English research report

TAYLOR’S UNIVERSITY | SABD | FNBE | ENGLISH 2
SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE, BUILDING AND DESIGN
FOUNDATION IN NATURAL AND BUILT ENVIRONMENT
REPORT TITLE: A Tale of Two Businesses A Comparative Analysis of Two
Businesses of Similar Industry in Different Geographical Locations
BUSINESS INDUSTRY: HOTEL
NAME STUDENT
ID
PRESENTATION / RESEARCH REPORT ROLES
LAU MAO HUA 0320249 BRIEF BIOS OF BUSINESS
WONG QIN KAI 0320024 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
LIM TING LE 0320028 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
LEE JIA KIAM 0320029 INTRODUCTION TO HOTEL INDUSTRY
NABILA HANIM BINTI
SALLEH@MAN
0321368 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
NADHIRAH BINTI MOHD ZAIN 0321366 COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS
NUR AZREEN BINTI SAMIU 0321370 RECOMMENDATION
CHIN KHANG WEI 0320728 RECOMMENDATION
MODULE: ENGLISH 2 [ELG30605]
LECTURER: MS. CASSANDRA WIJESURIA
PRESENTATION & SUBMISSION DATE: 5 JUNE 2015
LAU MAO HUA | WONG QIN KAI | LIM TING LE | LEE JIA KIAM | NABILA | NADHIRAH | NUR AZREEN | CHIN KHANG WEI
1

TABLE OF CONTENT

TITLE PAGE NUMBER
ARTISTIC COVER
COVER PAGE 1
TABLE OF CONTENT 2
KEY SUMMARY 3
INTRODUCTION OF THE BUSINESS INDUSTRY 45
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE BUSINESS 69
COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE BUSINESSES’ COMPETITIVE TRAITS 1017
RECOMMENDATION 1821
APPENDICES 2237
BIBLIOGRAPHY 38
REFERENCES 39

2

KEY SUMMARY
In a group of eight people, we need to select two businesses with the history of 10 years and above
within the same industry in different geographical locations such as one business in Penang and another
business in Klang Valley for research purpose. We had selected Hotel Continental, Penang and The 5
Elements Hotel, Kuala Lumpur as our businesses to study. Hotel Continental has 46 years of experiences in
Penang while The 5 Elements Hotel has 42 years of experiences in Kuala Lumpur. We need to conduct
preliminary research and conduct a personal interview with the hotel manager to get more information about
the business. In addition, we also need to conduct onsite observations for the businesses we had selected.
In this report, we will be discussing about the information about this business industry, background
information and competitive behavior of these businesses and suggest recommendation for these two
businesses in their respective markets.

3

INTRODUCTION OF THE BUSINESS INDUSTRY
      The word “Hospitality” is derived from the French word – Hospice which carrying the meaning of provide
weary and taking good care of those travellers. Interestingly, a French chef name “M.Boulanger” is known as
the father of modern hospitality during the French Revolution. The early culture of hospitality is founded in
Greek as early as 40 BC. Hospitality culture in Greek is their symbols of social and religious purposes. After
the World War 2, travelling began to be a trend among the civilization. This is the time when the hospitality
industry bloom like a flower around the world.

    Hotel is the “temporary house” for the travellers to stay for who came from outstation and foreign
countries. Hotels can be found everywhere in any region, area, town and city to provide a temporary stay for
the traveller. Hotel’s location plays an important role in attracting customers. Hotels that are located near city
center, business zone and public transportation hub will attract more customers due to it conveniency. Hotels
can be classified into different categories which include budget hotels and starrating categories. Pricing of
each hotel may differ with each others depending on the starrating as well as the location, services and
facilities provided by the hotel. Demand of the hotel may vary during peak season and offpeak season.

    Hotel industry in Malaysia is normally practiced monopolistic competition which means they have a rather
fierce competition among each other. Constant innovation and creativity have to be fuelled into their
management in order them to survive in the market. Hotel industry is in everexpanding influx in the market.
They struggle hard and compete for survival profit in these intense competition. Each of them jostles to
engineer “emotional touch points” and “wow moments” to their guests. Therefore, there are some variations
among their product offering and provided by hotels.

4


Tourism in Malaysia becomes more popular since Malaysia introduced Visit Malaysia Year. Malaysia has
beautiful scenes and well known in nature. Penang, Malacca and Sarawak are the state that attract most of
the tourists to come to Malaysia. Malaysia also famous in its food, architecture design and ethnic. In general,
the hotel industry in Malaysia has experienced an encouraging growth rate since 1994. Hotel industry in
Malaysia has contributed tremendously to the development in the Malaysia tourism. The hotel industry in
Malaysia is normally owning or managing several facets of hospitality because it provides them with many
more opportunities to generate success.

5

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE BUSINESSES
A. Hotel Continental Penang

Hotel Continental is located at Penang Road, Penang. It was founded on 29 November 1969 by Loh’s
Family. When contacted with Mr. Fadzil, hotel manager, he said that the top management and himself are
not sure what motivate of Loh’s Family to start this business. Mr. Fadzil believe that it is because of the
island which attract visitors to come (personal communication, May 1, 2015). Hotel Continental have
approximately 80 people of employees including the top management which half of them came from local
citizens and another half came from foreign country. Hotel Continental provides a total number of 231 rooms
to the market which include superior room, deluxe room, super deluxe room and executive suite room.
Besides that, Hotel Continental also provides services facilities such as restaurant, conference room, laundry
service, car park, swimming pool and etc. The hotel can be fully occupied during peak season. On the other
hand, the hotel’s capacity can up to 60% to 70% during offpeak season. Most of the customers come from
corporate businessmen and private agent groups. In the past 5 years, Hotel Continental had graded as a
3star hotel by Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH) and Coffee House is a qualified as a halal restaurant.
Besides that, Hotel Continental had upgraded the standard room to superior room and upgrading the
amenities inside the room such as LCD television, minibar, inroom movie channels and so forth. Mr. Fadzil
believed that this hotel can sustain longer because of the strategic location.

6

Official Website

Hotel Continental’s reviews on TripAdvisor
7

B. The 5 Elements Hotel KL

The 5 Elements Hotel is located at Chinatown, Kuala Lumpur. It was founded in 1973 and it was taken
over by new management in the year 2008. The key founder of this hostel is a Malaysian Chinese
businessman, but currently it is incharged by Tan Sri Lam’s daughter. The key founders start this business
with the motivation of the founder is operating property development company by that time and take this
opportunity to start the business and gain profit from it. The idea of The 5 Elements Hotel’s name is mainly
due to its location which had the traditional concept in it and they decided to use the five basic elements
fire, metals, earth, wood and water as the concept of their name. The 5 Elements Hotel has approximately 30
employees, which most of them came from foreign countries. The 5 Elements Hotel has the total of 104
rooms which include standard single rooms, superior twin rooms, deluxe queen rooms, and themed suites.
During peak seasons, the hotel’s capacity can up to 60% to 70% which are about 4000 people. In contrast,
the hotel’s capacity can only up to 30% during off peak season, which are around 2500 to 3000 people. 40%
of the customers comes from online bookings such as Agoda, and its own official website, while customers
from the travel agents and business cooperation worker contributes 30% each to the total amount of the
customers. Most of the customers are usually Malaysian and Singaporean families who have the income
around RM5000RM10000. The hotel had been renovated in the year 2013 due to the 35 years old building
and hence upgrading the hotel’s facilities and amenities. The 5 Elements Hotel had implemented modern
type of marketing to expand their market, which provides online booking on its own website and Agoda.
8

Official Website

The 5 Elements Hotel’s reviews on TripAdvisor

9

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE BUSINESSES’ COMPETITIVE TRAITS

In Penang, there are around 250 to 300 businesses operating in hotel industry, which include budget hotels
and homestays. Market shares of this business are quite small in Penang as there are numerous competitors
in this geographical location. Bayview Hotel, Hotel Malaysia and Cititel Hotel are the businesses that operate
in Penang Road, which are also classified as the top competitors of Hotel Continental.

Bayview Hotel is qualified as a  4star hotel in Penang
by Malaysian Association of Hotels (MAH). It offers a
total of  333 rooms and suites to the customers, which
inclusive of standard rooms, superior rooms, deluxe &
grand deluxe rooms, family rooms, junior suites and
premier floor rooms.

10


Hotel Malaysia is one of the 2star hotel in Penang by
MAH. Hotel Malaysia provides 126 rooms to the customers
which include standard rooms, superior rooms and deluxe
rooms.

Cititel Hotel graded as one of the 4star hotel in Penang
by MAH. Cititel Hotel offers 451 comfortable rooms which
include standard rooms, superior rooms, deluxe rooms
and executive suites.

According to Mr.Fadzil, the hotel competes with other businesses in term of providing good services. He
said that he will find the alternative way to receive suggestion and recommendation from the customers via
internet and investigate the problem and hence provide necessary training if applicable. Hotel Continental
has a low pricing power because there are too many competitors in Penang and the hotel had adjusted their
rates four times due to the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and the rates of other
businesses. According to Mr. Fadzil, it is hard for the new business to enter this market because there are
too many competitors around and they had to compete with each other by providing good amenities and
facilities as well as providing a reasonable rate. Hotel Continental is a monopolistic competitive firm because
there are too many competitors in the market. Many competitors are caused by weak barriers to entry which
businesses are easy to enter and exit the market. Due to the large number of competitors, businesses will be
having a weak pricing power and the competition among other businesses are strong in term of pricing and
advertising in order to get more customers.

11


There are around 200 businesses operating in the hospitality industry in Chinatown, Kuala Lumpur. The
market shares of this business and its top competitors are quite equivalent as everyone facing the same
situation due to the drop in demand, which caused by the decreasing number of tourists coming to Malaysia.
Dropping in tourist is mainly due to the issues happened in Malaysia such as the flight incidents, safety of
Sabah and also the drop of economics in the United Kingdom. Geo Hotel, Swiss Inn Hotel and Ancasa Hotel
are the top competitors of The 5 Elements Hotel because they are the hotels that operate within Chinatown.

Geo Hotel is a 3star hotel which provides a total number of 180
rooms to serve its customers. Room types available at Geo Hotel are
standard rooms, deluxe rooms, family rooms and premier suites.

12


Swiss Inn Hotel is a 3star hotel operating under SwissGarden
International. Swiss Inn Hotel provides a total number of 151 rooms to
the market which include superior rooms, deluxe rooms and family
rooms.

Ancasa Hotel is a 3star hotel which provides 294 rooms which
inclusive of standard rooms, superior rooms, deluxe rooms, family
suites, junior suites and Ancasa floor rooms. Ancasa Hotel also
provided spa services for its customers, which enhance people to stay
at that hotel for the enjoyment of the spa.

13


According to Mr. Frankie, every hotel is trying their best to provide good products and services to its
customers so that the customers have a good impression and will stay at the hotel next time. Hence, the
main reason why these competitors are so special is due to their pricing and marketing strategy. Mr.Frankie
said that the hotels will be running a various type of promotions through internet which most of the people get
the information from and hence attract people from its competitors such as early bird promotion, buy three
free one night promotion and so on (personal communication, May 20, 2015). It’s hard for new business to
enter this market because there are too many competitors in this market. Besides that, the new business
must also need to take the risk which it will not be gaining much profit due to higher number of supply in the
market while the market demand is lower. Every business needs to compete with each other to get the
customers. The 5 Elements Hotel is a monopolistic competitive firm because it has a large number of
competitors in that geographical location, weak barriers to entry which firm can easily enter and exit the
market, sell differentiated products and constantly advertising their products to the market to gain more
customers. The 5 Elements Hotel has around 200 of competitors which give the hotel a low pricing power
because if the hotel set a high price for its service to gain more profit, they will lose the customers. Every
hotel wants to have its own customers and causes the competition among the hotels are big in term of
pricing, advertising, products and services provided by the hotel.
14

Similarity & Differences Summary Table
SIMILARITY
Both hotels are classified as 3Star Hotel
Both hotels have the same rating on TripAdvisor
Both hotels insist on providing good service to the customers
Both hotels are monopolistic competitive firm
Weak pricing power which the hotels cannot set the price as they like because they will lose customers
Both hotels facing strong competition in the market due to the large number of competitors in that location
Both hotels only have one branch which is the headquarter office
Hotel Continental Penang DIFFERENCES The 5 Elements Hotel Kuala
Lumpur
1969 Founded year 1973
Strategic location Motive to start the business Development group
231 superior room, deluxe room,
super deluxe room and executive
suite room
Numbers & types of rooms
provided
104 standard single rooms,
superior twin rooms, deluxe
queen rooms, and themed suites
80 Numbers of employee 30
Restaurant, conference room,
laundry service, car park,
swimming pool, free wifi at lobby
area.
Facilities Provided Restaurant, meeting room, free
wifi on every floor
95%100% Hotel capacity during peak
season
60%70%
250300 Number of competitors in their
respective geographical
market
200
15

Comparative Analysis Summary Table
Competitive
Traits
Hotel Continental The 5 Elements Hotel
1. Number of
Competitors
250 300 200 250
2. Barrier to Entry

Weak
They just need around RM 5 million to
start the business. They have to do the
market survey before entering the
market to fulfill the market’s needs.
Moderate
Because the new businesses have to compete with
the existing business. The new businesses have to
purchase a land or building to start a hotel
business which is very expensive.
3. Differentiated
Product

Accomodation
Executive Suite
Deluxe Room
Super Deluxe Room
Superior Room
Dining
Buffet Breakfast

Accomodation
Standard Room
Superior Room
Deluxe Room
Themed Suite(Metal Suite, Water Suite, Fire
Suite, Wood Suite, Earth Suite)
Dining
Buffet Breakfast
4. Pricing Power

Weak Price Taker. The competition
around is stringent. If they raise the
price, customers will turn away and go
to another hotel nearby.
Weak Price Taker. Many budget hotels around
have a lower price range than them.
5. Other
Characteristics

1. Strategic Location Penang City
Centre
2. Convenient Location Many
restaurants, bus stop and convenient
shop around
3. Facilities Have swimming pool
4. Have their own company website
5. Hospitality Offer
6. WiFi on every floor
7. Inroom Astro Channel Offered
1. Have Tour Guide Services
2. Strategic Location Near Chinatown
3. Have travel agent to bring in visitors
4. Direct Marketing Online promotion
5. Have their own company websites
6. Not much 3star hotel nearby, mostly budget
level nearby
7. Free WiFi on every floor
6. Verdict

Monopolistic Competition Monopolistic Competition

16


According to the analysis, Hotel Continental is more commercially successful because they earn more
yearly revenue than The 5 Elements Hotel. Compare to The 5 Elements Hotel in Klang Valley, Hotel
Continental has about 70% occupancy. Whereby The 5 Elements Hotel has only about 30% for their offpeak
season. Moreover, Hotel Continental is more competitive in Penang as there are many competitors in
Penang. However, Continental Hotel is able to survive and their business is getting better over years.
Furthermore, Hotel Continental provides more characteristics compare to The 5 Elements Hotel. Both of the
hotel cannot put the price as they want, because there are many competitors among them.

17

RECOMMENDATION
1)Do more marketing and advertising
Hotel Continental can do more advertising on the market and even social media sites. They can penetrate
the market with the platform such as “Trip Advisor”, “Hotel Finder” and so on to boost their existence. Also,
they can make a mutual agreement with Tourism company within Malaysia. For example, Continental Hotel
can do a partnership with Penang Tourism Government and make the hotel available in the tourism
guidebook. Continental Hotel can give out free parking for their touring bus and discount for the touring
company. This helps the hotels to have secure customers in a long run.

2) Provide better services and catering
Service is the emphasis in hotel industry. Continental Hotel can improvise their room services, ushering, and
front desk registration. If the customers are satisfied with their services, they will recommend the hotel to
their friends and come back to visit Continental Hotel in the future. Every customer is entitled to get a free
breakfast for staying in Continental Hotel, hence the food served must be clean, hygienic and tasty. This can
attract the customers to have and pay for their lunch and dinner at the same place. By doing this, Continental
Hotel can boost their extra revenue on lunch and dinner. Since most of the customers are not familiar with
Penang area, Continental Hotel can also provide tour guiding services for those who requested. In a short
run, people are more likely to visit Hotel Continental for their convenient tour guiding and indirectly make
revenue out of it.

3) Increase facilities
Hotel Continental can provide better facilities such as a gym, better air conditioners, more channels in their
television and so on. Moreover, they should provide free WiFi service in the room. Leisure travellers would
rather have a good connection to scroll through social media updates or keep in touch with family and friends
instead of other treats such as robes and slippers in the room or coffee or tea available in the hotel lobby
upon arrival. Modern travellers are hyper connected and cannot bear to be offline, while business travellers
need to be able to check their email and take online conference call. This can help them to give maximum
comfort to the customers.

18

4) Keep the environment clean and provide a better view.
The surrounding and building of Continental Hotel have to always keep clean and preserved. This can
increase people’s confidence in visiting Continental Hotel. It should not have rubbish around and the paint on
the building should always look new. Do a small renovation like replacing the wall with a transparent glass so
that the customers can enjoy the Penang’s view and the beach outside the hotel.

5) Provide more parking bays
Parking is always a problem in a hectic city like Penang. Customers will sometimes prefer to stay in
Continental Hotel for their sufficient parking bays. This provides convenience to the customers as well.
Having sufficient transports will also prevent traffic congestion around Continental Hotel, customers will not
park their cars everywhere and block the traffic around the area.

6) Cut down unnecessary workers and hire more professionals in hotel management
We realize that most of the workers in the hotel have no actual experience in managing hotel. If Continental
Hotel can remove some of those excess workers, they can cut down their cost. At the same time, they
should hire more people with hotel management degree who are professional in hotel management to run
the hotel. They can give a motivational talk or workshop to boost the speed, efficiency and productivity of the
existing workers as well. As a result, they can have a good record and reputation in customers’ eyes. After
all, reputation is a vital for a business.

19

B. The 5 Elements Hotel, Kuala Lumpur

1) Social media
The hospitality industry should be using social media to reach consumers. One of the most recent strategies
is locationbased marketing, in which to contact a consumer via a short message service (SMS) text. But this
text is only sent to potential customers who have entered a certain location. With hotels, they could
“geofence” airports or convention centers in your city to send a message to people, telling them of their
services. Apart from that, consumers nowadays shop much differently than they did in the past, they will
gather information from the internet before making a purchase. It also applies to hotel stays. Starting a
hospitality or travel blog can increase the quality content on their website, which drives the online presence
and improves their website search rank. If The 5 Elements Hotel ends up on the first page of search results,
people are more attracted to make a reservation. But stick with articles that are informative, as opposed to
promotional.

2) Reimbursement
The hotel can offer reimbursement for the fees that guests pay airlines for their checked bags. They can set
a limit on the number of bags and the timing of this offering to attract more guests. By attracts this
reimbursement more foreign tourist since they can get discount out of their luggage. This novel idea is
coming from Loews Hotels.

3) Promotion and offer more package deals
Some people are flexible with their travel schedule and might want to stay an extra night. If offer them 50%
off on the third night when they pay the regular rate for the first two nights, many will take the offer and this
will generate incremental revenue. Besides that, in order to attract guests to the hotel and increase their
occupancy, they can offer package deals. For example, a “girl’s weekend” package would include
complimentary wine, chocolates, a massage at the hotel or with a partnering practitioner and a gift basket
with spathemed toiletries. Hoteliers can price these packages slightly higher than normal rates, as the
complimentary items add value to the overall experience.

20

4) Make a few rooms pet friendly
Many travellers would love to take their pet along. So, petfriendly hotels are the best and attractive option for
families who want to avoid the stress and expenses of kenneling a dog or finding a babysitter. If the hotel
make it petfriendly, they are not only attracting different segment of traveller, but also charging them more
for the rooms.

5) Network with other nearby business
Networking with other area businesses that tend to attract travellers and tourists such as amusement parks,
museums and restaurants to increases revenue for the hotel and the business partner, and at the same time,
benefits the customer. A hotel could offer discounted tickets to local attractions that benefit current hotel
guests. Business can be driven to the hotel if the hotel offers a special rate for anyone who books a room
and shows a ticket or receipt from the hotel’s networking partner.

6) Add some entertainment
Give the guests a little something extra to look forward to with some free or inexpensive entertainment. For
example, they could have a local musician play his guitar out by the pool or have Bingo at 7:00 pm at the
lobby.

21

APPENDICES
i) Interview Question
1) When was the business founded?
     The business is founded on 29 November 1969

2) Who are the key founders?
     Key founders is Loh’s Family

3) What prompted/motivated the founders to start this business?
      I am not sure what was the motive of Loh’s family to start this business. I asked the top management,
they are also not sure about it. But the possibility is about the island.

4) What are the main products or services provided?
     Hospitality and the room service

5) Who are the customers? (e.g. Age group, incomelevel, educationlevel, etc.)
    Our major customers are from corporate businessmen and  private agent groups
   about 70% come from businessmen 20% from private agents and 10% from F.I.T

6) What is the business’ annual revenue figure?
    Gained about 9 mil last year

7)  What is the current estimated number of customers during peak season and offpeak season ?
            Nonpeak season around 60% to 70%. Peak season will be 99% or even 100% occupied.

8) How many branch offices/stores do you have?
          Actually we only have one branch. Actually among all the family members, they have a lot of hotels and
factories in China and other country. But in Penang is only one. Sometimes people think that we are merged
with other coordinator.

9) How many number of employees do you have for this business?
    We have about 79 employees including admins and top management. 50% of our employees are
foreigners and another 50% are local.

22

10) Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent developments?( accomplished
change in past 35 years )
         I’m not really sure about the history even my top manager is not really sure about how they founded the
hotel. The main propose why the hotel can stand for long is because of the strategic location.

11) Do you have many competitors? Who are they? Who are your top 3 competitors and what made them so
special when compare to this business?
       Our main competitors are Bayview Hotel, Cititel Hotel and Hotel Malaysia. We have given good services
to them and let them feel more valuable for this service (hospitality).

12) How big is your market share as well as your top competitors?
      Market share is small because 80% of hotels are located in Georgetown. We have roughly 200 to 300
hotels in Penang.

13) Is the business constantly facing strong competition from other competitors? What strategies have they
used to compete with you?
      Mainly is the facilities and the hospitality. Doing online service and WiFi service are provided in every
room. We got a swimming pool in our hotel which can counted as main factor of our strategies.

14) How much capital is required to start this business? Any specialized field of knowledge needed to run
this business?
      More than 5 mil because of the facilities and all the setups.

15) Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why? What obstacles they may face when
they enter to this market?
     In Penang, you can start a hotel business but there will be a risk because there are lot of competitor. New
businesses must be dare to take the challenge and  be smart. Before entering to this business, businesses
need to do more survey about the market to fulfill the needs.

16) How do you compete with your competitors i.e. what strategies do you employ to divert customers away
from your competitors in term of pricing, advertising, product variety and promotion?
     Provide good service to the customers. Facilities in the room, online promotion on our own website.

Youtube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wvmDOL7pe40

23

ii)Contact Details of Interviewee
Name: Mohd Fadzil
Position: Hotel Manager
Email: hm@hotelcontinental.com.my
Contact Number: 0164180183
Website: www.hotelcontinental.com.my
Facebook: www.facebook.com/hotelcontipg

ii) Accommodation and Facilities

Superior Room Deluxe Room
24


                           Super Deluxe Room                                                   Executive Suite

                                Coffee House                                                            Reception Counter

                          Swimming Pool                                                                 Lift Lobby
25


Decoration Indoor Water Fountain                                                  Hotel View

iii) Competitors

                               Cititel Hotel                                                          Bayview Hotel

                                                                           Hotel Malaysia
26

iv) Promotion Brochure

27


i) Interview Questions
1. When was the business founded?
Founded in 1973 but started a new management in 2008

2. Who are the key founders?
Malaysian Chinese businessman. Currently,Tan Sri Lim’s daughter is incharge of the business.

3. What prompted/motivated the founders to start this business?
Because of property management

4. What are the main products or services provided?
Hospitality services

5. Who are the customers? (E.g. Age group, incomelevel, education level, etc.)
Mostly are Malaysians (family). Also tourists from Singapore & Indonesia. Customers with middle income
(RM510K)

6. What is the business’ annual revenue figure?
Around RM 3 million (hotel only) . But last 4 months in 2015, the businesses experienced a bad drop.

7. What is the current estimated number of customers during peak season and offpeak season?
Peak season : 60% 70 %. (4000 people)
Offpeak season : can go as low as 30% (25003000 people)

8. How many branch offices/stores do you have (if applicable)?
1 branch only

9. How much number of employees do you have for this business?
30 workers (administrative, front desk, café, maintenance, housekeeping). Mostly are foreign workers with
permit.

10. Can you provide us a brief history of your business and its most recent developments? (Accomplished
change in past 35 years)
Changed to new management in 2008.
Started direct marketing
Modern way of marketing (online marketing40%) –Agoda
By agents (30%) –tourists from China & Indonesia
28


11. Do you have many competitors? Who are they? Who are your top 3 competitors and what made them so
special when compare to this business?
Many competitors.Top competitors are Geo Hotel, Swiss Hotel, Ancasa Hotel
Pricing, good services and rooms and also PR(human relations)

12. How big is your market share as well as your top competitors?
Quite equivalent: Everyone is having the same situation (40%  of capacity during the month)

13. Is the business constantly facing strong competition from others competitors? What strategies have they
used to compete with you?
Yes. Pricing, marketing strategy(online)
Other business got 60% from online bookings while The 5 Elements Hotel has only 30%.

14. How much capital is required to start this business? What, if any, specialized field of knowledge do you
need to run this business?
Buildings only: RM100 million
Land: RM150200 million
To renovate, cost around 2030 million

15. Generally, do you feel it is easy or hard to enter this market? Why? What obstacles they may face when
they enter to this market?
Very hard as there are around  200 hotels (competitors) around Chinatown
Less tourists coming to Malaysia, demand drops so bad. Especially last year around 15K(Europe economy,
Sabah, MH). Tourists in Thailand and Bali are also dropping.
Market small (suppliers more, demand less)

16. How do you compete with your competitors i.e. what strategies do you employ to divert customers away
from your competitors in term of pricing, advertising, product variety and promotion? How successful do the
business are?
Promotion through online such as buy 3 free 1 night,  flexible date (e.g: in June)

17. Are your pricing decisions strongly affected by your competitors? Why or why not?
Yes. Very strong because there are  too many competitors.

Youtube Link : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zQLpEdJ89o

29


ii) Contact Details of Interviewee
Name: Frankie Ng
Position: Hotel Manager
Email: frankie@the5elementshotel.com.my
Contact Number: 0127169280
Website: www.the5elementshotel.com.my
Facebook: www.facebook.com/the5elementskl

iii) Accommodation and Facilities

Standard single Superior twin
30


                             Deluxe Queen                                                                    Metal Suite

                           Earth Suite                                                                           Water Suite

                            Fire suite                                                                             Wood Suite
31


                            Entrance                                                                   Reception Counter

                                Waiting Area                                                                    Lift Lobby

                                Restaurant                                 Decoration Indoor Water Fountain
32


Decorations inside the hotel area Hotel View

33

iv) Competitors

Swiss Inn Kuala Lumpur Geo Hotel

Ancasa Hotel

34

MINUTES OF MEETING 1
DATE: 28/4/2015
TIME: 5PM
VENUE: LIBRARY
NAME TUTORIAL GROUP ROLE
LAU MAO HUA Wednesday 8am10am Report compilation
WONG QIN KAI Wednesday 8am10am Video editing
LIM TING LE Wednesday 8am10am Video editing
LEE JIA KIAM Wednesday 8am10am Report Writing
NABILA HANIM BINTI SALLEH@MAN Thursday 8am10am Interview
NADHIRAH BINTI MOHD ZAIN Wednesday 8am10am Report Writing
NUR AZREEN BINTI SAMIU Thursday 8am10am Interview
CHIN KHANG WEI Wednesday 8am10am Recommendation
No. ACTIVITY ACTION TAKEN BY
1) Contacting interviewee and get approval from Hotel Continental
(Penang)
Nabila, Nadhirah
2) Conducting interview session Lau Mao Hua, Nabila
3) Video recording during the interview in Penang on 1/5/2015 Wong Qin Kai, Lim Ting Le
4) Person incharge for report compilation and monitoring of the progress Lau Mao Hua
5) Video editing & Interview notes (Penang) Lim Ting Le
6) Photo shooting for the business Lee Jia Kiam
35

DATE: 11/5/2015
TIME: 2PM
VENUE: LIBRARY
1) Looking for business that suitable for research in Klang Valley and
make appointment
Lau Mao Hua
2) Report writing (Penang) Nur Azreen, Lee Jia Kiam,Lau
Mao Hua
3) Recommendation of Hotel Continental ALL members
4) Video editing done   Lim Ting Le
DATE: 19/5/2015
TIME: 1:30PM
VENUE: LIBRARY
1) Contacting The 5 Elements Hotel and make appointment for interview Nadhirah, Nabila
2) Conducting interview session Nur Azreen
3) Video shooting during interview Wong Qin Kai, Lim Ting Le
4) Video editing Wong Qin Kai
5) Recommendation for The 5 Elements Hotel   Chin Khang Wei
6) Report writing ALL members
36

DATE: 28/5/2015
TIME: 2:00PM
VENUE: LIBRARY
1) Preparing video for presentation Wong Qin Kai
2) Introduction to Hotel Industry Chin Khang Wei, Lau Mao Hua
3) Presentation slide preparation Nur Azreen, Nabila Hanim
4) Report & slide printing Nadhirah
5) Similarity & differences of business Lee Jia Kiam
6) CD burning Lau Mao Hua
7) Final report writing & checking Lim Ting Le
DATE: 3/6/2015
TIME: 10:00AM
VENUE: LIBRARY
No. ACTIVITY Presentation Roles ACTION TAKEN BY
1) Introduction Lee Jia Kiam
2) Brief Bios of the business Lau Mao Hua
3) Comparative Analysis Lim Ting Le, Nabila
4) Recommendation Chin Khang Wei,Nur Azreen
5) Similarity & differences of business Wong Qin Kai, Nadhirah
37

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Agoda.com: Smarter Hotel Booking. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2015, from http://www.agoda.com/

    Be my guest. (2013, December 21). Retrieved June 2, 2015, from
http://www.economist.com/news/christmasspecials/21591743bemyguest

   Hospitality Net Hotels | A Brief History By Jacques LevyBonvin. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2015, from
http://www.hospitalitynet.org/news/4017990.html

    Hotel Industry Overview Complete Version. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2015, from
http://www.irs.gov/Businesses/HotelIndustryOverviewCompleteVersion#3

    Three Categories of the Hospitality Industry. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2015, from
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/threecategorieshospitalityindustry58524.html

38

REFERENCES
AnCasa Hotel and Spa. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2015, from http://www.ancasahotelkualalumpur.com/

Bayview Hotel Georgetown, Penang. (n.d.). Retrieved May 22, 2015, from
http://www.bayviewhotels.com/georgetown/index.aspx?page=home

    Cititel Penang. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2015, from http://www.cititelpenang.com/defaulten.html

    Frank, R., & Bernanke, B. (2013). Principles of economics (5th ed.). New York, NY: McGrawHill/Irwin.

    Geo Hotel Kuala Lumpur. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2015, from http://www.geohotelkl.com/

    History of the hospitality industry. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2015, from
http://www.slideshare.net/27101985/historyofthehospitalityindustry

    Hotel Continental | Penang, Malaysia. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2015, from
http://www.hotelcontinental.com.my

    Hotel Industry in Malaysia. (n.d.). Retrieved June 2, 2015, from
http://www.regit.com/malaysia/industry/industry.htm

    Hotel Malaysia Penang. (n.d.). Retrieved May 22, 2015, from http://www.hotelmalaysia.com.my/

    Puri, M., & Chand, G. (2009). Tourism and hotel industry. [electronic resource]. Chandni Chowk, Delhi :
Global Media, 2009.

    SwissInn Kuala Lumpur. (n.d.). Retrieved May 21, 2015, from http://www.swissgarden.com/hotels/sikl/

    The 5 Elements Hotel KL. (n.d.). Retrieved May 22, 2015, from http://www.the5elementshotel.com.my
39

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