Ch 2 Service characteristics of hospitality

Marketing Strategies

- A set of plans designed to achieve marketing objectives - Service differention - "" Quality - "" Productivity - Customer complaints - employees apart of product - perceived risk - capacity and demand

The six characteristics of better trained personnel exhibit

- competence - courtesy - credibility - responsiveness - communication - reliability

Determine the factors of well managed service companies

- customer obsessed = exceeding customer expectation - top management commitment to quality - high service quality standards = 'defect-free service' or accuracy in booking rooms or cooking the right food item - evaluate their performance and competitors

How to handle customer's perceived risk?

- hotel or restaurant in a low risk situation - increase risk is with loyal customers bc of consistent service they received

What are the 3 possible steps to reduce variability?

- invest in good hiring and training procedures; - standardize the service-performance process throughout the organization - Monitor customer satisfaction

What to consider when managing capacity?

- involve in self-service technologies - cross train employees; if needed elsewhere when short staffed - part time employees; to expand capacity - rent or share extra facilities or equipment; to expand capacity and not restricted to their limited space - schedule downtime during low demands; match the forecast - change service- delivery system; adjust their operating system to handle maximum capacity and still focused on customer satisfaction

Service culture

A system of values and beliefs in an organization that reinforces the idea that providing the customer with quality service is the principal concern of the business.

Perishability

cannot be stored for later use - unsold rooms will be lost forever in the next day's revenue

best measure of service quality

customer retention

External Marketing

implementation of marketing practices directed outside the business to create value and to form productive customer relationships

interactive marketing

service quality depends heavily on the quality of the buyer-seller interaction during the service encounter - depends on service deliverer and quality of the delivery

service profit chain

the chain that links service firm profits with employee and customer satisfaction, retention, value creation, and profitability

Define organization image

the way a person or group views an organization and that each service organization should review every piece of tangible evidence

Define employees as part of the product

there are two customers: the paying customer and the employees. Having a positive support for employees will result in the product quality

Intangibility

- services cannot be seen, tasted, felt, heard, or smelled before purchase - industry is experimental only and don't know quality of product until after experiencing it - provide tangible evidence for their prospective customers - little things communicate to guest such as: wrapped glasses = cleanliness or fold in toilet paper = washroom been tidied

inseparability

- the quality of being produced and consumed at the same time; services cannot be separated from their providers - employee and consumer is the product - customers should be trained as employees be knowing of menu items or the amenities that are provided bc customers co produce the product

What are the ways to managing productivity?

- train old and new employees with more attention and empowerment - increase in quantity of service by sacrificing quality - adding equipment that are efficient - adapting to the tech world for efficiency and productivity

What are successful steps to manage queuing?

- unoccupied time feels longer than occupied time - unfair waits are longer than equitable waits; no skipping in line - uncertain waits are longer than known, finite waits; known waits or delays the consumer can plan to do other things whereas not knowing will cause anxiety if missing flight or next turn if left

How to change and manage demand?

- use price to create or reduce demand; such as specials for slow days or resorts lower fare during off-season, hotel weekend specials. If demand exceeds capacity raises prices to lower demand - reservations; for monitoring and limiting demand - overbook; some will not show and is to match capacity but must be cautious - revenue management; using price as a means of matching demand with capacity. allocating a fixed inventory to the most profitable consumer -queuing; guests who are willing to wait until a certain point - shift demand; open shifts for staff - promotional events; increase demand or shift the demand curve

What are the 5 links to service profit chain?

1. internal service quality; support system, superior employee and training leads to 2. satisfied and productive service employees; more satisfaction, loyalty leads to 3. greater service value; more effective and efficient customer value leads to 4. satisfied and loyal customers; satisfied loyal customers leads to 5. healthy service profits and growth; superior firm performance

The 10 steps of improving service quality

Listening reliability basic service service design recovery surprising customers fair play teamwork employee research servant leadership

Hospitality companies face the task of increasing three major marketing areas:

Service differentiation, service quality, and service productivity

What is the the four characteristics of services?

intangibility inseparability variability perishability

3 types of marketing

internal, external, interactive

internal marketing

orienting and motivating customer-contact employees and supporting service employees to work as a team to provide customer satisfaction

tangible evidence

physical evidence - promotional material - overall apperance - ambiance - focusing on negative factors such as busted light bulbs, dusty tables, wrong signage

Variability

quality may vary, depending on who provides them and when, where, and how they are provided - services are produced simultaneously which limits quality control - fluctuating demand = difficulty to deliver consistent product - lack of knowledge of customer expectation - inconsistency = dissatisfaction