Research report

Current trends in hospitality Industry

&

Prepared by:
Dilma Dalugoda
-Talent development specialist.
- Movenpick Hotel Colombo.

Dilma Dalugoda. Unit:1- Contemporary Hospitality Industry Assignment -1

Executive Summery

Centuries ago, people started to travel mainly for religious or business purposes by the time
passes people started to leisure travel and parallel to that the hospitality fulfilled the basic
needs of bed and supper for the travelers. Travelers expectation of having facilities got
complicated such as need for hosting, facility of changing tires and trending horses. In 1795
with the opening of NYC City hotel the facility of indoor toilet and plumbing became the
trend of hospitality; in modern era the invention of travelling by leisure cruises and aircrafts
became the new trend complicating the facilities. The commencement of franchising with
Grand Metropolitan developed the hotels, restaurants and other hospitality related businesses.
Technology development made the whole industry a vast area and with those facilities the
level of fulfilling the expectation of travelers now has become competitive.

By 2020 the hospitality is tremendously varied and broad it has linked with other fields such
as IT, Finance, Education Travel and tourism, Food, Accommodation etc. and wherever you
go there is hospitality in difference forms. The more the hospitality sector get expanded the
more the amount of the products and services get expand, the more the product and services
expand the more the whole hospitality sector effect directly on the economy locally,
nationally and globally and also the lifestyles of people.
 

When it comes with the hotels, food and beverage sector shows a rapid change with new
trends such as Local Experience, Healthy and Organic, Food & Drinks., Sustainability,
Personalization, “Bleisure” Travels, Smart Hotels, Artificial Intelligence, Robots, Virtual
Reality, Augmented Reality. A business that addresses these trends and developments will
bear the effect of external factors such as Political / Legal, Economical / Environmental,
Social, Technological. As well as the internal factors. This report will demonstrate how
Movenpick hotel builds up the strategy of addressing these current trends and development.

Dilma Dalugoda. Unit:1- Contemporary Hospitality Industry Assignment -1

 Content

1. Introduction to Mövenpick hotel………………………………………………………...4

2. Current trends in hospitality industry……………………………………………………5
3. How Mövenpick meets trends with services and products……………………………...6 
4. Internal and external factors that can impact on current trends and developments in
Mövenpick Hotel Colombo……………………………………………………………...8
5. How Mövenpick makes decision withing the business to face those trends and develop-
ments…………………………………………………………………………….9
6. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………10
7. Reference………………………………………………………………………………...11
 

Dilma Dalugoda. Unit:1- Contemporary Hospitality Industry Assignment -1

Introduction

Movenpick is a Swiss hotel management company and it traces the roots back to privately
owned Movenpick group; that began as a chain restaurant brand by Ueali Prager in Zurich.
Movenpick has two divisions such as Movenpick fine food division and as a hotel and spa
brand division. Under Movenpick fine foods they distribute Movenpick coffee, Ice cream,
wine, Jam, chocolate etc. as a premium brand. The Movenpick Hotels and resorts division
expands across the world in 1976 as an independent brand. In 2018 Movenpick hotels and
spa section become an acquisition of Accor group which is a leading global hotel operators
and franchiser. By 2020, 83 Movenpick hotel properties have already expanded in four
continents such as Egypt, Middle east, Europe and Asia in a very strategic way of valuing
each properties is managed with respect and sensitivity to the local environment and
community, keeping the company's unique brand promise of " We make moments" Those 83
properties either belong to Movenpick business and conference hotels in key cities and
airport locations, Movenpick resorts and holiday destinations or Movenpick cruiser. The
Movenpick Colombo opened in the heart of Colombo in 2015 making rooms for business and
pleasure with quick access to high-end shopping and fun in house recreation. [ CITATION
Mov206 \l 1033 ]

Dilma Dalugoda. Unit:1- Contemporary Hospitality Industry Assignment -1

Current trends in hospitality industry

Food and beverage sector is in a state of rapid evaluation, which consistent changes in con-
sumer demand, new players, and eco system dynamic. The food and beverage sector needs to
stay ahead of global trends in order to sustain and accelerate its growth. Followings are the
challenging trends that can be obvious in the food and beverage industry depending on the
type of the establishment,
 
Changing consumer Preference - consumers more into defensive functional foods that
promote gut health, fuel their brains and benefit their physical appearance. Generation-Z
consumers are called “clean eaters” and always seek fresh nutritious healthy foods. A report
by the Sterling Rice Group states that moringa has “far more protein, fiber, calcium and
vitamins than matcha”. Moringa is expected to go mainstream in 2018 so we should
expect brands like Starbucks to introduce it into their product portfolio, or as Sterling Rice
says “watch for moringa to become the next matcha latte or golden milk (turmeric) latte”.
[ CITATION Lee19 \l 1033 ]
 
Innovation and difference - companies are looking to trending their dishes with different fla-
vors, combinations of different cuisines and unique packaging to differentiate themselves.
With the development of the technology, Software engineers, data analysts, designers and e-
commerce managers demonstrate ways to deliver their food and beverages through online
like consumers purchase apparel and household items and the particular order can be
delivered to the place they want to consume it. Likewise, the online ordering and delivering
has become a trend in this sector. As a new beverage concept the art of home-made craft
sodas and spirits pops up in the sector and it is highly-profitable bars focusing on homemade
or handcrafted beverages. New creations like smoked and grilled ingredients to alcohol-free
plant-based liquors, signature house craft beers and customer-tailored drinks have become
the new unique selling point and a source of competitive [ CITATION Sch18 \l 1033 ].
Innovation and difference are not only with the food experience but also with the whole
dining experience considering the whole service. Businesses have now started to address the
consumers feelings of smell and how they should feel when they consume food and
beverages. It helps the business to be a memorable space among the consumers. [ CITATION
INS191 \l 1033 ]
 
Mergers and acquisitions – lot of new independent food and beverage businesses are looking
for the chance to be merged with a well-known brand in order to save time and money, reach
new consumers and to gain the recognition that they seek and also lot of franchisers are
looking for running up trendy business to be bought to expand their business. This has
become a trend in hospitality sector. [ CITATION INS191 \l 1033 ]
 

Dilma Dalugoda. Unit:1- Contemporary Hospitality Industry Assignment -1

Going cashless – with the development of the technology the place for cash payment for the
service and product is fading up and instead, PIN-less card contacts payments or ApplePay
take over the place in making payment in this era. This has operational benefits
such as reduces the errors that could happen while counting cash and incidents of thefts. And
it has a greater transparency and liquidity. [ CITATION INS191 \l 1033 ]
 
Values and ethics - Hospitality businesses in 2020 has reached to a different level of
connecting with the consumers and the consumer generation also looks beyond the product
itself as a standalone purchase and take into account values such as ethics and transparency.
Therefore, demonstrating businesses’ commitment to their mission and vision is important.
Consumers want foods that are not only good for them, but good for others, and specially the
packaging expected to be environmentally friendly. These expectations of the customers
caused merging sustainability programs with businesses. [ CITATION INS191 \l 1033 ] ,
[ CITATION Lou17 \l 1033 ].
 
Foodie events – consumers are investing in experiencing the moment over material goods. If
the business has the ability address the emerging trend of themed events such as Unicorn
Food Festival, Espresso Martini Festival food and wine events the business can capitalize on
the growing desire to experience food. [ CITATION INS191 \l 1033 ]

Excellent Service and Excellent Experience - helpful, quick and accurate service provided by
experienced employees leads to excellent service. Different businesses use different tools to
provide the customers with an excellence service. The technology plays a bigger role in
achieving the excellence in the business. To keep the efficiency and the accuracy these days
the servers use tabs with pos system to take the orders, Artificial Intelligence, Robots, Virtual
Reality, Augmented reality. These are future trends to replace the human touch in providing
quick, efficient, accurate excellent service to the consumers. [ CITATION INS191 \l 1033 ]
 
Smart Hotel - allow guests to control the heating or air conditioning from their phone, or turn
on the TV by giving a voice command to a smart speaker. In many cases, smart rooms also
automatically adjust things like the brightness of light bulbs, or the temperature of a radiator,
in order to maintain optimal conditions.[ CITATION Rev19 \l 1033 ]

Dilma Dalugoda. Unit:1- Contemporary Hospitality Industry Assignment -1

How Mövenpick meets trends with services and products

Changing consumer Preference – Mövenpick has a better link between their services and
products. Guests who stay at Mövenpick Hotel Colombo get the access to the 24 hours
accessing gymnasium and to help the guest to make the most out of it Mövenpick, introduces
the “ Go Healthy Menu’ with 7 special dishes, each mentions the calory amount that the dish
contains and in every breakfast buffet when the guest enters to the restaurant, the staff
welcome the guest serving the “Daily Healthy Shot” which is a pure and fresh juice of fruits.
Likewise, Mövenpick reaches the trend of healthy food and attracts the targeted market.
[ CITATION Thi20 \l 1033 ]

Innovation and difference – Every Year Mövenpick Hotel held Swiss food promotions to
reach the unique brand goal of being the hotel brand with “swissness”. In 2017 Mövenpick
Hotel Colombo held “A Swiss week promotion”. And let the guests try out new and different
dishes with different tastes. Ex: Swiss barley soup to an assortment of Swiss cheese and cold
cuts, Zurich sliced veal to Ticino saffron risotto, A Zager cherry pie or Ticino apple gateau
and a scoop of Mövenpick ice cream. [ CITATION YAM17 \l 1033 ].
In 2020 they held Swiss Dessert promotion bringing out new tastes for dessert such as
“Poached Pear in red wine” and currently running Coffee Cuisine Promotion. Combining
baristas coffee taste with the Mediterranean cuisine by chefs. Ex: coffee bean smoked salmon
tartare, the fine tobacco aroma of a beef meatballs. [ CITATION Mov204 \l 1033 ] And the
Mövenpick signature cocktail which is “Achcharu cocktail” is an innovative initiative to
attract the travelers who seek the local experience in different way.

Mergers and acquisitions - In 2018 Mövenpick became an acquisition of Accor Group which
is a leading hotel operator and franchiser. With the Accor group Mövenpick could expand
their brand name accepting the changes and developing the products and services. As an ex-
ample, ACDC- Accor Customer Digital Card network, is gifted by the Accor group to each
brand that they manage, and Mövenpick became one of them to be gifted and with this net-
work Mövenpick could successfully play the trend of providing a personalized and excellent
service keeping the customer delighted. Furthermore, Accor has gifted different loyalty pro-
grams such as Circle M and Accor Live Limitless – ALL to serve the guest better and keep
the guest loyal with the brand making the guest coming back. [ CITATION Thi20 \l 1033 ]

Values and ethics – Mövenpick runs two sustainability programs to demonstrate the brand
values and ethics; serving the best way to the social community, employees and environment.
Ex: Shine – positively impacts on Environment, Employer and Social sustainability. (3.1)
summarizes the impacts of the shine program. Mövenpick Hotels & Resorts is the largest ho-
tel group to commit to Green Globe Certification since Mövenpick has its best practices.
[ CITATION Möv201 \l 1033 ]. Ex: Mövenpick build up 16ft Christmas tree form 5000

Dilma Dalugoda. Unit:1- Contemporary Hospitality Industry Assignment -1

plastic water bottles that are used by the inhouse guests during the past months and
Mövenpick reused the plastic bottles as a decorative ingredient for the season without using
more of plastic. Right4Children is another social sustainability program that Mövenpick
carries on being

partners with Nepal-based NGO. This program helps the disadvantaged youngsters with ac-
cess to education and job opportunities.[ CITATION Mov206 \l 1033 ]

(3.1Positive impact of Shine Sustainability Program)

Environment Employer Social
Managing waste Contribute to local econo- Educational sessions at the
mies by hiring and develop- hotel
ing local people

Introducing renewable en- Provide sustainability train- Donate educational materi-

ergy ing and education to all als
team members

Introducing supplier sus- Enable people with physical Buy local products when-
tainability partnerships challenges and other special ever possible
where possible needs to become part of our
workforce

Reducing water consump- Promote fairness and trans- Support and empower the
tion parency in compensation community where the hotel
and benefits is located.

Reducing CO2 emissions Provide equal opportunities Encourage team members to

Sourcing bio-degradable al-
ternatives to chemical prod-
ucts
[ CITATION Mov205 \l 1033 ]
to all team members volunteer for community
work
Become a preferred and val- Identify and support regis-
ues-driven employer tered local charity work

Dilma Dalugoda. Unit:1- Contemporary Hospitality Industry Assignment -1

How external factors effect on current trends in Movenpick Hotel.

Factors Description Implication O/T

Political & Legal Increased political and The increase of uncertainty has led T
business uncertainty to lower investments & reduction in
and Economy Slow- consumer purchasing power.
downs due to the Gov-
ernment elected in
2015.
Economical / En- Expansion of Private Air BnB and similar alternatives T
vironmental Accommodation where the consumers have a choice
and prefer cheaper alternatives.
Increase in the cus- Customers would travel & lodge in T
tomer demand for Eco areas that cause less impacts on the
Tourism environment/nature & could lead to
a reduction in poverty in rural com-
munities.
Social Consumer preference Negative Effect on Mövenpick and T
shifting more towards also other hotel brands that are well
private lodging known.
Technological Big Data Usage Data can be used to improve the O
customer service
Concepts related to Creates competitive advantage O
smart rooms

Dilma Dalugoda. Unit:1- Contemporary Hospitality Industry Assignment -1

How Internal factors effect on current trends

Strengths

Location Location of the hotel plays a crucial role. Mövenpick is located in

the heart of Colombo, 5 minutes away from Galle Face Beach and
35 minutes away from the airport. As per the CEO of the Möven-
pick hotel Colombo the hotel appeals to market segments of busi-
ness minds - Colombo's most important room stay segment, leisure
travelers, the need to stay close to the airport” [ CITATION TOD17 \l
1033 ] Mövenpick location attracts “Bleisure” Travelers the trend
by Millennials.
Accor is a hospitality company that is the largest hospitality com-
Acquisition by Ac- pany in Europe and also the 6th largest in the world. Being an acqui-
cor Group sition helped the Mövenpick brand to meet new, strong customer
base providing better benefits for the customers and gain the de-
mand for the brand. ACDC network and Accor Live Limitless loy-
alty programs supports the Mövenpick brand address the trend of
providing personalized excellent service and to reach the vison of
“we make moments”.[ CITATION Thi20 \l 1033 ].
Mövenpick is one of the largest to commit to the Green Globe Cer-
Green Globe tification for all the properties worldwide.
Partnership

Weaknesses

Short Staffed Short Staff leading to the difficulty of meeting the demand on cer-
tain occasions.
Popularity amongst
the locals Brand name popularity and awareness in less amongst the locals

Dilma Dalugoda. Unit:1- Contemporary Hospitality Industry Assignment -1

Mövenpick Development Strategy with current trends in hospitality industry.

Mövenpick has five steps in developing strategy.

1. Goal setting - “Be the hotel brand with swissness and valuing each property is
managed with respect and sensitivity to the local environment and community",
keeping the company's unique brand promise of “We make moments” to reach this
Mövenpick merged with Accor group.

2. Analysis –

a). Analysis of b). Identification of

Market customer benefits
Segments sought c). Selection of
target markets
d). Internal e). Identification of
Company Audit company strength
h). Identifications
g). Identification of of product
f). Compititor differentiation
competitor
Analysis
weakness

Mövenpick as an independent brand reached a)., b)., c). factors and to address the f).,
g)., h). factors, they merged with Accor group with that the brand Mövenpick could
stable with d) and g). factors.

3. Strategy formation – Mövenpick hotels and resorts has only 3 forms of products,
Business hotels in key hotels and airport locations targeting the “bleisure” travelers,
Cruise hotels only in Egypt in Nile river targeting the new luxury travelers who al-
ways seek the difference and relaxation, resorts and holiday destinations in Asian
countries Ex: Maldives.

4. Strategy implementation -– Mövenpick has selected main four continents such as

Egypt, Middle east, Europe and Asia, to build up the properties as they form the strat-
egy with 3 products targeting mainly “Bleisur” travelers

Dilma Dalugoda. Unit:1- Contemporary Hospitality Industry Assignment -1

 5. Strategy Monitoring – as per the Official Website of Mövenpick Hotels and resorts,
the sustainability program of Right4Children, 132 youngsters complete training
courses that the hotel conducts covering the operation of Housekeeping, Culinary
Services and

Food and Beverage Services and those who graduates 85% have secured job in the
hospitality industry. Further more than 650 family members of them are benefiting
from the employment they gain through the training programs.

As per Jean Gabriel Pérès the CEO of Mövenpick Hotels & Resort 2015 marked the
start of an unprecedented period of growth, with their unique portfolio set to increase
by almost 50 percent until 2020, and look to build on this momentum with exciting
projects in key markets, working towards the ultimate goal of 130 properties (open
and signed) by 2020. [ CITATION Wal15 \l 1033 ] merging with Accor speed up the
growth and as per the Mövenpick Hotels & Resort official website, by 2020
Mövenpick Hotels & Resort has 125+ properties as they monitored their strategy and
progress. [CITATION Mov207 \l 1033 ]

Mövenpick Hotel Colombo being the first branded business hotel in the town has ad-
dressed almost all current trends in everchanging hospitality industry by innovative
food products and services but yet the hotel shows no clue of addressing the trend of
turning the hotel to a smart hotel, especially when providing the conference halls,
Business canter facilities. This might attract more “Bleisure” travelers in future and
make the technological factor an opportunity to get ready for the upcoming
technological transformation.
Likewise, the hospitality business will always find challenges from external factors
such as political, law, environmental, economic, social, technological but yet if the
business has a proper strategy to make those challenges to opportunities, the business
can develop with the trends.

Dilma Dalugoda. Unit:1- Contemporary Hospitality Industry Assignment -1

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Dilma Dalugoda. Unit:1- Contemporary Hospitality Industry Assignment -1