Outrigger Hotels and Resorts
Posted: August 26th, 2021
Outrigger Hotels and Resorts
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Table of Contents
Q1. Outrigger Hotels and Resorts’ Strategic Position. 3
Q3. Role of IS in Outrigger Hotels and Resorts. 4
Q4. IS Proposed Vision and Guidelines. 5
Q5. Future Strategic Initiatives. 5
Alternative Analysis – Porter’s Five Forces. 5
Case Overview
The case study is about the Outrigger Hotels and Resorts, whose missions and objectives were redefined by Roy C. Kelly in 1963 (Piccoli & Pigni, 2016). The reshaping of the objectives was associated with the fulfilment of the quest to offermagnificent holiday experience to middle-class travelers and international customers. Through a series of acquisitions, the firm has widened its business operations to international platforms as it holds onto a centralized management structure. Over two decades, it managed to change its product stock portfolio with the aid of worldwide expansions. For instance, it has rebranded its 15 hotels to OHANA as a means of offering lodging services to both the low-budgettravelersand top quality travelers. They receive extracondosforunique business opportunities (Piccoli & Pigni, 2016). Capitalizing on the transnational extension, the firm’s management style has seemingly evolved from centralized to decentralized structures that consistently incorporate independent operations, such as traditional resorts.Outrigger group has maintained stable, long-term interactions with distributor network overcome the stiff market competition resulting from superior hotel groups. The hotel groups have remained competitive by offering far more established brands like Marriott International, Hilton Hotels and resorts, Starwood hotels, and resorts. Likewise, Outrigger has concentrated on local knowledge and strategic initiatives of advancing a better employee relation (Piccoli & Pigni, 2016). To ensure that it is at par with the ever-changing technology and customer trends on hospitality distribution landscape, it has implemented the IS as an IT infrastructure of exacerbating the JD Edwards’ ERP system.
Discussion Questions
Q1. Outrigger Hotels and Resorts’ Strategic Position
Outrigger’s chief strategy involves positioning its properties in regions where customers have a high propensity to enjoy a vacation experience. More so, Outrigger’s strengths are associated with leveraging its core competencies like diversified marketing dynamics coupled with high hospitality, thus impacting the clientele base effectively (Piccoli & Pigni, 2016). Outrigger’s crucial assets critically comprise of reliable brand name and market recognition, which has, over the years, helped to establish a strong, lasting relationship with the customers. Such a relationship has been facilitated vis-à-vis its extensive use of Internet travel sites, efficient advancement of local knowledge, and strong community ties.
However, Outrigger’s major weakness is its inability to have a modern and centralized information system that couldseamlessly integrate all the vastly positioned properties. Likewise, the hotels and resorts company does not recognize the utilization of varied technological amenities, including its inability to the app include itsfailure to identify and customize VIP treatments for “special event” guests (Piccoli & Pigni, 2016).
Creating an agreement between retail space technology and the use of online platforms to lodge properties is indeed the firm’s critical success factor (CSF). Such emerging trending in online booking would determine the future growth of the firm. For example, Outrigger might severely suffer the consequences of overlooking technology (Piccoli, 2016). Besides, the company might embrace the new trends in technology-based hospitality distribution, and thus impact its trademark customer service a great deal.
Q2. Current IS Resources
The current IS resources have effectively impacted the needs of the Outrigger Company. Precisely, it has been a superior asset in enhancing communication that cut across more than 11 different time zones globally. The firm has rendered a few resources to deliver a higher volume of productivity (Piccoli & Pigni, 2016). For instance, the firm IT capability seems a bit faster and more economical as the leisure travel space has continually exceeded other competitive significant chains.
Q3. Role of IS in Outrigger Hotels and Resorts
I view that the IS should be establishing a secure mature ERP that would incorporate both the CRS and PMS, thus facilitating a fastand efficient electronic interface with distribution partners(Piccoli & Pigni, 2016). As a result, the IS would effectively impact the dynamics of ever-changing markets as a means of increasing the competitive advantage of Outrigger firm.
Q4. IS Proposed Vision and Guidelines
The IS needs to integrate both the local and international properties in a single online platform where distant travelers can effectively lodge (Piccoli & Pigni, 2016). Such utilization of the IS needs to support electronic relationships among distributors, inventory management yields, and hospitality-oriented customer service.
Q5.Future Strategic Initiatives
With the fast-changing landscape of the hospitality landscape, it is essential to implement a more agile and robust IS that would seamlessly and efficiently merge with the Third Party’s online booking platforms (Piccoli & Pigni, 2016). Such a move would redefine the merchant model through the incorporation of a multi-varied Internet shopping and booking platform (Alaidarous, 2016). The IS would ensure high streams of revenues as many customers prefer shopping before they could book a lodging service.
Alternative Analysis – Porter’s Five Forces
Power of Suppliers
Outrigger firm possesses the most dominant sales
forces in comparison with its competitors. Its website is frequented with the highest
traffic in the Asian market. Thus the group attains the supply power by conducting
researches and providing the best clients projections (Piccoli, 2005).
Power of Buyers
With Outriggers’recognition that their clients were independently-minded who aspired to experience leisure zones, the firm establishes significantsavored brand recognition among the traveling persons (Piccoli, 2005). Likewise, the firm offers discounted travel packages for customers who traveled beyond the pacific region.
The threat of New Entrants
Outrigger Hotels and resorts possess a healthy financial muscle coupled withsolid partnership and brand appreciationmaking it easy to diversify its properties (Piccoli & Pigni, 2016). With successive joint ventures, acquisitions, and new developments, the firm has managed to position itself internationally.
Industry Rivalry
The geographic location of Hawaii has appealedto many hospitality firms like Hilton Hotels, Starwood Resorts, and Marriott International, thus posing a significant level of rivalry concerningthe number of properties (Piccoli & Pigni, 2016).
Threat of Substitutes
Outriggers’pastmission was to offer a substantialexperience with a vocational opportunity to excellent properties for families that opted for leisure substitutes, such as wildlife trips and other relatively affordable services. As an example, the pricing of these hotel services was exceedingly high, a factor that has occasioned many clients to preferthe lodging of substitute products and services. In this regard, Outriggers Hotels and Resorts has responded to such a threat of substitutes from major brands by providing travelers high-friendly packages (Piccoli & Pigni, 2016).
Conclusion
The reshaping of the objectives was associated with the realization of the quest to providesuperb holiday experience to middle-class travelers and universal customers. Withconstant acquisitions, the firm has widened its business operations to international platforms by establishing a centralized management structure. The IS should be establishing a robust, mature ERP that would incorporate both the CRS and PMS, thus facilitating a fast and efficient electronic interface with distribution partners. Porter’s five forces have been remarkable in providing an alternative analysis of Outriggers Hotels and Resorts as a means of responding to threats of new entrants through joint ventures and acquisitions. In brief, Outriggers’ strong financial structure is essential in neutralizing the desire of new firms to enter the market since the firm has continued to advance internationally via joint ventures and acquisitions.
References
Alaidarous, H. (2016). “Outrigger hotels and resorts (case study).” Management of Information Systems, the University of Western Australia.
Piccoli, G. (2005). “Outrigger hotels and resorts: A case study.” Communications for the Associations of Information Systems, 15, 102-118.
Piccoli, G., & Pigni, F. (2016). Information systems for managers with cases (Edition 3.1). Louisiana State University: Prospect Space.
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