Dear student,
Kindly take note that your assignment requirement is
slightly different from these sample assignments. The
content is not necessarily accurate for you to use.
Please adhere to the assignment requirement,
guidelines and brief that stated in the Module Study
Guide – Brand Reputation Management. By looking at
this sample assignment, you will be able to understand
the structure and format for a boardroom report.
Your tutor,
Sherine Kwok
14 April 2021
Rosewood Hotel Georgia Boardroom Report
Submitted by: 21437377
Rosewood Hotel Georgia Boardroom Report
Submitted by: 21437377
Executive Summary
The Rosewood Hotel Group brand has been carefully cultivated over the last four decades. This
document serves to educate the Rosewood Board of Directors on a recent incident at the
Rosewood-managed hotel in Vancouver; the threat to our reputation; the management’s
response to date; and suggested alterations to those practices. Maintaining an excellent
reputation is critical to Rosewood’s continued financial viability and success.
The Rosewood Hotel Group was founded in 1980 and today we are expanding at a rapid clip
worldwide. In 2019, an incident occurred at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia in Vancouver which
has threatened the brand locally and globally by endangering the positive emotional bonds with
our stakeholders that have been thoughtfully developed over the years (Ponzi, 2011).
This incident in Vancouver centres around the accusations of sexual harassment by several
female employees on site, which were allegedly ignored by the hotel management team. After
involving the local union, the employees went on to instigate a strike of 200 employees (BC
Local News, 2019).
The RepTrak methodology has been selected for this report to examine the reputation drivers
and the impacts to stakeholders as it utilizes both the emotional components and the rational
reputation drivers behind them. The underperforming drivers identified are Products & Services,
Workplace Quality, Executive Leadership and Corporate Governance, each of which
subsequently impacted a number of stakeholders, as described.
Utilizing the Vision, Culture, Image perspective, the management response to each stage of the
incident at the Hotel Georgia is outlined and critically analysed. This includes the initial lack of
acknowledgement of the employee complaints, the denial of formal allegations and limited
communication to media and guests alike.
Although this incident transpired several months ago and media coverage and online
discussions have ceased, service failures are remembered by stakeholders for a long time.
Therefore, it is important to continue working to restore the reputation into the future (Su, 2019).
Recommendations are put forth in three categories: enhance employee climate; improve crisis
management; and unite vision, culture and image.
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Table of Contents
1. INTRODUCTION …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 5
2. THE UNDERPERFORMED REPUTATION DRIVERS AND IMPACTS TO STAKEHOLDERS ………. 6
3. THE CURRENT MANAGEMENT PRACTICE AND ALTERNATIVE PERSPECTIVES…………………. 10
4. CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ALTERATIONS TO PRACTICES ………………….. 12
5. REFERENCES ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………… 16
6. APPENDICES ……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….. 18
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1. Introduction
The Rosewood Hotel Group was founded in Texas in the United States in 1980. In 2011 it was
purchased by New World Hospitality, a billionaire Hong Kong family business, and the
granddaughter of the founder was instated as the CEO. Sonia Cheng brought a new
perspective to the brand. Today Rosewood is known for its simple elegance, modern amenities
and ties to local heritage (Handley, 2019).
The Rosewood brand owns and manages 29 hotels around the world and another 21 are under
development. In 2011, an iconic property in Vancouver, Canada, the Hotel Georgia, reopened
under Rosewood management after a complete renovation (Rosewood, 2020). In 2019, an
incident occurred at the Rosewood Hotel Georgia which has threatened the brand locally and
globally.
The reputation of luxury brands such as Rosewood’s derives from the emotional bonds it
maintains with its stakeholders, including trust, good feeling, admiration and esteem. These are
in turn driven by rational dimensions, which are discussed below (Ponzi 2011). The emotional
attachments have been threatened by the incident in question, thereby endangering our brand
reputation.
Unfortunately, sexual harassment is known to pervade the hospitality industry and the hotels
under Rosewood management are not exempt (Bernstein, 2011). The incident in Vancouver
centres around the accusation of sexual harassment by several female employees on site. Last
year these employees reported the hotel management team had been informed that male
guests, including high profile and high-spending guests, had touched and spoken to them
inappropriately. According to these employees, the hotel management team ignored their
complaints (CBC News, 2019).
This led the employees to file a human rights complaint against the hotel with the British
Columbia Human Rights Tribunal for gender discrimination, an overly sexualized work
environment and lack of appropriate response to harassment and assault in the workplace. The
local union, Unite Here, was also alerted. The union conducted a survey and more than 50% of
female employees reported unwanted touch, uncomfortable behaviour and sexual comments
(Appendix A). When Hotel Georgia continued to deny allegations, the union organized a strike
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of 200 employees (BC Local News, 2019). The strike lasted 58 days between September and
November, 2019 (Holliday, 2019).
The allegations were featured on national news. Along with many interrupted guest stays,
several other stakeholders were also negatively affected. In the sections below, the impact to
reputation will be detailed as well as recommended actions to repair the brand reputation.
2. The Underperformed Reputation Drivers and Impacts to Stakeholders
As described above, Rosewood has worked tirelessly to craft a differentiated luxury brand that
appeals to our diverse clientele around the world. But an incident like this threatens to diminish
that effort. As the CEO of The RepTrak Company has stated, “Brand is the promise you make;
your reputation depends on whether or not you keep that promise.” (RepTrak Blog, 2019)
Stated differently, a corporate reputation is based on beliefs about a company’s actions,
historical and future, that influence stakeholder interactions (Ponzi, 2011). It is crucial, therefore,
to identify which stakeholders have been affected and how.
While many different models have been constructed to explain the formation and evolution of
reputation, the RepTrak methodology has been selected for this report as it utilizes both the
emotional components and the rational reputation drivers behind them. A firm’s reputation is first
and foremost based on emotional connections held between key stakeholders and the brand.
To rate a brand, RepTrak asks consumers about the feelings, trust, admiration and overall
reputation of the brand and then performs statistical analysis to derive a score. The emotional
indicators are directly tied to consumer sentiment about seven rational dimensions, or reputation
drivers (Ponzi, 2011). The percentage that each driver contributes to the overall reputation
varies slightly over time; the 2020 breakdown can be found in Appendix B (RepTrak Study,
2020). The underperformed drivers in relation to the Hotel Georgia allegations and subsequent
strike are discussed below, with impacts to stakeholders to follow.
Underperformed Reputation Drivers
Products and Services
Luxury hotel guests expect high quality products and services to meet their needs: a
quiet place to sleep, clean rooms, a plethora of dining options, and highly trained
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employees. Unfortunately, none of the above were offered during the two-month long
strike, as outlined in the letter to guests from the Managing Director (Appendix E) and as
reported in various TripAdvisor reviews (Appendix C).
Heyes (2017) notes two key aspects contributing to the consumer experience within a
luxury hotel: the physical environment and the interactions between guests and staff.
Both of these dimensions were compromised during the strike. Several factors detracted
from the environment: a number of hotel outlets were closed, union employees picketed
loudly outside, and there were insufficient staff to maintain cleanliness, particularly room
cleaning. Regarding guest-staff interactions, these too were compromised. During the
strike, service quality was reduced as temporary employees had to be brought in with no
time to train them to Rosewood standards. The employees were overworked and
inexperienced, and therefore did not contribute positively to a luxury experience
(TripAdvisor comments, Appendix C).
Workplace Quality
Respect for employees and their wellbeing was not achieved at the Hotel Georgia.
Sexual harassment is pervasive around the globe and has been connected to a number
of negative employee outcomes, including increased stress and negative attitudes
toward work engagement, job satisfaction and work productivity (Madera, 2017). A
healthy and safe environment for employees has been shown to lead to better outcomes
for hospitality employers, including retention (Bangwal, 2019).
Due to the lack of safety and respect perceived by the female employees who reported
sexual harassment and assault, they went public with their accusations and together
with the union commenced the two-month strike, thus airing the Hotel Georgia’s dirty
laundry for the Vancouver community and broader world to see.
Executive Leadership
In considering a firm’s reputation, stakeholders will take into account the quality of
leadership. This leader not only has a clear vision of the path ahead for the corporation
but also is well-organized behind the scenes and can detect and mitigate problems
before they arise (Ponzi, 2011).
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Unfortunately, such a leader was not found in Hotel Georgia during this extended
incident. The failure to control the situation is two-fold: first, the employee complaints
were brushed off as being inconsequential and secondly, nearly two months elapsed
before an agreement could be reached between the management team and the union.
Both indicate inflexibility and a disconnect with employee needs and market standards.
Corporate Governance
Above all, stakeholders judge companies by their actions; corporate behaviour speaks
louder than words (Dowling, 2006). Ethical behaviour is of utmost importance,
particularly with regards to sexual harassment and assault following the widespread
#metoo movement of 2017. Corporate governance is defined by Fombrun (2006) as the
system of safeguards – structural, procedural and cultural – designed to protect the long-
term interests of a company’s stakeholders. The board of directors is the main
mechanism for governance, and its responsibility lies in ensuring senior managers do
not prioritize their personal interests above the broader set of stakeholders.
In this incident, the management at Hotel Georgia did just that. They received
complaints from female employees that were not convenient or relevant to their
priorities, such as guest satisfaction and hotel revenue, and therefore decided to ignore
them. As a result, the strike ensued along with negative publicity which impacted not
only the reputation of the Hotel Georgia but Rosewood as a whole.
Impacts to Relevant Stakeholders
Fombrun (1996) has defined an organization’s reputation as the combination of corporate
images held by various stakeholder groups; in other words, the corporate identity projected by
the organization and then filtered through their expectations and interpretations. The diagram
below shows the interconnectedness of each primary stakeholder group.
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(Fombrum, 1996, p. 72)
Customers: Reliability
Luxury hotel clients have high expectations; indeed, part of the definition of luxury is a
hedonistic experience offered at a price above the functional value alone (Kapferer,
2012). The Rosewood brand did not carry through on its promise during the strike. For
instance, one guest reported that she and her husband arrived to find the restaurant and
bar closed, no room service offered and reduced housekeeping service, and from their
luxury accommodation they were able to hear the employee protests on the street
outside as evidenced in TripAdvisor reviews (Appendix C)
Communities: Responsibility
Certainly, a strike lasting two months during which employees are picketing and shouting
outside the hotel in downtown Vancouver is not helpful for community residents or
businesses. Hotel Georgia failed to protect the safety and rights of its employees,
themselves members of the community, and proceeded to allow a disruptive strike to
continue for two months in the heart of the city. And even for those residents not directly
affected, any report of sexual harassment is looked down upon (Su, 2019).
Employees: Trustworthiness
The female employees were left feeling angry and violated after their complaints were
ignored. And during the strike, the handful of employees brought in temporarily to run the
hotel were stressed and overworked. This disruption to workplace quality is likely to
impact the reputation and may negatively impact employee recruiting and retention in
the future.
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Investors: Credibility
A positive reputation is derived from both profits and growth prospects. Revenue fell
during the strike as hardly any amenities were offered to guests and several F&B outlets
were closed. It can be assumed that some guests cancelled their stays or chose not to
make reservations during the strike. Longer term revenue also may be impacted if
guests, corporate clients and hotel owners at other Rosewood properties do not want to
associate with our brand. This potential drop in revenue and profits will affect everyone
from the hotel ownership, the Board members, outside investors, owners, and
employees should any layoffs result. And when it comes to supporting the hotel in the
future, it is likely that those affected from the community will choose another property
with which to conduct business.
3. The Current Management Practice and Alternative Perspectives
To build a strong brand and reputation, three key elements must be aligned: Vision, Culture and
Image (Hatch, 2001). Vision refers to leadership goals and objectives; Culture reflects the
company values and how employees feel about working there; and Image is the external
perspective of the company. Strong brand reputations result from minimizing the gaps between
each of the three elements, achieved through careful consideration and communication. In the
case of Rosewood Hotel Group and the Hotel Georgia under our management, gaps persist in
this three-fold model.
Vision and Culture Gap
Our CEO’s vision is “to be known as the most progressive and most innovative
hospitality company out there” (Handley, 2019). Ms. Cheng designs every aspect of our
Rosewood hotels with herself and her peers in mind: sophisticated, highly-educated and
well-travelled women in their 30s and 40s (Handley, 2019). Surely this client group
would not approve of the mistreatment of employees following sexual assault.
By brushing off employee complaints, the management team insinuated that guest
satisfaction had priority over employee wellbeing and safety (CBC News, 2019).
Employees are a critical element of any hospitality institution. If Rosewood Hotel Georgia
Rosewood Hotel Georgia Boardroom Report
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managers had acted upon their employees’ concerns, the resulting strike may have
been avoided.
However, Rosewood Hotel Georgia is not the first to ignore female employee
complaints. It is well established that in hospitality settings, female employees are often
harassed by male customers, and their male managers tell them to “deal with it”
because it should be an expected part of the job. Shaming or in some way punishing a
misbehaving guest, especially a high-profile guest, runs counter to the emphasis on
customer satisfaction and the tenant that the customer is always right (Madera, 2017).
This may put our managers in a delicate situation, and it is imperative they understand
our zero tolerance corporate policy.
Vision and Image Gap
When the employees went to the local union and filed a human rights complaint, all of a
sudden the internal incident was public. The image in the minds of not only our guests
but also the local Vancouver community was tarnished, as evidenced in part by
Facebook posts on our page (Appendix D). By not apologizing or accepting
responsibility, the hotel further threatened its reputation (Su, 2019).
When the strike began in September, the hotel issued only a few statements to the
media to provide updates. Throughout the strike, the hotel retreated from social media
and stopped updating their Instagram account completely (Instagram, 2020) to prevent
negative comments from proliferating online during the ongoing strike and negotiation.
A subset of guests were contacted a couple days before their scheduled arrival to inform
them of the strike, however some complained that this was insufficient for them to make
other plans. Other guests did not hear about the strike until they arrived at the hotel
(Appendix C). Hotel management left a printed letter in guest rooms which referenced
the ongoing strike and service interruption (Appendix E) but not the root cause of the
employee unrest. In all, more guest communication to reset expectations was called for.
Following their stays, several guests turned to TripAdvisor to post negative reviews
about their experience. The general manager chose to respond to a handful of them to
apologize (Appendix C). As determined by Liu, this type of response strategy, directly
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addressing negative reviews, can serve to improve online ratings significantly (2015), so
this was a positive action.
The strike lasted two months until the union and hotel reached an agreement following a
29-hour nonstop negotiation. The deal included a safety program within the hotel to
prevent harassment and the installation of panic buttons for employees under threat
throughout the hotel (BC Local News, 2019). Ensuring employee safety in the workplace
is essential (Bangwal, 2019).
4. Conclusion and Recommendations for Alterations to Practices
Rosewood Hotel Georgia has lost trust and admiration through its failure to protect its
employees. This gap must be closed, and it is the Board’s responsibility to do so. Dowling posits
that the Board should take on primary responsibility for corporate reputation as it directly affects
the Board’s three core roles: to serve investors; to maintain the company’s long-term
sustainability; and to create social value (2006).
Reputation translates into immediate business outcomes and overall viability over coming years.
An enhanced corporate reputation has a multitude of advantages, including correcting
misimpressions, projecting truths about the company to external stakeholders, enhance
employee morale and create goodwill towards the firm (Worcester, 2009). Now is the time for
Rosewood to act on reputation improvement measures.
The latest global study by the RepTrak Company identified a few relevant findings. When it
comes to consumer sentiment, what a company stands for matters more than what it sells. And
of those global companies whose reputation score increased over the last year, the most
important reputation drivers leading to the increase were Governance, Citizenship and
Workplace – those most closely associated with Corporate Social Responsibility, and those we
must address as a company (RepTrak Study, 2020).
Although this incident transpired several months ago and media coverage and online
discussions have ceased, service failures are remembered by stakeholders for a long time.
Therefore, it is important to continue working to restore the reputation into the future (Su, 2019).
Rosewood Hotel Georgia Boardroom Report
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We have an important window in this moment to let the world know exactly what Rosewood
stands for.
Enhance employee climate
Employee safety and well-being must be prioritized. We have learned through this
incident that ignoring employee complaints may yield major negative consequences,
particularly when our employees are united in a union. Madera sets out some guidance
for fostering a climate that does not tolerate sexual harassment, including: establishing
clear policies, setting procedures for filing a claim, and maintaining consistency in
handling each complaint (2017). Also, the safety program, training and panic buttons
which the site agreed to instate as part of the union negotiation should be implemented
at Rosewood owned and managed hotels worldwide before we are faced with a similar
situation. We should publicize this safety implementation widely.
Of course, preventing sexual harassment and assault is the first step, and despite the
sexual proclivities of the hospitality industry, we as a brand should not hesitate to lead
the way. The luxury brand is a promoter of taste. We as Rosewood have the right and
the duty to set the rules for our customers. In fact, one of Kapferer’s anti-laws of
marketing is to dominate the client. “The luxury brand must be ready to play this role of
adviser, educator and sociological guide” (Kapferer, 2012, p. 70). Eaton has suggested
to place a notice in each guest room explicitly stating that while the hotel staff are here to
ensure guests have an enjoyable stay, no sexual harassment or abuse will be tolerated
(2004).
Improve Crisis Management
In hospitality, as in nearly all industries, crises will continue to occur. Some may be
preventable, some may not, but in either case it behoves Rosewood to be prepared.
Should a hotel be faced with sudden staff shortages, due to strike, weather or illness, an
emergency contingency plan must be prepared. At the Hotel Georgia, the strike came
unexpectedly and left the hotel scrambling to maintain service levels for our guests
(Appendix C, TripAdvisor reviews).
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In such an instance, Rosewood must set clearer guest expectations. Many guests
arrived to the hotel unaware of the ongoing strike and those who were contacted were
only alerted 48 hours in advance of their stay, thus precluding major changes to plans. If
expectations are set in advance, the backlash and disappointment of guests will be
mitigated.
Lastly, there is an opportunity to improve crisis communication. Rosewood
spokespeople were limited in their statements during this time, leaving the media –
together with distraught employees and angry union leaders – to fill in the blanks and tell
the story on our behalf. In the future, Rosewood management should be more
forthcoming with updates to ensure our side of the story has been told, and the efforts
we are undertaking are recognized.
Unite vision, culture and image
Here at Rosewood we have instated a zero-tolerance policy for sexual harassment. But
what good is that if our management teams and ownership groups do not adhere to it?
Roper insists that brands should practice what they preach (2012). We have set out to
be a modern, elegant brand; to exude grace and glamour; to welcome discerning
business travellers, leisure-seekers, families and wedding parties (Rosewood website,
2020; Handley, 2019). Nowhere in our brand ethos is sexual harassment tolerated.
In order to unite our vision, culture and image, Rosewood must take the lead to ensure
stakeholders across the properties agree to and consistently implement our key human
resources policies, from our owners, asset managers, general managers and unions.
There must exist repercussions for any violations.
The external audience should also be addressed, and The RepTrak Company would
argue that Ms. Cheng, Rosewood Hotel Group CEO, should be the one to do so (PR
News, 2018). As a successful, young female CEO, Ms. Cheng is well-suited to ensure
our internal and external stakeholders understand our commitment to our policies going
forward, which would in turn inspire loyalty and differentiate Rosewood from competitors.
Says Stephen Hahn, RepTrak EVP, “CEOs who can align themselves with human
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interest stories are the ones who’re going to drive success for their companies” (PR
News, 2018, p 2).
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5. References
Bangwal, D. and Tiwari, P. (2019). Workplace environment, employee satisfaction and intent to
stay. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 31(1), pp.268–284.
BC Local News. (2019). 200 Hotel Georgia hospitality workers join ‘open-ended strike’ – BC
Local News. [online] Available at: https://www.bclocalnews.com/news/200-hotel-georgia-
hospitality-workers-join-open-ended-strike/ [Accessed 15 Feb. 2020].
Bernstein, J. & Ellison, J. 2011, Hotel Confidential: It’s the dirty secret about business travel.
Many married men expect sex along with their room service, according to a NEWSWEEK poll.
But will the Strauss-Kahn scandal change the rules of the game?, Newsweek Publishing LLC,
New York.
CBC News. (2019). Hotel Rosewood Georgia employees and other hospitality workers allege
sexual harassment by guests | CBC News. [online] Available at:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/hotel-rosewood-georgia-employees-and-
other-hospitality-workers-allege-sexual-harassment-by-guests-1.5223586 [Accessed 15 Feb.
2020].
Crawford, T. (2019). Hotel Georgia workers still on strike despite deal at four Vancouver hotels.
[online] Vancouver Sun. Available at: https://vancouversun.com/news/local-news/hotel-georgia-
workers-still-on-strike-despite-deal-at-four-vancouver-hotels [Accessed 15 Feb. 2020].
Dowling, G. (2006). Reputation risk: it is the board’s ultimate responsibility. Strategic Direction,
22(7).
Eaton, D.E. (2004), “Beyond room service legal consequences of sexual harassment of staff by
hotel guests”, Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, Vol. 45 No. 4, pp. 347-
361.
Facebook. www.facebook.com. (n.d.). Rosewood Hotel Georgia. [online] Available at:
https://www.facebook.com/pg/rosewoodhotelgeorgia/reviews/?ref=page_internal [Accessed 21
Apr. 2020].
Fombrun, C.J. (2006). Corporate Governance. Corporate Reputation Review, 8(4), pp.267–271.
Fombrun, C.J. (2008). Reputation : realizing value from the corporate image. Boston, Mass.
Harvard School Press.
Handley, L. (2019). Sonia Cheng: The Hong Kong CEO on her billionaire family and luxury hotel
group Rosewood. [online] CNBC. Available at: https://www.cnbc.com/sonia-cheng-the-
rosewood-ceo-on-her-family-and-her-hong-kong-hotel/ [Accessed 15 Feb. 2020].
Hatch, M.J. (2001). Are the Strategic Stars Aligned for Your Corporate Brand? Harvard
Review, [online] 79(2), pp.128–134. Available at: https://hbr.org/2001/02/are-the-
strategic-stars-aligned-for-your-corporate-brand.
Heyes, A. and Lashley, C. (2017). Price, exclusivity and luxury: Exploring London’s luxury
hotels. Research in Hospitality Management, 7(1), pp.17–26.
Holliday, I. (2019). Tentative agreement reached to end strike, Hotel Georgia says. [online]
British Columbia. Available at: https://bc.ctvnews.ca/tentative-agreement-reached-to-end-strike-
hotel-georgia-says-1.4689983 [Accessed 22 Apr. 2020].
Instagram. www.instagram.com. (n.d.). Rosewood Hotel Georgia (@rosewoodhotelgeorgia) •
Instagram photos and videos. [online] Available at:
https://www.instagram.com/rosewoodhotelgeorgia/ [Accessed 22 …
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