Customer Satisfaction, Service Quality And Service Management In The Hotel Industry

Letter of Response

Questions:

1.Write a response letter to Mr Ford. You have ‘free reign’ in terms of Compensation you may offer if you believe it is warranted.

2.What strategies can Hospitality Managers use to try and deliver quality service to ALL guests.

1.Letter of Response

Respected Mr. Ford,

With regard to your letter, firstly I would like to convey empathy towards your situation and am extremely regretful for the situations which you had to face during your stay at the resort The Zambezi Sun. It is my earnest wish that you get well soon and the injuries which you incurred heal as quickly as possible. It is a matter of extreme sadness to hear about the situation how a quickly moving vehicle clipped your leg. It is more so a matter of concern as the vehicle belonged to the Zambian government. I can assure you that the matter will be looked into as soon as possible and the government will ask the vehicle drivers to be more careful while driving in order to prevent such accidents in the future.

It gives me immense pleasure to hear that the services of the nurse were competent and could satisfy your needs sufficiently. The duties of calling the local medical facilities to find a working x-ray machine or that of contacting the local ambulance service for transport were absolutely prompt as well as responsible. It is a matter of pride to have such an efficient staff member working for us. It gives me immense pleasure to know that the manager arranged for a room without any charges. However it is unfortunate that the Medivac facilities would have to be paid by you. The facilities in future should undoubtedly be arranged by the hotel authorities as the accident had taken place in the hotel. The responsibilities of the hotel staff were not up to the mark and hence I would like to assure you that the matter will b looked into as soon as possible. Regarding the emergency medical treatment facilities which you were asked to pay and also the payment for the meals or telephonic calls, I would like to reimburse the amount to you totally. I would kindly request you to verify the account details which we already have with us, so that we can adjust all the payments which we intend to reimburse as soon as possible. I would like to assure you that the procedures for handling such situations will be bettered by our staff in the days to come so that esteemed customers like you do not face any problems and do not have any scope for complaint. The situations faced by you during the course of your stay should have been better and due to the incompetency on our part I ask for your consideration. The feedback from customers like you is extremely valued and we wish to work on all the points put forward by you. All the expenses which were incurred by you will be reimbursed at the earliest. It is our sincere hope that you come to our hotel in future and I personally assure you that such occurrences will not be repeated at any cost.

Importance of Customer Satisfaction

2.The quality of service is concerned with the customers’ perceptions of particular dimensions of service. These include the factors like the reliability, the responsiveness, assurance, empathy and also the tangibles. The service quality affects or in better words impacts the customer satisfaction by providing real benefits. The creation of customer satisfaction by delivering high quality service, helps in providing several benefits which includes the relationship between the customers and the consumers, thus helping in the provision of a good basis for the purchase as well as the recreation of customer loyalty. This also leads to word-of-mouth recommendation that ultimately helps in the overall benefit to the company.

Service quality comprises of three dimensions namely the physical facilities staff and materials. It can also be categorised as service quality and technical quality. According to another approach the quality service has five major dimensions namely assurance, reliability, empathy, tangibility and responsiveness (Alonso-Almeida, Rodríguez-Antón and Rubio-Andrada 2012).

People travel for business or pleasure and usually look for the ideal values for their money. The best of service is always desired and this is bound to lead to better business. The most important criteria that every person needs to keep in mind is that of customer satisfaction. The customer experience goes a long way in making or breaking the fate of a company. Customer satisfaction basically involves being available when and where the customers want. The personal handling of the customer needs to be friendly, helpful and the staff should be well versed with the policies and the amenities which the hotel provides (Wu, and Ko 2013).

The customer requirements also need to be understood based on the place or choice of the customer’s stay. The services need to be structured and formed based on the likes and benefits of the customers to appeal to the specific tastes of the customers. It is preferable that every customer is treated like a VIP. This is to ensure that every individual receives a relatively positive experience. This sort of experience helps in overlooking other issues like mediocrity of location, size of rooms and so on (Mok, Sparks and Kadampully 2013).

Another important aspect of customer satisfaction is that of the immediate resolving of the customer complaints. One of the highly significant duties of guest service managers and customer service leaders is the measurement of customer satisfaction and the resolution of complaints and problems of the customers. In this regard an important point is that of the customer feedback. The customers who have been unfortunate enough to have a bad experience need to be taken care of primarily and they should be provided with the opportunity to share their views and opinions. After the viewpoints have been understood correctly the situation needs to be resolved and it should be ensured that the customer is ultimately happy.

Another factor which the hotel needs to keep in mind is to maintain a characteristic of being realistic for its own benefit primarily. The hotels need not put up a higher image of themselves in case they feel that their services are not up to the mark. In case the hotels have put a high image of their services and facility the customers are bound to have high expectations from the hotels and in case these are not fulfilled they are bound to be let down. These situations need to be avoided under any circumstances (Wang, Chen, and Chen, 2012).

Factors Contributing to Customer Satisfaction and Service Quality

The staff of the hotels needs to be properly trained in order to improve the customer services. The hotel runs more smoothly in case the staff are better trained and this corresponds to greater customer satisfaction. The staff members well trained in the management of conflicts can properly tackle the customer expectations and complaints. This is because it is wrong to assume that a good hotel will not receive any negative reviews. The staff who are experienced in positive customer satisfaction creation policies along with a high sense of knowing customer needs as well as pride in job performance is bound to create an environment which draws people and corresponds to a lasting good impression. However, the training should not be limited to a particular day and it should be an everyday priority (Prentice 2013).

In several cases the customer satisfaction will be linked to the level of communication with the customers. In case dialogues are created with customers, it becomes easier for the hotel management to see strong and weak points in the customer service. The feedback can also be obtained in the website review section. The obtained information if used correctly are extremely helpful in the staff meetings and the training sessions for the implementation of the policies.

The action of the staff needs to be linked to the overall performance of the hotel.   A sense of purpose needs to be instilled in the employees by showing them that whatever they do in the workplace everyday has a huge impact on the experience of the guests and the revenue collected for the hotels. The employees need to be told that their practice of good quality service is important everyday.

In the hospitality industry it is needed to keep the guests engaged for the repeat businesses and also for future referral purposes. The deliverance on the promise needs to be ensured at all times. The loyalty of the customers is a significant issue as the loyal customers can contribute to a majority of the business of the firms (N. Torres and Kline 2013).

The hotel industry is a thriving yet a place of competition. The customers at the hotels want the exact things which they expect to be provided. In situations where the management has a well trained staff which values the recognition of customers and also the customer satisfaction, the hotel is bound to earn respect and customers will be repeated as well. The customers need to be at the forefront of the operational activities and hence will lead to the steady flow of customers in order to keep the business afloat.

References:

Alonso-Almeida, M.D.M., Rodríguez-Antón, J.M. and Rubio-Andrada, L., 2012. Reasons for implementing certified quality systems and impact on performance: an analysis of the hotel industry. The Service Industries Journal, 32(6), pp.919-936.

Mok, C., Sparks, B. and Kadampully, J., 2013. Service quality management in hospitality, tourism, and leisure. Routledge.Torres, E. and Kline, S., 2013. From customer satisfaction to customer delight: Creating a new standard of service for the hotel industry. International Journal ofPrentice, C., 2013. Service quality perceptions and customer loyalty in casinos. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 25(1), pp.49-64.    

Wang, C.H., Chen, K.Y. and Chen, S.C., 2012. Total quality management, market orientation and hotel performance: The moderating effects of external environmental factors. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 31(1), pp.119-129.

Wu, H.C. and Ko, Y.J., 2013. Assessment of service quality in the hotel industry. Journal of Quality Assurance in Hospitality & Tourism, 14(3), pp.218-244.