Operations Management of Leisure and Tourism Services - Research Paper Example

Introduction The service industry and more so the hospitality sector in the current times, is facing huge challenges due to the recent economic meltdown of many economies in the world. The various organisations that are have become global were having this effect even on a relatively wider scale as various countries experienced this economic hardships in different proportions and at different times (Stevenson 2009). The service industry is known to rely heavily on the spending patterns of the service consumers and when such a global scenario happens then many take steps to reduce on personal spending leading to low business. The hospitality industry is one that is hard hit by such occurrences and the losses made are huge. At these times of low consumer spending the few customers that stream in should be more than welcome and be accorded the highest level of service available to maintain them and attract more (Stevenson 2009). This paper shall aim at giving a report on customer service that is evident in Holiday Inn and how this is in line with the various operation management concepts. Holiday Inn is not one hotel but a brand name that is with hundreds of them the world over. These are hotels that are found mostly along highways and they operate like motels. The brand name’s origin dates back in 1952 when the first of the hotels was established in Tennessee USA. Holiday Inn is a brand name for the many franchises that operate globally and it is singly owned by Intercontinental Hotels Group. The name is given to franchises that seem to be able to maintain the standards of Holiday Inn original hotels therefore the managements are quite distinct from the brand name owners making a majority of them to be owned by individuals and small companies in various countries. It is only the brand name that is controlled and at some point the quality of service delivered world over. It is hereby important to appreciate the fact that some issues that are witnessed in these hotels are common to Holiday Inns while others are unique to the hotel itself and thus paper shall look into the issues that are general to the Holiday Inn as a brand not as a single hotel in a specific location as this may mislead the direction of the paper into analysing an individual hotel thereby undermining the bigger picture of the brand name; Holiday Inn. The service concept Holiday Inn as I saw is one that is ahead in the aspect of service concept as the value addition of various operations before the customer receives the service itself. By far and large organisation has maintained a majority of its customers this way although in the 1970s and 1980s there were problems that were hindering its growth and which also resulted in it losing customers to upcoming hotels of that time. However, due to strategic decisions and quality control measures taken by the managements of the time, the franchises have seen a relatively better growth prospects. Branding and rebranding as well as franchising more have been of considerable help to the organisation. The customer’s as I saw are well received and even before this the reservation process is quite and easy one. Online booking and reservations have made it even easier and cheaper for customers to choose on the hotels to go as there are also opportunities to discuss the rates well in advance. The other issue relates to how the organisation offers discounts at certain times of the year or to customers who seek for certain services like having the full family on board including pets. In many other hotels carrying pets is quite a challenge for customers as there are even few facilities to handle this. With Holiday Inn it is easy as the hotels that offer these services are many and one is free to go there with the full family. This reduces the cost of leaving ones pets with caretakers back at home while travelling. These kind of unique services to customers are the ones that have made the franchise attract more and more customer as well as retaining them. The other issue that creates a great deal of value to customers is where they have various hotels that offer differentiated services. This means that one goes to that which they can afford and that which has the amenities that one wishes to access. In operations management it is essential for the management to develop policies that are symbolising that they know the customers well enough. Organisations operating at a commercial level need to have this aspect in mind since through this they are going to analyse their target market better and come up with products that suite it (Stevenson 2009). Holiday Inn seems to have perfected in this as they are having now a number of brands under the major one that aim at offering services all across the board from small amenities hotels like the Holiday Inn Express. The costs that the customer of Holiday Inn is incurring are far much lower as their efficiency from booking to actual boarding is quite good. The service package The basic issue that underlies the service industry is the customer satisfaction which is not as simple to accomplish as it may sound. An organisation is therefore needed to always focus on the market quite keenly and see the emerging trends to as to be up to date with the type of service offered. For service package the organisation needs to come up with what comprises the service that is being offered and what comes with it. Market research and focus as a concept should be embraced in a manner to ensure that the package is as per the customer’s expectations so as to achieve their satisfaction (Stevenson 2009). Holiday Inn has ensured that this is a key concern as for the hotel I was in the package includes free holidays, discounts that are quite attractive if booked at certain times of the year, free accommodation for children under certain ages at certain times of the year, inclusion of pets in the payment package and at other times free for a minimum family members number and many other incorporations to the basic boarding package. The incorporation of the above and many more has made the hotel be one of choice and this will make it go a long way in attracting customers while endeavouring to maintain them. The customers feel welcome when they also find that what was in the brochures is what they have come to meet. It is not uncommon to find some hotels advertising a certain service package only to find that the package changed to be a bit less but at the same price. This is not the case with Holiday Inn as the service asked for is the service received and the service advertised is the service delivered. This is a gesture that shows that the organisation is able to organise its resources well so as to provide such quality service at fair prices depending on the package one has gone for. What is important to note is that food is not the essential part in the level of the service industry that Holiday Inn operates rather what is important is the service they offer accompanied by comfort. It is this whole package that should be offered to a customer in order for them to feel that thy have received value for their money. It is no doubt that after the many changes that have been initiated in Holiday Inn, fruits of this hard labour are being felt as the differentiation of the service package has made more and more customer be able to access its service. The hospitality industry as in other words indicated earlier is quite a delicate one to changes in market forces and in consumer spending. It is with this realisation that the management needs to always be in check to ensure that they are in line with the emerging trends so as to have better packages for the customers (Stevenson 2009). Holiday Inn has not been left out of this as outlined above showing that it is in line with taking care of competition being another issue under operations management. The service processes Service industry and in this respect the hospitality sector needs to always maintain high customer interaction to ensure customer satisfaction and attendance. The reason for this is that the industry is critical in terms of customer interaction and customers require attention when needed or at all times. The service process involves balancing between customer interaction and labour intensity so as to ensure that there is more time left for the employees to interact with the customers. Holiday Inn has many staff members that suit the number of customers expected which in other words means that they are able to invest heavily in human resources. This in turn brings in more customers in that there is more attention given to the customers. Investing in human resources is a daunting task for the management as salaries, wages, allowances and other amenities provided to workers are funds intensive (Stevenson 2009). When a firm has high labour intensity and high labour intensity, there is a high degree of professionalism in the way business is run. This trickles down to the way the services are offered in the firm to the customers. It is important to note at this point that the management of Holiday Inn is up to the task of ensuring professionalism in the way the workers conduct themselves in serving customers. On talking to a number of the employees they told me that there are a number of them at that time that were on job training courses in various cities which aim at enhancing the quality of service delivered to the customers. This endeavour also adds value to the service the employees are offering to the customers. This is another expensive affair for the organisation but this is all for the sake of ensuring customer satisfaction that is key concern for the organisation to grow even further. When I looked at the number of employees handling the daily affairs and in the respective shifts during the day, they were adequate and they offered the best service in trying to solve customers’ queries and any other concerns that were being raised whether day or night. Service processes that are in Holiday Inn are all well catered for and the management has done quite a good job in ensuring that they are all is running smoothly. Another aspect under this area is that of remuneration to the staff members. On enquiring deeper into the issue of salaries, I found out that the employees are being paid relatively well which gave me another reason as to why the service delivery was that good in Holiday Inn. Paying the staff well raises their morale and makes them feel more as part of the organisation. A majority of those I talked to raised few concerns in relation to payment although what was more common on the negative side was that the junior staff members have a big discrepancy in remuneration as compared to the senior counterparts. This can however be appreciated by noticing that it is not a unique case to Holiday Inn. Many organisations the world over have this problem although at varying degrees depending on the individual organisation whereby management staff members receive hefty salaries and allowances while their juniors earn peanuts while others have no allowances apart from the basic pay. In relative terms though and as mentioned earlier, Holiday Inn’s case is a bit different since allowances are there and the salaries awarded are relatively better but the problem is the allowances and holidays that the senior management staff are awarded. The other concern related to training locations for the management staff whereby the team is said to reside in expensive locations far from the local offices. This is an area that needs to be looked into as this disparity in these affairs may bring in low morale and reduced cooperation between the two levels. This scenario has culminated to collapse of companies and it is the management that remains to be answerable to the owner(s). Assessing service quality and performance measurement The notion of quality is that which lingers in the minds of both the service provider and the service recipient. The quality of service that and organisation offers speaks a great deal on how the management’s thinking orientation is like (Stevenson 2009). Assessment of quality is now a strategy that Holiday Inn has adopted and this has gone a long way in ensuring total quality control in the services the organisation offers. Assessment of service quality is done primarily to uphold high standards of quality and to have corrective measures where appropriate before it is too late. This kind of assessment goes hand in hand with performance measurement since it is after good performance of duties by employees that good quality of service is achieved. There are various benchmarks set for the various employees’ categories which when surpassed there are certain rewards including promotion that are given to the individual employee and the various departments when their performance has evidently improved. It acts as a form of reinforcement to them whereby they work hard to earn the awards and at the same time acquire promotion which obviously comes with higher pay. Service quality assessment improves the competitiveness of an organisation in that it is better placed in the competitive arena than when it was not under any assessment. Holiday Inn conducts various assessments mostly through independent surveys from both the customers and the staff members. Customers have to fill in details of how the service was and the areas that they feel needed rectification in order to make the service delivery even better. In the case of the employees various supervision strategies have been put in place like those of automatic turn around timing that takes the time when one entered their shift and the time of departure. This ensures the amount of time one works is recorded and compared to the type of service offered and then the worker’s efficiency and effectiveness are assessed. There are also a number of people whose duties revolve around supervisory roles whereby they ensure that the employees are conducting themselves in a manner that best fits the laid down rules and regulations of issues to do with respect, humility, etiquette and the like. Conclusion Looking into the various areas discussed above it is evident that Holiday Inn is an example of an organisation that has made it in the hotel business through the adoption and implementation of various operations management strategies. It can also be observed that without a good relationship without the employees and the management, an organisation cannot go far but this is an aspect that Holiday Inn has not failed in. remuneration and taking keen interest in the service delivered by employees in the service sector are important in ensuring high quality of service is accorded to the customers to ensure customer satisfaction. Reference Reservation, viewed 21 June 2010, . Stevenson, WJ 2009, Operations management, McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Read More