Strategic Management Plan: SWOT Analysis

The company is the Elegant Hotels Group, which is a company that owns and operates five hotels and a restaurant in Barbados. The resorts include Turtle Beach Resort, Tamarind Cove Resort, Crystal Cove Resort, Colony Club Resort, and the House Resort as well as the Daphnes Restaurant. Our company went public on the Aims Market of the London Stock Exchange in May of 2015.

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Strengths

The hotels and restaurant are located in the county of Barbados, and the sales and marketing office is located in Fort Lauderdale Florida/. This gives the group of hotels the opportunity to delegate duties as well as have specialization areas. By having the sales and marketing department in Fort Lauderdale, they are able to focus on coming up with modes that will attract customers to the hotel. Secondly, it also enables the company to save on costs as it is able to outsource these services at a lower price. Secondly, having approximately 300 employees means that there is specialization of roles and the ration of employees to the hotel customers is reduced. This increases efficiency and customer experience. With such a base of employees, it is also manageable to train and monitor them. Thirdly, majority of the hotels in Barbados are family owned and therefore not very keen on growing. Elegant Group of Hotels hence has no serious competitor and the fact that the group of hotels was acquired in 2016, means that it has approximately 30 million dollars to spend in terms of expansion CITATION Mal15 \l 2057 (Moore, 2015). Thirdly, the group has specialized in all aspects of the hospitality industry to cater to the needs of its niche market. This is evidenced by claims to own one quarter of Barbados high-end hotel rooms with the Colony Club, Tamarind, The House, Crystal Cove and Turtle Beach resorts. Furthermore, upon acquisition, the board that was executed with the responsibility of managing the hotel comprises professionals who have experience in the industry and are able to steer the hotel to greater heights, for example, Simon Sherwood and Sunil Chatrani. The fact that they are also non-executive board members means that transparency and objectivity can be exercised in the running of the group of hotels. Lastly, the group of hotels offers an array of unique services that are not accorded by many hotels or if any, they do not offer the same quality and value for money. The services include: Supervised Children's activities; In-room massage Services; Concierge; Business Services; 24-hour Front Desk; Bellman; Tour Assistance; Beauty Services; Dry Cleaning Services; Laundry Services; Wedding Services; Housekeeping; Babysitting; In-room delivery grocery services; Private Cook

Weaknesses

That seasonality of the region that makes it a challenge for several businesses because there are periods when there is an influx of tourists and moments when the tourist numbers dwindle. This makes it hard to realize consistent profits. Secondly, the resorts are located in the West coast which is inaccessible to most of the entertainment spots. Therefore, people staying at the hotels have to spend a significant amount of taxis to get to these areas. Some of the resorts also have limited facilities and amenities. For instance, many of them do not have conferencing facilities or even elevators. This creates an unpleasant customer experience as they are subjected to strenuous activity in trying to access their rooms. Thirdly, the groups of hotels have a rigid policy on cancellation. Cancellation has to be done in formal writing and not over the phone. This proves to be an inconvenience for many customers. For instance, If booking is canceled more than 30 days prior to date of arrival - 50% deposit is refunded. If booking is canceled within 30 days of date of arrival full deposit is forfeited.

The threats to the hotel are not as many and the most potent one is the changing customer tastes. With the rise of the internet, most people have more access to information and therefore able to make more informed decisions. It is therefore upon the hotels to coming up with enticing ways to lure customers to the hotels.

Visitor numbers to Barbados rose by 14.7 per cent from January to October and British Airways, Delta and Thomas Cook have laid on extra flights to the island CITATION Mal15 \l 2057 (Moore, 2015). This provides flexibility and opportunities for more tourists to come to the island. The hotels can then capitalize on this by offering affordable packages in collaboration with the airlines. With the ongoing instability and uncertainty in the competing winter sun destinations of Tunisia and Egypt, Barbados has proved to be the next tourist destination for many. Lastly, Elegant Hotels was bought by Vision Capital, a London private equity company, from Cabot Square Capital, an arm of Credit Suisse, in 2004 in an expansion plan. This provides more access to capital for expansion to other areas CITATION Mal15 \l 2057 (Moore, 2015).

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY Moore, M. (2015, December 16). Elegant Hotels group looks to expand. Retrieved from Financial Times: http://www.ft.com/intl/cms/s/0/380ae61c-a3fd-11e5-8218-6b8ff73aae15.html