Introduction: Crafting a strategy is a market-driven activity, while implementing this strategy is an operationsdriven activity revolving around the management

of people and business processes. We will analyze the case by dividing it into three parts. First we focus on the external analysis, followed by the environmental and then internal analysis. But before we move to those grounds lets take a brief overview of the company. The Company History: Founded in 1981 by William Kimpton, he now operates over 40 stylish lifestyle hotels coupled with fine chef-driven restaurants. Whether it's Boston, New York, San Francisco, Miami or almost every major city in between, Kimpton is the undisputed leader in the lifestyle hotel also called as the boutique hotel industry. Kimpton Group is known for its European-style hotels that feature highly personalized service and are coupled with fine restaurants. The company is currently developing hotels in New Orleans, Washington D.C., San Francisco and Cupertino, California. Kimpton Group is known for its European-style hotels that feature highly personalized service and are coupled with fine restaurants. Strategy Making And Strategy Implementing At Kimpton Group: Strategy making depends upon: Business vision: Here lets us take a closer look at the internal philosophy at the Kimpton group of hotels and restaurants. Internal Philosophy VISION - How the purpose will flourish in future time, i.e., Growth both Personal and Organizational MISSION - The activities that transact business bring the purpose into daily life. It encompasses, Getting and Keeping Guests, Keeping and Developing Employees CULTURE - How We Conduct Business. It is a Unanimous Commitment to Self-Leadership, Creativity and High Performance through Team and Personal Development. PROMISE - Our Commitment We promise to balance the needs of our guests, employees and investors in all that we do VALUES - Who We Are. The key words here are Focus, Passion, Personality, Individuality, Integrity, Creativity and Continuous Improvement. External Promise The foundation rests on the five-pillar structure that is given as follows: Our guests are as individual in personality and style as our hotels are. Our difference is our strength, and guests will be able to experience Kimpton Hotels individuality, only now on a grander scale. Our individuality, along with our commitment to care on a number of levels; our wish to provide comfort; and our sensibilities when it comes to style, flavor and fun are what remain at the heart and soul of the Kimpton hotel experience. That experience is what keeps guests coming back. A brief overview of each of the Kimpton Five Pillars includes:

Care: A sense that the Kimpton brand, as personified by every staff member, cares about building a lasting and satisfying relationship with every guest. Service and caringits an attitude. Comfort: Plush, cozy spaces with luxurious amenities for our guests to relax and rejuvenate. Remembering your needs or preferences, we invite you to feel at home. Style: Whimsical settings of informal elegance, created by world-class designers, which celebrate the distinctive character of each hotel. Flavor: Imaginative and fun restaurants and lounges, which feature extraordinary chefs, revered by both locals and travelers. Fun: A friendly and welcoming atmosphere based on our personal belief that travel should always be a delightful journey. Competitive analysis: When we talk about competitive analysis of the Kimpton Group, we realize that they have a unique strategy that caters to a segment of the market by offering them a highly personalized service. In the boutique hotel industry a specialty is that, the number of rooms is small generally between 100 to 200 rooms, this helps in imparting a homely and more comfortable and cozy environment. Also by acquiring and then renovating old hotels, they have developed a unique strategy by which they not only save on valuable investment resources, but also start the business sooner, thus earning revenues on their investment at an earlier date. Strategy implementation depends upon: Leadership style of the entrepreneur or CEO Here we will get to see the most creative and dedicated sales and management teams in the hotel industry. There is more emphasis on teamwork and the pattern followed is more decentralized rather than a centralized one. The managers besides being role models act as mentors and actively involve themselves in the training process. Building on core-competencies and strengthening competitive capabilities. Kimpton's unique combination of style, four-star service and adjacent destination restaurants along with its constant focus on top line sales and bottom line resultshave established the company as the first choice for the development and management of lifestyle hotels. Their focus and philosophy gives the owners the comfort and confidence they need in a highly competitive environment. Kimpton's signature elements are care, comfort, style, flavor and fun. These elements come through in everything they do. Their commitment to personalized guest service, along with the truly unique amenity programs that we offer, continues to win over more and more chain-loyal guests each year. Establishing strategy-supportive policies. Their strategy has been to maximize customer service. Carrying this same tradition forward, they offer a number of additional service benefits like offering fun filled package tours; a special package designed for single women travelers to make their stay safer and pleasurable, and

even health and fitness centers in the form of yoga and meditation centers. Shaping the work environment and culture In order to inculcate uniform work culture in all the employees, they have started Kimpton University, which offers regular courses for employees to expand their knowledge about hotel and restaurant operations as well as the company's culture. The Hotel and Restaurant division also have a self-driven leadership program that helps guide the employees on their professional hospitality journey. One of Kimpton Hotel's mission statements is to "Keep and Develop Employees". Aside from offering training classes through Kimpton University the Hotel also encourages personal and professional growth. The Kimpton senior leaders reach out to the field to create a heart felt bond with their up and coming leaders. A senior leader is paired with an up and coming individual to offer their insight on leadership, professional experience and overall expertise.

External Analysis: External analysis involves an examination of the relevant elements to an organization. The analysis should focus on the identification of opportunities, threats, trends, strategic uncertainties and strategic choices. One output of external analysis is an identification and understanding of opportunities and threats, both present and potential, facing the organization. An opportunity is a trend or event that could lead to a significant upward change in sales and profit patterns-given the appropriate strategic response. A threat is a trend or event that will result, in the absence of strategic response, in a significant downward departure from current sales and profit patterns. Another output is the identification of strategic uncertainties regarding a business or its environment that have the potential to affect strategy. If uncertainty is important and urgent, an in-depth analysis leading to a strategy decision may be needed, otherwise, an information gathering effort is usually appropriate. The external analysis consists of: Customer Analysis: Customer analysis, the first step of external analysis involves identifying the organization's customer segments and each segment's motivations and unmet needs. Segment identification defines alternative product markets and thus structures the strategic investment decision. The analysis of customer motivations provides information needed to decide whether the firm can and should attempt to gain or maintain a sustainable competitive advantage. In the Kimpton Group the segmentation scheme distinguishes between tourists, convention attends, and business travelers. Each type of traveler has very different set of motivations. The tourist is concerned with price, the conventioneer with convention facilities, and the business traveler with comfort. The tourist segment might have an unmet need for tickets or events such as plays or concerts. Besides this segmentation they have yet another classification for the customers. This classification is based on the customer preference and type. They have identified three groups of customers the affluent who require all possible amenities at any cost comprising of around 10% of the market segment, the hitchhiking travelers who are extremely price conscious

comprising again of around 20% of the market segment and the remaining 60 70% of the target market who look out for good amenities at reasonable rates. It is this 60-70% of the market that is being catered to. Competitor Analysis Competitor analysis, starts with the identification of competitors, current and potential. Some competitors compete more intensely than others. Although intense competitors should be examined most closely, all competitors are usually relevant to strategy development. The main competitors for Kimpton are: Hilton, Hyatt, Marriott, Promus (Doubletree), and Starwood (Sheraton and Westin brands). Especially when there are more competitors, it is helpful to combine those with similar characteristics (e.g., size and resources), strengths (e.g., brand name, distribution), and strategies (e.g., high quality) into strategic groups. To develop a strategy, it is important to understand the competitor's: Performance: What do this competitor's sales, sales growth, and profitability indicates about its health? Image and personality: How is the competitor positioned and perceived? Objectives: Is this competitor committed to the business? Does this competitor aim for high growth? Current and past strategy: What are the implications for future strategic moves? Culture: What is the most important to the organization - cost control, entrepreneurship, or the customer? Cost structure: Does the competitor have a cost advantage? Strengths and weakness: Is the brand name, distribution, or R&D strength or a weakness. From the figures supplied we realize that all these companies are doing extremely well and earning very high revenues. Also in terms of brand name and the segment that they are catering to they have a loyal customer base and the affluent would prefer to continue going there since they feel the need for full-fledged services. The main threat comes from the fact that these companies are trying to enter this niche market of boutique hotels. Market Analysis Market analysis has two primary objectives. The first is to determine the attractiveness of the market. On average, will competitors earn attractive profits or will they lose money? If the market is so difficult that everyone is loosing money, it is not a place in which to invest. The second objective is to understand the dynamics of the market so that threats and opportunities can be detected and strategies adapted. The analysis should include an examination of the market size, growth, profitability, cost structure, channels, trends, and key success factors. Size: A basic characteristic of market is its size. In addition to current sales, the analysis considers the market's potential, that is, the additional sales that could be obtained if new users were attracted, new users were found, or existing buyers were enticed to use the product or service more frequently. Keeping this view in mind KG has focused on the ageing baby boomer segment and tried to win over their loyalty. The strategy followed here is that it is cheaper to

retain old customers than to woo new ones. In case of loyalty building, word of mouth advertising also plays a big role with customers themselves spreading word around about the hotel. Growth Prospects: The profitability of the market depends on five factors - the number and vigor of existing competitors, the threats of new competitors, the threat of substitute products, the profit impact of powerful supplies, and the power of customer to force price concessions. Here the biggest threat comes from changes in customer preferences. Cost Structures: One issue is what value-added stage represents the most important cost component. Achieving a cost advantage in an important value-added stage can be crucial. Another cost issue is whether the industry is appropriate for a low-cost strategy based on experience curve model. With respect to the cost effectiveness KG follows the Mongoose strategy. Here they put a tab on property that is undervalued and they are sure meets their requirement specification. Then they bid on this undervalued property and renovate it. These places are generally located in areas where tourists and business travelers frequented. Market trends: Trends within the market can affect current or future strategies and assessments of market profitability. For example, an important trend in luxury hotels is business suites that include a host of amenities, such as a living room/den with a library of books and VCR movies, Internet access, a well-stocked refrigerator, and elegant furnishings. Key Success Factors: A success factor is a competitive asset or competency that is needed to win in the marketplace. Successful firms are usually strong in several key success factors and not weak in any. In the luxury hotel business, key success factors might be characteristics that contribute to image, such as ambience or quality of service. A hotel cannot compete successfully i the luxury hotel business without right atmosphere. Environmental Analysis Environmental analysis is the process of identifying and understanding emerging opportunities and threats created by these forces. It is important to limit environmental analysis to what is manageable and relevant, because excessive scope and volume can easily bog it down. It is helpful, to divide environmental analysis into five components: technological, governmental, cultural, economic and demographic. 1. A technological development can dramatically change an industry and create difficult decisions for those who are committed to profitable, old technologies. Keeping this in mind KG has adopted e-commerce and automation techniques in the form of a software package called GuestWare. GuestWare allows them to enhance how they recognize their repeat customers. Guests generally prefer personalized recognition rather than frequent stay points. Each hotel is thus able to create their own recognition program in line with the character and location of the hotel, while still maintaining companywide standards for consistency. It is especially important in a tough economy to do everything possible to keep the current customer base coming back and GuestWare helps to do that. GuestWare allows the hotels to surprise repeat guests with personalized recognition. Detailed preferences as well as past requests and incidents appear on the daily arrival report allowing the hotel to surprise the guest. Each hotel has selected a GuestWare Champion to ensure a successful implementation but the entire staff is trained on the process. It improves productivity and customer satisfaction by streamlining service delivery for hotel call centers. Thus it provides

a fast and reliable way for the hotel staff to log, dispatch and follow-up on all guest requests and problems. At the same time, you are building a database of incidents that allow you to pinpoint trends for process improvement. It also helps KG to retain their most valued guests. From frequent business travel to weekend getaways and vacations, it helps them build a process to manage customer relationships. Finally instead of using a quick survey in the restaurant or an extensive guest questionnaire, this software system helps them manage customer feedback. It improves productivity in the follow-up process and provides valuable management reports to maximize the benefits of your surveys. Yet another breakthrough in terms of connectivity has been achieved through the implementation of Hotel Information Systems (HIS), which epitomes enterprise and property management system for their 39 hotels system wide. HIS provides additional business intelligence and accessibility of data gathering to anticipate the guest needs as well as to evaluate performance. Also Kimptons aggressive growth and steady addition of new properties has been handled with technological ease while staying on budget. This success is attributed largely to centralization. The technicians can roll out remotely via a secure connection with the epitome system. 2. The governmental environment can be especially important to multinational corporations that operate in politically sensitive countries. With the major emphasis on greener environments, KG was quick to take initiative in this sphere too. Ten percent of the room charges are donated to the eco-friendly charity of the celebrities choice. There are also suites designed by Green Fusion, Happy Planet and the Trust for Public Land. One of the KG hotels was named the model hotel for the State of California's Green Hotels program. This recognition is in honor of the new California Integrated Waste Management Board's initiative, designed to encourage travelers to stay at "green hotels." The program is designed to acknowledge hospitality establishments that save energy, water, and resources and divert waste from landfill disposal through environmentally friendly business practices. 3. The cultural environment affects strategic judgments in many contexts. Kimpton Hotels is the first hospitality company to achieve a perfect score on HRC Corporate Equality Index. The Kimpton Hotels continue their long-standing commitment to the gay and lesbian community as a travel industry leader and has now been recognized and awarded by the HRC Corporate Equality Index with a perfect score of 100%. The HRC is a systematic review of how America's largest companies treat their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors. The announcement of Kimpton's 100% follows a recently launched GLBT-specific marketing and advertising campaign called "Business FUNction" geared to GLBT consumers, specifically business travelers. Earlier in the year Kimpton developed unique GLBT Honeymoon and Pride Packages tailored to each Kimpton hotel and region building on an already very successful program. 4. Knowledge of economic environment facing a country or an industry helps in projecting that industry's sales over time and in identifying special risks or threats. The hotel industry for example, can see a link between the overall health of the economy and its primary customer segments. When the economy is down, travel, especially business travel, also turns down. 5. Demographic trends are important to many firms. Age patterns are crucial to those whose customers are in certain age groups, such as infants, students, baby boomers, or retirees. A strategic uncertainty stimulated by any external analysis component can generate an

information-need area, a strategically important area for which there is likely to be a continuing need for information. We see in this case that the KG of Hotels is vying for the ageing baby boomer group who now wish to spend their time and resources in pampering themselves.

Internal Analysis Internal analysis aims to provide a detailed understanding of strategically important aspects of the organization. In particular, it covers performance analysis and an examination for the key determinants of strategy, such as strengths, weakness, and strategic problems. Internal analysis consists of: Performance Analysis Profitability and sales provide an evaluation of past strategies and an indication of the current market viability of a product line. Return on assets (ROA), the most commonly used measure of profitability, needs to be compared to the cost of capital in order to determine if the business is adding value for the shareholder. Sales are another performance measure that can reflect changes in the customer base that have long term implications. In the hotel industry we generally talk about RevPAV (Revenue per available room). In the case of Kimpton RevPAV is sufficiently high with the average occupancy rate being higher than the industry average of around 70%. Shareholder value analysis is a based on generating a discounted present value of the cash flow associated with a strategy. Other, non-financial performance measures often provide better measures of long-term business health: Customer satisfaction/brand loyalty This has been achieved through the good relations with the Gay Lesbian population. Other community services like funding AIDS programs, parks for the towns that they are located in have created and overall neighborhoods friendly image for Kimpton. Brand/firm associations - Kimpton Hotels has developed strategic partnerships and alliances with organizations that are themselves committed to making a difference, that value and support specific life choices and promote a better quality of life. Kimpton has partnered with Dress for Success, an international womens not-for-profit organization that assists economically challenged women transitioning into the workplace and established careers. This partnership, which comes under Kimpton Hotels Women InTouch program, will allow Kimpton Hotels to participate on both a regional and national level, bringing awareness to womens needs in the workforce. Relative cost Costs are kept down by using cost cutting measures without sacrificing quality. In fact their go green program helps them save money to the tunes of several millions rather than spending more. New product activity In terms of offering new products to the customers they are always pioneers in the field. Their latest addition to the services offered is their partnership with wine and lifestyle expert, Leslie Sbrocco. Kimpton Hotels. This continued commitment to offering its guests the ultimate lifestyle experience means building upon its existing well-received wine programs including the Kimpton Life Wine Society and Wines of the World guest wine hour at every Kimpton Hotel. Manager/employee capability and performance - Kimpton starts from the inside out, making

social responsibility a part of the culture and criteria company wide. Kimptons strong commitment to contribution begins and ends with its employees, all of whom play an active role in maintaining the companys mission, volunteering their time and energy to a variety of charities and causes. The company nurtures personal growth within the workplace through mentoring, educational and diversity programs. It dedicates internal and external resources as experts in various fields to develop the next generation of leaders through Kimpton University. Employees are encouraged to become involved as leaders in the community or industry. This companywide level of dedication adds a unique dimension to the workplace, helping to create exciting opportunities for employees. The overall health and well being of Kimpton employees helps to create a productive, motivated and loyal team. Along with comprehensive medical benefits, Kimpton provides domestic partner coverage and takes it a step further, providing additional benefits such as tuition reimbursement, an employee discount program and soon plans to offer paid sabbatical, family leave and even pet insurance. Strategic Problems A strategic problem is one that if uncorrected, could have damaging strategic implications. An hotel faces a strategic problem if it needs to finance new furnishings that are of a crucial nature, like proper plumbing, etc. A weakness is more a characteristic, such as a bad location. Of course, a weakness can often be corrected, a hotel's location can be changed. In general, however, problems are corrected, and weakness are neutralized by a strategy or overcome by strengths. In the case of Kimpton location is not a problem, since they implement the mongoose strategy. Organizational Capabilities and Constraints Internal analysis includes an examination of the internal organization, its structure, systems, people, and culture. The internal organization can be important strategically when it is a source of A strength - The culture in some firms can be so strong and positive as to provide the basis for a sustainable competitive advantage. It has been explained before. A weakness - A firm may lack the marketing personnel to compete in a business in which a key success factor is marketing. This is thankfully not the case with Kimpton. Thy have an extremely efficient marketing workforce, which comes up with innovative ideas to keep the business doing extremely well. The main reason for this is that the work environment is such that new and fresh ideas are not only encouraged but also rewarded. The magic mantra is At Kimpton Hotels, we're always thinking: What can we do to make our guests' stay more comfortable, more flavorful, more fun? As a result, we've come up with some ideas that are firsts in the hospitality world and have become some of our company's trademarks. A constraint - A proposed strategy must fit the internal organization. A realistic appraisal of an organization may preclude some strategies. There are no such constraints imposed on generation of ideas, but location and size of hotel has been levied with constraints so that it continues to fit into the boutique hotel market category. Financial Resources and Constraints An analysis of the financial resources available for investment, either from planned cash flow or

from debt financing, helps determine how much net investment should be considered. Here the system of raising 60% of required capital from equity and remaining 40% from debt has worked out to be a profitable proposition for Kimpton and they should continue using the same strategy. Strength and Weakness Building on strengths and neutralizing weakness often develops future strategies. Strength and weakness are based on assets, such as a brand name, or competencies, such as advertising or manufacturing. General Hotel Industry The global hotel industry generally prospered in areas of investment, growth, and economic health. Although the U.S. economy was improving, as of 1994 the U.S. hotel market was considered to have significant overcapacity, a result of the extensive construction in the 1980s (tax incentives and easy access to capital). The industry was severely depressed through the late eighties, but began to recover in the summer of 1991. The US industry occupancy rate was 60.1% in 1991. It climbed to 63.7% in 1993 and was projected to hit 65.6% in 1994. Industry profitability was expected to improve sharply in 1994, due to declining interest costs from refinancing and restructuring. Income was expected to rise 8.1%, but many hotel companies were expected to post healthy profits, especially those with gaming revenues. Fullservice hotels had seen revenue per room increase by almost 11% and profits increased by 20% in the first half of 1993. For that same year, in the luxury segment, occupancy rates improved by 2.2%, room rates by $2.10, and demand (sales-new supply) improved 5.2%.

The typical hospitality customer profile is: 54% - business. 24% - vacation. 22% - personal. Industry Trends: Despite the recent downturn, during 1992-2003 industry revenues have grown at an average annual rate of 1.42%. The rate in room supply increased 28% since 1992, while the room demand rate increased 24%. Except for 2003 where demand outpaced supply, this development has caused occupancy rates to decline since 1996.The industry has responded by lowering the average daily room rate in each of the last 3 years. S&P believes that competitive shopping will continue to keep average room revenue rates from reaching 2000s peak levels. Industry's revenues for 2004 are expected be driven more by occupancy gains than by room rate increases. However, an increase in business travel demand is expected which should cause average room rates to rise for the first time since 2000 while maintaining room occupancy levels above 60%. The hospitality industry is seeing a long-term trend toward consolidation. Acquisitions can reduce costs by eliminating duplicative functions and instituting more economical purchasing while enhancing revenues through cross-promotion. Nevertheless, acquisition activity was

relatively slow in 2003 and 2002. In recent years, much of the growth in hospitality industry capacity has come from construction of limited-service properties, which are typically less expensive and quicker to build, and offer fewer amenities to customers. Continued Expansion: Full service restaurant segment is a growing industry. According to the data of National Restaurant Association the year 2004 is forecasted to be 13th consecutive year of sales volume growth for the restaurant industry. Thus, it is estimated that sales will reach $440.1 billion in 2004 that will lead to 4.4% increase compared to the year 2003. That is equal to 2.0% real, inflation revised increase. Positive economic movements and the greater consumers personal income will drive this increase. Heightened interest in Health and Nutrition: One of the latest trends in the industry is the increased awareness of health and nutrition issues. Customers around the country expect to receive more variety in terms of healthy food items. Furthermore, different diet menus are also expected. That is the reason why many restaurants launched low-carbohydrate and low-fat menus. Besides, some fast-food chains had to change their offerings. Full service restaurants follow the same trend. They started to offer smaller size portions of their regular meals, for example half-sized sandwiches. Intensified Government Impact: According to the National Restaurant Association greater efforts made by government to regulate restaurants and other small businesses will increase the likelihood of costly and burdensome legislative mandates at the federal, state and local levels on nutrition labeling, restaurant meal taxes and other important issues. Diversity Embraced: The researches conducted show that the restaurant industry employs more managers representing diversity than any other industry within the country. Besides about 23% of all eating and drinking places are owned by women and approximately 24% of eating and drinking places belong to other minorities. As it can be found in the News Release by the National Restaurant Association the restaurant-industry workforce of 12 million individuals is comprised of 17 percent Hispanics, 11 percent African-American and 6 percent Asians. The corresponding figures for all other industries are 12 percent Hispanic, 11 percent African-American and 5 percent Asian. In addition, foreign-born workers account for a growing percentage of restaurant employees. The researches conducted by the National Research Association prove that this trend will continue to exist in future. Restaurants will continue to hire more and more employees representing diversity. Focus on Service: Increase competition will inevitably lead to the better service provided by restaurants to their customers. Management will continue to seek for opportunities to retain the current customer

base and to gain new customers by providing more numerous and diverse services. Location: Location is perhaps the most important because in a flooded restaurant market, we cannot expect our customers to travel too far of a distance. Age is another very important factor because of location. A factor leading to growth in the restaurant industry is the aging population. The target market consists of adult to older adult members of the population for this reason. We intend to target the segment of the population that enjoys full-service restaurants. The aging U.S. population favors full-service, sit-down restaurants. Disposable incomes: Another growth trend that is noteworthy includes disposable income. Americans are increasing their disposable income and are decreasing the size of households. As a result consumers can spend additional funds on many more meals away from home. The typical American household exhausted an average of $2,137 on meals on outside their home in the year 2000. Unusual cuisine: The last, and most interesting trend among consumers is their requirement for more unusual and authentic cuisine. Customers are not only accepting formerly exotic dishes and authentic flavors-theyre expecting them. This trend is driving restaurants to offer more variety, introduce new cooking methods, and offer extended menus.

Key Success Factors of Kimpton The stand out strategy-shaping economic characteristics of the U.S. Hotel industry is: Price Segmentation Customer Segmentation Global Presence Brand Management The key success factors for competing in the boutique hotel Niche are to separate yourself from your competitors. There has to be a reason that people want to go and stay in that the hotel. The non-hotel like food is clearly a key factor in this niche because the specific people that are being targeted are not the type of people who go for the ordinary restaurant. The people that come to this hotel are not the generic people and expect something not expected from a hotel chain. Service is the key point as well. The Kimpton Group makes sure that it gets back to the guest by the end of the day with any complaints or questions. This is very satisfying to the customers. Kimptons Business level approach to competing in the industry are the following, which allow the Kimpton Group to keep ahead of its competitors with better numbers than the hotels it competes with the help of the following: Low-cost purchase land and buildings Greater latitude in product / service offerings at comparable profit margins. Customer Service Effective Utilization of technology

 Brand Loyalty Employee training and development Complementary services Revenue management systems Clean and comfortable Lodging Strategic alliances Conveniences in making reservations Access to growth capital Value-added services The Companys strategy is adequately aligned with the industry and competitive conditions. The Kimpton Group competes with hotel chains that are more expensive and bigger than they are yet they are. Kimpton Group maintained a 67 percent share of the market in San Francisco and the closest hotel in their niche was sharing only a 20 percent share in the market. The Kimpton Group has managed to create a 5 star atmosphere in a 4 star hotel. They offer a warmer feeling that that of most of the other hotel. The Kimpton Hotel and Restaurant Group organizational structure and approach to decision making does aid in the successful implementation of its strategy. The general managers of the individual hotels are encouraged to set them selves apart from the other properties. Each manager gives the property they oversee a different touch that makes each of the properties different so that when you go to one hotel owned by the Kimpton group it is not exactly like any one that you have visited before. Each of the properties seems to take on its own personality and that is projected to the guest, which gives them a different look every time they visit a new property. Kimpton Group also follows a strategy that is call the mongoose strategy. The Kimpton Group has successfully used this strategy to effectively buy properties that fit their niche. Implementation of this strategy has allowed the group to financially benefit from their acquisitions by paying a dramatically low price for a piece of property that is worth much more. The Kimpton Group has utilized its financial assets by effectively by not building from scratch every hotel it looks to build. The Kimpton Group decided that it will look for a specific type of hotel that fits its niche and then it will go after that hotel or building. One of their criteria is for certain aspects of the building that they purchase to be in relatively good order, and they usually will make the face of the hotel over. There strategy when looking for opportunities to expand is to look for the undervalued assets so that they can turn this in to a boutique hotel. When the Kimpton Group places a location on its radar as a potential place for a new hotel it keeps that on its radar. Keeping places on its radar has paid off in the past for the Kimpton Group. The Kimpton Group also supports its restaurants, which are considered a separate operation from the hotels. These restaurants are specifically designed not to give the people that go to the restaurants a feel of a hotel restaurant. The restaurants are kept separate from the hotel, which leaves some value chains unconnected. This is not the best use of their finances, they could connect the value chains and still have the restaurant managed and operated separate from the hotel. Kimpton Group has successfully managed its finances to build a hotel chain that is respected and valued. Competitive Factors:

Location and style: These two factors generally determine success. Human Support System: The lineup meeting every morning/new shift, special attention to guest needs. Remember and record guest remark and enter into Encore system and execute the next day. Listening and Recovering: You will see extremely well-trained, formal, professional people who functioned as ladies and gentlemen who served ladies and gentlemen. Hiring: Rather than hiring, quality selection process is the norm of the day. In effect, it is trying to select people who have a natural aptitude for the service business. Training: Managers stay with employees for training Empowerment: Staff throughout the hotel are made aware of the fact that they have the power to compensate a disappointed guest for an amount as high as $2,000. The important thing was the ability to transform each incident into an opportunity to restore the guests faith in RC and its people. Rewards: Designed to encourage and complement the training, team problem solving, and empowerment initiatives. Future: The Kimpton Group should start to expand out in to the south or the east where they do not currently have a presence. This successful hotel would do well in major cities where people strive to look for a four star hotel with a five star feeling to it. I think that its further expansion into other parts of the country will not impact is strategy at all. I believe that the Kimpton Group can maintain its strategy that it was founded on while still expanding in to other parts of the country. There are many old rundown hotels all over the country that would fit its strategy.