Colonnade Hotel and Resort

As the Director of Franchise Properties, this communication needs to advise Penny Hyatt, the CEO of Colonnade Hotel and Resort, and the corporatate level, on how to revise the overbooking policy and some suggestions on how to address the negative attitude toward Colonnade properties in general . Discussing the matter in person with Penny would be the best way to convey this information, but since that is not possible, I must write her a memo that documents the problem and provides possible suggestions for solving the problem. Good!

Reader Analysis:

Who is my primary reader(s)? Penny Hyatt
Who is my secondary reader(s)? The secondary readers will be the people who work at the corporate level.

Excellent grip on primary and secondary readership!

Respond to the following for both primary and secondary readers:

What characteristics (reading style, personality traits, etc.) do I know about the reader that may be relevant to how this document is written? My first reader is the CEO of the company, so the memo should be very formal and professional. It should be precise and convey important points regarding the problem. What is the reader’s prior knowledge of or involvement with this topic? She is aware of the problem, and should have prior knowledge of the topic as a CEO of the company. Does the reader have a preestablished attitude toward the topic? No. What is the reader’s technical background? Expert and top management. As the CEO of the company, she should have had a lots of management experience and background. What does the reader want to know about this topic and what will he or she do with this information? She will want to know what are the suggestions on how to recise their overbooking policy and some suggestions as to what can be done at the corporate level to address the negative attitude toward Colonnade properties in general.

Excellent!
Description of Purpose

What is my purpose in writing this document? My purpose is to provide suggestions to Penny on how to revise the overbooking policy of Colonnade hotel and how to address the negative attitude in general. Am I trying to inform the reader? If so, what information do I want the reader to have? I am trying to inform her how serious the situation is and let her take any actions as soon as she can in order to boost their reputation. Am I trying to persuade the reader? If so, what do I want the reader to think or do? I also have to persuade Penny that the situation is serious and that she needs to address the problem as soon as possible. In addition, I have to convince her to read the memo in the first place. Am I trying to make a recommendation? Yes, I will recommend various solutions regarding their overbooking policy and suggestions to address the negative attitude.

With your purpose(s) and reader(s) firmly in mind, respond to the following:

Statement of Point

In a brief statement, what is the most important piece of information in this document. The company needs to contact Kevin Ward right away and apologize to his family.

Description of Content

What are the key points that need to be emphasized in this document? Which points are major ones and which are minor?

Major points:

— must contact Mr. Ward right away and apologize for the incident.
— suggestions on how to revise the overooking policy.
— recommendations on how to address the negatice attitude toward Colonnade properties

Minor points:

— having a meeting with the corporate level to discuss the overbooking policy and suggestions on how to address the negative attitude in order to boost their reputations. Is there information I should intentionally exclude from the document? No. What sort of tone would be appropriate for this document?

My tone will be straightforward and formal since I am the director of Franchise Properties. I must also be careful how I frame the recommendations as well.

Organizational Strategy

How should I organize the information in this document to best address the needs of the reader? Should I opt for a direct or indirect arrangement of content? What would be the advantages/disadvantages of both methods? What headings will I use?

The best way to present information in this memo is the direct approach, beginning with the most important piece of information first. Use bullet points for important information. Since this is a very short memo, I will not use headings. What information should be placed at the beginning of the document? In the middle? At the end? I will arrange information in the order it is presented above–beginning with the call toPenny, middling with suggestions on how to revise their overbooking policy and concluding with some possible recommendations on how to address the negative attitude toward Colonnade properties. How long should the document be? I want the memo to be detailed, and I will try to keep it under a page. Are there any special considerations regarding format here–is this a special type of report or a routine memo/letter? This is a standard company memo format, although I will need an effective subject line to draw Penny into the body of the memo. Are there any special considerations regarding page layout or design here? Yes. I will use plenty of white space, short paragraphs, and provide a bulleted list of key information.