Customers of Utmost Importance

Broadly categorized under the hospitality industry, it comprises of hotel, resorts and cruise line sectors, leisure activities and restaurant facilities sector. Hotels, resorts and cruise line functions from the revenue generated from business and leisure travelers, leisure facilities provided include fitness clubs, golf courses, and theme parks, valued using membership fees, admission revenues while the restaurant sector includes cafes, fast food and drinking areas and the revenue collected includes sales of food and drinks to the customers. With increasing income, this sector grew by 5.6% in 2011, having a total worth of 2,413.9 billion$ and the compound growth rate measured over a three year period till 2011 of 3.7%. Out of the three segments of the industry, most worthwhile and having a continuous growth rate is the restaurant sector, which contributed a considerable proportion of money to the total i.e. 68.1% of the total revenue. Analysts predict that the growing popularity of the sector is unstoppable as consumer demand rises and it is expected to reach a total net worth of $3,143.7 billion by 2016. Since it comprises of multiple activities being performed like maintenance facility, marketing and HR management and direct operations, its worth in billion dollars is expected to continue to increase with reduced risk of failure.  

Since it is a service industry, the main point of focus should be improved customer service and the due to intense competition, the need to build customer loyalty. Companies have closely examined customer’s behaviors and preferences to find out on ways for improving customer service for example what kind of magazines they read, type of social media they are most active on so their views can be judged and other customer data to find out the hidden patterns of consumer behavior.  In October 2012, Deloitte’s Travel, Hospitality, and Leisure practice engaged in extensive consumer loyalty research which had displayed sound positive results like czr stock quote. They surveyed around 4000 travelers and conducted focus group sessions with the business and leisure travelers. This gave them enough information about the attitudes of the majority consumers and changes in the hotel environment and leisure activities offered were thus made accordingly. In 2014, there are plans to have a closer look at how brands, hotel groups and loyalty programs affect their hotel spend and selection process.

Carnival Corporation which a cruise company and one of the largest vacation companies in the world, has a current price to earnings ratio of 26.5 US$ and  earnings per share of 1.43US$ in 2014 and highest net profit margin of over 25% in 2013 as compared to preceding years. Another corporation Compass Group PLC has a price to earnings ratio of 39.46 US$ and earnings per share of 0.25$ currently and highest profit margin of 6% in 2013 as compared to preceding years. Sodexo S.A. has earnings per share of 3.14 US$ and price to earnings ratio of 25.2 US$