APPLICATION OF LEAN PRINCIPLES TO BOOST THE PRODUCTIVITY AND QUALITY OF HOTELS � OPERATIONS AT SCALE

Abstract

The manufacturing industry’s success in adopting Lean principles has allowed them to see waste, eliminate waste and improve efficiencies while maintaining value-added processes for their customers. If this same Lean system could be applied to the hospitality sector, it could mitigate or even solve the operational problems faced by the hospitality sector; boosting its productivity and quality. With the hospitality sector having the lowest application of Lean principles across the entire service industry and common productivity and quality issues plaguing it, it may be of value to explore Lean principles and their impacts on the operational performance of hotels.

To achieve the objectives of this study, literature reviews were conducted, followed by the development of survey questionnaires and then conducting surveys with 37 targeted respondents. The respondents are Hotel General Managers from countries like China, Thailand, UK, Singapore and the Middle Eastern region. Data analysis were also carried out using a one-sample t-test, Pearson’s correlation, Mann Whitney U-Test and Pareto Analysis. Also, the Delphi method is explored to validate the findings and reach a consensus among a panel of three experts.

This study found that a combination of technical and supportive Lean practices yielded the best boost to productivity and quality. The presence of supportive Lean practices was found to help mitigate the effects of inhibiting factors. Among all the Lean practices, only a handful was sufficient in delivering the most desired benefits and such practices should be the focus of the hospitality sector.