Executive summary
The focus of this report is on resort development and management. The resorts under study are Beachfront Resort Torquay and Riviera Beach Resort. Both organizations have initiated their operations in Victoria, Australia. The common goal of both resorts is to provide customers with a leisurely place to relax in the view of the ocean. Beachfront Resort Torquay has been established in a more lavish style than Riviera Beach Resort, making it more attractive. It equally has a better design though exotic. Both hotels design is in harmony with the surrounding environment. They serve both locals and tourists and the key driver of revenues is occupancy, seasonality, an appeal of the resort to customers and quality of customer service. While Beachfront Resort Torquay is more lavish, Riviera Beach Resort has a higher guest capacity. The firms are privately held hence financials are not publicly disclosed. Seasonality forces both organizations to lay employees during low season. Both firms provide employment to locals while at the same time influencing their customers to avoid degrading the environment.
Background on resorts
The focus of this study is on Beachfront Resort Torquay and Riviera Beach Resort. Both resorts are based in Victoria, Australia. The Beachfront Resort Torquay is located between the Fisherman’s beach and the Great Ocean Road, Victoria. It has both outdoor as well as indoor pools among other services. Riviera Beach Resort is six miles from Edward Gorey House in Victoria (Trip Advisor, 2018b). The focus of this study is to compare, Contrast and evaluate the facilities based on their aspect of design, development, management and operations. Factors affecting the attractiveness of these resorts to customers and drivers of profitability will also be assessed.
Major factors influencing the development of the resort
The man factor influencing the development of Beachfront Resort Torquay was to provide the guests with a relaxing environment. The organization emphasized on making the facilities and the grounds comfortable to guests once they step into the property and in every area of the property. On the other hand, Riveria was established with an aim of offering tour hospitality services, providing an endless ocean view, charming shops, marine activities and an outstanding venture among people visiting Victoria in Australia. Both facilities have been developed with an aim of providing the traveller with comfortable guest rooms although Riveria is in a more expansive area and provides a better view of marine activities (Trip Advisor, 2018b).
Physical capacity and economic needs
Riviera is located on an expansive beachfront. This is in line with the economic goals of the developer setting the hotel as a luxurious resort. On the other hand, Beachfront Resort Torquay is presented on a less expansive area with the economic needs of the developer where the resort is expected to appeal even to the middle-income earners (Trip Advisor, 2018a). As a result, the guest rooms are designed in a manner that attracts such average income earners through moderate pricing, in spite of the fact that they are highly luxurious. Riviera is thus better developed in terms of physical capacity as compared to Beachfront Resort Torquay, though less luxurious
Factors affecting the attractiveness of the resort
Some of the factors influencing the attractiveness of the Riviera Beach Resort are its positioning where the guest has a good view of the marine activities. On-site, the organization has games rooms and barbeque areas. It provides the guests with an opportunity to use heated pools, spa, sauna and gymnasium. Beachfront Resort Torquay, on the other hand, provides the customers with luxurious guest rooms and swimming pools the most attractive element in Beachfront Resort Torquay is its high variability of cafes ranging from Thai cafes to Italian cafes something that has enabled it to attract more customers (Trip Advisor, 2018b). On average and based on customer reviews, Beachfront Resort Torquay seems to be more attractive to customers as compared to Riviera Beach Resort (Trip Advisor (2018a).
General design principles
Riviera Beach Resort is well designed creating harmony with the environment in which it is established. The driveways are also well designed as indicated in the image below
Source: Trip Advisor (2018b).
As indicated above, the result has been developed in design that is in line with the architectural identity of the people in Victoria. Beachfront Resort Torquay presents an exotic design in the community in which it is established looking more American than Australian. Riviera, while having lower guest rooms in Australia is an international resort and hence it has a wider guest room capacity across the globe (Ransley, & Ingram, 2000). Both firms serve the middle to high-income earners in the market.
Source: Trip Advisor (2018).
As indicated above Beachfront Resort Torquay is more attractive that Riviera Beach Resort. It is better in design and blends better with the envionment in which it is set. Riviera Beach Resort looks more conservative in design. While it does not seem to maintain community identity like Riviera, both resorts blend well with the environment in which they are established.
Demographic profiles and Market
Both Riviera and Beachfront Resort Torquay provides services to customers within Victoria, the larger Australia as well as tourists from diverse parts of the world. Beachfront Resort Torquay has 80 apartments, something that limits its ability to accommodate a high number of guests in the market. Riviera Beach Resort has 125 guest rooms (Trip Advisor, 2018b).
Critical variables in determining profits
In both Riviera and Beachfront Resort Torquay, common factors influencing the level of profitability are the number of guest rooms, prices and the rate of occupancy of such rooms. Another factor is customer preferences (Butterworth & Baum, 2001). For instance, customers preferring a more elegant view of the lake would prefer visiting Beachfront Resort Torquay as opposed to Riviera whose design is equally less attractive. Nevertheless, better customer service in Riviera has been a key driver of revenues and profits as compared to Beachfront Resort Torquay where customer reviews indicate a low level of feedback by top management on improvements that customers would prefer executed in service delivery (Trip Advisor, 2018b).
Financial performance of the resorts
In this study, the resorts are private companies. The financial performance of these firms is thus not disclosed. It is worth noting that financial performance of accounting entities is easily accessed for the publicly held companies since disclosure to the public is mandatory.
Seasonality in resort management
There are multiple challenges that Riviera Beach Resort and Beachfront Resort Torquay have faced as a result of seasonality in the resort industry. The first challenge is in regards to human resource management. The players in the hotel industry are forced to hire more employees during the high season. During this period, they are able to compensate such employees since the level of revenues and profits is high. When the season is low tasks decline. The decline in revenues reduces the ability of such firms to pay employees hence laying them off. In an effort to address this challenge, both organizations employ some of their employees on short-term contracts.
Another challenge that both organizations face is the low capacity utilization (Orozco, Termini, Masa‟death, & Tarhini, 2015). During the low season, bookings are very low yet the organization will continue incurring fixed costs such as salaries for employees. During the high season, the rooms are usually overbooked. As a result, the organization is not able to meet customer demands. Such lost demands result to customers for both hotels preferring booking their rooms in bigger resorts where guest rooms are guaranteed most of the time. Nevertheless, the two organizations are contrasted in this study. For instance, while Riviera Beach Resort incurs higher revenues during high season due to higher capacity, it incurs a higher level of fixed charges than Beachfront Resort Torquay during the low season. In order to stabilize year-round revenues, players in beach resort market should lower prices during low season to attract more customers and even sales (Pallant, 2005).
Costs and benefits to the local community
Riviera Beach resort and Beachfront Resort Torquay provide benefits to the local communities by providing a source of employment to the local community. Their operations are also taxed, providing the government with revenues to develop the infrastructure. Some of the costs to the local community are cultural contamination where visitors bring new cultures resulting in the erosion of local culture. Riveria Beach Resort is likely to have wider community cost than Beachfront Resort Torquay due to its wide global market coverage
Sustainability and environmental management strategies
Over the years, Riviera Beach Resort has focused on operating in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. The organisation ensures that its food is of high quality and served in a clean environment. A similar strategy is adopted by Beachfront Resort Torquay where the food is prepared in a safe and clean environment by professionals (Tarhini, Mgbemena, AbouTrab, & Masa‟idea, 2015). Both organizations have adopted an extensive and environmentally viable approach to social responsibility. In its operations, Riveria Beach resort has focused on sourcing for food products from suppliers who produce their goods in a socially and environmentally responsible manner. The entity equally engages in the recycling of waste materials where possible. These moves have played an important role in ensuring that the society and the environment in which these organizations operates in are sustainable in the long run (Prayag, Dookhony, K., & Maryeven, 2010).
Conclusion
Based on the above presentation, effective resort development and management is dependent based on key important elements. The design of the resorts, target customers and the impact of such organisations on the environment and the society. The study has indicated that various resorts adopt a differing form of appeals to attach customers. Many go beyond organisational design, providing customers with unique customer service. This increase customer satisfaction and their willingness to continue seeking services from the organization. The study equally indicates that the critical variables that drive revenues and profits in the hospitality industry include the rate of occupancy of the guest rooms and seasonality. As a result of seasonality, organisations are in some cases forced to lay off the employees.
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Trip advisor (2018a). Beachfront Resort Torquay. Retrieved from
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g261667-d12280705-Reviews-Beachfront_Resort_Torquay-Torquay_Victoria.html
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https://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-s1-g41841-d94256-Reviews-Riviera_Beach_Resort-South_Yarmouth_Cape_Cod_Massachusetts.html
