pi project report

Premier InnBradford CentralConsultancy Report“The impact of Westfield’s Broadway shopping centre on

the Premier Inn Bradford Central Occupancy, Staff and Thyme restaurant.”

ACADEMIC YEAR 2013/2014

Mentor: Simon Murphy, General Manager Premier Inn Bradford Central

Project Supervisor: Vicky Harte

Consultancy TeamMehran Habib

Federico Raviele Sidhant Bhadauria

Asma Shah

LEEDS METROPLITANUNIVERSITY

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY ............................................................................................ 1

CHAPTER – 1: INTRODUCTION: ...............................................................................3

Background on premier inn Bradford Central ...........................................................3

Key Issues .........................................................................................................4

Project Objectives ...............................................................................................4

CHAPTER – 2: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY: ..............................................................6

PRIMARY RESEARCH: ..........................................................................................6

GUEST SURVEY: ..............................................................................................6

Value to the client: ..........................................................................................7

staff survey: ...................................................................................................8

value to the client: ..........................................................................................8

approach to data collection: ..............................................................................8

sampling: .......................................................................................................8

questionnaire making & pilot research: ................................................................8

INTERVIEWS ......................................................................................................8

Value to the client: ..........................................................................................9

RESEARCH ETHICS: ............................................................................................9

SECONDARY RESEARCH: ................................................................................... 10

RESEARCH LIMITATIONS: ................................................................................... 10

CHAPTER – 3: SECONDARY RESEARCH ANALYSIS & DISCUSSION: .............................. 12

COMPETITOR ANALYSIS .................................................................................... 12

Threat of new hotels and restaurants: ............................................................... 12

Threat of substitutes for the hotels and restaurant: ............................................. 13

The power of buyers: ..................................................................................... 13

Competitive rivalry in hotels and restaurants: ..................................................... 13

Premier inn & hilton (the bradford hotel): ...........................................................14

Premier inn vs travelodge: ...............................................................................14

Premier inn vs jurys inn: ..................................................................................14

Thyme competitive rivals: ................................................................................15

Thyme & frankie & bennys: ..............................................................................15

Thyme & nando’s: .......................................................................................... 16

WESTFIELD BRADFORD ......................................................................................17

Bradford Retail and leisure Study .......................................................................17

LIVERPOOL UPLIFTING PLAN: ............................................................................ 18

BCCAAP- BRADFORD CITY CENTRE AREA ACTION PLAN: .......................................19

The need for Bradford City Centre Action Plan; ..................................................20

Current Key Issues faced by the City Centre; .......................................................21

CONTENTS

BCCAAP-The impact of Bradford City Centre Area Action PLAN; .......................... 22

Bad Image of Bradford .................................................................................... 22

CHAPTER – 4: FINDINGS, ANALYSIS & DISCUSSION OF PRIMARY RESEARCH: .............. 23

FINDINGS FROM THE GUEST SURVEY: ................................................................. 23

Variabe no. 1: Purpose of stay: ........................................................................ 23

Variable no. 2: First visit or not? ...................................................................... 24

Variable no. 3: Number of visits to pi bradford ................................................... 24

Variable no. 4: Satisfaction from the stay at pi ................................................... 24

Variable no. 5: Westfield construction impact ..................................................... 25

Variable no. 6, 7 & 8: Stay diruption factors ....................................................... 25

Variable no. 9: Likeliness of stay after westfield opening ...................................... 26

Variable no. 10: Meals consumed in thyme restaurant ......................................... 26

Variable no. 11: How pleased with quality of meals provided ................................. 27

Variable no. 12: Number of drinks taken ............................................................ 27

Variable no. 13, 14 & 15: Changes required for the meals ..................................... 28

Variable no. 16: Ethnicity ................................................................................ 28

Variable no. 17: Age ....................................................................................... 29

Variable no. 18: Weekday or weekend guest ...................................................... 29

GUEST SURVEY ANALYSIS: ................................................................................30

Purpose of Stay * Number of Visits to Premier Inn Bradford .................................. 31

Purpose of Stay * Number of drinks taken ......................................................... 31

Purpose of Stay * Meals consumed in the Premier Inn restaurant ........................... 31

Number of drinks taken * Respondents Age ....................................................... 32

Respondents Ethnicity * Purpose of Stay ............................................................ 32

Purpose of Stay * Weekdays or Weekend .......................................................... 33

Sat. from the stay at Premier Inn Bradford*Likeliness of stay after Westfield opening 33

N. of Visits to Premier Inn Bradford*Westfield Construction negative impact?Y OR N 34

FINDINGS FROM THE STAFF SURVEY:.................................................................. 34

Variable no. 6: Duration of work at premier inn bradford...................................... 35

Variable no. 7: General satisfaction from job ...................................................... 35

Variable no. 8: Satisfaction from salary ............................................................. 36

Variable no. 9: Satisfaction with amoumt of leave .............................................. 36

Variable no. 10: Satisfaction with security of employment .................................... 37

Variable no. 11: Satisfaction with flexibility of working hours ............................... 37

Variable no. 12: Sat. From opportunity for training & development ....................... 38

Variable no. 13: Satisfaction from opportunity for promotion ................................ 38

Variable no. 14: Working in 2 years time ........................................................... 39

Variable no 15: interest in westfield jobs ........................................................... 39

STAFF SURVEY ANALYSIS: .................................................................................40

Means for the satisfaction level questions .......................................................... 41

Satisfaction from salary ..................................................................................42

Satisfaction from opportunity for training & development ..................................... 43

Satisfaction from opportunity for promotion .......................................................44

FINDINGS FROM THE INTERVIEWS: ..................................................................... 46

Interview 1 leeds city centre: ...........................................................................46

Interview 2 doncaster central: .......................................................................... 47

INTERVIEWS ANALYSIS: .................................................................................... 49

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSIONS: .................................................................................50

Westfield Impact on Occupancy of PI: ..................................................................50

Westfield Impact on Staff of PI: .......................................................................... 51

Westfield Impact on Thyme restaurant of PI: ......................................................... 51

CHAPTER-6: RECOMMENDATIONS: ........................................................................ 53

BIBLIOGRAPHY: ...................................................................................................58

APPENICES: ........................................................................................................ 62

Appendix – 1: guest questionnaire: ...................................................................... 62

Appendix – 2: staff questionnaire: ....................................................................... 66

Appendix – 3: mastcraft-london investment group ................................................. 68

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

EXECUTIVESUMMARY

The background fact of the report states that “In the city of Bradford, the under construction shop-

ping centre ‘Westfield’ is due to open in Autumn 2015 opposite to the Premier Inn (PI) Bradford

central hotel”.

The consultancy team was provided with a mission to find out a positive or negative impact of

Westfield on the three elements of the PI hotel, these are: occupancy, staff and the inbound

restaurant ‘Thyme’.

In addition to above the consultancy team aimed to discover recommendations for the PI by carry-

ing out internal and external analysis, in order to manage the impact from Westfield plus increase

the occupancy and improve business operations.

A constructivist research approach was used by the consultants which is a combination of both

qualitative and quantitative research. For Primary research, the methods of investigation were one

Guest survey, two Staff surveys and three Interviews with the management of PI Leeds city centre

and PI Doncaster central.

A secondary research was followed by the consultants which was targeted towards achieving the

objectives such as competitor analysis for both PI hotel and inbound restaurant Thyme, In-depth

analysis of the Westfield shopping centre and the assessment of the plan proposed by the Brad-

ford local Government called as Bradford City Centre Area Action Plan (BCCAAP). This plan was

linked with the Upliftment plan of Liverpool which has recently transformed hotel industry in the

Liverpool city centre.

Various type of key findings were explored from the surveys and interviews, for instance the con-

struction work impact on PI, the likeliness of stay among guests after Westfield opening, change

factors for Thyme restaurant, satisfaction level of the staff, likeliness of working in Westfield and

the impact of shopping centres on PI Leeds city centre and PI Doncaster central.

The valuable analysis that were made by the consultants include “the cross tab analysis of guests

stay purposes with the meals they consumed in Thyme”, “Number of drinks taken with Respon-

dents age,” “the satisfaction of guests with their likeliness of stay at PI after Westfield.” From

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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

the staff survey the key analysis were “the means derived for the staff general satisfaction and

satisfaction from different aspects of their job” and also “the cross tab analysis of the staff plans

in coming two years with their interest in Westfield Jobs.” In the interview analysis the important

discussion is about the performance of hotels based in the city centres, the impact of shopping

centres and some important facts such as over capacity were discovered.

The conclusions were based on the whole report both primary and secondary research which stat-

ed that the impact of Westfield on occupancy of PI will be positive, the impact of Westfield on PI

staff will be in the middle (the reasons are explained under conclusions section) and the impact

of Westfield on Thyme restaurant will be quite negative.. The consultants have also observed a

perfect competition environment for PI.

Practical recommendations have been drawn by the consultants to improve occupancy and other

elements of PI which can also minimise the negative impact of Westfield, for instance the Overca-

pacity reduction of the hotel through conference rooms and Lease to Gym, Value deals on dinner,

Profitable Networks with Westfield management, Tie-ups with nearby popular restaurants and a

staff Retention Plan.

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Chapter 01 INTRODUCTIONEXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Chapter 01IntroduCtIon

The purpose of this report is to provide the general manager of Premier Inn (PI) Bradford Central with a clear picture about the positive or negative impact of the upcoming Westfield shopping centre on first occupancy of the hotel, second on staff turnover and third on the Thyme inbound restaurant. In addition to this, the consultancy team will provide practical recommendations for increasing hotel occupancy and improving the operations of the business.This report is based on the assessment of a series of internal and external factors that are affecting the occupancy of the hotel. After observing the daily operations of the business and gathering information from the hotel as well as its employees, customers and competitors, the consultancy team prepared a comprehensive analysis of the business. This analysis consists of an examination of the internal and external factors of the business, as well as the correlation of the business issues and opportunities with its surrounding area. Coupled with the identification of the key business issues are prepared viable recommendations to address those issues. The outcome of the recommendations are to be useful and implemented so that Premier Inn Bradford Central can achieve a higher level of success and reach its full profit potential.

Background on Premier Inn Bradford Central

Premier Inn Bradford Central is a branch of Premier Inn Hotels, a well-established budget hotel chain with over 650 hotels in the UK, Ireland, United Arab Emirates and India. This hotel has been recently built with 118 bedrooms and a Thyme branded on site restaurant open for breakfast and dinner 7 days per week (Premier Inn, 2014).Opposite to the hotel is Westfield Bradford construction site which is due to open in December 2015 and will feature more than 70 retail units, 1,300 new car parking spaces, restaurants

and cafes. (Westfield, 2014).

Premier Inn Bradford Central

Westfieldconstruction

site

4

Chapter 01 INTRODUCTION

Key Issues

These issues were explored from the theoretical analysis such as Porter’s five forces model plus in

discussion and meetings with the client.

The ideal profitability rate in the hospitality industry is reached when the occupancy rates is equal to the

hotel’s absorptive capacity. Despite Premier Inn’s overall success in hotel occupancy, the Bradford branch

is not performing well, the occupancy has improved just from 20% to 50% since opening of the hotel.

From the consultants’ perspective, the key issues hindering profitability are:

• Impact of the Bradford construction work of Westfield shopping opposite to Premier Inn

Brad ford central on the customers of Hotel.

• High level of competition with hotels and restaurants in the same area.

• Poor image of Bradford.

• Performance of the Thyme restaurant is quite poor (Currently 50% guests take breakfast

and only 28% take dinner).

Project Objectives

In terms of objectives we proposed to achieve short term and long term objectives. The reason

behind short term and long term objectives is that short term objectives are for the here and now

and the long term objectives are more theoretical and suggestions that PI need to consider further

down the line and how they might address them. |Long term objectives are included because to

some extent they are affecting the hotel now but these are issues that can’t really be addressed

until Westfield is finished.

The short-term objectives were:

1. To find out positive or negative impact of Westfield opening on the occupancy, staff and

restaurant of the hotel.

2. To determine the causes of current low occupancy.

3. To assess the impact of the construction work opposite to the hotel.

4. To find out why thyme restaurant is not performing well.

5. To carry out a competitor analysis from city centre hotels and restaurants.

6. What is the Customer satisfaction level?

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Chapter 01 INTRODUCTION Chapter 01 INTRODUCTION

7. The Likeliness of stay at Premier Inn Bradford after the opening of Westfield.

8. To forecast possible staff turnover ratio and cost by assessing staff motivation, needs and

satisfaction

The long-term objectives were:

1. To assess how the Bradford City Centre Area Action Plan (BCCAP) will affect Premier Inn

and its surrounding area.

2. To carry out a competitor analysis (Bars and restaurants) from upcoming Westfield shop-

ping centre.

3. Research about the new shopping centre in terms of its structure, potential customers

and type of retailers.

4. Evaluation of the Liverpool development plan and comparison with the BCCAP.

5. To draw recommendations for the performance improvement of the Hotel, restaurant and

bar.

6. To investigate the performance and impact of shopping centres of other Premier Inn ho-

tels based in other city centres in the vicinity of shopping centres.

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Chapter 02 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Chapter 02reSearCh MethodoLoGY

GUEST SURVEY

Initially, the consultants proposed two separate questionnaires for hotel customers and Restaurant & bar customers. Questionnaires are predominantly a quantitative approaches and are commonly used as a means of collecting numerical data with some textual information from a wider sample. The information gathered can be limited but defines clear facts about the contexts in which the research is undertaken (Wilson, S., 1977). The consultants used the questionnaire as a first instance technique as they wanted to follow up on the experience that customers had at Premier Inn and its Thyme restaurant. The client was not fully convinced on this approach as client suggested that the footfall in restaurant & bar is not adequate presently and they were concerned that the consultants will struggle to gain good number of respondents by doing separate questionnaires. The supervisor also specified that in doing so the analysis for two separate questionnaires will be challenging and time consuming for the consulting team, considering the allotted time frame. Therefore, the consultants decided to address both the customers through a single questionnaire as it was more likely that some of the customers that are answering questions regarding their stay at the hotel, will have either had breakfast or dinner at the restaurant or attended the bar at the restaurant. This would also provide the data of the customers that are only staying at the hotel and not having any meals and drinks.

The consultants were advised to make the required changes in the methods of investigation that were proposed in the project proposal of the PI Bradford. The whole concept of research approach remains the same as constructivist which is the combination of both qualitative and quantitative research (Cresswell, J, 2009). But as it was mentioned in the project proposal that operationality of the research will mainly depend on the client choices, so after discussion with client on the actual proposal, the feasible

methods were followed, that are explained below.

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Chapter 02 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Chapter 02 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

Value to the client

“Some of the valuable analysis for the client through this questionnaire is about the impact of Westfield construction work, the positive or negative impact on occupancy after opening of Westfield, the performance of the hotel, the customer satisfaction level from the hotel itself plus restaurant and bar. It also helped to provide the recommendations for changes in the hotel food services.”We used close ended questionnaires in order to survey the customers. Closed or Structured Questionnaires is a quantitative method of research popularly advocated by Emile Durkheim (1858 - 1917). It is a positivist research method where a series of questions are posed before a respondent. If constructed well and administered in a sensible way, they are capable of

providing statements about the entire population. They provide statistical information.

Approach for data Collection

The agreement was made on the following method; that the consultants should personally visit the hotel on some of the weekdays and weekends to have a good combination of leisure and business respondents. The consultants were suggested to approach the customers professionally and humbly to request them for filling out the questionnaires. The suitable timing for data collection process was proposed from early morning till mid-day, which is the normal check out time for the hotel. The above process was followed for consecutively one month.The method of doing face to face questionnaires with customers was very helpful for the consultants as they were able to get maximum responses for all the question included in the Guest questionnaire. (Refer to Appendix 1). If for example customers had difficulty in answering some of the questions such as the customers were new to the questions about Westfield, so consultants have a chance to explain them that what these questions are really about and what type of response is expected. Even some of the customers were not aware of the Westfield then the consultants had an opportunity to pass on more details about the Westfield project, which they really found interesting and also helped them to answer the questions more straight forward.

Sampling

The targeted sample size remain the same as 1/3 of the monthly customers. It is important to mention that the client highlighted in the meeting that only 10% feedback is possible in the type of surveys which the consultants were intending to undertake. In general, sample size is the fraction of population that the research is to be conducted on. There are various arguments regarding what an ideal sample size should be in order for the research to be reliable (Creswell, 1998). However, numerous factors can also determine the sample size (Guest , Bunce and Johnson ,2006, p.59). According to grounded theory sample can be between anything above 30%. However, later on it was advised my many researchers and theorists like Creswell that anything between 20-30% is acceptable (Creswell , 1998, pp/128).The consultants were successful in achieving a sample of 135 respondents which is equal to the 30% of monthly population of the hotel. The ratio between business and leisure customers was also nearly equal. These facts can presumably make the research work more reliable for the client.

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STAFF SURVEY

This was the method of investigation from the staff members. The approach to collect data from staff was changed on the client advice.

Value to the client

“The value that the client would obtain through this questionnaire relates to the satisfaction level of all the staff members, their career plans, their plans about remaining with the same employer and their point of interest in the job opportunities in upcoming Westfield shopping centre. Which may eventually derive the staff turnover ratio for the client. This is related to the positive or negative impact of Westfield on staff turnover.

Approach to Data Collection

Data collection remained dependent upon the client because the client management took the responsibility of distributing the questionnaires among all the staff and return it to the consultants as completed rather than consultants doing the process by themselves.The questionnaires were delivered on time to the client management but the process was extended for longer which was due to the non-availability of the staff members and also their unwillingness to complete the questionnaire. Please refer to Appendix – 2 for staff questionnaire.

Sampling

The population of staff working at PI Bradford is around 35 to 38. The consultants targeted to undertake census in this survey but due to the reasons highlighted in above paragraph, the total responses received from staff member were 16. The consultants allowed more than the set time for the data collection process but some of the staff were unwilling to fill out a questionnaire so stressing more would have created a bias in the analysis. Also, as discussed earlier the ideal sample size is anything more than 30% and the 16 responses makes about 45% of the PI staff population.

Questionnaire making & Pilot Research

For the pilot research, the finalised questionnaires were sent to the client to be tested and approved. The client recommended some changes such as regarding the meals that are provided by the hotel restaurant and for amendments in the staff departments. These were further discussed among the team and with the supervisor, which resulted in some additions such as in the aspects of the job to measure their satisfaction on.

INTERVIEWS

As planned in the Project proposal, the consultants carried out 2 interviews with the managers of Leeds city centre Premier Inn and Doncaster Central premier Inn. The specific reasons behind these options were first that they were the main city centre hotels of Premier Inn chain and second both of these hotels are adjacent to the shopping centres and they are also utilising the shopping centres as their selling points for the hotel. The Leeds city centre Premier inn was examined in relation with Leeds Trinity shopping centre and the Doncaster

9


It is important to mention that the nature of qualitative data collected from both interviews was different and significant to their own cases. As in the case of Leeds City Centre PI, Trinity shopping centre was built recently and the hotel has been there from many years, so it was more specific to the actual project whereas in case of Doncaster central the Frenchgate shopping centre has been existed for longer than the hotel so the analysis from this interview were more general

Value to the client

“The value which these interviews will bring for the client is the idea about the performance of PI hotels in other city centres located in the vicinity of shopping centres that ultimately helped the consultants to compare it with the performance of PI Bradford central and also to predict the measurement of impact of the shopping centre on Bradford central PI in terms of occupancy, staff and restaurant in comparison with above hotels.”The method of interview which was used, is Standardized, open-ended interview - the same open-ended questions are asked to all interviewees; this approach facilitates faster interviews that can be more easily analysed and compared. It provides wide in depth information of qualitative nature. An insight about the point of view of the interviewee. As the interview goes on, the probes become specific and the interviewer can gain in depth information about the subject area (Foddy, William, Cambridge University , 1993).

RESEARCH ETHICS

The ethical concerns usually develop in the process of designing and planning research and after that in seeking access to organisations and individuals and in collecting, analysing, managing and reporting the data. Ethics are generally the standards of behaviour that direct the conduct in consistent to rights of those who are the focus in the research work or have some kind of influence from the research. (Thornhill, A, Lewis, P, Saunders, M, 2012)In terms of the Ethics, as expected, the consultants faced problems which affected the time plan for the project. As Premier Inn is a large global organisation so running a consultancy project with such organisations involve further sensitivity and confidentiality in terms of data collection from the hotel staff and customers. This is why the consulting team received their ethics approval somewhat late from their organisation.Another ethical condition was that the consultants were also required to get a written approval from the head office of Premier Inn in order to approach their customers which resulted in the late start of data collection process. Legal requirements were also made clear to the consultants in approaching the customers of the hotel.

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SECONDARY RESEARCH

The following objectives were achieved through secondary research.

1.To carry out the competitors analysis from city centre hotels and restaurants.

A comprehensive and in detail competitor analysis for PI hotel and Thyme restaurant that conclude who the competitors are and why they impact upon PI but also how do all the competitors stack up compared to PI.

2.Westfield Bradford: Expected footfall, Competitors in Westfield for Thyme restaurant and Competitive wages that can lead to staff turnover for the hotel. Also the Retail Impact Assessment (RIA) related to Westfield.

This objective is mainly related to Westfield and its impact on PI. The RIA is actually the Bradford council retail and leisure study which is assessed to provide the retail forecasts in Bradford.

3.The analysis of Liverpool uplifting plan and its relation with BCCAAP

For the above objective, the consulting team will also undertake data evaluation of the development plan of Liverpool; the city has recently gone through a transformation phase and was named the European City of Culture in 2008. Therefore from the secondary data the consulting team will critically analyse that how the city has been changed in terms of structure and tourism and how the businesses specifically from hotel industry have been affected. This will then be related to the development plan of Bradford. The Liverpool uplifting plan and BCCAAP analysis is important for the client because it will provide a forecast for the client in relation to that how the hotels in the Bradford city centre will be benefited from the BCCAAP as it has been experienced in the case of Liverpool city centre.

4.To assess the Bradford City Centre Area Action Plan (BCCAAP) and how it will affect Premier Inn and its surrounding area.

As the project is mainly related to the city centre area, therefore, the consulting team has chosen Bradford City Centre Area Action Plan (BCCAAP) as a secondary research analysis. This research analysis will provide the client with prospective advantages or disadvantages to the hotel from these projects.

RESEARCH LIMITATIONS

According to Kumar, (2014), Research limitations are associated to structural problems relating

to methodological aspects of the project (Kumar, 2014). The consulting team authors recognise

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various issues that can limit the project objectives.

The surveys have limitation as they are conducted with customers of Premier Inn hence the

consultants have no insight about people who did not chose to stay at Premier Inn and the reasons

why they did not chose to stay at the Hotel . However, we can conclude or arrive at those reasons

by the negative experiences that are shared with us by the samples of customers of Premier Inn.

The sample for the Thyme Restaurant is limited to the total population of guests that were

surveyed; opportunity to eat at the restaurant was available to all guests so it is a total population

of number of guests surveyed i.e. 135. However, deeper insight on what promotes the use of in

hotel diner and what could further add to its success through customer insights about what could

be done to improve the experience.

If it was feasible in the given time frame, the consultants would have organised one to one

interviews with the staff in order to gain more in depth information, which could be helpful for

more critical analysis of the working conditions in the Premier Inn Bradford central.

Due to the short time frame, interviews were conducted with only 2 other Premier Inn hotels that

are based in city centres near to shopping areas. By interviewing some other similar type of hotels,

further research will increase the options to relate with Westfield and Bradford central PI and the

concept about the performance of hotels in city centres and the impact of shopping centres would

be more vibrant.

In competitor analysis the consultants had limited access to the internal data of competitors.

The BCCAAP analysis is limited from the detail discussion of whole Bradford development plan.

Say why. It was due to limited time frame and also the project is more related with Bradford city

centre area only.

The secondary data analysis can only be used to draw conclusions based on precedent and insights

of Hotel industry trends and may not hold true for the scenario faced by Premier Inn, Bradford due

to complex nature of the problem.

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Chapter 03 SECONDARY RESEARCH

Chapter 03SeCondarY reSearChanaLYSIS & dISCuSSIon

COMPETITORS ANALYSIS

This competitors analysis for PI Bradford is based on the Porter’s Five Forces model designed initially in the project proposal. The analysis will cover some of the key factors such as prices and occupancy rates. However the consulting team have ensured to highlight the elements that are valuable for the client.

THREAT OF NEW HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS

As the threat of new businesses in the industry is controlled by the factors known as barriers to entry, which needs to be overcome by new businesses to compete in the similar industry. (Johnson & Scholes, 2011). By assessing the type of entry barriers to start new hotel or restaurant in Bradford City centre, the consulting team found that, in terms of hotels the Bradford city centre is much saturated with some popular brands like The Bradford hotel (previously Hilton), Holiday Inn. Travelodge, Jury’s Inn and Premier Inn so it will be very challenging for any new hotels to compete with these top brands until the new hotel has similar brand awareness and value. For instance Intercontinental Hotel group opening in Bradford city centre will seemingly make a difference as

THREAT OF NEWHOTELS AND RESTAURANTS

THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES

COMPETITIVERIVALRY

POWEROF

BUYERS

COMPETITORSANALYSIS

13

Chapter 03 SECONDARY RESEARCH Chapter 03 SECONDARY RESEARCH

it is the third Hotel in top ten UK Hotel groups 2013 by number of hotels, after Premier Inn that is on the top position. (Mintel, 2013).As discussed later in the report, Bradford’s City Centre Growth Zone, which is a £35 million initiative arrangement to back up new businesses and existing business growth plus the development of Westfield shopping centre, these kind of Government support plans make the entry barriers low for new entrants either for hotels or restaurants in existing case. For example mentioned by the client about new hotel opening in front of Westfield. Currently, in the case of new restaurants the Bradford city centre is saturated with all the typical food franchises and takeaways. In contrast, upcoming restaurants in Westfield that have been mentioned under the section on Westfield Bradford can become an ultimate threat for existing businesses including Premier Inn.

THREAT OF SUBSTITUTES FOR THE HOTELS AND RESTAURANT

Substitutes are basically products and services that provide similar kind of benefits to the industry. (Johnson & Scholes, 2011). In terms of Hotels, as the main focus of the report is Bradford City centre, so the boutique hotels in the area such as Great Victoria, The Woodlands are an ultimate threat to the Hotel groups like Premier Inn and Hilton, even the boutique hotels might be more expensive in comparison.In terms of the substitute threat for restaurants like Thyme, the big fast food chains present at the city centre like McDonalds and KFC are apparently the most worrying substitutes.. Additionally the client mentioned that a large number of their customers are from Asian Community and due to large Asian population, the city has a good number of quality Asian restaurants and takeaways that is in the city centre as well like Akbar’s Raja’s, so they can act as major substitutes for Thyme

and can ultimately increase the customers switching rate.

THE POWER OF BUYERS

The power of buyers is high because of the low switching costs. Due to variety of options for both hotels and restaurants, customers have strong negotiating position in Bradford city centre and they have a huge impact on the prices set by various hotels and restaurants. (Johnson & Scholes, 2011)

COMPETITIVE RIVALRY IN HOTELS AND RESTAURANTS

The organisations that offer similar products or services to similar customer group are seen as Competitive rivals. (Johnson & Scholes, 2011). For PI hotel the consulting team aimed to analyse the Hilton, Travelodge and Jurys Inn that are also based in Bradford city centre as its competitive rivals. Although the class of these hotels is different in broader view but from the client perspective and from the research of consulting team which pointed out the similarity in their prices, these hotels appear as the most immediate rivals. The consulting team was able to find some of the important competitor information through telephone contact with the managers of these hotels, this is now explained in comparison to PI. In terms of current occupancy Hilton stated as 75% (Zara receptionist, 2014) and Jurrys Inn 70% whereas the occupancy of PI is about 50% at the running time of this project. The convergence rate of occupancy into breakfast for Jurrys Inn was recorded as 85% which was greater from the 50% of PI. For the dinner the conversion rate for Jurys Inn was 70% and for PI it was only 28%, also the restaurant of Hilton is performing well with inclusive dinner plus walk in customers. (Dan General Manager, 2014) The consultants also received information from another immediate competitor of PI that is Travelodge. The team had an opportunity to see the Hotel manager Amanda (2014), she pointed out the occupancy as 83.7%, which was the highest of all hotels under assessment, though the Travelodge doesn’t have any restaurant.The main points from the above discussion which need consideration are firstly the low occupancy

14


for Premier Inn in comparison to other hotels. Following is the more thorough comparison of Premier Inn with each of the above hotels. It also includes the Hotel restaurants.

Premier Inn & Hilton (The Bradford Hotel)

The consultants determined that the Hilton hotel in Bradford city centre has been recently converted to The Bradford Hotel with the takeover of London Investment group Mastcraft (refer to Appendix - 3). The official date of conversion was 31st May 2014. This transformation and its consequences will be discussed more in detail in the conclusions section but first the comparison should be made between the formerly known Hilton and Premier Inn based in Bradford city centre. (Telegraph & Argus, 2014).As mentioned earlier in the report, that it might seem surprising by comparing one Hotel in different class and which is operating in the area for more than 40 years with the hotel that is still in the growth stage in the specific area but as the client has specified Hilton Bradford as their direct competitor plus the consultants found out that the price difference in between the two hotels was something appealing, for example:In the beginning of this research the prices for Hilton and Premier Inn were almost similar. The consultants assumed that the customers will prefer Hilton on Premier Inn if the prices are same because Hilton has got that high brand awareness edge and general customer perception about Hilton brand is positive normally. But in case of Hilton Bradford city centre, the reason for low prices might have been the hotel services and standards that were not something which is Hilton Group known for, which was also one of the main reason for its sell-off. The number of rooms in both hotels is also nearly similar that is Hilton with 121 rooms and Premier Inn with 118 rooms. So, a bias in occupancy rate is low in the competition.Since the transformation of Hilton to the Bradford Hotel, its prices have moved slightly such as one adult room for one night stay, the price for Premier Inn is £61 and for the Bradford Hotel its £70, these are without breakfast. The consultants assume that the significant reasons that are maintaining occupancy for the Bradford hotel at decent rate could be first the additional services they are providing such as free passes to the near gym, second the impact of brand awareness but it will be interesting to see the performance of hotel after the rebranding. Third, the performance of city 3 restaurant and bar is greater with their international dinning.By comparing the Menus of Thyme and City 3, the consultants discovered that the prices for thyme are slightly high from city 3 for instance in Appetisers, thyme offer Smoked Salmon at £5.50 whereas similar item is valued as £4.50 at City 3, similarly the mixed grill steak in thyme is priced as £16.99 and in City 3, the price is £16. Thyme has widen its meal options by burgers and Pizzas in its Menu, which City 3 is lacking also the variety in Thyme desserts and drinks seems more fascinating in comparison to City 3. The consultants were not provided with exact conversion rates of diners and breakfast in City 3 restaurant, but the general observation from the management was that the restaurant is performing satisfactory which is contradicting to the observations from Thyme. More prominent reasons for the poor performance of Thyme will be discovered from the analysis of primary surveys.

Premier Inn vs Jurys inn

Jurys Inn Bradford central is considered as one of the major rivals by the client. It has also been recognised as a main rival by the consultants due to various facts such as its number of bedrooms is fairly high in comparing to Premier Inn, that is 198, but even with that high number of rooms, the hotel occupancy is above average that is 70%, which gives a perspective that Premier Inn could be losing customers mainly to Jurys Inn.Jurys Inn is a small group of hotels, it is situated in 30 city centre locations across the UK that include Jurys Inn Bradford hotel. With the basic and modern facilities what Jury inn offer extra from Prmeier Inn is the In-house Cardio Gym for all the guests plus the additional meeting rooms for business guests. Jurys Inn states that, with small number of hotels, they can easily provide something little extra for their customers. (Jurys Inn, 2014).

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The consultants found out that the prices for Jurys Inn are slightly higher comparing to Premier Inn for both Weekend and Weekdays. For instance as by now for the weekend one night stay, Jurys Inn is charging £79 for double room bed and breakfast and for similar package Premier inn is charging £72.75. For the weekdays, the similar deal costs for £69 in Jurys Inn and £64.75 in Premier Inn. The question that can be raised here is that how is Jurys Inn performing better than Premier Inn and maintaining its occupancy at good rate? As the business operation period is same for both of the hotels. According to the consultants research and analysis, the reasons for higher performance of Jurys Inn could be the extra facilities they are providing like cardio Gym, there rooms are more stylish, the various kind of deals they are providing for instance summer stay, sunny prices, last minute booking deals, Exeter romantic package for two.(Please check Jurys Inn website for details). Another important reason can be their restaurant, as the consultants were informed by the Jurys Inn management that its conversion rate to breakfast is 85% and dinner is 70%.The quality of the Jury Inn restaurant can be predicted from the above conversion rates and the consultants found out that the prices for both Jurys Inn restaurant and Thyme are competitive that is for some items Jurys Inn has very affordable prices comparing to Thyme but for other items Thyme prices are lower. For instance, Jurys Inn restaurant offer 2 course meal at £17.95 and 3 course meal at £20.95 whereas Thyme provide 2 course meal at £22.99. Jurys Inn restaurant has some set prices in its menu such as all starters are priced at £4.95 and different mains at £14.95 while thyme prices varies from item to item, for example in starters tempura prawns costs £5.99 and crispy chicken wings at £5.50. Similarly in main courses Asian feast is valued at £14.30 and Ultimate full house at £16.50. In steaks, Jurys Inn restaurant charges high from thyme such as Salmon steak is at £11.99 at thyme while it is offered at £14.00 in Jurys inn. From this comparison, it appears that the main reason for good conversion rate of diners and breakfast could be mainly the quality of food that is customers are more satisfied with the food with affordable prices.

Thyme competitive rivals

In the above discussion the comparison of Thyme has been made with the restaurants associated with other hotels. The consultants also carried out the competitor analysis of thyme with its rival restaurants, which according to client are Frankie & Bennys and Nando’s as these are the main restaurants to which thyme is losing its customers.This discussion will highlight some factors, which are the reasons for under performance of thyme. Also it will make it easy to understand that if big restaurant such as the above are present at the same corner then it will have a huge negative impact on the In-house hotel restaurants like Thyme in PI Bradford central. The customers coming to Premier inn, my not be aware of thyme restaurant but it is more likely that they will know about restaurants like such as the above two.

Thyme & Frankie & Bennys

The difference starts from the variety of meals and sub meals both restaurants are offering for example just in starters Frankie & Bennys offer some items which thyme doesn’t have any like balsamic chicken and meatballs. Similarly in steaks they have variety of options which thyme is missing such as blackened steak. The price range at Frankie & bennys will be higher presumably as mentioned before, it has the high brand awareness and the quality food, which attract customers even with high prices for example the mixed grill steak costs £20.95, which is offered in thyme at £16.99.

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Thyme & Nando’s

In Nando’s, what make the extra difference is their peri peri items such as in starters Houmous with Peri Peri Drizzle. At Nando’s the items are oriented to the restaurant tradition and they are-highly different from thyme restaurant. For example in burgers, nando’s has big variety such as Butterfly Burger and Portobello Mushroom and Grilled Halloumi Cheese Burger. The customers has also different price options at Nando’s in terms of meal sizes and the prices are lower than thyme as well. For instance chicken burger at Nando’s is for £8.95 while in thyme it is for £12.10, the veggie burger costs £8.70 at Nando’s and in thyme it is priced at £11.30. So, it makes it easy for loyal customers of Nando’s to treat themselves with their favourite food with affordable prices.Below table provides a glance of the key factors determined in the above analysis.

Occupancy Rates Cost of main meals Cost of meal deals

Premier Inn 50% Breakfast: 50%Dinner:28%

£14,60 £22.99

Travelodge 83.7% n/a n/a n/aJury’s Inn 70% Breakfast: 85%

Dinner: 70%£14.95 £20.95

The Bradford Hotel 75% n/a £16 £17.95

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WESTFIELD BRADOFORD

Westfield Bradford is the name of the upcoming shopping centre complex in Bradford which is due to open in December 2015. The construction work started in 2007 but due to recession the project was mothballed and work began on creating a temporary park on part of the site ( Rush, 2010). In January 2014, the temporary park was demolished, and work restarted on the construction.The shopping centre is part of the wider urban regeneration master plan being led by Bradford Council within their City Plan (BCCAAP).Debenhams, Marks and Spencer and Next will be the key retailers of Westfield shopping centre. Fast food and casual dining restaurants will also be there. KFC, Burger King, Wagamamma and Pizza Express have already signed up for opening their branches in Westfield. Also the surrounding streets will be redeveloped and upgraded, the idea is to have a strong restaurant and food offer in this area.Even though Westfield Bradford will not be on the same scale as the other Westfield Shopping centres in London and Stratford, the Broadway Bradford is expecting to put the city back on the retail map and establish quality retail within the city centre. Thanks to its unrivalled location at the heart of the UK, Bradford has a market segment of almost one million consumers with a weighted annual spend potential of £623 million. This is forecast to grow by more than £250 million on completion of the Broadway development highlighting the massive potential for retailers to capture spend (Leeds and Partners 2014). According to CACI, one of the UK’s leading retail analysts, Bradford lies in the top ten new UK retail opportunities. The confidence from retailers in investing in Bradford is increasing day by day. In terms of competitors for bar and the restaurant in Westfield, the consultants found out that at the current stage the only confirm restaurants are the fast food chains such as KFC and Burger king which are not direct competitors to Thyme restaurant however they will be coming up as the substitutes for Thyme. Although, in one of the upper floors has been assigned for restaurants specifically but no information is presently available about the restaurants that will operate in this area. Therefore, further study will be required after the restaurants in the Westfield food courts are confirmed.

Bradford Retail and Leisure Study

The Bradford retail and leisure study consists in an analysis of the retail provision in the main centres within the Bradford district. This study was commissioned by Bradford Metropolitan District Council in March 2012 to assess the retail and leisure needs/capacity over the period to 2028 and to provide an up-to-date review of the performance of all centres in the district.The study has showed that the retail property landscape across the UK has changed significantly over the past 50 years, from post-war regeneration in town centres, through to the emergence of retail warehouse parks and out-of-town regional shopping centres. During this time, retail and leisure sectors have experienced significant expenditure growth, which has been accredited to various factors, including greater disposable income, availability of credit, cheaper prices, new technology and a common increase in our standard of living. On the other hand, the recent economic recession has had a clear impact on expenditure and goods spending. Also the way in which goods are bought has also changed because of the the maturity of ‘e-selling’. (Experian Retail Planner,2012) The current retail picture in Bradford shows that there is an increasing interest for well-located and appropriately configured floor space in the city centre. Bradford city centre is the main centre in the district, however the centre is performing poorly in

WestfieldBradford

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terms of vacancy rates, with some large and long-term vacant units identified in the centre which are making a negative impact on the environment. Some investment has been made in the city centre during the recent years. However, Bradford has suffered from the effects of the economic recession. The delay in the completion of the Westfield Broadway Centre scheme, has impacted on the investors’ confidence, but recent announcements show that the scheme is progressing well with significant capital now being spent on implementing the project.Westfield shopping centre appears to be one of the most relevant factors that could change the destiny of Bradford city centre area. According to WYG Planning & Environment (2013) the implementation of the Westfield Broadway Centre in the next two to three years is expected to produce an increase in the market share secured by Bradford city centre as the redevelopment encourages more shoppers to visit the city centre from the surrounding area through its improved retail and leisure offer.Moreover the introduction of the Westfield shopping centre will result in an increase in the market share from 28.8% to around 35% with inflow increasing from 4.5% to around 5% (WYG Planning & Environment, 2013). Bradford city centre is identified as the main focus for economic, educational, administrative and cultural activity within the district and the completion of Westfield Broadway Centre seems to be essential in order to secure a successful and vital city centre.

LIVERPOOL UPLIFTING PLAN

In the early 80’s Liverpool was suffering from a negative image, poor infrastructure and little tourism. The problem had started back in the late 70’s due to the recession caused by sudden ‘deindustrialisation’ and the global restructuring of businesses. There was a massive job loss in the city and a widening gap between job availability and population. Due to this there was a population collapse in Liverpool and residents migrated from the city. There were fights between trade union and the factories which further escalated into a massive riot in 1981. This spoilt the image of Liverpool.To control the situation the local government of Liverpool started measures against the central government that initiated more conflicts between political and even militant or ‘separate groups’. This made the city unsafe. The security issues further hit the image of Liverpool. Thereafter, the city’s tourism was hit badly. This is when the Merseyside Development Corporation took the city as a challenge with corporation from the national government in developing Liverpool. There were allotted a central regeneration budget. Another campaign of Liverpool Capital of Culture Company proved yet another. Another turning point for the city? The government pushed Liverpool as ‘A European renaissance city’? By mid

Cityof

Liverpool

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1990s on significant new layers of investment started pouring in from the European Union and thus the dramatic remaking of economic structure of the city took place. The government marked certain strategic investment areas as a focus for the development. As a result there was a surge in jobs, the population decline ended and there was cultural resurgence that led to the bad image of the city slowly be turned into good one. People now started seeing Liverpool as a city of history and culture than chaos. A new airport was opened that offered global connectivity and put Liverpool on the global connectivity map. Liverpool also started to be denoted as the index of European Union’s development as most of its funds were financed by EU. The similarity between Liverpool and Bradford cannot be understated. Bradford is facing the same issues today as Liverpool did in the 1980’s. Bradford is the sixth largest city in the United Kingdom with a population over 5, 01,700 people. It was once known as the wool capital of the world and was an industrial powerhouse. The decline of Bradford was due to the decline and legacy of social deprivation due to the recession and this also fuelled the racial tensions that resulted in the Bradford riots of 2001. Rather being hailed as a vision of diversity Bradford is become the symbol for problems of multi cultureless. How government has put a brilliant plan to uplift the image of Bradford as we know it and the work is already in progress.

BCCAAP - BRADFORD CITY CENTRE AREA ACTION PLAN

The main objective from BCCAAP and Liverpool uplifting plan analysis is to provide a forecast for the client in relation to how the hotels in the Bradford city centre will benefit from the BCCAAP as has been experienced in the case of Liverpool city centre.The sixth largest city of United of Kingdom is struggling hard to survive in this ruthless market of development and competition. If it isn’t able to revive itself in the coming years it will be extremely difficult for the city council and the people of Bradford to save their city from the cutthroat competition from other cities. The high level of crime rate is also an important factor to be noted. To battle these challenges, the city council has come up with a plan to revive the city.The City of Bradford Metropolitan District Council as part of the Local Plan is making the Bradford City Centre Area Action Plan (BCCAAP) for Bradford. The Area Action Plan will guide the makeover of the city centre upgrading the area up to 2028. It will identify the location of new development and provide detailed policies to help make decisions on planning applications. It will also influence decisions about transport, infrastructure, community facilities, economic development and future investment. Bradford Centre Regeneration was established in February 2003 and one of its first tasks was to set out a vision for the city centre (Bradford Gov, 2008) This was undertaken by Alsop Architects and was set out on four principles: Repositioning Bradford i.e. looking at the function of the city and defining a distinctive role in relation of surrounding centres; Revealing Bradford – exploring the hidden assets of the city; Reshaping Bradford– setting out a physical master plan for the city centre and, upgrading Bradford– delivering the master plan over time (Bradford Metropolitan City Council, 2005). The Bradford City Centre AAP will be subject to an EIA, which is a process, designed to ensure that a policy, project or scheme does not discriminate against any disadvantaged or vulnerable people within society. The protected characteristics groups include: age, disability, gender, race, and ethnicity.

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The figure given below describes the proposed development of the city.

People Place Property Prosperity

People Plan Bradford City Centre

Area Action Plan

Property Plan Economic

Development Plan

Focus on how people live, work and enjoy the city

centre.

Key Themes:

• Residential offers.

• Nighttime events.

• Economy.

• Education, skills and well being.

• Social developing.

• Community development.

The Statutory Development Plan.

Key Themes:

• Vision and Objectives for the City Centre.

• Allocation of land use.

• Delivery of infrastructure for future development

• Planning Policies.

• Delivery framework for next 15-20 years.

Focuses on how we will seek to create the mechanisms for

investment.

Key Themes:

• Development

Investment.

• Partnership working

with Developers and local partners.

• Reducing vacancies.

• Vibrancy.

• Property forum.

The element of the plan where both the

Districts economy and the City’s economy are

woven.

Key Themes:

• Economic wealth and well being.

• Employment growth

• Innovation.

• Investment.

• Enterprise.

Source: http://www.bradford.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/490FF2CB-9EA5-4332-B1D6-4C983B714B8F/0/CITYCENTREA-AP.pdf (Accessed on 11/09/2014)

The need for Bradford City Centre Action Plan

• The Bradford City Centre Action Plan is needed to deliver the proposed growth of the city over the next 15 years, through series of planning policies and development proposal statements.

• This plan will provide certainty to investors, developers and landowners.

• Protect and enhance built heritage whilst proactively accommodating new developments.

The aim of this approach is to promote the boost in the economy, inspire better quality development and create a city Centre that is used and cared for by all of the city’s different cultures.

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Current Key Issues faced by the City Centre

• The size of the primary shopping area.

The current extent of the shopping area is spread over a wide area with little cohesion between the areas. With the proposed development of the Broadway Centre there are major possibilities for change

• Lack of better connections between shopping areas.

The Local Transport Plan 3 (LTP 3) is the statutory plan for transport in West Yorkshire and sets out the needs, objectives, ambitions and strategy over the medium to long term as well as detailed spending proposals in its first 3 years.

• Expansion of the leisure offer in the area.

Historically, for a city of its size, Bradford has been under provided for in terms of leisure

• Encouraging the nighttime economy, while safeguarding the amenity of the city center residents.

Developers have shown strong interest in providing residential accommodation in the centre in recent years. But as more residential units are created and more people live in the centre, there is more likelihood of possible conflicts between the wish for peaceful living conditions and the noise and general disturbance that can be associated with late night uses such as pubs and nightclubs

• Developing the city’s cultural assets.

Bradford City Centre is rich in culture, history and diversity. The city centre offers a range of attractions spanning history, architecture, the arts, culture, fun and general leisure. A major issue for the plan is how to exploit the cultural assets of the city centre, so that Bradford city centre can become a recognised destination in its own right.

BCCAAP-The impact of Bradford City Centre Area Action PLAN

Due to this action plan Bradford city will have advantages like job creation, infrastructure development and there will be stable economic factors in the city for living. This will also create demand for other businesses to invest in the Bradford city due to continuous development and support for new business, city council will also be able to revive its current position and it can take Bradford’s development to next level through new business entrants and investors. The action plan will also help them to go in a subtle direction of growth with the brands like Premier Inn entering the market and giving a boost to its hospitality sector in Bradford. The planned provision of an improved night time leisure uses are measured to increase movement and footfall within the city centre during evening and night time hours, thus adding towards a reduction anti-social behaviour and fear of crime. This is considered to aid in abolishing victimisation of protected characters, as these groups can often be targeted by criminal activity (during evening / night time hours after trading hours) in areas with little or no activity or footfall in ‘empty’ streets within the centre. Thus turning Bradford into the tourist friendly city and giving a boost to its tourism. Growth in tourism

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will have a direct impact on the occupancy of all the hotels situated in the city.

As discussed earlier in the Liverpool upliftment plan, the city centre upliftment plan has changed the whole scenario of the hotel industry in the city of Liverpool. This plan has helped in increasing the occupancy level of the hotels on one hand and job creation on the other. The year 2013 was the turning point in the weekday occupancy. Looking at the year 2013. £40 million was invested in the hotel resulting in the opening of 6 new hotels. This created 170 new hotel jobs. The average occupancy rate has also increased from 69.5% to 71.4% in this year and 404 rooms were created. In the year 2012, 1.326 million rooms were sold. Currently £100 million is being invested in the 5 new hotels adding 606 new rooms. (Liverpool vision; 2013).

Bad Image of Bradford

According to the Telegraph (2010) a survey done by Travelodge, the city of Bradford is the least attractive place for visitors followed by Wakefield, as stated by the news report. According to the survey, the Yorkshire town of Bradford has been branded ‘’dangerous, ugly and boring’’ and where travellers least want to go. The city of Bradford ha a population of 501700. The crime rate is quite higher in Bradford as compared to other cities. This city has one of the highest numbers of car theft in the entire UK as stated by the West Yorkshire Police department (Rob Parsons, 2013). The street level crimes are also a great matter of concern for the people. This factor plays an important role in tourism of the city. (Telegraph and Argus 2014).

Due to this bad image the hotel may face hurdles and due to this reason they have to keep their prices lower as compared to the other major city hotels as Bradford is not a favourite city among the masses. The other impact on the hotel will be on the brand name, if they don’t match up with their standard as compared to other major cities, due to the bad image and negative image of the city. Due to this, they’ll have to make it people friendly. It needs to be made sure that they make a positive impact throughout the market by unique strategies since it is such a risky market. Due to the negative image of the city, tourism is effected and people from the other places would not like to visit which has negative image based on the experiences of the previous visitors. Hence city’s image matters a lot since it resembles the safety and living conditions in that specific area which allows people to make a judgement to travel or visit a specific city.

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Chapter 04 FINDINGS AND ANALYSISChapter 03 SECONDARY RESEARCH

The consultants have used the SPSS software to extract the findings and analysis from both guest and staff surveys. The basic breakdown of findings is given below:

FINDINGS FROM THE GUEST SURVEY

In total 18 variables were formed from out of 13 questions because of the inclusion of multi response questions.

Variable n°1

Purpose of stay

Regarding the purpose of stay the consulting team determined that in the sample of 135 guests 65 (48.1%) were leisure guests, 57 (42,2%) were business guests and 13 (9,6 %) stayed in Premier Inn Central for both reasons. It was also seen that the number of the business guests were more prevalent in the weekdays and the weekends had mostly leisure guests staying in the hotel with their families and friends.

Statistics

Valid 135

Missing 0

Chapter 04FIndInGS, anaLYSIS & dISCuSSIon

oF prIMarY reSearCh

24

Chapter 04 FINDINGS AND ANALYSIS

Variable n°2: First visit or not?

Concerning the frequency of guest visits in the sample of 135 respondents only 1 has not answered while 78 guests (57,8 %) have already stayed in Premier Inn Bradford Central and for 56 guests (41,5 %) it was their first visit. The team also noticed that many guests who came to the hotel were the frequent visitors of the hotel.

Statistic

Valid 134

Missing 1

Variable n°3: Number of visits to PI Bradford

From 78 guests that have stayed before in Premier Inn Bradford Central, 43 (31,9%) said that they stayed between 1 to 3 times, 28 guests (20,7 %) said that they stayed from 4 to 10 times, 4 (3%) stayed from 11 to 20 times and the remaining 3 guests (2,2 %) stayed over 25 times.

Statistic

Valid 79

Missing 56

Variable n° 4: Satisfaction from the stay at PI

From 135 guests, 134 answered the question regarding the satisfaction level during the stay; 53 (39,3%) said that were extremely satisfied with that stay in the hotel, 69 (51,1%) were quite satisfied and 12 (8,9%) were neutral or with no opinion. The team hardly found any dissatisfied customer. Though most of the guests complained about the parking spaces.

Statistic

Valid 134

Missing 1

25


Variable no° 5: Westfield construction impact

Regarding the negative impact of the Westfield construction work 25 guests (18,5%) said that they were affected by the construction and the remaining 109 (80,7%) said that the construction site didn’t bother them while only 1 guest didn’t answer the question. The affected number of the guests were those who had the room facing towards the construction side.

Statistics

Valid 134

Missing 1

Variable N°6, 7 & 8: Stay Diruption Factors

As discussed earlier only 25 guests had a negative impact of the construction site of which 60% said that their stay was disrupted by the construction noise while 28% said that they were not happy with the view which faces toward the construction work moreover the remaining 12% was disrupted by the dust.

ConstructionFrequencies

Number of responses Percentage of responses

Percent of cases

Constructiona Stay disrupted by con-

struction noise

15 60% 60%

Stay disrupted by dust 3 12% 12%

Stay disrupted by unsightly view from

bedroom

7 28% 28%

TOTAL 25 100% 100%

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Variable no°9: Likeliness of stay after westfield opening

Concerning the future interest of the guests, 44% said they were very likely to stay in the hotel after the opening of the Westfield Mall, 23% were extremely likely and20.7% were quite likely. On the other hand 8% were slightly likely and the remaining 3% were not at all interested in staying after the opening of the mall.

Statistics

Valid 134

Missing 1

Variable n°10: meals consumed in thyme restaurant

As the table shows, there are no missing values and in the sample of 135 guests (100%), 71 guest had their breakfast at the hotel restaurant, the number of diners is 16, there were also some guest which preferred to have both of their breakfast and dinner at the hotel restaurant, which were 24 in total. Out of 135, 24 didn’t choose the hotel restaurant for their meals. Only 2 respondents mentioned the reason of not eating in, 1 reason was because the respondent went out for the meals and 1 reason was the respondent found the meals too expensive.

Statistics

Valid 135

Missing 0

dVafrf

27


Variable n°11: How pleased with quality of meals provided

About 18.5% of the diners at Thyme Restaurant were extremely pleased with the food. About 34.1 were very pleased followed with 24.4% of diners that were quite pleased. Only about 4.4% answered as slightly pleased. Therefore, according to the cumulative statistics found, the data shows that about 94.5% of the people who chose to dine at Premier Inn, Bradford’s Thyme restaurant were satisfied and pleased by the food provided. There was no missing frequency amongst the 135 total surveys.

Statistics

Valid 109

Missing 26

Variable n°12: Number of drinks taken

Amongst the total diners surveyed, 54.1% did not have any drinks at the hotel. About 21.5% had only one drink followed by 20.7% who had about 2 to 5 drinks. Only about 3% of those surveyed had more than 5 drinks at the Hotel. About 48% of the customers have had drinks at the hotel. There was one missing variable.

Statistics

Valid 133

Missing 2

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Variable n°13, 14 & 15: Changes required for the meals

Case Summary

Cases

Valid Missing Total

N Percent N Percent N Percent

$Changesa 109 80.7% 26 19.3% 135 100.0%

a. Dichotomy group tabulated at value 1.

$Changes Frequencies

N Responses Percent of Cases

N Percent

changesa

Quality 28 23.0% 25.7%

Variety 39 32.0% 35.8%

Value 55 45.1% 50.5%

Total 122 100.0% 111.9%


Amongst the surveyed customers, 122 out of 135 ate at the Thyme Restaurant . Out of the 122, about 23% would like the quality of food to be improved, about 32% would like to have more variety and about 45% would want the value aspect to be looked at. It was found that amongst the diners, a majority found Thyme to be expensive.

Variable n°16: Ethnicity

Amongst the customers, about 58.5% visiting were of white ethnicity. About 24.4% were Asian, 9.4% were African/Caribbean/British Africans and about 5.9% were of Mixed /Multiple ethnicity.

Statistics

Valid 134

Missing 1

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Variable n°17: Age

The About 39.3% of the total surveyed customers belonged to the age group of 35-44 followed by the 24.4% of the age group 25-34, 19.3% to the age group 45-55 , 8.9% under 25 and only 8.1 % above the age of 55.

Statistics

Valid 135

Missing 0

Variable n°18: Weekday or week-end guests

Among the 135 collected questionnaires, 60% or 81 were collected on a weekday and about 40% or 54 responds were

collected on the weekend.

Statistics

Valid 135

Missing 0

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GUEST SURVEY ANALYSIS

Our analysis is aimed at finding out factors affecting the stay of customers at Premier Inn, Bradford in order to analyse their impact on the performance of the hotel and Thyme restaurant. It is a detailed investigation of the factors influencing and affecting the Hotel’s business aimed at providing meaningful insight in order to help the business analyse its current position and thereby draw recommendations to further improve the business and overall profitability.

Our main objectives in broader perspective were:

After carrying out the detailed analysis we shall be able to answer the above. We are providing a descriptive analysis of the gathered data by cross examining the relating factors. This will help us analyse the customer base and the strengths and weaknesses of the hotel as an experience from the point of view of the customers.

To determine the effect ofother causes of current low occupancy like noise from construction site.

To analyse the causes leading to poor performance of Thyme restaurant.

To measure customersatisfaction level.

To determine the likeliness of stay after the opening of Westfield.

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Purpose of Stay * Number of Visits to Premier Inn Bradford

Our data signifies that Premier Inn receives more business customers than leisure. Overall, business travellers have stayed more than leisure. Also, business travellers tend to stay more number of time or repeatedly than leisure customers. Hence, we can comfortably conclude that Premier Inn, Bradford receives more business travellers than any other.

Purpose of Stay * Number of drinks taken

An analysis between the customers’ purpose of stay and the number of drinks taken by them shows that business travellers tend to consume more drinks at the hotel than leisure travellers. Out of 64 leisure travellers, 39 did not have any drinks at the Hotel while 13 had at least one, 10 had between 2 to 5 and just 2 had more than 5. This brings the total number of drinkers 25 out of 64 total leisure travellers. While in case of business travellers, out of 56, 26 had no drinks, 12 had at least one, 14 between 2 to 5 drinks and again 2 had more than 5 bringing the total number of drinkers to 30 out of 56.

Purpose of Stay * Meals consumed in the Premier Inn restaurant

According to the survey, a total of 70 customers out of 134 have had breakfast at Thyme, just 16 had dinner and only 22 have had both the meals. Lesser business customers have consumed breakfast as compared to leisure travellers. However, more business customers have consumed dinner or both meals as compared to Leisure guests. A total of 22 guests have consumed no meal at all at the Hotel in the two weeks.

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Number of drinks taken * Respondents Age

The survey indicates that amongst non-drinkers, the age group of 35-44 had the highest number of non-drinkers followed by 25-34 with 18 customers, age group of over 55 with 9 customers and only 6 non-drinkers amongst the age group of under 25. However, the age group of 35-44 again has highest number of only one drink consumed category with 12 people. Followed by the age group 25-34, 45 – 55 with 7 customers and finally over 55 with just one customer. The age group 35-44 also leads in the category of between 2-5 drinks. Only 4 customers have had more than 5 drinks and 2 are again from age group 35-44 while other two lie in age group under 25 and 25-34 each.

Respondents Ethnicity * Purpose of Stay

Leisure travellers have been mainly of white ethnicity with over 40 customers out of 65 totals. In the same way, business customers were of mostly of white ethnicity with 34 out of total 56 customers. This was followed by Asian business travellers with 18 for leisure and 12 for business.

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Purpose of Stay * Weekdays or Weekend

Premier in receives only about 23% of leisure guests in the weekdays as compared to about 35% of business guests as well as 7% for both while weekends receive more of Leisure guests with 42% for leisure and only about 7% for business.

Satisfaction from the stay at Premier Inn Bradford * Likeliness of stay after Westfield opening

Amongst the Extremely satisfied customers of Premier Inn Bradford, about 88.6% customers responded that they are extremely likely to stay at the Hotel after the construction of Westfield shopping centre. Amongst those, quite satisfied about 91.3% stated that will be interested in staying at the hotel after the construction of Westfield shopping centre.

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Number of Visits to Premier Inn Bradford * Westfield Construction negative im-pact? Yes OR No

Amongst the customers who have visited the Hotel over 25 times, 50% expressed their concerns about a negative impact on their stay due to the construction work at the Westfield area. In total only about 20% of guests had experienced trouble due to

the construction work.

FINDINGS FROM THE STAFF SURVEY

From the staff survey, 15 variables were created due to the reasons that question was a multi response question and question 4 was split into 4 different variables to measure satisfaction from various aspects of the job.For the variables related to the satisfaction level, ranking from 1 to 5 was used with 1 as Very sat-

isfied, 2 as Satisfied, 3 for Not sure, 4 as Dissatisfied and 5 for Very dissatisfied.

Variable n° 1, 2, 3, 4 & 5: Job departmentCase Summary

Cases

Valid Missing Total

N Percent N Percent N Percent

$department 16 100.0% 0 0.0% 16 100.0%

a .D ichotomy group tabulated at value 1.

$ d e p a r t m e n t Frequencies

N Responses Percent of Cases

Percent

septa Reception 7 33.3% 43.8%

Kitchen 3 14.3% 18.8%

Housekeeping 3 14.3% 18.8%

Restaurant 8 38.1% 50.0%

Total 21 100.0% 131.3%


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As the above table shows the number of responses as 21 which is due to the multi response from the respondents, it can be explained as out of 16 respondents, 5 was working both on reception and in the restaurant whereas 2 were at reception only and 3 in the restaurant only. Also, 3 respondents were from housekeeping depart-ment and similarly 3 works in the kitchen of PI Bradford.

Variable n°6: Duration of work at Premier inn Bradford

In the chart it can be seen that 12 respondents (75%) have been working in PI from more than 1 to 3 years, 3 respondents (18.8%) have job duration of in between 6 months to 1 year and only 1 respondent (6.3%) has been working from less than 6 months.

Variable n°7: general satisfaction from job

As the figure illustrates, in the response to overall satisfaction from the job the majority of respondents that is 14 (87.5%) responded as satisfied and 2 (12.5%) of the respondents indicated very satisfied as general satisfaction.

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Variable n°8: Satisfaction from salary

In terms of salary for variable number 8, the results show that 11 (68.8%) respondents were satisfied from their current salary, 2 (12.5%) respondents were not sure or neither satisfied or dissatisfied and 3 (18.8%) respondents were dissatisfied from their salary.

Variable n°9: Satisfaction with the amount of leave

For the satisfaction from amount of leave provided by the hotel, 10 (62.5%) respondents indicated that they were satisfied only, 3 (18.8%) respondents were very satisfied, 1 (6.3%) respondent is not sure about that and 2 (12.5%) of the respondents marked dissatisfaction to the

amount of leave provided.

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Variable n°10: Satisfaction with security of employment

It was found from the survey that 12 (75%) of the respondents were very satisfied from their security of employment within PI and 4 (25%) of the respondents are satisfied only.

Variable n°11: Satisfaction with with flexibility of working hours

When the respondents were asked about their satisfaction with flexibility of working hours, so the findings were as following; majority of the respondents that is 10 (62.50%) were satisfied another dominant number of 4 (25%) replied with not sure about it and 2 (12.50%) respondents specified as very satisfied.

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Variable n°12: Satisfaction from opportunity for training and development

Most of the respondents that is 6 (37.50%) are dissatisfied with the opportunities of training & development provided by PI, however 5 (31.25%) stated that they were satisfied, 4 (25%) respondents shown that they were not sure about these opportunities and only 1 (6.25%) respondent is very satisfied.

Variable n°13: Satisfaction from opportunity for promotion

The below findings state that out of 16 respondents 9 (56.25%) were not sure about the opportunity of promotion in the PI Bradford while 4 (25%) respondents were dissatisfied from promotion opportunities. Also, it can be seen that 2 (12.50%) respondents were very dissatisfied whereas only 1 (6.25%) respondent was satisfied.

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Variable n°14: Working in 2 years time

The respondents were also asked about their plans for coming 2 years. In reply to that, 8 (50%) respondents stated that they are not sure where 5 (31.25%) replied that will be still working in the PI Bradford and 3 (18.75%) of the respondents believe that they might be working in another PI in coming 2 years.

Variable n°15: Interest in Westfield job opportunities

This is one of the important findings in terms of the project objectives. The above chart shows that 8 (50%) of the respondents have possible interest in the upcoming Westfield job opportunities while 4 (25%) respondents have main interest and 4 (25%) have no interest in these job opportunities.

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STAFF SURVEY ANALYSIS

In analysing the findings from staff survey, the consultants’ first need to address one of the main objectives projected out of this survey, which was “To forecast possible staff turnover ratio and cost by assessing staff motivation, needs and satisfaction”. It should be noted that staff turnover has been measured mainly with opening of Westfield in premises of the hotel. The consultant will here want to highlight the theory of staff turnover to make the concept clearer for more critical analysis.The CIPD (2013) defines staff turnover as “the percentage of employees who leave an organisation over a set period (often on a year-on-year basis), expressed as a percentage of total workforce numbers”.In the process of staff turnover, the organisations are more concerned about the costs related to turnover. In 2013, a study was conducted by McManus, L & Guilding, C, on the costing of staff turnover procedures in the hospitality industry. A costing model was developed across five cost categories and numerous cost sub categories, these are listed as below:

1.Separation costs:• Exit interviewer.• Employee exit interviewer.• Paperwork processing.• Severance pay.

2.Recruiting & Attracting costs:• Advertising.• Search and agency fees.• Internal referral fees.• Managerial pre-employment administrative functions.• Applicant travel.• Recruiter time.• Miscellaneous.• HR pre-employment administrative functions.• Managerial administrative functions.

3.Hiring costs:• HR administrative functions.• Managerial administrative functions.• Relocation costs.• Signing hours.• Orientation.• Formal training.• On the job training.• Uniforms.• Security.• Informational literature.

4.Lost productivity costs:• Vacancy cost.

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• Pre-departure productivity loss.• Learning curve (cost incurred & lost revenue).• Errors and waste.• Supervisory disruption.• Peer disruption .(Hinkin & Tracey, 2000).

In addition to the costs of turnover, Lashley, (2000) has proposed some push and pull factors that are related with staff turnover. Push factors are those which are experienced by the staff inside the organisation and push them to leave and pull factors are specific attractions in working with other organisations. These factors are listed below:

Push factors:

• Lack of training.• Dissatisfaction with superiors.• Poor organisational image.• Poor terms and conditions.• Uneven work patterns.• Poor pay.• Inappropriate hours of work.• Lack of autonomy.

Pull factors:

• Better salaries.• Good hours.• Permanent employment.• Alternative employment.• Improved career prospects.• Enhanced training and development.• Empowerment.

The above discussion is the theoretical perspective of staff turnover process; the consultants are also required to provide the position of PI Bradford in relation to staff turnover and staff relations. In this analysis, it is important to first measure the satisfaction level of the current staff. This has been calculated by deriving the mean of responses to the entire satisfaction related questions. The below table provides more explanation.

Gener-al sat. from Job

Sat. from salary

Sat. with amount of leave

Sati. with security of em-ploy-ment

Sat. with flexibility of working hours

Sat. from opportu-nity for training & develop-ment

Sat. from opportu-nity for promo-tion

Valid 16 16 16 16 16 16 16

Missing 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Mean 1.8750 2.5000 2.1250 1.2500 2.1250 2.9375 3.4375

Minimum 1.00 2.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 2.00

Maximum 2.00 4.00 4.00 2.00 3.00 4.00 5.00Means for the satisfaction level questions.

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As the ranking options were mentioned for these questions in the above questions, the above table illustrates only the minimum and maximum ranking selected by the staff. Overall the general satisfaction from job and satisfaction from various aspects of the job is in the range of 2 to 3 which means from satisfied to Not sure. But it is important to highlight those findings which need a consideration from the PI management to overcome the consequences of staff turnover and other staff related problems such as low motivation and recognition.

Satisfaction from salary

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulat ive Percent

Valid Satisfied 11 68.8 68.8 68.8

Not sure 2 12.5 12.5 81.3

Dissatisfied 3 18.8 18.8 100.0

Total 16 100.0 100.0

For instance, the first important aspect is the salary provided by PI. Although it can be found in the above tables that majority of staff is satisfied with the salary with a ranking mean of 2.5 but still 3 members of staff has shown their dissatisfaction plus the 2 members that are not sure about their attitude towards salary could also be counted as dissatisfied. As mentioned in theory from staff turnover dissatisfaction with salary can lead the staff to leave their job and can result in the above listed costs for PI. Also problems with salary can not only be the cause of staff turnover but also for the demotivation of the staff because as Herzberg (1959) defines salary as one of the main hygiene factors of the working environment for staff motivation and Taylor, F, (1911) also argues that salary is the most important factor in motivating the staff to gain better efficiency. However focusing only on salary does not ensure long term motivation as there are other factors identified by Herzberg (1959) such as recognition, responsibility and nature of work.

In describing the Pull factors for staff turnover better salary was the most relevant as one of the attractions from other organisations, therefore the consultants will now highlight which employers from Westfield may provide this pull factor for the staff of PI and can ultimately lead to staff turnover.

The upcoming shopping centre will offer a wide range of job opportunities from customer service to management positions. It is estimated that it will create more than 2,500 retail jobs when it will be in operation (Bradford Telegraph and Argus 2014). In relation to the expected stores in Westfield the consultants have investigated on the wages they will provide, and the result shows that those employers pay between -5% and +3% of the market average (payscale.com 2014). For instance Sainsbury’s (one of the expected store in Westfield) pays between £6.71 (cashier position) and £7.76 (store team leader). The consultants believe that PI might face a medium turnover rate in its unskilled and semi-skilled divisions such as housekeeping and waiting staff. These kind of workers may shift to other employers once Westfield will be opened since there will be many similar options available with slightly competitive wages. In terms of costs, these positions normally involve limited training to reach full efficiency, so replacing personnel will not have much impact on the business of PI.

Similarly, the lack of opportunities for training & development can demotivate the staff of PI (Herzberg, 1959). Also it can act as push or pull factor for the staff turnover in PI as discussed above. The ratio of dissatisfied staff with opportunity of training & development is quite noticeable for the client, these are presented in the below table. The ranking mean for this aspect of job was 2.93, which bend mainly towards dissatisfaction.

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Satisfaction from opportunity for training & development

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid

Very satisfied 1 6.3 6.3 6.3

Satisfied 5 31.3 31.3 37.5

Not sure 4 25.0 25.0 62.5


Total 16 100.0 100.0

It is also important to mention the employers from Westfield might provide better training & de-velopment opportunities comparing to PI and can pull the PI staff towards their organisations.

Many stores that will open their doors in Westfield place high priority on employee development. Topshop, a British multinational retailer which specialises in fashion clothing, shoes, make-up and accessories, has a specific development and training programme that focus on supporting whatev-er choices the employee makes in his career through providing structured, bespoke, development opportunities to get him there (Topman.com, 2014).

The highest rate of dissatisfaction was found in the aspect of opportunity for promotion within PI where only one staff member was satisfied and the ranking mean was 2.43 highly towards dissat-isfaction.

Satisfaction from oppurtunity for promotion

Frequency Percent Valid Percent Cumulative Percent

Valid

Satisfied 1 6.3 6.3 6.3

Not sure 9 56.3 56.3 62.5


Very dissatisfied 2 12.5 12.5 100.0

Total 16 100.0 100.0

In his theory Adams (1965) describes the important factors that affect the motivation of staff is their individual perception of the situation. Adams (1965) proposed a scale in his Equity theory that consist ‘inputs’ like effort and time on one side and ‘outcomes’ like pay and promotion on other side. The balance between the inputs and outcomes is important for staff motivation and subse-quently for high job performance. From the above findings that PI might be having that unbalance because it is acceptable that the staff might be performing according to the needs of organisations but if they are not receiving their desired outcomes so it may also impact the inputs they provide towards their jobs and that can be a hurdle in the organisation success and can also give a com-petitive edge to the competitors with better promotional opportunities for staff.

This factor can also play major role in the staff turnover for PI. The organisations from Westfield can possibly pull the staff of PI with improved career prospects related to promotion opportunities.

In terms of other aspects of the jobs such as security of employment and flexibility of working hours the ranking mean is more towards high satisfaction although 2 of the staff members were dissatisfied with the amount of leave provided by PI that can act as push factor of poor terms and conditions to leave PI and possibly consider the organisations in Westfield that provide bet-ter amount of leave related with the job. For instance Boots (one of the many stores that will be in Westfield Bradford has different schemes to support their employees to progress their career (Boots.jobs, 2014). Career development is vital for any employee to achieve greater happiness and fulfilment and at the same time is beneficial for the employer Providing constructive career

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development opportunities to employees is paramount to retain top talents, boost engagement, generate knowledge transfer and retention.Although it looks like from the analysis that satisfaction level of majority PI staff is quite adequate that is generally and with most of the aspects of job but the below cross tab analysis of last two variables that are plans of the staff for coming 2 years with the staff interest in Westfield job opportunities is also alarming in relation with staff turnover as explained below;

The consultants assume that respondents that have replied with possible interest in the Westfield jobs are considering these jobs and which can probably mean that their interest will increase with the pull factors from organisations in Westfield discussed in the above paragraphs.The respondents were first asked about the plans of working in 2 years’ time and then after the interest in Westfield job opportunities. The above chart describe that out of 5 respondents who said that they will still be working in PI in coming 2 years, 2 (12.50%) of the respondents has shown interest in the Westfield job opportunities and also the same amount were not interested whereas 1 (6.25%) respondent had possible interest.The above chart also describes that all the respondents specifically 3 who replied that they will be working in another PI in coming 2 years are interested or have possible interest in the Westfield jobs. This will depend how their satisfaction level is maintain in the PI chain and what is more suitable for them by comparing other PI jobs with the Westfield ones.The rate of interest was high amongst those staff who responded that they have no idea about working in 2 years’ time as out of 8 respondents, 5 (31.25%) have possible interest and 1 (6.25%) had definite interest and only 2 (12.50%) were not interested. These staff members may more likely move towards the Westfield jobs because they have no fix plans and when Westfield was provided to them as a choice in the next question then they found it as an interesting opportunity if they can be benefited from it.

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Moreover in comparing the interest of respondents in Westfield jobs with their duration of work at PI, it was determined that most of the respondents are working from 1-3 years in PI and their satisfaction level is also suitable but still the interest of most among them is high that can be due to the reason of their dissatisfaction with specific aspects of the job as discussed above. These results need consideration from the client because loosing long term employees can lead to costs and lack of experienced staff.The impact of shopping malls on the staff turnover of adjacent hotels was also determined in the interviews conducted within Leeds city centre PI and Doncaster central PI. In which, the consultants found out that in one case where the shopping centre was built after the PI, there was no impact on staff turnover and similarly in other case where the shopping centre that has been existing in the area from many years and PI was launched in the premises after it, has also no affected staff turnover since the operating time of hotel.

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FINDINGS FROM THE INTERVIEWS

Below is the summary of key findings from both of the interviews with the manager of Leeds city centre PI and Doncaster central PI.

INTERVIEW 1 LEEDS CITY CENTRE:

Interviewer: Asks about the restaurant in the Leeds city centre PI?Respondent: • There is no restaurant in Leeds city centre Premier Inn.• TGI Friday adjacent to the hotel run the breakfast for hotel on Premier Inn standards.

Interviewer: Mentioned about the universal operational model followed by all PI hotels.Respondent: • Premier Inn has revenue team in head office that look at the competitors and the performance

of Premier Inn hotels yearly.

Interviewer: The launching date of this hotel? Respondent: • Launched about 18 years ago.

Interviewer: How many rooms?Respondent: • 140 rooms.

Interviewer: The occupancy rate?Respondent: • Weekly occupancy depends was quite at the current week because of school holidays but

normally its in 89 – 90%,• The hotel is very busy, Monday to Thursday are business people and leisure guests are more

as families staying in mainly for events like competition going on leeds south.

Interviewer: Any impact from the construction of Trinity?Respondent: • There was no direct impact of the construction work of trinity on the hotel.• Construction workers were staying at the hotel• No construction work done around the hotel

Interviewer: Any staff turnover recorded after the launch of Trinity?Respondent: • No impact of staff turnover after the opening of trinity.

Interviewer: Any impact on occupancy after Trinity?Respondent: • No impact on occupancy after trinity, it is slightly better because of the leeds arena• Just selling the image of trinity on the website because it’s something new and because

have had never anything like that, it was still good for shopping.• Trinity is like an option if our guests ask where to go we will tell them about trinity and

other shopping centres. Leeds city is ver different to Bradford because of the factors like football, rugby, Headingly cricket

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Interviewer: Your views about Westfield and PI Bradford?Respondent: • The problem with Premier Inn Bradford is that the people will only go there if they need to

go there and if their families bring them and don’t think so that the shopping centre is going to change anything commencing

• Also it depends how the shopping centre will be like, as we didn’t see any advertisements on TV or anything as the Trinity was opening we always saw advertisements on the TV and stuff.

• Bradford wants to gain good name with Westfield but they are not doing any advertising for it.

Interviewer: have you worked in any other PI and have you observed anything about PI in city centre and outside city centre?Respondent: • Worked in other Premier Inn hotels as well that is Leeds east and the opposite to football

stadium, the Leeds city centre PI and Leeds arena PI has highest occupancy• In events like tour de France rates were really high, we are panicked and we weren’t selling

them, when we spoke to head office revenue, we were the lowest in Leeds.

Interviewer: Views about having customer parking in the hotel?Respondent: • No parking facility in PI Bradford central is a disadvantage. Its very rare that our city centres

sites have free car parking but we have this facility and that is why lots of people choose us to PI Leeds Arena as it the same as Bradford central, so parking facility is our unique selling point.

Interviewer: Wifi?Respondent: • The wifi is the same as others like 30 minutes free but that is what PI is looking at, some

of the sites now have it free, so hopefully we will be getting that as well because lots of other hotels provide it free which put down the Premier Inn

Interviewer: Further information?Respondent: • Mon to Thursday is business guests and on weekend leisure are more in number• No different rates for parties etc• No meeting rooms

INTERVIEW 2 DONCASTER CENTRAL:

Interviewer: Explains the purpose of interview and about projectRespondent: • Stayed at PI Bradford central PI, it was a good experience all the staff were really good.

Interviewer: Have you observed any impact of frenchgate on the occupancy of the hotel?Respondent: • People don’t stay directly because of the Frenchgate (shopping centre) but most of the

leisureguests on weekend use the shopping centre.

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Interviewer: Relation between frenchgate and PI Doncaster central?Respondent: • There is a agreement with frenchgate that they will discount the PI guest car parking so if

any guests want to stay long they can park there for £5 for 24 hours• This also helps the shopping centre as our guests park there they walk shopping centre.• The business guests use the city centre car park which is free after 6 in evening till 8 in

morning so they come after 6 and leave early.

Interviewer: Any staff turnover to frenchgate?Respondent: • Not observed any staff leaving to work in the frenchgate

Interviewer: Number of rooms?Respondent: • 138 rooms.

Interviewer: Occupancy?Respondent: • Occupancy depends on what’s going in the area, about 60 to 70% weekdays and on

weekend may be 80%, busy on Friday and Saturday nights.

Interviewer: Asks about the restaurant?Respondent: • The restaurant here is table, but PI management has no information about its performance

because it’s a separate business.The sleeper breakfast is around 40 to 50%.

Interviewer: Asks about the Gym in same building?Respondent: • The building is on lease that include a gym as a separate business• The gym offer discount rates to the guests charges £4 a day, few companies which uses it

regularly so they let them use it for free

Interviewer: Any partnerships with certain businesses?Respondent: • There are few businesses that uses Doncaster central PI quite a lot like cooper lighting and

quite of rail companies that stays here as its near to rail station as well.

Interviewer: Meeting rooms or parties spaces?Respondent: • 2 meeting rooms.• No specific arrangements for the parties.• Originally there were 140 bedrooms but it wasn’t achieving occupancy initially so they

changed 2 into meeting rooms.

Interviewer: Asks about the bar?Respondent: • The bar is also a separate business.

Interviewer: So what is your overall view about frenchgate and PI Doncaster and also about Westfield and PI Bradford?Respondent: • Overall there is no impact of frenchgate on the hotel apart from this parking thing• The Westfield might have impact on PI Bradford central when it is first opened because

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when they do training for all the shops there they will need somewhere to stay. In that case meeting rooms will be more important for their training as competitors like great Victoria are providing meeting rooms as well.

Interviewer: Ratio of leisure & business guests?Respondent: • During week it’s mostly business guests and on weekends leisure just like the other PI’s.

INTERVIEWS ANALYSIS

From both of the interviews it has been found that the performance of both the Premier Inn’s that were interviewed is high comparing to Premier Inn Bradford, both has the average of weekly occupancy of about 80 to 85%% whereas PI Bradford was experiencing 70%. The reasons for this fact were described by the interviewers as the bad image of Bradford which was previously discussed in the secondary research of BCCAAP; also the big contribution is made from the Leeds Arena in case of Leeds PI.The interviews findings also reflects that normally the hotels in city centres have greater occupancy in comparing to the hotels outside city centre. This is also justified by the facts from competitor analysis of PI Bradford where the consultants found that most of the competitors of PI Bradford like Jury’s Inn & Travelodge have the occupancy of 70 & 80%.It was noticed from both of the interviews that shopping malls have no significant impact on the occupancy of hotels. As the guests do not stay in the hotels because of the shopping malls although the hotels use the shopping malls as an attraction for guest such Leeds PI using Trinity on their website. Similarly, the PI Bradford will also be interested to increase their occupancy through the attraction of Westfield but the issue in this case is that the Westfield is not running any advertisement unlike the Trinity when it was opening in the Leeds therefore large number of people might not be aware of the mall in the current time. The only advantage from the shopping malls to the hotels was found from the interview of PI Doncaster, which is their parking coalition with frenchgate shopping mall.The impact of construction work of shopping malls on the hotel occupancy was also determined from the interview of Leeds PI where the manager highlighted that no impact was observed which consistent to the findings from guest survey which shows low impact of construction work on the PI Bradford occupancy.The facts about over capacity of the hotel was highlighted in the interview with PI Doncaster which resulted in the development of meeting rooms for the hotel as there were 14o rooms initially but the occupancy was not working for them so they change two to the meeting rooms. The manager also suggested that PI Bradford can be benefited from the Westfield in its early days, if they have meeting rooms because many employers will run training and the people will need to stay somewhere and organise meetings.Another important fact from the interviews was that some PI’s have kind of partnerships with certain businesses corresponding Doncaster PI who has partnership with some rail companies due to proximity with rail station.

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Chapter 05 CONCLUSIONS

The consultants believe that the conclusions of the report should start with what was the main aim for the project that was to find out the positive or negative impact of Westfield on occupancy, staff and Thyme restaurant of the PI Bradford.

Westfield Impact on Occupancy of PI

From the report, it can be concluded that overall impact of Westfield on occupancy of the PI will be positive because of the below underlying factors:

• From the competitor analysis, the consultants found out that all major competitors of PI believe that Westfield will be business growth opportunity for their hotels rather than a threat as stated by the owner of Hilton (The Bradford hotel) that Bradford has high business potential because of the BCCAAP and Westfield development. (Telegraph & Argus, 2014).

• The advantage that was highlighted in BCCAAP for PI was the infrastructure development in consistent to Westfield, which will eventually increase the footfall in the area leading to a safer image and better environment for the PI. Also, the adjacent presence of Premier inn, right in front of Westfield, will rise its brand awareness.

• The conclusion from Westfield study is that the shopping centre will play an important role in attracting more and more shoppers to visit the city centre, this is why the consultants believe that PI should take it as opportunity in order to take advantage of its retail and leisure offer.

• The Westfield will also increase the annual spend by more than £250m which is extra income spending’s it’s because it will create job opportunities, you don’t have a steady income when you don’t have a steady job. Once the jobs are provided by the Westfield the income will increase and the city will have more people to spend as it’s all about the purchasing power parity and currently if even people have the purchasing power do not have the right places to spend in Bradford for instance if somebody is looking for top brands products they have to come Leeds to purchase the product.

• The guest survey discovered that the likeliness of guest to stay at PI after Westfield is very high, guests were mostly satisfied from PI and when the Westfield was put forward to them then they responded with great interest to visit the place again and stay at the same hotel.

• The consultants consider that right now the main reason for low occupancy of PI is the poor image of Bradford and while doing the surveys with guests the consultants found out that the frequent guests who visit to Leeds and Bradford area usually come back to Leeds for stay because they think it’s more viable and safe than Bradford. However in the long term when Westfield opens and with the success of BCCAAP, area will be developed, spending

Chapter 05ConCLuSIonS

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Chapter 05 CONCLUSIONS Chapter 05 CONCLUSIONS

will increase in the city as Westfield is targeting people with higher spending with top retailers like Debenhams. Similarly, more investors will likely to come up in the area and this whole economic boom once it comes will create a ripple effect for the businesses such as PI.

• From the consultants perspective a sort of subliminal stimuli will be created in the shopping centre’s visitors through an emotional reaction that will be associated with a positive scene transmitted by the mall. The premier inn presence will leave a strong and positive impression on people’s mind, when they or somebody close to them will need a place to stay in Bradford, Premier Inn will be the first to pop up in their minds.

Westfield Impact on Staff of PI

It could be concluded from the report that the Westfield will have more negative impact rather than positive on the staff of PI. This is because of the following reasons:

• The consultants concluded from the staff survey that the PI staff is generally satisfied from their job. The staff survey and interviews analysis as a whole gives an expression that threat of staff turnover is low in case of PI. But the level of likeliness in Westfield jobs among the staff and some highlighted issues related with various aspects of the job have created a need to recommend the client with the staff Retention plan which will minimise the threat of staff turnover and consistently resolve the issues with different aspects of job. Moreover this need is supported by the argument of Cappelli, (2000) which states that an organisation could not possibly counter the pull of the market and can’t shield their employees from attractive opportunities and aggressive recruiters.

• The consultants observed that the staff on higher level don’t want to leave their job for Westfield job opportunities and they are adequately satisfied because it’s about hotel to hotel for them and career advancement but the workers on smaller level for instance the housekeeping staff are more likely to switch to the retail jobs in Westfield as there were some issues as well such as insufficient amount of leaves and the retail options such as topshop have a attractions in terms of flexibility in job hours, salary and other job aspects discussed in detail under staff analysis.

• The overall impact of Westfield on staff depend on how the client can implement the staff Retention plan to minimise the threat of staff turnover which has been discussed under the recommendations section.

Westfield Impact on Thyme restaurant of PI

It was a difficult job for the consultants to find out about the impact of Westfield on Thyme restaurant as currently no confirm restaurants have signed up for the Westfield apart from the fast food chains such as kfc and burger king. However, the consultants have come up to the conclusion that the impact of Westfield on Thyme will be negative this is based on the whole report analysis, mainly from the guest survey analysis that pointed out the important factors behind the underperformance of Thyme plus the competitor analysis of Thyme. The major reasons are discussed below:

• The upcoming food court in the Westfield will be a major threat for Thyme and the consultants are concerned that Thyme can face a drop down in the conversion rate which it is somehow maintaining presently.

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Chapter 05 CONCLUSIONS

• The consultants found out in the communication with guest in the survey that most of them have their breakfast within Thyme because they are lazy to go out but once the Westfield opens these guests will have other wider options just few steps outside from PI which will more likely go with their interests. Quick-service restaurants including fast food outlets, coffee shops and bakeries will attract especially the guests who want to save some money on their stay at the hotel.

• From the analysis on low performance of Thyme, the consultants have come up with some recommendations that are discussed later in the report. The consultants are concerned that as the PI Bradford work under the corporate company Premier Inn and they have limited rights for implementations therefore in that case Westfield impact will be much negative and it will become a serious issue for PI.

From the competitor analysis it can be concluded that the overall threat of new hotels is moderate which means that PI should focus on the existing competitors, this threat may increase with the implementation of projects such as BCCAAP and Westfield. For restaurants, this threat is slightly higher for PI because of the upcoming restaurants in Westfield. The threat of substitute hotels is higher because of the boutiques hotels such as Great Victoria, especially those boutique hotels with meeting rooms and spaces for the parties as it correlate with findings from interviews that hotels with meeting will be benefited from the Westfield opening. Boutique hotels provide luxurious stay and extra facilities which attract a group of customers even with high expenses. The recommendation regarding the conference rooms in the next chapter connects with this conclusion. The threat of substitute to restaurants like Thyme higher as well because of the fast food chains and Asian takeaways. This relates with the recommendation about tie-ups with other restaurants.The competitive rivalry in hotels and restaurants of Bradford city centre gives a picture of perfect competition. The rival hotels put impact on PI because they provide quality stay to customer with no major price difference. PI had the lowest occupancy rate and conversion rate of diners and breakfast comparing to all the hotels under analysis. PI has been influenced by the Hilton because of the quality brand image and with add on facilities for instance gym. This influence may get stronger after the conversion of Hilton to the Bradford hotel as it will be now transformed to a prestigious luxury four star hotel. This is the first acquisition of the company in Yorkshire. The high prices in Thyme which was one of the reason for its down performance as found in the Guest survey, have been also observed in its comparison with City 3 restaurant (Hilton) this has been explained in detail in the analysis.In case of Travelodge, the competitor put impact on PI with the advantage of less number of rooms plus through the high price difference, as a room in Travelodge can be booked with only £29 even on the same day whereas in PI the similar price option will only be available if the booking is made 21 days before as stated by the client. In order to reduce the impact from rivals like Travelodge, the client need to consider the option of minimising the duration required for booking with £29 which will eventually increase their occupancy as well.The rivals like Jurys Inn are more capable to put huge impact on PI because the group has limited number of hotels around the UK and which are only located in city centres. With this fact, Jurys Inn can manage to always provide little extra and wider options to attract the customers as discussed in the analysis. Also the Jurys Inn restaurant has competitive advantage on Thyme with quality of food they provide.The competition of Thyme with Nando’s and Frankie & Bennys is very obvious and it clearly describe that why Thyme is not catching up with customers and also why customers choose restaurants like the above two over Thyme. This comparison gives an idea that how the restaurants in the area as a whole put negative influence on the Thyme restaurant.The consultants concluded from competitor analysis plus interviews that PI Bradford has an over capacity as compare to other hotels in the vicinity. As there are no good number of visitors as compared to other branches of PI.

53

Chapter 06 RECOMMENDATIONSChapter 05 CONCLUSIONS

Chapter 06reCoMMendatIonS

RECOMMENDATIONS

1. Tie up with Westfield for Parking space. (As recommended by Premier Inn, Doncaster)

Implementation for Client:

After speaking with guests in face to face questionnaires, the consultants found out that most of

the guests do not stay at PI because there have no Parking space for guests. What PI should do

is a Tie-up with a Westfield same as the PI Doncaster who have a partnership with the nearby

shopping centre which provide the guests with free parking space in the centre after 0600 pm and

with discounted rates in day time. This helps not only the hotel but also the shopping centre as

Guests Park their cars go through the shopping centre and they are more likely to see the shopping

centre. Therefore Westfield should be used as opportunity for a parking space.

2. Overcapacity reduction through:

a) Utilising space for Conference rooms (High Business Travellers)

b) Lease to Gym / Marriage Hall ( Precedent from Other Premier inns , will result in rent collec-

tion and good for Bradford ( Marriage Hall ) , also membership and alliance with Gym can lead to

further marketing of Bradford Hotel )

c) Partnership with other hotels.


The over capacity reduction can be dealt in a good way, first of all is to create a conference rooms

because there a lot of people specifically business travellers and the consultants observed while

doing the survey that these business travellers were always in a rush checking out early morning,

booking the cab and just wanted to go to attend a meeting somewhere. Therefore the conference

rooms will not only be an advantage for Westfield people who will need it for a training purposes

but also for the guests who are currently staying at PI will have an opportunity to organise their

conference in the hotel and once the clients and business associates of these guests start coming

in to the hotel they will also see the environment of PI and the services provided over there. Thus

attracting more customers for PI. The size of these rooms depend on the budget provided for

54

Chapter 06 RECOMMENDATIONS

instance rooms for about 25 people will be acceptable. The competitors of PI have a competitive

advantage by having conference rooms for any kind of meetings with distinctive arrangements

such as Jury Inn Meeting rooms that can organise meetings for five to 400 people with providing

value focused services. However, the consultants suggests PI that they should take the opportunity

provided with Westfield opening, as PI is more nearby hotel compare to others, therefore initially

PI should arrange conference rooms targeting the Westfield management and personnel. These

rooms can be further developed and improved with time to attract more business customers.

Secondly the over capacity can be dealt by leasing out a part of the hotel to Gym facility, how this

will help is something similar to the Doncaster PI currently doing. They have a Gym facility in the

same building, the Gym provides free membership or a membership for a week for £5 to the hotel

customers. This will not only increase the USP of PI but will also lead to rent being collected by the

hotel which will ultimately increase profitability of the hotel as the room being always lying spare.

Partnership can be made to reduce the over capacity. For instance, PI can discuss a deal with The

Bradford Hotel where if they have weddings and they have full occupancy, PI will get the guest

overspill for rooms as a priority over other hotels. This will depend if the conditions are made ac-

cording to the will of both parties.

3. Discounts to travellers on drinks over weekends (To overthrow competition as high

number of leisure customers come on weekends).


PI should have some drink deals, the client mentioned in this discussion that they already have

some in that case the consultants recommend to modify these according the survey findings. As

the consultants found that leisure guests had not taken many drinks and the reason behind this

was that they were going out to have drinks somewhere cheaper. Therefore PI should have drink

deals may be not during all days but particularly on Weekends when leisure guests are high in

number. It can be done by providing a deal or coupon for example on your next drink you will get

some specific discount. In terms of the age of respondents which were taking most number of

drinks the age group 35-44 was high in number which gives a target segment for PI.

4. Suggestions to management of Premier Inn for value deals on dinner (as drawn from

analysis of improvements suggested by customers for Thyme)


The reason for the value deals on dinner is because in the findings from guest survey, the con-

sultants determined that most of the customers were not satisfied with the value of food services

provided by Thyme. What PI should do is to give the customers some vouchers stating a discount

depends on what is feasible for hotel and management for instance if next time they have a meal

at Thyme they will get a discount of certain percentage. This will not only develop their interest

55

Chapter 06 RECOMMENDATIONS Chapter 06 RECOMMENDATIONS

in Thyme but also when next time they visit PI it will appear in their mind that we already got a

voucher by having a meal in Thyme therefore in order to use the voucher they will go for a meal

again in Thyme. This will help PI to tap the customers on their next visit. As found in the com-

petitor analysis PI is charging high for particularly main dishes and meal deals comparing to others

therefore they need to be flexible on prices as this will bring more loss to the restaurant rather

than profit.

5. PI Bradford should contribute towards the advertising & promotion of Westfield

which is required as discussed in the interviews, this will ultimately help them in

attracting customers.

Implementation for client:

Since Westfield will play such an important role in the Bradford economy PI should develop a

sort of mutual promotion with the shopping center as a way of creating brand awareness. To do

that PI can give some Westfield leaflets to their guests and in return Westfield can display some

posters in their outlet, this will create a win-win situation which will benefit both parties. Another

approach for this will be PI doing online marketing for Westfield for instance displaying images and

information regarding Westfield on their PI Bradford central website so it can create more aware-

ness for the shopping Centre and eventually attract more travelers towards the city

6. ProfitableNetworkingwithWestfieldmanagement.


The opening of Westfield Bradford is likely to enhance Bradford’s market share which would in-

crease surplus expenditure in the city centre, it is recommended that PI should try to build up a

profitable networking with the management of Westfield. For example PI can provide some rooms

at cheaper prices in exchange of an agreement where PI will act as the official company hotel.

7. Tie ups with nearby famous restaurants for food services.


Another issue that was raised by the customers in Thyme food services is Variety, therefore the

consultants recommend that PI should do tie ups and share profitability with the local restaurants

specially Asian restaurants near to city centre such as My Lahore café, International and Akbar. As

Asian guests are high in number in both city and PI hotel. The ratio of Asian guests in the survey

was second largest with 33%. The consultants found that Asian guests weren’t happy with the

variety of food menu and they were more likely to have Indian cuisine. PI should tie up locally and

give discounts to the PI guests if they would like to eat in the partner restaurant. These tie-ups

will also help PI to decrease the competition that will be created by the restaurants in Westfield.

The local business will also be boosted in result of the Tie-ups.

56

Chapter 06 RECOMMENDATIONS

8. Staff Retention Plan for PI.


As it was determined that most of the staff is working from 1 – 3 years with PI. In corresponding

to this Armstrong, M, (2012) argues that retention of existing talented people is necessary for an

organisation. It is important that they are encouraged for their contribution and valued accordingly.

It was found in the study by Holbeche, (1998) of high flyers that the factors which help towards

the retention and motivation of staff include providing challenge and achievement opportunities,

mentors, realistic self-assessment and feedback.

PI Bradford should carry out risk of leaving analysis for the key people individually or in groups, it

should estimate the following:

• Probability of this occurring.

• How seriously the loss will affect the business.

• How easily it can be replaced and the replacement costs

•

These estimates could be measured on a scale for example very high, high, medium, low, and very

low. The analysis of this will provide areas of consideration and reasons for leaving such as more

pay, career move and more opportunities of training & development.

The author argues that opinion surveys to identify areas of dissatisfaction are more reliable than

other methods like exit interviews. This argument justifies the findings of the staff survey. The

retention plan should be proposing actions for each areas where dissatisfaction has been raised.

Areas of action for PI Bradford:

• The client should ensure that the promotion procedures match the capacities of individuals

to the demands of the work they have to do. PI promotion policy should include its inten-

tions to promote on the agreed requirements for high quality staff, the approach should

be made clearer that how PI adapts to engaging, promoting and training the staff specially

working with them from long duration. The policy should emphasize that the only criteria

for selection or promotion will be ability to do the job and the training procedures should

make belief the staff that they will be benefited, irrespective of their age.

• Should improve the job engagement that will be not only through job design but also by

organising work around projects from which staff can identify more willingly than the com-

pany as a whole.

• PI Bradford should reduce the “induction crisis” by giving proper training & support to the

freshly joined staff.

• PI Bradford should deal with uncompetitive, inequitable or any unfair pay systems. The con-

sultants realised the lack of consensus of staff on the salary. This can be dealt by the pay

57

Chapter 06 RECOMMENDATIONS Chapter 06 RECOMMENDATIONS

determination process which is aimed towards retaining the current staff. Competitive pay is

required in which the level of pay for a job will be decided on considering the market rates

such as what Westfield employers are offering. The pay structure of PI should be appro-

priate to the culture, characteristics and needs of the staff, it should be capable of dealing

with pressures arising from market rate changes and skill shortages and it should enable PI

Bradford to use control for the implementation of pay policies and budgets. Organisation

such as PI has to pay more if they want to retain high quality staff in critical positions which

will be created by Westfield.

• PI Bradford should design jobs to maximise skill variety, task significance, autonomy, control

over work and feedback and parallel to this they should provide opportunities for learning

& growth. Specific roles can be customised on the basis of particular needs of individuals.

• PI should stress more on the development of social ties with the organisation as Cappelli

(2000) states that loyalty to organisation may disappear but loyalty to colleagues cannot

disappear.

• Improve work-life balance for the staff by recognising their needs outside of work.

• PI Bradford should select, guide and train managers and team leaders so they can ap-

preciate the contribution which they will make towards retention by leading their teams,

(Armstrong, M, 2012).

9. Organisational culture change.


Another conclusion was made from the observations of the consultants about the working envi-

ronment of PI Bradford while they were performing guest questionnaires. Since, in the hospitality

industry there is a big interaction between staff and customers there is a great probability that

the business is influenced by its organisational culture The consultants observed that the organi-

sational culture which is been followed within PI Bradford more relates with Hierarchy culture that

include structured and formalised workplace where leaders act like coordinators and it rely more

on rules and policies, this observation is also supported by the fact from the client that all Premier

Inn’s operate on a universal operational model.

Although the consultants realised that the communication between staff was impressive but it is

recommended that the organisational culture should be more towards clan culture type which in-

clude high level of autonomy and it is based on the important factors of loyalty, participation and

commitment. This culture is often adopted in the hospitality industry. The shared power structure

and autonomy related with the clan culture would outcome in greater efficiency (Kohn, 1999). This

development of organisational culture will eventually improve the staff satisfaction, address their

current issues and again minimise the risk of staff turnover.

58

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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• McManus, L, Guilding, C, (2014), Staff turnover costs: In search of accountability. Inter-national Journal of Hospitality Management. [Online], 36, January, pp 231-243, Available from: <http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278431913001424> [Accessed 20th August 2014].

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62

APPENDICES

APPENDIX – 1: GUEST QUESTIONNAIRE:

Internal & External Analysis of Premier Inn Bradford Central

Guest Questionnaire:

1. What was the purpose of your stay?

Leisure

Business

Both

2. Was this your first visit to Premier Inn Bradford?

Yes

No

3. If no, how many times have you stayed here before?

1-3

4-10

11-25

Over 25

4. How satisfied are you with your stay at the hotel?

Extremely satisfied

APPENdICES

63

APPENDICES APPENDICES

Quite satisfied

Neither satisfied nor dissatisfied

Quite dissatisfied

Extremely dissatisfied

5. Did the construction work opposite to the Hotel have a negative impact on your stay?

Yes

No

6. If yes, what was the specific element contributed to the disruption in your stay?

Construction noise

Dust

Unsightly view from bedroom window

Other (please specify_________________________________)

7. How likely are you to stay at Premier Inn Bradford, after the opening of Westfield the new shopping centre opposite to the Hotel?

Extremely likely

Very likely

Quite likely

Slightly likely

Not at all likely

8. Which meals did you consume in the hotel restaurant?

Breakfast

Dinner

Both

None (why? .......................................................................)

64

APPENDICES

9. How pleased were you with the quality of meals provided at the hotel restaurant?

Extremely pleased

Very pleased

Quite pleased

Slightly pleased

Not at all pleased

10. Did you have any drinks at the Hotel’s bar?

None

One only

Between 2 and 5

More than 5

11. What changes, if any would you like to see in the Hotel’s food services?

Quality

Variety

Value

Other (please specify _________________________)

12. Please indicate your ethnicity.

White

Mixed/ Multiple ethnic groups

Asian/Asian British

Black/African/Caribbean/Black British

Other (please specify__________________________)

13. Please indicate your age group.

Under 25

65


25 – 34

35 – 44

45 – 55

Over 55

Thank You for your time in completing this Questionnaire.

66

APPENDICES

APPENDIX – 2: STAFF QUESTIONNAIRE:

Internal & External Analysis of Premier Inn Bradford Central

Staff Questionnaire:

This questionnaire is for all the staff members and we would be grateful if you could answer the following questions honestly. Your answers will be treated in confidence and kept anonymous.

1. Which of the following best describes the department you work in?

Reception

Kitchen

Housekeeping

Restaurant

Maintenance

2. How long have you worked at Premier Inn Bradford?

Less than 6 months

6 months – 1 year

1-3 years

3-5 years

More than 5 years

3. In general how satisfied do you feel about your job?

Very Satisfied

Satisfied

Not sure

Dissatisfied

67


Very dissatisfied

4. How satisfied or dissatisfied are you with the following specific aspects of your job?

Please tick appropriate box.

Very

Satisfied

Satisfied N o t Sure

D i s s a t i s -fied

Very Dissatisfied

Salary

Amount of annual leave

Security of employment

Flexibility of working hours

Opportunity for training & development

Opportunity for promo-tion

5. Where do you see yourself in 2 year time?

Still working at Premier Inn Bradford

Working in another Premier Inn

No Idea

Working for another company

6. Do you have any interest in the new job opportunities at upcoming Westfield shopping Centre?

Yes

No

Possibly

68

APPENDICES

APPENDIX – 3: MASTCRAFT-LONDON INVESTMENT GROUP

For the client interest, the consultants have gathered information from various sources about this new competitor of PI which has recently acquired Hilton Bradford.

Mastcraft Limited, owns and operates hotels through its subsidiaries. The company was incorporated in 1984 and is based in London, United Kingdom. (Bloomberg businessweek, 2014). It employs around 250 people, including 15 family members. Joginder Sanger owns 38 per cent of the shares; his wife Sunita Sanger owns 30 per cent; his son Girish and younger sister Reema own 8 per cent each. The rest of the shares, 16 per cent, are owned by a company called Rosumund Inc. (Corporate watch, 2012).

The company most recent opening is its 4th London hotel, the 4-star with 303 bedrooms Heston Hyde Hotel, Hounslow. It was built by McAleer & Rushe on the site of the former British Airways trainees hotel, Thorncliffe Hall, which closed in 2005. (Hotels news, 2014).

The owner of the company Mr. Joginder Sanger was recently awarded the Community Award at the House of Commons, in recognition of his outstanding lifelong dedication to philanthropic work in the United Kingdom and abroad. Mr. Sanger started the business with small travel agency in East London in 1965 and after that built up a number of businesses including hotel properties such as the Courthouse Doubletree by Hilton, The Bentley London Waldorf Astoria Collection and the Washington Mayfair Hotel 1997, plus the travel agencies and property developments, providing thousands of jobs from these businesses. (Zoom info, 2014).

The owner has established relationship with Hilton group that include the franchise deals for other hotels in the capital in 2008. In 2011, Mastcraft acquired the property of historic Hilton Glasgow 96 bedrooms from the owners Grosvenor in a deal of £9.45m. The company account has experienced a profit rise 163% to £1.2m on turnover pf £2.2m. Its current assets were recorded as of £21.6 million and net income for the same year was a mere £1.24 million, (The Herald, 2011).

The above discussion make an assumption that Mastcraft has entered as strong player in Bradford now and as stated by the general manager of River Midland hotel Peacock, G, (2014) that “Mastcraft will raise the game in the city and is a welcome sign of confidence in the city”. (Telegraph & Argus, 2014).

APPENDICES

pi project report

Documents

premier inn hilton

research methodology

p research

pilot research

research limitations

bradford hotel

pre inn vs travelodge

threat of new hotels