Introduction
In the hotel context, guests’ experiences are determined by some several factors, one being the employees’ involvement in services provision and decision making. These employees directly interact with the guests in a hotel. They, therefore, have a better understanding of the guest’s needs, priorities, likes and dislikes and how to handle them. Employee service involvement helps in prioritizing guests’ interests hence ensuring satisfactory guest experience. Employers should, therefore, take the initiative of involving their employees in various services such as hotels’ decision making, offering incentives to them and even improving the conditions they work on. This eventually improves the general services provided to the guests and the guest experience at large. More details about the guest experience in the past and present and the importance of service employees are given below.
Service is the act of rendering a helping hand to guests. Both people and machines offer services. It is through the services provided that a customer can understand a specific enterprise offers. Both the employees and the employer participate in delivering services, and it is therefore vital for the participation and involvement of the two parties. The quality of service involvement of both the employees and the employer determines the quality of experience offered to the customers (Cava & Fernandez, 2017). In the hotel service case, when the hotel employees are involved in the decision-making exercise, they feel their services are recognized, and this motivates them to offer the best services to the guests.
A hotel employer who involves their employees (chef, waiters/waitresses) in the hotel in various services like decision making and general hotel operational activities creates an enabling environment for them to offer guests with the best services experience, unlike a manager who is very central in service involvement (Choo & Tan, 2017). Employers should respect their employees and use correct language and manner of addressing or giving directives to them because after all, there is the critical target to boost guest experience and accrue profits.
Hospitality should flow directly from the employer to the employees and then to the final recipient that is, the guests. The employer is the role model to the employees, and the employees will emulate his mode of conduct and behavior on guests’ services. The employer should practice enthusiasm in all his activities with high integrity (Xiang & Uysal, 2015). For instance, in the case whereby the hotel employer emphasizes a high level of friendly services, the employees are likely to be very hospitable, and the overall guest experience is expected to be admirable. The worst experience a guest can ever encounter is to visit a hotel, and no one cares about serving him or her. This deters the guest from visiting the hotel in the future.
On the other hand, where the guests are immediately welcomed, greeted and offered a place to sit before their orders are attended to, the services provided to the guest are of quality and will always attract the guest to the same hotel. This is a positive indicator of the employee and the employer relationship (Cetin & Walls, 2016). Guests are always attracted to hotels where the management equally concerned with its employees and the products offered.
Tourism involves people traveling to places for pleasure. Good services attract tourists hence raising the peoples’ standards of living by earning income from the services they offer to them. Hotels act as a second home for guests. While away from their home, guests in hotels can still access household services like rest, entertainment, education services among many others (Ren & Lin, 2016). Hotels offer space and environment to even work at. In a hotel, one is sure to dine and carry all daily activities just like one could while at home. Guests want to visit hotels with proper management and good relationship between the employees and the employer because this assures them of their interested being looked at keenly.
A good guest experience means the service renders skills at all points of contacts in the hotel match the guests’ expectations. The hotel sector in the economy is very competitive, and this calls for the need for evolution of the services offered to the guests to improve their experiences and at the same time maintain cost and grow hotels’ revenue (Manthiou & Tang, 2016). It is only possible through identifying the guest’s interests and needs and differentiating one’s hotel brand from the ever dynamic market. Guests will always demand more and therefore knowing the type of guests one deals with will help provide the best guest experience. Today everything is turning digital as a result from technology shift (Khan & Rahman, 2017). Therefore, for better hotel guests experience then it is crucial for the hotels to initiate and keep in touch with technology to deliver authentic hospitality and good guest experience which will thereafter retain and win more guests.
It is the responsibility of the hotel management to ensure that the hotel atmosphere and the services the guests look forward to are offered (Sipe & Testa, 2018). Guests will always go to a hotel that is moving with technology, where they can access their interests with ease. For example, the presence of robust Wi-Fi access in the guest rooms and a high level of hygiene, are some of the factors modern guests consider before booking a hotel. The old ways of putting guests to queues especially during the pick seasons when the services were manually offered are outdated. Guests always advocate for fast attendance. A technologically improvised hotel attracts more guests, unlike the one that is still running in the old era way. Hotels have also improvised on additional services like offering curbs for free transport services to their guests different from the past when these services were never even put into consideration. The comfort ability of the hotel rooms has also improved. Today, guests can access bathtubs and hot showers, televisions in every room, cell phones in case of emergencies or orders (Hudson & Hudson, 2017). The general cleanliness of the room unlike before has dramatically improved. The restrooms are frequently cleaned to ensure that the rooms are conducive for resting, sleeping and taking meals.
Currently, hotel security level has dramatically improved. The use of CCTV cameras to monitor all the operations in the hotel is not something to take lightly. It makes it very easy for the security personnel to keep every area in the hotel under watch and this positively boosts the services offered to the guests (Mody & Lehto, 2017). The employees also want to be assured of their security as they work. They can then devote wholly to guests service without fear and worries.
Previously, hotels just offered common food and drinks menu which were not satisfactory to the clients especially to guests looking for diversity in meals. Nowadays, hotels provide a variety of foods and drinks emphasizing more on the culinary presentation which seems to be an attractive factor to guests.
Finally, technology has been a significant improvement in the guest experience, especially in the hotel sector. Currently, some of the leading hotels use advanced technology to offer services to their customers (Hudson & Hudson, 2017). Technology starts at the kitchen where robots cook food under the operation and control of experts and serve it to clients. Guests enjoy and prefer this kind of service because it involves less contact of food with humans. The food served by these technological gadgets is believed to be of high quality and less prone to food poisons. Heaters are also put in place to warm water for guests to sanitize their hands after meals. The following graph provides some of the factors guests consider nowadays and how they influence their guest experience.
One of the significant consequences of failing to focus on services rendered is decreased profits. If a hotel, for instance, does not emphasize on the quality of services they provide to their guests, then definitely the guests’ number turn-up is likely to reduce over time leading to decreased profits (Bujisic & Smith, 2015). Such hotels are likely to collapse when they can no longer be at a position to pay their workers and cater to the production costs.
A service industry that does not focus on its employees is likely to have frequent employees strikes. Whenever employees strike, this portrays that there is a part of the organization that is not performing its duties well (Worsfold & Thomas, 2016). When employees strike, services industry stop operating. Guests become desperate and lose their loyalty to that particular service industry. With time, the guest turn- up reduces, leading to poor performance of the sector in the working environment. Employees mostly strike when they are denied leaves or are paid poorly or even when their salaries are delayed.
Failure to focus on employees and the services they render also lowers the employees’ morale to work. When employees’ grievances are not attended to, they tend to feel that the organization does not care for them (Peng & Mattila, 2015). Their morale to work therefore reduces. The overall output per day in the case of a hotel gradually decreases. Delays in cooking or serving foods to guests might accrue. Some workers might even come to work late or work unwillingly. This negatively affects the service industry, and eventually, the organization might collapse.
Disrespect among the employees and the authority might also accrue when a hotel fails to focus on its employees. The employees will not respect the employer if he or she cares less about the issues in the working environment (Al Serhan, 2018). For instance, if workers complain about the shortage of water in the hotel kitchen and no one seems to act upon the issue, they will tend to think that the top authority is only interested with the profits accrued and not the working conditions of the employees. Respect for such managers who don’t care about the detrimental effects that may arise as a result of lack of water diminishes. As a result, the employees end up treating the top authority as their co-worker, or with less dignity.
Finally, if the hotel does not focus on the services offered and its employees, it may end up losing its loyal customers. It is through the employees that the customers are linked to the organization (Hudson & Hudson, 2017). Caring less about the employees, therefore, breaks the chain and leaves a big gap between the top authority and the customers. When the organization does not care about the employees, they tend to work unwillingly and their devotion to work decreases (Majavu, 2017). As a result, the services they render are likely to be of low quality. The guests do not care about the mismanagement or misunderstanding between the manager and the hotel service team. When they receive poor services, they naturally tend to look for better services in other hotels. When this happens, the affected hotel loses its customers.
Employees are an integral part in ensuring hotels services are of standard. Employees help a service industry gain profit. Without employees in a hotel, the usual routine is paralyzed (Hua & Batra, 2015). They play a huge role in the hotel services that hotels cannot run without their participation.
Employees’ services help hotels strive in a competitive hotel environment. When employees are treated right, they offer the best services to outstand their partners. Employers should, therefore, ensure the employees are paid well, on time, trained, and promoted (Ren & Ye, 2015). They should also offer them off days to take rest and have time with their families. Happy employees are more productive than unhappy ones. An employer should, therefore, strive to ensure the happiness of the employees. An organization can choose to offer appreciation gifts to the employees, celebrate their birthdays together as a team and do things together as a family (Absalyamov & Sakhapov, 2018). Employees’ empowerment through giving employees an autonomy degree and power or responsibility to exercise decision making also increases productivity. Empowered employees are likely to be more productive and loyal to their service organizations.
An employees’ loyalty is equally important to guests’ loyalty. Employers should ensure that there is proper communication between them and their employees (Hudson & Hudson, 2017). In case an employee decides to leave then there should be timely communication that will eventually help the employer adjust to the change and look for a solution to that gap. One common sign of employees’ disloyalty is striking. When employees go on strike, the company’s activities come to a standstill. To maintain employees’ loyalty, then the employers should keenly take into consideration, the employees’ grievances and act upon them as soon as possible.
Employees’ empowerment helps create a culture that links the guests, and the hotel service renders. Employees always want to feel part of the solution to the hotel challenges and not the problem (Meacham & Laing, 2017). This can be achieved by allowing them to take full responsibility over handling guests’ complaints without necessarily having to consult the employer all the time. If an employer cannot trust his employees, the service culture also diminishes. Employees feel their services are acknowledged and very important when they are given a chance to serve guests at all level. In case an employee goes wrong when handling guests’ requests, then the employer should intelligently handle the matter privately and not before the client because this will portray their failure and weaknesses as an organization (Brochado & Gameiro, 2015). An employer should always seek to protect its employers and guests. Guests advocate for fast complaint resolution, and therefore without entrusting the employees to decision making, this becomes a failed objective.
Happy employees help in the development of a robust and excellent guest experience culture. The employees’ attitudes shape the type of service culture. Employees attitudes should, therefore, be one of the factors to consider before offering one job opportunity in the hotel sector (Patiar, 2016). Employees may possess the qualifications of serving in a hotel but may lack the willingness and right attitude to serve. Employers should embrace hiring for attitude and training for skill for them to make the correct and favorable choice for desirable employees who will adhere to boosting the service culture positively in the hotel. For instance, the best and internationally prosperous hotels invest heavily in their employees because they believe employees act as a bridge to guest experience which is very real.
Employees are the determinants of the level and quality of guest experience in a hotel. After this service culture is embraced, then it is advisable for the managers to carry evaluative meetings suggestively on a monthly basis or even after two weeks to check on progress and get employees’ feedback (Kampalpour & Baghi, 2017). The employer should always embrace the employees’ voice and give a listening ear to their view. When employees are satisfied, the same satisfaction is passed on to the guests leading to improved employee and guest loyalty and increased profit margins. The service profit chain emphasizes establishing a relationship between employees’ satisfaction, customer loyalty, profit and productivity of the hotel.
Internal marketing is associated with the promotion of an organization or a company’s services and products to its employees (Hudson & Hudson, 2017). It helps increase employees’ engagement in facilitating brand advocacy. Most internal marketing efforts provide incentives to their employees to meet certain targets, and it is crucial for the efforts to be a motivating factor to the guests. Employees are the most important marketing tools. Internal marketing helps create common organizational goals and strategies.
The guest experience is changing, and these changes are resulting from the evolving technology. Employees need to be trained and educated to cope up with new technological changes and ensure that internal marketing is of standard (Ramkissoon & Mavondo, 2016). This training initiative will very well help the employees’ offer what is expected from them unlike in the case where employees are never trained and educated. Employees here are treated as internal customers by convincing them about the worth of the hotels’ guest experience and aggressively as external customers. Internal marketing is based on the idea that the guests’ attitude towards a hotel is entirely based on their entire experience rather than the hotel’s products. This strategy of internal marketing helps in customizing guests’ experiences in the hotel by offering training and education to the employees to help propel these services (Cox, 2017). Internal marketing gives employees accountability and responsibility and places value on their contribution. Information flows effectively in the hotel. Internal marketing, therefore, contributes largely to employees’ development and guest retention in a hotel.
Conclusion.
From my point of view, it is vital for a hotel to deliver a positive guest experience for its success through its employees to earn guests’ loyalty. The service industry, to be particular, the hotel industry is very flooded. Most of this competition emerges from the surplus in the labor market hence calling for re-establishment of services for uniqueness in the field. Positive guest experience is important because it attracts more guests leading to increased profits. High-profit margins create a room for expansion of the hotel, improvement of the services rendered and also provides the opportunity to empower and motivate employees. Employees’ motivation can be done by increasing their salaries and their working conditions. Positive guest experiences also create a positive rapport of the organization in the working environment. It is always the joy of an employer and the employee to receive positive compliments from the guests about their services. Such a positive guest experience is likely to attract more guests to the hotel when contended guests who visit the hotel refer their friends and relatives to the same hotel.
References
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