Front Stage And Backstage Operations Of Hilton Sydney Hotel

Flowchart of the front stage and backstage services

In the hospitality industry, a focus on the service encounter means the sharp distinction between guests’ interaction and staffs. Front stage activities in the hotel represent the interaction the service consumer has with the service through the staffs. On the other side, backstage activities in a hotel are the part of the service value chain which the service consumers cannot see by themselves (Collier et al. 2018). In the hospitality industry, the perspective holds the quality of the service experiences by the guests which takes place in the front stage. In addition, the flow of front stage activities puts its emphasis on the backstage activities. In this paper, the Hilton Sydney Hotel is chosen to show the front stage and backstage activities. In addition, the significance of service encounters is explained along with the managerial implication of the service. Hilton Sydney Hotel considers the entire network of services which comprises the front stage and backstage as complementary parts of the overall service system.

According to Ekstrand and Damman (2016), a flowchart is a diagram which shows the sequence of movement involved in complex activities or systems. Hilton Sydney Hotel is a five-star hotel at Pitt Street in Sydney and it is built on a long history of hospitality expertise, phenomenal design and iconoclastic innovation which can attract the guests. In Hilton Sydney Hotel, maximum guests accommodate who come from foreign countries and this hotel is famous for the renowned Relaxation Rooms and unique cocktail concept Zeta Bar. Hilton Sydney Hotel is built over the 4,000sqm and it can accommodate at least 3000 delegates (Hilton.com 2018). Service organisations are divided into two components of services, front stage and backstage services. The hotel staffs have to communicate with the guests in front stage operations; however, in backstage operations, employees have to deal with the services which are not communicated to guests. In this section, symbolic representations through flowcharts of the front stage and backstage activities of Hilton Sydney Hotel are given. Service design and service quality both are important for a hotel to satisfy the customers and guests must be fulfilled during the interaction with the staffs. 

Backstage operations of the hotel refer to the process undertaken by the staffs of the support department and the staffs need not interact with the guests while providing the services to the guests. Backstage operations are the predecessors of the front stage activities in the service delivery processes and most of these activities perform by the staffs are not seen by the guests (Lovelock and Patterson 2015). The staffs who are directly associated with the backstage operations do not communicate with the guests and they perform their duties to please with core and supplementary services in the hotel. In Hilton Sydney Hotel, the management has separate teams for maintaining the activities of backstage operations. In addition, Hilton Sydney Hotel has Sales and Marketing department, Finance, HR, Security and Kitchen departments as part of the backstage operations. The guests of the hotel do not experience any of these functions in face-to-face as these functions are performed discreetly. Kitchen staffs prepare the meal and food items for the guests and the guests do not need to face the staffs of the kitchen. The guests call the front desk for the meal or the guests can visit the dining area for breakfast or for lunch. Housekeeping department keeps the room and floor clean and the staffs do not need to communicate with the guests as well. Without clearing the premises of the hotel; it would be difficult for the management to keep the guests satisfied. As stated by Lariviere et al. (2017), the HR department of the hospitality service industry keeps the data of the staffs, manage the payroll, employee performance and employee development. In Hilton Sydney Hotel, accounts department does the work of bookkeeping, accounts payable and keep the information of payment of the staffs. In addition, the sales and marketing department of Hilton Sydney Hotel puts the advertisement on social media pages and in the public domain. Hilton hotel chain is the world’s one of the famous firms in hospitality businesses, the marketing department checks the online booking rate and check the partnership with a third-party app. The backstage activities in the service industry keep the working of taking phone calls for room services or the staffs take the file information along with post-operation activities. Front office desk delivers the information to the backstage and the backstage staffs keep the flowchart flexible so that they can get the work done on right time. Backstage activities of the service organisation are needed to be smooth to meet the delivery time of the customers and meet the expectations of the customers as well.

Backstage operations

                           

                                                                                          (Source: Self-developed)

The below flowchart states the major stages of service encounter between the guests and the staffs of the organisation. Hilton Sydney Hotel has dedicated front stage staffs that have the training to meet the expectations of the guests. The staffs of front stage operations have two basic duties, to listen to the guests and deliver the requests to the backstage staffs. Hilton Sydney Hotel also provides the personalised services to the guests and front stage staffs listen to the personalised requests of the staffs. Front stage activities control both front end and back end operations of the service design (Long 2018). In the service design, front-end operations make the majority of the service delivery process and front stage service delivery starts with key customer actions and staffs need to be visible to the guests. The management of Hilton Sydney Hotel segregates the front stage operation into three sections, front desk operations, dining room and recreational activities. Front desk activities of Hilton Sydney Hotel are the guest bookings, guest check-in, concierge, tour and car rentals, guest service, data management and guest check-out. Guest booking is associated with the advance booking and walk-in booking of the customers; the staffs need to help the guests to do the booking and accommodate into the hotel. In guest check-in services, the staffs of Hilton Sydney Hotel greet the guests, do the payment and room allocation. In addition, guest services in Sydney Hilton Hotel are associated to make the guest relation and understanding the special requests of the guests. The staffs of the front stage have to maintain the guest information and the staffs also manage the guest membership as well. Before the guest check-out, the staffs need to clear the payment procedure. In recreational activities, the staffs need to maintain the pool and gym perfect for the guests and handling guest booking is another important work for the staffs. Dining room maintaining has to be done by the staffs and the staffs plan the dining room activities with offering meal allocation, room services and special requests of the guests. Each process of the front stage operation is dealt with the certain degree of physical evidence and it can impact on the perception (Nikolaidis et al. 2016). Front stage functions of the Hilton Sydney Hotel require a certain degree of empowerment from the staffs’ end as well.

                                 

                                                                                       (Source: Self-developed)

Front stage operations

In the hospitality industry, the guests’ point of view, the ultimate impression of the service happens in the service encounter. As stated by Collier et al. (2018), when the guests interact with the hospitality service firms; it is called the ‘moment of truth’. Moment of truth is the foundation of the satisfaction of the service quality and it is the promise made by the service organisation not to be broken. In the hospitality industry, the guests have to meet with the service staffs for a series of encounters right from the time he/she enters the hotel. In Hilton Sydney Hotel, the guests start talking to the staffs after visiting the hotel and being sat on the waiting rooms. The encounter cascade is important as it can determine the satisfaction of the customers and their loyalty. The first encounter between the staffs and the guest in the hotel industry is very important as the initial reaction creates the impression of the perception of the guests (Reason et al. 2015). Encounter cascade influences the mind of the guests in the hotel and it influences the perception of the guests. Many of the positive influences can create a high-quality image in the mind of the customers. In the hotel industry, the guests can face the remote encounter when they book the hotel accommodation through the website or third-party apps. While visiting the Hilton Hotel Sydney, the guests can face the phone encounters to ask the proper address or whether the hotel sends for the car-pickup. During the stays in the hotel, the guests visit the front desk, the guests expect the personalised service and the guests call the front desk for the room service or for a meal and the guests also meet the staffs during the housekeeping services. As stated by Radnor et al. (2014), in face-to-face encounters, both verbal and non-verbal communication and interactions are significant from the staffs’ end.

Service encounters are important for the hotel as it creates the long-term relations with the hotel and good perception of the staffs can provide a brand image of the hotel. In the hotel industry, certain encounters of the customers act as the key customer satisfaction. The front stage staffs need to be appropriate not to create negative encounter and the backstage staffs must work faster to provide guest satisfaction. Service encounters have its relation to the service quality. Better service quality makes the customers satisfied and it depends on the interaction with the staffs (Long 2018). The service organisation puts emphasis on the service encounters to portray that the brand image of the organisation.

Hilton Sydney Hotel must provide the tangibles service which provides the physical facilities, staff appearance and equipment. Service must provide the reliability to perform the service accurately (Dabholkar 2015). The service must provide responsiveness which helps to respond to the needs of the customers. The staffs must have the courtesy and knowledge to inspire the trust and ability to inspire the confidence and trust of the guests in the hotel. In Hilton Sydney Hotel, the staffs must show the empathy to share the caring nature, attention and individualised service to attract the guests. The management of the hotel wants to create the benchmark so that the customers must be satisfied with providing the efficient and effective than the others in the industry. According to Gummesson (2015), service quality in the hospitality sector provides the sustainable competitive advantage and each of the service organisations wants to gain the competitive differentiation in the market. Therefore, service quality in managerial implication to deliver excellent quality service to the guests. The managerial implication can help to achieve the customer satisfaction, establishing the customer loyalty and contributing the business image and providing a competitive advantage. In the service industry, most of the service cannot be inventoried and the managerial implication is to turn away. In service marketing, intangible elements dominate the value creation which cannot be tasted, touched and smelt. Service in the hotel industry is often difficult to visualise and customers can interact with the facilities and systems.

Conclusions

 It has been noticed that the service industry is tied in with keeping up the service quality and remain the service users fulfil. In the hospitality business, front stage and backstage operational mix are essential to give an extraordinary service experience to the guests. Sydney Hilton Hotel keeps up the flowcharts to decide the service level and through these flowcharts; it needs to meet the service quality, regulation and standards. Service encounters can be enhanced through service quality’s implications and coordination. Management and service of hotel and configuration have to a great extent concentrated on the associations among guests and employees. This viewpoint holds that the nature of the service encounter is principally decided amid this last service encounters that happen in the front stage. This accentuation provides a commitment of the actions in the backstage of the service value chain where materials or data required by the front stage are prepared.

Reference List

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Radnor, Z., Osborne, S.P., Kinder, T. and Mutton, J., 2014. Operationalizing co-production in public services delivery: the contribution of service blueprinting. Public Management Review, 16(3), pp.402-423.

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Sydney Hilton Hotel. 2018. Available at: https://www3.hilton.com/en/hotels/new-south-wales/hilton-Sydney-SYDHITW/index.html  [Accessed 25^th Sept 2018]