These are the questions that I received in my specialization course. Hope these are helpful for others. I have pasted the questions first. The case study is also included.

1. Solved Case Study: Strategy and HR Planning at the Capital Hotel
By: Mehreen Shafique- Training and Development Specialist
QUESTIONS:
Q-1 The managementstaffareusuallyrecruitedfromoutsidethehotel.In youropiniondoes
that practice impact the overall morale of the employees within the organization? Explain
your answer
Ans: External hiring always hampers the motivation level of the existing employees specially
when it is for a higher/second/managerial level. This leads to number of complication too
 Acceptance of authority by the existing staff
 Intentional hurdles in operational activities
 Negative feedback regarding the organization
 Understanding issues by the hire newly hired employee
 Cost of hiring and training etc.
However,in this scenario the turnoverrate is higherin the catering department.Thereasons
mentioned for the turnover are not operational or functional issues but is the age factor.
Almost one-fifth of employees left due to their retirement age limit.
 This organization failed to forecast the impact in advance and its consequences
 There should have been a proper planning to fill this gap
 These resources could have been useful for further trainings
 Their retirement age could have been re-considered provided they don’t have any
physical limitations
 Or they should have been considered as trainers or could have been offered the
consultancy/part time/outsourced consultancy services
So in this case I believe that more than the motivation factorit is a gap of properHuman
resource planning.
Q2- “Due to the current situationinthe local labourmarket it isdifficultto recruit chefs
asthere isa severe regional shortageofthe sort oftopclasschefs neededto achievethe
restaurant awards”. In this situation is the bargaining power of chefs (available
internally and externally) high or low? What can the hotel do in order to attract these
chefs so tha they choose capital hotel over other hotels?
Ans- Here the organization is required to use the “Pull strategy”. This can be done by
advertising themselves as one of the best employers.
 Setting high standards do that getting a job in this hotel becomes and
achievement
 By branding themselvesasone of the best customerexperienceproviderfor both
internal and external customer creating a benchmark for others
 By increasing the non-monetary benefits as they do not hamper the company’s
budget but they help to accelerate employee loyalty, employer branding and
attraction in the market
 They can also hire retired chefs as trainers to train new staff
The bargaining power of Chefs in this situation is high. Although the hotel has high
reputation and considered amongstthebest.Currently they are in need dueto expansion
which requires proper staffing and planning and workforce.

2. Q3- Housekeeping staff are usually idle for about 2 hours of their shift including lost
work hours. These are 25 permanentemployees on the hotelspayroll.What shouldthe
hotel doinorder to cutthese costsincurredbywages (hourly) giventotheseemployees?
Ans-
 These staff memberscan be trained to cater kitchen requirementsin the times of
rush hours
 Or their working hours can be reduced to cater the hourly wages
 Butwiththe extension of twin roomsfrom240to 345 this staff willbeableto have
less idle time provided if further staff is not hired
 Moreover,they can also beutilized during thelunch hoursastherush increasesat
that time due to local foreign tourists who are there for lunch only
 Staff in themaintenancedivision and housekeepingcan also bemerged leading to
a combineteamwithlessernumberof individual,moreoccupancy andlesswages’
s cost incurring for the same
CASE STUDY:
The Capital Hotel is located in the capital city of a Central European country. In the past its
mainclientele hasbeengovernmentofficialsandadministratorsindepartmentsof state and
managers of heavy industriesvisiting the capital on official government business. The room
occupancy rate was on average 50%. This custom has declined somewhat in the last two
years,butit has beenmore thanreplacedbybusiness-peoplefromneighbouringcountriesin
the week and by foreign tourists at the weekend. The average room occupancy rate is now
75%; 60% of rooms are sold at 'rack' price and it is not uncommon for the hotel to be fully
bookedespeciallyatweekends. Generally speaking,thereisgreaterdemandforcateringstaff
at weekendssince manytourists like totake lunchin the hotel’srestaurant. However,there
is lower demand for housekeeping staff at weekends as tourist customers generally stay for
longer periods than business-people and make less demands on this service.
Currentlythe hotelhas240twinroomsbutanextensionisnowbeingbuiltandnextyearthere
will be 345 twin roomsaltogetherplusa revampedleisure clubwitha brand-new swimming
pool and spa (run independentlyas a franchise). The owning company, European Leisure
Resorts, wishes to reposition the hotel, re-designing and re-branding the hotel as an up-
market “boutique” hotel. A new name is proposed, “The Garden Court”. A new General
Manager has been “head-hunted” from one of Russia’s top hotels and her mission is to
transform the quality of the hotel while ensuring good value for money.
Competitive Pressures and Strategic Responses
During the last two years a number of international hotel groups have opened hotelsin the
city to cater for the new markets. All of these are knownfor theirhigh standardsof service.
Prices are correspondingly high. The management of Capital Hotel believe that to compete
they need to improve the standard of service whilst pegging prices some 10% below their
competitors. A surveyof customers has indicatedthatcustomerswouldlike the checking-in
process to be made quicker, for service in the restaurantsto be speedier and more friendly
and for the rooms and public areas to be decorated and furnished to a higher standard.
Hotel Staffing
There are three departments in the hotel – front-of-house/administration,
housekeeping/maintenance, and catering. Reception work on a three shift system ‘around
the clock’. Housekeeping works on a single shift system (from 06:30-16:00) with some
overtime workingtocovereveningcleaningduties. Cateringoperatesatwoshiftsystemfrom
06:00-15:00 and 15:00-24:00. Housekeepingstaff are usually idle for about 2 hours of their
shift. By contrast cateringstaff are very busyfor theirentire shift. Staff in the maintenance
division of housekeeping have very variable workloads, often working under low pressure
during their normal 07:00-15:30 shift but then having to work under intense pressure,and
beingpaid“double-time”,if there isa maintenance faultthatneedsurgentrepairduringthe

3. evenings or at weekends. Two of these staff are paid a small, out of hours, on-call standby
fee.
The management staff are usually recruited from outside the hotel, whilst departmental
supervisorsare usuallypromotedfrom withinthe department. Traininganddevelopmentis
mostly on an ad hoc, as needed “on-the-job” basis although 0.4% of total salary costs are
spendonformal trainingwhichconsistsmostlyof sendingstaffonstatutoryhealth,safetyand
hygiene training courses.
Labour Turnover in the Hotel
Until twoyearsagothe averageannualturnoverrate (i.e.theproportionofstaff leavingduring
the year) was 10%. Half of thisfigure wascomposedof employeesretiring(retirementage is
65). Overthe lasttwo yearsthe annual turnoverrate has gone up to 25%. One-fifthof those
leavingwereretirements. Three fifthsof thoseleavingwereinthecateringdepartment. Two-
fifths of those leaving had less than six months’ employment.
Staff Profile
Managementhave recentlycollatedinformationonthe numberof employeesbyoccupation
and age as a first step in preparing a human resource plan. All staff are employees, mostly
full-time;verylittle use ismade of agencystaff andonlynon-routine work is contracted out.
Occupational group Staff
numbers
Ages
Management 9 64, 63, 62, 55, 53, 50, 48, 48, 28
Reception/Clerical
Supervisors 6 45, 38, 37, 35, 32, 32
Staff 18 64, 64, 64, 63, 61, 60, 58, 46, 45, 39, 25, 25,
20, 20, 19, 19, 18, 17
Housekeeping
Supervisors 4 63, 56, 45, 36
Staff 25 64, 64, 63, 63, 62, 58, 57, 54, 54, 50, 46, 40,
37, 32, 22, 18 (x10)
Maintenance 4 69, 60, 52, 18
Catering
Supervisors 8 64, 64, 60, 59, 58, 55, 55, 52
Chefs 4 64, 46, 40, 32
Kitchen Staff 15 63, 59, 58, 52, 40, 39, 37, 37, 25, 25, 22, 21,
19, 18, 18
Bar /Waiters 12 49, 49, 46, 45, 42, 40, 40, 36, 35, 35, 31, 29
TOTAL 101
The Local Labour Market
Since the international hotelsopenedthere hasbeenaprobleminrecruiting kitchenandbar
staff because the newcomers are able to pay 15% higher wages. It is also difficult to recruit
chefs as there is a severe regional shortage of the sort of top class chefs needed to achieve
the restaurantawardsthatthe managementrequire torealisethe overallstrategyof aquality
“boutique”, hotel.