Bangladesh's Growing Hospitality Industry

Introduction
The hospitality industry is experiencing a boom across the world. Bangladesh is not an
exception. A plethora of new hotels have opened in Dhaka, Chittagong, and other important
places. The Five star hotel industry is also rising vary first as new five star brands known
worldwide are showing interest in the up coming hotel industry. Four five star brands are
operating in the country and some others are about to come within next few years. The
competition is very hard and going to be extremely intensive. Dhaka Sheraton has been
operating in the city since 1985, Pan Pacific Sonargaon has celebrated its 26th
anniversary in
the year 2007, Radisson Water Garden Hotel has started its journey in 2006. The newest five
star hotel is “The Westin” which has started operation form 2007. Thus the first five star
hotel Dhaka Sheraton lost its leading position as well the monopoly business. More new
hotels are about to come. In the year 2007 global tourism increases by higher than expected.
According to the UNWTO World Tourism Barometer, from January to April 2007
international tourist arrivals worldwide rose by over 6%. The Asia & pacific region achieved
the highest growth which is 9%.1
Responding to the huge growth, many hotels are to be
opened in the region. From a review the estimation revealed is, 18 new hotels will be opened
in 2008, 24 in 2009 and 35 in 2010. It is very clear that the competition is getting harder. To
deal with the completion and to be in the leading position, the hotels must try to give their
best services to the guests. Now Radisson Water Garden Hotel is the market leader & doing
an excellent job.
According to sources, every year 5,000 foreign tourists visit Bangladesh who spend $1,000
each during their visit while around 0.2 million foreigners come to Bangladesh for business
or other purposes. The number of business travelers is eyeing a double-digit growth.2
As
tour operators are now quite organized with many of them having their own hotels,
restaurants, ships and buses to provide quality services to the travelers, the travel industry is
now growing by around 30 percent a year, according to Tour Operators Association of
Bangladesh (TOAB).3
In this report the performance of Dhaka Sheraton is evaluated in
comparison with the other five star hotels in Bangladesh. The present position of the hotel is
revealed by analyzing the RevPar, occupancy rate, revenue and the ADR.
1
‘The Bangladesh Monitor’, Volume XVII, Issue no 2, September 1-15, 2007. Page 1
2
http://www.skyscrapercity.com, page 15
3
http://www.skyscrapercity.com, page 13
1

Statement of Problem:
The problem is to determine the present situation of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel in the highly
competitive market in comparison with the other five star hotels operation in the
market. To mull over on this matter the following sub problems came into focus:
a) Setting some certain parameters.
b) Knowing and understanding the facts that affects the hotel business.
c) Comparing among the five star hotels operating in the industry.
Scope of the Study
This internship report covers the activities performed by the Sales and Marketing
Department of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel such as dealing with customers, maintaining
relationship with customers, making phone calls and answering the quarries, arranging
functions of various types, arranging marketing & promotional activities etc. Besides this,
the report will help in finding problems in the total service process and will provide some
suggestions for possible solutions for Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.
2

Objective of the Study
The precise objectives of the internship report are highlighted as follows:
• To draw a vivid picture of the present state of Dhaka Sheraton by analyzing their
synchronous condition in the current perspective
• To represent the trend of five star hotel industry in Bangladesh.
• To cover an extensive analysis of the activities of the hotels indicating the steps
taken to improve the quality of services to stay in the competition.
• To study the various services, foods and other unique facilities offered by the
Hotel to its customers.
• To show the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of Dhaka Sheraton
Hotel.
• To determine the current position of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel in the competitive
market.
Methodology of the Study
Hospitality Industry is one of the most dynamic, profitable and challenging industries in
Bangladesh. In this report I have tried to sketch a vivid picture of the leading five star hotels
of Bangladesh on the basis of their overall performance. The current trend of the hotels is to
build up the Brand Image apart from others. For tailoring this paper, data has been collected
mainly from Dhaka Sheraton. To fabricate the report both primary and secondary data is
used. Primary data are collected from the hotel authority. The primary sources consist
mainly of personal observation and records during the attachment period and secondary data
are collected from hotel’s publications, newspapers, journals, Sheraton’s quarterly magazine
etc. Interviews with the corresponding personnel of various departments helped to
conceptualize various important matters. The area under consideration is the five star hotel
industry as well as the overall hotel industry in Bangladesh. The data are collected by direct
3

conversation with the hotel authority. Data about the other competitor hotels were collected
from the same hotel as the hotels used to share their position after every operating day. The
accumulated data are scrutinized and processed through various relevant statistical methods.
The data are analyzed and presented through several graphs and comparisons are made
among the hotels. The deviation in quality & performance and the reasons behind the
deviations are determined. On the basis of the analysis of the internal strength and weakness
with consideration of the external threat and opportunities, some suggestions are made to
improve the company’s overall performance.
Limitations:
 The competitor hotels did not provide any sort of information.
 The comparisons are made only on the basis of room revenue, because information
about the banquet revenue is highly confidential.
 One major limitation was the time constraint.
 Some essential data could not be gathered because of confidentiality concerns.
 Lack of information about the competitor’s strategies.
4

2.1 Hospitality Industry
Hospitality refers to the relationship process between a guest and a host, and it also refers to
the act or practice of being hospitable, that is, the reception and entertainment of guests,
visitors, or strangers, with liberality and goodwill.
Hospitality industry is a huge term. It does not only include hotels but restaurants and others.
It is entwined in our daily life-grabbing a sandwich for lunch, stopping off for a coffee or
drinks with friends, staying at a hotel, going to the cinema or theatre, school meals, eating at
a canteen in work, catching a bus, motor-way service stations and the list goes on and on.
For an in depth understanding of the term of hospitality, the starting point is the etymology
of the word itself. The word hospitality derives from the Latin hospes, which is formed from
hostis, which originally meant a 'stranger' and came to take on the meaning of the enemy or
'hostile stranger' (hostilis) + pets (polis, poles, potentia) to have power. Furthermore, the
word hostire means equilize/compensate.1
In Bangladesh hospitality mainly refers to the hotel industry. A hotel is an establishment
that provides paid lodging, usually on a short-term basis. Hotels often provide a number of
additional guest services such as a restaurant, a swimming pool or childcare. Hotels have
conference services and meeting rooms and encourage groups to hold convention and
Meetings at their location.
The word hotel derives from the French hotel, which referred to a French version of a
townhouse or any other building seeing frequent visitors, not a place offering
accommodation.
The hospitality sector is experiencing a boost due to higher levels of disposable income and
leisure time and the falling cost of air travel. The hospitality industry is more focused on
those factors that they have control over and the vast majority of hospitality providers also
report aiming to boost profitability through customer loyalty.
1
http://www.hotelmanagement-network.com/industry/
5

According to a survey performed by UNWTO, among 1000 people more than 50 percent of
the respondents cited a hotel brand’s ‘global presence’ as a contributing factor when
selecting a hotel loyalty or frequent guest program.2
A hotel’s major portion of the revenue comes from room business which is their main
purpose. Revenue from food and beverages is almost as high as that from accommodation.
Hoteliers can generate additional revenue when visitors spend money in their restaurant, spa
or bar, and this has enabled hotels to offer special rates or promotions to fill nights that
typically generate lower occupancy rates.
However, competing on price alone is increasingly difficult and many hospitality businesses
are now attempting to sell the 'experience' in a bid to attract both new and repeat business. A
reported seven out of ten hotels and restaurants were keen to be seen as innovative and
stylish. The industry's heritage was built on efficient service, but innovation, style and
offering a premium experience are increasingly important brand drivers. Hotels once aspired
to be as comfortable as someone's home. Now guests are looking to make their homes as
stylish as the hotels they stay in, which is a reflection on how successful the industry has
been in creating outstanding experiences.
San Amalan, General Manager of Westin Dhaka said that the economy of Bangladesh is
growing with people having more purchasing power. “Looking at the economy of
Bangladesh, it can be said that it will get better and better,” he said and added that there is
indeed need for top quality hotel in Bangladesh.” With the growth of hospitality industry
and increase in the availability of quality hotel accommodation, tourism sector is also
expected improve. Amalan expressed the hope while talking to The Bangladesh Monitor
about the opening of the Westin Dhaka.3
An approximate picture of the present situation is that the average growth of arrivals to
Bangladesh at 15 per cent (the average growth in 2003 and 2004) needed an increase of
more than 3500 rooms every year. China has registered 43 per cent growth in tourism. If
only one per cent decide to visit Bangladesh (granted Approved Destination Status by
China), Dhaka will need 10 more hotels.4
2
‘The Bangladesh Monitor’, Volume XVII, Issue no 2, September 1-15, 2007. Page 1
3
‘The Bangladesh Monitor’, Volume XVI, Issue no 20, June 1-15, 2007. Page 12
4
http://colorsofbangladesh.com/index.php
6

2.2 Hotel Markets and some useful terms
In order to understand the Hotel market and the position of the hotel in the industry some
terms are used. These terms explain the hotel markets and explicate the hotel’s position in
the competition. The terms are:
• Market Share
• Market Penetration
• RevPar
• ADR (Average Daily Room rate)
2.2.1 Market Share
Market Share is the number of rooms in a hotel as percentage of the rooms in the hotel’s
competitive market set. Market set is the total number of rooms the hotel is in direct
competition with within its area’s market or segment.
For example, assume that a ‘hotel A’ is a full service hotel with 500 rooms. Its market
set includes other full service hotels. The market set would not include high end hotel or
low end hotels of the market segment of limited service.
Thus, if the market set of ‘hotel A’ has 2000 rooms, the market share of ‘hotel A’ is
calculated by dividing the Total rooms of ‘hotel A’ (500) by the total market set (2000)
which is 25%.
The market share changes when any one leaves the market or a new one enters the
markets. Generally, he larger the market share, the better player the hotel is in the
market.
2.2.2 Market Penetration
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Market penetration is the percentage of demand for rooms actually accruing to a hotel. It
is calculated as the ratio between the total rooms occupied in a hotel against the total
rooms occupies collectively attributed to the hotel’s Market set. Market penetrations
calculated by dividing the number of actually occupied rooms divided by the number of
rooms to be occupied in the fair market.
2.2.3 RevPar
RevPar stands for ‘revenue par available room’. It is one of the most important
performance metric in the hotel industry. RevPar is typically calculated by multiplying
the hotel’s average daily room rate (ADR) by its occupancy rate. It may also be
calculated by dividing the hotel’s total guest rooms revenue by the guest room count and
the number of days in the period being measured. RevPar is the revenue of a hotel only
from rooms. It does not take into account revenue from other hotel services such as
restaurants, tennis courts, bar and other services. While calculating the RevPar the
complementary rooms are also taken into account.
For example, suppose ‘Hotel A’ has 400 rooms of three types of rooms such as X, Y, Z
and the rents are $200, $400 & $600 respectively. During a period of time the hotel sold
200, 100 & 50 rooms respectively of X, Y & Z type. So the calculation of RevPar is
Table 1: Calculation of RevPar
Room type Room rate No. of rooms sold Room revenue
X $ 200 200 $ 40000
Y $ 400 100 $ 40000
Z $ 600 50 $ 30000
Total rooms sold 350 $ 110000
So the RevPar of the hotel for that particular period is ($ 110000 / 400 rooms)
= $ 275
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2.2.3 ADR
ADR stands for ‘Average Daily room Rate’. It is considered as a hotel’s base
measurement of success. ADR is calculated by dividing total rooms revenue by total
occupied rooms. If the previous example is considered, the ADR will be $ 314
( $110000/ 350 rooms).
These four terms are the indicators about a hotel’s performance. The ADR, RevPar
reveals the position of a hotel in the industry. Usually Hotel’s are ranked within an
industry according to its position of RevPar.
2.3 Porter’s Competitive Forces Model:
According to Michael Porter a firm faces a number of external threats & opportunities.
These are:
a) The threat of new entrants into its market
b) The pressure from substitute products or services
c) The bargaining power of customers
d) The bargaining power of suppliers
e) The positioning of industry competitors.
He developed a model which is known as competitive forces model 5
(Michael Porter,
1985). According to the model competitive advantage can be achieved by enhancing the
firm’s ability to deal with customers, suppliers, substitute products & services, and new
entrants to its market.
This model is used to describe the interactions of external influences specifically threats and
opportunities that affect an organization’s strategy and ability to compete.
5
Laudon Kenneth C. ‘Management Information Systems’ 8th
edition
9

3.1 Background
Sheraton is world’s largest chain hotel. The origins of Sheraton date back to 1937. The
founders, Ernest Henderson and Robert Moore, acquired their first hotel in Springfield,
Massachusetts and the company started its journey. Within two years, they purchased three
hotels in Boston. One of the hotels was “Sheraton”. The rooftop sign of the hotel was so nice
that Mr. Ernest Henderson and Mr. Robert Moore decided to keep that sign as trademark and
from then the name ‘Sheraton’ formally born. Soon the founders expanded their holdings to
include properties from Maine to Florida. At the end of its first decade, Sheraton had proven
so popular and had become a relied-upon brand to be the first hotel chain to be listed on the
New York Stock Exchange.
Sheraton expanded internationally in 1949 with the purchase of two Canadian hotel chains
and grew rapidly around the world. In 1960s the first Sheraton hotels in Latin America and
the Middle East was established and, by 1965, the 100th Sheraton opened its doors. Sheraton
reached a milestone in 1985 as the first international hotel chain to operate a hotel in the
People's Republic of China. International Telephone & Telegraph (ITT) of New York,
America, formally owned Sheraton. In 1998 Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.
bought Sheraton from ITT and since then Sheraton has been the largest brand owned by the
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.
Presently there are more than 450 Sheraton Hotels in the world. Sheraton operates its
business managed by five divisions of Sheraton Hotel Corporation all over the world having
its head office in Boston, America.
3.2 Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. is one of the leading hotel & leisure companies
in the world with approximately more than 860 properties in more than 95 countries at its
owned & managed properties. Starwood hotels are a fully integrated owner, operator &
franchiser of hotels and resorts with ten internationally renowned brands. Starwood's brands
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include Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, Four Points by Sheraton Hotels, St. Regis Hotels &
Resorts, The Luxury Collection, Le Méridien, W Hotels, elements, Aloft, bliss and Westin
Hotels & Resorts. Starwood Hotels also own Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the
premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts.
3.3 Dhaka Sheraton Hotel:
The main building of the Hotel was constructed by Pakistan Services Limited in 1966.
From then, till 1984 the Hotel was managed by Hotel Intercontinental. After the
independence Bangladesh Services Limited (BSL), a government body took over the
ownership. Since 1985 Starwood has been managing the hotel with its brand Sheraton.
Dhaka Sheraton Hotel is the first global branded Five Star hotel in Dhaka. For many years it
has been recognized as a quality venue for business and leisure travelers as well as a great
meeting place for local people having a world class standard with devotion to guest
satisfaction.
3.4 The core values of Sheraton
The core values of Sheraton are being Warm, comforting and making connections.
Warm
Traveling sometimes feels cold and impersonal but arriving at Sheraton makes it warm. The
Sheraton members make one to feel welcome, because they know how to listen and they
care. Guests matter.
Comforting
Sheraton gives the guests the opportunity to be themselves. Arriving at Sheraton makes
one not only see but also feel the comfort all around the world. The Sheraton members greet
and immediately make the guests feel at ease.
Connection
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Sheraton helps guests connect to what matters most to them. The members connect with the
guests as a person, so they fell welcome- like they belong here. Sheraton helps guests to stay
in touch with what’s important to them so they can feel in control- not anxious or absent.
Sheraton makes the guests to feel human again.
The business of Sheraton is no longer about selling rooms and their features but more about
selling experiences, memories, lifestyle and a brand, with people and service culture.
Hospitality is all about love, care, warmth and empathy- the more the better. It’s not just
about providing good food, drinks and a nice room. It includes understanding the needs of
the guests. At Sheraton the guests feel special because they understands the guests needs,
wants, expectations and emotions. Every guests of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel feel a warm and
welcoming connection and a sense of comfort and belonging.
3.5 Overview of the Hotel:
Standing majestically in the city’s most prestigious location, lush surrounding of the city’s
premier park Ramna, Dhaka Sheraton Hotel distinguishes itself as the pre-eminent place to
stay in Dhaka. Dhaka Sheraton is a chain hotel of world famous Starwood Hotels and
Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSC:HOT), which has more than 860 hotels and resorts
worldwide. Only 16 Kilometer from the international airport in Dhaka, the location of hotel
is one of the best places from where to explore the city’s main business districts. The main
Business location is only 3 km away. The location is becoming more convenient as many
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A stay with Dhaka Sheraton
is an “Experience” – an
experience that is
Adventurous, Happening,
Soul-jogging, Spirit lifting……
S
H
E
R
A
T
O
N

new shopping centers and departmental stores are being developed in close vicinity of the
hotel.
The Lobby /Entrance
The difference of the amazing works of artistic treasures can be felt at the moment of
entering the graceful lobby. At the very first step, the enormous chandelier (which has a
historical significant) at the entrance greets the guests with its rich heritage. The “WOW”
factor greets guests on arrival! From the moment guests steps inside the doors they cannot
help but be impressed by the modern, elegant ambiance of the surroundings. The atrium
style lobby features two glass encased panoramic lifts to the new Executive Rooms and a
beautiful glittering chandelier hanging from a very exciting and freshly colored glass dome
above. This new architectural look is a sign of modern décor interspersed with some
traditional flavor.
The hotel lobby also provides an artistic whose work of arts provides connoisseur a food for
thought and the helpless children of Bangladesh a reason for existence. The proceeds from
the painting are given to UNICEF’s Save the Children Fund. A café is attached with the
lobby to meet the needs of the guests. The Hotel lobby has a Tourist Info touch screen
Kiosk. This Kiosk 24 hour e-lobby provides information support to the guests of Dhaka
Sheraton Hotel.
3.6 Guest Rooms and Amenities:
The Hotel has different categories of rooms to cater to the requirements of the guests.
Having 272 rooms Dhaka Sheraton Hotel has categorized different type of floors & rooms
for different segment as like as Executive Club Floor, Starwood Preferred Guest Floor,
smoking & non-smoking room, junior suite, executive suite, deluxe suite, presidential suite
etc. The rooms are exquisitely appointed to meet the needs and tastes of guests. The
different categories of rooms of the Hotel are as follows:
The Executive Club Floor’ of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel offers distinguished service in and
ambience of refined sophistication plus a host of amenities. It gives the experience of a
unique ‘hotel within the hotel’. Executive Club Floor Rooms are situated at the West Wing
on the 5th
, 6th
& 7th
floors. The Club Floor Lounge on the 7th offer unparalleled luxury with
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an inviting, intimate atmosphere where the dedicated attendants take care of guests’ needs.
The private lounge has been designed with only one purpose in mind to offer guests
luxurious oasis of peace and relaxation.
Table 2: Room Category
Room Category No. of Rooms
Presidential Suite 7
Star Suite 5
Executive Suite 7
Junior Suite 15
Executive club floor 28
Premium Deluxe Room 20
Deluxe Room 190
Total 272
7 5 7
15
28
20
190
Presidential Suite
Star Suite
Executive Suite
Junior Suite
Executive club
floor
Premium Deluxe
Room
Deluxe Room
Fig: 1: Different types of rooms.
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In the Executive Club Floor the facilities that one can take for granted are
 complementary continental breakfast,
 complementary tea/coffee with assorted cookies,
 complementary snacks during the lunch time,
 complementary laundry and shoe shine,
 late check-out till 4.00 PM, deluxe fruit basket,
 complementary in-room tea/coffee making facilities,
 In-room safety
 A variety of international & local newspapers and magazines
 Complimentary local calls & Facsimile services
 E-mail & Internet facilities etc. The Club Floor has an exclusive executive lounge for
all the business needs. It offers the best.
Dhaka Sheraton Hotel has introduced Specialty Floors on the 10th
& 11th
Floors of its East
Wing. It’s the first of its kind in Bangladesh. A relaxing Specialty Lounge is opened in
March 2007 on the 11th
floor for all of the Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) members. It
provides excellent value for membership with a comfortable lounge, wireless access, LAN
Connection, TV, bottomless tea coffee and cookies throughout the day and a 20% discount
on the Business Center. It also offers a happy hour where all drinks are available at 50% off
normal price.
The rooms of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel features a host of amenities, which include
International Direct Dialing (IDD) phone, in-room safe, in-room tea/coffee making facilities,
Mini Bar, fresh fruits, imported mineral water, television with remote control, satellite
channels which include 27 local & international channels, complementary daily news paper,
writing desk, hair dryers, laundry & dry cleaning facilities, electronic safety deposit box,
internet connection, bathrobes and slippers, iron and ironing board, non-smoking floors etc.
15

The hotel was the first in the country to introduce the most modern technology of room
locking system the electronic card system in every guest room. All the time there is a
medical service for the guests. All the rooms of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel are equipped with
smoke detectors and automatic fire sprinkler system. The supplied water is pathologically
proven and free from all sorts of bacteria and arsenic.
Other facilities of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel also includes a new below ground car-parking
facility for 120 vehicles, a new central air-conditioning system, and modern state of the art
telephone system complete with voice mail, automatic wake up call and direct touch dialing
to departments throughout the hotel.
3.7 Dining & Entertainment facilities:
Dhaka Sheraton Hotel has a wide range of dining experiences along with some fabulous
dining venues.
Restaurants
Dhaka Sheraton Hotel boats with its haute cuisine. A Dinner or Lunch is always special and
when it happens at Sheraton, it becomes simply superb. Traditionally Sheraton has a rich
culture of serving delicious food items at its various restaurants. Sheraton’s rich taste is
reflected in the mixture of the ingredients and special blends of spices that is used to make
the savory dishes burst with flavors. The hotels renowned Chefs, for their repertoire of the
innovation cuisines are very popular in the town. The range of available and eaten at
Sheraton is really diverse. One can eat high-quality specialty food from around the world at
Dhaka Sheraton. Sheraton has the following restaurants to satisfy the guests.
The Vintage Restaurant
The Vintage Restaurant of Dhaka Sheraton is a Premiere Prestige Restaurant with three
course of meal. It is renowned for its pomp and grandeur and its reputation of being the most
sophisticated restaurant to dine. The Vintage Restaurant offers a semi-formal dining
experience, serves a selection of imported beef, game, poultry and seafood with quality
wines to compliment. It has an aura of the past. The interior has all the features that remind
guests of the antique laced past. The menu of the Vintage is carefully crafted with all the
16

best possible edibles from this and the other side of the continent, with all the meat being
imported. The Vintage Restaurant is a reflection of the golden days of the past. As one steps
inside one gets a feeling of stepping into the past which has come alive from the pages of
history. The warmth and ambience makes it the finest restaurant of the capital.
Bithika Restaurant
The hotel’s Bithika Restaurant serves Bangladeshi and International a la crate breakfast,
lunch and dinner as well as daily sumptuous theme buffet. It is the first choice of the guests
because of its quality food of a large variety. It remains open from 6.00 AM to 11.00 PM
everyday.
Lobby Café
Annoying having a sweet-tooth will find it impossible to resist the desserts and the
confectionaries at the lobby café of the hotel. The lobby café serves to every one from 6.00
AM to 10.00 PM every day.
Italia Bar and Bistro
Italia Bar and Bistro is a touch of Italy in Dhaka and an informal Italian dining experience. It
offers delicious Italian cuisines as pizza, pastas, salads and desserts. Italia server’s delicious
foods with Italian specialties. This Italian style pool café is the place where one can gaze at
the turquoise outdoor swimming pool of Sheraton and the adjacent picturesque settings and
simultaneously Italian delicacy like pizza and pasta. Overlooking the famous evergreen
Ramna Garden, the restaurant is positioned for easy access for everyone.
The Bar
The bar is the place where guests can get world class Alcoholic and Non-alcoholic drinks as
well as the foods. Accompanied by big-screen television and lively music one can have a
time of imagination under the wooden finished ceiling. Live entertainment is now the
biggest charm of the Bar. An exciting Filipino Band namely ‘ Musique Sense’ entertains the
guests live by playing separate stints and popular contemporary music.
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DUNHILL Cigar Lounge
Designed by DUNHILL, the DUNHILL Cigar Lounge is the first of its kind in Bangladesh
and offers a wide variety of premium DUNHILL cigars for the enjoyment of the guests. It is
the subtle mix of luxury and tangible comfort.
The Lounge includes a bar, offers Italian Coffee, snacks, Internet and features a wide plasma
TV Screen for entertainment. The Filipino band also plays music filled with popular ballads,
jazz and blues. Recently an exciting ‘Indian Classical and Gazal Evening’ has been
introduced. These entertainers perform for a limited session three days a week. They present
a combination of Indian Classical and Gazals.
Balaka Restaurant & Bar
“Balaka” the Sheraton lounge in the third floor of the Zia International Airport in Dhaka
offers dining, tea, coffee, snacks, soft drinks and shower facilities. The lounge also has e-
mail and Internet facilities. It offers services to the departing passengers.
3.8 Meeting & Event Facilities
Dhaka Sheraton Hotel is the ideal venue for national and international meetings, incentives,
conferences, exhibitions and social events. Sheraton has a range of conference, exhibition
and banquet facilities from small meeting to international seminars or private dinner to
lavish wedding. Sheraton has 11function rooms to choose from and with these
multifunctional venues Sheraton is the event hotel of choice in the city. The hotel continues
to strengthen its position in the MICE (Meeting, Incentives, Conferences & Exhibitions)
market with many high profile events occurring in the hotel.
Dhaka Sheraton is the largest and the most conveniently located meeting facility in the city
and is the ideal central location for conducting business. With combined exhibition
capabilities and meeting facilities Dhaka Sheraton can host almost all types of conventions,
meetings or events. Each year Sheraton hosts thousands of meetings, conventions, trade
shows and entertainment events. The rooms are equipped with motorized screens to support
audiovisual facilities with an in house audio video management team. Videoconference
facilities are new addition to modernize the meeting facilities.
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Some necessary electronic equipments are also available to make the meetings a success.
The equipments are available on rent which includes Cordless microphone, Lapel
microphone, Tape recorder, CD & DVD Player, Overhead projector, Slide projector and
LCD projector with screen, Screen only for projection and other facilities essential for
holding a meeting, conference or a wedding ceremony.
Winter Garden
Dhaka Sheraton Hotel has Winter Garden the largest room of 9600 SFT – multi purpose
function facilities. Winter Garden offers conference, exhibition and banquet facilities from
meeting to international seminars, dinners to memorable & lavish weddings.
The winter garden can accommodate 1200 people at a time of conference and 600 persons at
time for banquets. It is painstakingly designed with electronic smoke doctor, automatic
sprinkler system, audio-visual system, computer plug ins, imported adjustable stage, VIP
lounge and rest rooms, imported dance floors and special lighting.
Grand Ballroom
The Dhaka Sheraton’s Ball Room is an ideal meeting and convention venue with its grand
3800 SFt of meeting and function space, where 400 people can be accommodate for
conference and 250 persons for banquets. In addition, to facilitate the events there is a foyer
of 1190 SFt. in front of the ballroom. The room is equipped with modern event facilities.
Top of the Park
Overlooking the famous evergreen Ramna Garden, Top of the Park is located at 11th Floor
of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel. The venue is ideal for small meeting, international seminar for
upto 50 persons as conference style and upto 40 persons for dining. Top of the Park is
equipped with modern meting facilities.
Table 3: Meeting rooms & their capacity
Capacity under different seating arrangements
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Rooms Theatre Classroom U shape Cocktail Banquet
Winter Garden 1000 380 80 700 500
Ballroom 400 150 60 300 240
Marble Room 120 100 40 150 70
Top of the Park 45 28 24 30 25
Chameli 54 40 35 70 50
Bakul 106 75 40 80 60
Palash 54 40 35 70 50
Shimul 54 40 35 70 50
Dalia 22
The Business Center
An ideal meeting place for a small group. The Business center of the hotel provides a range
of secretarial services including typing, printing, facsimile, photocopying, scanning, e-mail,
web browsing and spiral binding etc.
Recreation Facilities
To expose the hotel guests to a host of recreation facilities, the hotel offers swimming,
tennis, squash, and a modern gym where an invigorating workout can be a rewarding
experience. The guests can walk into their own spa, revitalizing sauna, steam and Jacuzzi.
Guest Receiving Counter at Air-port
The Sheraton’s guest-receiving counter is situated at the arrival hall at the airport where the
guest can ask for assistance to take them to Sheraton hotel.
Other Facilities at Sheraton
20

At the end of lobby shopping facilities is located. Where CD, Photoshop, handicrafts shop,
jeweler and arts are available. At the third floor of the main building a new massage facility
available for all the guests which is known as SPA. In the extension building a number of
airline office, multinational office, UNO office, commercial banks, money exchange and
Dhaka Sheraton Hotel Laundry shop are located. Just beside the main entrance there is a
desk for guide tour they can facilitate guided tour for the guest.
3.9 Guest Programs:
Sheraton has built the industry’s leading frequent guest programs around big IDEA.
 Instant rewards & no blackout dates.
 Destinations wherever you go
 Everything you need for an enjoyable stay.
 Always consistent service and value.
Such programs are Starwood Privilege & Starwood Preferred Guest.
Starwood Privilege
Starwood Privilege members enjoy a host of dining and accommodation benefits for even
the most discerning lifestyle. This is a program that recognizes the guest’s appreciation of
the finer things in life. As a Starwood privilege member, one can explore a world of
fascinating diversity and contrast and enjoy a tremendous array of rewards at the fingertips.
These include exceptional accommodation and dining privileges plus a virtually limitless
variety of notable hotels in which to enjoy them. Some of the benefits and privileges a guest
will receive are as follows:
 Complementary night stay at Dhaka Sheraton hotel
 Room discounts vouchers.
 Complimentary room upgrades
21

 50% or 60% off Rack rates
 Late checkouts
 Group dining vouchers offering
 10% off lowest retail rates and the Preferred rates in 80 participating proprieties in
Asia Pacific and 13 fabulous properties in Australia, Fiji & Vanuatu.
 Unlimited dining discount in over 300 restaurants in Asia Pacific.
 Transferable guest memberships.
Starwood Preferred Guest Programme
Dhaka Sheraton Hotel is a member of Starwood Preferred Guest Program – the industries
leading frequent guest program built around the idea of – instant rewards and no blackout
dates, destinations wherever one goes, everything one needs for an enjoyable stay, and
Always-consistent service and value. Starwood Preferred Guest is the hotel industry's
most rewarding frequent travel program. By taking advantage of Starwood Preferred
Guest, one can enhance the experience each time they stay with Sheraton.
In February 1999 Starwood Preferred Guest was born, and since then frequent travelers have
crowned it the number one hotel loyalty program in the world. As a member of Starwood
Preferred Guest, every stay at Sheraton earns Starpoints that can be used for free nights
without restrictions at 850 distinctive hotels and resorts around the world. Sheraton’s Free
Nights never come with blackout dates or availability restrictions. If Sheraton has a room,
you have a room. At Dhaka Sheraton Hotel the point can be used to buy to purchase some
very nice Bangladeshi gifts from the SPG display cabinet in the lobby.
The elite travel program Starwood Preferred Guest is voted "Program of the Year" for last
six years during annual Freddie Awards, one of the most prestigious customer generated
honor and travel awards in the travel industry. This year the program accepted 11 out of 20
awards including:
22

• Program of the Year
• Best Award Redemption
• Best Elite Level Program
• Best Customer Service
• Best Web site – SPG.com
Every service provider at Sheraton is a Brand champion of the world’s most popular brand
Sheraton. They symbolize the brand by creating exceptional services to the guests and
fellow associates. The business of Sheraton is about selling experiences, memories, lifestyle
and a brand. Brand is the most important thing that can create emotion. People and Service
culture are the most important ingredients in making a successful brand. People are the most
valuable resources. Services are delivered by three methods. They are Place, Process and
People. Everything communicates through them.
The Sheraton people seize in heart ……I am responsible for the Place in which I
work, the Process I use to deliver service and the way in which I deliver
that service. I make the difference, I am Sheraton.
3.10 Sheraton’s Signature Service
Sheraton is known by its services and the people who deliver the services are the
ambassador of the brand. All associates deliver their best to satisfy the needs of the guests
23
I am Sheraton

in a best possible way and their effort makes Sheraton the most accepted brand of the world
by both the travelers and the business people. To provide best services the Sheraton Team
tries to
 Understand people and where they come from
 People crave to be connected with the things that matter the most to them. Sheraton
keeps them connected with those that matter.
 Sheraton tries to satisfy the needs and wants of the guests and cross their
expectations.
 Sheraton is unique because of the experiences, relationships, memories and
interactions it deliver to the guests.
 Sheraton has insights about the guests which allows it to develop some empathy to
create emotional connection. Now a days business is about making connection. And
Sheraton’s core value is to make connection.
3. 11 Organization Chart of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel:
24
General Manager
Ex-com Member
Financial
Controller
Ex-com
Member
Director-
Human
Resources
Ex-com
Member
Chief
Engineer
Ex-com
Member
Executive
Chef
Ex-com
Member
Director-
Sales &
Marketing
Ex-com
Member
Front Office
Manager
Executive
Secretary
Revenue
Manager
F & B
Manager
Operation
Manager-
Bolaka

Sheraton’s policy is to decentralize authority. The general manager is responsible for the
successful operation his/her hotel. He is all in all of the Hotel. He has the authority to make
decisions along with the Executive Committee (Ex-com) members. All other Ex-com
members and the department heads reports directly to the General Manager. Whenever
necessary, the general manager is assisted by the Departmental Heads. The functional
departments of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel are:
25
Asst. Director
Marketing
Communicatio
n
Asst. Director
Sales &
Marketing
Director-
Catering
Sales
Chief
Accountant
Purchase
Manager
Credit
Manage
r
HR
Manager
Training
Manager
Medical
Consultant
HR
Administrator
Sales & Marketing
2. Human Resource &
Training
Room Division
Food & Beverage
A & G Controller
6. Engineering

All these departments work together with a common objective- to provide the best possible
accommodation & services to the guests. These six departments are equally responsible
for the successful operation of the hotel. The departments are interdependent. If any one of
the departments does not work correctly, any function can face a disaster. All the sub-
departments also work in lieu. The hard works of the peoples who work’s at Sheraton is the
base of its popularity and success.
3.12 The Driving wheels of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel:
Sales & Marketing id the department that energizes and stimulates the Hotel operation,
rejuvenates it and keeps the Hotel going. The department does the marketing and promotion
of the Hotel, sales the services, organizes functions and so on. The department incorporates:
 Sales & Marketing
 Public Relations
 Catering
The Sales & Marketing Department works in the following sectors:
a) Press Relations
b) Guest Relation
c) Property Promotion
d) Community and Customer Relation
e) Internal Commutation
f) Networking
g) Promotion of MICE (Meeting, Incentives, Conferences &
Exhibitions) facilities
26
Sales & Marketing:

Sales & Marketing:
The major task of sales and marketing segment is to make a position of their product in the
customer’s mind. The sales team of Dhaka Sheraton is a competent one. They visit various
local & multinational companies organizations both government & private, banks,
manufacturing organizations etc. They knock wherever there is a possibility of business.
They promote their special services and facilities and often offer special discounts for
prospective clients. Thus they attract customers to book rooms for their guests at Sheraton
and arrange their various types of function at Sheraton. The sales and marketing department
also signs contract with various company’s regarding providing accommodation facilities.
Such an agreement was signed with the Saudi Arabian Airlines to offer accommodation to
the crew members for the next two years.
The sales and marketing efforts depends on demand. The efforts mainly is to consolidate and
holding on the existing accounts as well as to target new accounts with emphasis on luring
away clients from competitor hotels by offering them better and unique services, room rates
and discounts.
The Sales team of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel tries hard to capture the new businesses and some
selected major markets from the competitor hotels. As there is a huge competition in the
market place and four Five Star Hotels are making every effort to capture the market, the
sales team of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel is always ready to provide standing by service to the
Hotel. Various activities of this department has establishes Dhaka Sheraton as the friendliest
Hotel in the city. They have taken the Hotel in such a position that it is known as the place
of quality, personal service, caring for little things and a place with homely atmosphere. The
sincere participation of the associates of the Sales & Marketing Department contributed
significantly to enhance the positive image of the property and the Sheraton brand in the
competitive market.
To maintain guest relation the Sales & Marketing Department takes various steps such as:
 Maintaining good relationship with the guests is the key to repeat the guests.
27

 Welcome the VVIP guests and arrange banquets and welcome cakes when
necessary.
 Send welcome letters and gifts to the potential guests.
 Arrange special reservation for the top customers.
 Send welcome gifts and cakes to repeat the guests.
 Send birthday cakes to the hotel guests during their stay along with birthday cards.
 Arrange farewell party for a long staying guests and crew members of airlines and
other corporate guests.
 Invite corporate customers on special occasions.
 Inform in-house guests about the happenings and events at the hotel.
 Prepare welcome banners for large groups booked at the hotel.
 Handle guest reservation made through websites or direct phone calls efficiently.
 Reply guests letter and complaints speedily.
Public Relations
Public Relation section of the Sales & Marketing Department portrays the brand ‘Sheraton’.
It provides extraordinary support to the sales team. The main objective of the public relation
department is to
 Promote the image of the property accurately, positively and effectively through the
channel of mass media both national and international.
 Uphold the activities of the Hotel to the potential customers competently to hold the
new markets.
 Co-ordinate with the Sales & Marketing, Catering and Food & Beverage in matters
relating to advertisements and promotional activities.
 Arrange, co-ordinate and manage various activities concerning the corporate social
responsibilities.
 Maintaining effective relationship with the media, social groups etc.
 Support overall marketing and sales program.
 Preparing write-up for press release, publication etc.
28

 It is the responsibility of the PR department to design and publish the quarterly
magazine of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel namely Spondon.
 To carry the message indicating that Sheraton is the most exciting and comfortable
place to stay in Dhaka because of its service excellence and experience.
Press Relation:
Maintaining favorable press relation is one of the major tasks of today’s corporations. The
public relation department of Dhaka Sheraton maintains relationship with the press in the
following way:
 Maintain and strengthen the contact with local and trade press to ensure maximum
coverage.
 Invite press during the inauguration of newly launched products, openings, cultural
& food promotion, fashion shows and different types of exhibitions to get maximum
exposure.
 In occasions of press anniversaries deliver congratulatory cakes and management
wishes.
 Whenever possible to assist, participate or sponsor projects undertaken by press
people. For generating publicity in the media these are very good source.
 Establishes contact with media guests staying in the Hotel.
 Encourages foreign travel writes staying with us to write on the property in travel
magazines mentioning the name of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel in their write-ups.
 Whenever it is possible to expose or present the logo or banner of Dhaka Sheraton
Hotel, takes the opportunity.
 Develop and writes press releases to local media both on Sheraton Sponsored
projects or events and various moves taken by the Hotel.
 Develop features for the media regularly.
 Make a gorgeous press appearance while doing any socially responsible activities.
Corporate social responsibilities now get the maximum coverage.
 The brochures of the Hotel with attractive pictures should be done.
29

In order to continue the present trend of media appearance, a balanced and proportionate
advertisement policy should be formulated.
Organization Chart of Sales & Marketing Department:
Catering sales:
Dhaka Sheraton Hotel is by far the biggest name in terms of event hosting & catering
various highly important governmental and nongovernmental events, meetings, signing
ceremonies, product launching ceremonies, various types fairs, fashion shows, concerts,
social parties, wedding ceremonies and birthday parties etc.
30
Director- Sales &
Marketing
Asstt. Director-
Sales & Marketing
Asstt. Director-
Market
Communication
Director-
Catering Sales
Sales Manager
Asstt. Sales
Manager
Manager-Market
Communication
Sales
Administrator
Catering Manager
Asstt. Catering
Sales Manager
F & B
Administrator

The catering department generates a huge amount of revenue to the hotel. Outside catering
adds an extra dimension to the excellent service provided by the Catering Department.
The arrangement of programs includes a mixture of works of different departments. Hosting
a big function requires the devoted association of almost every department of the Hotel. The
catering department distributes and instructs the respective departments and co-ordinates
among them. The general tasks of catering department includes:
 Preparing daily events and delivering them to every department.
 Receiving the booking of functions and arranging them.
 It records the function details on a function enquiry form.
 Answering customers’ enquires about the facilities to arrange a function.
 The full responsibility of arranging function relies on the catering
department.
 The department prepares Function Sheets according to the instructions of the
customers and circulates it.
 The department indicates which task is to be done by which department. Thus
it eliminates the chance of any confusion.
 Organizes meeting with other departments in case of VVIP functions.
 Deals with customers interested in arranging functions in Dhaka Sheraton.
 Make tele-sales calls to make the customers updated about the facilities and
offers of the Hotel.
Without the dedicated contribution of this department arranging functions in Dhaka
Sheraton would not be possible.
This department recruits excellent people, trains them and them a part of Sheraton and the
champion of the popular brand of the world “Sheraton”. This department manages the
31
Human Resources &
Training Department:

employees work schedule, keeps a record of the hours worked, arranges training sessions,
keep the employees from big bosses to the lower level employees aware and updated about
the new appearance of the brand. The tasks are subdivided as follows:
 HR Accounting
 Training Management
 HR Management & Staff facilities
 Medical
HR Accounting:
The time keeping department works with it.
Training management:
The primary task of this department is to train up the new as well as the existing employees
about the brand Sheraton, its core values and about the standard of Starwood which should
also be maintained in the Dhaka Sheraton Hotel.
 The department hosts the orientation programs for the newly recruited
personnel’s.
 Organize training sessions and gives certificates to the trainees.
 Give awards to the employees for excellent services.
HR Management & Staff Facilities:
 Organizes recruitment activities for different departments.
 Evaluates the performance of the associates and reward them.
 Organize associate meetings and takes care of the staff requirement and
ensures that they get proper facilities.
 Various incentives are given and parties are arranged for the associates
such as “ Birthday parties” of the associates.
Medical:
32

The medical department takes care of the associate’s health and helps to maintain hygiene,
provides medicine to the associates.
Organization Chart of Human Resources Department:
The room division includes the following subdivisions:
a) Front Office
b) Housekeeping
33
Director- Human
Resource
HR Administrator-
Accounting
Training
Manager
HR
Manager
Medical
Consultant
HR
Administrator
Time Keeper Training
Coordinator
Staff
Facilities
Sup.
Nurse
Sr. Café
Attendant
Café
Attendant
Room Division:

c) Safety & Security Department
a) Front office:
Front office is liable for creating the first impression about the service quality of the hotel.
Front office includes
Reception: Reception records the guest check in check out according to their reservation
status. It also provides other help to the guests such as currency exchange.
Reservation: This department is the key to hotel business. Reservation Department does the
necessary task for reservation of rooms, determine rates for regular & corporate customers
in association with the Sales & Marketing Department, keep records of the previous
reservations.
Concierge: The concierge desk of Dhaka Sheraton provides details of hotel services as well
as assists the guests with any request, prepares and arranges tour plan for the guests
according to their direction. The concierge desk prepares the Bulletin Board for functions.
Health Club & Telephone Service: These are the two major sections of front office.
Airport Counter: This part of the front office receives the guests on arrival in the airport,
and supports them until the guest reach the hotels pick up. They also take instant booking
from arriving guests.
Transport: Providing 24 hours transport facility is another major task of the front office.
b) Housekeeping: This department keeps the hotel neat & clean, fresh and always new.
This Section remains connected with each & every guests, always. The provide Laundry
facility to the guests, make the room as the guests wish, and provide every service the guests
may seek for during their stay in the hotel.
c) Safety & Security: Maintaining security & safety of the hotel is another major task of the
room division. It ensures security for the room guests and as well the guest who come to
attend functions. It also co-ordinates with the government body’s that ensures the security of
the VVIP guests when they are invited for functions in the hotel. It is the purpose of the
department to ensure security during any functions, fairs, conferences and any other
occasions.
34

The Restaurants, Bar, Cigar Lounge, crew lounge, executive lounge, specialty lounge are
very vital parts of the F & B Department. Food & Beverage division consists of
a) Restaurants
b) Banquets
c) Kitchen
a) Restaurants: Restaurants include:
 The Vintage Room
 The Bithika Restaurant
 Italia Bar & Bistro
 The Lobby Café
 Room Service
 Balaka Restaurant & Bar
 Balaka VIP Lounge
b) Banquets: Dhaka Sheraton has a wide range of banquet rooms and also outside catering
facilities to meet the guest’s needs. The banquet team prepares the meeting rooms as of the
guests’ direction. Some banquet equipment is also available on rent.
c) Kitchen: Kitchen is another important part of the hotel without which no hotel can exist.
The tasks of the kitchen are wide spread. From menu selection to maintaining hygiene, all
are the responsibility of the kitchen. The kitchen department includes:
a) Cold Kitchen
b) Hot kitchen
c) Bakery & Pastry
d) Stewarding
35
Food & Beverage:

The major duties the kitchen performs are:
• Set up menus of various types.
• Prepares food.
• Maintain hygiene.
• Prepare food for different functions as per instruction of the guest.
• Follow the HACCP System.
The A & G General section includes the following departments:
a) Accounts
b) Purchase department
c) Credit department
d) Cost Control
a) Accounts: It deals with all financial aspects of the hotel. The financial controller is
an Ex-com member.
b) Purchase department: This department is liable for all types of purchases made by
the hotel. Every department of the hotel has to fill up a purchase requisition form to
make a request for purchase.
c) Credit department: This department deals with the functions that are arranged on
credit. This department ensures that the credit money is deposited in the hotel after
the function held. The department along with the accounts department set up the
credit policy of the hotel.
d) Cost control: This department takes measures to control the cost of the hotel
operations.
3.13 Corporate Social Responsibility of DSH:
Dhaka Sheraton Hotel does not carry out business only in Bangladesh. It does some very
unique and touching Socially responsible tasks. Dhaka Sheraton and its owner company
36
A & G General

‘Bangladesh Services Limited’ is always there any time in hardness and natural calamities.
Donations are made frequently to help the disabled persons and to the associations that
provide help and works with the disable people with a view to make them valuable asset for
the society.
At the very entrance in the hotel there are many pictures gleaming with beauty in the lobby
with the motive to help the children. If any of the pictures are sold the money will go to the
account of the non-profit organization ‘Save the Children’.
Dhaka Sheraton extended its support to the non-profit organization namely Families For
Children (FFC), operating homes that care for hundreds of destitute children. Dhaka
Sheraton helps the organization by raising fund, creating events, providing linen, bedding,
clothing and training to ensure the children a better quality of life.
Dhaka Sheraton arranger charity concerts, fashion shows along with other companies. The
often withdraw the space rent for any programs that is organized to help people. In every
Ramadan Dhaka Sheraton organizes ‘Ifter Party’ for the orphans in collaboration with its
owner company BSL. During flood time DSH donates a huge amount to help the victims &
the employees donates their salary of one or two days. Dhaka Sheraton also donates bedding
& clothing to the poor people.
Wherever there is a need for special concern Dhaka Sheraton is always there to make
immediate response.
3.14 Booking Source:
Dhaka Sheraton uses various booking source for reservations of the rooms. In the month of
August 4211 rooms of Dhaka Sheraton were sold. The booking sources are given in the
table:
37

Table: 4 Sources of room reservation
0
67
4003
141
Hotel reservation Web site GDS CSC
4.1 The scenario:
Booking source No of rooms Percentage
Hotel reservation 4003 95%
Web site 67 1.6%
GDS 0 0
CSC 141 3.35
%
Total 4211
38

The luxury hotels are being constructed in Bangladesh as increased tourist flow and trade is
giving a boost to the country's hospitality industry. Various types of branded and no brand
but quality hotels are operating in the country for years but recently the industry witnesses
the explosive expansion. The five star hotel industry is not an exception. The five star hotel
industry started its journey with Dhaka Sheraton Hotel as the first five star hotel in
Bangladesh. After the introduction of Dhaka Sheraton and Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel the
country has not experienced any new opening until 2001. Then Carlson Hotels Worldwide
came with the brand ‘Radisson’ and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Inc. with another brand
‘The Westin’. ‘Radisson’ is a huge success showing that Bangladesh needs more five star
hotels. Westin has started its journey very recently.
Currently Dhaka has four five star hotels – Dhaka Sheraton, Pan Pacific Sonargaon,
Radisson Water Garden Hotel and the new comer The Westin.
Two more hotels, Dhaka Regency and Hotel Sarina also announces them as five star which
do not have any brand name but they are giving tough competition to the world known
branded hotels in Bangladesh. At least two other international chain hotels - Intercontinental
Dhaka and Holiday Inn Dhaka are also waiting to start operation in Bangladesh, showing the
growth of hotel business in the country.
Foreign companies conduct market study to find lucrative areas of business before opening
business in a new country. So, it seems that the foreign business groups which have hotel
chain in their business have seen huge scope to develop business here in Bangladesh which
indicates that the country will soon boom in hospitality industry.
Intercontinental Dhaka-- being constructed adjacent to Zia International Airport will be
opened by the end of next year. IPCO Hotels Ltd, a subsidiary of Bengal Group, is the
developer and lessee of Intercontinental Dhaka. It is also constructing a three star hotel
-Holiday Inn Dhaka-near Zia International Airport.1
Meanwhile, the extension project of Pan Pacific Sonargaon is going on in full swing. The
total cost of the project would be about Tk 666.4 million. The extension project will be
1
http://www.skyscrapercity.com
39

implemented in the east side of the hotel within 2007 on an area of about 1.7 acre of land.
Hotel sources said the project has been taken up by the owning company to make it more
competitive and to offer state of the art services to its guests.
Bangladesh has all the resources to be an attractive destination and now more than ever it’s
easy to move around the world. Some measures are required to woo more foreign tourists in
Bangladesh. San Amalan, the general manager of ‘Dhaka Westin’ from his 30 years of
experience in the hospitality industry said that: "The country (Bangladesh) has lots of things
including its culture to promote tourism. People would love to come and see its culture...the
way of living here. The river cruises, cultural festivals at Ramna Park and even rickshaws
will attract tourists. And the Sundarbans is a great spot," added Amalan, who was also the
general manager of Dhaka Sheraton between 1996 and 2000.2
Besides, Bangladesh has a potential to sell it as a popular tourist destination since some
international tourist spots such as Nepal, India, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Thailand
surround the country. These places are not far from Dhaka. People visiting Bangkok might
come to Dhaka for a few days if there are enough tourist facilities.3
Many development organizations, NGOs, multinational companies are working in this
country. These also lead to a huge arrival of foreigner. Trade and business of the country is
also developing very fast. Thus the future of the hotel industry is quite bright in Bangladesh.
Some facts about the five star hotels of Bangladesh are portrayed below:
4.2 Radisson Water Garden Hotel Dhaka
The Radisson Water Garden Hotel Dhaka was inaugurated on February 05, 2006, the hotel
went into full operation on February 11, 2006. The Hotel is part of a major expansion
2
‘ The daily Star’, March 21, 2007, Vol 5 Num 997 (Business)
3
40

program being undertaken across Asia Pacific by US based Carlson Hotels Worldwide. The
hotel is owned by Sena Hotels Development Limited (A joint venture of Sena kalyan
Sangstha and Army Welfare Trust). Radisson Hotels & Resorts is one of the leading
upscale, full service hotel brands in the world with more than 400 hotels in 63 countries.
Carlson Companies, the parent company of Carlson Hotels Worldwide, is a global leader in
hospitality services, encompassing more than 1,700 hotel, resort, restaurant and cruise ship
operations in 82 countries and is one of the largest privately held corporations in the United
States. Carlson Companies employs around 190,000 people across its global network.
4.2.1 Location:
Radisson Water Garden Hotel is located on the airport road, only 5 kilometer away from the
main international airport and adjacent to the diplomatic enclave & upcoming blue chip
commercial hub of Dhaka.
4.2.2 Facilities:
Sprawling over 7 acres of manicured grounds and gardens with water features, the newly
opened 8 storied 5 star Radisson Water Garden Hotel in Dhaka offers all the conveniences
of a business hotel with an atmosphere and amenities of an exclusive resort. Three
Restaurants, Health Club, Swimming Pool and an adjacent nine-hole golf course are all what
visitors can enjoy. Dhaka's first internationally managed spa and health club revitalize and
rejuvenate the mind, body & soul of the guests.4
• There are 204 comfortable rooms and 5 suites.
• Each room is equipped with king, queen or twin size beds, and large work
areas with High-Speed Internet, direct control air-conditioning, in-room safe,
mini bar, tea/coffee making facilities, ironing facilities and a splendid view.
• Plaza Club executive floor.
• Wireless Internet connection in public areas.
• 24-hours room service.
4
www.radisson.com/dhakabd
41

• 3 restaurants, 2 bar lounges, and a café/deli.
• Internationally managed spa with eight treatment rooms & health club.
• Two swimming pools, tennis court, access to adjacent golf course & jogging
track on premises.
• Business center with boardrooms & secretarial service.
• Conference, meeting & function facilities in the country.
• Under cover and outdoor car parking facilities.
• Safety & security equipments including fire & smoke detectors, fire
sprinkler, electronic door locks, CCTV etc.
4.2.3 Dining facilities:
Radisson Water Garden Hotel Dhaka has wonderful dining facilities. They include:
Water Garden Brasserie: The brasserie is a superb setting to enjoy causal, relaxed dining
with a la carte or buffets with awesome meals. The restaurant where light & space play a
dominant role is located in the ground floor. Radisson Water Garden Hotel, Dhaka offers the
most exciting weekend dining experience - ‘Family Brunch’. Brunch is very popular in the
western countries. As more of the western people are coming on visit for business and other
purpose, the hotel management took the opportunity to try out such offer at Water Garden
Brasserie – hotel’s all day dining place. At the Family Brunch the buffet will have wide rage
of dishes than any regular buffet. The idea of Brunch came from Breakfast + lunch. When
people are late for their breakfast but early for the lunch and this in between meal is known
as brunch. Check out this excellent opportunity to enjoy with your family. While thinking
about the family, the hotel has also made arrangements for exciting games and entertainment
facilities for the kids. Children can play indoor football and basketball and watch
electrifying cartoon video. Hotel personnel are designated to look after the kids while the
parents enjoy the food.
Sublime: This modern yet elegant restaurant offers a sophisticated dining experience
specializing in modern Mediterranean cuisine.
42

Spice & Rice: This restaurant gives the opportunity to celebrate the finest of the Asian
Cuisine and a taste of Oriental herbs and spices.
Chit Chat: Adjacent to the pool deck and health & fitness center, the café is the perfect
place to meet with the friends offering refreshments, snacks or a light meal.
Blaze: Blaze is situated in the ground level and has a separate entrance. Blaze is the perfect
place to meet, to enjoy live music & entertainment.
Cigar Bar: It offers the finest refreshments and a range of the world’s most premium cigars
in this exclusive bar.
4.2.4 Meeting & Banquets
Radisson Water Garden Hotel Dhaka offers the widest choice of banquet and meeting
facilities in Dhaka. The hotel’s flexible function space is sure to suit any programs. With
creative catering options, comprehensive audio visual services and experienced meeting
staffs any event is sure to be a success.
Table: Meeting /Banquet Capacity of Radisson Water Garden Hotel Dhaka
Meeting/ Event
space
Hollow
Square
U shape Boardroom
Rectangle
Theatre
Style
Classroom Banquet
round table
Grand Ballroom 380 275 275 1200 875 740
South Ballroom 210 150 150 660 485 410
South Ballroom 160 115 115 500 365 310
Banquet Hall 285 205 205 890 655 550
Sharat 40 30 30 125 90 70
Hemanto 35 30 30 115 85 70
43

Bashonto 40 30 30 120 90 36
4.2.4 A successful first year
Radisson Dhaka generates record revenue for US $ 9,515,500 in first year. In less than 1
year of operation (324 days), the hotel generated highest revenue among the hotels in 2006
in Bangladesh. The hotel generated the largest volume of Credit Card transactions in
Bangladesh within the merchant portfolio of Standard Chartered Bangladesh in 2006. This
amount was US$ 4,293,025 by credit cards. Total foreign currency revenue earned in 2006
was US$ 6.81 million (cash US Dollar and credit cards).5
It had been a remarkable start for the hotel both in terms of business performance and
standard of service offerings. From the day the door was opened for the guests, the hotel is
running at full pace. The hotel experienced very high occupancy and average rate in all the
areas of its operation. After opening, Radisson Water Garden Hotel Dhaka maintained its
position as number one in the RevPar Index Ranking among the competitive set (RevPar
ranking is an index used globally to measure business performance within the industry). At
the same time among the Radisson system in Asia Pacific, Radisson Water Garden Hotel
Dhaka is the first hotel to break the record of business performance during the first year of
operation. Dhaka's new hotel Radisson Water Garden has emerged as the best performing
hotel in the international chain's Asia Pacific region.6
4.2.5 Corporate Social Responsibility:
As a part of Radisson's Corporate Social Responsibility, the hotel's Social Committee is
relentlessly working for the uplift of social conditions of the underprivileged people of
Dhaka city. Radisson is regularly sponsoring different charity and fund-raising events with
other partners in the corporate sector.7
5
6
‘The news Today’ February 6, 2007, Vol # 2 Issue # 1569
7
44

4.3 Westin Dhaka
Westin Dhaka is Dhaka’s latest five star hospitality property. The hotel is located in
Gulshan, the prime diplomatic and commercial zone of the city, only 8 km away from Zia
International Airport. Most of the embassies, high commissions, shopping malls, nationals
and multinationals are just at a walking distance Dhaka is among the first 20 countries in
Asia Pacific to have a Westin. Unique Hotel & Resorts Limited, a sister concern of local
Unique Group, is the prime sponsor of 25-storied Westin Dhaka in joint venture with world
famous Starwood Hotel and Resorts Worldwide Incorporated of US.
There will be one Presidential Suite on the 22nd floor, one Chairman’s suite on the 21st
floor and 14 Executive Suites, all connected with Specialty Rooms. The Health Club is on
the fourth floor and the swimming poor on the fifth floor. The rooms start from sixth floor.
The room fixtures are from Hong Kong while the bathroom fixtures are from Japan.
Among the 241-rooms Westin have one Presidential Suite, one Chairman suite, 14
executive suites, eight junior suites, 14 specialty rooms and two rooms for disabled guests
on about 17,325 sq. ft (1,600 sq. m.) land area, 3,44,600 sq. ft (32,000 sq. m.) floor area.8
The special features of the rooms are: double glazed one way glass, imported from
Malaysia, to avoid the noise and none from other high-rise buildings can look into the
rooms.
Color scheme of the hotel is very soft. Electronic room keys sport soft illustrations. Pink
marble has been throughout. Even the lifts have pink and black marble. The swimming pool
will be of spa pool type. All of their rooms would be outfitted with high speed broadband
internet facilities, LCD flat screen television with satellite channels connections, direct
dialing system, four-fixture bathroom, heavenly bed and other furniture. The suite are
outfitted with high speed broadband internet facilities, LCD flat screen television with
satellite & cable channels, direct dialing system, an oversized desk and an ergonomic desk
chair, 4 fixture bathroom and the Westin signature products and services that include
8
www.westin.com
45

heavenly bed, heavenly bath and heavenly crib. The features of the 'heavenly bath' include a
dual showerhead providing guests with a therapeutic shower spa and a curved shower rod
providing eight additional inches of elbowroom in the shower, the general manager
described, adding that the all-white 'heavenly bed' consists of mattress with 900 individual
coils. The rooms are large about 400 square feet in average. The height of the ceiling is also
three feet more than at other properties, ensuring supply of more oxygen. The "Heavenly
Bed" is there as is ergonomic chair that would be of great comfort to one's back.
The "Heavenly Shower" delivers five times the water of a normal shower and the commode
not only cleans itself but also its user. The 'Elsafe' in the room is large enough for
safekeeping of one's laptop. The suites, which are there on every floor, are larger than the
rooms.
There are Honeymoon Suites for newly wed couples to come here and spend their
honeymoon. The rooms will have LED lighting to suit the moods of the couple. It will be
packaged with many value added things.
There will be six (Spa) treatment rooms - two male only, two female only and two for
couples. There will be two beds in every (Spa) suite, own Jacuzzi and steam bath.
The five-star hotel project was taken in hand primarily to cater to the needs of increasing
number of foreign travelers including officials of aid agencies, multilateral funding
institutions, multinational power, oil and gas companies and the upscale business travelers
and tourists.
The Hotel also has large lobbies, banquet hall, business development centers, health club,
underground parking facilities and all the amenities available in a standard hotel in the chain
of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc.
Besides the luxury room facility, guests are able to enjoy the unique culinary experiences
from the interactive cooking stations in six restaurants and lounges. Guests can enjoy the
46

unique culinary experiences from the finest of ingredients to preparation and live cooking
stations. The 6 restaurants and lounges offer distinctive concept and services. The Westin
Dhaka is an ideal venue for meetings, conferences, conventions, exhibitions and any social
event. From a small meeting of 12 people to a large function of 450 people can be
accommodated. The hotel offers Westin Workout facilities with a state of the art recreation
center/health club, fully equipped business center, heavenly spa, ground level car parking
and limousine services.9
The restaurants of Westin Dhaka are:
Taste: It is a Pan Asia interactive dining complex and the most contemporary restaurant. It
serves Pan Asian interactive spreads and a la carte meals.
Prego: This is an Italian restaurant, serving light meals & entertainment, and a variety of
beverages.
The Living Room: A lobby lounge serving light meals with light entertainment and a
variety of beverages.
Treats: It an interactive delicatessen serving a variety of pastries and coffees, Splash, a
poolside restaurant and bar and the Prego Bar, which will provide sophisticated bar and
lounge.
Splash Pool Bar: This allows guests to revitalize with a plate of refreshment and a drink in
the tranquility of the blue water of the swimming pool.
9
.‘The Bangladesh Monitor’, Volume XVI, Issue no 20, June 1-15, 2007. Page 12
47

4.4 Pan Pacific Sonargaon
Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka Hotel welcomes the guests with a warm heart to enjoy it's
exceptional five-star facilities; from first class surroundings to world class hospitality in true
Pan Pacific style, right from the airport.
The Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel was commissioned in April 1981. In 1997, Overseas
Economic Cooperation Fund (OECF) of Japan originally provided a fund of 4.6 billion yen
equivalent to Taka 330 million to finance the construction of the hotel. Under the condition
of the agreement repayment of the loan was to be made as per value of the yen. The Pan
Pacific Hotels and Resorts (PPH&R) is managing the hotel since it’s commissioning under
Management Agreement.
Location:
Pan Pacific Sonargaon is located in the heart of Dhaka city only 15 kilometer away from the
Zia International Airport.
The hotel has 304 luxuriously appointed rooms, including 25 magnificent suites, provide
every five-star facility to make a stay truly unique. Round the clock room service, high
speed broadband internet, medical facilities, laundry etc are available. The rooms include:
Deluxe room, Courtyard room, Executive suit. Pacific Floor rooms include: Pacific Deluxe
rooms, Pacific Suit, Pacific Executive suit, Pacific Bengali Suit, Pacific international Suit.
Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts is a leading 5 star luxury hotel management company with a
difference. As a global award-winning brand that leads in 5 star luxury hotels in the Pacific
region, Pan Pacific Hotels & Resorts is the brand of choice for both travellers and investors.
Its winning appeal lies in the combination of the beauty and warmth of Asian hospitality and
a passionate desire to exceed international standards of quality service.
48

Owned by UOL Group Limited and headquartered in Singapore, Pan Pacific Hotels and
Resorts is a leading hotel management company in the Pacific Rim region. It has a portfolio
of 19 of the best luxury hotels with over 7,300 rooms in 11 countries throughout Asia, the
Pacific and North America. Recently, Pan Pacific Hotels and Resorts was recognised as
amongst the top 25 hotel companies demonstrating social responsibility by Conde Nast
Traveller magazine.
Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka Hotel's banquet floors are world-class and the banqueting
kitchen provides modern, 5-star cuisine with individualized menus. Modern audio-visual
equipment is available including interpretation systems and the latest video conferencing.
Pan Pacific Sonargaon Dhaka has everything you need and more to turn any event into a
resounding success.
The meeting & event facilities:
The meeting & event facilities include:
Capacity under different seating arrangements
Theatre Boardroom Classroom U shape Cocktail Banquet
Chitra 50 25 35 30 40 35
Grand
Ballroom
1200 120 400 NA 1000 600
Meghna 100 40 50 NA 80 70
Nirala NA 20 NA NA NA NA
Surma 125 35 60 40 80 80
Titas 35 20 30 20 20 20
49

Data Representation & Comparative Analysis
5.1 Graphical Representation
The data that5 are collected from the night manager’s report of Dhaka Sheraton are
represented graphically below. The graphs shows the overview of the five star hotel
industry in Bangladesh for the month of August. The comparative position of the
four five star hotels are analyzed according to the information available.
Table 5: Market shares of four hotels as par room number
Name of Hotels No of rooms
Sheraton 272
PanPac 304
Radisson 204
Westin 235
50

Source: Appendix 5
27%
30%
20%
23%
Sheraton
PanPac
Radisson
Westin
Fig 3: Market share of the hotels
Number of five star hotel rooms in the Dhaka market consists of all the rooms available in
the four five star hotels. The market share of a particular hotel is derived by dividing the
number of rooms of that hotel by the number of rooms available in the market. From the
graph it is obvious that Dhaka Sheraton holds the second largest market share.
Table 6: Month to date ranking in terms of rooms
Name of Hotels Avail Rooms Occupied Rooms
Sheraton 8432 4211
PanPac 9424 1349
Radisson 6324 4813
Westin 4185 707
Source: Appendix 5
51

0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
8000
9000
10000
NoofRooms
Sheraton PanPac Radission Westin
Hotels
Avail Rooms
Occupied
Rooms
Fig 4: Available Vs Occupied rooms
Form the table it is clear that the occupied rooms are much less than the available
rooms in the market. Each of the five star hotels has significant number of rooms
unsold. This is because the market in Bangladesh is not too large. Furthermore, the
political conditions business are discouraged and new direct foreign investments are
not taking place. The economy is passing a hard time also. All the facts affected the
Hotel industry greatly. The new five star hotel Westin has started operation this year.
Some other Hotels are also sharing the market with Five Star hotels with lower price.
Table 7: Month to date ranking of hotels in terms of occupancy rate
Name of Hotels Occupancy Rate
Sheraton 49.94%
PanPac 14.31%
Radisson 76.11%
Westin 16.89%
Source: Appendix 5
52

Occupency Rate
49.94%
14.31%76.11%
16.89%
Sheraton
PanPac
Radission
Westin
Fig 5: Market occupied rooms analysis
From the graph it is obvious that Radisson Water Garden Hotel has the highest
occupancy rate during the month of August which is 76.11%. Dhaka Sheraton
Hotel has the second highest occupancy rate. The occupancy rate is a determinant
of how well the hotel is doing.
Table 8: Month to date ADR
Name of Hotels ADR (in Taka)
Sheraton 5427.92
PanPac 7158.67
Radisson 8201.90
Westin 11967.27
Source: Appendix 5
53

5293.72
7615.03
8218.27
11256.75
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
ADR(inTk)
Five Star Hotels
ADR ( in Tk)
Fig 6: ADR Analysis for the month of August
Average Daily Rooms (ADR) is calculated by dividing the revenue by total
rooms sold.
Revenue
ADR =
Sold Room
Here, in the month of August Hotel the Westin has the highest ADR in spite of
its partial opening in the month of July 2007. The reason is Westin has sold
selected rooms to VVIPs. The Radisson Water Garden Hotel holds the second
position.
Table 9: Market share of the hotels
Name of the Hotels Actual Market Share Fair Market Share
Sheraton 38.88% 29.73%
PanPac 11.97% 33.22%
Radisson 43.28% 22.30%
Westin 5.8% 14.75%
Source:
Appendix
5
540.00%
5.00%
10.00%
15.00%
20.00%
25.00%
30.00%
35.00%
40.00%
45.00%
Marketshare
Hotels
Actual Market
Share
Fair Market
Share

Fig 7: Fair vs Actual Market share for the month of August
Market share is the number of rooms in a hotel as a percentage of the rooms in
the hotel’s competitive market set. From the graph it is clear that Radisson Hotel
is leading the market by holding the market share well above their fair market
share. Dhaka Sheraton also holding more than their market share. This graph is
so like because Pan Pacific Sonargaon is undergoing a massive renovation and
The Westin Hotel has not started its operation fully till August. These two factors
have uplifted the graph of Dhaka Sheraton and Radisson quite high.
Table 10: RevPar of the hotels
Name of the Hotels RevPar (in Taka)
Sheraton 2807.60
PanPac 1019.82
Radisson 6296.79
Westin 1882.03
55

Source: Appendix 5
0
1000
2000
3000
4000
5000
6000
7000
RevPar
Name of the Hotels
RevPar (in Tk) RevPar (in Tk)
Fig 8: Analysis of RevPar of Dhaka Market
RevPar stands for ‘ revenue par available room’. In the Hotel industry, the RevPar Index
measures performance. RevPar is calculated in the following way:
Total revenue from rooms
RevPar =
Total rooms
The graph reveals that The Radisson Water Garden Hotel is passing a superior time and
is the market leader. Dhaka Sheraton holds the second position throughout the month.
Table 11: Occupied rooms in the market (daily basis) for the month of August
56

Source: Appendix 5
0
50
100
150
200
250
1 5 9 13 17 21 25 29 31
Date, August 2007
NO.ofOccupiedRooms
Sheraton PanPac Radisson Westin
Fig 9: Dhaka Market Occupied room analysis
This graph shows the number of occupied rooms at the Hotel industry. A comparative
view among the four Five Star hotels’ occupied rooms are exposed in the graph. The
Date
1/8 5/8 9/8 13/8 17/8 21/8 25/8 29/8 31/8
Sheraton 137 160 133 133 109 171 139 111 110
PanPac 62 55 42 50 57 70 25 30
Radisson 185 159 167 188 151 197 101 144 135
Westin 29 16 31 28 19 41 9 22 22
57

Radisson Water Garden Hotel has the highest occupied rooms everyday which in turn
gives it the highest occupancy rate during the month of August.
Table 12: Occupancy rate of Dhaka Sheraton for last five years
Source: Annual report of BSL, 2006
46.00%
48.00%
50.00%
52.00%
54.00%
56.00%
58.00%
60.00%
OccupancyRate
2002 2003 2004 2005 2006
Year
Occupancy rate
Fig 10 : Trend of occupancy of Dhaka Sheraton
The occupancy rate of Dhaka Sheraton for the last five years remains in the same range of
50-60%. So the profit from room business also remains within a range. The occupancy rate
is quite handsome in the competitive market. But now the competition is growing harder. So
Dhaka Sheraton needs to take some innovative measures to retain this occupancy rate as
well as for strengthening the rate.
Year Occupancy rate
2002 56.4%
2003 59.5%
2004 55.3%
2005 58.2%
2006 50.8%
58

5.1.1 Analytical overview of the market:
From the above graphical representations it is clear that the Dhaka Sheraton hotel holds the
second position in the market. Radisson Water Garden Hotel is the market leader at present.
The Westin has started its journey very recently and Pan Pacific Sonargaon is going under
massive renovation work. This has affected the hotel’s business greatly. It can be predicted
that Pan Pacific Sonargaon is going to give tough competition as its renovation started at a
time when the two new hotels are in operation. As time will pass ‘The Westin, will also
position itself in a convenient way in the market. The RevPar of Radisson Water Garden
Hotel in the month of August is almost double than that of Dhaka Sheraton. One thing that
should be taken under consideration is that in the month of August only two hotels
-Radisson Water Garden Hotel & Dhaka Sheraton Hotel was operating with their full
capacity in the market. Because The Westin was not started its operation in full and Pan
Pacific Sonargaon was under renovation program. So it is assumable that competition is
harder than it appeared from the analysis.
The RevPar ranking of hotels as of August 2007 is shown in the following table:
Table 13: RevPar Rank of the five star hotels
Hotels RevPar Rank
Sheraton 2
Sonargaon 4
Radisson 1
Westin 3
Source: Night Manager’s Report of Dhaka Sheraton (Appendix 5)
Radisson Water Garden Hotel maintained the first position during the whole month of
August. From its very beginning it has maintained the leading position. Dhaka Sheraton
was in second position. After Radisson came in the market Sheraton lost its leading
position because of some very prominent reason such as Radisson’s close proximity to the
59

airport, a brand new establishment, new brand in Bangladesh, and attractive location.
Despite all these Dhaka Sheraton is the most popular, well known and loyal brand in
Bangladesh.
5.2 Questionnaire analysis
A survey was conducted to identify the satisfaction level of the customers. 50 customers
both corporate and individual were surveyed. The results of the survey are portrayed below
with the help of tables and graphs.
Table 14: Reasons for preferring Sheraton
Reasons No of guests Percentage
Well known brand 15 30%
Better service & loyalty 30 60%
Convenient 3 6%
Less costly 2 4%
30%
60%
6% 4%
Well known brand Better service & loyalty Convenient Less costly
60

Fig 11: Reasons behind staying at Sheraton
Table 15: Satisfaction Level of the customers
Satisfaction Level No of guests Percentage
Highly satisfied 15 30%
Satisfied 25 50%
Not satisfied 10 20%
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
Percentage
Highly
satisfied
Satisfied Not satisfied
Satisfaction Level
Fig 12: Satisfaction level of customers
Table 16: Preferred reservation system
Preferred reservation system No of guests Percentage
Directly to the hotel 15 30%
Hotel’s web site 10 20%
GDS 5 10%
Central Reservation System 12 24%
Third party web site 8 16%
61

30%
20%
10%
24%
16%
Directly to the hotel
Hotel’s web site
GDS
Central Reservation
System
Third party web site
Fig 13: Preferred reservation system
Most of the customers are happy with the service of Sheraton but want immediate
renovation. Because other hotels are new and are more appealing than Sheraton.
Sheraton as the first five star hotel in Bangladesh has some very loyal customers who
feel comfortable with Sheraton and want to continue staying in Sheraton. But to
attract new customers Sheraton need to do a lot. All five star hotels are doing their
best to provide the best service to the customer and to be in the competition. All
customers told about the prompt actions taken by the Sheraton associates in any
problems faced by the guests. The food is also liked by them. Very few customers
were staying for the first time. These loyal customers of Sheraton suggested that
Sheraton should undertake immediate renovation. As the oldest hotel Sheraton will
definitely lack behind the modern facilitates most customers now want.
5.3 Industry Analysis
62

Industry analysis reviews industry trends and competitive strategies. Analyzing the industry
environment requires an assessment of the competitive structure of the organization’s
industry. It also requires analysis of the nature, stage, dynamics and history of the industry.
Internal analysis serves to pinpoint the strengths and weaknesses of the organization as
company strengths lead to superior performance whereas company weaknesses translate into
inferior performance.
The need is to identify the key emerging factors, trends and threats, opportunities and
strategic uncertainties that can guide information gathering and analysis.
Porter’s approach can be applied where the basic idea is that the attractiveness of an industry
or market as measured by five factors on which firm depends largely.
5.3.1 Porter’s five forces model:
Porter’s five forces model is used to describe interaction of external influences, specifically
threats and opportunities that affect an organization’s strategy and ability to compete. These
forces greatly influence a firm’s business strategy.
63
Risk of entry by potential
competitors
• Brand Loyalty
• Absolute Cost
advantage
• Economies of scale
• Customer
Switching costs
Bargaining power of
suppliers
• No. of
substitutes
• Threat of
Forward
integration
• Switching costs
• No. of buyers
Intensity of rivalry among
established firms
• Industry
Competitive
Structure
• Industry Demand
• Exit Barriers
Bargaining power of
buyers
• Threat of backward
integration
• No. of suppliers
• Switching costs
• Buyer Concentration
& size
• Large quantity
purchase leverage

Fig 14: Porter’s five forces model1
Rivalry among Existing competitors
The rivalry refers to the competitive struggle among the competitors and the growth in the
industry depends upon the intensity of competition. A high amount of competition is
observed in the hotel industry of Bangladesh in recent years. The Five star hotels
compete against each other using competitive weapons such strong brand name, low
price, quality of service, easy and available booking system, lower operation cost, &
other unique services.
Risk of entry by potential competitors
Potential competitors are companies that are not currently competing in an industry but have
the capability to do so if they choose. The hotel industry of Bangladesh has two new
entrances recently of which The Westin has started its journey from partially from July this
year. Thus the market has grown and other international brands are also showing interest to
start operation in Bangladesh. Some local companies are also coming forward to capture the
emerging market with low price. Thus the hotel is facing the risk of entry by potential
competitors.
1
Hill & Jones, 2004
64
Threat of substitutes
• No of close substitutes
• The relative price and
performance of
substitutes

Bargaining Power of Buyers
The third one of Porter’s five competitive forces is the bargaining power of buyers.
Bangladesh is an emerging market. There are four internationally renowned five Star hotels.
All of hotels are offering quality services and excellent facilities with competitive price. In
the geographically smaller market the buyers or customers are getting much options. Some
locally owned three Star and four-star hotels are giving a tough competition to the Five Star
hotels. The buyers have their purchasing power to influence the service providers.
Bargaining Power of Suppliers
The fourth of Porter’s five competitive forces is the bargaining power of suppliers. As there
are many hotels operating in Bangladesh, the bargaining power of the suppliers has reached
a new dimension. They also force the business of a hotel from several perspectives.
Threat of Substitute Products
Substitutes- products of different businesses or industries that can satisfy similar customer
needs and the same group of customers are important sources of competition. The local
hotels and restaurants are giving a sturdy fight to the sales and banquet teams of the Five
Star hotels. They provide quality foods at much lower price, ensures excellent service and
luxurious rooms to the customers. Often they do not charge space rent for functions that is
followed by lunch or dinner. Thus many firms and companies prefer those now. Many other
conference halls are also giving a strong fight. The Bangladesh China Friendship
Conference Center (BCFCC) has become the number one choice for hosting fairs and
international seminars etc.
Evaluation of External and Internal Environment of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel:
5.3.2 SWOT Analysis
65

In real world, executives sometimes end up making business decisions with incomplete
information. That is where common sense and experience come to act. Nonetheless, the
SWOT framework offers a good starting point for analyzing companies, their performance
and outlook. SWOT stand for Strength Weakness Opportunities Threats. SWOT Analysis
refers to the overall evaluation of a company’s strengths, weakness, opportunities, and
threats in the environment. It is one of the essential steps of Strategic Management Process.
Identification of the threats and weakness in the environment and the strengths and
weakness of the firm is the cornerstone for business policy formulation; it is these factors,
which determines the courses of action to ensure the growth and survival of the firm.
The environment might present many opportunities but a company might not have
the strengths to exploit all the opportunities. Similarly, sometimes a firm will not have the
strengths to meet the environmental threats. A company is prudent to give up a particular
line of business if it finds that it do not has the competence to survive is that business and
concentrate on businesses for which the firm is most competent.
Fig 15: Flow chart of SOWT Analysis
66
Formulation of
objectives
SWOT Analysis
Strength-
A company’s
resources &
capabilities
that can be
used for
developing a
competitive
advantage
Weakness
The absence
of certain
strength may
be viewed as
weakness of
an
organization
Opportunities-
The external
environment
analysis may
reveal certain
new
opportunities
for profit and
growth
Threats-
Changes in
the
external
environment
also may
present
threats to
the firm.

The comparison of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats is normally referred to
as a SWOT analysis. Its central purpose is to identify the strategies that will best align, fit or
match a company’s resources and capabilities to the demands of the environment in which it
operates. (Hiil & Jones, 2004). The SWOT analysis comprises of the organization’s internal
strength and weakness and external opportunities and threats. SWOT analysis gives an
organization an insight of what they can do in the future and how they can compete with
their existing competitors.
5.3.3 Strength, Weakness, Opportunities & Threats of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel:
Table 12: SWOT Analysis
Strengths Weakness
Strong Brand Image
Located in the best scenic surroundings in
Dhaka
Proximity to business center
Efficient and motivated sales force.
Qualified & experienced human resources
Efficient & well organized management
body
Excellent Environment
Best quality services
Specialty floor & Club floor facilities
Unique atmosphere combined with
unsurpassed service & facilities
Old establishment
Located in a very crowdy area
Lack of some modern facilities
Medium size ballroom
Medium Lobby
Small Business Center
It is the sited in the oldest premises among the
five star hotels in Dhaka
Not the market leader
67

Signature services
High employee satisfaction and almost zero
turnover rate
Opportunity Threat
Popular & well known brand
Loyal customers
Well known personals
Has the best positioning in the minds of
customers
Popular Brand of chain hotels
Growing economy & emerging market of
the country.
New & strong rivalries entered the market
Strong brand image of the competitors
Old Premises and old fashioned facilities
More competitors
Smaller market
Less market share
High bargaining power of the buyers
Concluding notes
6.1 Findings
The Hotel Industry is emerging very quickly in Bangladesh. The market is also expanding
day by day. The Hotels and Resorts companies are getting interest towards this rising
market. By performing analysis some real facts about the performance of Dhaka Sheraton
Hotel are recognized. Existing strengths & weaknesses, and the upcoming opportunities and
threats of the Hotel were studied. This study revealed the current situation and the
performance level of the Hotel and its efforts to satisfy the customers in this highly
competitive market. The upshots are prearranged below:
Competition & challenges:
 The competition in the Dhaka market is very high. All the Five Star hotels are giving
their best to capture the market. Dhaka Sheraton is no difference.
 Dhaka Sheraton lost its leading position to Radisson Water Garden Hotel from the
very beginning. Now it is struggling to regain its position.
 The bargaining power of the buyers is high and the target market is small.
68

 The political & economical condition of the country affects hotel business the most.
Every natural calamity distresses the business in a pitiless way.
 Radisson Water Garden hotel is the most vigorous competitor of DSH but other two
hotels Sonargaon & the Westin is going to give a hard competition in future.
 DSH now holds the second position among the five star hotel’s RevPar ranking.
 Some other non-brand three and four star hotels are also taking away some very
prospective business from Dhaka Sheraton. They are less costly than Sheraton and
do not charge space rent for large programs followed by launch or dinner.
 From the context of Bangladesh, the five star hotels are costly. Because the hotels
need to maintain a minimum standard as a five star hotel. The other hotel like Dhaka
Regency, Sarina, Lake Shore etc provides high quality services at much lower price.
Thus the medium size business organizations choose those instead of the five stars.
Customer Service:
 Dhaka Sheraton provides the best quality service to its customers. Though it is
loosing its business in the competition.
 The customers are very choosy as they have more options now. So it is very hard to
please them.
 Every person is unique. They have different choice. Satisfying the needs of
individual guests in a customized way is really a hard job.
 The guests always want excellence and perfection. They are not at all ready to
consider any sort of lacking.
The Property:
 Though Dhaka Sheraton has a gorgeous look, the establishment is much old.
 Other five star hotels are comparatively new and have modern facilities.
 The Lobby of Dhaka Sheraton Hotel is a very small one & it lack behind in
Charismatic beauties.
 The first impression of the customers about the hotel is not very compelling.
 The bar is too small to accommodate the staying guests of the hotel, it becomes over
crowded when outside guest also come to enjoy the bar facilities.
69

Bangladesh's Growing Hospitality Industry

Bangladesh's Growing Hospitality Industry

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