Relaunching the Yang Sing Hotel in Manchester: A Project Management Case Study

The Yang Sing Hotel: An Overview

Step 1 – Read the Case Study

Case Study : ‘The Yang Sing Hotel in Manchester’

This section contains information from news and other sources. We have sought to make this as close as possible to a live project brief.

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 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. The 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.

Challenges in the Hotel Industry and Business Environment

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." The 48-bedroom Yang Sing Oriental hotel, which adjoins the eight-floor Yang Sing Cantonese restaurant in the city and opened just eight months ago, closed its doors on Monday 2 March.

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. 

Project Brief: Relaunching the Yang Sing Hotel

“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.” Gerry Yeung said: "We tried to create the best hotel in Manchester and we really feel that we have succeeded. Everyone who stayed here loved it. Unfortunately, our timing could not have been worse; opening only to suffer a global banking crisis, credit crunch and the worst recession since the 1930s."

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 Yeung’s , private investors and NatWest Commercial Banking. Total losses are estimated in the region of £7 Million

Step 2 –  Read the Assignment Brief

You have recently been appointed as the Project Manager by an investment company who wish to relaunch the Yang Sing Hotel under a new name after recently buying the building but they have concerns over the problems that caused the Yang Sing Hotel to close.  

1. Planning and Control – up to 2,000 words and/or diagrams, illustrations, tables and graphs

Develop key elements of an outline business case for the project to demonstrate the utilisation of appropriate project management tools and techniques in relation to strategic alignment, economic impact, planning and scheduling as well as financial considerations.

The outline business case needs to include:

A1. the project’s Mission and Objectives including the anticipated Impact that the project will have to the organisation and other main stakeholders;

A2. A full stakeholder management plan;

A3. An outline project activity plan using the appropriate Planning Breakdown Structures;

A4. A resource allocation and utilisation plan by using a Resource Assignment Matrix;

A5. A cost estimation and allocation for the duration of the project using an appropriate technique;

A6. A timeline schedule with key milestones;

A7. A Risk Management Assessment table for the 5 key risks associated with the delivery of the project.

2 . People Management – up to 1000 words

In you report you will also need to consider and discuss the following areas in the context of the project:           

B1 . Where is conflict likely to arise in the project? What 5 strategies could you put into place to tackle these sources of conflict?

B2. Give five reasons why a sponsor may be necessary in the project? Give explanations

B3. What management style would be most appropriate for the Project Manager of the project. Give explanations

Key Instructions

You will need to take the following into account when completing your assignment.

• Each topic should be corelated to a relevant Project Management theory, tool or application and be fully referenced;
• All discussion included will need clarity of argument and relevance to the project’s context;
• On successful completion of this assessment, you will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding.

• Recognise the role and significance of project planning within the international business environment
  
  
• Identify project management requirements across a range of organisational contexts and structures
  
  
• Demonstrate a critical understanding of a broad range of issues/techniques relating to project management including: planning, scheduling & resourcing, communications, team working and risk management
  
  
• Use a range of established techniques to initiate and undertake project management problems, evaluating alternatives and proposing solutions

Transferable/Key Skills and other Attributes.

• Effectively plan a project;
  
  
• Demonstrate an appreciation of the difficulties of solving the practical difficulties that may arise in relation to projects and to have gained experience in searching for solutions to such difficulties

Module Aims

• To develop knowledge and critical understanding of the principles of effective project management within a global business context and the ways in which these principles have developed
  
  
• To facilitate an understanding of project management skills techniques, methods and tools and their application and limitations
  
  
• To enable students to acquire competences and develop existing their skills to propose solutions to the management of projects within a range of eventual career options