Entertainment in the Hotel Industry

The services being provided by the hotel industry is meant to offer the best housing and accommodation experiences for its clients. It is, after all, the ultimate purpose of the hotel industry to provide the best accommodations and other value-added services that goes along with it, in the utmost quality to their clients. Obviously, people stay in hotels in order for them to be served and be provided with accommodations and other urgent needs and demands that they will require. This includes not only the environment within their rooms, but also other services such as foodservice and entertainment.

Just as clients need to be nourished with the best variety of food, they also need to be entertained – a luxury that they highly expect from the hospitality industry. (Mohsin & Ryan, 2005) Perhaps this is one of the most important reasons why it is highly relevant to discuss the issue of entertainment as it pertains to the hotel industry – that is because, it strengthens the foundation of the hospitality services that hotels offer for their clients. Entertainment, like foodservice, is a vital part of what the hotel industry stands for or what it reflects as its purpose to the people.

Therefore, it is not likely to neglect how entertainment will shape the makings of the hotel industry. In fact, entertainment plays a major part in increasing the appeal of housing and accommodation goods and services. Some other perceived and equally important reasons why entertainment seems to be as important as foodservice to the hotel industry will be discussed in the remainder of the text. Looking into the perspective of the hotel industry as a business institution, providing the best quality of goods and services are more likely to generate profit and return of investment.

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If a hotel is able to offer what most consumers want, need, and demand in the most luxurious and convenient way, this means that it will be able to establish and expand a loyal client base; thus, the steady increase in profit. Realizing this purpose also means that hotels will only be able to obtain clients that are even more loyal if it exerts time and effort to provide comprehensive services that are of the best quality, and implementing sufficient entertainment systems within the hotel is a good start to do so. Another more serious issue is the effect of the economic crisis on the position of the hotel industry.

The most obvious influence of the crisis is the decline of profit mostly because people have started to spend their money judiciously – only for their most pressing needs. People nowadays have stayed away from staying in hotels which charges for food, accommodations, and other services in order to save their money, and look for cheaper alternatives that offer the same services but for lower prices or for free. The economic crisis has led to the increase of prices, but sadly not to the income of people. Therefore, their budgeting and spending are only allocated for needs and demands that are urgent.

Luxury has become unthinkable, not even an option or privilege, to the people. Boosting not only the hotel industry’s foodservice but also the entertainment aspect of it within the institution, aims at obtaining competitive advantage to offer people services that will allow them to receive their money’s worth. Augmenting entertainment services will give clients the incentive to afford hospitality services despite the economic slump as the goods or services that they will be paying for are of the best quality and are highly convenient for them.

On a lighter note, entertainment plays a big role in easing an individual’s problems or burdens to the effect that worries regarding economic burdens might be alleviated if they are presented with the kind of entertainment that are highly enticing and motivation. Another point to be discussed regarding the issue is the lack of services or facilities that hotels have for their clients. Many hotels have adhered to traditional entertainment that they fail to see the need to offer new additions to their services.

This issue focuses on technology and other innovations that have increased and have made an impact to the lives of people. We live in the age of technology where man is highly dependent on it to provide him what he wants and needs. For instance, personal computers and laptops allow man to access the World Wide Web, which then affords him with various services that facilitate communication, social interaction, etc. Other technological tools that man relies on for entertainment include mobile phones, personal digital assistants, personal gaming consoles, ipods, etc.

Entertainment then within the hotel industry does not only meant that it is able to provide its clients with the kind of technology-based entertainment that they need, but also to offer other services that accommodate what clients have with them as means of entertainment. For instance, a hotel should provide services that will satisfy their clients’ need for entertainment such as the adaptation of a wireless or network connection that will provide for the need of individuals to connect to the World Wide Web while they are far away from the comforts of their own networking systems at home or in the office.

Another strategy is to allow clients to utilize their gadgets within their rooms. For example, allowing children to connect their personal gaming consoles to television sets installed within the rooms, etc. Doing so allows the hotels’ clients to feel that their need for entertainment is being supported by the organization. LodgeNet Entertainment Corporation sets the example in transforming the hotel industry. The company has just concluded its acquisition of another entertainment group, the Ascent Entertainment Group, Inc.

This acquisition has allowed LodgeNet to widen its coverage and target other various hotels aside from the previous ones that it has provided services to. LodgeNet focuses on providing hotels and their clients numerous movies to choose from. Clients will need to pay for their movie requests in order to compensate the studio who released it and LodgeNet as the mediator. LodgeNet offers this service not only to one hotel but other hotels as well.

In general, the entertainment aspect of providing paid-for movies, such as the workings of LodgeNet, is that it provides total entertainment especially for individuals who want to watch movies that they specifically want. This offers not only amusement but also satisfaction. (Fam, 2007) As discussed, the adaptation of technological tools and gadgets influences the entertainment aspect within the hotel industry. They need to cope up with the growing need for technology as a means of facilitating entertainment.

Aside from technology, they need to provide other entertainment services that are out of the ordinary – enticing and motivating – which are more likely to attract individuals who are looking into the hotel industry to provide them with the highest standards of entertainment. With this in mind, the hotel industry also needs to allocate resources in order to research the structure of the market. Foodservice acknowledges the different tastes and preferences of individuals. They consider what goods and services to provide according to what most consumers would be looking for in foodservice.

The hotel industry should also strive to do so, as the complexity of the market structure will make it difficult to single out what types of entertainment medium to provide. There are various means available on deciding which services to choose might become a critical decision the industry has to make. In order to resolve this dilemma, the hotel industry is presented with a solution. Hotels should look into conducting market survey and research studies in order to obtain a clearer view of trends in entertainment that most people would be willing to pay for. (Cilan, et. al. , 2007)

In this case, the hotel industry will never make the wrong decisions in terms of choosing what types of entertainment to provide, which to retain and discard, and so on. This allows organizational growth and development, in terms of applying technology and innovation to obtain the goals and objectives of the hotel industry. (Wagner, 2008) Perhaps the future of the hotel industry will look into the matter, not only of the importance of entertainment but also to other areas that constitute housing and accommodation services. Read also about hotel reservation system

If the industry is more than willing to look for means to improve it, then there should be conscious effort on its part to expand and grow by considering the many possibilities that might contribute to its development. This is the implication of considering the impact of entertainment to the hotel industry. The hotel industry will be more likely to depend on technology to determine what type and dimensions of entertainment to provide. However, it will not be limited to it, as the introduction of new ways to innovate and formulate plans to augment the business has been presented.

Other approaches to address the issue will be to look into traditional entertainment and transform it into something modern and luxurious that goes with what the market requires of the industry. In the long run, just as long as the needs and wants of the clients are considered when it comes to entertainment, the hotel industry will have no other reason to worry about the contributions and advantages that will be impacted by entertainment as a major part of the organization.

References

Cilan, C.A. , et. al. (2007). An Exploratory Study of Information Technology Utilization and Its Influence on Business Performance of Upscale Hotel Industry in Turkey. International Journal of Business Strategy, p. 206 (9). Retrieved November 14, 2008, from Academic OneFile via Gale, Fam, M. (2007).

Hotel-Room TV Tries to Freshen Itself Up; LodgeNet Aims to Fight The New Competition From Portable Media. Wall Street Journal, p. B4. Retrieved November 14, 2008, from The Wall Street Journal via ProQuest.

Mohsin, A. & Ryan, C.. (2005). Service Quality Assessment of 4-Star Hotels in Darwin, Northern Territory, Australia. (Buyers Guide). Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management, Volume 12, Number 1, pp. 25 (12). Retrieved November 14, 2008, from General OneFile via Gale. Wagner, C. G. (2008).

High-tech Service for Hotel Guests: Check into a Gadget Lab, Where Room Services are at Your Fingertips. The Futurist, Volume 22, Issue 2, p. 12 (1). Retrieved November 13, 2008, from General OneFile via Gale.

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