ASSIGNMENT BRIEF
You have recently been appointed by an investment company who wish to relaunch the Yang Sing Hotel (see Case Study Introduction below) under a new name after recently buying the building but they have concerns over the problems that caused the Yang Sing Hotel to close.
Your assignment is to write a report on the prospective New Yang Sing Hotel as a project – considering what is likely to go well and what not so well. Your report should therefore focus on the project management aspects including the key risks e.g. loss of money and overrunning its schedule and not meeting the performance requirements expected from a project of this type.
You will need to produce a detailed business case and project plan, and any recommendations to the Project Board that you consider appropriate. You may want to use some of the sub-headings below, but that is entirely up to you: this is not a template.
• Introduction - identify the major planning problems with the Yang Sing project and suggest how project management techniques might have helped to mitigate these problems.
Discuss in your report, the following for your suggested project:
• Project objectives
• Performance Measurement/ Management of quality
• Stakeholder analysis
• Activities to be carried out and scheduling including any milestones: your project plan must include a schedule created with Microsoft Project (MSP) or equivalent.
• Resources to be used including project budget
• Constraints and Risks
• Communications to be used
In addition please discuss the following in your report:
• Possible success/ failure factors for this project
• Considerations concerning future operations
Include a List of References at the end of the document presenting all the sources used.
ASSIGNMENT CASE STUDY INTRODUCTION
The assignment contains information from news and other sources. We have sought to make this as close as possible to a live project brief. You may wish to conduct relevant research but please do not contact anyone involved without first contacting your module tutor.
Yang Sing hotel Manchester
Advertisement for the hotel
The Yang Sing Oriental offers 48 individually designed bedrooms and suites inspired by the cultures of Japan, China, India, Thailand and beyond fused together in a grade II listed building in the heart of Manchester. We offer a level of service never seen before in the city. Guests can tailor make their service using the online booking system, selecting from our extensive personalised menus from pillows and Japanese silk duvets to your complimentary bathroom products and even which scent will fill your room.
A boutique Hotel which was refurbished from a former paper mill, the hotel extends over seven floors and includes 48 individually designed bedrooms, bar, lounges, breakfast and spa rooms and is located in a prominent position on the corner of Princess and Portland streets, close to the China Town area within Manchester city centre. The conversion of the mill to a hotel cost £4 Million.
This building is a Grade II listed “Manchester” warehouse, with cast iron internal columns, timber beams and masonry external walls. The building had been left vacant for a number of years and extensive repair works were required to prevent further deterioration (to remove dry and wet rot, leaking roof, leaning parapet brickwork etc.), before plans to convert into hotel were developed.
Structural conversion works included removing the original central staircase and lift; constructing a new lift and stair-core, repair and strengthening works to timber floor beams; adaption and strengthening works to roof trusses to allow formation of mezzanine floor to top floor suites; formation of new plant room at roof level; repair of cast iron column, and enhancing stability of external masonry walls. The considerable work required meant that rebuilding and redesign work went over budget and over time.
Yang Sing Closes
Manchester Evening News, 2/3/2009
Yang Sing Oriental, the luxury Manchester city centre boutique hotel, closed its doors today less than eight months after it opened - victim of the deepening economic crisis. The company will be placed into the hands of a liquidator.
Managing director Gerry Yeung, who realised a long-standing ambition when he launched the £8m project in a listed building in Princess Street last July, said: “It is a tragedy. My team are amazing and one of the saddest outcomes of this is that 30 people will be made redundant. Together we have created the best hotel in Manchester and business was growing. Everyone who stayed here loved it, but we couldn’t have picked a worse time to open a luxury hotel: with a global banking crisis, credit crunch, and the worst recession since the 1930s.”
“I have committed an additional £1m of my personal money to the Yang Sing Oriental since it was launched, but with room rates being massively discounted across the luxury hotel market, and with no end to the recession in sight, the business is just not sustainable.”
The nationally renowned Yang Sing Restaurant, located next door and run jointly by Mr Yeung and his brother Harry for more than 30 years, is unaffected by the hotel’s closure.
The Yang Sing Oriental offered 48 individually designed bedrooms and suites inspired by the cultures of the Far East, with rack rate tariffs ranging from £179 - £569 per night.
A statement on the hotel’s website said: “Gerry Yeung and his amazing team at Hotel Yang Sing Oriental deeply regret to inform you that, despite their hard work and best efforts, Yang Sing Oriental Ltd has been placed into liquidation.
“As a result of this, Hotel Yang Sing Oriental closed its doors on Monday 2nd March 2009.
“We thank you all most sincerely for your support and the generous and wonderful reviews that you have kindly sent to us. It has been an honour and a privilege to welcome you to the hotel over the past eight months. We are so glad that you have enjoyed staying with us.”
Critics were impressed by the hotel after its launch. The international travel website TripAdvisor rated the Yang Sing Oriental Number 1 of 147 Manchester hotels in its Popularity Index.
A newspaper travel writer said: “Manchester is a world class destination and has the accommodation to match. It [Yang Sing Oriental] is incredibly stylish, luxurious and laid back…”
Guest feedback on the Late Rooms website showed that 98 per cent of visitors would recommend the hotel and would return.
The hotel was full at the weekend, but guests were taking advantage of rate cuts of up to 50 per cent which are now becoming commonplace across the industry.
Gerry Yeung, the boss of the city centre boutique hotel, told Manchester Confidential that there were a combination of factors all rooted in the economic crisis which have led to the failure of the business.
“We’re operating at 60% capacity at the moment which isn’t too bad but the problem is we can’t get the room rates we need. Even at 60% we’re discounting. In another economic time I believe we would have been fine, but we opened just as things start to get bad globally. We were ambitious too, we wanted to provide very individual accommodation, with 24 hour room service and five star customer service generally.”
Funding for the hotel was provided by the Yeungs, private investors and Natwest Commercial Banking. Total losses are estimated in the region of £7 Million.
Sample Solution