Competitive Advantage In The Hospitality Industry

Part 1: Introductory part
1. Introduction
1.1 Background

Over the years tourism has expanded and continue to grow and become one of the fastest growing economic sectors in the global perspective. (UNWTO, 2014). The development of the industry is possible owing to the people’s inclination to travel. There are many destinations and purposes of travelling. As a matter of fact the biggest competition can be imaged in the accommodation market, thus it becomes more homogeneous. Nowadays companies struggle with survival because of the competitive environment and the attitude of the customers. The primary reason to differentiate is being capable to be profitable. As one of the manager said “If you don’t have a competitive advantage, don’t compete”.

According to previous researches of the author many independent hotels in Poland, in the best scenario have older systems and equipment in was nothing. In many cases the manager only trains and equipped the front desk, because of the representative function which they have and forgetting the other sectors like: restaurant or housekeeping.
One of the key factors in the hospitality industry is communication and the important role here plays the technology. The ability to create the competitive advantage in many cases is bound to the technology.
The 7th major city in Poland is Szczecin with the population over four hundred thousand. It is one of the harbour city which is situated near the German border. It gives the opportunity to develop the international contacts and trades. Therefore hotels focused on the business guests are prominent in the city. They play a major role for different companies. According to STR reports totally in Szczecin there are 14 open hotels, from which nine of them are independent and the rest is the chain hotels like: Radisson, Campanile, Ibis, which are only the examples. The service industry is characterized by the high rivalry and the location play the key role for the

It will show the core and supplementary services within the hotel. (Lovelock & Wirtz, 2011)
Additionally the cultural dimension by Geert Hofstede is used to give a perspective of the culture in the Park Hotel. It allows to analyse the issues in the line of the communication. (Hofstede)
Last but not least is the model Hospitality/Hotel and Lodging Competency Model it will be used to analyse in which stadium of the development is the hotel and what should be improved. (ETA, 2015)
Summing up this chapter is connected to perceptual mapping: which will show the target group likings according to the delivery system which is offered by the Park Hotel It is aiming to show what is an issue and how the technology can improve it. (Dictionary, 2015)

External analysis
The short PEST analyse will be made which will be followed by Porter’s five. The purpose is to establish the overall situation in Szczecin’s market. In concert, these provided an understanding of where the control lies. In the industry and competitive strength, thus identifying