Friday, January 31, 2020

Hyatt Hotel Financial Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Hyatt Hotel Financial Analysis - Essay Example Hyatt has six diverse brands, which are specifically designed in order to deliver the best experience reflecting high standards of life, luxury, comfort, values, attitudes and aspirations of the clients who are the main stakeholders. The Hyatt hotel is run by a group of talented and highly skilled professionals whose visions and aspirations is to make Hyatt Hotels the leading brand in hotel and hospitality section. The executive chairman is Thomas J. Pritzker; Mark Hoplamazian is the president and also the CEO and Director. Harmit Singh is the chief finance officer. We also have among others Charles Floyd, who is the chief operating officer of North America and Robert Webb who is the chief Human resources Officer. Hyatt hotel has been able to use the latest technology together with high class food and beverage preferences in order to effectively and efficiently meet the growing customer demand. There has been advancement in the establishment of free Wi-Fi, room entertainment, ultra-m odern Jacuzzis and other devices which enhance self service. The major challenge facing the Hyatt Hotel is the general economic downturn which has affected almost all hospitality sectors in the world. The administration is busy launching rigorous initiatives which will rely heavily on information technology in order to improve their marketing objectives and more so the profitability goals. Another challenge s the financial and staffing constraints, the executive management of the hotel have employed strategies which will make use of technology in order to ensure stronger business growth. The major competitors of Hyatt hotel are basically based in North America, Europe and Asia. The luxury hotel industry has actually suffered major competition especially in the major global economic downturn. This has lead to the hotel reducing the prices of its products and services hence reduction in the company’s profit margin. Consequently it has become increasingly difficult to carry out expansion activities of the hotel Analysis of Financials The key items in the balance sheet of Hyatt which is worth the analysis are the inventory, long term investments, long term debt, stockholder equity, cash and intangible assets Inventory- the inventory of the company is seen to be decreasing from the year 2009 to 2011. Decrease in the inventory could be due to increase in the demand of the company’s stock or the management decisions to get as limit of stock. The value of stock for Hyatt hit a record low of $8.77 in 2011 against $18 and $1.337 for 2010 and 2009 respectively (Fridson, 2009). Long term investments for the company increased substantially from $6.085 in 2009 to $6.47 in 2011. The increase in the amount of long term investments is due to the company’s ambitious programs to expand its operations worldwide. The building of spas, luxury hotels and casinos has made the company to improve its long-term investments. The long-term debt has significantly been increased in order to meet the growing demands for financing the long-term investments. The long-term debt as at 2011 was $1.2219 against $714000000 and $8.48 for the years 2010 and 2011 respectively. Long-term investments are very expensive ventures to be undertaken, meaning that the

Thursday, January 23, 2020

HOVENSA: Economic Boost and Environmental Disaster Essay -- Environmen

By far the largest private employer in the Virgin Islands, HOVENSA has decided to cease operations, despite the ongoing economic crisis plaguing the territory which desperately relies on the refinery’s vital tax revenues. Nevertheless, the company cites its present fiscal woes as the primary reason behind such a brash decision. In so far as, fluctuating oil prices brought on by various world events, in concert with other minor details including the manner in which the plant is run and the amount of expenditures incurred, have caused the oil giant to generate about $1.3 billion dollars in losses. What seems odd are the events is the surrounding environmental issues which have plagued the plant during 2010 and 2011, which caused the Environmental Protection Agency to sanction the company with a $700 million dollar mandate. Such legal action taken was the result of a series of mis-steps with the refinery’s engineering/environmental protection practices, resulting in one of the worst environmental disasters to hit the territory. HOVENSA came about as a new joint venture in the region between parent company, Hess Oil, and state owned oil company, Venezuela National Oil Company. Beginning in 1966 however, we notice that the precursor to HOVENSA, Hess Oil Virgin Islands Corporation, was seen as more of an economic miracle rather than a disaster in the making. Years subsequent to 1966 witnessed a continued expansion of the oil refinery petroleum producing capacity, essentially elevating it from what was known as humble operation to what would be considered to be a monolithic organization. Whether that included the refineries increased capacity from 45,000 barrels a day to well over 500,000 barrels a day, or the company’s innovative te... ...vironment is once again held paramount. Works Cited 1) Blackburn, Joy. 2011. "EPA launches HOVENSA air quality study." Virgin Islands Daily News, The (St. Thomas), February 16. 2) "Nation's Second Largest Refinery to Pay More Than $5.3 Million Penalty for Clean Air Act Violations." Allvoices. Web. 02 Mar. 2012. . 3) "Government De Jongh Seeks Federal Assistance in Aftermath of HOVENSAClosure." Governor John P. DeJongh. Web. 02 Mar. 2012. . 4) "HOVENSASt. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands." EPA. Environmental Protection Agency. Web. 02 Mar. 2012. .

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Commedia Del’Arte Essay

Columbina is the perky maid of the ‘Old Man’, Pantalone. She is better dressed than the male servants as she is also a lady’s maid. She usually wears a knee length dress and an apron. The colouring of her clothes can be different in different acts, depending on her relationships with the characters and the scenario. She can be in a similar scheme to Arlecchino (where she is sometimes known as Arlecchina with similar diamonds and triangles), or if she is assigned to a rival family of Arlecchino’s, she can be in that scheme. In cases where she is an independent character, she can be in blacks and whites in the spirit of a French Maid. Columbina does not usually wear a mask but sometimes wears one covering only her eyes. Her signature props are a tambourine and a basket. Her physical appearance is attractive, perky and petite with a tiny waist, wide hips and lots of cleavage. She walks as if she is skipping on air with a little flick of the foot at the end of each step. All her posses are usually seductive and accentuate her cleavage. Her movement continues during speaking, shifting balance from one foot to the other and moving her head sharply as if searching for someone other than the person being addressed. She’s fast and nimble in order to escape unwanted attentions or to butt in, and can escape from a situation. She is happy and carefree, yet when assigned a task moves with speed and efficiency. This is one of her strongest traits in being a good servant. Her speech is sharp and gossipy with frequent variations of pitch. She Loves Arlecchino, but sees through him. She therefore scolds him, punishes him, deserts him, takes him back, but in the end he does not change and she has to accept him for what he is, which is still more lovable than Il Dottore, Pantalone and Il Capitano. She can be very affectionate to other characters as well, and her affections seem to flow through her physically, but she always holds something back. As a result she is pestered by other men, especially Il Capitano and Pantalone. She is always ready to help the Lovers, perhaps through natural sympathy with their plight. She is a spectator herself. She has a very strong relationship with the audience, almost confidential in the sense that she too can see what fools the rest of them are. She also often flirts with the spectators. She appears almost if not before her name is called, always being on step ahead of her master and finishes sentences for her master too, which she sometimes uses in her favour. When a situation gets out of control, she becomes the dominant voice to put everyone and everything back in its place. She even beats the male characters in strength and intelligence, sometimes even her master. ISABELLA Isabella is the daughter of Pantalone, the old man. Because of her fathers status she had the newest fashion, and usually showed off her wardrobe, wigs and shoes often. She wore stunning silk dresses, often in antique Renaissance style with necklaces of gold and pearls. She is young and attractive and modest but at times can be selfish. Isabella did not usually wear a mask but did sometimes wear a small mask that covered only her eyes. Her signature props are a handkerchief, book and a fan. She has a lack of firm contact with the earth. Her chest and heart appear heavy. They are full of breath, but then take little pants on top. Her posture is correct and tall and is always very proud. Her walk is small as her steps are little. Isabella’s posses are of an innocent and happy nature; leaning to one side with one leg pointed outwards, and hands in praying position touching cheek as if sleeping. Another is the back of her hand on her forehead, tilted back as if in agony as well as her chin resting on hands laying on top of each other or fingers interlocked and the head slightly tilted. Her movements are exaggerated, especially her hands and arms, which are like  feathers flapping in the wind. She often manipulates her hankie and frequently looks in a hand mirror. Any imperfection can spell disaster. Her speech is refined, however lacking pretentiousness and is never lost for the correct phrase. The lovers are in love with themselves being in love. They love each other, but are more preoccupied with being seen as lovers. They often feign mild hatred. She is extremely aware of being watched and plays with the audience for sympathy in their plight and ccasionally flirts with spectators. She is flirtatious, headstrong, has dramatic intensity and feigned madness due to passionate love and can be prudish. She can be hot and cold. i.e. prone to mood swings and is a tease with an independent will. She is vain, petulant, spoilt, full of doubt and have very little patience. She has a masochistic enjoyment of enforced separation because it enables her to dramatize their situation, lament, moan, send messages, etc. When her and Lelio do meet they are almost always tongue-tied and need interpreters who proceed to misinterpret their statements, either through stupidity (Zanni), malicious desire for revenge (Brighella) or calculated self-interest (Columbina). Isabella’s attention span is short like a young child’s and her fear that she might be a nobody keeps her hyper-animated. ARLECCHINO Arlecchino has an enduring magical power, a testimony perhaps to the mystery of it origin. He is a servant and jester, usually to Pantalone, but also frequently Il’Capitano, or Il’ Dottore. He wears a tight-fitting long jacket and trousers, sewn over with random, odd-shapen patches of green, yellow, red and brown – possibly remnants of leaves†¦ The jacket is laced down the front with a thong and caught by a black belt worn very low on the hips. The shoes are flat and black. He wears a beret, or later a malleable felt hat with a narrow brim, with a feather or tail of a fox, apparently this was a sign of the wearer being a butt of ridicule. Coloured in deep earth tones with warm coloured diamond shaped patches, Arlecchino is always ready to spring into action in a clumsy yet graceful manner. He is ragged, yet sleek. His wears a mask that gives him a low forehead with a wart and has small round eyes. Arlecchino’s signature props included his batocchio, meaning in Italian ‘ clapper inside the bell,’ which he always carries. He is continuously in a lowered position, with his hands on his hips with his thumbs in his belt. He walks in sly and comical way by taking a couple steps followed by a quick tip toe. This walk shows alacrity; he also uses it to show off in front of Columbina. His joints are often loose and floppy. When Arlecchino spots someone, the mask moves first; he then hops round and into the gesture of greeting. He is physically quick and slow mentally, in contrast with Brighella (who can, however, be fast physically when he needs to be). His gestures extend to the fingertips with each digit having a separate articulation. His speech is guttural and hoarse from street hawking and the are no pauses or silences for the sake of effect – he either speaks continuously or doesn’t speak at all. Arlecchino is in love with Columbina, but his sexual appetite is immediate in terms of any passing woman. He is occasionally aware the audience is there and can make asides during which he gives his full attention to the spectators before returning to complete absorption in the action. His character is a mixture of ignorance, naivete, wit, stupidity and grace. He is both a rake and an overgrown boy with occasional gleams of intelligence, and his mistakes and clumsiness often have wayward charm. His acting is patterned on the lithe, agile grace of a young cat, and he has a superficial coarseness which makes his performances all the more amusing. He plays the role of a faithful valet, always patient, credulous, and greedy. He is enternally amorous, and is constantly in difficulties either on his own or on his master’s account. He is hurt and confronted in turn as easily as a child, and his grief is almost as comic as his joy. Lelio Lelio is one of the lovers (Isabella’s partner) and is usually the son of Il Dottore or has no relations. He is high in stature, but is usually brought low by the hopelessness of his infatuation. He wears the latest fashion, which at that time was to be dresses as a young soldier or cadet. Sometimes he dressed in an over fashionable colour scheme that was very feminine with a great deal of flair. Lelio is young, attractive, modest, courteous and gallant. He occasionally wears a mask that covers only his eyes but often went unmasked. His signature prop is a handkerchief. His feet have a lack of firm contact with the earth, making his stance and walk air like. His chest and heart appear heavy and full of breath. His legs are usually tightly together, with only one foot firmly planted on the ground, and the other crawling upward like he has to go to the loo. He does not walk as much as tweeter, due to the instability of his base. First the head leans the other way to the body sway. Then the arms have to be used, one above the other, as a counterweight like and off balance tip toe. His pose can be anything that might look Vogue and whenever he is sitting, his legs are crossed in a feminine matter. Lelio’s movements are well-to-do but ridiculously exaggerated. His movement comes at the point of overbalance, leading to a sideways rush towards a new focus, with his arms left trailing behind. When stopping at the new point (usually the beloved or some token thereof) before almost touching it. The Lovers (he and Isabella) have little or no physical contact. When there is any, the minimum has maximum effect. Lelio is often holding a handkerchief or flower, etc. in his leading hand. His arms never make identical shapes and because of his vanity, he  frequently looks in a hand mirror, only to become upset by any minor imperfection that is discovered. He is always looking to see if a ribbon or sequin is out of place. A button found on the floor or a blemish in the coiffure equals disaster. His speech makes great display of courtly words and baroque metaphors, also knowing large extracts of poems by heart. He speaks softly in musical sentences which are often flamboyant, hyperbolical and full of amorous rhetoric. When it comes to women, his words are the only thing that shows that he might have any interest. His body language, actions, tone, all contradict any infatuation he may have with a female. The only reason why he would express an interest in a female is because he loves the idea of love. However he seems genuinely more in love with himself and other male characters before he is in love with a woman. He relate exclusively to himself – he is in love with himself being in love. The last person he actually relates to in the course of the action is often Isabella. When he and she do meet they have great difficulty in communicating with each other (usually because of the nerves). And they relate to their servants only in terms of pleading for help. The Lovers love each other, yet are more preoccupied with being seen as lovers, undergoing all the hardships of being in such a plight, than with actual fulfilment. Consequently they frequently scorn each other and feign mild hatred; they rebut, despair, reconcile, but eventually end up marrying in the way of true love when the game is up and they know they cannot play any more. Lelio is extremely aware of being watched. He plays with the audience for sympathy in their plight and occasionally flirts with spectators. Lelio is indispensable. Without him and his inability to resolve problems with Isabella, there would be no struggle between the ineffectuality of youth and the implacability of age. The lovers are never alone on stage –  they always have someone with them or spying on them.

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Annotated Bibliography Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Retrieved May 27, 2013, from the WebMD Website: HYPERLINK http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd http://www.webmd.com/mental-health/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) plays an important role in providing information with regard to the disorder and thus makes it possible for readers to gain a more complex understanding of the condition. The article primarily documents the disorders background, the prevalence with which it happens, and reasons why individuals come to suffer from the condition. By emphasizing that PTSD is practically the bodys attempt to raise a persons awareness concerning the gravity of the situation that he or she has been in, the article makes it possible for readers to understand that one of the best way to fight the conditions harmful effects would be for the individual to acknowledge that he or she holds a great deal of power and that it is essential for him or her to make use of that power in order to improve his or her mental health. The article relates to the wide range of situations that can cause PTSD and to how people need to direct their attention toward familiarizing themselves with the disorders symptoms and seriousness before attempting to deal with it. Stein, Dan J., Seedat, Soraya, Iversen, Amy, and Wesley, Simona, (2007), Post-traumatic stress disorder: medicine and politics, 369: 139 44 This article is importantShow MoreRelatedLearning and Cognition Essay1306 Words   |  6 Pagesï » ¿ Annotated Bibliography: Foundation for a course Project PSYC 3500; Learning and Cognition U5A1: Annotated Bibliography Capella University November, 2013 Annotated Bibliography: Foundation for a course Project This paper contains an annotated bibliography for a paper which will serve as the final project for a course on the subject of learning and cognition. The paper for which this bibliography was prepared originally was to focus on whetherRead MoreAnnotated Bibliography: Domestic Violence and Its Effects on Children1382 Words   |  6 PagesAnnotated Bibliography: Domestic Violence and its effects on Children Groves, B.M. (1999). Mental Health Services for Children Who Witness Domestic Violence. The Future of Children, 9(3), 122-132. 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