Raffles Singapore: Its Strategies and Organizational Activities in their TQM System

Introduction

                                              



The hotel industry has been heavily influenced by the tourism industry for the past few decades. Even more so now, the intense competition (nationally and internationally) requires hotels now to offer not just a place to rest for the night, but rather the best customer satisfaction and experience through their facilities and services. 

Opened in 1887, Raffles Singapore is one of the few remaining great 19th century hotels in the world. As a leader in the hotel industry, its unique architecture, rich history, and personalized service provide its guests with the best experience possible. This grants them a title of one of the best hotels in the world; however, this is now challenged by the turbulent market.

This WebQuest will guide you through the strategies and organizational activities Raffles Singapore is implementing in order to achieve efficient total quality management. By the end of this WebQuest, you will be able to identify and understand the implemented strategies, the strengths and weaknesses of the hotel, and use critical thinking skills to draw conclusions on the state of the hotel and their efforts in total quality management.

Task

You are an analyst working under an investment company. This company hired you to spend three-days and two-nights at Raffles Singapore in order to analyze and evaluate the strategies and activities performed by the hotel. After which, you are to create and submit a report on whether the hotel is worth investing in or not. The deadline for the report will be in two weeks, and you are to submit a hard-copy submission to us.

 

                                             



The report should include the following:

  1. A Brief Description of the Hotel

  2. Strategies and Organizational Activities

    - What are the targets/objectives?

    - Was it successful or not? Why?

    - How do these help implement/achieve efficient total quality management?

  3. Strengths and Weaknesses

    - Identification of the Strengths

    - Identification of the Weaknesses and what can be done to resolve it?

  4. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

    - Is the hotel worth investing in?

     

Report Format:



- Maximum of Three Pages

- Font: Times New Roman

- 1.5 Spaced

- Font Size: 12

Process



 

                                         

Raffles Corporate Strategies

  1. “Raffles Hotel employed differentiation-based focused strategy targeting at upscale customers. This strategy is successful because the target market niche is wealthy enough to be profitable and offers good growth potential.”

    - They are extremely rich and will not consider other top-end hotels to be alternatives.

    - They are willing to pay a big price premium for the very finest items and top service available. 

     

  2. “They launched a related-diversification strategy as a corporate level strategy and started to diversify its business to four-star hotel business and hotel management business.”

    - In 2001, Raffles holding acquired Swissotel and diversified its branding to four-star deluxe branding.

    - This strategy is successful because Raffles Hotel picked the right point to start differentiation.

     

  3. “Raffles has extended its distribution channel to include internet channels.”

    - As the internet becomes part of people's lives, online internet channels are, therefore, an indispensable tool in marketing and cost-saving programs for the hotel business.

    - They developed their own website (https://www.raffles.com/singapore/) to communicate and to provide information to its customers and at the same time, it also forms partners with many online travel agencies such as yahoo travel to market its rooms.

    - This type of channel made it easier and less costly for Raffles hotel to reach potential customers in emerging markets.

 

Raffles Core Competencies

  1. “Raffles Hotel is unique because of its rich history. The amazing thing is Raffles Hotel makes the history which is dead become alive.”

    - The building standing there tells us of Singapore's prosperity and declining in different stages. Its colonial civilization background shaped and formed Raffles Hotel's distinct competency and makes the hotel outstanding.

    - It benefits from customer penetration and customer loyalty as a result of highly branding recognition. 

     

  2. Raffles believes it has strong brand leadership in the hotel segment.”

    - The strength is evidenced as it is consistently ranked the best hotel in the world and Asia-Pacific region.

     

  3. “Raffles service, an old-world nostalgia service; Raffles culture, “the older the better”… all these evoke memories of Raffles’ early heydays and differentiate itself from most luxury hotels.”

    - They translated Singapore’s colonial era lifestyle into architecture, decoration, cuisine, art, and staff’s uniform into service.

    - Staff are encouraged to interact with guests in order to get to know each guest’s preferences and needs, so as to deliver personalized services. They are also trained to observe and attend to the smallest needs of guests.

    - It was rated highly for its historical landmark, excellent and professional service, security, and amenities.

 

Innovation in Raffles

  1. “Raffles Hotel has succeeded in formulating the strategies which fit them the most; however, several problems arise in implementing these strategies.”

    - Strategies are all about people. But Raffles HR finds it difficult to attract and retain good staff to support and complete the designed strategic process.

    - To make the job attractive, HR has signed bonuses and incentive programs for those who work for over one year. In 2000, Group established the Raffles International Training Center in Singapore, all new staff now can receive ongoing quality training there.

     

  2. “Raffles management was not particularly keen on the hotel's research and development (R&D) and innovation”

    - The whole implementation was a process of promoting an “old world charm”, but Raffles Hotel's rule of thumb “the older the better” was shaking.

    - More recently, the Raffles Amrita spa to more detail innovative ideas such as providing designer toiletries. All of these innovations allow Raffles hotel to distinguish itself from its rivals which directly supports differentiation strategy.

    - Raffles management must ensure that consumer perceived values from its innovations are justified with their costs. 

     

  3. “The competitive position of Raffles cannot be sustained if Raffles cannot come up with the superior offer to its customers. Some of the initial ideas may include hotel management school and training courses.”

    - Raffles can utilize its core competencies and cope with the staff shortage as well as ensure the capability of staff.

    - This will broadcast the expertise in management and communicate the quality of service to the public.

    - Raffles Hotel can pursue total quality management (TQM) to improve the involvement of frontline employees.

 

For more information, please refer to:

http://www.ijimt.org/papers/143-M549.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3HImc7QjRY5Q81wZ-GEQkqN0C6ZtDVQIrgR6oQJNMY2xHa-ZkApAC6ejU

 

You can check the reviews of the various guest experiences, during their stay, in Raffles Hotel Singapore via the TripAdvisor website:

https://www.tripadvisor.com.ph/Hotel_Review-g294265-d301583-Reviews-Raffles_Hotel_Singapore-Singapore.html

 

Evaluation

 

  No Effort

  (1)

  Needs 

  Improvement

  (2)

   Average

   (3)

   Satisfactory

    (4)

   Excellent

   (5)
Organization Lacks of information and idea: The audience cannot clearly or easily identify the central ideas. Information and ideas are poorly sequenced. The reader has difficulty following the thread of thought. Information and ideas are partially sequenced. The reader has some difficulty following the thread of thought. Information and ideas are presented in a logical sequence which is followed by the reader with little or no difficulty. Information and ideas are presented in a logical sequence that flows naturally and is engaging to the audience.
Analysis Shows no understanding of the text. The purpose of the work is not well-defined. Central ideas are not focused to support the thesis. Thoughts appear disconnected. The central purpose of the work is identified. Ideas are generally focused in a way that supports the thesis. The central purpose of the work is clear and ideas are almost always focused in a way that supports the thesis. Relevant details illustrate the author’s ideas. The central purpose of the work is clear and supporting ideas are always well-focused. Details are relevant, enrich the work.
Connecting, Synthesizing, Transforming Reformulates a collection of available ideas. Recognizes existing connections among ideas or solutions. Connects ideas or solutions in novel ways.

Synthesizes ideas or solutions into a coherent whole.

Transforms ideas or solutions into entirely new forms.
Grammar and Spelling There are five or more misspellings and/or systematic grammatical errors per page or 8 or more in the entire document. The readability of the work is seriously hampered by errors. There are no more than four misspellings and/or systematic grammatical errors per page or six or more in the entire document. Errors distract from the work. There are no more than three misspellings and/or grammatical errors per page and no more than five in the entire document. The readability of the work is minimally interrupted by errors. There are no more than two misspelled words or grammatical errors in the document. There are no misspelled words or grammatical errors in the document.
        Total      /20

 

Conclusion

 

                                         





Raffles has gone out of its way to give you the warmest welcome, the richest experiences, and the fondest of memories. The consistency of strategies has accounted for the past success of Raffles hotel. But, to operate in a highly turbulent market in the future, Raffles will have to become a learning organization capable of continuous adaptation, where “managing today from tomorrow" is the key. From here, their efforts on total quality management will determine their success and how far they can go.

Credits

Sun, L. (2011). The core competencies and strategic management of Raffles — A case study of Singapore hotel industry. Retrieved February, 13, 2021, from http://www.ijimt.org/papers/143-M549.pdf?fbclid=IwAR3HImc7QjRY5Q81wZ-GEQkqN0C6ZtDVQIrgR6oQJNMY2xHa-ZkApAC6ejU

TripAdvisor.com (n.d.). Raffles Hotel Singapore. Retrieved February 13, 2021, from https://www.tripadvisor.com.ph/Hotel_Review-g294265-d301583-Reviews-Raffles_Hotel_Singapore-Singapore.html

Official Raffles Singapore Website, https://www.raffles.com/singapore/

Teacher Page

Course: TOTALQM - OHIB22

Task: Week 4 Assessment Task

Submitted to: Ms. Michelle Pino

Submitted by:

ESEO, France S.

MAAG, Geraldine A.

NGO, Mark O.

VILLARON, JV Anthony