Mystery Guest Audit and Presentation - Assignment Example

MYSTERY GUEST AUDIT AND PRESENTATION By of School and Mystery guest audit and presentationCustomer satisfaction and service quality are major elements within a service profit chain. This implies that higher service quality levels result in improved satisfaction by customers, and by extension leads to higher customer patronage levels and sales revenue. The customer service quality constitutes an important source of unique competence and is quite often regarded as a key factor for success in sustenance of competitive advantage within the service industry (Peter and Christopher, 2009). A shift of focus towards delivering high service quality level is an essential strategy through which service organizations could position themselves effectively in the market. The essential relationship of customer satisfaction, service quality, and the purchase behavior constitutes the integral area of interest in many research studies, with the aim of highlighting the organization’s strong and weaker areas of operation. Managers in the service sector, especially in restaurants are under constant pressure to demonstrate how the services they offer are focused on customers and that there is a constant improvement in performance and delivery of services. Considering the constraints of the resources and finances under which restaurants have to manage their practices, it is of great importance that the expectations of the customers are understood properly and effectively measured from the perspective of the customer, and any gaps within the service delivery identified (Verhees and Meulenberg, 2004). This information enables the manager in identification of cost-effective means of closing the gaps in service quality as well as giving priority to the gaps to be focused on based on the critical resource availability. SERVQUAL instrument For the purposes of ascertaining the perceived and actual gaps between the expectations of the customers and their perceptions on the offered services, this instrument has been widely applied. According to this approach, there exist seven main gaps in the concept of service quality. In this explanation, therefore, a restaurant ought to determine its service quality gaps through identification of any possible gaps in existence (Wisniewski, 2001). Among these gaps, there are three namely; Gap 1, 5, and Gap 6, which have been found to be more relevant to the external customers based on their direct relations with the customers. Evaluation of the restaurant service quality would demand for determination of presence of Gap 1, which ideally weighs the expectations of the customers against the perception of the organization’s management. The presence of this gap could mostly be a result of poor or lack of marketing research orientation, excessive management layers and inadequacy in upward communication (Swink and Song, 2007). Similarly, the evaluation would require determination of Gap 2, which essentially assesses the perception of the management of the services offered in the restaurant against the specifications of the service. This gap is bound to arise where there is no adequate commitment towards service quality. On the other hand, the unfeasibility perception, inadequate standardization of task as well as lack of goal setting could result in development of this gap. Gap 3 involves service specifications against service delivery, and this arises from role conflict and ambiguity, poor technology and poor employee-job fits, a supervisory system of control that is not appropriate, lack of teamwork and lack of the perceived control. Determination of Gap 4 will thus involve evaluating service delivery against the external communication. This gap is bound to develop if there is no adequate horizontal communications together with over-promise propensity (Van Iwaarden, van der Wiele, Ball and Millen, 2003). Determination of service quality for the restaurant would equally demand for identification of Gap 5 in order to assess the existence of discrepancies between the expectations of the customers and their perceptions in regard to the delivered services. Gap 5 will mostly occur due to the exerted influences from the side of the customers together with the shortfalls on the service provider’s side. In respect to this, the expectations of the customers are influenced by the level of personal needs, the recommendations of the word of mouth and the previous experiences with the service (Sahney, Banwet and Karunes, 2004). Gap 6 involves determination of the existing discrepancy between the expectations of the customers and the perception of employees. Development of this gap emanates from differences in understanding of the expectations of customers by the service providers on the frontline. Gap 7 involves discrepancy between the perception of employees and that of the management, and this comes due to differences in customer expectation understanding between the service providers and managers (Luk and Layton, 2002). MYSTERY GUEST AUDIT (To be respondent to by Customers and each question with a maximum score of 10) Lounge / Bar / Relaxing Area Are Lounge / seating area effective for purpose - size, space & comfort? Quality of furniture, fixtures & fittings as expected? Additional enhancements and personal touches appropriate? Is there appropriate provision of easy seating? Overall wear & tear level acceptable? Is quality of flooring appropriate? Bar area effective for purpose - size, space, comfort? Overall wear & tear level acceptable? Additional enhancements and personal touches appropriate? Is quality of flooring appropriate? Is there acknowledgement on arrival? Table service provided? Staff appropriately dressed? Enquiry concerning dining made? Is there friendly and efficient service? Housekeeping effective? Is the atmosphere and ambience effective? Dining Room / Dinner / Breakfast Dining room / Restaurant area effective for purpose? Overall wear & tear level acceptable? (Including décor) Decorations, enhancements and personal touches appropriate? Quality of furniture, fixtures & fittings as expected? Is heating and ventilation effective? Are lighting levels adequate and appropriate? Met, greeted and seated on arrival? Style of service explained? Staff appropriately dressed? Dinner menu and wine list presented and explained when seated? Dinner menu and wine list clean and tidy? Dinner menu contents appropriate? Wine list contents appropriate? Is the staff knowledge of wine list acceptable? Staffing levels appropriate? Drinks order offered at time of seating? Any attempt to make recommendations or up sell? Service between courses well placed? Appropriate satisfaction checks made? Tables kept clean and cleared between diners? Tables appropriately laid and prepared? Tables have adequate free space? Spare place settings removed? Overall food quality levels appropriate at dinner? Good use of fresh produce and ingredients noticeable? Is there evidence of creativity and imagination used in cooking? Choice and quality of breads offered? Is the overall food presentation appropriate? Are the overall dinner expectations met at this level? Housekeeping effective within dining areas? Dining atmosphere and ambience appropriate for breakfast? Decorations, enhancements and personal touches appropriate? Quality of furniture, fixtures & fittings as expected? Seating comfortable? Is heating and ventilation effective? Are lighting levels adequate and appropriate? Asked for room number or name on arrival? Met, greeted and seated on arrival? Style of service explained? Staff appropriately dressed? Breakfast menu contents appropriate? Is the overall food quality appropriate? Is the overall food presentation appropriate? Staffing levels appropriate? Service between courses well placed? Appropriate satisfaction checks made? Tables kept clean and cleared between diners? Tables appropriately laid and prepared? Tables have adequate free space? Spare place settings removed? Is napery and linen of an appropriate quality? Housekeeping effective? Is there friendly farewell on leaving the dining area? Public Areas / Staff / Management Is the reception area effective for the purpose - size, space and comfort? Decorations, enhancements and personal touches appropriate? Overall wear & tear level acceptable? Quality of furniture, fixtures & fittings as expected? Is the Quality of flooring appropriate? Seating comfortable? Staff & Management Skill levels met expectations at this level? Spontaneous greetings from staff Overall friendliness of staff was evident and appropriate? Overall efficiency of staff was evident and appropriate? Is there Overt and approachable management presence? Was there conscious effort by staff to anticipate guests’ needs? Was there conscious effort by staff to maximize the guest experience? References Luk, T, K. and Layton, R., 2002. Perception Gaps in customer expectations: Managers versus service providers and customers. The Service Industries Journal, 22(2), pp. 109-128. Peter, K. and Christopher, J. S., 2009. Testing the Value of Customization: When Do Customers Really Prefer Products Tailored to Their Preferences? Journal of Marketing, 73 (5), pp. 103-121. Sahney, S., Banwet, D.K. and Karunes, S., 2004. A SERVQUAL and QFD approach to total quality education: A student perspective.,International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, 53(2), pp. 143-166. Swink, M. and Song, X. M., 2007. Effects of marketing-manufacturing integration on new product development time and competitive advantage. Journal of Operations Management, 25 (1), pp. 203-17. Van Iwaarden, J., van der Wiele, T., Ball, L. and Millen, R., 2003. Applying SERVQUAL to web sites: An exploratory study. International Journal of Quality & Reliability Management, 20(8), pp. 919-935. Verhees, F. J. and Meulenberg, M. T., 2004. Innovativeness, Produce Innovation and Performance in Small Firms. Journal of Small Business Management 42(2), pp. 134-54. Wisniewski, M., 2001. Using SERVQUAL to assess customer satisfaction with public sector services. Managing Service Quality, 11(6), pp. 380-388. Read More