Florida Hospitality Industry

The state of Florida a has a very thriving hospitality industry. Each day hundreds of both
local and foreign visitors come to the state for various fun activities due to it’s warm weather and
excellent beaches. These tourists are the main drivers of the state’s hospitality industry. Thanks
to application of technology to make service delivery easier, cooperation among different players
in the industry, development of various forms of entertainment such as gaming, Florida’s
hospitality industry is likely to grow even more in future. There are, however, significant
challenges that need to be addressed to make the industry thrive more.

Challenges of managing a restaurant operation in Florida

Running a restaurant operation in Florida has many challenges. One of them is extremely
high competition. Florida’s long beautiful beaches and warm weather attract millions of tourists
from both the US and other parts of the world (Harrington et al., 1). With good money to be
made meeting the needs of these tourists, many investors have established restaurants in the
state. Some of these investors have a lot of money to invest in promotion of their businesses,
provision of quality services, and paying for space in coveted locations (Harrington et al., 1).
Such investors have made restaurant industry extremely competitive in the state.

Another challenge is the need to comply with numerous laws and legislations of the state
of Florida that deal with health and safety in hospitality industry. Granted, it is important that
restaurants maintain high safety and health standards in their operations. However, some of the
laws make running of restaurants hard without necessarily improving the well-being of

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customers. For instance, there are just too many licenses that a restaurant needs to have to run its
operations (Harrington et al., 1). Such non business-friendly laws discourage investment in the
industry.

Changing customer tastes is also a challenge in managing a restaurant in the state of
Florida. Customers are increasingly sensitive about the impact of the food that they take on their
health (Harrington et al., 1). They want to eat healthy, organic foods. Unfortunately, such foods
do not come cheap. Restaurants have to spend a lot of money getting such kind of foods in order
to meet changing nutritional needs of customers.

For restaurant industry to thrive in Florida it is important that these challenges be
addressed. Regarding competition, the only way of beating off competitors is providing high
quality services to customers. As a service industry, what matters the most to customers is
quality of services that they receive. As for unhelpful laws, restaurant business owners need to
unite and lobby lawmakers to repeal laws that have a negative impact on business without
helping consumers in any way. For instance, instead of a restaurant having to apply for multiple
licenses, one license should be enough. Lastly, customer changes will continue evolving towards
healthier foods. Restaurant owners cannot reverse this trend. To meet this challenge, they should
liaise with nearby farmers to ensure that they have a steady supply of fresh, organic foods to
serve customers.

Impact of computerization on Florida’s hospitality industry

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Computerization has created nothing short of a revolution in Florida’s hospitality
industry. While in the past customers had to make over-the-counter bookings, nowadays most of
the bookings is done online on the website of hotels (Darsin et al., 2). Such kind of booking has
greatly increased convenience for customers as they can book into any facility of their choice
from any place in the world. Online booking has also greatly reduced paperwork in many
hospitality facilities.

In accounting, computerization has enabled automation of tasks such as storage and
analysis of financial information, and record keeping. Previously such work was tedious, time-
consuming, and prone to errors (Darsin et al., 2). It was also very difficult to back up.
Computerization has, therefore, significantly increased efficiency. In personnel management,
many hotels and restaurants are now using personnel management software to track attendance
of employees, perform reference checking, and hire employees (Darsin et al., 2). The software is
not only more accurate and objective, it also allows such tasks to be performed quite efficiently.

Lastly, hotels are now using cash registers to record sales and print out receipts for
customers. It is, therefore, very easy for hotel managers to check available cash and compare it
with recorded sales (Darsin et al., 2). As a result of the use of the registers, theft and
embezzlement which were previous rampant have now significantly reduced.

Interdependence of food service, lodging, and meeting segments

Food service, lodging, and meeting segments of the hospitality industry may offer
different services but they are highly interdependent. When one of them thrives, the other ones

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thrive as well. For instance, when tourists visit Florida they need a place for lodging and eating.
If the food service is poor, they are unlikely to lodge in the establishment. Thus, for
establishments in the hospitality industry to thrive they need to be good at both the lodging and
food service business. The two services are in turn linked to meeting services. When, for
instance, business executives come for various seminars in the state, they will not only use
conference facilities for their meetings but also lodgings and food services. The three services
are, therefore, highly connected.

How the three hospitality segments can improve their relationship

The three hospitality service segments can improve their relationship in order to better
meet the needs of customers. The best way of achieving such improved relationship is through
joint advertisement of their services. Given that they offer different services, they are not exactly
competitors. However, they are after the same customers. Instead of seeking to attract them
independently, they should jointly advertise their services. Secondly, they should cooperate in
delivering the services. For instance, restaurants should liaise with lodging facilities so that when
customers come to them they direct them to the lodging facilities for accommodation. Such
cooperation will help the three segments attract the most customers possible at relatively low
costs.

Impact of gaming on Florida’s hospitality industry

Gaming is legal in the state of Florida. It certainly has a positive impact on the hospitality
industry. The gaming industry attracts customers from all over the US and other parts of the

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world (Jarvis, 3). When they come they not only spend money in gaming but also in hotels and
restaurants where they lodge and eat. Thus, growth of the gaming industry in Florida will
certainly have a positive impact on the hospitality industry.

Conclusion

The hospitality industry in Florida is mainly composed of food services, meeting, and
lodging services. The three services are highly interdependent. When one of them thrives, the
other ones also thrive. To meet the challenges of the industry and benefit from opportunities such
as technological development and expansion of related industries such as gaming, the three
hospitality segments need to work more together in fields such as marketing and lobbying for
laws that are business-friendly.

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Source List

1. Julie Harrington, Hongmei Chi, and Lori Pennington. 2017. “Florida tourism.” Florida’s
   Climate: Changes, Variations, & Impacts
2. Jose Darsin, Joshua Rosner, Cristina Urdaneta, and Mariana Yepes. 2019.
   “Marriott International: Exploring and Understanding Disruption in the Hospitality
   Industry in South Florida.” Journal of Multidisciplinary Research (1947-2900) 11,
   no. 1
3. Robert Jarvis. 2018. “Control the Casinos and Stop the Dogs: Florida’s 2018 Proposed
   Constitutional Amendments.” Gaming Law Review 22, no. 7.