Oberoi Hotels

OBEROI HOTELS
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY:
Post-independence, India was one of the most attractive country for tourists due to the country’s rich
historical and cultural diversity. It not only attracted tourists but also international hotel business chains which
sought great business opportunities in the country and the number of foreign tourists in India, grew
exponentially from 16,829 in 1951 to 6.65 million in 2002.
The introductory paragraph of the case begins with the telling us about a customer’s experience at The Oberoi
Vanyavillas in Ranthambore, India. It is one of the finest properties of the company, it consists of 25 luxurious
tents in a jungle near a tiger reserve. This hotel focuses on providing a luxurious experience of wildlife to their
customers. But unfortunately, a guest was very uncomfortable during his stay as he was unable to sleep at
night because of the passing sound of a train which was nearly 1 mile from the property. The customer
vacated the room within two days whereas the he had made a booking for 3 days. To compensate the
customer the manager refunded the 3rd night’s amount and also drafted a personalized letter. With this the
company, who had recently been named “world’s best hotel brand” by readers’ of a US based travel magazine,
recognised that gracefully recovering from service failures was very critical in achieving and maintaining a
premium brand that the company stands for. “Customers’ bad experiences should be dealt with utmost care
and concern as this may have long term effects on the brand image of the company.”
In view of Mr. Chopra, there are only four things to be done in the hospitality industry: A warm welcome, A
zero-defect product, Anticipatory service and a fond farewell. This concept shows how the customer the
guests of their hotels are treated and how they are welcomed. Guests are treated as gods and the Oberoi’s
make their guest feel luxurious and give them a sense of belongingness. They have an electronic document
called the glitch report which enables them to find out the mistakes and the root cause of the problems so
that they can prevent it to repeat the same with other guests. They have created a culture where people have
anticipatory service that means they have a proactive approach to customers service. Instead of waiting for
problems to happen they have means to avoid problem happening in the first place. Their policy of fond
farewell is very courteous.
Oberoi selected team of members are from all parts of India as well as from its other hotels. Every staff they
select must have the potential to grow to two levels; in their structure it is the entry level, supervisor, and
executive positions. They have a fundamental code of conduct and expect all the staff to adhere to the values
in The Oberoi Dharma. Its reputation for quality and for developing people made Oberoi attractive as a
prospective employer. Oberoi carries a cross functional approach in their job design which signifies that all the
employees perform more than one job. The employees also had an empower program that allowed them to
spend up to Rs. 1500 on creating delight for guests. It was used to provide a personalised experience to the
consumers. The only restriction for the employees was that they had to log whenever they were using these
funds. Training was one of the core propositions for the employees due to the reputation of Oberoi in the
hospitality industry. Formalised training was provided to the employees that was divided into 4 programs in
order to developing the skills necessary for hospitality management.
Oberoi provided accommodations, shuttle service and meals for all the employees. Other amenities like tuck
shop, concierge service, game rooms and on call doctors were also accessible to the employees. A lot of
courses on topics ranging from English and geography to parasailing and salsa are offered to employees.
Events like talent shows, festivals and crickets are also held regularly to facilitate community building. Oberoi
discourages individual gratuities. Instead, it aims to create a mix of alternative monetary and non-monetary
incentives in lieu of tips. Performance data is regularly updated and visible to employees. Leaderboards in
employee corridors highlight performance of individuals, rewarding those who are the top scorers every
month.
The Oberoi group is facing a lot of competition and aims to maintain its competitive advantage that is
exceptional guest service. Moreover, it also aims to create an even stronger brand and achieve tangible
differentiation. They considered a more aggressive expansion strategy, but they aim to be the best, not the
biggest and as of now their focus is on quality not quantity. Vikram Oberoi is contemplating whether to refund
the abandoned night for the unsatisfied Mr. Malhotra or refund the charges for his entire stay or just write
him a heartfelt apology.
BY: TANYA BHUTANI
SANA TALWAR
TAPASYA KABRA
JAHNVI CHOUDHARY
ADIL JADEJA
SALONI SETHI

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OBEROI HOTELS

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