Hospitality and Tourism Strategic Planning Essay

Hospitality and Tourism Strategic Planning - Essay Example The rooms of this hotel had the facility of running water, though cold, and the air condition luxury in its public rooms. It was in the year 1947 when a hotel named Roosevelt Hilton was launched at New York City. This hotel pioneered in providing its guest rooms with televisions. By the year 1948, the Hilton Hotel was identified as the first hotel company to come up with the new system of multi–hotel reservation. This gave birth to the modern reservation system that is used today (Hilton Worldwide, 2012). As years passed, the company paced up its innovations and came up with new concepts and approaches every now and then. The introduction of sewing kit and a booklet containing important and useful names and numbers for the female travellers brought the company to limelight. Improvement in its technical side is characterized by the â€Å"brand–wide direct telephone service† launched by the company in the year 1957. The introduction of airport hotel based concept w as cheered by the business purpose travellers. Hilton came up with its first Airport hotel in the year 1963, the San Francisco Airport Hilton and was a pioneer in this approach. Ten years down the line from this period, i.e., by 1973 Hilton once again came up with an innovative idea of centralized reservation system making a breakthrough improvement in its customer care service (Hilton Worldwide, 2012). Again in the year 1987, Hilton was seen to introduce its first program for guest loyalty called the Hilton HHonors (Hilton Worldwide, 2012). It was later in the year 2008, when Hilton Vancouver Washington made history by being certified by both Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) along with Green Seal (Hilton Worldwide, 2012). Its latest development was in the year 2010 with the launch of the spa facility at various locations such as the United States, China and Thailand (Hilton Worldwide, 2012). This paper intends to analyze the various strategies and the impacts of internal and external environment on Hilton Hotels & Resorts. An effort to develop a strategic plan emphasizing on the risk management factor of business strategy shall also be one of the highlighting sections of the paper. Environmental Analysis of Hilton Hotels & Resorts The purchasing of medium and small–sized hotels has been in Hilton’s practice right from 1970s. The attention towards acquiring a huge amount of real estate was the main focus of Hilton. The lodging assets of Hilton Group Plc amounted to GBP 3.3 billion in the year 2006, thus making Hilton the largest company in the field of lodging (United States Securities and Exchange Commission, 2005). There has been a recent change in trend of the company and it has shifted to expand its operations by the process of franchising instead of merely acquiring real estates. This company mainly operates in the United States but also has its presence in various other major city locations such as Sao Paulo, Toronto, Lo ndon, Sydney, Paris, Shanghai, Rome, Stockholm and Beijing (HotelsGrid, 2012). It was in the year 2007 when Hilton Hotel was acquired by the Blackstone Group for money worth of US$20.1 billion (Morrison, 2007). Prior to the event of

Gloria Steinem Essay Example for Free

Gloria Steinem Essay Gloria Steinem views America as a largely male-dominant culture. In her efforts to speak out and fight against this unbalanced form of society she strongly enforces her views of female anti-submissiveness. Because of the seemingly unfair amount of rights men have deprived American women of, Steinem calls for drastic changes in the way women view themselves and are viewed both in the society and within the home. Steinems biggest problem with our society is the harsh stereotypical views that are laced all throughout the culture. Children are raised with the ideas that men dominate certain areas of life, and women others, and crossing these dividing lines into areas reserved for the other gender is an act seen as both unnatural and taboo. In her essay Life Between the Lines Steinem touches upon the common marital problem of housework. (Steinem, 8) Because of the deeply rooted tradition of females and housework, many women struggle with feelings of helplessness and even embarrassment when trying to get their husbands to help out around the home. In Huston and History, Steinem writes that because of the secondary status women are traditionally seen as having, they are more likely to relate to minorities and those seen as less fortunate. Frederick Douglass recognized this when he stated that the cause of the slave has been peculiarly womens cause. Relating back to the fight to end slavery, which was most enthusiastically fought by the women. The essay Sisterhood presses on this topic as well when it declares that the deep and personal connections among women living under patriarchy often causes them to leap barriers of age, economics, worldly experience, race, [and] culture. (123) Even though society builds many walls between different people, the common goal of subordination remains a very strong uniting factor. Male and female roles in society have always been seen as vastly different. The common childrens poem: What are little girls made of? Sugar and spice, And everything nice, Thats what little girls are made of. What are little boys made of? Snips and snails, And puppy dog tails, Thats  what little boys are made of. (internet: http://showcase.netins.net/web/marys/LittleBoys.htm) is a perfect illustration of the generalizations our country has towards the two genders. Steinem suggests in her essay College Reunion that, through education, the boundaries between the two sexes might start to dissolve. Steinem states that Womens colleges have rarely taught us to fight for ourselves, or for other women. (137) Only in teaching women the skills necessary to break down the walls that tradition has built up, and equality and full humanity of women and men is achieved, can true feminism be accomplished. (5) Another major topic illustrated in this book is the authors concern about the sexual relationships between male and female. According the Steinem, our cultures stereotypical views of the sexes often envelopes all aspects of life, bringing male-dominance even into the bedroom. Three essays focusing primarily upon the sexual dominance of men are Erotica vs. Pornography, I was a Playboy Bunny , and If Men Could Menstruate. Erotica vs. Pornography centers on way the American society frequently sees sex. In America, children are raised with images of female sex symbols strewn all across the media which make women vulnerable for the pleasure of men. Steinem attributes the sexual male-supremacy to this trendy media tool. A common quote illustrating this point is sex will sale anything. Because of the steady moral decline in society, sex is also confused with violence and aggression in all forms of popular culture. (239) Pictures of females are seen in every form of media, from the television to the internet to the paper. This imagery drastically influences the way females think of themselves, and are viewed by others. I was a Playboy Bunny speaks of the time in which the author went undercover to become one of the famed Playboy Bunnies. Once within the Playboy realm the glamour and intrigue quickly started to fade. Steinem saw that the bunnies were used in affect as cheap labor to feed the vastly popular Playboy clubs. Working long hours with no or little pay (54), outrageous regulations on hair, heels, clothing, and even the bunny demeanor all added to the unspectacular life of a Bunny. If Men Could Menstruate is a comical look at how the world would be different if it was in fact the male sex who was on a periodic menstrual cycle. Clearly, menstruation would become an enviable, boast-worthy masculine event: Men would brag about how long and how much, and Sanitary supplies would be federally funded and free. (367) Although the essay is an interesting satire on what could be, no real arguments are held or reinforced. It is in affect an amusing look at how the culture might react if men were given the attributes of the weaker sex. Although many of Steinems arguments are well supported and easily seen as valid, they frequently focus on either to broad, or to narrow a topic. Essays like Men and Women Talking express the communication habits between males and females all over the world, from Europe (193), Australia (194), Japan (203), and the U.S. a very large base from which drawing any solid conclusions becomes drastically more difficult. The other extreme argumental stance occurs in being to narrow. Essays like Ruths Song concentrate on a single instance and circumstance. Because of the narrow focal point it is hard to relate a specific example to a larger, more common instance. In Ruths Song Steinem says that the biggest reason that my mother was cared for but not helped for twenty years was the simplest her functioning was not that necessary to the world. (143) Inferring that because her mother was a female, Steinem suggests that her only role in the economy was to produce and care for her offspring, and that because she no longer could do either one, she was not an important member in society. Although her point may be well made, it relates directly to only those females who have, or are directly effected by a mental breakdown. Because of the illness of one woman, it is hard to conclude that the fate of a single person would be the same for everyone else having a similar fortune. Steinems arguments all have the underlying theme of female limitation in a male-dominant society. To combat this she proposes that women learn to stand up for themselves and take action. Only through active change in every individual, can full and complete equilibrium among the sexes take place.

Football vs. Soccer Essay -- Comparison Contrast Essays

Football vs. Soccer Athletes who play football share the same goal as athletes who play soccer: score the most goals to win the game. In football, there are two areas on opposite sides of the field where one can score points by bringing the football over the goal line. Soccer shares this same concept by having two nets on opposite sides of the field where one can score a point by kicking the soccer ball into the net. Also, both sports share the concept of having an offense and defense, and both sports each have eleven players on a team on the field at a time. These are only few of many similarities between these two sports, but in actuality, they are significantly different. The rules, rituals, and concepts of both sports distinguish themselves from each other. First of all, the rules of football require one to equip himself with approximately twenty pounds of equipment, including a helmet, shoulder pads, and girdle pads. This is because football has the most contact involved out of all sports. In a football game, the norm is that the home team wears colorful jerseys and the visiting team wears white jerseys. Moreover, if a team’s offense is on the field, their defense is on the sideline. A team’s offense includes a center, who snaps the ball to the quarterback. The â€Å"QB† then has a choice to run with the ball, hand it off to a running back, or throw it to a wide receiver. The quarterback has an offensive line to protect him from the assailing defense. If a teammate happens to score a touchdown, he earns his team six points, which allows for the kicker to kick an extra point, and give his team a total of seven points. However, if the offense fails to travel at least ten yards within four attempts, or â€Å"downs,à ¢â‚¬  they have the opti... ...nd must support both the defense and the offense. In conclusion, football and soccer have their similarities, but these similarities are superficial. There are many fundamental differences, such as the use of one’s hands being illegal in soccer, except for the goalie when he/she is inside his/her respective eighteen-yard boundary. Another example is the alternation of a team’s offense and defense in football as opposed to the simultaneous effort of the offense and defense in soccer. These differences in rules, rituals, and concepts distinguish these two sports from each other. However, there are similarities, such as the fact that both sports allow eleven players on each team to play on the field at a time. Also, the area where one scores is in the same locations in both sports, the end zones of football and the goals of soccer are on opposite sides of the field.

Pluto or Neptune Essay

   Dr. Derik Johnson is highly acclaimed for his knowledge and research in physics. He has done a lot of research on the force of gravitation, and has a very conclusive notion in his mind that if sun’s gravitational pull is so great that it can compel a system of 9 planets to rotate around itself, then objects on earth, which is relatively very near to the sun as compared to Pluto or Neptune, should also fall towards sun, and not down towards the centre of the planet. He defies Newtonian theory on gravitational pull. Years of concentrated research on this notion, enable him to make a device, which can reverse the gravitational pull on any object. His joy does not know any limits, on this achievement. This is a device, which has a flat surface and which can be held in ones hand. Once the flat surface is made to face the Sun for 5 minutes, it gathers enough energy to change the gravitational field acting on any body. So, if he points this device to a person walking on road, it would appear to him as if, the person is getting carried upwards. To a common person, this device appears as if it is a round mirror of 5 inches diameter, and nothing else. Dr.Derik’s close friend John Mathew, is a shrewd businessman with acute sense of business opportunities. It was because of this sense of turning innovations into business, that he was a very wealthy man today. As a close friend, he discusses Dr. Derik discusses his invention with John, who perceives a gigantic business opportunity in this device. Now, tons and tons of load can be lifted upwards, with this small device !!!!! No extra energy no extra efforts !!! His shrewd business mind tells him that cranes and lifting devices could be a thing of past, if this invention could be turned into a working, marketable product. Both work together, incessantly, to bring out a commercially viable product, which can make any object move upward, just by pointing towards it. This product creates as storm in the market, and becomes an outright success. It becomes a minting machine for this duo. This run for minting money through this product, did not last long. Barely within a few months of its existence, reports of varied misuse of the product started flowing in and making headlines in the news channels and papers. While it proved very beneficial to the industry which had real time applications, it became a nuisance for others. Mrs. Alice, the head of an NGO, filed a law suit against this company, on behalf of a young girl, Edwina. It so happened that a boy studying with Edwina was madly in love with her, and wanted to marry her. Edwina was in no mood to agree to his proposal, and had been rejecting this boy consistently. So, this boy, uses this device, to shoot a small clip, with her walking above the surface of the earth. Since she was wearing a skirt at that time, the camera was able to shoot her private parts also. This was obviously very embarrassing to Edwina. Her MMS clips started circulating around the campus, then the town and then to the whole world through the internet. Edwina reported this case to Mrs. Alice, who was very upset at knowing her story. She approached the courts, and filed a law suit against the manufacturers, demanding a very heavy penalty in favor of Edwina, and immediate withdrawal of all the products from the market, and closing down the manufacturing unit. The court, decides to withdraw all the products from the market, pay heavy compensation to Edwina, but does not order closing down of the manufacturing unit. Instead, it issues an order that the product could be marketed to genuine customers only, who have to obtain a license to buy this product. The court also orders Dr. Derik to improvise the design in such a way that only a person with very high technical skills can use it. ( Dear customer : the resemblances are as follows : Dr. Derik – Dr. Frankenstein, the product – the monster, Edwina- William who was the victim, John- Henry, and Mrs. Alice- Elizabeth). Reference: 1) Victor Frankenstein, Wikipedia the free encyclopedia, retrieved on 5 january 2008 from : < http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Victor_Frankenstein >

Athenian View of Human Nature Essay

The course of history has shown that during times of confusion or disaster, people’s true human nature emerges. Unlike the view of Gandhi, in these moments humans behave violently and are concerned with self-interest, supporting the Athenian’s view of human motivation. In the History of the Peloponnesian War, Thucydides gives ample support of this view of human nature. Generally regarded as one of the first true historians, he wanted to view the world as it really was and firmly insisted on sticking to the facts. Thucydides subjected human nature to an extremely cold and reductive analysis, which could be regarded as pessimism, but he considered to be realism. Generally people want to maintain a positive self-concept of themselves which causes them to agree with the overly idealistic views of human nature, such as that presented by Gandhi. The Athenians held the belief that the three motives for human nature are security, honor, and self-interest, and these cause people to be inherently violent. When there is a breakdown of law and order, a state of unprecedented lawlessness occurs and during the confusion, people’s values revert to a barbaric state. Gandhi, on the other hand, believed that humans act violently as a result of a war or disaster, but that their true human nature compels them to be peaceful. In other words, humans only act violently when provoked and when it is necessary for survival. Yet, the Athenians show that people become wild and violent during times of confusion, because their true human nature is allowed to emerge. â€Å"Then, with the ordinary conventions of civilized life thrown into confusion, human nature, always ready to offend even where laws exist, showed itself proudly in its true colors, as something incapable of controlling passion, insubordinate to the idea of justice, the enemy to anything superior to itself? † (p. 245) During the Peloponnesian War, Athens was struck by the plague, which caused widespread chaos and confusion. The Athenians became indifferent to the rules of religion and law, and began openly performing acts of self-indulgence. â€Å"It was generally agreed that what was both honorable and valuable was the pleasure of the moment and everything that might conceivably contribute to that pleasure. No fear of god or law of man had a restraining influence. † (p. 155) The same kind of lawlessness occurred during the civil war in Corcyra where extreme violence took place during a period of uncertainty. Fighting and aggression were considered courageous and anyone who held violent opinions could always be trusted, while anyone who objected them became a suspect. The Athenians developed a democratic system of government that was necessary to keep order and peace among the people. The people felt that their participation in government was important in order to prevent themselves from being uncivilized and therefore barbaric. Gandhi argued that mankind shouldn’t punish each other due to the belief that no one has power over anyone else but themselves, yet it is clear that laws and punishments are elementary in containing violent human nature. Strong governments prevent people from destroying each other out of self-interest. There becomes an orderly balance provided by the strong ruling the weak. A major aspect in the Athenian view of human motivation is the notion that those in power are the stronger and naturally rule or dominate over the weak. During the debate at Sparta, the Athenians admit to exploiting their empire for their advantage and ground their actions firmly in a natural law tied to an eternal human nature. They hold the belief that it is human nature to rule what one can and they are merely acting in accordance with the existing law. â€Å"It has always been a rule that the weak should be subject to the strong; and besides, we consider that we are worthy of our power. † (p. 80) Violence and survival are the laws of nature and although humans have found a way to manipulate their surroundings those basic instincts exist in all humans on a fundamental level. It makes the most sense to live peacefully in society, which is why people generally obey laws, but that does not mean that humans are inherently good. In the end, people are naturally disposed to do wrong and no amount of laws of punishments will prevent it. â€Å"In a word it is impossible? for human nature, when once seriously set upon a certain course, to be prevented from following that course by the force of law or by any other means of intimidation. † (p. 221).

Australian Social Security system essays

Australian Social Security system essays The Australian social security system has been in place for many years. Its purpose is much like other social security systems throughout the world. The system provides financial payments to those who are aged out of the workforce as well as those who are disabled and cannot work. The original social security system began in 1909 and its purpose was to assist lower income retirees support themselves. As history progressed the government relaxed the qualification requirements and eventually moved toward a universal system. "Australians over the age of 69 received a full age pension regardless of income, and the rules for men 65 to 69 years old and women from 60 to 69 years old were so lax that almost all of them qualified for a full age pension as well(Australia's social security system social+security+system%22+%2BAustralia "Australia's social security system helps millions of people through difficult times (when they are unemployed, or sick, or in times of crisis). The system also supports people with a disability and their careers, as well as students, parents and families with children(Australia's social social+security+system%22+%2BAustralia The system is designed to be sure there is a safety net for those who are having a difficult time supporting themselves. The history of the Australian social security system dates back many decades. During this time entitlements and rules have been added and changed to accommodate the growing need for benefits and eligibility. "2.8 million working-age Australians are on income support, over 20 per cent of all adults of working age. This has more than doubled in the last 20 years, even though there are now nearly 3 million more Many people rely on social security payments for a very long time. Lone parents who claim social security spen...

Macbeth Macbeth and Murder Duncan Essay

Macbeth Macbeth and Murder Duncan Essay Macbeth: Macbeth and Murder Duncan Essay There are many factors and people that are responsible for the bloodshed in the play Macbeth. Lady Macbeth and Macbeth are held most accountable for this though. Throughout the play, Macbeth is manipulated by Lady Macbeth to perform villainous acts that he is not comfortable with. For example when Macbeth says he does not want to kill King Duncan, Lady Macbeth says, â€Å"And live a coward in thine own esteem, letting ‘I dare not’ wait upon ‘I would,’ like the poor cat i’ the adage† (1.7. 46-48). Lady Macbeth compares Macbeth to a cat that would eat fish but would not wet her feet. She implies that Macbeth is a coward who does not fight for what he wants and just expects his desires to come true without him taking risks. Soon after, Lady Macbeth questions Macbeth’s masculinity and tries to manipulate him using this: â€Å"What beast was’t then, that made you break this enterprise to me? When you durst do it, then you were a man; and to be more than what you were would be so much more the man† (1.7.52-56). Lady Macbeth compliments Macbeth’s earlier proposal of murdering King Duncan, saying that he was a brave man and that he would be even more brave and masculine if her were to execute his plan. This makes Macbeth feel as though he would not be masculine if he did not do this act. Lady Macbeth knows that questioning Macbeth’s masculinity is the greatest insult to him and best way to manipulate him into doing what she wants. Lastly, I believe that Macbeth is also held responsible for the bloodshed in the play. Not only does he murder Duncan on Lady