CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION

The tourism sector lives in a time when travel demands are changing at the same pace as flight time schedules and is trying to deal with seeing all the way through change and tradition. The purpose of this blog is to find out how two of the most prominent organisations across the hospitality industry, i.e., Hilton Hotels and the tour operations industry, Jet2 Holidays at that, develop their products, their approach to stakeholder relations, and the way they address the contemporary issues in a strategic manner (BHA, 2020).

The identified areas of interest (hospitality and tour operations) apply to two of the most vibrant sectors in the industry. Businesses such as Hilton create the experience of millions of people regarding travelling, whether on business in a big city or on a luxurious beach vacation. At the same time, tour operators such as Jet2 Holidays create all-inclusive holiday packages including flights, accommodations, and local services.

Fundamentally, tourism is anchored on products that are way above the tangible products. Tourism products are a thoughtfully combined portfolio of services, experiences, and non-tangible utilities that culminate into a value added to the traveller—a beach-view room, a kid-friendly resort, a city package holiday inclusive of airport pickups, and so on. These products are geared towards transforming travel from just movement into experiences.

This blog is designed in such a way that it guides the reader through the text and covers the information in a specific order: it begins with a comparative analysis of organisation and stakeholders and continues with the discussion on the approaches to product development and problems presently experienced. It ends with actionable suggestions on how such brands can continue to please customers, serve employees, and be frontiers in sustainability. In a rapidly changing tourism environment, the exploration of such strategies demonstrates what actually is required to survive and stay afloat.

Figure 1: Tourism products (Source Business Marketing, 2020).

 

 

CHAPTER TWO: COMPARATIVE ORGANISATIONAL AND STAKEHOLDER ANALYSIS

2.1 Organisational Overview

The modern travelling world has a lot to offer today: there is the renowned worldwide brand Hilton Hotels, a successful global company that has been constantly reinventing itself every step of the way. There is Jet2 Holidays, the fastest-growing London-based tour operator on the market. The two organisations have taken unique routes, each of which is supported by powerful stakeholder environments that define the model that travellers experience today (Honchar et al., 2023). Now let’s look into their quests, positions in the market, and forces that made them so successful.

Hilton Hotels: A Heritage of Luxury-

Figure 2: Hilton Hotels (Source: Hilton, 2022)

Hilton Hotels came into existence in the 1919s when Conrad Hilton bought a hotel in Texas. Innovations such as the first airport hotel and the introduction of a centralised reservations system came to fruition at Hilton over the decades (Kim, Lee and Han, 2019). The brand is today a constituent of Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc., which owns, manages, and grants franchises on more than 7,600 properties in 126 countries and territories. Hilton is a big enough brand with such iconic sub-brands as Waldorf Astoria, Conrad, and DoubleTree to introduce a wide range of options to various market segments, including ultra-luxury and midscale ones.

Current market positioning:

The Hilton digital transformation: The new strategy of Hilton is inclined towards digital transformation, sustainability, and guest loyalty. It has a 180-million-member-strong award-winning Hilton Honours program, underscoring the fact that it has caught the fancy of both leisure and business travellers. Economically, Hilton has registered revenue of more than 11 billion dollars in 2024, which goes to the recovery process and boom in international travelling as a result of the pandemic (Dorta‑González and González‑Betancor, 2021). The Hilton company is still among the five most valuable hotel brands globally in the brand value ranking.

The only thing that can make Hilton unique nowadays is its transformation into a sustainable and inclusive corporation. With the help of the Travelling with Purpose program, it is expected to reduce the environmental footprint by half and increase social investment by twofold by 2030. Such holistic practice conforms to the expectations of the stakeholders and makes Hilton relevant in the increasingly mindful market (Lu and Zhu, 2019).

Jet2 Holidays: A British Success Story-

Figure 3: Jet2holidays (Source: Travel Bulletin, 2018)

Jet2 Holidays, created in 2007, is a holiday group of Dart Group (now Jet2 plc). Operating on an ATOL-euro scheme, through offering flights, hotels, and transfers in one ATOL-packet at a competitive price system, it soon reached household status in the UK. Jet2 holidays is operational today and caters to millions of British holidaymakers every year, as it operates the airline Jet2.com to fly its tourists and vacationers into preferred destinations in Europe and beyond.

Current market positioning:

Although regarded as a recent entry into the market, Jet2 Holidays has flown into the sky as the largest tour operator in the UK in terms of passengers, leaving TUI UK and others far behind. It transported more than 6 million passengers in 2024, and it received revenue exceeding 5 billion pounds (BHA, 2020). The slogan of the brand is: Package holidays one can trust, which offers low-cost but also reliable services. Jet2 Holidays regularly attains awards in customer service due to their fun staff, clear pricing, and efforts in ensuring the customers are satisfied.

One of the most impressive characteristics of Jet2 Holidays' strategy is its orientation on family-friendly and all-inclusive services that are offered to UK families that have a middle income and are ready to spend money on services that assure them high levels of convenience and price certainty. The winter sun and city break markets that it has newly ventured into have also assisted its portfolio diversification and cushioned it against the fluctuation of demand (Chen, 2017).

2.2 Stakeholder Analysis

All the big tourism brands have a system of stakeholders who help them to build their strategies, beginning with product design to market triumph. Who are they, and what do they expect?

Figure 4: Stakeholder mapping (Source: Shutterstock, 2020)

Hilton Hotels

Guests

Both a luxury Conrad hotel and a midscale Hampton by Hilton will bring quality and standard of expectation in terms of modern amenities and personal experience to the guests. Greater digital convenience, such as app-based check-in, and sustainable business operations are slowly becoming areas of greater importance to the guests who want to support the business operations that align with their values (Honchar et al., 2023).

The clients also affect the product development of Hiltons because they set trends in the actions of Hiltons, such as the implementation of eco-friendly rooms, and the digital services and wellness amenities that they requested affect the design evolution of the product.

Team Members (people working in the company)

Hilton has more than 450,000 employees who work in different countries. The members of the teams desire competitive remuneration, career development opportunities, and inclusive workplaces. Culture at Hilton, which has been ranked a number of times as a great place to work, has a direct impact on customer satisfaction and operational perfection.

Employees co-create the guest experience by living Hilton's values of service, which have a direct effect on brand reputation, loyalty, and revenues (Hassanien, Dale and Clarke, 2019).

Investors

The earnings and achievement of profits by the company are demanded by shareholders and institutional investors on an accrual basis. The ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) commitments made by Hilton have been raising the attention of investors in recent years (Caddeo and Pinna, 2021).

The demands presented by their expectations force Hilton to come up with green building programs, high-demand market expansions, and the use of technology to increase their efficiency and margins.

Jet2 Holidays

Customers

The Jet2 Holidays offer good value, reliability, and good, friendly service to the holidaymakers. They will demand a fair price, open booking rates, and an effortless experience starting at the point of departure to the day of arrival.

New products (e.g., all-inclusive packages and flexible booking options) are developed based on customer feedback and allow Jet2 Holidays to remain competitive in a price-competitive environment (Costa and Costa, 2022).

Employees

Jet2 Holidays has approximately 15,000 employees, who include pilots, cabin crew, call centre reps, and holiday reps. Permanent employment, fair treatment, and culture are all valued by employees, including those in the very seasonal travel industry.

An engaged employee base contributes to providing Jet2 Holidays with the award-winning customer service, which will support its brand commitment to dependability and friendliness (Buhalis and Law, 2018).

Industry Regulators

Organisations, such as the UK Civil Aviation Authority and ATOL, make sure Jet2 Holidays complies with the safety, financial protection, and consumer rights regulations. The compliance is not optional but rather a set of designing products, including bonding arrangements, transparent pricing, and others.

Regulatory expectations are making Jet2 Holidays regulate its operations, and with this, operations are resilient and stand to enhance customer trust and guard the market share (Hall, 2018).

Summary

Hilton Hotels and Jet2 Holidays are unlikely to have the same travel niche, yet both companies possess market power, which is based on a complex waltz with various stakeholders: guests who want to receive a flawless, sustainable experience; employees who help to bring the brand promise to life in every day of operation; and investors or regulators who lay the foundation of long-term stability. They are successful because they also tell that the products in tourism are not designed in boardrooms only, but they are created in real time with people who are the most important.

 

 

 

CHAPTER THREE: STRATEGIC COMPARISON – CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES

 

3.1 Tourism Product Development

On the surface, Hilton Hotels and Jet2 Holidays have little in common, as they operate in different corners of the tourism industry. However, just taking a little deeper enables to see how each of the brands establishes attractive offers by way of product mix, novelty and customer experience (Bortherton, 2016).

Hilton hotels: Beyond the room experience

Figure 5: Hilton hotel facilities (Source: Hilton, 2020)

Hilton Hotels has a portfolio of 22 labels, among them super-rich brands including Waldorf Astoria and Conrad and lifestyle brands such as Canopy and Motto. It is through this range that Hilton can attract nearly all of the traveller segments, i.e., business, leisure, families, and digital nomads (Buhalis and Law, 2018).

The brand specialises in high-quality experiences: big rooms, wellness services, distinctive meals, and system incentives via the Hilton Honours system. Hilton has launched digital keys, linked rooms, where guests can use their phones to adjust the lights and control the entertainment, and affiliated fitness companies offer in-room workouts in recent years (Camillo, 2019). The concept of sustainability now finds its way into product design: hotels are equipped with water-efficient fixtures, minimum single-use plastic, and energy-saving technologies.

Hilton's value proposition revolves around quality, consistency and global presence so that the guests can be sure what to expect, be it in London, Dubai or Tokyo.

Jet 2 holidays: Holidays made simple

Figure 6: Jet2holidays facilities (Source: Travel Weekly, 2023)

Jet2 Holidays was successful, having based its operation on the package holidays designed to suit British travellers. The brand mixes Jet2.com flights, hotel options that have been hand-picked and additional extras, such as transfers and in-resort service under the safety of an ATOL license (Holloway and Humphries, 2021).

It has family-centred resorts, adults-only retreats, urban holidays, winter sports packages and inclusive packages. It is all about convenience: customers making a travel plan can make their reservations online, add seat reservations or luggage, and depend on Jet2 representatives in the destination location (BHA, 2020).

Jet2 Holidays' innovation is feasible and client-based. Credit would be given to flexible booking policies, assured sunshine programs and straight forward mobile app that all make the brand competitive. Value proposition is based on the idea of reliability, clear prices, and approachable service that does not make holidays stressful and does not incur extra costs.

Customer Engaged Services and Quality

The two brands are very zealous in the engagement of customers. Hilton Honours tailors its stays according to preferences, and Jet 2 Holidays constantly updates customers about their flights and has customer services available on the ground (Kansakar, Munir and Shabani, 2017).

Regarding the quality of service, Hilton is expected to have a good reputation for warm hospitality, introductions to which Jet2 Holidays can match with numerous awards granted to the company based on the quality of customer service. Hilton has high-touch luxury as its goal, and Jet2 Holidays succeeds in providing friendly and fast performance, which seems personal even with low rates (Fletcher et al., 2018).

3.2 Strategic Challenges and Organisational Responses

Brands in the tourism industry are experiencing a combination of international and domestic pressures, namely, sustainability requirements, increasing expenses, digital transformation, and customer satisfaction in terms of convenience in service. Hilton Hotels and Jet2 Holidays have numerous similar issues, but address them depending on their markets.

Figure 7: Sustainability measures by Jet2holidays (Source: Jet2.com, 2024)

Challenge 1: Sustainability and impact on the climate

Now, the travellers also demand responsible behaviour of their brands, and fulfilling the promise of sustainability may be expensive and complex.

The answer of Hilton is holistic. In its goal to reduce carbon and water intensity by 75 per cent and 50 per cent, respectively, by 2030, Hilton has developed the environment-friendly strategy known as Travel with Purpose. New constructions are designed by green designers, and older hotels are refitted with energy-efficient systems (Ertuna, Karatas‑Ozkan and Yamak, 2018). Waste management, local values, and collaboration with NGOs make sustainability remain in the minds of the guests.

Jet2 Holidays, in its turn, is oriented towards practical actions: it makes investments in younger, more fuel-efficient aircraft, offsets carbon emissions on all Jet2.com flights, and collaborates with its partners in hotels, motivating them to use sustainable practices. In its promotion, the brand features eco-certified hotels, which are attractive to consumers who are more concerned with being greener (Dorta‑González and González‑Betancor, 2021).

Challenge 2: Pressures of raising prices and inflation

The increase in the cost of energy, inflation of their wages, and disruption of the supply chain threaten the bottom line.

Hilton also approaches this in terms of operational efficiency: They use data to decrease the amount of waste, optimise housekeeping tasks, and control energy consumption. Technology, such as AI-based demand forecasting, can be used to make adjustments in terms of staff and prices in real time (Kim, Lee and Han, 2019).

Jet2 Holidays keeps scale and simplicity under control. It saves third-party expenses by negotiating mass contracts in hotels and its airline. The old aircraft are cheaper to run and maintain, but this is because of the upgrade costs incurred to acquire new ones (Montañes‑Del‑Río and Medina‑Garrido, 2023).

Challenge 3: Digital transformation

 Holidaymakers desire to browse, book, customise, and personalise holidays through the web, which is driving digital innovation by brands.

Hilton is running at the front with its Hilton Honours app, digital keys, and the so-called Connected Room that allows streaming content and changing settings with a phone. On the one hand, AI yields better loyalty with marketing offers being personalised.

Jet2 Holidays is investing in mobile applications, online check-in, and flight updates in real time. It has also introduced AI chat assistants to reduce the time and magnitude of its customer support on its current websites, where they can assist the customers in matters concerning their bookings and frequently asked questions.

Challenge 4: Location variation of service

In the case of Hilton, it is always difficult to maintain the same level of quality in thousands of establishments in different countries. Quality is guarded by regular auditing, training of the staff, and world brand standards (Chen, 2017).

The same can be applied to Jet2 Holidays: regularity of hotel partners overseas. Its reaction is in terms of on-the-ground customer service staff, supplier assessments on a regular basis, and improvement based on feedback (Caddeo and Pinna, 2021).

Challenge 5: Competition in the market

Hilton is positioned against other hotel groups and short-term rental platforms such as Airbnb. It contrasts other programs by being loyal, having a wide brand portfolio, and providing luxurious experiences (Lu and Zhu, 2019).

Jet2 Holidays is mortal against low-cost airways and other tour operators. It has a customer-centric plan that involves trust, ease of package, and award-winning service that ensures the customers visit again.

In Summary

Hilton Hotels and Jet2 Holidays demonstrate the effects of divergent business models on the approaches to the common industry challenges. One is emphasising top-quality, technology-orientated hospitality; the other is on value-added, comfortable holidays. Both demonstrate that being successful in tourism today does not depend only on what they are offering, but on how they can change, innovate, and remain faithful to their promise even as the world around they adjusts.

 

 

CHAPTER FOUR: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS

 

Hilton Hotels and Jet2 Holidays might be serving significantly different types of travellers, but what enables both businesses to do well is their ability to simultaneously focus on more traditional and innovative solutions. The century-long record of luxury services and hospitality that Hilton has had is equalled by its acceptance of digital radicalisation and green construction. In the meantime, Jet2 Holidays has reduced the complexity and the leverage of customer confidence to its dominance of the market, showing that sometimes the package holidays may be renewed, non-rigid, and personal.

In the middle of the success stories of the two brands are well-handled stakeholder relationships. Customers demand smooth, individualised, and environmentally friendly business-like experiences. Workers seek inclusive work environments, decent remuneration, and job prospects. Market participants and regulators require accountability, resilience, and long-term growth. This process of listening and responding of these organisations to these groups directly influences the design of products, brand fidelity, and competitiveness.

Recommendations:

However, difficulties exist. The targets set under sustainability are increasing in their ambitions, and the digital market is quicker than ever before, and the cost pressures are challenging even the most efficient of operations. Hilton and Jet2 Holidays are beginning to undertake such issues, but there is more to be done.

The future Hilton may further involve its guests in the process of co-creation with local communities to bring a more authentic and locally inspired stay besides benefiting local economies (Page and Connell, 2002). Service in the international markets can be reinforced by investing more in staff professional development in the area of cultural intelligence and inclusivity.

In the case of Jet2 Holidays, customer feedback makes it easy to improve on offerings by using digital resources such as artificial intelligence-based sentiment analysis to adjust packages as quickly as possible to keep up with changing demands. It would also increase the attraction towards sustainability-conscious travellers to extend the cooperation with eco-certified hotels and promote their options more aggressively in advertising.