Starwood Hotels and Resorts Quality Improvement Initiative

1. Executive Summary....................................................................... Page 3

1. Background…….................................................................................... Page 4

1. Problem Description and Goals and Objectives…..… Page 5 and 6

1. Research…..........................................................................................… Page 7 and 8

1. Recommendations……................................................................… Page 8

1. Action Plan………................................................................................… Page 9

1. Survey………..........................................................................................…. Page 10

1. Financials…….................................................................................…..… Page 11

1. Works Cited…...................................................................................... Page 12

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Company, founded by Barry Sternlicht during the 1990s, is one of the largest firms in the hotel industry. The company owns more than 1,134 properties with an approximate of 1.1 hotel rooms and over 171,000workers. The ability to ensure quality services is a significant challenge due to changes made in its management. For instance, Adam Aron acted as the company’s CEO in 2015, and Thomas Mangas took over the same year.

Apart from innovation challenges, the company is facing other issues that affect the quality of offered services and products, and they include a lack of interaction among employees, cultural barriers, and a poor relationship between workers and customers. The quality improvement program will bring workers together while training them to improve their productivity as the primary objective and goal of the action plan.

The recommendation is to have a mandatory quality improvement program as a trial run. All workers will be required to conform to the program and do what is necessary for them. In each month, workers will be allowed to participate, although this will be mandatory for the first month. Besides, they will be given an option to participate in their sessions of interest after the first month, in which the compulsory cost during the trial month will be $22.00.

• Week One- Informing workers about the program
• Week Two- Demonstration of various technologies
• Week Three- Exercises and motivation sessions
• Week Four- Survey

Background

Starwood Hotels and Resorts is one of the biggest American hotel and leisure firms in the contemporary world and was founded by Barry Sternlicht with its head office in Stamford, Connecticut. As one of the biggest hotel firms around the globe, the company owns, operates, franchises, and controls numerous hotels, spas, and residences while providing services to a large number of individuals touring around the world. Furthermore, the hotel company owns 1,134 properties in which twenty-six percent of its over 171,000 employees are from the United States (Stanley & Azahari, 2015). For the company to maintain its position on the market, it has a mission and vision that help it ensure diversity. The vision and mission of Starwood Hotels and Resorts are to go an extra step in building lasting connections and loyalty among its customers and employees across the world by doing the right thing, respecting societies, owners, associates, and the environment.

Even though Starwood Hotel is becoming a world pioneer in the hotel industry, it is facing some challenges in the provision of quality services as it continues to change its management. Besides, the company has ten renowned brands and, as a result, each brand is required to ensure the quality provision of services for the sake of other brands. However, unexpected changes in its management might be the main issue affecting its quality improvement process. For instance, the company was run by two CEOs in 2015 that include Adam Aron and Thomas Mangas ("Starwood Corporate Overview History," 2016). Furthermore, such kind of business requires consistency for effective management aimed at allowing managers to improve the quality of services offered to customers. The fact that the company has more than one thousand operating hotels around the globe makes it challenging to determine the number of hotel rooms. For Sheraton Macao, which is one of the largest hotels in the Starwood Company, it has approximately 4,000 rooms.

Marriott International Inc. showed its interest in 2015 to acquire Starwood Hotels and Resorts Company, but this led to some issues in some countries. Due to the economic impact of the hotel, the acquisition has been closely followed by the entire stock market in which it was perceived to create the largest hotel empire with an approximate of one point one million rooms and 5,800 properties (Dogru, Erdogan & Kizildag, 2018). Furthermore, Marriott faced a hard time during the acquisition period because anti-trust authorities from various states, such as China and Canada, were not willing to approve it. Although the two companies have merged to improve the quality of their services, a lot needs to be done to achieve their objectives.

Problem Description and Goals and Objectives

Problem Description

Like any other company in the hotel industry, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Company is facing innovation challenges, thus making it challenging to provide quality services to its customers in various parts of the world. Some of the main factors that hinder quality improvement in the company include cultural barriers, inability to implement changes in the firm, and ineffective employee behaviors. According to research, total quality management practices, which are closely related to quality improvement initiatives, can increase performance in all aspects by focusing on the needs and expectations of customers (Sadikoglu & Olcay, 2014). As a result, the quality improvement initiative plan will play an essential part in educating workers on the way they should interact with each other to avoid cultural barriers, thus working together to achieve the company’s objectives.

Goals and Objectives

For the sake of Starwood’s performance, the quality improvement initiative aims at enhancing the relationship between employees and customers in which it will ensure the provision of training programs to workers. Due to cultural differences, employees at the company do not get a chance to interact with each other. However, this leads to a negative atmosphere in the working environment and, as a result, there is a need to change this behavior while helping employees to resolve conflicts and work to provide quality services to their customers. Besides, the contemporary world continues to face numerous technological changes, and therefore, creating awareness among Starwood company workers on what is new on the market should be one of the main objectives of the quality improvement initiative.

The goals of this initiative program include improving employees’ productivity, ensuring effective interactions among workers, enhancing financial performance, and motivating workers to accept innovations or changes within the company.

Nevertheless, the quality improvement initiative can be used to solve all problems affecting Starwood Hotels and Resorts Company. However, training workers in the firm to conform to changes in the contemporary world will be the focus of this initiative program. As a result, the program will not only be beneficial to the performance of the company but also its employees. Even though the quality improvement program seems to be costly, it will not involve many expenses. After all, the main objective of the program is to enhance the quality of services and products offered by the company to various customers around the globe.

Research

From existing documents and interviews with some senior workers in the company, it will be possible to understand the best way to solve quality improvement issues. After looking at a few research projects, it was clear that quality improvement initiative is a significant component affecting business performance and employees’ interactions. According to a particular study, the quality description is an essential aspect of the hotel industry (Fukey, Issac, Balasubramanian, & Jaykumar, 2014). Furthermore, most customers in the hotel industry are tourists who spend their money to have fun and, as a result, they do not tolerate unqualified goods and services. Vail Resorts Inc. is one of the existing companies in the hotel industry that has portrayed effective use of the quality improvement initiative to enhance its productivity. Therefore, it is crucial to use it as a case study since it will provide an insight on how to solve quality improvement issues affecting Starwood Hotels and Resorts Company.

Vail Resorts Inc. has opted to use a quality improvement program aimed at providing quality products to its customers while ensuring high productivity among employees. To meet customers’ needs and satisfaction, the initiative program allows them to offer high-quality and healthy food options for their consumers at a reasonable price. For customers who pre-purchase a meal card before arriving at the resort, they are likely to enjoy a 20-percent added value (Vail Resorts Inc., 2019). Apart from offering a 20-percent added value and health and quality only, the resort provides lunch for less while ensuring its quality standards. Even though some people might think that some of the initiative programs conducted by Vail Resorts are costly, they are crucial for their performance since they enable them to market their quality products. Furthermore, the company not only concentrates on ensuring quality services to its customers but also aims to provide a conducive environment for its employees. Generally, the quality improvement initiative has been nothing but positive for Vail Resort Inc., as it enhances the value of services offered by the hotel to its guests.

Besides, the only way to improve the quality of services offered at Starwood is by making sure that employees are comfortable at the workplace, thus ensuring the provision of valuable services and products that satisfy customers. Research portrays that Six Sigma is one of the best ways of improving quality output among employees while removing causes of defects. Motorola developed Six Sigma in 1986, which is currently used by various industrial sectors, including the hotel industry (Stanley & Azahari, 2015). It makes use of different quality management approaches to help people within an organization to workers to improve their infrastructures. Furthermore, an interview with Brian McGuire, who is VP of operations at Starwood Hotels and Resorts, revealed that the company aims to use the Six Sigma consistency enhancement program. Nevertheless, a close relationship between quality improvement initiatives and the Six Sigma exists, and, therefore, implementing the program might be an alternative solution to the poor performance and low-quality products and services offered in the company.

Recommendation

Based on the research, anybody can conclude that a quality improvement program is required for solving issues affecting Starwood Hotels and Resorts Company. With the use of the research, it will be possible to come up with practical actions that will be helpful to the firm. However, this program should be recommended at all Starwood hotels and resorts in the United States and other parts of the world.

Since the quality of services and products offered determines the productivity of the company, it is recommended to have a mandatory quality improvement plan as a trial run. However, workers will be expected to show maximum cooperation in which they will be compensated for their time after participating in the program. The program will be divided into innovation demonstrations, exercise activity, and motivation sessions, and, therefore, a minimum of three weeks will be required for it to be completed.

Furthermore, it is recommended for employees to attend the program for one month, after which it will become optional for them. Every worker should be comfortable while participating in weekly activities to ensure compelling outcomes. Bringing employees together will increase their social interaction status, thus making them assist one another to improve the quality of products offered by the company. During the quality improvement initiative, employees will be provided with a survey to determine the type of programs to be maintained in the firm. However, the recommended activities and training sessions will not only be beneficial to the company but also to its employees and customers since they will be able to acquire the expected services and products.

Action Plan

Week One: Company officials from various places will inform workers that they will be required to participate in a mandatory quality improvement program in one month for a test run. The program will commence officially at the company’s headquarters in Stamford, Connecticut. However, every worker will be required to sign up for the program for the sake of the company’s productivity. As an incentive, workers will be given guidance books for free to follow during the program.

Week Two: Various technological innovations will be demonstrated to the participants to keep them updated on changes taking place in the contemporary world. Employees will be required to use the demonstrated innovations to improve the quality of products they offer to customers. Workers will receive a cookbook on healthy recipes as an incentive.

Week Three: Employees will engage in exercise activities such as walking, yoga, and gym training to improve their social interaction status. The exercise week will involve motivation sessions in which employees will be encouraged to maintain good behavior during work. Besides, they will be trained on the importance of working as a team to ensure maximum quality. As an incentive, workers will be provided with free lunch and evening coffee.

Week Four: A survey will be conducted for various employees concerning the mandatory quality improvement plan. During the investigation, workers will be taught the benefits of participating in the program. If workers are willing to participate in the survey, they will be allowed to receive a free month at their nearby gym. After the survey, the collected information will be analyzed to determine programs that should be maintained. However, these activities will continue subsequently, but they will be optional to workers.

Quality Improvement Program Survey

1. Did you enjoy the sessions?
2. Do you plan to continue with the training?
3. Are there specific activities or sessions you want to stay for? Which ones and why?
4. Is there any other activity you want to be included? Why?
5. Any additional comments?

Financials