Chapter 11. Services and Nonprofit
Vignette: The Four Seasons Hotel, a Toronto-based company demonstrates that service has made it one of the top luxury hotel chains in the world.
Featured URL: http://www.fourseasons.com
Home Away from Home
Whether nestled in a lush coconut grove oasis overlooking the Caribbean Sea on a half-mile stretch of sandy beach or situated in a bustling city scape, a hotel is a community of professionals who specialize in service. Hotels may offer a wide range of amenities from the concierge and doormen, the bell hops and cleaning staff, the massage therapists or shoe shine specialists, the kitchen crew and restaurant personnel to the pool and fitness centre employees.
Have A Cuppa
Coffee is a leading service industry. In the article "In the People Business Serving Coffee", (http://www.serviceexcellence.co.uk/starbucks), author Tony Mosely concludes that the essence of Starbuck's success may be in the following "Points to Ponder"...
2. Compile a similar list based on one of the other four coffee businesses.
3. How does the company you've chosen stand on these points as compared to Starbucks?
Resources:
Leading Hotels of the World - http://www.lhw.com/
Four Seasons Hotel London - http://www.fourseasons.com/london/index.html
Four Seasons Hotel Tokyo - http://www.fourseasons.com/tokyo/index.html
Starbucks - http://www.starbucks.com
The Second Cup - http://www.secondcup.com/home.asp
Tim Hortons - http://www.timhortons.com/
CoffeeTime - http://www.coffeetime.ca/
Timothy's - http://www.timothys.com/
Services
Hospitality Net - http://www.hospitalitynet.org/ - Industry news, market reports, employment, etc.
Hotel OnLine - http://www.hotel-online.com/Neo/
- hospitality, gaming and lodging industry news
International Hotel and Restaurant Management Association -
http://www.ih-ra.com/
up-to-date information on industry issues and association news
Service Industry Association - http://www.servicenetwork.org/
for those in the computer, medical and business products service industries
FoodService.com - http://www.foodservice.com/ - an e-zine for those in the food service industry,
NonProfit
NonProfit Career Network - http://www.nonprofitcareer.com/
Resource center for employment with nonprofit organizations
Guidestar - http://www.guidestar.org/
national database of service organizations
Non-Profit Gateway - http://www.nonprofit.gov/
A network of links to government information and services
The NonProfit Times - http://www.nptimes.com/
Business publication for nonprofit management.
Internet Nonprofit Center - http://www.nonprofits.org/
Information For and About Nonprofit Organizations
The Idealist - http://www.idealist.org/
Since 1996, thousands of organizations around the world have been using
Idealist to post information about their events, resources, job openings,
internships and volunteer opportunities.
Instructors: Optional Activities
As with all of the Web exercises, the exercise for Chapter Eleven can be used as suggested or certain parts can be adapted to better suit your student population. You will want to estimate how much time is required to complete any part or all of the parts. It will be helpful to give students a suggested time frame for completing their assignments. It will also help to determine how much credit might be given for the assignment.
1. Be My Guest
In the Resource section, find the site for Leading Hotels of the World.
Using the search engine there, find the two Four Seasons hotels listed,
London and Tokyo. Read the descriptions for each of these hotels then go
to the Four Season's site for each hotel.
In December 2001 Hospitality Net in their Marketing and Sales section featured an article "10 Tips To Make Your Web Marketing Click" (HSMAI Marketing Review) Hillary Bressler writes that, according to projections by GartnerGroup, Inc., the worldwide online travel market is expected to increase from $5 billion in 1999 to $30 billion by the fourth quarter of 2001. It is imperative, she advises, that you continually re-evaluate your online marketing strategy to be sure that you are using your Web site to best advantage.
Also in December, Hotels Online featured a story, "Florida's Tourism Industry Continues to Suffer Despite Increased Air Travel", discussing the impact of the attacks by suicide bombers in September 2001. There is another article on the effects of the terrorism in the United States in the Network News section of the Service Industry Association. At FoodService.com, among the listed articles for December are financial reports for companies like Heinz and MacDonald's.
Read one of the latest articles featured in the service Industry eZines given in the Resource section. Summarize the article and comment on why you believe the web site where you found it is a valuable one to monitor if you are concerned with marketing in the service industry.
3. NonProfit
There are numerous non-profit organizations in our society - food banks, the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, arts organizations, charities like the United Way and the Terry Fox Foundation. Using the half dozen nonprofit web sites given in the resource section conduct some research.
A. Find any employment opportunities in marketing in the nonprofit sector that you would like to apply for.
B. Tailor your resume to work with the job description given for one of the jobs that interests you.
C. Write a short report giving
1. the job and job description
2. your newly revised resume
3. a brief statement telling why you want to be the
successful candidate for this job.