Improve Customer Service In Hospitality Industry Tourism Essay

The main purpose of this report is to research the problems in customer service of hotel and promote substantive recommendations to solve the problems. The report comprises the special definition of service, analyses of problems and methods of solving the problems. In order to improve those weaknesses of customer service, this report also identifies some detailed strategies.

2.0 Introduction

Along with rapid economic development, competition in hospitality industry is becoming more intense, and the customer service is becoming an important means of improving efficiency, building brand and expanding sales. The level of customer service will largely determine the outcome of competition. Guests check a hotel, buying not only the facilities, and guests have a dinner at the hotel, purchase is not limited to meals, more importantly, they want to receive high-quality and thoughtful service. Therefore, the hotel’s mission is to provide quality services for guests and to meet the needs of guests. It is common pursue of hotel manager that how to improve customer service quality and make the hotel in a dominant position in the fierce market.

3.0 Customer service definition

Services can be defined as the sum of behavior effectiveness that hotel staff devoted their emotions to form with the basis of certain equipment and facilities and with the target of customers needs (Gavin B. and Gillian M., 2002). We can build a figure to explain the word “service”.

Figure 1

As the figure 1 said that customer service contain eight means: smile, excellence, ready, viewing, inviting, creating, eye and giving (Joost P. M. Wouters, 2004). In fact, these are some of the dictionary explanation about “service”. It enables service’s definition more specific, more operational. It is a circle surrounding the center of hotel, and this circle form the definition of service.

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4.0 Improving service quality is the survival basis for hotel

Modern customer needs are diversified and personalized, and their requirements are also getting higher and higher. It requires the hotel starting from the customer needs and continuously improves service quality (Omar M. and Simon J. 2006). Fundamentally speaking, quality of service is the basis for survival and development of hotel. Competition among hotels, in essence, is the service quality competition. The reasons are as below: 1. Customers are sensitive to quality of service; 2. Customer satisfaction are positively related to service quality.

5.0 Customer service quality’s problems analysis

5.1 Level of service quality is low

Many hotel staff lack of initiative. “Smile service” can not be carried out and lack of basic manners etiquette (Allan Yen-Lun Su, 2004), and the staff can not operate advanced equipments. Although the situation has been improved in recent years, it still does not meet customer satisfaction very well.

5.2 Lack of inter-departmental services co-ordination

Hotel customer service products have the property of integrating and which is provided by different departments and staff. Hotel service quality is good or bad that depends on the degree of cooperation and coordination between different departments and staff. Many managers are more concerned with the performance of their departments, rather than the co-operation with other departments, the corresponding barrier will eventually rush the guests to turn to rival.

5.3 Service Quality Management is inefficient

Hotel service quality products are not only the physical products, but also the intangible service. Intangible service’s principal is human-that is hotel staff ¼ˆMarianna Sigala, 2005). Regulating and controlling the conduct of staff is the fundamental way to improve the quality of services.

6.0 The implement measures to improve the quality of hotel customer service

6.1 Build support system of customer service level of hospitality industry

Figure 2 (FL=foreign language skill OM=operation manage skill

IK=information knowledge EK=etiquette knowledge)

From the survey results, it is a must that strengthen the operation manage skill of high-star hotel staff, foreign language communication skills, as well as the growing populary information systems management knowledge and so on. Hotel should build the certification system of hotel industry staff training that implement a voluntary system of taking examination to post. Through scientific training, help new employees master certain amount of hotel industry business knowledge.

6.2 Hotel managers should strengthen awareness service quality

The quality of customer service the centeral work in hotel daily management, thus all staff should have a sense of quality and managers must establish the concept of service quality. Only managers taken root deeply in the concept of customer service quality can he regard quality as the lifeblood of enterprises, and make staff recognize the importance of customer service quality (Ling-Feng Hsieh and Li-Hung Lin, 2008).

6.3 Establish perfact service quality management system

Establish the organization of customer service quality management. Hotel should set up specialized organization of customer service quality management as ensuranment of service quality system. Specifically, it is that establish comprehensive, scientific and rational, and controlled service control system, and bring the hotel quality activities into a unified quality management system through a certain rules, methods and procedures.

Make out quality standards and quality objectives. Hotel should make specific standards to daily management of each service item and service sectors, and make work norms and procedures to make employee have the rule to comply with. Hotel can accurately record service process of different positions and sectors, and then analysis carefully, further improve service according to quality manage requirement, finally rationalize it, and defined it with the form of text and graphics and then form a service program.

6.4 Implementing a system of first-staff being in charge

As far as customers concerned, they visit hotel and spend money just for buying service, and they do not have interest in understand that with which thing they can turn to which person for help. They have the right to believe that any employee represents hotels and should solve problem for them. So this system means, any hotel staff working in the post, who is the first to be consulted by customers, will be the main person in charge of solving problems and request of guests (C. F. Cheung and W. B. Lee, 2003).

7.0 Conclusion

In conclusion, many hotels need to improve customer service level. Therefore, control and review is required when implementing administration and marketing activities. The hotel has to establish business goals for controlling and reviewing.