Researching And Reporting

Assessment type: Group Proposal

Teacher: Mrs.Ewa Maciejewski Students: Emi Nakagawa 3H2 Atif Nazrun Zubir 3H2 Heonsik Park 3H2

Date of Submission: September 23rd, 2011

Proposal
Title: Is the man-less hotel the future of the hospitality industry in Switzerland? Objective: To determine whether will a fully automated-hotel will be successful in Switzerland.

Background
Kindness is the language, which the deaf can hear and the blind can see. (Twain. M, 2011)

As the quote suggested what hospitality is all about, the action of kindness from one human being to another. Hospitality has been very much been relying heavily on human-to-human contact and as we progress we realized that the industry has its flaw of human errors. There has been a growing trend of a fully automated hotel. (NRI, 2010). A rising trend that commonly equals to high profitability depending on the area it is built it. (S.Noorbakhsh, 2008). It has been debated that the idea of a man-less hotel would truly contradict the hospitality as a whole. The worlds first man-less hotel called the Bastille Hi Matic Hotel was built in Paris near the major tourist attraction the Louvre and Notre Dame. The hotel has 40 rooms and its reservation is made by the touchscreen that is similar to the machines that are used for airport check-in and at railway stations. (Hi-Matic.net, 2011). This is why our group has chosen such topic, with the ever more efficient automated services being available to the public and the increase reliance on robots not only for everyday use but also medical and scientifically research *Find Article, an era where robots and computers will be just as part as the human life as animals is soon coming and what it will greatly affect is the hospitality industry. Aims and Objective Our aim is to determine, using present information from reviews and primary research method, to conclude if the use of automated services and heavy reliance on computers would really be the future of a heavy human run industry especially in Switzerland. Objective is to look into depth details on: The tradition of hospitality in Switzerland and how the modern way is contradicting the industry by being automated. How the automated Hotel du Boulevard in Lausanne, Switzerland runs and how everyone reacts to the automated hotel.

Methodology In order to achieve our objective our research methodology will vary depending on the objective itself. Below are the methodologies that will be used through our topic: Internet research: In Switzerland there is few hotels that is run on fully automated services therefore we will also rely on online articles for this report. As the Internet is a large source of information we as a group would have to specifically decide what to search and key terms in order to narrow down our research. To collect more specific information, we can also utilize some more tools, which will assist us in our research to meet a more accurate data such as Google Advance, the database provided by our school library and any related articles linked to it. Through these utilities, we will be able to gain some of exact information that we are searching for, such as the companies related to man-less hotels that provide automated systems, by the use of keywords discussed in a group. Research & Survey Field Trip: An automated hotel located in Lausanne will be our target for primary research; though minimal investment will be needed we believe the return of valuable raw information that we could use for our topic. In the field study trip photos will be provided for referencing and evidence. The Semi automated hotel is located in Lausanne about 20 minutes train ride away. This kind of method may not be pleasing to the owner of the hotel as we are doing a quite in depth research on the property. By ensuring that our research will not jeopardize the business full transparency (if requested) with the management will have to be agree upon before any information is being displayed on the report itself. Interview: An interview where having one opinion against another will be a great method to find a different perspective especially when the person we will be interview have years of experience in the hospitality industry. For example one of our objectives is to find what the current staff working in the hospitality industry think about a fully automated hotel. Not only that, the staff we are comparing might be from different departments completely as a perspective from a Chef point of view will be different than a point of view of the Operation Director. This will help us find what really the advantages (or even the disadvantages) of having a fully automated hotel.

Timescale September November December January October

Activity

Week Number:
Holiday Find idea and topic Choose method of research Finalize aims and objectives Primary data collected Secondary data collected Write proposal draft Submit proposal draft Print proposal Write Literature review Reference Class Planning of field trip Planning of an interview Analysis data Complete remaining chapters Update literature review Revise draft, format for submission Complete draft submission Submit to tutor and await feedback Print, bind Informal Project Presentations Submit the final report KEY DATES

13 12 11 10

15 14

17 16

4 3 2 1 1 2

9 8 7 6 5 3 4

5 6

KEY DATES: 4

1. September 23rd: Submit Proposal. 2. September 27th: Begin fieldwork. 3. October 29th: Complete fieldwork. 4. October 31st: Complete draft and submission. 5. January 9th: Project Presentations*(informal assessment in form of group presentations) 6. January 16th: Final Submission Resources As we mentioned in previous, our research sources are found: on the Internet, field trip, interview, and other texts such as books from our schools library, magazines, and newspaper. The field trip to Lausanne will be some expenditure on transportations that would cost around 20chf for each member. Access to Internet, books, magazines and newspapers are available in the school for free of costs. References: Boulevard51.ch (2011). Hotel du Boulevard. [Internet]. Available from: <http://www.boulevard51.ch/en/> [Accessed 19 September 2011]. Expedia(2011).YOTEL New York at Times Square(New York, USA). [Internet]. Available from:<http://www.expedia.co.uk/New-York-HotelsYOTEL-New-York-At-Times-Square.h4182702.Hotel-Information> [Accessed 19 September 2011]. Hi-Matic.net(2011). History. [Internet]. Available from: <http://www.himatic.net/fr> [Accessed 17 September 2011]. NRI(2010). The Automatic Hotel. [Internet]. <http://www.hotelmanagementnetwork.com/features/feature103426/> [Accessed 01 January 2012]. S.Noorbakhsh(2008). Retail Focus: Super Hotel. [Internet]. Available from:<http://www.japaninc.com/mgz_july_2008_super_hotel> [Accessed 01 January 2012] Technovelgy(2003). Automatic Hotel(Hotel Hendrix). [Internet]. USA, Richard Morgan. Available from: <http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/content.asp?Bnum=1132>[Accessed 18 September 2011] Yotel(2011). Times Square hotels-New York-Yotel. [Internet]. New York, Yotel. Available from: <http://www.yotel.com/Hotels/New%20York%20City.aspx> [Accessed 17 September 2011]