Отели

The hotel is an institution designed for temporary accommodation of travelers. There are many criteria for the quality of the hotel, including aspects such as location, proximity to metro or public transport, design and interior, quality of service, comfort of rooms, amenities and additional features, cleanliness of rooms, catering for guests or the presence of a restaurant inside the hotel, as well as the willingness of staff to assist, advise and arrange additional activities on demand. Of course, all these factors also affect both the price category and the prestige of the institution. The most high-status hotels with a long history and excellent reviews from visitors, including politicians, scientists and public figures, have developed into so-called hotel chains. Sometimes the founders or co-founders of hotels also are popular public figures and celebrities, which also has a positive effect on the rating of that hotels. Some of them are developing within the country, while others are moving beyond its borders, creating branches in the largest densely populated cities. They stand out favorably against the background of individual hotels of approximately the same price segment, and some of the city's guests are ready to give them preference, despite the higher price, trusting their long-term experience and excellent rating, in which the well-known name and highly rated code of service play a significant role. Many of the guests are frequent visitors of such hotels, as they highly appreciate the service of such hotels, the staff's compliance with etiquette and high customer orientation, as well as pleasant comfortable living conditions and compliance with their preferences. Among the most famous international hotel chains are the Intercontinental Hotels Group, Hilton Hotels, Marriott International Hotel Group and others, which have become almost a standard of quality and a role model for other hotels. The number of their branches around the world can be more than a thousand, and the number of serviced numbers, according to the words of the owners of some of them, reaches up to a million! Other chains have fewer branches, as they focus on the development of individual hotel points, increasing their rating, expanding a number of services and maintaining the status of luxury. Of course, they have the highest ratings both locally and in the context of the global hotel business. They have their own code of rules, which is strictly followed by the staff, and the level of service meets all ethical standards of behavior, being a model of attentive but unobtrusive service, tact and elegance. Now, having received the information base, let's look at the reasons of the popularity of such hotels, the conditions they offer, profits and expenses, as well as loyalty programs and other important factors that allow us to fully answer the question about the effectiveness of such chains. We will look at examples of the most popular hotels, the range of services they offer, customer reviews, bonus programs and other promotional systems, we will also pay a little attention to the history of the development of these hotel systems.
Let's start our research by looking at the most famous international chains. Their analysis will be carried out on such items as location, rating, cost of rooms and additional services, the range of services offered, the availability and description of bonus programs, their history, the number of rooms served, as well as on the reviews of travelers and their experience of staying in hotels of a certain international chain.
The first international hotel chain to be considered in this study is the InterContinental Hotels Group. This is a British international hotel chain, its Central residence is located in Denham, Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom. It was created as a result of the division of Six Continents. As of 2017, the net profit of this chain was $ 763 million, and in 2012 the number of employees was 120 thousand people. The number of serviced rooms in the hotels of this international chain is approximately 889,582, and the number of hotels exceeds 5,900.
Approximate price for accommodation, according to the website Booking.com, is 60 thousand rubles for 7 days in a Deluxe room for one person, including VAT. The room rate also includes a bathroom, air conditioning, large-format TV, mini-bar and sound insulation, cosmetics, safe, hair dryer, telephone, ironing facilities, kettle and other basic amenities. Breakfast is included, but part of the price is charged separately.
The hotel also offers additional services such as using the pool, working out in the gym, relaxing in the SPA, a restaurant with room delivery service, and a bar. Additional charges apply for services such as city transfers, use of the conference room, guided tours, presentations, golf and tennis, off-site horse riding, dry cleaning, laundry, ironing and shoe service, as well as certain beauty and wellness services such as massages.
For guests of the InterContinental hotel chain, its rating is 8.1 out of 10 possible. According to reviews, most of the guests lived in single rooms and appreciated the location, responsiveness of the staff, comfort of beds and interior. However, many reviews note that the rooms were not always cleaned, the quality of cosmetics provided fell, the restaurant's assortment is poor, and the restaurant itself opens only in the evenings, the hotel staff did not always take into account the wishes for extending the stay, which created additional inconvenience and led to a waste of time for guests. It was also noted that the equipment in the gym is outdated. There were a number of negative reviews that said that the room was not cleaned: for example, in the refrigerator of one of the guests there was someone's half-eaten ice cream, someone else's hair was in the bed, and the toothbrush was falling apart literally in the mouth. Many guests note that the high price does not correspond to the service and neglect on the part of the staff, outdated furniture and unreasonably high cost of food in the hotel's buffet. However, foreign guests are satisfied with the level of service and price, which allows us to conclude that such a price segment and price-quality ratio is acceptable for European citizens. Were also found several reviews from guests who have repeatedly stayed in this hotel chain, but they notice a drop in the level of service and quality of rooms. Many guests note that they preferred the hotel because of its popularity and location in a prestigious and convenient area of the city, but regretted about it, because they liked the experience of staying in less expensive hotels more.
These hotels also offer bonus programs. They change quite often, but most often their essence is that a certain number of points are credited to the client's bonus account for paying for a room. These points can then be used to pay part of the amount for staying in hotels in this chain. There is also the Ambassador program, which is quite positively reviewed by travelers: it provides a number of privileges, such as the possibility of booking a room for two at the price of a room for one, receiving welcome gifts, the presence of fruit and water in the water, as well as bonuses in the form of additional stay time and the possibility of a later departure.
Unfortunately, many people also speak unflatteringly about the policy of this hotel chain regarding the bonus points program. So, there were precedents when the points expired, but the hotel chain's guests did not receive a notification about this and continued to believe that they had some amount of bonuses in their account, since before that there was a notification that the program was infinite. Such incidents have changed the attitude of a large number of guests to this hotel chain, along with cases of poisoning in hotel restaurants and improper cleaning of rooms.
Consider now a chain of hotels that offers services at a much higher cost, namely the Ritz Carlton. This is an international chain of luxury hotels, founded in 1983 by Caesar Ritz, known in his country as the "king of hoteliers and hotelier of kings". This hotel chain combined the positive qualities of many hotels of that period, creating a new concept. There are 108 hotels of this chain around the world, and the number of employees reaches 40 thousand, according to 2017 data. Pay attention to this point: the previous hotel reviewed had a staff of 120 thousand people for approximately 5900 hotels, while in the case of the Ritz Carlton, three times fewer people work in the number of hotels, which is almost 55 times less than the number of InterContinental hotels, which indicates the level of service quality and strict compliance with the rate and status.
The price for accommodation in hotels of this chain is approximately 175-180 thousand rubles for 7 days in a single Deluxe room. This price includes a full English Breakfast, swimming pool, large-format TV, mini-bar, coffee machine, private bathroom, cosmetic and ironing facilities, telephone in the room, Internet access, and other necessary things on request. It is possible to organize cultural activities, such as sightseeing, concerts and performances, excursions, sports games, transfer of guests, as well as access to a conference room, SPA services, laundry and ironing services. Themed dinners, art exhibitions, and master classes are also available. Pets are allowed upon prior agreement.
This hotel has a 9 out of 10 rating. Guests of this hotel chain rates very highly the level of service, staff performance, cleanliness and design of the rooms, quality of food, level of service. In addition, they also highlight the convenience of furniture and the quality of plumbing. Positive reviews are overwhelming, as all the disadvantages highlighted by the guests include too warm blankets or lack of a toothbrush. Many guests have already stayed in hotels of this chain before, they note a consistently high level of service and cleanliness, as well as the fact that all possible shortcomings are instantly corrected by the administration of the branch of the chain.
Now let's look at a chain of budget hotels, namely Premiere Classe hotels. This is a chain of French budget hotels. They are focused more on providing the very possibility of living to guests, rather than on a special level of comfort and service. Most often, hotels of this international chain are located on the outskirts of cities, but near highways. In total, this chain unites 210 hotels. It is a kind of analogue of motels in the USA. The rooms are not equipped with showers or toilets, these facilities are located in a separate block. The rooms have a double bed, an extra bed, a TV, and some of the chain's branches offer Internet access, but the signal is quite slow. The advantage is that accommodation in this room provides for three people, it is also possible to enter with animals. The hotels have a buffet that offers guests juices, coffee, chocolate, rolls, jam and honey, it works on the principle of a buffet. There is a kind of bonus program – guests of Premiere Classe hotels get a discount of fifteen percent in the restaurants of the Campanile chain. Guests rate the hotels themselves in 6.1 out of 10 possible, staff-in 7.2 out of 10 possible. The price for a 5-night stay in this hotel is approximately 20 thousand rubles, which is higher than the average 14 thousand rubles for 7 days among this segment of hotels.
Despite the relatively good rating, the reviews are quite shocking. It is obvious that guests feel a little embarrassed, because they believe that such conditions are normal for super-budget hotels, but, nevertheless, the price of rooms is not minimal, and the problems that guests face are amazing. For example, there were complaints about unauthorized debiting of money from the card, broken and fallen door to the toilet room, the smell of cigarette smoke and bed bugs, dirty towels, poor location of the hotel, impolite staff, violation of personal space, staff entering the room without permission, uncomfortable neighborhood, as well as making additional unapproved items in the check for the amount of approximately 100 euros.
Some of the guests counted on the status of this hotel chain, but most of the residents did not even realize that this is a hotel chain, not a random unnamed motel.
The opposite situation is for the Chinese hotel chain Home Inn. This hotel chain, which first developed as a local Chinese chain of budget, but clean and comfortable rooms, soon reached the international level, gaining confidence in the environment of budget temporary housing. According to Booking.com, hotels in this chain have an approximate rating of 7.5-8 points out of 10 possible among the majority of guests, many of them rate the hotel staff at an even higher score. The average price for accommodation in hotels of the chain is 11 thousand rubles for 7 days, basic services are provided. The rooms are equipped with double beds, telephone, TV, work Desk, Wi-Fi access, working air conditioning, electric kettle. Residents are provided with towels, bathrobes, and hygiene products. Residents are quite good at assessing living conditions and the ratio of the quality of services received to their cost. There are also negative aspects, such as the fact that not all staff speak English, that cleaning was not always carried out, and there were complaints about the location of the hotel and noise outside. Apparently, guests used the services of hotels of this international chain on a one-time basis, some of them were aware of their international status, but this did not affect their reviews and perception. Some of the users who left a positive review reported that they will continue to use the services of these hotels.
Based on the analyzed data on the hotels selected as an example, as well as from the statistics of different sites, we can distinguish the following features of international hotel chains, which are manifested in various numbers or degrees in different representatives of this segment:
1) Formal elements that provide recognition of objects included in the chain as a visual unity, which is achieved due to the similarity of the territorial location, common logo, color scheme, decor elements and name. Together, these elements make up the chain's aesthetic visual business card.
2) Common elements of such hotels and approximately the same level of service and comfort.
3) A unified structure for the operation of hotels in the chain, which assumes the same service delivery strategy, behavioral model of service personnel, and one personnel management structure.
4) The Presence of a special structural superstructure or a parent company that performs strategic management.
5) Availability of bonus programs and loyalty systems for regular customers.
International hotel chains have a number of advantages, among which the following stand out most clearly:
1) Serving more customers by distributing them among the chain's hotels.
2) Use of a single centralized booking system that allows to increase the percentage of occupancy of rooms in hotels participating in the chain.
3) Wholesale purchase of a large number of goods and services (equipment for rooms, linen and bedding, sanitation and hygiene items, etc.) at wholesale prices.
4) Financing of collective business by attracting additional investments, raising capital and using it to expand and improve the efficiency of its activities;
4) Implementation of a flexible pricing policy when market conditions change;
5) The use of a centralized system in accounting, general marketing research, construction, and real estate operations significantly reduces the corresponding costs of each individual member of the chain by attracting specialists who deal with these issues at the general level of the hotel chain.
The popularity and demand for this kind of hotel systems has become acutely evident after airlines, travel agencies, entrepreneurs and corporate representatives discovered a lack of choice of hotels that meet their requirements and conditions. This led to the beginning of creating chains that combined comfort, cleanliness, comfort, and additional services, including for guests traveling as a family. With the development of hotel chains, there have been significant changes, expressed in differences in the size of chains and the complexity of their structures. The development of chains was particularly rapid in the 1950s and 1960s. During this period, the largest hotel chains in the world successfully started their activities. In the early 1980s, there was a need for a new market strategy in the hotel business. Since then, quite serious changes have taken place in this area, which continue to this day. The emergence of competition in the market led to the introduction of new rules, and the old rules became stricter. New development tactics and their conditions include the following:
- Growth, geographical expansion and development of international hotel chains.
- Deepening the specialization of the hotel offer.
- Expanding the range of hotel services, creating a unique product using an individual approach.- Clear segmentation of the consumer market of hotel services according to various criteria.
- Integration of hotel chains with other companies in the tourism industry.
- Increasing the participation of other businesses in the hotel industry by concentrating and moving capital from tourism and other industries.
- Clear positioning of hotels.
- Hybridization of the hotel product.
Compliance with these strategies by representatives of hotel systems has led to an increase in the class of services provided both for individual hotels and for the segment as a whole.
According to Koopmans, a company is technically efficient if it is able to use resources ergonomically. In other words, with a certain number of investments, the company can produce the maximum result. Thus, technical efficiency is related to the physical use of resources in the production process and is not related to any economic purpose.
If there is a need to increase revenue in addition to technical efficiency, the firm needs to get a resource allocation that generates as much revenue as possible. If the firm manages to achieve this distribution, the approach will be considered effective.
Size has a different meaning depending on whether individual is considering chains or individual hotels. The size of a chain is often measured by the number of employees employed or the number of branches in the chain, and the size of a hotel is often measured by the number of rooms. It has been suggested that larger individual hotels are able to achieve greater levels of efficiency through economies of scale in terms of quantity, as well as through greater funding and investment opportunities. Claver, Kim and Babayan and others report that large chain hotels performed better than small individual hotels. There are also confirmed studies on the fact that the size of a hotel has a positive effect on its overall income, and establishments with fewer than a hundred rooms do not always manage their resources. Tourists tend to prefer a more affordable and large establishment than overpaying for accommodation in a more expensive smaller hotel. Thus, if the previous arguments do have a valid rationale, it can be assumed that a large chain of small establishments is likely to perform worse than a chain with fewer large establishments in terms of overall net income.
There is a factor of heterogeneity in the efficiency of different hotel chains, that is, from the point of view of profitability, it is not profitable for some chains to try to increase the number of hotels with the current high rating.
Davutyan and Poldrugovac observe a growing relationship between the size of individual chains and their efficiency in the case of Anatolian and Croatian hotels. Pulina concludes that medium-sized hotels are more efficient in technical and revenue terms, which was confirmed on the basis of the Italian hotel sector. In some cases, some chains may have economies of scale that reduce the cost of overall costs. Small chains, according to this model, will be able to remain in the competitive market only if they are effective, while large chains with a low level of efficiency will be able to continue working with high reserves, access to financial loans, and so on.
According to Poldrugovac, each hotel has its own unique characteristics, so there is no universal formula for increasing its overall efficiency, and therefore profitability. Hotels have two possible strategies in common for improving efficiency. The first option is to reduce the costs resulting from the production of services, that is, an attempt to minimize the cost of rooms, food and beverages, labor, energy, and other expenses. The second option is to increase production volumes, i.e. the results obtained during the production of services, which relate to revenue and the percentage of occupancy of rooms. Hotel managers should carefully consider both of these options. Minimizing costs may have positive short-term effects, but in the long run there is a risk of negative impact on the quality of service, as well as on customer and employee satisfaction. Revenue maximization can be achieved by raising prices for services, and hotel managers need to carefully check the price flexibility of hotels. The easiest way to increase occupancy is to lower the selling price for services, but this is contrary to the goal of maximizing revenue. The ideal solution is to raise prices while offering guests additional services and comfort in comparison with competitors.
Key strategies for managers to improve overall profitability and efficiency should focus on identifying key success factors and creating competitive advantages. Some hotel companies succeed because they apply the right strategies, while others fail because they are unable to build and implement the right and effective development strategies.
This work examined various international hotel chains, their income, history, living conditions, additional services provided by them, rating and reviews of guests of their branches. We analyzed data from room booking sites, the sites of the hotels themselves, individual independent critical reviews, literature and research on the topic. The aim of this work was to provide data on the factors of level of the efficiency in the context of international hotel chains, identifying potential problems and nuances in the strategy formation process to achieve the highest level of efficiency, the consideration of non-obvious external factors as the reasons for the reduced efficiency, case studies of successful international hotel chains and elucidation of the role of celebrity and the rating of individual chains in the context of the choice of potential client of the hotel.
In the course of work we found out that the main criteria for a client selecting the hotel as well as the factors for its preference of one other hotel chains are, first and foremost, the quality of service, level of professionalism of the staff and friendliness, the availability of additional facilities and services, the willingness of the administration to ensure the best performance of additional requirements, convenience of location in town, clean and unobtrusive.
The best strategy for improving the efficiency and profitability of hotels can be considered to raise the prices of hotel accommodation and additional services, followed by providing the client with additional amenities, comfort and bonuses. The strategy of increasing the number of branches did not prove to be effective, since in some cases the expansion of the hotel chain led to a drop in the level of service quality and, consequently, customer satisfaction with the service, and there were also problems in managing the expanding sphere due to a lack of staff, or, conversely, an increase in expenses due to salary payments to new staff hired for administration.
The main advantages of hotel chains that directly or indirectly lead to an increase in the level of efficiency were deduced. These include serving a larger number of customers due to their distribution among branches of the hotel chain, using a single booking system that allows to evenly distribute the load on hotels and provide the best service to customers, wholesale purchase of goods and services, such as room equipment, personal hygiene and cleaning products, linen and bedding, etc., which allows to reduce costs across the chain, using a single accounting system, conducting General marketing research and construction, this also reduces the quality spread that is possible when hiring individual professionals, and the cost of hiring staff for individual branches of hotels.
It was also found that in some cases, competition in the segment of international hotel chains led to a strong increase in the quality of service and service delivery, improvement of the aesthetic image and rating in the market, increased image recognition and expansion of the customer base.

Sources and references
1) https://www.booking.com/index.ru.html?label=gen173rf-1BCAEoggI46AdIM1gDaIABiAEBmAEhuAEXyAEM2AEB6AEBiAIBmAIiqAIDuAKro8b9BcACAdICJGEwNjlmNjFiLTk1ZTAtNDhkNy04MDgyLTY0MDZjOTFiYTg1ONgCBeACAQ;sid=1c2955111719de2dd042fa7f970e313c;keep_landing=1&sb_price_type=total&2) Efficiency in the hotel industry: an empirical examination of the most influential factors, Katarina Poldrugovac, Journal: Economic Research-Ekonomska Istraživanja,Volume 29, 2016 - Issue 1: Including Special Section: 7th International scientific conference by Juraj Dobrila University of Pula and Istrian Development Agency;
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