Concepts of Emotional Labor and Aesthetic Labor in Hospitality Experience - Case Study Example

Aesthetic labor in Hospitality Experience Student name Student number Assessors Name Date Executive summary/abstract Aesthetic labor and emotional labor form an integral part of hospitality firm’s especially hotels. It is relevant and crucial to analyse aesthetic labor as all hotel employees should apply it. Through the use of a qualitative method in conducting the research, some factors in the hotel and situations affect employee’s aesthetic labor strategy. The aim of the study is to establish various theoretical insights regarding aesthetic labor in a hotel establishment. The report discusses aesthetic labor in the past as well as in the modern hotel that offers fine dining and accommodation experience. The hotel must know there is a difference in the past compared to the present and differences are highlighted to compare the two periods. The employees must treat the customers well, a hotel business involves having a face to face conversation with the customer and the customer has various expectations regarding the services offered. The nature of the business selected is a hotel in Melbourne and the specific hotel is Hilton hotel. Fine dining and accommodation are the services offered by the hotel as discussed in the report. The report discusses aesthetic labor concept as this is what could apply to this experience, it is noted that in a hotel scenario the customers always want to enjoy the fullest the services offered by the hotel. The report notes the evidence behind aesthetic labor with various examples given about how some staff members have various capacities or attributes that appeal to customers. The report also gives the conclusions derived from the visit and the various recommendations that the hotel can use to increase the service quality to customers. Some of the recommendations highlighted includes, better pay to workers, leave to avoid staff exhaustion, better working conditions among others. Table of contents Executive summary/abstract……………………………………………………. 2 Introduction& background………………………………………………….…… 4 Literature Review………………………………………………………………… 5 Discussion………………………………………………………………………… 7 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………… 10 Recommendations…………………………………………………………………. 11 Bibliography/Reference list……………………………………………………….. 12 Appendices…………………………………………………………………........... 13 Introduction& background This report explores the twin concepts of emotional labor and aesthetic labor as applied in the hospitality industry. The requirement for this report is one visit a hospitality establishment and look out for application evidence of the above concepts in the establishment of choice. The Hilton Hotel in Melbourne was the preferred establishment for this study and reference will be referred to throughout the study. It falls under the category of food and accommodation and specializes in offering fine dining. The report is divided into several sections. The section immediately next after this one reviews literature relevant to this particular topic and makes comparisons with findings from previous past and literature on the subject. After the literature review is the discussion section which details the experiences at the chosen establishment. It is followed by a conclusion section that ties the experience at the hotel to the concept set out for the study. The last part will be the recommendation which will be expressing thoughts on what can possibly be done by the hotel to improve guest experience. Literature Review The hospitality industry is one which ever dynamic and competition in the Aesthetic labor involves the management training employees to interact with customers in the workplace. Like any other industry, players in this industry compete on multiple levels mainly to do with pricing and product quality. However, the hospitality industry, and most service industries for that matter compete on an additional level; the customer experience. Ford (2000) states that hotels and related hospitality business do not sell services; they sell experiences. The experience is what keeps a customer coming back and one would only recommend a particular establishment or outlet based on what they experienced and how pleasant the experience was for them. Numerous studies have come to the conclusion that the best customer experience is created by engaging their five senses. The customer has to see, and that’s why presentation is very crucial. This is where the point of aesthetic labor comes. Businesses are able to achieve aesthetic value through a combination of recruitment, training and other procedures. Airlines for example have been known to require that persons working for them as in-flight attendants and cabin crew possess certain bodily attributes such as height, facial structure and body tone. Employees in many sectors especially those who directly interact with customers are often trained on how to “present themselves.” This involves aspects such as how to approach and talk to customers, how to use different facial expressions and even how to walk. In many businesses, staff will be required to put on certain uniforms and a customer will always carry a certain image of an establishment based on the colors of the staff so it is important that the uniform chosen is one that appeals to the eye. Many restaurants and eateries will often play music or have some musical arrangements of sorts during mealtimes and this too goes into the customer experience. The serving on the customer’s plate is perhaps the most important part of the experience but on its own cannot create the true superior experience that customers crave for. At the end of the day, what remains on the mind of patrons to a certain establishment is what counts the most and successful businesses are those that go out of their way to sell the best experience to their clients. The staff recruitment process for hospitality players has gone through a process of evolution over the years. What potential employers are looking for are people who not only have the proper academic skills and qualification but who also demonstrate the right attitudes and have the desired mentality. They must be individuals who are able to think on their feet and possess the creativity and commitment to satisfy customer needs. Aesthetic labor involves selection of employees with certain attributes and capacities that will appease and create memorable moments for a customer. Firms often engage their staff in in-house or industry training programs just to try and impart some of this crucial skills and knowledge to their staff. Discussion Hotels strive to create impressions for their clients more than anything else and essentially incorporate experiential selling as part of their day-to-day routine. The Hilton Hotel in Melbourne is an up market establishment that offers fine dining and accommodation among other services. The hotel additionally offers entertainment for guests with various bands occasionally playing at the hotel Even before setting foot inside the hotel, one already gets the impression that this is a hotel that provides exquisite customer experience and offers high quality standards. Most customer reviews on Trip advisor are positive with most customers pleased with the staff and the quality of rooms (http://www.tripadvisor.com/SmartDeals-g255100-Melbourne_Victoria-Hotel-Deals.html). 96% of customers on Expedia recommend the hotel so the bar is already set way too high for the hotel (Lashley et al., 2007, 57) The Hilton hotel has successfully managed to incorporate the concepts of aesthetic and emotional labor into its operations as exhibited by the staff at the establishment. It is important to note that aesthetics has a direct connection with emotional labor in that sometimes they are used together especially when one is dealing with difficult customers and wants to hide emotions. Staff with great representation skills and experience remains one of the greatest if not the greatest asset to any hotel. These skills give the staff the ability to look good and sound right to the customer. Aesthetic labor in the hotel context will include; good dress code, body language, personal neatness and good voice. The quality of service will to some extent be determined by the customer’s perception of the staff. In the hotel scenario, the management has to monitor the staff behaviour and responses towards the customers to ensure that they carry themselves in the best possible manner and to the highest standards. As a performative labourer at Hilton hotel, the concept of aesthetic labor remains very relevant; In this case the business involves personal service to customers. The reason for emotional labor would be that a customer expects to feel comfortable at the place and the customers need to enjoy the stay. The customer also needs to save on time together with receiving the best treatment from the food hotel (Lashley et al., 2007, 55). Workers in the hotel are required to apply aesthetic labor; this is because the work requires a staff member to face and converse with the customer, portray certain attributes to the customer and that the employees attributes be controlled by a supervisor. The level of customer’s interaction with a staff member defines the quality of service offered (Ford 200). The staff members should smile to employees and show friendliness. Aesthetic labor could also lead to customer’s increased satisfaction; this can in turn lead to increased customers and sales improvement to Hilton hotel. The concept of aesthetic labor is very much evident during the service delivery. The members of staff have specific dress codes, are very neat, and always are always wearing a smile on their faces while addressing customers. During a visit there one could not help but marvel at just how friendly and courteous the staff is. The members are ready to provide to every customer need and respond to every query in a very fast and efficient manner. One staffer in particular showed great courage by calming down a difficult customer when the situation was threatening to blow up. She ensured the customer moved out of the hotel pleased by the services that were offered and that is evidence of staff at the hotel practising emotional labor. This one instance is a situation where the member of staff uses positive emotion to get the very best from a potentially bad situation. Going forward, Hilton hotel should ensure that employees are well trained before starting to deal with customers, different customers have different demands and the staff must be well equipped with the knowledge on how to best deal with every possible scenario. When a staffer such as a waitress has an intellectual ability and insight to appeal a customer’s senses in a given situation, it is known as aesthetic intelligence. Aesthetic labor will involve having various capacities at the workplace that can be applied to ensure a customer enjoys the stay at the hotel. In the hotel, a waitress will portray various attributes by showing it, in the form of gestures while conversing with a customer ( Ford 2000, 79). The waitress’s body portrays passion to a customer. In that particular moment it’s as though she is in character, assuming the role of a cast member in an act and the customer is the audience. It is very important then that staff are given the proper training and guidance on what to do and say depending on the scenario that they are presented with and management must do all that is possible to empower the staff so that that they are best able to handle customers. This situation in particular exemplifies the convergence of aesthetic labor and emotional labor and shows that these two concepts are applied hand in hand. Ford (2000, 30) dictates that aesthetic labor is a job requirement that requires staffers to display specific attributes to appease the clients. Positive attributes were expressed by the hotel manager gave more attention to a customer when a staff member delayed bringing an order and the customer was happy about it. When a staff member came to the hotel without a uniform, the hotel manager gave orders for another staff member take his place and serves the customers. Conclusions The trip to the Hilton Hotel in Melbourne is one experience to behold. One has to make a return visit to the hotel based on the exquisite service and the top notch customer experience offered. The concept that applied to this type of business was aesthetic labor since customers always need to feel comfortable and enjoy the experience when they visit Hilton hotel. The people at the hotel create positive, memorable experience that will not be forgotten easily. The quick response by the staff members in responding to client needs, their politeness and neatness creates a positive image. There are still some bits of occasional lapses but most of the time quick measures are taken to remedy the situation. A case in point is when once a staff member once ignored a customer order leading to delays to the customer in the hotel. One of the managers intervened however, and dealt with the situation so well that the customer left very satisfied. Recommendations Some of the recommendations to the Hilton hotel to improve the service delivery include; ensuring that the staff members are well trained on how to deal with the customers and that the management should have close supervision to the workers on how they deal with the customers. In a case of a hotel industry, a customer is very important due to the very high level of competition; the Hotel should take no chances when dealing with a customer and should ensure that the services offered are tailored according to the customers’ needs (Hyde 2012, 87). The hotel should not over task employees and should give them working shifts that will ensure the staff members are not too tired to deal with the customers properly. Good pay for the workers and good working conditions increases the staff morale and the staff members will be able to handle customers in a nice way. According to Robinson (2009, 47) the management should note that different staff members portray different attributes. This will guide in the division of tasks in the workplace, the staff members need to be tasked according to their attributes. The supervision can create various ways of dealing with negative attributes in the workplace that will help to improve the level of service delivery in the hotel. The management of a hotel or a chain of hotels can come up with incentives to ensure to motivate the staff members, like offering some company amenities, holidays and vacations and rewarding the high performing employees and this would ensure staffs perform at the very highest level. Neatness of the staff members and the business premise is crucial to this type of business to ensure that the customers feel comfortable and safe in the hotel. Good working conditions are also an incentive that boosts the morale of workers; the hotel management should ensure that the workers are safe in the workplace to remove instances of injury and to increase productivity. References BAUM, T. (2006). Human resource management for tourism, hospitality and leisure: an international perspective. London, Thomson Learning. Ford, R. C., & Heaton, C. P. (2000). Managing the guest experience in hospitality.Albany, NY, Delmar/Thomson Learning. Lashley, C., Lynch, P., & Morrison, A. J. (2007). Hospitality a social lens. Amsterdam, Elsevier. Melissen, F., Rest, J. V. D., Josephi, S., & Blomme, R. (2014). Hospitality experience: an introduction to hospitality management. Groningen, NoordhoffUitgevers. Robinson, P. (2009). Operations management in the travel industry. Wallingford, UK, CABI. Appendices Read More