Majestic Hotel and Wounded Veterans Case Study (Evaluation)
Majestic Hotel and Wounded Veterans Case Study
Research Plan
Background Research Findings
Ongoing local and national negative press coverage including new stories, editorials, columns and letters to the editor.
Disabled vets groups have asked the Affirmative Action agency in Washington to investigate their claim of discrimination.
Majestic Hotel is being picketed by disabled and veteran groups and headquarters are receiving hundreds of letters, calls, faxes and emails from angry citizens.
The hotel chain is experiencing hundreds of reservation cancellations and the daily rate of new reservations and restaurant sales are down 20%.
Research Methods & Publics
The plan included numerous research methods intended to target a couple of key publics. The publics targeted include the following:
Veteran groups
Disabled persons groups
Disabled veterans groups
Veterans
Disabled persons
Locals around the specific hotel at which the incident occurred
Employees and managers at the hotel
Guests at hotel
The methods included in-depth interviews and focus groups. Focus groups were conducted with veterans and disabled groups in order to get a grasp of a larger group sentiment. In-depth interviews were conducted with hotel employees and managers as well as with opinion leaders within veterans and disabled groups.
These two methods were chosen because the affected groups in this incident are both pre-packaged audiences. Going straight to the source and attempting to remedy and get a better handle on the situation from their perspective is the most effective way to address this problem head on. They help give a more in-depth understanding of the severity of the problem as well as help isolate specific ways in which the hotel chain can address these grievances.
The goal was to conduct at least 50 in-depth interviews and 25 focus groups, which was accomplished. The interview and focus group questions targeted personal sentiments and ideas on ways to improve and address the situation at hand.
All research methods included demographic questions that address the following:
Age
Ethnicity
Gender
Demographics for Focus Groups & Interviews
Demographics:
Age
18-29 → 4%
30-44 → 16%
45-64 → 37%
65+ → 43%
Ethnicity
Caucasian/White → 54%
African American → 33%
Hispanic/Latino → 11%
Asian → 1%
Other → 1%
Gender
Male → 68%
Female → 22%
Background Questions (only applied to focus groups)
Whether or not they’re a veteran.
Yes → 61%
No → 39%
Whether or not they have a disability.
Yes → 32%
No → 68%
Whether or not they’ve ever stayed at the hotel.
Yes → 49%
No → 51%
Focus Group Findings
Veterans Groups Focus Group Findings
The following were trends witnessed throughout the 16 focus groups conducted with veterans.
Felt the hotel hadn’t done enough to try and make it up to the affected group.
Felt there wasn’t an adequate explanation as to why the affected group was denied the space.
Felt the hotel was taking too long to react decisively and provide a public explanation for their actions.
Felt there was a lack of public apology and acknowledgment of wrongdoing on behalf of the hotel management.
Felt there were a number of ways for the hotel to make things up to the veterans and disabled persons community and that these actions would improve relations.
Disabled Persons Groups Focus Group Findings
The following were trends witnessed throughout the 9 focus groups conducted with disabled persons.
Felt that the incident had more to do with the fact that the group was a disabled veterans group than a veterans group.
Felt there must be something wrong with the room/hotel space that the hotel was hiding.
Felt the hotel hadn’t done enough to try and make it up to the affected group.
Felt there wasn’t an adequate explanation as to why the affected group was denied the space.
Felt the hotel was taking too long to react decisively and provide a public explanation for their actions.
Felt that the hotel contributing to some of the affected groups’ organizations or hosting future events for these affected groups could be a good way to begin rebuilding these relationships.
Felt that the hotel management and chain working to improve its relationship with the affected groups would largely resolve the situation if they acted quickly and sincerely.
In-Depth Interview Findings
Veterans and Disabled Persons Opinion Leaders In-Depth Interview Findings
The following were trends witnessed throughout the 15 in-depth interviews conducted with veterans and disabled persons opinion leaders.
Were willing to work with hotel management to find ways to make the hotels more accommodating for disabled persons.
Were not willing to speak with the press on behalf of the hotel unless they felt their groups were properly satisfied with the hotel again.
Were receptive to the idea of the hotel hosting a number of events for affected groups at a discount rate.
Felt the hotel was taking too long to adequately respond to the situation.
Felt the groups they represented were disrespected by the manager who turned them away and not given a satisfactory reason as to why they were denied the room or given a satisfactory alternative.
Hotel Employee and Manager In-Depth Interview Findings
The following were trends witnessed throughout the 35 in-depth interviews conducted with Majestic Hotel employees and managers.
Weren’t entirely clear on what happened between the manager and the affected group.
Felt the accusations of disrespect and intolerance on behalf the hotel’s staff were unwarranted and didn’t accurately describe the staff’s sentiment and behavior.
Felt personally attacked by the protests.
Felt hotel management hadn’t done enough to take responsibility for what happened.
Were more than happy to speak with and work with the affected groups’ opinion leaders to make the hotels more accommodating for disabled persons.
Were willing to work with hotel management to improve the situation as best they could if management began addressing the protests publically.
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
Brand recognition due to the fact that the hotel chain is established and has hotels in numerous cities.
Employees want to put on a strong, united front and show that they are in no way, shape or form intolerant of any of the affected groups.
Only one hotel is being actively picketed.
Weaknesses
The hotel is not equipped for disabled guests.
Though only one hotel is being actively picketed, the entire hotel chain is suffering from decreased sales.
Many people are very angry and the press is capitalizing on that on a national level, it’s hard to de-sensationalize that.
People are actively protesting outside the hotel’s doors, making it an intimidating thing to physically approach or enter the hotel.
There are multiple disadvantaged groups involved here, which hits a hot button for twice as many people as if there was just one.
There is a general consensus that the hotel management is taking too long to:
Take responsibility for what happened.
Publicly issue an apology.
Speak to the press about what happened.
Demonstrate remorse by either offering something to the affronted groups or fixing the issue the hotel had that made it unsuitable for that particular group.
Opportunities
The amount of press surrounding this event, even though it’s negative, means the hotel name is in front of many people. If the hotel can make a positive comeback there will be many people and news organizations ready to notice.
The hotel is not equipped for disabled guests. This provides an opportunity to make sweeping renovations to amend this problem while all eyes are on the hotel.
Both employees and opinion leaders within the disabled persons and veterans communities are willing to work towards improving this relationship, but it would need to happen quickly.
People are anticipating that the hotel will act in a way to show remorse over what happened which means when the hotel does there will be press.
Among the ideas collected during focus groups and interviews, there are a couple that would go a long ways towards repairing the damaged relationship the hotel chain now has with the affected groups. These include:
Donating to causes that support these groups.
Actively working to make all of the hotels disabled persons friendly.
Offering to host, at a discounted rate, events and receptions for these groups in the future.
Many people are angry right now and are ready to express that anger. While it may seem intimidating right now, this provides an opportunity to get a lot of honest feedback on how the hotel chain can improve.
Threats
The hotel is not equipped for disabled guests, and if this information gets out to the general press this is a big and serious problem.
The hotel’s management is already seen as taking too long to respond to the problem, any longer delay may risk in permanently harming the brand’s image.
The fact that many people are currently and continuously cancelling reservations as a result of this negative press shows that this isn’t dying down on its own.
The Affirmative Action agency in Washington getting involved means that the risk of it getting out the hotels aren’t equipped for disabled guests is elevated.
