such conditions, it is possible to predict positive results of the companys performance in the near future.
References
Nagendra, A. & Farooqui, S. (2016). Role of leadership on organizational performance. International Journal of Research in Commerce & Management, 7(4), 65-67.
Al-Akkad, H., Nayer, A., Fekry, M., Elborombaly, H. (2020). Four Seasons development. Journal of critical reviews, 7(8), 234-238.
Corporate info: Anna Filipopoulos. (n. d.). Four Seasons: Press Room.
Jabar, A., Kamal, S., Kamal, T., & Top, C. (2019). Benchmarking hotels: Applying analytic hierarchy process. International Journal of Economics, Commerce and Management, 7(6).
Ponnahennedige, U. N. (2020). Service recovery in luxury hotels and resorts in Sri Lanka [Unpublished masters thesis]. School of Tourism and Hospitality.
Wang, J. C., Wang, Y.-C., & Tai, Y.-F. (2016). Systematic review of the elements and service standards of delightful service. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 28(7), 1310-1337.
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