Projet de consultation

The consultancy project involved appraising and advising an hospitality establishment in its management and its strategic decisions. As hospitality consultant, Roscoe (2001:14) stated that:

“Consultant enables client to generate and sustain improved organisational performance by providing independent management and specialist expertise.”

Following the definition the consultancy project realised by the author was in total adequacy with this definition because this project aimed to consulting a new hotel in its communication process in order to enhance the image of the establishment as much as possible. This consultancy project represented a rich experience that enables to share with the client all the knowledge learnt previously and apply this knowledge in a professional context.

The first wealth of the consultancy project is the group work. Indeed, due to the fact that each group member lived his first experience as junior consultant, a lot of excitement prevailed within the group because members were impatient to demonstrate their skills and their knowledge to others. Benson (2009) argued that the advantages of working in a group were the affluences of different ideas and the sharing of skills; these benefits have been widely discovered during the group work. In fact, each group member came from different background and was pleased to use his skills to impel the group. Thereby due to the enthusiasm and the desire of everyone the group has been led by a strong motivation and a great dynamic that rendered the job precise, professional and well elaborated.

However, in a group work, all suggested ideas could not be used and applied and sometimes the group members were obliged to explain to the other that his idea was not in adequacy with the project. Telling to someone that his opinion is not helpful for the group and that someone else had a better idea is always delicate to say and often vexes the member concerned. The author was often forced to deal with this kind of obstacle and to resolve such a problem the speaker has to precisely explain why the suggestion of the member has not been chosen by making him understand that his idea is good and reflected but inappropriate to the project.

During the consultancy project, the group followed a prescriptive style. This style has been judged not very efficient because it was the group that identified the different problems and proposed some recommendations and thereby the client did not always believe the group. However, if the group followed a supportive approach the client would have been able to realize himself the problems that occurred in his company.

The contacts with the client and the content of mission have been rather enriching and instructive. Concerning the mission, the group was in charge of the communication of the establishment. The group gave a lot of recommendations regarding the joining to social media website (Facebook, Trip Advisor) and to other professional websites and label (Booking.com, Logis, Smart Box). The group also provided a lot of different tools to supports their advices and to help the client over the long term (Forecast P&L excel spreadsheet with or withtout the subscription to Booking.com, Benchmarking, Facebook users guide). Regarding the client, his lack of knowledge in the hospitality sector allowed the group to be well listened and understood. Nevertheless,

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