Challenging Aspects of a Hotel Receptionists Job - Assignment Example

Describe five challenging aspects of a hotel receptionist’s job as illustrated in this case study. To meet this challenging role what kinds of personality traits are desired and why? Knowing how to treat customers irrespective of their personality is one of the major challenges as a receptionist, this case study reveals that conflicts can always erupt in a hotel and hence demanding high level of integrity. Dealing with abusive clients is another challenge that a receptionist must be prepared to face in his or her daily chores. Mr. Patel case reveals how some customers can easily get out of hand to an extent of demanding what they don’t deserve and also avoiding payments.  Maintaining patients is also another challenging factor when tension rises in some situations; this was evident when Mr. Patel caused havoc in the hotel by yelling, demanding elimination of payment and even using abusive language. Maintaining high level of self control in such situations is also another challenge of being a hotel receptionist. Another challenge is maintaining servility while being subject to tense situations as Mr. Patel subjected the staff in the case study.   In order to deal with these challenges a hotel receptionist should have the following personal traits. He or she should be knowledgeable about how the company works, have good interpersonal skills and also able to anticipate the needs and the challenges way ahead of time. These traits are essential as they equip one with necessary skills that should come in handy when faced with a situation like the one identified (Kusluvan 2003, p.121). . Identify three precautions that the hotel took to prevent the conflict from escalating.3maks 128 The hotel three major precautions in order to prevent the conflict from escalating, the initial step that the hotel took in order to curb conflict escalation was avoiding arguments with Mr. Patel and instead awarded him request that he demanded using an experienced staff who was better positioned to handle the case. The second measure that the hotel took in order to avoid conflict escalation was considering waiver for a portion of what Mr. Patel had consumed including his demanded discounts. The management considered the waiver in order to allow Mr. Patel to get out of the hotel without further trouble making. The third notable precaution that the hotel management took in order to avoid conflict escalation was standing by the decisions of the receptionist and reaffirming that she was only following the rules of the hotel (Kusluvan 2003, p.123). Explain whether you believe that staff should put up with Mr. Patel’s verbal abuse, because of the slogan ‘the guest is always right’ In the hospitality industry, there are challenges related to the guests who visit the hotel for their services. As usual there are varied behaviours of people and thus the clientele and the responding staff of a hospitality company similar to this case. Notably, while it is anticipated that the customers and the receptionist staff will discharge their duties diligently, there are situations where the customer brings unwanted behaviours in order to side step some charges or gain some unfair discounts from the company. Notwithstanding, it is the duty of the staff to learn their customers behaviours by anticipating them from the first day when they book for their hotel reservations (Getz, Carlsen, & Morrison 2004, p.25). In my opinion the slogan that goes that “customers are always right” is meant to encourage businesses to address issues of their clients. Fundamentally listening to the clients complains is an essential way of gaining competitive edge. It is however obvious that some customers may take advantage of this slogan in order to gain undue advantage over a business. Extreme cases are also possible as evidenced by this case study episode. Mr. Patel used verbal abuse and unnecessary complain to get undue advantage of the hotel. While the customer has a right to complain, it is wrong to use abusive and threatening language. The staff of the hotel managed to put up with Patel’s abusive behaviour but blacklisted him in their hotel. Such incidences happen once in a while and thus demanding the experience of the staff solving such case. While it is obvious that abusive language is not supposed to be used anywhere, the staff should always know when to stop tolerating such behaviours since it is illogical for the company to serve such a customer while it is obvious that he has exceeded the limit. In my view, the slogan that a customer is always right should only hold to certain degrees but should not be left to affect the services of a company like in the case of Mr. Patel. Mr. Patel proved to be abusive, a thief and simply a hostile person who cannot add value to the business. In summary, unwanted behaviours should not be tolerated if they impact on the business prosperity on the basis that customers are always right. Explain whether you believe that being servile is part and parcel of any hospitality server’s job. Traditionally being servile was part and parcel of hospitality industry this is evidenced by the fact that women mainly played a role in the hospitality industry to an extent of being intimate with guest. This was assumed to be an important part of customer service in the past. With modernity, the concept of servility has also undergone tremendous changes but still considered an imperative part of the hospitality industry in many aspects. This is because servility portrays a welcoming perception which is specifically an important part of the service industry. The service industry requires that the host feels welcomed at home while in the hands of the hospitality industry. This is the most fundamental part of a business and thus important for the company to consider its services to its customers. Additionally it creates a competitive edge for the service industry in question (Mirriam-Webster Online Encyclopedia 2007). The situation of in this case study depicts incidences of servility that goes beyond the norm of the modern world. Servility in the service industry does not mean modern day slavery where the customer can take undue advantage over the service provider on the assumption that it is the duty of the service provider to give whatever the customer demands. Mr. Patel in this case is a typical example of how some customers can easily get out of hand and cause chaos that cost the company in the end. Neelam in this case maintained servility even when she was being abused and taken for a second class citizen despite the fact that the customer was the one wrong and trying to take advantage of the hotel in order to gain undue advantage. In my opinion servility also has its limits and a customer should also respect the staff of the hotel by following the rules set aside and also paying their dues after enjoying the services of the hotel. The responsibility of the staff members is to show hospitality and ensure that the customers are satisfied with their services. This includes handling their complain by ensuring that the guest is treated as he or she wishes within the boundaries acceptable in a hospitality industry. In summary servility has a boundary but still an essential part of the hospitality industry. It is thus the responsibility of the hospitality industry to draw a line between modern day slavery and servility to the customer. Read article 7.1 on the use of ‘dramatic scripts’ and discuss whether it is possible to train employees on how to handle difficult customers by providing them with ‘functional scripts’ on what to say and how to act (as compared to ‘dramatic scripts’). A stated by Harris, Harris, Barron (2003, p. 185) ‘functional scripts’ provide the basis in which employees are expected to act in terms of their relations to the customers of the hotel. In essence, this approach consist of a defined way and statements to say in a given situation, it therefore eliminates demonstration of emotions as a result of less personal statement and less handling of a situation based on a personal view point. The employees of a company are therefore expected to behave similarly in all occasions as they are limited in their way of handling issues. On the other hand, ‘dramatic scripts’ are allows for personal decision and interaction of with the customer primarily base on the situation at hand. When the two approaches are considered, one clear demerit of using ‘functional script’ is that it is not normally welcomed by visitors. This is because training employees using this style not only alters their normal behaviour but also diminishes their creativity in terms of applying personal experience to solve difficult situations like the case of Mr. Patel in this case study. It is also a boring style of handling customers because it is a routine in nature contrary to the memorable experience that customers usually seek in a hospitality industry. As an example, Mr. Patel in this case study provided a challenge not only to the receptionist but also to the entire management of the hotel when he demanded services which he was not willing to pay as evident by the many corrections that he demanded to be made in the bill. The entire drama ended up being a bargain of the amount that he was to pay after creating havoc in the hotel. ‘Functional scripts’ could have irrelevant in this case and could have escalated the problem. It was the key ‘dramatic scripts’ that emerged within the staff of the hotel which assisted them in calming the situation by getting rid of Mr. Patel in the hotel. In summary, ‘dramatic scripts’ creates room for creativity, viewing situations on a balanced view point as well as acting based on the situation at hand. This approach is thus the best approach to be adopted by the management of a hotel in order to bring out the best in their employees. References Getz, D, Carlsen, J & Morrison, A 2004, The family business in tourism and hospitality, CABI, Canberra. PP.23-45. Harris, R, Harris, K, Barron, S 2003, ‘Theatrical service experiences: dramatic script development with employees’, International Journal of Service Industry Management, vol. 14, no. 2, pp. 184-199. Höpfl, H 2002, ‘Playing the part: Reflections on aspects of mere performance in the customer-client relationship’, Journal of Management Studies, vol. 39, no. 2, pp. 255-267. Kusluvan, S 2003, Managing employee attitudes and behaviors in the tourism and hospitality industry, Nova Publishers, Sydney. PP. 121-129. Mirriam-Webster Online Encyclopedia 2007, Definition of servile, viewed 9 September 2007, http://mw1.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/servile Read More