Research, Analysis and Forecasting Capacity of Domestic and Foreign Tourist Markets;

In evaluation, analysts often use the method of collecting and obtaining expert opinions through direct interview surveys. Although this method has the disadvantage of being easily influenced by the subjective opinions of the interviewees and asking for opinions as well as the way of asking questions, it overcomes the disadvantages of quantitative methods when quantifying intangible service factors in hotels. The expert method is a qualitative evaluation method and provides analysis and evaluation based on the systematic processing of experts' assessments.

This method must address the following key issues:

a> Select and establish a team of expert assessors and a team of analysts.

The group of assessment experts will provide assessments of the competitiveness of the hotels to be assessed. These are experts with a relatively high level of general understanding, in-depth expertise in the domestic and international tourism and hotel business, with a scientific stance, comprehensive coverage of the activities of the tourism industry and the specific business activities of the hotel business.

b> Consultation with experts

Expert consultation is a stage of the expert method. Depending on the characteristics of information collection and processing, basic consultation methods are selected such as: group and individual consultation; absentee and present consultation; direct or indirect consultation.

c> Handling expert opinions

After collecting expert opinions, a series of measures must be taken to process these opinions. This is an important step in order to produce analytical and evaluation results. In general, there are two types of problems that need to be solved when processing expert opinions:

- Assessing competitiveness based on internal and external factors, the time of emergence of new economic processes in the hotel business sector such as the emergence of competitive accommodation business types in the business sector.

hotel accommodation

- Assess the relative importance of the factors that make up guest capacity, such as assessing the role of internal hotel capacity factors and input relationship capacity on the hotel's guest reception capacity and room occupancy rate.

1.3.3. Thomson-Stricland matrix evaluation method [99, p.52] evaluates and compares the overall competitiveness of hotels.

This is a method of evaluating business capacity by identifying groups of factors that make up a hotel's capacity and scoring the factors to compare the capacity of hotels with each other. This method includes 4 steps:

Step 1: Identify the list of factors and components that make up the hotel's competitiveness. In particular, it is necessary to identify which factors are important to competitiveness. For example, in the hotel business, the geographical location factor often accounts for a very large proportion, but in other physical businesses, it is not important.

Enterprise competitiveness only includes subjective factors, reflecting the internal strength of the enterprise, does not include objective factors, business environment factors (these factors are very important when quantifying national competitiveness) and also does not include foreign factors.

The competitive capacity of a hotel often includes the following system of capacities and factors.

1. Capacity to research, analyze and forecast domestic and foreign tourist markets;

2. Ability to find reliable customers and partners with the ability to effectively cooperate with the enterprise;

3. Ability to organize professional and international standard tourist services, with appropriate adjustments for different cultures

4. Relationship capacity with partners such as travel agencies and other hotels

5. Ability to apply information technology to global booking and distribution (GDS) and international payment systems;

6. Factors related to human resources: human resources with high professional qualifications and skills, standard service procedures and hotel interior designs..

7. Factors of adaptability and change management;

8. Financial factors;

9. Factors of image, reputation and geographical location

10. Competitiveness in price and cost.

Step 2: Qualitatively evaluate and score each factor and department capacity for each business. Usually score from 1 (weakest) to 10 (strongest). Depending on each specific factor, develop evaluation criteria to score objectively. However, there are some factors that must be based on observations and public opinion of customers and experts, and changes over time to evaluate.

Step 3: Calculate the total score for all the factors given in the matrix by adding the scores of the corresponding component factors of each hotel. This total score shows the absolute competitiveness of the hotel.

There are two methods: Simple average and weighted average.

- Simple average: In which: xi is the score of the i-th factor

- Weighted average: In which: fi is the weight, fi is often chosen so that fi = 1, then; fi is evaluated according to the importance and position of each factor.

Step 4: Compare the scores of hotels to determine the competitiveness of hotels to be able to compare and determine the position of businesses according to each factor, factor groups and all factors in total. If there is a time series of scores reflecting the competitiveness of hotels, it is possible to apply dynamic analysis and multidimensional factor analysis to evaluate the competitiveness of businesses.

Table 1.2: Hotel competitiveness assessment

(Simple average method)

Factor

Score by hotel factor

Hotel A

Hotel B

Hotel C

Hotel D

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Image / reputation / geographic location	9	6	10	4	4
2	Technology	10	7	9	2	4
3	Distribution network	3	6	10	4	5
4	Ability to grow and innovate	9	9	10	3	6
	service
5	Production and business costs	10	3	9	5	6
6	Customer service	10	9	7	4	4
7	Human resources	10	8	7	5	4
8	Financial situation	7	10	5	7	6
9	Advertising level	9	10	9	5	5
10	Ability to manage change	8	10	8	5	4
	Total	85	78	84	44	48
	Average score	8.5	7.8	8.4	4.4	4.8
	Position	1	3	2	5	4

Source: Author's description

According to the simple average calculation method, the competitiveness of hotel A is 8.5, taking the first position, hotel D is at the bottom with a score of 4.4. According to the image/reputation criterion, hotel C is at the top, in terms of technology factor, hotel A is at the top. Hotel A is also at the top in factors 5, 6 and 7...

When weighted, the factor scores remain the same, but the average score of each business changes. Hotel C has a competitiveness score of 9.2, ranking first. Hotel A drops to second place.

Table 1.3: Hotel competitiveness assessment

(Weighted average method)

Factor

Weight

Score by hotel factor

Guest

Hotel A

Hotel B

Hotel C

Hotel D

Image / reputation / Geographic location

0.1

Technology	0.1	10	7	9	2	4
3	Distribution network	0.2	3	6	10	4	5
4	Ability to grow and change	0.3	9	9	10	3	6
	new product service
5	Production cost	0.05	10	3	9	5	6
6	Customer service	0.04	10	9	7	4	4
7	Human resources	0.05	10	8	7	5	4
8	Financial situation	0.05	7	10	5	7	6
9	Advertising level	0.06	9	10	9	5	5
10	Ability to manage change	0.05	8	10	8	5	4
	Average score		7.9	7.7	9.2	3.9	5.1
	Position		2	3	1	5	4

Source: Author's description

1.3.4. Customer survey method

An important source of information to evaluate the competitiveness of a hotel is the customers who have used the services of that hotel and are also customers of other hotels. This method requires compliance with certain rules for selecting evaluation objects and evaluation methods to create objective and accurate assessments of the hotel's competitiveness. Furthermore, building a common database of customers and selecting customers to collect opinions is very important. Building a set of customers to provide the basis for providing evaluation information. There are many methods to collect information such as: direct contact, distributing survey forms, websites, e-mail, telephone... The issue that needs to be emphasized here is to build a common database (DB) of customers (KH) who have used the hotel's services and many services of other hotels. In addition, selecting specific survey subjects to collect opinions often requires additional information from other data sources such as: information about

market, competitors, information from travel agencies and suppliers... If not selected correctly, it can lead to misleading and inaccurate assessments. Therefore, ensuring the right customers are selected to collect assessment information is very important to have accurate and objective assessments.

1.4. Experience in improving the competitiveness of some international hotel groups

1.4.1. Ritz-Carlton Singapore Hotel

Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore Hotel belongs to the famous Ritz Carlton Group which owns and manages 70 hotels with a total of 18,475 rooms in 23 countries around the world with over 32,000 employees. Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore Hotel is located in the center of Marina Center of Singapore, opened in 1996, 32 floors high with 608 rooms including 19 luxury rooms and 03 presidential rooms overlooking Singapore Bay, the hotel was designed by famous American architect Kevin Roche. The hotel uses 4,200 famous paintings in the collection of artists Frank Stella, Andy Warhol and Dale Chihuly to decorate the hotel. Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore Hotel is ranked as the best business hotel in Asia. The hotel group is the only group to have twice received the United States' most prestigious quality award, the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, in the service business.

Activities to enhance the hotel's competitiveness; The target market of The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore is business travelers coming to work and do business in Singapore, so the hotel has focused on providing the best services for this group of guests. Specifically:

THE RITZ-CARLTON CLUB: In addition to the services and large conference room of 1000 square meters, the hotel has established The Ritz-Carlton Club Hotel, which includes 128 special rooms located on the highest floors of the hotel with services providing information and assistance for special business guests. Club

There is a separate lobby to serve all dining and business negotiation needs during guests' stay here.

24-hour mobile communication service: The hotel has provided a 24-hour call forwarding service for guests by forwarding any calls to the guest room to the guest mobile phone anywhere in Singapore if the guest is not in the room. In addition, any information messages that need to be sent to the guest are sent to the guest via mobile message (SMS). The mobile phone is also provided free of charge to the guest during the guest's stay at the hotel. If the guest does not answer the call, the message content will be saved by the switchboard to notify the guest later. The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore has applied this free service first in the Asia Pacific region.

Mobile Office Services: The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore provides in-room services and amenities for guests to work in an environment similar to their own mobile office at the hotel. The hotel provides stationery, printers, shredders, etc. to serve the guests' work during their stay. Guest bedrooms are also equipped with the latest audio and video equipment (Bose speakers, 37-inch LCD screens, high-speed internet) to serve remote conferences.

Quality Management Policy: Top Quality

In a recent customer satisfaction survey by the Ritz-Carlton Group, 99% of customers said they were satisfied with all aspects of the hotel's service, and more than 80% said they were extremely satisfied with the hotel's service. In order to serve the top quality improvement policy, the hotel allows any employee in any department to immediately decide on compensation for guests or resolve complaints for guests with a maximum limit of $2,000. The hotel has a policy requiring all service staff and managers to participate in 250-300 hours of service quality training in their first year of employment. In particular, all employees who have direct contact with guests will have skills training courses.

specializes in communication and handling guest complaints and the hotel always has a promotion policy for all positions to keep employees motivated to work. Many of the positions are held by former employees who were in direct contact with guests.

The Ritz-Carlton, Millenia Singapore applies a total quality management policy and a policy of continuous quality improvement as the biggest policy to enhance its competitiveness to achieve the title of the best business hotel in the world. The hotel has applied the “Pyramid” management model to manage its quality. All employees are given a pocket-sized guide to achieving the gold quality standard including vision, strategy, business culture, commitment of the business and employees and the three steps to providing perfect service of the group. Usually these steps list the hotel’s expectations for each employee and the rules of dealing with customers. These quality standards are always remembered by each shift, the employees discuss and commit to implementing the rules.

In addition, the hotel has established mentoring and guest service teams. These mentoring team members are responsible for training, assisting and mentoring employees in their daily work so that they have the skills and attitudes to be proficient in all tasks. In addition, mentoring team members work closely with new employees and guest-facing employees to assist in handling any necessary situations. Hotel employees are equipped with a team spirit and a responsibility to actively participate in all activities of different departments as needed to improve service quality and resolve guest complaints. The hotel also honors the “Ritz-Carlton Group Model Employee” title and provides employees who receive this title with specialized training courses and career advancement opportunities.

The hotel has a policy of “personalizing all service activities” to meet all the unique and diverse needs of guests. In order to create and maintain customers.

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