Hospitality And Tourism

Running head: HOSPITALITY AND TOURISM 1

Hospitality and Tourism

Student’s Name

Institutional Affiliation

THE GRITTI PALACE HOTEL

Hospitality and Tourism

Introduction

Many countries all over the world get a considerable percentage of their revenue from

tourism. Both domestic and foreign visitors come to pay homage to the cultural sites of that

country. Globally, numerous international hotels offer almost all the cuisines in the world. The

tourism industry acts as both economic pillar and a culture preservative. Luxurious hotels have

increased over the years following the global economic growth. However, such improvement

comes hand in hand with challenges ranging from finances, ethics, marketing, and human

resource management. This essay focuses on the Gritti Palace hotel and analyzes its history,

problems faced, solutions the then administration arrived at, and the impact of those market

decisions on hospitality and tourism as a whole.

History of the Gritti Palace

The hotel is located in Venice, Italy near the Canal Grande. Established back in 1475, the

old shaped Gritti was a residential home to Andrea Gritti, the then doge of Venice, and his

family for several years until they moved out. The Gritti residence also was home to other noble

families such as the Pausanias (Henderson, 2013). At one time, it was a home to the Vatican

ambassador to Venice. In 1895, there was a conversion of the building from a residential

building into a grand hotel. It went through a few changes to suit accommodation for tourists.

The names given to the guest rooms depicted the culture and prominent people of the city. Many

of these places have names after Italy's landmarks, for example, the Grand Canal and doge.

The architectural design of the hotel is simple on the outside but detailed on the inside.

The palace is not only a cultural and historic site but also is a perfect place for a romantic get-

away. The intimacy provided by the ambiance of the hotel has seen it host numerous local and

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international weddings. The Gritti Epicurean School of cooking and catering is part of the

luxurious hotel (Santoro, 2014). Among the famous people who like visiting this hotel is the

European play writer Somerset Maugham. He often visits the hotel and sits at his favorite table

spot while having favorite meal and wine.

Besides, the school offers hotel management and cooking lessons. Students get to train in

the hotel to keep up with Italian cuisines and others from all over the world. Furthermore, its

open kitchen, which makes the Gritti unique and famous in comparison with others, provides

private dinners, personalized chef services, and numerous wine tasting events. Since the hotel is

at the Grand Canal, it appears to be floating on the water from afar. The tourists get access to the

hotel by water taxis since there was only one entrance (Santoro, 2014). However, this changed

after the hotel's closure for renovation purposes in 2011. One of the aims of the renovation was

to open a street doorway to the lobby that would encourage the locals to drop in at times without

having to experience the main entrance. It was later reopened in 2013 fully refurbished and the

décor customized. All the fabrics used to decorate the hotel are from Italian textiles and are hand

stitched. The renovation gave the hotel a bright outlook, Italian culture, art, and architecture.

Challenges Faced by the Hotel

In the past years, Hotel Gritti has met some problems along the way as it rose to be the

luxurious hotel it is today. Before the establishment of the Gritti Epicurean School, it lacked

experienced employees in the hotel industry. The unskilled employees did not know how to

make the famous Italian cuisine, which was the main dish, served at the hotel (Santoro, 2014).

Consequently, the customers who visited the hotel were neither satisfied with the quality of

service nor with the food served to them by the waiters. As a result, some of their customers

moved to their competitors causing the hotel to suffer severe losses. To address the problem they

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opened the Gritti School where they gave students cooking lessons and customer relations

classes (Santoro, 2014). They decided to host the school so that they could provide firsthand

experience to the students.

Another problem that they faced was the poor quality of food following low food surplus

caused by global warming. The health-inspectors were visiting the hotel to make sure that the

food prepared at the hotel was fit for human consumption. Moreover, sanitation was also a

pressing matter before the opening of the school. The employees responsible for keeping the

hotel clean at all times did not execute their jobs as required. Just like the low-quality food,

unclean hotel suites led to increase in complaints from the customers.

In recent years, the municipality of Venice has put on measures to regulate the number of

tourists visiting the city. It has also threatened to ban the opening of new hotels and expansion of

already existing hotels since the hotels are taking over residential buildings leaving the town

depopulated (Henderson, 2013). Politically, this is a threat to Venice residents as the increasing

numbers of tourists is slowly evicting the indigenous inhabitants of the town.

The ban is a challenge to Gritti Palace, as it will result in much lesser customer turn up

which reduces the amount of money they make. Additionally, the hotel cannot make any

expansions following the municipality's threat (Henderson, 2013). The situations, as mentioned

above, resulted in slowing down the hotel's economic growth due to financial constraints.

Economic strain makes it impossible for the hotel to meet the customers’ demands because they

change now and then. Apart from financial problems, there are also marketing problems. Though

the Gritti management has ventured a little into digital marketing through print media, it is yet to

utilize the marketing possibilities using digital platforms (Henderson, 2013). Since the hotel

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limits its adverts to its website and few tourism blogs, it narrows its chances of enhancing

customer base.

Legal issues are another problem faced by Gritti Palace. The hotel has a history of

publishing an advertisement that is similar to the competitor, and it faces several charges. When

the hotel uses registered work without knowledge, it attracts lawsuits. Consequently, contending

with customers who give them negative online reviews is a legitimate issue. The contentions lead

to lawsuits that are quite expensive, given that the hotel has a tight budget every financial year.

Solution to the Problems

The hotel needs to face the challenges it is experiencing. Hence, it is essential to make

some amendments. The hotel needs to integrate technology, which is the epicenter of the global

economy in the world today. In an attempt to create a more substantial market share, the hotel

should collaborate with bloggers and television networks in creating many adverts that pop up

while people are watching television or using the internet.

Moreover, the hotel should aim to have its own creative designers and artistic lawyers.

Designers have to be original in their innovations to prevent plagiarizing registered trademarks

and content. Additionally, the lawyers should countercheck the creative works against the

existing ones, hence saving the business money otherwise spent in courts as well as keeping

others from imitating their trademarks and content.

The hotel should also enhance its marketing strategies to reach out to more customers. On

that note, the hotel should embrace social marketing by availing online videos and photos to stir

conversations about the hotel. This technique will promote its social marketing and divert the

management's focus on bad reviews to more critical issues such as improving its performance.

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Investors and sponsors are an essential addition to the list of the solution to help the hotel

regain its financial stability. The Gritti hotel should find investors who will invest in the hotel to

ease the financial burden caused by the municipality policy of reducing international tourists.

Evaluation of Impacts of the Solutions

Applying technology to marketing the business will increase visiting customers,

especially international tourists. However, over flooding of the hotel will overstretch the

business’ resources leading to financial constraints. Hence, the management should monitor

resources while regulating the number of clients coming to the hotel.

The investors will provide money for renovations, done after every six months, hence

preventing closing the hotel for more than a year as it happened six years ago. Continual

operations guarantee the financial stability and success of the hotel in years to come.

Consequently, availability of sponsors may lead to over-reliance of the hotel on foreign aid,

which may not augur well in financial responsibilities.

With the investors' help, hotel human resource department can employ graphic artists and

lawyers to protect the businesses reputation. Conversely, the new employees may not deliver,

hence wasting the hotel's resources and end up jeopardizing the business' reputation.

Conclusion

In retrospect, Gritti palace has faced numerous challenges. However, the management has

put many efforts to eliminate these obstacles. Consequently, the remedy to problems such as lack

of qualified staffs, hygiene, and quality food has been found. It is unethical of the management

of the city to ban people from going to Venice; hence, they need to consider the positive impacts

of the visitors. The act of the locals to block tourist cruise ships and water taxis used in tourist

transport in support to the city government is immensely unethical. Contending with the issues

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the Gritti hotel should set aside a program for the locals at a friendly price. Involving the

immediate society of the hotel in its operations will change the locals’ attitude towards

international tourists. Integrating the marketing of the hotel with recent technology would play a

significant role in the success of the business.

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References

Henderson, J. C. (2013). Selling the past: Heritage Hotels. Turizam: Znanstveno-Stručni

Časopis, 61(4), 451-454.

Santoro, G., & Massiani, J. (2014). Costs and benefits of touristic events: An application to

Venice Carnival. Almatourism-Journal of Tourism, Culture, and Territorial

Development, 5(10), 76-87.

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