UNIVERSITY OF MAKATI

J.P. Rizal Ext, Makati, 1215 Metro Manila

College of Tourism and Hospitality Management

MENDONES, RIZA MAE P.

III-A BSHM
OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT IN HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
CASE STUDY 1

Title of the Case:

Dark Days at Sunnyvale: Can Teamwork Part the Clouds?

Time Context:
The incident happens in the year 1960’s when the Sunnyvale Resort start to lose
its glory and revenue. Then followed by the year 1978 wherein it tries to add facilities so
that it can helped solved the problem but five years later, both occupancy and room rates
were both in a seemingly unstoppable decline.

Perspective and Viewpoint:

The problem needs the assistance and expertise of Mr. Ken Richards, he was a
former general manager from a convention hotel in Richmond. He is hired to manage the
resort and oversee its occurring problem. He was given the task to bring back the revenue
and glory of Sunnyvale Resort.

Central Issues / Statement of the Problem:

The Sunnyvale Resort needs to increase its revenue and bring back its own glory.
The newly appointed General Manager should determine the root cause of the hotel's
persistent loss of earnings and report improvement within the following 90 days.
To grasp the many causes of the mentioned problem, he must first understand the
root and reason for the problem.
• What causes the resort to lose money on a regular basis?
• What steps could they take to improve the existing situation?
• How can they improve customer service so that clients and guests can
enjoy the resort and its services more?
Statement of Objectives:
As the Sunnyvale Resort continuously faces its own problems the following goals
of the study are the following:
• To provide excellent customer service
• To improve employee communication and engagement
• To increase profit
• To make progress in the next 90 days.

Areas of Consideration:
Sunnyvale Resort was a luxury property with great amenities and was once
considered as the Premiere Resort of the South during its peak on Twenties and Thirties.
However, in the sixties the Resort started to lose its own glory and resulted to the
loosing of its profit.
The following areas of consideration are offered below to provide a more detailed
study of Sunnyvale's internal and external environments impacting its profit and revenue:
Internal Environment (Strengths and Weaknesses)
Strengths:
1. Years of Resort experience
2. Well established name and reputation
3. Good Location of the Resort
Weaknesses:
1. Low occupancy and low rates
2. Less communications with staff
3. Facilities and amenities needed repair.
4. Poor Customer Service

External Environment (Opportunities and Threats)

Opportunities:
1. Increase employee engagement
Threats:
1. New competitors
Alternative Courses of Action:
Sunnyvale Resort was once in its peak of its glory as one of the best luxury Resort
in the South. But it gradually loses its peak and continuously loose its profit. Although they
tried ways to prevent this by adding amenities, five years later it loses profit and revenue
again. Now that they hired new general manager, they are hoping that he can oversee
the problem and came up with the best solution. As they tried to figured out problems
regarding the Resort overall, they found out that lacks of communication is one of the
biggest problems that is causing the loose of clients and revenue of the said Resort.
To help in this problem the alternative course of action is stated below with its
advantage and disadvantages:

ACA #1: Conduct an employee team building.

Advantage:
- This action can help employees communicate comfortably with each
other and help get a strong bond.
- Can happen every three months or once a year
Disadvantage:
- It requires money to come up with activities and expenses.

ACA #2: Regularly meet the employees for assessment and feedback.

Advantage:
- This action can see the improvements of the employee in regards with
their line of works
- Can meet employee expectations and help them be more open for work
conversations.
- Free and less money needed.
Disadvantage:
➢ Time consuming

Conclusion:
Managing and running any establishments especially Resort is not easy.
Sunnyvale was on the peak of losing the future in the industry because of the certain
problem that is facing. As the new manager continues to know the problems in the resort,
he is also in the process of knowing the employees that he has to work with. Being given
a short period of time to make progress and come up with a solution is one of the
challenges that he has to overcome to help the resort back in its glory.
As he was getting to know more of his people, he learned that most problems are
occurring because of the individual differences and the gap between each other. As
working in a large facility like resort, having trust with one another is a must factor that
every employee should attain.
As a conclusion, communication is lacking the most and is the biggest problem
they are facing that makes the workplace into complete chaos, so with having resources
and the help of the different department employees, they must need to learn to work
together as a team to help the resort gain back its revenue and be back to its own glory.

Recommendation:
Upon careful analysis on the problem, it is recommended to implement ACA #2 as
the best option to follow because it allows the general manager to have a
background on what is the current situation on the workplace, and to track the
improvement on how employees are interacting with each other. This is also the
action with less cost and has more impacts to employees and staffs.
Although ACA #1 can be a good step to also improve employee bond, it requires
budgeting and careful planning so it is recommended to choose the inexpensive
one. In this way they can allocate the money in a more important ways like
renovations and improvements of old facilities.

Action Plan:
As the Sunnyvale Resort new general manager figures out the current situation of the
resort and staff the, the action plan aims to help in making the communication between
the employees be more engaging and comfortable.

OBJECTIVES:
• To help the employees be comfortable in communicating with each other.
• To provide excellent customer service
• To improve employee communication and engagement
• To increase profit
• To make progress in the next 90 days.
Target Date:
The said action plan is recommended to implement as soon as possible to see progress
within the next 90 Days.

TASK ASSIGNED TO DATE

Regularly meet the General Manager and Every first day of the week
employees for assessment Department Heads
and feedback.

Proceed with the daily General Manager Everyday

reports from the
department heads.

Review Questions
1. What is the purpose of a hotel's mission statement? What are the three
groups of people whose interests should be addressed in a hotel mission
statement?
➢ The purpose of the hotel’s mission statement is to come up with a
goal and directions that can help the hotels run its own policy.
The three groups of people that interests should be followed are
the Guests, the employees and the managers.

2. How do a hotel's goals relate to its mission statement and to departmental

and divisional goals and strategies?
➢ The hotel’s goals relate to its mission statement and to
departmental and divisional goals and strategies through its
different activities and ways that is inclined to the betterment of
the hotels. It also acts as a support system that enables the hotel’
goals and strategies be strong and achievable.

3. How does an organization chart show employee reporting and consulting

relationships? Why should an organization chart be flexible?
➢ The organization charts show the different task of the employees
and their position on the organization. It should be flexible so that
 one can see the capability of each employee in working hand in
hand on different departments.

4. Which hotel departments and divisions are typically classified as revenue

centers? Why?
➢ The different hotel departments that are classified as revenue
centers are the Food and Beverage department, the Front office
and the outlets simply because they are the one who sells the
goods and services to the guests.

5. Which hotel departments and divisions are typically classified as support

centers? Why?
➢ The support centers are the housekeeping departments,
engineering, accounting and HR or what we called as the Back
Office department. Because they support the revenue centers in
supplying services to the guests.

6. What main divisions are typically found in the organization of a full-service

hotel?
➢ The different main divisions that are typically found in the
organization of a Full-Service hotels are the Rooms - F&B - Sales
& Marketing - Accounting - Engineering - Security – HR
departments.

7. How may a limited-service hotel differ in its organization from a full-service

hotel?
➢ Limited- service hotels differ from full-service organizations in
terms of its staffs which is limited only, at the same time through
its departments that is fewer unlike on a full-service Hotels. The
training of the employees differs also because jobs are typically
combined.