G. M. asks for PESTLE causes Hotel Manager to Cry.

The Hotel Manager was asked for a Strategic Analysis for the Hotel by the General Manager which would look at the Potential Long-Term Futures for their Hotel.

“Don’t worry – you can have until the end of the week” said the General Manager.

“Yes – no problems” they said as he went into the office and burst into tears.

“Why meeeeeeeee …..” they screamed – banging their head on the desk.

Hotel Manager was terrified as often these Analysis were very broad; but the Hotel Manager should not waste their efforts; and knew they should look at only very particular times and specific locations, for both the Hotel and the parent-organisation; there would be some aspects that would be more important than others to the General Manager and their Senior Managers.

Hotel Manager knew it was important to ensure the Strategic Analysis discovered and allowed the General Manager to focus upon the factors that only mattered the most to their Hospitality business.

The PESTLE analysis carried out by the Hotel Manager would be rather straight-forward - looking at the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental factors affecting or possibly affecting their Hotel.

My PESTLE analysis would be effective and would be easily used in conjunction with a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) to identify the Hotel’s opportunities and threats in a more structured way; ensuring that all possible long-term issues could be considered by the General Manager.

That week Hotel Manager considered each of the 6 areas in the PESTLE analysis compiled for the General Manager:

Political factors including anything connected to the government, whether local, national, or even international. Considerations under this area included potential future changes to laws, including regulatory regimes, taxes and government priorities.

Economic factors included were a range of broader macro-issues in the Hotel’s business environment, such as interest rates, the availability of capital, the movement of inflation rates, and foreign exchange rates, and how these may affect supply and demand for their Hotel business.

Social factors included hard facts, such as population growth rates and other demographics and ‘softer’ issues such as attitudes towards health and safety or seasonal buying trends. Social factors affecting How the Hotel operates, for example, how it manages its staff to reflect an ageing population, and the increasing desire to work remotely or part-time in their country.

Technological factors included innovations that may change either the market, or the way their Hotel business might operate. Technological changes included certain people online-only buying and the way that social media had enabled peer-to-peer recommendations to become a key part of buying decisions. This area could be very hard to predict because it was very fast-moving.

Legal factors considered were a subset of political issues, but focused on the effect of legislation, rather than government actions more generally. These factors covered all the legal aspects of hotel operation, including health and safety law, labour and employment law and contract law.

Environmental factors considered included the effect of climate, weather and unpredictable events such as bad weather on the hotel. A move towards a low-carbon society and its effect upon reputation and profitability were written about.

From the description of each category, the Hotel Manager made it clear that the Hotel’s PESTLE analysis was potentially very broad. However, for their Hotel business and organisation, there were some aspects that were much more important than others.

Hotel Manager completed the PESTLE and handed it to the General Manager within 5 days.

An accompanying letter thanked the General Manager for been given the responsibility to carry out the PESTLE, as “Failing to carry out such a Strategic Analysis for their Hotel would have been a mistake”; allowing them to now more fully understand the potential Long-Term Futures for their Special Hotel.

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