Managing the Hospitality Experience - Assignment Example

Name: Lecturer’s name: Course: Date: Managing the Hospitality Experience – TOUR 2005 Assignment 1 – Case Study: “We don’t want any trouble makers in our hotel.” 1. 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? According to O'Gorman (42), as a receptionist, to be able to efficiently handle the guests, one needs various attributes. A receptionist needs to be courteous. Courtesy means that the receptionist needs to have excellence of social conduct. A polite receptionist is able to cope with the daily ups and downs of the reception and have the clients satisfied and minimize complains. Courtesy is practically being generous and considerate without favors. It is a personality trait that is practically crucial for a hotel receptionist. Dependability is a vital trait for a hotel receptionist. For instance, in the case (episode 8), it is critical that the receptionist had to be truthful to the client regarding various issues. For example, the availability of the room upgrade as requested by the client, he had to stick to the policies and not tell lies to the client when pushed to the corner. A dependable receptionist is the one who can be trusted by the organization with the ability to professionally handle the guests. He as well should be reliable to the clients and the organization. Occasionally, the receptionist job is traumatic which is attributed to the public interaction with varied personalities, under circumstances that the receptionist is expected to perform multiple tasks. This calls for ability to network quickly to handle the demands of the job. Dependability is a trait that a receptionist has to posses to be able to tackle various challenges at the reception. Ability to communicate effectively is a vital personality trait of a hotel receptionist. The ability to communicate is a prerequisite skill and trait of a hotel receptionist. Ability to communicate is essential for the purpose of exchanging ideas and needs, expectations as well as opinions with the hotel clients and staff. A receptionist must know how to face a client from different perspectives and deliver his or her point at all times. Communication skills ensure that there is no breakdown in information exchange between the receptionist and the clients. Flexibility is another personality trait critical for a hotel receptionist. In the case involved, (episode 8), it was critical for the receptionist to be change according to the clients preferences and request for conflict to be muted. It was essential that the receptionist had to be flexible enough to accommodate the client many demands. Flexibility enables the receptionist to have confidence desirable when handling the guests. This results to logical service delivery and customer satisfaction. Ethics and good morals is a vital personality trait of a hotel receptionist. A good receptionist must upload the morals desired in the period of executing responsibilities. The receptionist should not be ready to compromise on ethics and moral code of conduct when faced by a challenging situation, Instead, the particular receptionist should at all times approach the clients in an acceptable way as defined by the moral codes of a receptionist conduct. This calls for commitment towards work and being resourceful always. 2. Describe three precautions that the hotel took to prevent the conflict from escalating Their was conflict between Mr. Patel and the hotel and to thwart the intensification of the problem; the hotel undertook the following safety measures; First, the receptionist did offer to send a bell boy to deliver the bills to the client’s rooms when he was asked to personally present himself at the reception and declined. This was a safety measure that the receptionist undertook to ensure that the client demand in this case was sorted out to bar further ado and misunderstandings. Secondly, the troublesome Mr. Patel complained of a bloated bill in several instances. He argued that he never ordered fro a seafood platter and the room service captain had to waiver the charge to curb much ado. Mr. Patel in the same line, he kept requesting for discounts which were awarded; ten percent discount to be precise (10%) on his bills. Such were allowed to help save the hotel from more client uprising and dissatisfaction hence much trouble. Third, the hotel receptionist did not persist for a shortage of about 1000 rupees when the client was checking out. The client, Mr. Patel in this case, had already expressed his worries about the hotel mistrust of his ability to settle his bills and the lateness of the car before he settles the bills. Due to such misperception, the hotel took pardon as a safety measure to avoid escalation of more conflict. 3. Explain whether you believe that staff should put up with Mr. Patel s verbal abuse, because of the slogan the guest is always right I do believe the hotel staff should be able to put up with Mr. Patel abusive behavior. My argument for this is based on various aspects as follows; The hotel staffs are professionals that have sufficient skills and overriding training on the professional codes of conduct and behavior. These are expatriates who are familiar with courtesy, politeness, keen listening and creation of a wonderful experience to the clients at all times. In a full syllabus, these professionals were familiarized on the ups and downs in the industry and the presence of such clients as Mr. Patel, the so called “difficult clients”. Based on this argument I believe that the staffs have no any other option other than to put up with the clients verbal abuse. The clients is always right is a fact in hospitality. Having taken the client is meant that the organization was able to put up with the client for the duration he shall be staying with them. The happenings linked to Mr. Patel in the facility are “a by-the way” and whatever he alleges, he must be right. Due to that, the staffs had no any other option other than to put up with his verbal abuse. Lastly, Mr. Patel verbal abuse is an expression of dissatisfaction and frustration and he was seeking to realize value for money. He could be involved in such abuse because he had not realized the value of what he had parted with to enjoy the hotel facility. Based on the slogan “the guest is always right” the staff in this particular hotel had to put up with the abuse because they had failed to meet the clients expectations hence they groomed the abuse. 4. Explain whether you believe that being servile is part and parcel of any hospitality server s job According to Telfer (59), being Servile is “the show of more than practical willingness to serve and please others” and in this perspective it is characterized with servitude. According to me, I don’t believe being servile is part and parcel of any of the hospitality server’s job. A hospitality employee is burdened with the responsibility of ensuring that the clients have personal touch and someone to attend to them when they desire service. The staffs are supposed to do their best and create comfort sought by the client but not being mistreated and turned into slaves. In line with such arguments, I holistically do not believe that being servile is an attribute of a hospitality server’s job description. A hospitality server’s job requires customer needs to be met in a non measurable magnitude; beyond expectations. It does not need one to be servile to do the job and create a wonderful clients experience. Hospitality servers are obliged to uphold to the professional, ethical and practical codes of conduct in the line of duty. Due to this, the aspect of being servile is not logical in the synergy. Based to such a claim, I decline to believe that servile is part and parcel of any hospitality servers job. 5. Explanation of whether I believe telling lies is part of the job I do not believe telling lies is part of the hospitality servers job. This believes is based on the argument that the truth will always set one free. For instance, the receptionist did not give Mr. Patel room upgrade he had requested for and this from my understanding had on his shoulders an extra burden; that of ensuring that no one ever contradicted the first argument he had with Mr. Patel regarding the upgrade. If the aspect of lies was not linked with the situation, the staff could not have bothered communicating even to the room stewards. It is advisable to stick to the real facts and avoid telling lies in a hospitality organization. This is because when truth is told, their can never be rise of conflict. The hospitality staff should stick to nothing but the truth in the execution of their responsibilities. 6. Explain whether you believe Mr Patel was entitled to the ‘freebies’ that he demanded? Mr. Patel was not in any way entitled his demands. To get the ‘freebies’ demanded by Mr. Patel, one had to at least be a member of the Gandhi club. The second option was to dig deeper into the pocket and offset the associated costs an option that Mr. Patel was not weighing at all. Mr. Patel demanded to enjoy benefits that he had not subscribed to and according to me; I do not believe he was entitled. Mr. Patel demand for “freebies” was unjustified and such demands could not have been met fro him at the expense or the hotel resources, though in this case the hotel adopted them as a safety measure to the uprising of conflict. 7.0 Explaining whether difficult customers tend to get better services Difficult customers do not tend to get better services in a hospitality enterprise. Instead, they end up being blacklisted and receiving poor quality services (Olsen, 12-15). The sense in this is based on the argument that in hospitality “courtesy goes along way.” Difficult customers are associated with individualism and demand of servitude which affects staff perception of the clients in a negative trend. Based on this, the difficult clients do not tend to be accorded better services. 8.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’). “Dramatic scripts” can be used same as “functional scripts” to train employees on how to handle difficult customers. A functional script is an article that enables the identification of difficult circumstances with the clients and guides the members of staff on how to handle the situation. The functional scripts have the ability to be used to curb the mechanisms of handling difficult customers but as argued out they are not as effective as the dramatic scripts. This argument is linked to the sense that they are rigid and not drafted according the situations that arise on daily basis in the organization. If the organization wishes to dictate the way issues are handled, the functional scripts are effective towards the hand lance of difficult clients as opposed to the embracing of the dramatic scripts. References O'Gorman, Dennis. “Modern hospitality: lessons from the past." Journal of Hospitality and Tourism Management 12(2): 141-151.2005. Print. Telfer, Eric, “Chapter 3: the philosophy of hospitableness. In search of hospitality: theoretical perspectives and debates.’ C. Lashley and A. Morrison. Melbourne, Butterworth Heinemann: 38-55.2000. Print. Olsen, Dean. The stranger's welcome: oral theory and the aesthetics of the Homeric hospitality scene. Bryn Mawr Classical Review.2004. Print. Read More