The brand has become the critical source of competitive advantage for Essay

The brand has become the critical source of competitive advantage for many hospitality organisations. Critically evaluate the importance of Human Resource Stra - Essay Example However, to create time for hospitality management to focus on the customer experience, means executives must free themselves from running the less-value added parts of the core business. This is often becoming difficult to achieve because of the volume of issues hospitality companies deal with today: The total guest experience is often more than a particular lodging or food service organization. For instance, customers may want to find other points of interest near their current lodging or dining location. By definition, a brand is a promise made by a company to its customers. This promise is a bundle of goods that includes the product, its related services and intangible elements such image. Essentially, the brand promise reassures the customers in the purchasing process: they know what it is they are buying and they know what they will get. In the hotel business, this notion is very important. When traveling, a customer will seek to eliminate as many unknowns from the process as possible. In planning the trip, the choice of the hotel becomes a key decision. Knowing beforehand where you are going and what you will be experiencing once you are there, substantially reduces stress. Therefore, a well recognized and defined brand stands to gain a substantial share of the traveler market compared to a local, unknown brand. Furthermore, the known brand can sustain a competitive advantage having attracted the traveler the first time around. If the brand met the customers expectation, there is little incentive to change the next time. So the notion of the hotel brand plays an important role in attracting customers and retaining loyalty. Branding begins with principles. And the brand experience is shaped by every action of every associate. Take the lead and help determine the guiding values that inform and shape every decision which impacts those associate actions.( Rick Hendrie, 2005) Though the hospitality industry maintains the brand,