CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
Hotel and catering services are basically concerned with the essentials of food, housing, but they are profit centers too; also offering entertainment, providing myriad services and meeting many other needs. Man’s basic need for food and shelter has not changed in the course of civilization, but the environment in which they exist is undergoing constant change. Adapting to the change calls for flexible leadership, one of the many attributes of management and one not usually required of technically skilled workmen. Some changes are gradual, of course, others come suddenly. But all of them contribute to the dynamic nature of the society and to one important segment of that society – the ever- changing hotel and catering field.
In the past, hospitality management was a management of personality. Few managers of the old school were managers in the present day sense of the word. Capital investment was smaller, labour problems were almost unknown, most were family businesses; government control and regulation practically unheard of. Management was the skill of Mine Host, the ability to comfort the traveller and welcome the stranger.
Not so today where investment requires corporate ownership; labour involves complex contracts and a myriad of government regulations, limitations and restrictions tap the energy of the modern manager.
It is not surprising therefore, that today’s executives are meeting in conferences, attending seminars, talking to the experts and consulting with advisers. They are less and less on the floors of their establishments and more and more behind their desks. Here, efforts are concentrated on the problems of rising costs and slender profits. Increasing competitions, costly modernization and other problems preoccupy our present-day managers. With increasing expectations, they look to the implementation of sound business practices to provide the means of countering the many few pressures facing the hotel and catering industry.
For any hotel, no matter how well operated, must have to be first located in an ideal spot, in perfectly favourable economic conditions to be able to attain an ultimate efficiency without marketing activity backup. The fact is that business exists in a dynamic environment affected by economic, legal, political and technological conditions that have varied impact on business fortune in terms of periods of boom and adversity.
The truth is that no matter the quality of management in terms of capacity, standards and resources, hotels and catering houses definitely need marketing efforts to achieve corporate goals and objectives of profit maximization.