{"id":3327,"date":"2017-06-12T16:39:55","date_gmt":"2017-06-12T20:39:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/bhr\/?p=3327"},"modified":"2020-01-13T09:45:02","modified_gmt":"2020-01-13T14:45:02","slug":"hospitality-change-paradigm-and-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bu.edu\/bhr\/2017\/06\/12\/hospitality-change-paradigm-and-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"Change in the Hospitality Industry: New Paradigms, Frames, and Perspectives"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Mike Oshins<\/span><\/p>\n

Over the past 15-20 years, changes in hotel ownership and management, the growth and development of online reservation systems and the proliferation of lodging alternatives have altered the hospitality landscape, bringing new complexity to the industry. Two decades ago, a Marriott hotel was commonly owned and managed by Marriott; now, many are owned by one company, franchised with the Marriott name, and managed by a third company.\u00a0 While customers used to be able to pick up the phone and call a hotel\u2019s reservations center or use their local travel agency to book a room, today online distribution systems like Expedia, Travelocity, and Kayak are powerful intermediaries that have all but replaced traditional consumer travel agencies.\u00a0 Travelers may choose among many alternatives to hotels for lodging, including AirBnB, HomeAway, Flipkey, and VBRO. \u00a0Mergers and acquisitions continue to multiply, exemplified most notably by Marriott\u2019s purchase of Starwood to create the world\u2019s largest hotel company with 30 brands. Millennials\u2019 preferences have pushed the development of new brands with new thinking about hotel design, as demonstrated with Hilton\u2019s Tru, Best Western\u2019s Vib and Glo chains, and Intercontinental\u2019s EVEN.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Hotel companies are expanding their portfolios to include Millennial-focused brands like InterContinental’s EVEN Hotels and Tru by Hilton. Image sources: Creative Commons InterContinental<\/a> and Tru<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Travel patterns have also changed.\u00a0 China has become the largest exporter of tourists in the world, totaling almost 100 million outbound travelers and representing almost one in ten tourists in the world. Chinese travelers also spent the most money, roughly $250 billion in 2015. For reference, the second highest spenders were Americans at $110 billion. \u00a0In the U.S., national discussion about travel bans, new barriers to hiring non-domestic seasonal workers (a key element in New England\u2019s summer tourist season), possible elimination of the national Brand USA marketing effort, and tenuous Cuba travel policies are all creating uncertainty in the tourism market.\u00a0 These changes and ambiguities present new challenges, both large and small, for the hospitality industry, requiring those at the forefront of the field to anticipate and respond to the subsequent fallout.<\/span><\/p>\n

Prolific business author John Kotter states that the main role of leadership is dealing with change.\u00a0 Depending on how it\u2019s viewed, with the appropriate perspective and pliancy, change can present an organization with new opportunities\u2014the possibility of taking advantage of changing demographics, new technologies, or the emergence of new markets.\u00a0 Change can also raise dilemmas, such as the need to address new competitors, contend with a crisis or cope with a lack of available employees. \u00a0Even before developing and implementing successful change management processes, organizational leaders must have the ability to recognize<\/em> the opportunities and dilemmas presented by change and know how<\/em> to think about them.\u00a0 To see the need for change, to identify new realities, either current or future, one must be able to view the big picture and the current climate in new ways.\u00a0 This ability to see the present and near future from a new vantage point is one of the main reasons General Electric (GE) CEO, Jeff Immelt, moved GE world headquarters to Boston\u2019s expanding Seaport District. \u00a0GE\u2019s new home will \u201cplace his leadership team in a vibrant city with a world-renowned innovation scene, instead of in a wooded Connecticut suburb\u201d (Boston Globe), thus giving his senior team a new perspective, and the opportunity to make closer connections with institutions able to stimulate new ideas and create a new pipeline for employees. \u00a0\u00a0Other than moving a $240 billion company\u2019s world headquarters\u2014something that\u2019s not always feasible to achieve\u2014how else can one enhance a leadership kit with tools for responding effectively to change?\u00a0 The ability to think more creatively, form new habits, change paradigms, reframe one\u2019s perspective, and think differently by learning new ideas are all tools that can aid in addressing the first element of leading change, that is identifying that change is needed. \u00a0The following examples highlight some of the ways one can learn to be more successful in thinking about and capitalizing on the opportunities presented by change.<\/span><\/p>\n

Creative Thinking<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n
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Popular British comedy group Monty Python expressed creative thinking in all of their productions, further captured by their tagline, “And now for something completely different!”.\u00a0 Pictured above: A chainmail-clad John Cleese reads a newspaper while Graham Chapman smokes a quiet pipe on the set of ‘Monty Python and the Holy Grail’. (Photo by John Downing\/Express\/Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

IBM interviewed 1500 CEOs around the world in 2010 and found Creativity<\/em><\/strong> is now the single most important leadership competency and is needed in all aspects of leadership. \u00a0If one thinks in the same way as everyone else, the opportunity for new ideas (and new solutions) is limited.\u00a0 The irreverent and offbeat humor of Monty Python is captured in their tagline, \u201cAnd now for something completely different!\u201d\u00a0 Think Different!<\/em> is the mantra for Steve Jobs and Apple, as eloquently explained in Simon Sinek\u2019s Start with Why. <\/em>Sir Ken Robinson, author and the holder of the top TED Talk Do Schools Kill Creativity,<\/em> defines creativity as, \u201cthe process of having original ideas that have value.\u201d There are many ways to increase creativity, including:<\/span><\/p>\n