Elegance is a mid-sized hotel located just outside of Miami. Elegance is family owned and is a relatively new addition to the tourism and hospitality market. The tourism and hospitality employment sectors are comprised of workers from various cultures, economic backgrounds, educational levels, ages, and languages. This is one of the unique features of Elegance, clients always feel at home because generally there is at least one staff member who speaks their native tongue.

While having such a diverse staff is great for clients and provides a knowledge base of community activities, the front desk and managers are receiving an increasing number of calls from clients on the inconsistency in service. Online customer satisfaction surveys reveal that the guests enjoy the staff and find the staff very helpful. In the same survey, guests complain that wait times vary from shift to shift. The exercise room is not stocked with clean towels and check-ins, as well as check-outs, are often delayed by long conversations with staff. The owners understand that guest satisfaction determines the livelihood of their business; therefore, it is a major criterion for success. Satisfaction is defined as "an overall evaluation of one's experience with a service or product" (Smith & Houston, 1983). Research indicates that satisfaction is produced by meeting or exceeding a consumer's pre-conceived expectations (Lakshmi-Raton & Iyer, 1988; Schank & Abelson, 1977; Smith & Houston, 1983; Smith & Houston, 1985).

Guests' complaints, reduced occupancy and disgruntled employees all led to the beginning of the four-star Elegance Hotel housekeeping department's demise, until a new housekeeping manager was hired. There were several challenges that the housekeeping (HK) department at Elegance Hotel was facing.

Talent Development has been asked to review the issues. There were several challenges that the housekeeping (HK) department at Elegance Hotel was facing. The executive team thought that a new manager would be the answer to the current challenges. The department was without a manager for over a year. Prior to the new manager joining the team, one of the department's two senior supervisors was assigned to be the interim leader. During that time, the services eroded, and the department became dysfunctional: hence, the department was 

unable to meet its required standards. 

Additionally, conflicts emerged among the supervisors. The staff was not motivated, and morale was low; productivity had also declined. Teamwork and camaraderie among the staff were lacking, and that negatively impacted the relationship among the team members. Guests' complaints about the quality of service emerged as occupancy rates tumbled. Talent Development discovered that while Elegance's multilingual staff is loyal there are some areas for improvement. Based on the results of the survey and small group interaction, Talent Development reported only 35% of the staff can read and comprehended English at the 6th-grade level or above.

Answer the following questions about the challenges of Elegance Hotel Housekeeping. 

1. Explain how the Elegance Hotel housekeeping department could develop as a team, build trusting relationships among its members, and create an environment that exemplifies the Elegance Hotel standards. Your answer must be 4 paragraphs. You must use 2 academic or professional sources that support the management theory or approach you have chosen for Elegance Hotel.

2. What would be your approach to introducing the new processes and procedures to the housekeeping department? Identify your approach and explain why this approach was chosen in one paragraph .

Answer rating: 100% (QA)

1 To develop the Elegance Hotel housekeeping department as a cohesive team and build trusting relationships among its members it is crucial to implement effective management strategies One such approa... View the full answer