Then Accra Beach Hotel free essay sample

The Board wanted to book a large block of rooms more than six months ahead,during several of the hotel’s busiest times,and was asking for discount. In return,it promised to promote the Accra Beach in all advertising materials and television broadcasts as the host hotel for the upcoming West Indies Cricket Series,an important international sporting event. The Accra Beach Hotel and Resort had a prime beachfront location on the south coast of Barbados,just a short distance from the airport and the capital city of Bridgetown. Located on acres of tropical landscape and facing one of the best beach on Barbados, the hotel featured rooms offering panoramic view of the ocean, pool or island. The centerpiece of its lush gardens was the large swimming pool, which gad a shallow bank for lounging plus a swimup bar. In addition, there was a squash court and a fully equipped gym. Golf was also available only 15 minutes away at the Barbados Golf Club,with which the hotel was affiliated. The Accra Beach had two restaurants and two bars, as well as extensive banquet and conference facilities. It offered state-of-the-art conference facilities to local. Regional and international corporate clientele and had hosted a number of large summits in recent years. Three conference rooms,which could be configured in number of way, served as the setting for large corporate meeting,training seminars, product dispalys, dinners, and wedding receptions. A business center provided guest with Internet access, faxing capabilities,and photocopying service. The hotel’s 122 standard rooms were categorized into three groups and there are also 13 island view Junior Suite, anf six Penthouse Suites, each decorated in tropical pastel prints and handcrafted furniture, All rooms were equipped with cable TV,air-conditioning,ceiling fans,hair-dryer,coffee percolartor,telephone,hath-tub/shower and a balcony. Standrd rooms were configured with either a king-size bed or two twin beds in the Island and Ocean View categories,while the Pool Vuews had two double beds. The six Penthouse Suites,which all offered ocean views,contained all the features listed for the standard rooms plus added comforts. They were built on two levels,featuring a living room with a bar area on the third floor of the hotel and a bedroom accessed by an internal stairway on the fourth floor. these suites also had a bathroom containing a jacuzzi,shower stall, double vanity basin and a skylight. The thirteen junior suite were fitted with a double bed or two twin beds,plus a living room area with sofa that can be converyed to another bed. The accra beach enjoyed a relatively high occupancy rate,with the highest occupancy rates achieved from january through march and the lowerst generally during the summer. the hotel’s average room rates followed a similar pattern,with the highest room rates being achieved from december through march but relatively low rates during the summer months. the hotel’s RevPAR showed even more variation,with RevPARs exceeding US$140 from january though october . the rate on the pengouse suites ranged from US$310 to US$395,while those on the junior suites ranged fromUS$195 to US$235. guests had to pay barbados value-added tax of 7. percent on room charges and 15percent on meals. The accra beach had traditionally promoted itself as a resort destination,but in the last few years,it has been promoting its convenient location and had attracted many business customers. cheria works extensively with tour operators and corporate travel managers. the majority such as barbados cablewireless,and the caribbean international banking corporation. the composition of hotel guests had changed drastically had been dominated by tourists from the uk and canada,but during the past few years,the percentage of corporate customers had increased dramatically. The majority of corporate customers come for business meeting with local companies. Sometimes,guests who were on vacation (particularly during the winter months) felt uncomfortable finding themselves surrounded by business people. As one vacationer put it, â€Å"There ‘s just something weird about being on vacationer and going to the beach and then seeing suit -clad business people chatting on their cell phones. † However,the hotel achieved a higher average room rate from business guests than vacationers and had found the volume of corporate usiness to be much more stable than that from tour operators and individual guests. Cherita Howard,the hotel’s Sales Manager,had been approached by the West Indies Cricket Board (WICB) about the possibility of the Accra Beach Hotel serving as the host hotel for the following spring’s West Indies Cricket Home Series, an important international sporting event rotated among several different Caribbean nations and Barbados would be hosting the next one, which would feature visiting teams from India and New Zealand. Cherita and Jon Martineau,General Manager of the hotel,both thought that the marketing exposure associated with hosting the teams would be very beneficial for the hotel but were concerned about accepting the business because they knew from past experience that many of the desired dates were usually very busy days for the hotel. They were sure that the rate that the WICB was willing to pay would be lower than the average rate of US$140-$150 they normally achieved during these times. In contrast to regular guests,who could usually be counted upon to have a number of meals at the hotel,team members and officials would probably be less likely to dine at the hotel because they would be on a per diem budget. On average,both corporate customers and vacationers spend about US$8 per person for breakfast and vacationers spend about US$25 per person for dinner (per person including VAT). The margin on food and beverage is approximately 30percent. About 80 percent of all guests have breakfast at the hotel and approximately 30 percent of all guests dine at the hotel (there are many other attractive restaurant options nearby). Mr. Martineau thought that only about 25 percent of the cricket group would have breakfast at the hotel and maybe only about 25 percent of the cricket group would have breakfast at the hotel and maybe only about 10 percent would dine at the hotel. Also, they worried about how