Service Quality at Remington Hotel - Case Study Example

Service Quality at Remington Hotel at the Remington Hotel Professor (Tutor) The Name of the School (University) The City and State Date Service Quality at Remington Hotel at the Remington Hotel Introduction According to Saleh & Ryan (1991, p. 326), service quality is a significant element of success in terms of drawing repeat business in the hospitality industry. Saleh & Ryan (1991, p. 326) also argues that while the motives for the primary visit to a hospitality business or hotel may be based on aspects relatively beyond management control, the capacity to develop a satisfactory experience for guests rests to a significant extent in the hands of employees and management. The following report aims at analysing the case study on service quality at Remington Hotel. Service Quality Gaps The observations made by Madeline in Day one reflect the numerous service quality gaps that are evident at the Remington Hotel. It is evident that the hotel has a high number of guests based on the observations. In the case study, it took about 40 minutes to check in a total of about 100 guests with the use of two check-in staffs. This illustrates a clear gap of human resources in terms of service delivery. Moreover, as explained in Mr Spencer’s experience, the hotel lacks employees to help guests with luggage, which is rather disappointing and hurting quality of service. Services in the hospitality industry are not always constant meaning that there is a peak season as well as a low season. As illustrated, the first day for Madeline was a peak-day or period, thus the need for increased human resources. According to Zhu (2012, p. 25) hotels can offer increased training to employees to allow for diversified skills that can be transferred during peak periods. Knowledge is another key service gap as explained from the customer experience in day one. Even with advertisements of a check-in facility in the airport, Mr Spencer was unable to spend the night in the Airport hotel facility. This is based on both the lack of knowledge and communication. Hotel employees in the airport seem to lack the knowledge of the check-in facility as well as its significance both for the business as well as for customer satisfaction and expectations. The employees ignored the benefits of offering the check-in service even though at night to both the business as well as consumer satisfaction, thus creating a service gap. Communication is also a major gap in service delivery. The experience of Mr Spencer in seeking for an alternative room after discovering they had been over-booked, illustrates poor communications skills. As the front-desk manager illustrated, he did not respond to the customer needs and only made it worse by implying he responded. This further extends to the lack of proper service delivery standards. Even before the double-booking incident, as Mr Spencer checked in, a staff immediately left her duties after the end of her shift. One aspect of service quality is customer expectations and perceptions. Customers are always observing the perception of management towards factors of service quality (Cândido 2005, p. 14). However, as illustrated in the case study, abandoning duties because of the end of a shift was not positive or reflecting management focus on customer and service delivery. Overall, the service gaps illustrated in the first day of observation include lack of human resources, knowledge, communication skills, standards, and service delivery. Customer Perception Based on the customer perception information, Madeline should attempt to improve responsiveness in terms of service quality first. According to Marković & Raspor Janković (2013, p. 147) customers illustrate significant expectations and perceptions in terms of tangibles and accessibility. The effect of tangibles and accessibility has an overall customer satisfaction effect. Nonetheless, a study by Saleh & Ryan (1991, p. 326) on the customer or guest perceptions on quality of service illustrates responsiveness to be the most important dimension of service quality. In the study, guests illustrated the importance of responsiveness at a co-efficient of 2.198 while that of management stood at 2.194 (Saleh & Ryan 1991, p. 326). Again, the study also compared both management and guest perceptions, where responsiveness came on top or was considered the most significant dimension of service quality. Based on this evidence, it is clear that employee or management responsiveness is important and what should be addressed first in terms of service improvement. According to Gaspari & Elmazi (2011, p. 3) responsiveness refers to the preparedness of employees to help guests while offering prompt services. Based on the case study, Mr Spencer clearly experienced poor responsiveness as no staff indicated their willingness to help him as well as not receiving prompt services. If responsiveness was to be improved Remington Hotel, Mr Spencer and guests alike would find the quality of service high and improved. Despite, customer perceptions on service quality illustrating the significance of tangibles, it is still cheaper and easier to improve responsiveness first. Responsiveness does not require for high costs such as renovations and investments in new materials as well as facilities and equipments (Rozario & Bin Khaleq 2013, p. 67). IT can be enhanced through training, communication, and coaching and implemented in the short and long-term. These factors all point to the importance and offer the reason why responsiveness should be considered as first priority. This is based on both evidence and observations made in the first day. Customer Expectation Decision The new data compiled before Medline’s survey supports the decision made above. As illustrated the previous customer perception or expectation for quality service illustrates the significance of responsiveness at 6.8 unlike Medline’s survey that is at 6.1. The decision made earlier is not based on personal opinions, but strong evidence compiled from different studies on hotels. Responsiveness can be dissected into numerous categories that scholars have identified to influence customer satisfaction. According to reliability can be tied to responsiveness. Reliability is the ability to guarantee error-free services where services are delivered in the promised time and manner as wells as guest problems solved in the suitable and timely manner (Gaspari & Elmazi 2011, p. 9). All these elements are integrated in the idea of offering prompt services while illustrating the willingness to help guests. As observed in the case study, Remington Hotel lacks that kind of responsiveness in terms of customer experience and service delivery. Mr Spencer’s experience illustrates services with errors, the lack of willingness to help, and lack of delivery of services as promised. Based on these observations made in the first day, it is clear that the major issues of concern for Madeline are improving responsiveness. As noted earlier, it would seem practice and valuable to focus on responsiveness based on the effectiveness and efficiency of its improvement. Investment in training employees to offer prompt services and increase their willingness to help customers appears cheaper and effective in terms of implementation and enhancing service quality. Nonetheless, the idea of responsiveness is still limited to extend issues such as human resources and staff motivations. According Sohail, et al. (2007, p. 74) management also has their own perceptions on the quality of services, which illustrates the need to focus on one dimension as paramount in ensuring customer satisfaction. Management Perceptions Madeline also requires understanding the management’s perceptions in terms of service quality to make sure that her efforts to enhance the service quality of the Remington have started in the right direction. According to Rajagopal (2014, p. 1) services are not tangible and cannot be measured easily in terms of quality. Moreover, services are challenging to improve based on their temporary nature unlike tangible products. In the hospitality industry, the important rule is to know the customer. Moreover, the main gap in the hospitality industry focuses on the difference between management and customer perceptions in terms of service quality (Rajagopal 2014, p. 1). In this case, I believe that Madeline should seek to understand how management perceive quality services. This means observing how management or the Remington Hotel focuses on knowing their customers. Companies that exceed customer expectations have a trend or strategies of keeping broader databases on customer information (Rajagopal 2014, p. 1). This is done to evaluate how fruitful services are, what gaps are evident, and areas for improvement. Such firms also implement feedback systems to gain consumer insight on quality of services (Rajagopal 2014, p. 1). It is clear that successful firms have a culture that they are never at one time satisfied with the level of quality in service delivery. There is always time and space for improvement, which forms the management’s perception of quality service (Rajagopal 2014, p. 1). This means that Madeline requires information on how Remington’ management perceive quality services. In simple words, Madeline should ensure that management focus on knowing, understanding, and developing relationships consumers rather than just following their own perception on quality of service (Sohail, et al. 2007, p. 74). Moreover, the hotel management requires developing a culture of service enhancement without any limitations or objectives. Objectives and goals should be always renewed based on customer perceptions and expectations. Conclusion In conclusion, improving services is challenging and complex. Nonetheless, with the appropriate strategy, it is an effective strategy for customer satisfaction and success in the hospitality business. Despite the numerous dimensions of service quality, the need to focus on customer expectations, perceptions, and satisfaction remain important. Understanding customer expectations is important in improving service at the Remington Hotel. In terms of service quality, employees should be trained in being responsive while delivering services to guests. Overall, the service quality improvement is founded on how well management understands customer expectations. References Cândido, CF 2005, 'Service quality strategy implementation: a model and the case of the Algarve hotel industry', Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 3-14. Gaspari, A, & Elmazi, L 2011, 'Internal Marketing and Service Quality: The Case Study Of Albanian Sea - Side Hotels', Journal of Marketing & Management, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 1-10. Marković, S, & Raspor Janković, S 2013, 'Exploring The Relationship Between Service Quality And Customer Satisfaction In Croatian Hotel Industry', Tourism & Hospitality Management, vol. 19, no. 2, pp. 149-164. Rajagopal, V 2014, Closing the Gap between Guest Expectation and Management Perception, by Venkat Rajagopal, [online] Hotelexecutive.com, Available at: http://hotelexecutive.com/business_review/2382/closing-the-gap-between-guest-expectation-and-management-perception [Accessed 14 Nov. 2014]. Rozario Prince, P, & Bin Khaleq, Z 2013, 'Assessment of Gap between Service Quality Expectation and Perception: A Study on the Walk-In Guests of Economic Hotels in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh', IUP Journal of Marketing Management, vol. 12, no. 3, pp. 7-26. Saleh, F, & Ryan, C 1991, 'Analysing Service Quality in the Hospitality Industry Using the SERVQUAL Model', Service Industries Journal, vol. 11, no. 3, pp. 324-345. Sohail, MS, Roy, MH, Saeed, M, & Ahmed, ZU 2007, 'Determinants Of Service Quality In The Hospitality Industry: The Case Of Malaysian Hotels', Journal of Accounting, Business & Management, vol. 14, pp. 64-74. Zhu, Y 2012, 'Comparing Service Qualities/Gaps between Hospitality Industry and Timeshare Industry', UNLV Theses/Dissertations/Professional Papers/Capstones. Paper 1372. Read More