Strategic Hospitality Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Strategic Hospitality Management - Essay Example The year 2007 saw a major restructuring for the Accor group with regard to its hotel businesses. The Sofitel group which was classified under the up-market luxury category repositioned itself as a hotel with a French touch. This could be because Sofitel's origins were in France. (Pouillat and Chabrot). The concept now is that each hotel in the chain will be unique in design and architecture that will be suited to the region where it is run. Two sister brands will be introduced in 2009 namely, Sofitel Legend and So by Sofitel. During the years 2006 Sofitel sold one French hotel and six hotels in the USA to streamline its operations and to improve cash flow. The US hotels were sold off for 370 million USD. In 2007 two more hotels in the US were sold for 225 million USD to a GEM Realty Capital of which Accor was a joint venture partner. (Press Release: Accor Announces Sale and Management Back of Sofitel Hotels in New York and Philadelphia). Earlier that year, thirty Accor properties in UK were sold off for 11 million Euros. "Financially, the transaction will enable Accor to reduce its adjusted net debt by '584 million, of which '172 million will be added to the Group's cash reserves. It will have no impact on EBITDA but will add '7 million to 2007 profit before tax." (Press Release: Accor Sells 30 Hotel Properties in the United Kingdom for '711 Million and Signs a Development Partnership with Land Securities, p.1). These are just examples of the selling spree set about by Accor to decrease its net debt and for its major restructuring strategies for the whole group including Sofitel. Human resources challenge: The major restructuring done at Sofitel has created some challenges in the human resources department. Because the hotel chain has reinvented itself under a French image, the staff will now have to be trained or hired accordingly to suit the tastes of lovers of French cuisine and style. As mentioned earlier the new image will result in each hotel having its unique style and architecture, depending on its location and will be blended with its French image. This will create challenges for employees because of the lack standardization and uniformity across its hotels. As a result the group has revamped its strategies to be brand specific. This will entail in creation of a diversified training program that will fit the needs of each of its hotels. The detailed human resources plan was presented to the Geneva based European Works Council as a part of discussion and approval. In order to support these changes at Sofitel and also other strategic changes in the groups the Accor group had started and training school for its employees called the Accor Academy. Apart from general and on the job training, the groups also have three certification programs for its employees. The first one is a skills certification process which it has just introduced and plans to expand worldwide by the year 2010. The success of any organization depends on its top and middle level leadership. With a long term vision in mind the group has started a program called the "GM Pass personalized career development program to train future hotel general managers." (Intensified Training Initiatives. 2007). The third initiative is a advanced training program for managers and future managers with high potential so that they can be developed further. They also have t he potential to become part of the top management of the company later. There have been two key area of challenge for Sofitel and