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MASTER OF MANAGEMENT (Hospitality and Tourism)
IND800 INDUSTRY RESEARCH PROJECT REPORT
IMPROVEMENT STRATEGY FOR HOTEL “A”
JUSTIFYING COMPUTERIZED MAINTENANCE MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
(CMMS) AS A BEST PRACTICE RESOURCE.
AUTHOR: XXXXXXXX (XXXXXX)
SUPERVISOR: YYYYYYYYYY
Australia, 2015
IND800 INDUSTRY RESEARCH PROJECT REPORT
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TITLE: THE HOTEL A IMPROVEMENT STRATEGY; Justifying Computerized Maintenance
Management Systems (CMMS) as a best practice resource.
AUTHOR: Cianne Scanlan
DEGREE: Masters of Management (Hospitality and Tourism)
SUPERVISOR: Dr Leonid Petrov
KEYWORDS: Maintenance strategy, maintenance practice, hotel operations
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. Executive Summary………………………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………Page 3
2. Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………………………Page 4
2.1. Objective………………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………………………Page 4
2.2. Rationale…………….……………………………………………..……………………………………………………………………….Page 4
2.3. Research Questions………..…………………………………………………….…………………………………………………….Page 4
2.4. Methodology…………………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………..Page 5
2.5. Literature Review……………………………………………………………………….…………………………………………….…Page 5
3. The Benefits of CMMS………………………………………….…………………………………………………………………………….Page 7
3.1. Understanding Computerised Maintenance management Systems……………………….……..……….…..Page 7
3.2. Identifying the Promises of a Co
ectly Implemented CMMS………………………………………………………Page 7
3.3. Objections to CMMS………………………………………………….……………………………………………………………….Page 8
4. The Best- Fit Computerised Maintenance Management System for the Hotel A………………………………..Page 9
4.1. Financing CMMS Implementation………………….………………………………………………………………………….Page 10
5. Measuring and justifying the implementation of CMMS…………………………………………………………………..Page 11
6. Limitations of Research…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….Page 12
7. Concluding remarks, implications or recommendations…………………………..……………………………………….Page 13
8. References……………………………………………..…………………………………………………………………………………………Page 14
9. Appendices……………………………………………….………………………………………………………………………………………Page 16
9.1. TABLE 1: ……………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………….Page 16
9.2. TABLE 2: …………………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………..…..Page 17
9.3. TABLE 3: …………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………………………….Page 18
9.4. TABLE 4: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………….Page 19
9.5. TABLE 5: …………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………………….Page 20
9.6. TABLE 6: ………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………….Page 21
9.7. IMAGE 1: …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………Page 22
9.8. IMAGE 2: …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………Page 22
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The purpose of this study is to establish what makes the computerised
maintenance management system (CMMS) a valuable investment for the Hotel
A. This is done through a combination of primary research in the form of
interviews (face to face and phone calls), observation, focus groups and video
conferences, as well as secondary research in the form of internet and text
analysis.
It was discovered that facilities management is growing in scope and
importance, yet few empirical studies have been done on Computerised
Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) and its application in hotels.
Research suggests that CMMS enables organisation and automation for
maintenance managers, and more importantly enables its users to practise
proactively, as opposed to reactively, saving on time, money and ensuring guest
satisfaction.
Analysis of a number of CMMS applications resulted in Maintenance Assistant
(MA) being the best- fit program for Hotel A’s needs. It was interesting to
discover that the ‘industry best’ doesn’t necessarily mean best- fit, which led to
the decision not to choose HotSOS (The CMMS considered ‘best practise’ for
hotels). However, it was recommended that a review take place often, to ensure
MA remained the best- fit and optimised the values derived.
It was also discovered that measurement of the CMMS is not a standardised
practice, as different hotels will have different needs and therefore different
measures to determine successful implementation. For the Hotel A, an Return-
On- Investment calculator (estimate only, as it factors in qualitative and
quantitative elements important to Hotel A’s success) as well as MA’s 150+ pre-
programmed report generators, and customer report builder means that
measurement is tailor-able the needs of the hotel. It was determined that in
measuring CMMS success it not only justified the investment made in the
esource, but would also allow for better understanding and justification of the
engineering/maintenance department.
This research, therefore, will benefit managers of hotels considering CMMS as a
value adding resource, hotel operators seeking efficient and effective
maintenance management, CMMS companies seeking to penetrate the hotel
market with their product, private companies who solely work in hotel
maintenance management, and future studies on maintenance management in
hotels.
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INTRODUCTION
Objective
The objective of the study is to establish whether the benefits from a Computerised Maintenance
Management System are greater than its cost for Hotel A. This will be done through a combination of primary
esearch in the form of interviews (face to face and phone calls), observation, focus groups and video
conferences, as well as secondary research in the form of internet and text analysis.
This research, therefore, will benefit managers of hotels considering CMMS as a value adding resource, hotel
operators seeking efficient and effective maintenance management, CMMS companies seeking to penetrate
the hotel market with their product, private companies who solely work in hotel maintenance management,
and future studies on maintenance management in hotels.
Rationale
Facility maintenance plays a crucial role in hotels because its efficiency and effectiveness directly impact on
the quality of service, food, and beverage which in turn has a direct and immediate impact on the guests
experience and therefore impression of the hotel (Chan at al., XXXXXXXXXXMaintenance of hotels is generally costly
and complex due to varying demands and consequential schedules, but in a 5 star environment especially,
compromised service is not tolerated by guests. Maintenance therefore has to be done throughout the year,
equiring competent, dynamic staff to execute building services, operation and maintenance, supplemented
y outsourced contractors (Chan et al., 2001).
Excellence in maintenance management is also vital for improving energy efficiency and keeping the total
costs optimal. The costs of operating and maintaining the engineering systems, in particular the in- house man
power, out sourced contractors, energy consumption and equipment deterioration, must be properly
monitored and controlled. Computerized Maintenance Management Systems (CMMS) is increasingly
considered a best practice resource, improving productivity, lowering operational costs, managing assets and
educing risk. It allows hotels to focus efforts on its core competency and strengthen its ability to deliver and
adapt in the ever- changing business environment (Maintenance Assistant, 2015; Richards, 2014; Gooneskera,
XXXXXXXXXXHowever, some hotels hesitate to implement, for a number of reasons discussed in this paper. The
Hotel A is one such hotel seeking an improved maintenance management system, and this paper was
commissioned to answer their question “What makes the benefits from a Computerised Maintenance
Management System a valuable investment for the Hotel A?”.
In the light of this need, the Hotel A’s competitors (such as the Intercontinental and the Shangri La) have gone
on to implement CMMS successfully, enabling them to perform optimally and to keep up with the competitive
industry. The causes of CMMS success and the benefits enabled must be learnt and derived from the findings
of this study as a motivation to relevant parties related to hotel management and operations.
Research Questions
To fulfil the main objective of this research, the following three questions have been set in this report:
1. What are the perceived benefits vs. objections to the CMMS
2. Which CMMS would be best-fit for the Amora Hotel Jamison Sydney
3. How the value of a CMMS can be measured and justified.
These questions will be answered in sections 2, 3 and 4 of this report, respectively.
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Methodology
To answer these three research questions, it will be essential to analyse the views supportive and critical of
CMMS utilisation in the Tourism and Hospitality sector. Section 2 will review the existing opinions collected by
the means of structured interviews. Their results are provided in Table 4. The question regarding the suitability
of CMMS will be answered by the analysis of comparing recommended systems according to Hotel A’s
equirements, and its results are collated in section 3 of the report, and tabulated data is presented in Table 5.
Methods of effective measurement and justification of CMMS are discovered through personal observations of
the author, recorded opinions of expert group members and the staff members of Hotel A in Sydney. These
are presented and analysed in section 4.
Literature review
The Hotel A is a 5 star hotel in central Sydney that emphasizes importance in exceptional service (Romandy,
2015). However, according to Chan et al XXXXXXXXXXgenerally, 5 Star Hotel patrons have a high expectation on
service and facility standards, and are easily dissatisfied by less than expected standard of delivery. They
identified that maintenance and facilities in a hotel are just as critical to the experience as direct services
provided by receptionists, concierge, waiters, etc. Stipanuk XXXXXXXXXXalso had these views, and continued by
stating that unsatisfactory performance of such facilities can erode the reputation and profitability of a hotel
while reduced profit means fewer resources for maintenance and retrofit, potentially resulting in a downward
spiral. This suggests that hotels should value and recognise the excellence of facilities and maintenance just as
much as the excellence of service.
In searching for a historical perspective on facilities management, documentation is limited to recent years. Its
very definition is unclear, and methods of research are mostly limited to interviews. What is observable is how
thought processes in defining facilities maintenance/management have changed from ‘curative’ (I.E: fixing the
issues as they come) to preventative (planning and preventing issues in the first place). Also noted, the scope
and value of facilities management extends beyond that of the physical building, to include areas such as
people and workplace health and safety (Noor, Abdul and Buang, XXXXXXXXXXLind and Muyingo XXXXXXXXXXclearly
support this, criticizing previous research on defining maintenance management as being increasingly
i
elevant, as cu
ent rational decision making on maintenance is forwardly planned, and therefore the old
understandings cannot matter. As such from a forward planning perspective, the modern concept of
maintenance favours momentum where it is possible to know in advance what is rational to do. It is also
etter suited for an industry measured socially, requiring rapid