HTL301 Managing Hotel and Resort Facilities

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HTL301 Managing Hotel and Resort Facilities

Table of ContentsExecutive Summary...............................................................................................................................i

1.0 Introduction....................................................................................................................................1

2.0 Brand Positioning............................................................................................................................1

3.0 Facility Design Philosophy...............................................................................................................13.1 Aloft Cupertino Lobby...............................................................................................................................13.2 Aloft Cupertino Rooms.............................................................................................................................23.3 Aloft Cupertino Facilities...........................................................................................................................2

4.0 Aloft Cupertino Technology.............................................................................................................44.1 Botlr, the Robot Butler.............................................................................................................................44.2 SPG Keyless..............................................................................................................................................5

5.0 Aloft Cupertino’s Environmental Sustainability...............................................................................6

6.0 Conclusion and Recommendations.................................................................................................7

7.0 Reference List.................................................................................................................................8

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HTL301 Managing Hotel and Resort Facilities

1.0 Introduction

It is evident that hospitality industry is the quickest developing industry in line with the development of the business world. The reason is that people frequently travel for the purpose of either business or leisure. Undoubtedly, the hospitality industry is faced with an intense competition. A hotel should be able to be distinguished by its product with unique features or top-notch services compared to its competitors. Additionally, to preserve its competitiveness, hotels need to keep pace with the current trends accordance to the era. According to Shanka and Taylor (2003), by inventing trends or following them, it will not only attract guests and increase satisfaction, moreover to help to facilitate hotels’ operations.

Aloft Hotels was founded in 2008 by Starwood Hotels, which was acquired by Marriott in 2015. Starwood Hotels seek to expand its market to more of a contemporary hotel and wished to generate the same success as W Hotels at the selected market, which is the next generation travellers. Aloft Hotels possess the same vision as W on global and trendy lifestyle, nevertheless with a lower price to target the middle-class guests. This report will briefly examine the brand positioning, facility design philosophy then will furtherly discuss the technology and environmental sustainability of Aloft Cupertino.

2.0 Brand Positioning

Brand positioning specifies to the rank that the brand stands in the consumer’s perspective (Briciu & Briciu, 2016). The purpose of brand classifications is to determine the standard and level of services, regulate the qualification for the particular tier in relation to its fixtures, furniture and equipment (FF&E) and design (Narangajavana, 2007). According to Miller (2016), Smith Travel Research (STR) created a Global Chain Scale where they categorize international hotel brands into various classes, positioned according to their previous year’s Average Daily Rate (ADR). The classes include economy, midscale, upper midscale, upscale, upper upscale and luxury. Aloft Hotels is positioned in the Upscale class according to the STR Global Chain Scale.

Marriott believes that each of its 30 brands is individually distinctive, yet all together they are all collectively powerful. Marriott International created the largest hotel chain in the world since its acquisition of Starwood in 2015 (Marriott News Center,2015). Marriott positions Aloft Hotels which is a 4-star hotel, in the Upscale class likewise STR Global Chain Scale (Marriott Development, 2018). Furthermore, Marriott stated that Aloft Hotels is the fastest ever launch of a new brand, with 17 hotels in its first year in 2008, 39 in its second, and currently 137 hotels running across 20 countries worldwide in only 10 years since its first launch. In the beginning, Aloft Hotels relied solely on the US market. However, recently Aloft Hotels began to emerge in the Middle East alongside India and China, with the expectation of 500 millions of Chinese travellers to arise. Aloft Cupertino is located in California, United States in the heart of Cupertino surrounded by numerous major tech companies that include Apple headquarters and it claims as a tech-savvy hotel.

3.0 Facility Design Philosophy

Each hotel brand owns their personal and unique design philosophy. Design philosophy indicates one’s viewpoint on design, their expectation of what they want to accomplish with design, and substantially, their anticipation of what design must accomplish (Latour, 2008). Aloft Hotels’ tagline is ‘Different by Design’ meaning that it entered the hospitality industry with a vision of an urban and modern design philosophy. This is mainly to target the younger generations, specifically the Generation Y and the digital-savvy generations. Aloft Hotels provides the chic social experience at an economical price. Aloft Hotels is exclusively partnered with Design Within Reach (DWR) who creates Furniture, Furnishing & Equipment (FF&E) with an authentic modern design.

3.1 Aloft Cupertino Lobby

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HTL301 Managing Hotel and Resort Facilities

For travellers who are looking for a stylish stay, Aloft Cupertino’s lobby seems to have a great appeal. The use of vibrant colours of its FF&E provides a modern and vibrant social scene. The lobby provides a sense of urban-loft from its naked ductwork, ceiling to floor windows, and polished concrete walls.

3.2 Aloft Cupertino Rooms

Once again, Aloft Cupertino’s guest room is aligned with its modern approach to design with its use of mixed colours and modern artworks. Especially with the accent wall behind the beds, which provides a contemporary interior (Dalke, Little, Niemann, Camgoz, Steadman, Hill & Stott, 2006). There are several uses of having an accent wall, one is to visually enlarge the size of the room with its dark colour that provides manipulation of an extended space. Another advantage is to present a backdrop that frames the room, creates a focus to the eye and highlighting the furniture placed.

3.3 Aloft Cupertino Facilities

Aloft Hotels possesses their own unique names of their facilities and the trademarks are registered. Aloft Cupertino has a self-serve dining outlet named ‘Re:fuel’, its gym and fitness centre is named ‘Re:charge’, its swimming pool is named ‘Splash pool’, its bar is named ‘W XYZ bar’, and their lounge that provides pool table is named ‘Re:mix’ (Aloft Cupertino, 2018).

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HTL301 Managing Hotel and Resort Facilities

From the pictures below, it is shown that Aloft Cupertino selected blue colour as their dominant colour especially on their accent lightings. According to O’Connor (2011) choosing a certain colour on design may provide colour psychology. Additionally, blue colour brings the sense of cool and collected and it aims to melt the stress away and provides relaxation. The choice of the furniture is relatively simple and the use of the long table at re:fuel encourages guests to sit together and interact. Completed with the colourful and modern artwork which provide the complete touch of a modern and contemporary design.

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HTL301 Managing Hotel and Resort Facilities

4.0 Aloft Cupertino Technology

By developing a new technology, a hotel may have a massive competitive advantage (Šerić, Gil-Saura, & Ruiz-Molina, 2014). With the motto that Aloft Hotels believe which is “A place where energy flows, personalities mingle and opportunities abound”, Aloft Hotels did not only focus on their design to attract customers. Aloft Hotels believes that it is the next generation of the lodging industry, by using the latest and unconventional technology to improve guests’ experiences and move alongside globalization (Pardo, Cooper, Steiner, & Claster, 2013). Aloft Cupertino is utilizing various advanced technologies throughout the hotel such as Apple TV in each room, Botlr (Aloft’s Robot Butler), and SPG Keyless.

4.1 Botlr, the Robot Butler

Back in 2014, Aloft Cupertino introduced Botlr to the world, its latest technology created by Savioke, which is a service robot producer (Crunch Base, 2016). Botlr is a robot butler and it made Aloft Cupertino the pioneer in the hotel industry that applies this technology (Aloft, n.d.). Boltr operates primarily to fulfil guests’ needs and requests by delivering them to the guest rooms. For instance, a guest wished to have an extra toothbrush, the guest may simply put in the request from their smart phone. The request will be acknowledged by the hotel staff who will load the toothbrush to Botlr. Botlr will then send it to the room. Through sensors and Wi-Fi connection, Botlr is able to communicate with hotel staffs and elevators and is able to maneuverer on its own with ease. Guests may interact with Botlr through its touch screen panel on its ‘face’. Typically, when a request is completed, Botlr will ask with a question “did you get everything you requested?” and it provides the option of “connect with front desk” if the guest requests for further help or queries.

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HTL301 Managing Hotel and Resort Facilities

The human brain tends to keep up with the patterns of other social beings (Pinker, 1999). People adore when other people remember them as distinctive and interesting. Therefore, human beings do things that other social beings do, in the anticipation of receiving the mutual approval. Botlr certainly created a new trend and proved that technology brings a massive competitive advantage and positive impacts for the hotel. Aloft’s head of innovation, Eric Marlo acknowledged that numberless guests stayed in Aloft Cupertino merely to experience its newest technology (Detroit Free Press, 2015).

From this information, Aloft Cupertino certainly invested on the perfect technology that brought a huge increase in its room sales and its investment influenced a high profitability. Not only sales and profits, Botlr additionally reduced labour expenses since it replaced the hotel staffs that commonly brings guests’ requests. On the downside, the high maintenance costs may occur as well, alongside with a sudden increase of unemployment of the hotel staffs that were replaced by Botlr. Computerisation has put 47% of jobs at risk in the USA alone (Osborne & Frey, 2013).

4.2 SPG Keyless

Starwood Hotels was the pioneer of Bluetooth-based cardless room key in 2014 (Business Wire, 2014). Aloft Cupertino is one of the 160 of Starwood properties that is applying this technology. This technology is not only limited by smart phones, but is extended to Apple watch as well. The feature is made exclusively for Starwood Preferred Guests (SPG) members. According to Boden (2016) the service was then extended in 2016 to allow multiple guests who are sharing a room to enjoy the technology.

Since its implementation in 2014, over 350,000 SPG members are registered for SPG Keyless. The utilization of this advanced technology is relatively simple, SPG members are required to download the free SPG App to their smart phones or watches. Every time they book a night at a hotel that supports this technology such as Aloft Cupertino, an option of going keyless will appear. Guests may simply check themselves in through the app and will automatically receive the virtual key in their device (Hospitality Net, 2014).

This service is very practical especially for business travellers who do not wish to spend more time to wait in line to be checked in at the front desk. Additionally, the keyless program is highly secured since it is more unlikely for other people to access the guests’ smartphones compared to traditional room keys. However, the disadvantage is that it may encounter some technological problems since it relies on the smart phone itself, the network and Bluetooth. For instance, if a guest’s smart phone ran out of battery, they will be required to request to the reception for the traditional room key which is more tedious.

5.0 Aloft Cupertino’s Environmental Sustainability

One of the principles of the implementation of business specifically in the hospitality industry is the

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HTL301 Managing Hotel and Resort Facilities

conservation of nature and the environment, for the reason that every hotelier is obliged to take care of the environment in order to maintain sustainability (Dlamini, Coetzee & Khunou, 2014). The high demand in the emerging hospitality industry will also be correlated with the increased use of resources to meet the demand of guests. This may affect the environmental conditions, which may cause an increase of environmental issues in the industry (Gibson, 2006).

To reduce these issues, Aloft Hotels visions to decrease environmental issues and impacts. For instance, engineers utilized natural wood and corks for the interior furniture of Aloft Milwaukee Downtown. Additionally, instead of bottled toiletries, Aloft Hotels provides soap and shampoo dispensers in the shower (Aloft Hotels, 2018).

In particular, Aloft Cupertino encourages guests to join on their green initiatives program called ‘Make a Green Choice’ and it claims as an eco-friendly hotel as well. The hotel offers $5 off voucher at their self-serve dining outlet, Re:fuel or 250 SPG Starpoints each night when guests decline housekeeping services. Moreover, Aloft Cupertino was certified as a Bay Area Green Business (Aloft Cupertino, 2018). This certification by Bay Area Business Program recognises businesses that protect, preserve and sustain the environment. From this award, it is proven that Aloft Cupertino has been conserving resources, reducing waste, and reducing its carbon footprint.

6.0 Conclusion and Recommendations

To conclude, Aloft Hotels is categorised as an Upscale class brand according to both STR Global Chain Scale and Marriott International. Aloft Hotel emphasizes on its modern and chic design mainly to target its specific market which are the millennials, Generation Y and digital-savvy travellers. Aloft Cupertino is a tech-savvy hotel which was designed by Aloft’s partner, Design Within Reach (DWR). The hotel’s interior design provides the vibrant, modern and contemporary look in accordance with its vision which is ‘different by design’. By claiming that Aloft Cupertino is a tech-savvy hotel, it proves that it offers various latest technologies in the hotel industry such as robot butler called Botlr and cardless room key called SPG Keyless. Not only limited in technology, Aloft Cupertino is honoured to contribute and encourage guests to maintain environmental sustainability for a better environment for the community, residents and future generations. Aloft Cupertino is proud to be distinguished as a business that is certified as a Bay Area Green Business.

The first recommendation for Aloft Cupertino is to always keep up with the latest trend in technology and design especially on the trends of the next gen travellers to maintain its reputation and branding. Second recommendation is that Aloft Cupertino may create a partnership with a tech company that is located near the hotel to develop new and fresh technology that will help hotel operations and that is unique enough to attract more guests and retain the existing.

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7.0 Reference List

Aloft Cupertino. (2018). Retrieved from http://www.aloftcupertino.com

Aloft Hotels. (2018). Retrieved from https://aloft-hotels.starwoodhotels.com

Aloft. (n.d.). Botlr. Retrieved from http://www.alofthotelshub.com/news/botlr/

Boden, R. (2016). nfcworld.com. Starwood expands keyless entry to hotels worldwide. NFC World. Retrieved from https://www.nfcworld.com/2016/06/29/345853/starwood-expands-keyless-entry-hotels-worldwide/

BRICIU, V., & Briciu, A. (2016). A brief history of brands and the evolution of place branding. Bulletin of the Transilvania University of Brasov. Series VII: Social Sciences. Law, 9(2). Retrieved from http://webbut.unitbv.ro/bulletin/Series%20VII/BULETIN%20I/22_Briciu.pdf

Business Wire. (2014). Announcing the Global Debut of SPG Keyless from Starwood Hotels & Resorts: the First Truly Mobile, Keyless Room Entry. Business Wire. Retrieved from https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20141103005046/en/Announcing-Global-Debut-SPG-Keyless-Starwood-Hotels

Cruch Base. (2016). Savioke Overview. Retrieved from https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/savioke-2#/entity

Dalke, H., Little, J., Niemann, E., Camgoz, N., Steadman, G., Hill, S., & Stott, L. (2006). Colour and lighting in hospital design. Optics & Laser Technology, 38(4-6), 343-365.

Detroit Free Press. (2015). Aloft hotel shows off Botlr, a ‘Star Wars’-like droid. Retrieved from http://www.freep.com/story/money/business/michigan/2015/12/08/aloft-botlr-robot-star-wars/76790574/

Dlamini, X. H., Coetzee, W. J. L., & Khunou, P. S. (2014). An Analysis of Community Support for Tourism in Swaziland: A Case of Ezulwini Valley.(Part II). 25–27 June 2014, Le Meridien Hotel ISSN 169412225 Edited by Robin Nunkoo, Boopen Seetanah & Raja, 732.

Gibson, R. B. (2006). Beyond the pillars: sustainability assessment as a framework for effective integration of social, economic and ecological considerations in significant decision-making. Journal of Environmental Assessment Policy and Management, 8(03), 259-280.

Hospitality Net. (2014). Announcing the Global Debut of SPG Keyless from Starwood Hotels & Resorts: The First Mobile, Keyless Room Entry. Hospitality Net. Retrieved from https://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4067613.html

Latour, B. (2008). A cautious Prometheus? A few steps toward a philosophy of design (with special attention to Peter Sloterdijk). In Proceedings of the 2008 annual international conference of the design history society (pp. 2-10).

Marriott Development. (2018). Brands. Retrieved from https://hotel-development.marriott.com/brands-dashboard/

Marriott News Center. (2015). Marriott International to Acquire Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Creating the World's Largest Hotel Company - Marriott News Center. Retrieved from http://news.marriott.com/2015/11/marriott- international-to-acquire-starwood-hotels-resorts-worldwide-creating-the-worlds- largest-hotel-company/

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Miller, D. (2016). How Hotels Categorize Themselves (The Difference Between Upscale and Upper Upscale). Points with a Crew. Retrieved from http://www.pointswithacrew.com/hotels-categorize-difference-upscale-upper-upscale/

Narangajavana, Y. (2007). The relationship of the hotel rating system and service quality: A case study of the ‘Thailand Hotels Standard’ (Doctoral dissertation, Oklahoma State University). Retrieved from https://shareok.org/bitstream/handle/11244/7262/School%20of%20Hotel%20and%20Restaurant%20Administration_64.pdf?sequence=1

O'Connor, Z. (2011). Colour psychology and colour therapy: Caveat emptor. Color Research & Application, 36(3), 229-234.

Pardo, P., Cooper, M., Steiner, D., & Claster, W. (2013). The Impact of Technology Innovativeness on Four and Five Star Hotels in Switzerland. Journal Of Hospitality & Tourism, 11(1), 1-16. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hjh&AN=90447119&site=ehost-live

Pinker, S. (1999). How the mind works. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 882(1), 119-127.

Šerić, M., Gil-Saura, I., & Ruiz-Molina, M. E. (2014). How can integrated marketing communications and advanced technology influence the creation of customer-based brand equity? Evidence from the hospitality industry. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 39, 144-156. Retrieved from http://www.mihantarjomeh.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/How-can-integrated-marketing-communications___s7d4fas2f10sf0f.pdf

Shanka, T., & Taylor, R. (2003). An Investigation into the Perceived Importance of Service and Facility Attributes to Hotel Satisfaction. Journal Of Quality Assurance In Hospitality & Tourism, 4(3/4), 119-134. doi:10.1300/J162v04n03_08.

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