hotel management case

Previously, the hotel’s poor condition and management drew a clientele described as hunting for inexpensive sleep. The majority of the management had little or poor client relations, and the services provided were inadequate. According to the text, the property was matched by the level of their services and attitudes. The property was old, and the building was constructed in stages. Given its proximity to the University of Colorado and Naropa University, it’s possible that the regular customers were generally students who, as indicated, were mostly engaged in partying.

The lodge was transformed into a gold award-winning quality inn following renovations and a change in management and employees. The inn begins to offer quality customer services and accommodations. When Andrea took over, the flag change meant that she had to step up, create better amenities, and rebrand the inn. The physical property and the staff had to match the stature of the Inn. After arriving at this expensive transformation the target customers also had to change. The people looking for ‘cheap sleep’ were no longer targeted. Instead, Andrea began targeting visitors of the neighboring universities including the parents, professors, and visiting writers.

As mentioned above, the transformation of the lodge into a luxurious inn was quite expensive. Andrea had to make overall changes and refurbishment that translated into significant amounts of invested money. The services offered were no longer sub standard and neither were the amenities. The new market mix came in handy as it attracted their desired clientele. For example, Andrea’s introduction of red carpet treatment for the visiting writers meant that word about the services provided at the Inn could reach articles in newspapers and magazines and hence free marketing. Moreover, the supportive hospitality policy or what is described as ‘quid pro quo’ meant that local business will work with the inn to provide services that would attract more clients.

When Andrea and Burt began the refurbishment of the lodge, there was a high possibility that eventually they had to change its name. They believed that the name Econo Lodge had some advantage given its place in the family of Choice Hotels International. They also found out that sticking to the name will not reposition the inn accordingly. The name Quality Inn and Suites felt suitable given the changes that had been made to the lodge. The lodge could no longer be considered economic ‘Econo’ to mean cheap given that the services and amenities had changed and hence the price changes. Moreover, the name Quality Inn and Suites had not been registered to any lodge or inn in Boulder Greek. Burt and Andrea felt that the name could be used by someone else and their hard work would be lost. In my view, their decision to change the flag was the best. In every business enterprise, rebranding is really important especially if there is a new target customer. If they had not changed the name it could have taken long for the inn to attract publicity or new customers. I, therefore, would have done as Burt and Andrea did and changed the flag.