Managing the Hospitality Experience - Essay Example

? Managing the Hospitality Experience Q1. In order to win loyalty, hospitality companiesmust focus on customer experience not service. According to oxford dictionary, hospitality is a friendly reception of strangers and friends (Ford & Sturman 2011). The chambers English dictionary suggests that hospitality is the act of entertaining guests and strangers without any regard (McDonough & Hill 2001). According to Ritzer, it entails showing kindness. Hospitality requires guests to feel the host was hospitable. This is achieved through an effort to entertain guests (Jones 2002). According to Jones (2002), hospitality should be an experience rather than a service. Guests’ experiences should be attractive to both their families and friends. Guests are craving for authentic local experiences that will establish an emotional connection (Hemming ton 2007). An excellent example is the Andaz5th Avenue Hotel. According to the general manager of Andaz5th Avenue Hotel, the experiences include fashion, events and food. According to USA today valuable and rare experiences are significant driving factors in the hospitality sector. 31 per cent of customers said destination hotels are perceived to be a hidden gem. 26 per cent of the interviewed customers said they loved to share photos of the hotels they stayed. Creating the elusive guest experiences to different customers is achievable but demanding. The expectations of guests are divergent and differ with times and seasons. Another compelling example is the Renaissance Hotel. Renaissance hotel brand has introduced an ad targeting both leisure and business travelers. The brand insists that business guests who insist on free Wi-Fi and breakfast must have an experience, as well. Dan Vinh, Renaissance vice president, said the hotel hopes to offer a unique experience. He believes guests are stimulated by the environment in order to be productive. Q2. According to Visser, hospitality entails sharing of security, food and shelter with a stranger within the community who has no friend or relatives. The act of providing and receiving generosity creates mutual trust. According to Doud, generosity is a gracious act. He argues that, the use of the word stranger in the definition of generosity tends to imply that the receiver of the generous act does not deserve it because they are not acquainted to each other. The word grace implies a respectful attitude given towards people who do not deserve or earn a worm consideration. Hospitality is also hereditary. Once an act of hospitality has been done to a person or household, the same is extended to the descendants and passed on from generation to generation. This establishes a long term bond (Kandampully & Sparks 2001). Bonds established through hospitality were supposed to be temporal. The agreed period was three days, and the guests were expected to reciprocate by not overstaying. Hospitality had territorial limitations. Protection was offered within the period of stay and the boundaries of territorial influence. For instance, Arabs only offered protection as long as the guest was in within their home. Beyond that, the guest could end up become a victim of the host. Therefore, the guests used to leave at night and without any farewell to the host for fear of being pursued by the host. According to Pitt-Rivers, hospitality was not necessarily a mark of friendship. Providing hospitality, according to Pitt-Rivers, was an act of sanctity where a hostile stranger and a host were neutral to each other. Hospitality was an act of self interest because certain gains were expected. According to Selwyn, hospitality gave way to a transformation where the aggrieved regained their trust and friendship in the course of exchange of services. Hospitality is known to transform friends into closer friends. Hospitality is an act of selfless will where acceptance and trust are propagated. This causes hospitality to be a source of symbolic ties that create unique connections between people. However, in instances where strangers are put into a state of abeyance, hospitality does not represent a permanents behavior change but a behavior practice done to all strangers (Jones 2002). According to Pitt-Rivers, it is possible to incorporate a stranger in practice and not in morals. This hospitality applies only during the duration of stay of the stranger. Traditionally, hospitality was perceived to be act obligation, benevolence and an act of selfless will to uninvited guests. Modern hospitality is an obligation to quality treatment based to the price imposed on the services. According to O’Gorman, hospitality was considered to be a praiseworthy thing which was to be done without expecting a reward of earthly nature. In reality, there was rewards expected which included, giving and sharing of stories and other experiences. These leads to possible inter tribal marriages and honor. The results were always an approach of welcome and respect. O’Gorman argues that hospitality was done to fulfill obligation but ended up being a sign of welcome and genuine concern. According to Heal, historians have shown the significance of provision of hospitality throughout the study of historical societies of Greece, Rome and Indian tribes. Modern hospitality is commercial but based on respect and values like integrity and service delivery. The level of service and the nature of attendance by host were differentiated. Commercial hospitality is provided on the basis of Pre-determined criteria. Not commercial provision of hospitality was indiscriminate in the ancient Greece since it was viewed as a way of respect and goodwill (Jones 2002). This hospitality was entirely nonjudgmental with regard to social status. Unmodified hospitality demanded the guest to appreciate the services as a sign of welcome and goodwill. Modernization and commercialization of provision of hospitality has seen the field being transformed into a discriminate and codified act with is entirely dependent of the social status. Traditional provision of hospitality dwelt on the provision of basic needs such as food, security and shelter. This was done to travelers who entirely depended on strangers for these basic needs. In historic times, people engaged in travelling in such of food, pilgrimage, running from disasters and festivals. During such trips, the travelers had to replenish the basic needs. According to King, provision of hospitality offered the travelers the basic needs and protection from elements of nature like world animals. Q3 The commercialization of hospitality has caused the industry to move from individual attention to massive provisions of services without any regards to individual tastes and preferences of the guests. This make real authenticity impossible and consequently genuine hospitality has been lost. Most visitors meet simulated environments and people with the authentic attractions being modified to protect them from being destroyed by the people who come to see them. Visitors do not have access to authentic sites, neither to experience an individual touch in the process of interaction with these attractions (McDonough & Hill 2001). Companies have come up with, simulated sites, and fake offers are increasingly becoming acceptable in the hospitality provision. Natural attractions are closed off from the crushing numbers of guest who have to pay hefty charges. Commercialization of hospitality has been a blow to the quality being offered to visitors. Efficiency may have improved at the expense of other important aspects. The same is extended to the people visitors meet in the course of tours. They have a form of simulations. This ranges from visitors getting used to the same music over and over often performed by the same dance groups. The dances may be local but since they are recited they become simulations. Staff members often project a fake friendliness to guests. The problem is that the visitor is left feeling an authenticity gap after the experience. Modern hospitality is faced with the challenged of implosion with a variety of attractions being introduced by different hospitality professionals (Chun 2007). This happens mostly in enclosed set ups where many activities are done in one setting. The effect is overkill, and guests feel overloaded. This makes them fail to get the experience they were anticipation. A compelling example is casinos, entertainment and shopping malls. Modern hospitality is delivered by people who are centrally controlled. This causes them to lack uniqueness, which the visitors look for. Many hospitality industries operate as n a chain of hotels where services are centrally controlled. The term service-non-service describes services which are monotonous and ends up being a non-service to the visitors (Ford & Sturman 2011). The situation is made worse by the desire to emulate competitors in modern hospitality. This causes the services to be lack authenticity in the modern provision of hospitality. Therefore, modern hospitality tends to move from the actual definition of hospitality due to regulations of commercialization of the industry. Q4 Different customers come with different expectations (Ford & Sturman 2011). Customers are motivated by the uniqueness they anticipate. Guest expects attention on their principal areas of concern. According to Ford and Sturman (2011), provision of hospitality is about identifying these expectations and meeting this satisfactorily. Provision of hospitality demands prediction of some of the guest’s expectations. This is different from traditional hospitality, which was based on goodwill and respect (Jones 2002). The ability of the hospitality industry to meet a variety of the expectations determines the success of the hotel (Chun 2007). Chun argues that, this has caused hospitality to aim at offering many services under one roof. The aim is to capture the anticipated variety (Andrews 2007). However, this is also counterproductive. It kills the magical experience or the guest can become confused (Ford & Sturman 2011). Business guests rate quality services based on how fast they are offered. Tourists want the luxury and experiences. The different expectations meet in the same industry. Many hotels want the business people to have an experience even when they seem to be in a hurry (McDonough & Hill 2001). Hospitality but personalizes services to meet all these expectations and give a magical appeal to the visitors. Good food is not, services must be seen as an entire package that meets a variety of expectations with the extent of precision (Andrews 2007). Different cultural backgrounds cause customers to have different expectations (Ford & Sturman 2011). Hospitality training involves multicultural exposure to meet different customer needs (Hemmington 2007). Therefore, service staff should be multilingual. It is a way of meeting different customer needs. Food production. According to Ritzer, hospitality of moving from places to nonplaces. This means that hospitality is continuing to appear unwelcoming to people. The best illustration in the food industry is the McDonaldization is fast food industry. The main aim is to create efficiency to increase the quality of service and high profits. Visitors are attracted to efficiency run hospitality leading to higher profits. Disney World is another excellent example of efficiency that drives people towards efficiency and higher profits (Jones 2002). Customers are required to service themselves with food, cook their own coffee and other services. The fast food model is becoming inspirational to the commercial hospitality industry. The service staff in these industries offers limited service and products including replenishing of the food containers and details of guest rooms. Self service techniques are being propelled by the need for efficiency with minimal use of service staff (Pizam 2012). Globalization of food production has increased efficiency but lessened the impact of hospitality in the tourism industry (Conrady & Buck 2011). In Disney world what the mechanisms used to keep services running make the traditional definition of hospitality to lack meaning. Hospitality requires personal attention be given to customers even if it is largely perceived to be inefficient (Hemmington 2007). His individual touch an experience should be felt by the guest. McDonaldized systems seem to have a high degree of predictability in many place and different times. Traditional hospitality was unpredictable and spontaneous. Customers are said to be attracted by high level predictability of the nature of the services provided by this chains. Globalization of food production has redefined hospitality and focused on efficiency and profits and the individual experiences. Differentiation of services is a preserve of the wealthy since they can pay from individualized treatment. Globalization of food consumption has brought uniformity in the hospitality industry. Services are increasingly being replicated in many places, making the industry lose its authentic appeal. References Andrews 2007 Introduction to Tourism And Hospitality Industry 1st ed. Tata McGraw-Hill Education. Chun, M. 2007 Traditional and Contemporary Ways of Welcome and Hospitality 1st ed. CRDG. Conrady, R., & Buck, M. 2011, Trends and Issues in Global Tourism 2011 1st ed. springer. Ford, R., & Sturman, M. 2011, Managing Quality Service in Hospitality: How Organizations Achieve Excellence in the Guest Experience 1st ed. Cengage Learning. Hemmington, N. 2007, From Service to Experience; understanding and defining the hospitality business. The Service Industries Journal, , 27 6, 1-18. Jones, P. 2002, Introduction to Hospitality Operations: An Indispensable Guide to the Industry 2nd ed. Cengage Learning EMEA. Kandampully, J., & Sparks, B. 2001 Service Quality Management in Hospitality, Tourism, and Leisure 2nd ed. Routledg. McDonough, B., & Hill, J. 2001 Building Type Basics for Hospitality Facilities 1st ed. John Wiley & Sons. Pizam, A, 2012 In International Encyclopedia of Hospitality Management, 1st ed. Routledge. Ritzer, G. 2007 Inhospitable Hospitality. Hospitality, 1, 1, 130-138. Read More