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Leading Hotels – Teacher Support for Activities 4-6Here are some possible approaches to the activities and some suggestions for answers.

Activity 4

This builds on Activity 1 however it can easily be adapted to be a stand-alone activity.

(a) and (b): If using hard copy, learners can work out the ranking by the number of bedrooms in the UK and write the order on the table. Learners could then reproduce the table to reflect the revised order/ranking. Learners can do this either by hand or by entering the figures into a table in a word-processing file or into a spreadsheet.

If the activity is presented electronically, learners can use the Word ‘sort’ facility for tables to revise the list so that hotels are ranked by number of bedrooms in the UK (descending).

If learners have completed Activity 1 electronically using appropriate software, Activity 4 presents a good opportunity for them to learn how to adapt their tables and spreadsheets to accommodate additional information.

Table 2 (S) on page 3 shows the table in the revised order, ranked by number of bedrooms in the UK.

In preparation for Activity 5, learners may also wish to create their own spreadsheets using software such as Excel.

(c): The order of all the hotel companies except one, changes when ranked by the number of bedrooms in the UK as opposed to the number of hotels.

Learners are likely to identify that in August 2008 the Whitbread Hotel Company was the largest hotel operator in the UK in terms of both the number of hotels and the total bedrooms in the UK. The Whitbread Hotel Company’s very large number of hotels and bedrooms is probably due to Whitbread acquiring a rival UK budget hotel brand (Premier Lodge) in 2004, linkng it with their own Travel Inn brand to form the Premier Inn brand.

The Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) is ranked second in terms of total bedrooms in the UK in 2008. Although IHG had fewer hotels in the UK than Travelodge or Best Western, it had an average of 139 rooms per UK hotel, compared with Premier Inn’s average of 69 rooms per hotel, and, by opening 11 more hotels of this size, could take the lead in terms of total bedrooms in the UK.

The approach used to providing information can be very important. For example for promotional or publicity purposes it might be better for Travelodge Dubai International Capital to quote the ranking by number of hotels, in which they are the second leading hotel company in the UK, whereas when ranked by number of bedrooms they drop to third.

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Teachers may wish to discuss with learners some of the many different ways to rank or sort hotel companies. For conference organisers, for example, hotels could be ranked by their capacity for day conferences or the number of conference or meeting rooms. Alphabetical listings might be used to make it easier to find details about a particular hotel where the name is already known. Hotels can also be sorted geographically by town/city, county, region, within the UK, in Europe, or International. They can also be listed by category such as by star ratings for customers looking for a certain quality of hotel or price range.

Learners are likely to find a number of statements in the promotional materials of some hotels, which bring together different methods of ranking and sorted for example “The only 5 star hotel in the county”.

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TABLE 2(S): TOP 10 HOTEL GROUPS WITH MORE THAN 200 BEDROOMS IN THE UK TO 31 AUGUST 2008 (BY NUMBER OF BEDROOMS) (RANKED IN ORDER OF NUMBER OF

BEDROOMS IN THE UK)

Ranking Company No. of Hotels in UK

Total Bedrooms

in UK

Brands

1 Whitbread Hotel Company

518(+)

36,000(+) Premier Inn

2 Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG)

256 34,530 InterContinental (1), *Crowne Plaza (18), *Holiday Inn (116), *Express by Holiday Inn (120), Staybridge Suites (1)

3 Travelodge Dubai International Capital

333(+) 23,150 Travelodge

4 Accor Hotels 130 18,952 *Sofitel (3), Novotel (31), Mercure (29), Ibis (50), Etap (12), Formule 1 (5)

5 Hilton Hotel Corporation

71 15,610 Hilton (69), *Garden Inn (1), *Doubletree (1)

6 Best Western 285 15,305 Best Western

7 Marriott International

52 11,436 Renaissance (3), Marriott (48), JW Marriott (1)

8 Wyndham Worldwide

107 10,589 *Days Inn (25), *Days Hotel (10), *Ramada (65), *Ramada Encore (6), Wyndham Grand (1)

9 Carlson Hotels Worldwide

40 7,725 *Radisson (11), *Park Inn (19), *Country Inns & Suites (1)

10 De Vere (AHG) 62 7,310 De Vere Hotels (12), Village (20), Venues (30)

* Some or all franchised to another operator

Source: These figures for the year to 30 August 2008 show the leading hotel groups in the UK (based on the number of bedrooms). The figures are from British Hospitality: Trends and Statistics 2008, published by the British Hospitality Association, as reported on 5 December 2008 on the website www.caterersearch.com. This table shows the number of hotels each group has in the UK, their brands, and the number of bedrooms in the UK.

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Activity 5

Learners will need to decide which charts or graphs to use to illustrate the information in the table and whether to draw them by hand or using appropriate software.

Examples given below and in the downloadable Excel files are of a bar graph and a pie chart Ranking Hotel group Total bedrooms in UK

1 Whitbread Hotel Company 36,0002 Intercontinental Hotels Group (IHG) 34,5303 Travelodge Dubai International Capital 23,1504 Accor Hotels 18,9525 Hilton Hotel Corporation 15,6106 Best Western 15,3057 Marriott International 11,4368 Wyndham Worldwide 10,5899 Carlson Hotels Worldwide 7,72510 De Vere (AHG) 7,310

Overall Total 180,607

05,000

10,00015,00020,00025,00030,00035,00040,000

Whitbre

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Interc

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Travelod

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ubai In

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Accor

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Hilton H

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Marriot

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Wyndh

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Carlso

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De Vere

(AHG)

Leading hotel groups in the UK - chart showing total numbers of bedrooms in the UK in each group in August

2008

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Leading hotel groups in the UK - chart showing each group's percentage of the ten leading groups' total

bedrooms in the UK in August 2008

19.9%

19.1%

12.8%10.5%

8.6%

8.5%

6.3%

5.9%

4.3%

4.0%

Whitbread HotelCompany

Intercontinental HotelsGroup

Travelodge DubaiInternational Capital

Accor Hotels

Hilton HotelCorporationBest Western

Marriott International

Wyndham Worldwide

Carlson HotelsWorldwide

De Vere (AHG)

Activity 6

Answers will vary according to learners’ choices for their research.

This is a good opportunity for learners to find out more about the range of job and career opportunities within hotels, to look in more depth at one of the leading hotels listed and to compare it with a smaller hotel company. The activity will also help learners to begin to identify where within the hospitality industry they might wish to make their careers and the type and size of organization that appeals.

Internet access would be helpful for this activity. Hotels’ websites usually contain information about careers and current job vacancies. Learners may also find careers websites useful, such as Springboard’s CareerScope section of the main website at: http://careerscope.springboarduk.net/ or People 1st’s UKSP careers website http://www.uksp.co.uk. On the Springboard website in the Business Partners section you will also find information about a wide range of hotels, including many of the leading UK hotel groups: http://partners.springboarduk.net/meet-our-partners/hotels/

When carrying out their research learners may find that there have been some changes since the August 2008 survey, for example in ownership, branding or operational arrangements, and should make a note/update their tables accordingly.

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