english report

TAYLOR’S UNIVERSITY | SABD | FNBE | ENGLISH 2

SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN

FOUNDATION IN NATURAL AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT

REPORT TITLE: A Tale of Two Businesses A Comparative Analysis of Two Businesses of Similar Industry in Different Geographical Locations

BUSINESS INDUSTRY: HOTEL

NAME STUDENT ID

PRESENTATION / RESEARCH REPORT ROLES

LAU MAO HUA 0320249 BRIEF BIOS OF BUSINESS

WONG QIN KAI 0320024 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

LIM TING LE 0320028 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

LEE JIA KIAM 0320029 INTRODUCTION TO HOTEL INDUSTRY

NABILA HANIM BINTI SALLEH@MAN

0321368 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

NADHIRAH BINTI MOHD ZAIN 0321366 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS

NUR AZREEN BINTI SAMIU 0321370 RECOMMENDATION

CHIN KHANG WEI 0320728 RECOMMENDATION

MODULE: ENGLISH 2 [ELG30605]

LECTURER: MS. CASSANDRA WIJESURIA

PRESENTATION & SUBMISSION DATE: 5 JUNE 2015

LAU MAO HUA | WONG QIN KAI | LIM TING LE | LEE JIA KIAM | NABILA | NADHIRAH | NUR AZREEN | CHIN KHANG WEI 1


TABLE OF CONTENT

TITLE PAGE NUMBER

ARTISTIC COVER

COVER PAGE 1

TABLE OF CONTENT 2

KEY SUMMARY 3

INTRODUCTION OF THE BUSINESS INDUSTRY 45

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE BUSINESS 69

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE BUSINESSES’ COMPETITIVE TRAITS 1017

RECOMMENDATION 1821

APPENDICES 2237

BIBLIOGRAPHY 38

REFERENCES 39



KEY SUMMARY

In a group of eight people, we need to select two businesses with the history of 10 years and above

within the same industry in different geographical locations such as one business in Penang and another

business in Klang Valley for research purpose. We had selected Hotel Continental, Penang and The 5

Elements Hotel, Kuala Lumpur as our businesses to study. Hotel Continental has 46 years of experiences in

Penang while The 5 Elements Hotel has 42 years of experiences in Kuala Lumpur. We need to conduct

preliminary research and conduct a personal interview with the hotel manager to get more information about

the business. In addition, we also need to conduct onsite observations for the businesses we had selected.

In this report, we will be discussing about the information about this business industry, background

information and competitive behavior of these businesses and suggest recommendation for these two

businesses in their respective markets.



INTRODUCTION OF THE BUSINESS INDUSTRY

The word “Hospitality” is derived from the French word – Hospice which carrying the meaning of provide

weary and taking good care of those travellers. Interestingly, a French chef name “M.Boulanger” is known as

the father of modern hospitality during the French Revolution. The early culture of hospitality is founded in

Greek as early as 40 BC. Hospitality culture in Greek is their symbols of social and religious purposes. After

the World War 2, travelling began to be a trend among the civilization. This is the time when the hospitality

industry bloom like a flower around the world.

Hotel is the “temporary house” for the travellers to stay for who came from outstation and foreign

countries. Hotels can be found everywhere in any region, area, town and city to provide a temporary stay for

the traveller. Hotel’s location plays an important role in attracting customers. Hotels that are located near city

center, business zone and public transportation hub will attract more customers due to it conveniency. Hotels

can be classified into different categories which include budget hotels and starrating categories. Pricing of

each hotel may differ with each others depending on the starrating as well as the location, services and

facilities provided by the hotel. Demand of the hotel may vary during peak season and offpeak season.

Hotel industry in Malaysia is normally practiced monopolistic competition which means they have a rather

fierce competition among each other. Constant innovation and creativity have to be fuelled into their

management in order them to survive in the market. Hotel industry is in everexpanding influx in the market.

They struggle hard and compete for survival profit in these intense competition. Each of them jostles to

engineer “emotional touch points” and “wow moments” to their guests. Therefore, there are some variations

among their product offering and provided by hotels.



Tourism in Malaysia becomes more popular since Malaysia introduced Visit Malaysia Year. Malaysia has

beautiful scenes and well known in nature. Penang, Malacca and Sarawak are the state that attract most of

the tourists to come to Malaysia. Malaysia also famous in its food, architecture design and ethnic. In general,

the hotel industry in Malaysia has experienced an encouraging growth rate since 1994. Hotel industry in

Malaysia has contributed tremendously to the development in the Malaysia tourism. The hotel industry in

Malaysia is normally owning or managing several facets of hospitality because it provides them with many

more opportunities to generate success.



BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE BUSINESSES

A. Hotel Continental Penang

Hotel Continental is located at Penang Road, Penang. It was founded on 29 November 1969 by Loh’s

Family. When contacted with Mr. Fadzil, hotel manager, he said that the top management and himself are

not sure what motivate of Loh’s Family to start this business. Mr. Fadzil believe that it is because of the

island which attract visitors to come (personal communication, May 1, 2015). Hotel Continental have

approximately 80 people of employees including the top management which half of them came from local

citizens and another half came from foreign country. Hotel Continental provides a total number of 231 rooms

to the market which include superior room, deluxe room, super deluxe room and executive suite room.

Besides that, Hotel Continental also provides services facilities such as restaurant, conference room, laundry

service, car park, swimming pool and etc. The hotel can be fully occupied during peak season. On the other

hand, the hotel’s capacity can up to 60% to 70% during offpeak season. Most of the customers come from

corporate businessmen and private agent groups. In the past 5 years, Hotel Continental had graded as a

3star hotel by Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) and Coffee House is a qualified as a halal restaurant.

Besides that, Hotel Continental had upgraded the standard room to superior room and upgrading the

amenities inside the room such as LCD television, minibar, inroom movie channels and so forth. Mr. Fadzil

believed that this hotel can sustain longer because of the strategic location.



Official Website

Hotel Continental’s reviews on TripAdvisor



B. The 5 Elements Hotel KL

The 5 Elements Hotel is located at Chinatown, Kuala Lumpur. It was founded in 1973 and it was taken

over by new management in the year 2008. The key founder of this hostel is a Malaysian Chinese

businessman, but currently it is incharged by Tan Sri Lam’s daughter. The key founders start this business

with the motivation of the founder is operating property development company by that time and take this

opportunity to start the business and gain profit from it. The idea of The 5 Elements Hotel’s name is mainly

due to its location which had the traditional concept in it and they decided to use the five basic elements

fire, metals, earth, wood and water as the concept of their name. The 5 Elements Hotel has approximately 30

employees, which most of them came from foreign countries. The 5 Elements Hotel has the total of 104

rooms which include standard single rooms, superior twin rooms, deluxe queen rooms, and themed suites.

During peak seasons, the hotel’s capacity can up to 60% to 70% which are about 4000 people. In contrast,

the hotel’s capacity can only up to 30% during off peak season, which are around 2500 to 3000 people. 40%

of the customers comes from online bookings such as Agoda, and its own official website, while customers

from the travel agents and business cooperation worker contributes 30% each to the total amount of the

customers. Most of the customers are usually Malaysian and Singaporean families who have the income

around RM5000RM10000. The hotel had been renovated in the year 2013 due to the 35 years old building

and hence upgrading the hotel’s facilities and amenities. The 5 Elements Hotel had implemented modern

type of marketing to expand their market, which provides online booking on its own website and Agoda.



Official Website

The 5 Elements Hotel’s reviews on TripAdvisor



COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE BUSINESSES’ COMPETITIVE TRAITS


In Penang, there are around 250 to 300 businesses operating in hotel industry, which include budget hotels

and homestays. Market shares of this business are quite small in Penang as there are numerous competitors

in this geographical location. Bayview Hotel, Hotel Malaysia and Cititel Hotel are the businesses that operate

in Penang Road, which are also classified as the top competitors of Hotel Continental.

Bayview Hotel is qualified as a 4star hotel in Penang

by Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH). It offers a

total of 333 rooms and suites to the customers, which

inclusive of standard rooms, superior rooms, deluxe &

grand deluxe rooms, family rooms, junior suites and

premier floor rooms.



Hotel Malaysia is one of the 2star hotel in Penang by

MAH. Hotel Malaysia provides 126 rooms to the customers

which include standard rooms, superior rooms and deluxe

rooms.

Cititel Hotel graded as one of the 4star hotel in Penang

by MAH. Cititel Hotel offers 451 comfortable rooms which

include standard rooms, superior rooms, deluxe rooms

and executive suites.

According to Mr.Fadzil, the hotel competes with other businesses in term of providing good services. He

said that he will find the alternative way to receive suggestion and recommendation from the customers via

internet and investigate the problem and hence provide necessary training if applicable. Hotel Continental

has a low pricing power because there are too many competitors in Penang and the hotel had adjusted their

rates four times due to the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the rates of other

businesses. According to Mr. Fadzil, it is hard for the new business to enter this market because there are

too many competitors around and they had to compete with each other by providing good amenities and

facilities as well as providing a reasonable rate. Hotel Continental is a monopolistic competitive firm because

there are too many competitors in the market. Many competitors are caused by weak barriers to entry which

businesses are easy to enter and exit the market. Due to the large number of competitors, businesses will be

having a weak pricing power and the competition among other businesses are strong in term of pricing and

advertising in order to get more customers.




There are around 200 businesses operating in the hospitality industry in Chinatown, Kuala Lumpur. The

market shares of this business and its top competitors are quite equivalent as everyone facing the same

situation due to the drop in demand, which caused by the decreasing number of tourists coming to Malaysia.

Dropping in tourist is mainly due to the issues happened in Malaysia such as the flight incidents, safety of

Sabah and also the drop of economics in the United Kingdom.Geo Hotel, Swiss Inn Hotel and Ancasa Hotel

are the top competitors of The 5 Elements Hotel because they are the hotels that operate within Chinatown.

Geo Hotel is a 3star hotel which provides a total number of 180

rooms to serve its customers. Room types available at Geo Hotel are

standard rooms, deluxe rooms, family rooms and premier suites.



Swiss Inn Hotel is a 3star hotel operating under SwissGarden

International. Swiss Inn Hotel provides a total number of 151 rooms to

the market which include superior rooms, deluxe rooms and family

rooms.

Ancasa Hotel is a 3star hotel which provides 294 rooms which

inclusive of standard rooms, superior rooms, deluxe rooms, family

suites, junior suites and Ancasa floor rooms. Ancasa Hotel also

provided spa services for its customers, which enhance people to stay

at that hotel for the enjoyment of the spa.



According to Mr. Frankie, every hotel is trying their best to provide good products and services to its

customers so that the customers have a good impression and will stay at the hotel next time. Hence, the

main reason why these competitors are so special is due to their pricing and marketing strategy. Mr.Frankie

said that the hotels will be running a various type of promotions through internet which most of the people get

the information from and hence attract people from its competitors such as early bird promotion, buy three

free one night promotion and so on (personal communication, May 20, 2015). It’s hard for new business to

enter this market because there are too many competitors in this market. Besides that, the new business

must also need to take the risk which it will not be gaining much profit due to higher number of supply in the

market while the market demand is lower. Every business needs to compete with each other to get the

customers. The 5 Elements Hotel is a monopolistic competitive firm because it has a large number of

competitors in that geographical location, weak barriers to entry which firm can easily enter and exit the

market, sell differentiated products and constantly advertising their products to the market to gain more

customers. The 5 Elements Hotel has around 200 of competitors which give the hotel a low pricing power

because if the hotel set a high price for its service to gain more profit, they will lose the customers. Every

hotel wants to have its own customers and causes the competition among the hotels are big in term of

pricing, advertising, products and services provided by the hotel.



Similarity & Differences Summary Table

SIMILARITY

Both hotels are classified as 3Star Hotel

Both hotels have the same rating on TripAdvisor

Both hotels insist on providing good service to the customers

Both hotels are monopolistic competitive firm

Weak pricing power which the hotels cannot set the price as they like because they will lose customers

Both hotels facing strong competition in the market due to the large number of competitors in that location

Both hotels only have one branch which is the headquarter office

Hotel Continental Penang DIFFERENCES The 5 Elements Hotel Kuala Lumpur

1969 Founded year 1973

Strategic location Motive to start the business Development group

231 superior room, deluxe room, super deluxe room and executive suite room

Numbers & types of rooms provided

104 standard single rooms, superior twin rooms, deluxe queen rooms, and themed suites

80 Numbers of employee 30

Restaurant, conference room, laundry service, car park, swimming pool, free wifi at lobby area.

Facilities Provided Restaurant, meeting room, free wifi on every floor

95%100% Hotel capacity during peak season

60%70%

250300 Number of competitors in their respective geographical market

200



Comparative Analysis Summary Table

Competitive Traits

Hotel Continental The 5 Elements Hotel

1. Number of Competitors

250 300 200 250

2. Barrier to Entry

Weak They just need around RM 5 million to start the business. They have to do the market survey before entering the market to fulfill the market’s needs.

Moderate Because the new businesses have to compete with the existing business. The new businesses have to purchase a land or building to start a hotel business which is very expensive.

3. Differentiated Product

Accomodation Executive Suite Deluxe Room Super Deluxe Room Superior Room Dining Buffet Breakfast

Accomodation Standard Room Superior Room Deluxe Room Themed Suite(Metal Suite, Water Suite, Fire Suite, Wood Suite, Earth Suite) Dining Buffet Breakfast

4. Pricing Power

Weak Price Taker. The competition around is stringent. If they raise the price, customers will turn away and go to another hotel nearby.

Weak Price Taker. Many budget hotels around have a lower price range than them.

5. Other Characteristics

1. Strategic Location Penang City Centre 2. Convenient Location Many restaurants, bus stop and convenient shop around 3. Facilities Have swimming pool 4. Have their own company website 5. Hospitality Offer 6. WiFi on every floor 7. Inroom Astro Channel Offered

1. Have Tour Guide Services 2. Strategic Location Near Chinatown 3. Have travel agent to bring in visitors 4. Direct Marketing Online promotion 5. Have their own company websites 6. Not much 3star hotel nearby, mostly budget level nearby 7. Free WiFi on every floor

6. Verdict

Monopolistic Competition Monopolistic Competition



According to the analysis, Hotel Continental is more commercially successful because they earn more

yearly revenue than The 5 Elements Hotel. Compare to The 5 Elements Hotel in Klang Valley, Hotel

Continental has about 70% occupancy. Whereby The 5 Elements Hotel has only about 30% for their offpeak

season. Moreover, Hotel Continental is more competitive in Penang as there are many competitors in

Penang. However, Continental Hotel is able to survive and their business is getting better over years.

Furthermore, Hotel Continental provides more characteristics compare to The 5 Elements Hotel. Both of the

hotel cannot put the price as they want, because there are many competitors among them.



RECOMMENDATION


1)Do more marketing and advertising

Hotel Continental can do more advertising on the market and even social media sites. They can penetrate

the market with the platform such as “Trip Advisor”, “Hotel Finder” and so on to boost their existence. Also,

they can make a mutual agreement with Tourism company within Malaysia. For example, Continental Hotel

can do a partnership with Penang Tourism Government and make the hotel available in the tourism

guidebook. Continental Hotel can give out free parking for their touring bus and discount for the touring

company. This helps the hotels to have secure customers in a long run.

2) Provide better services and catering

Service is the emphasis in hotel industry. Continental Hotel can improvise their room services, ushering, and

front desk registration. If the customers are satisfied with their services, they will recommend the hotel to

their friends and come back to visit Continental Hotel in the future. Every customer is entitled to get a free

breakfast for staying in Continental Hotel, hence the food served must be clean, hygienic and tasty. This can

attract the customers to have and pay for their lunch and dinner at the same place. By doing this, Continental

Hotel can boost their extra revenue on lunch and dinner. Since most of the customers are not familiar with

Penang area, Continental Hotel can also provide tour guiding services for those who requested. In a short

run, people are more likely to visit Hotel Continental for their convenient tour guiding and indirectly make

revenue out of it.

3) Increase facilities

Hotel Continental can provide better facilities such as a gym, better air conditioners, more channels in their

television and so on. Moreover, they should provide free WiFi service in the room. Leisure travellers would

rather have a good connection to scroll through social media updates or keep in touch with family and friends

instead of other treats such as robes and slippers in the room or coffee or tea available in the hotel lobby

upon arrival. Modern travellers are hyper connected and cannot bear to be offline, while business travellers

need to be able to check their email and take online conference call. This can help them to give maximum

comfort to the customers.



4) Keep the environment clean and provide a better view.

The surrounding and building of Continental Hotel have to always keep clean and preserved. This can

increase people’s confidence in visiting Continental Hotel. It should not have rubbish around and the paint on

the building should always look new. Do a small renovation like replacing the wall with a transparent glass so

that the customers can enjoy the Penang’s view and the beach outside the hotel.

5) Provide more parking bays

Parking is always a problem in a hectic city like Penang. Customers will sometimes prefer to stay in

Continental Hotel for their sufficient parking bays. This provides convenience to the customers as well.

Having sufficient transports will also prevent traffic congestion around Continental Hotel, customers will not

park their cars everywhere and block the traffic around the area.

6) Cut down unnecessary workers and hire more professionals in hotel management

We realize that most of the workers in the hotel have no actual experience in managing hotel. If Continental

Hotel can remove some of those excess workers, they can cut down their cost. At the same time, they

should hire more people with hotel management degree who are professional in hotel management to run

the hotel. They can give a motivational talk or workshop to boost the speed, efficiency and productivity of the

existing workers as well. As a result, they can have a good record and reputation in customers’ eyes. After

all, reputation is a vital for a business.



B. The 5 Elements Hotel, Kuala Lumpur

1) Social media

The hospitality industry should be using social media to reach consumers. One of the most recent strategies

is locationbased marketing, in which to contact a consumer via a short message service (SMS) text. But this

text is only sent to potential customers who have entered a certain location. With hotels, they could

“geofence” airports or convention centers in your city to send a message to people, telling them of their

services. Apart from that, consumers nowadays shop much differently than they did in the past, they will

gather information from the internet before making a purchase. It also applies to hotel stays. Starting a

hospitality or travel blog can increase the quality content on their website, which drives the online presence

and improves their website search rank. If The 5 Elements Hotel ends up on the first page of search results,

people are more attracted to make a reservation. But stick with articles that are informative, as opposed to

promotional.

2) Reimbursement

The hotel can offer reimbursement for the fees that guests pay airlines for their checked bags. They can set

a limit on the number of bags and the timing of this offering to attract more guests. By attracts this

reimbursement more foreign tourist since they can get discount out of their luggage. This novel idea is

coming from Loews Hotels.

3) Promotion and offer more package deals

Some people are flexible with their travel schedule and might want to stay an extra night. If offer them 50%

off on the third night when they pay the regular rate for the first two nights, many will take the offer and this

will generate incremental revenue. Besides that, in order to attract guests to the hotel and increase their

occupancy, they can offer package deals. For example, a “girl’s weekend” package would include

complimentary wine, chocolates, a massage at the hotel or with a partnering practitioner and a gift basket

with spathemed toiletries. Hoteliers can price these packages slightly higher than normal rates, as the

complimentary items add value to the overall experience.



4) Make a few rooms pet friendly

Many travellers would love to take their pet along. So, petfriendly hotels are the best and attractive option for

families who want to avoid the stress and expenses of kenneling a dog or finding a babysitter. If the hotel

make it petfriendly, they are not only attracting different segment of traveller, but also charging them more

for the rooms.

5) Network with other nearby business

Networking with other area businesses that tend to attract travellers and tourists such as amusement parks,

museums and restaurants to increases revenue for the hotel and the business partner, and at the same time,

benefits the customer. A hotel could offer discounted tickets to local attractions that benefit current hotel

guests. Business can be driven to the hotel if the hotel offers a special rate for anyone who books a room

and shows a ticket or receipt from the hotel’s networking partner.

6) Add some entertainment

Give the guests a little something extra to look forward to with some free or inexpensive entertainment. For

example, they could have a local musician play his guitar out by the pool or have Bingo at 7:00 pm at the

lobby.



APPENDICES


i) Interview Question

1) When was the business founded? The business is founded on 29 November 1969 2) Who are the key founders? Key founders is Loh’s Family 3) What prompted/motivated the founders to start this business? I am not sure what was the motive of Loh’s family to start this business. I asked the top management, they are also not sure about it. But the possibility is about the island. 4) What are the main products or services provided? Hospitality and the room service 5) Who are the customers? (e.g. Age group, incomelevel, educationlevel, etc.) Our major customers are from corporate businessmen and private agent groups about 70% come from businessmen 20% from private agents and 10% from F.I.T 6) What is the business’ annual revenue figure? Gained about 9 mil last year 7) What is the current estimated number of customers during peak season and offpeak season ?

Nonpeak season around 60% to 70%. Peak season will be 99% or even 100% occupied. 8) How many branch offices/stores do you have?

Actually we only have one branch. Actually among all the family members, they have a lot of hotels and factories in China and other country. But in Penang is only one. Sometimes people think that we are merged with other coordinator. 9) How many number of employees do you have for this business? We have about 79 employees including admins and top management. 50% of our employees are foreigners and another 50% are local.



10) Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent developments?( accomplished change in past 35 years ) I’m not really sure about the history even my top manager is not really sure about how they founded the hotel. The main propose why the hotel can stand for long is because of the strategic location. 11) Do you have many competitors? Who are they? Who are your top 3 competitors and what made them so special when compare to this business? Our main competitors are Bayview Hotel, Cititel Hotel and Hotel Malaysia. We have given good services to them and let them feel more valuable for this service (hospitality). 12) How big is your market share as well as your top competitors? Market share is small because 80% of hotels are located in Georgetown. We have roughly 200 to 300 hotels in Penang. 13) Is the business constantly facing strong competition from other competitors? What strategies have they used to compete with you? Mainly is the facilities and the hospitality. Doing online service and WiFi service are provided in every room. We got a swimming pool in our hotel which can counted as main factor of our strategies. 14) How much capital is required to start this business? Any specialized field of knowledge needed to run this business? More than 5 mil because of the facilities and all the setups. 15) Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why? What obstacles they may face when they enter to this market? In Penang, you can start a hotel business but there will be a risk because there are lot of competitor. New businesses must be dare to take the challenge and be smart. Before entering to this business, businesses need to do more survey about the market to fulfill the needs. 16) How do you compete with your competitors i.e. what strategies do you employ to divert customers away from your competitors in term of pricing, advertising, product variety and promotion? Provide good service to the customers. Facilities in the room, online promotion on our own website.

Youtube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvmDOL7pe40


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvmDOL7pe40


ii)Contact Details of Interviewee

Name: Mohd Fadzil

Position: Hotel Manager

Email: [email protected]

Contact Number: 0164180183

Website: www.hotelcontinental.com.my

Facebook: www.facebook.com/hotelcontipg

ii) Accommodation and Facilities

Superior Room Deluxe Room


mailto:[email protected]


Super Deluxe Room Executive Suite

Coffee House Reception Counter

Swimming Pool Lift Lobby



Decoration Indoor Water Fountain Hotel View

iii) Competitors

Cititel Hotel Bayview Hotel

Hotel Malaysia



iv) Promotion Brochure




i) Interview Questions

1. When was the business founded? Founded in 1973 but started a new management in 2008 2. Who are the key founders? Malaysian Chinese businessman. Currently,Tan Sri Lim’s daughter is incharge of the business. 3. What prompted/motivated the founders to start this business? Because of property management 4. What are the main products or services provided? Hospitality services 5. Who are the customers? (E.g. Age group, incomelevel, education level, etc.) Mostly are Malaysians (family). Also tourists from Singapore & Indonesia. Customers with middle income (RM510K) 6. What is the business’ annual revenue figure? Around RM 3 million (hotel only) . But last 4 months in 2015, the businesses experienced a bad drop. 7. What is the current estimated number of customers during peak season and offpeak season? Peak season : 60% 70 %. (4000 people) Offpeak season : can go as low as 30% (25003000 people) 8. How many branch offices/stores do you have (if applicable)? 1 branch only 9. How much number of employees do you have for this business? 30 workers (administrative, front desk, café, maintenance, housekeeping). Mostly are foreign workers with permit. 10. Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent developments? (Accomplished change in past 35 years) Changed to new management in 2008. Started direct marketing Modern way of marketing (online marketing40%) –Agoda By agents (30%) –tourists from China & Indonesia



11. Do you have many competitors? Who are they? Who are your top 3 competitors and what made them so special when compare to this business? Many competitors.Top competitors are Geo Hotel, Swiss Hotel, Ancasa Hotel Pricing, good services and rooms and also PR(human relations) 12. How big is your market share as well as your top competitors? Quite equivalent: Everyone is having the same situation (40% of capacity during the month) 13. Is the business constantly facing strong competition from others competitors? What strategies have they used to compete with you? Yes. Pricing, marketing strategy(online) Other business got 60% from online bookings while The 5 Elements Hotel has only 30%. 14. How much capital is required to start this business? What, if any, specialized field of knowledge do you need to run this business? Buildings only: RM100 million Land: RM150200 million To renovate, cost around 2030 million 15. Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why? What obstacles they may face when they enter to this market? Very hard as there are around 200 hotels (competitors) around Chinatown Less tourists coming to Malaysia, demand drops so bad. Especially last year around 15K(Europe economy, Sabah, MH). Tourists in Thailand and Bali are also dropping. Market small (suppliers more, demand less) 16. How do you compete with your competitors i.e. what strategies do you employ to divert customers away from your competitors in term of pricing, advertising, product variety and promotion? How successful do the business are? Promotion through online such as buy 3 free 1 night, flexible date (e.g: in June) 17. Are your pricing decisions strongly affected by your competitors? Why or why not? Yes. Very strong because there are too many competitors. Youtube Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zQLpEdJ89o


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zQLpEdJ89o


ii) Contact Details of Interviewee

Name: Frankie Ng

Position: Hotel Manager

Email: [email protected]

Contact Number: 0127169280

Website: www.the5elementshotel.com.my Facebook: www.facebook.com/the5elementskl

iii) Accommodation and Facilities

Standard single Superior twin


mailto:[email protected]

http://www.the5elementshotel.com.my/

https://www.facebook.com/the5elementskl


Deluxe Queen Metal Suite

Earth Suite Water Suite

Fire suite Wood Suite



Entrance Reception Counter

Waiting Area Lift Lobby

Restaurant Decoration Indoor Water Fountain



Decorations inside the hotel area Hotel View



iv) Competitors

Swiss Inn Kuala Lumpur Geo Hotel

Ancasa Hotel



MINUTES OF MEETING 1

DATE: 28/4/2015

TIME: 5PM

VENUE: LIBRARY

NAME TUTORIAL GROUP ROLE

LAU MAO HUA Wednesday 8am10am Report compilation

WONG QIN KAI Wednesday 8am10am Video editing

LIM TING LE Wednesday 8am10am Video editing

LEE JIA KIAM Wednesday 8am10am Report Writing

NABILA HANIM BINTI SALLEH@MAN Thursday 8am10am Interview

NADHIRAH BINTI MOHD ZAIN Wednesday 8am10am Report Writing

NUR AZREEN BINTI SAMIU Thursday 8am10am Interview

CHIN KHANG WEI Wednesday 8am10am Recommendation

No. ACTIVITY ACTION TAKEN BY

1) Contacting interviewee and get approval from Hotel Continental (Penang)

Nabila, Nadhirah

2) Conducting interview session Lau Mao Hua, Nabila

3) Video recording during the interview in Penang on 1/5/2015 Wong Qin Kai, Lim Ting Le

4) Person incharge for report compilation and monitoring of the progress Lau Mao Hua

5) Video editing & Interview notes (Penang) Lim Ting Le

6) Photo shooting for the business Lee Jia Kiam




DATE: 11/5/2015

TIME: 2PM

VENUE: LIBRARY


1) Looking for business that suitable for research in Klang Valley and make appointment

Lau Mao Hua

2) Report writing (Penang) Nur Azreen, Lee Jia Kiam,Lau Mao Hua

3) Recommendation of Hotel Continental ALL members

4) Video editing done Lim Ting Le


DATE: 19/5/2015

TIME: 1:30PM

VENUE: LIBRARY


1) Contacting The 5 Elements Hotel and make appointment for interview Nadhirah, Nabila

2) Conducting interview session Nur Azreen

3) Video shooting during interview Wong Qin Kai, Lim Ting Le

4) Video editing Wong Qin Kai

5) Recommendation for The 5 Elements Hotel Chin Khang Wei

6) Report writing ALL members




DATE: 28/5/2015

TIME: 2:00PM

VENUE: LIBRARY


1) Preparing video for presentation Wong Qin Kai

2) Introduction to Hotel Industry Chin Khang Wei, Lau Mao Hua

3) Presentation slide preparation Nur Azreen, Nabila Hanim

4) Report & slide printing Nadhirah

5) Similarity & differences of business Lee Jia Kiam

6) CD burning Lau Mao Hua

7) Final report writing & checking Lim Ting Le


DATE: 3/6/2015

TIME: 10:00AM

VENUE: LIBRARY

No. ACTIVITY Presentation Roles ACTION TAKEN BY

1) Introduction Lee Jia Kiam

2) Brief Bios of the business Lau Mao Hua

3) Comparative Analysis Lim Ting Le, Nabila

4) Recommendation Chin Khang Wei,Nur Azreen

5) Similarity & differences of business Wong Qin Kai, Nadhirah



BIBLIOGRAPHY

Agoda.com: Smarter Hotel Booking. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2015, from http://www.agoda.com/

Be my guest. (2013, December 21). Retrieved June 2, 2015, from

http://www.economist.com/news/christmasspecials/21591743bemyguest

Hospitality Net Hotels | A Brief History By Jacques LevyBonvin. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2015, from

http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4017990.html

Hotel Industry Overview Complete Version. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2015, from

http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/HotelIndustryOverviewCompleteVersion#3

Three Categories of the Hospitality Industry. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2015, from

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/threecategorieshospitalityindustry58524.html


http://www.agoda.com/


http://www.economist.com/news/christmas-specials/21591743-be-my-guest

http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4017990.html

http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/Hotel-Industry-Overview---Complete-Version#3

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/three-categories-hospitality-industry-58524.html


REFERENCES

AnCasa Hotel and Spa. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2015, from http://www.ancasahotelkualalumpur.com/

Bayview Hotel Georgetown, Penang. (n.d.). Retrieved May 22, 2015, from

http://www.bayviewhotels.com/georgetown/index.aspx?page=home

Cititel Penang. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2015, from http://www.cititelpenang.com/defaulten.html

Frank, R., & Bernanke, B. (2013). Principles of economics (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGrawHill/Irwin.

Geo Hotel Kuala Lumpur. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2015, from http://www.geohotelkl.com/

History of the hospitality industry. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2015, from

http://www.slideshare.net/27101985/historyofthehospitalityindustry

Hotel Continental | Penang, Malaysia. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2015, from

http://www.hotelcontinental.com.my

Hotel Industry in Malaysia. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2015, from

http://www.regit.com/malaysia/industry/industry.htm

Hotel Malaysia Penang. (n.d.). Retrieved May 22, 2015, from http://www.hotelmalaysia.com.my/

Puri, M., & Chand, G. (2009). Tourism and hotel industry. [electronic resource]. Chandni Chowk, Delhi :

Global Media, 2009.

SwissInn Kuala Lumpur. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2015, from http://www.swissgarden.com/hotels/sikl/

The 5 Elements Hotel KL. (n.d.). Retrieved May 22, 2015, from http://www.the5elementshotel.com.my LAU MAO HUA | WONG QIN KAI | LIM TING LE | LEE JIA KIAM | NABILA | NADHIRAH | NUR AZREEN | CHIN KHANG WEI

39


http://www.ancasahotelkualalumpur.com/

http://www.ancasahotelkualalumpur.com/



http://www.cititelpenang.com/default-en.html

http://www.cititelpenang.com/default-en.html

http://www.geohotelkl.com/

http://www.geohotelkl.com/

http://www.slideshare.net/27101985/history-of-the-hospitality-industry

http://www.hotelcontinental.com.my/

http://www.hotelcontinental.com.my/

http://www.regit.com/malaysia/industry/industry.htm

http://www.hotelmalaysia.com.my/

http://www.hotelmalaysia.com.my/

http://www.swissgarden.com/hotels/sikl/

http://www.swissgarden.com/hotels/sikl/



english report

Education

elements hotel

businesses of similar

hotel manager

selected hotel continental

comparative analysis

recommendation module

years of experiences

research purpose