Why Hospitality is about Providing an 'Experience' rather than a 'Service' - Assignment Example

Question 1: Why Hospitality is about providing an 'Experience' rather than a 'Service’ The hospitality is about providing an “experience” rather than a “service” since the hospitality industry is a “people’s business” whereby someone interacts with fellow people from diverse backgrounds who have different expectations. This paper will focus on the experience offered by the hospitality industry, common attributes between modern and past trends in the industry, emerging trends and different cultures in the hospitality industry. It also looks at the different debates about the impact of globalization on patterns of food consumption. In the hospitality industry, no day is like the other and time is too precious since it is all about creating best memorable events for the guest. Dealers in the hospitality sell the experience and not a service. Experiences are memorable moments, which are paramount for the guest since the main business in the hospitality industry is the repeat business. Repeat business comes from the same guests who had an exquisite, lifetime experience in a particular hotel and due to that “experience”, they return to the hotel a second time (Barrows and Powers, 2008, p. 28). The hospitality industry thrives on a great level of passion and enthusiasm, a drive for perfection and loyalty to succeed unlike in the service industry. Service is just but part of the experience offered by the hospitality industry. The hospitality industry is all about building a personalized connection with the clients by offering a distinctive exotic experience rather than providing service, which makes all the difference. Each guest has different expectations and therefore each guest is handled individually. Understanding each guest’s unique needs and expectations is vital to surpass his or her expectations (Ford and Heaton, 2000, p. 42). The guests are also a tool of marketing in the hospitality industry since once a guest has had an exemplary experience; they will most likely talk about it to other people. This acts a marketing tool and the hotel will continue having repeat and new guests due to the word-of-mouth marketing. A customer’s satisfaction is affected by a number of factors such as the customer’s emotional state, psychographics and social environment, which is essentially a comparison of expectations with experience rather than a measure of absolute service performance. The customer’s judgment is about the extent to which expectations have been met, and what experiences they had. Examples that illustrate how hospitality includes the creation of experiences are very many, including the experiences that the guest has when they first arrive at a hospitality establishment. The first impression is a lasting impression, which makes the treatment the guest receives essential for the long term success and sustainability of the business. Understanding the guest’s cultures and expectations are also experiences that the hospitality industry must provide. Providing the experience of a home away from home by the hospitality establishment guarantees one of the best experiences. Knowledge of the guest’s languages and personal names are also experiences provided which create wonderful experiences since the guest’s feel valued and appreciated. The principle of the guest being always right and spotting a smile even when irritated always makes the guests feel welcome and thus giving them a sense of belonging in the hospitality establishment (Ford, Sturman and Heaton, 2011, p. 61). Question 2: The Extent to Which Modern Hospitality Has Common Attributes With Hospitality from The Past Hospitality entails the provision a kind of guarantee of reciprocity, which means protecting the stranger in order to be protected from him. In the past, hospitality was seen as essentially organic, as an imperative and integral part of the society that revealed much about their cultural beliefs and values. In that era, hospitality was a way of honoring strangers and making them “feel” comfortable and at “home”, the ideal which is the same to this day. From time immemorial to date, true hospitality has been treating all guests equally regardless of whom the guest is or their apparent status in life. Many contemporary words readily related with hospitality are evolved from similar hypothetical words of the past. These include words such as guest and hospitality; have roots from various cultures of the past. In Ancient Greece, hospitality was a way of honoring the gods of gods. Generous hospitality freely given to a stranger today is the same as that given to a god (Prideaux, Moscardo and Laws, 2006, p. 112). In the past, hospitality brought expectations from both the guests and the hosts, which is similar to today’s expectations from both parties. The idea of providing a home away from home to the guest is also an example of an attribute borrowed from the past. Ancient travelers were being accommodated in hospitality establishments just as they are today. The sophistication of diverse cultures of people in the hospitality industry today is very similar to the past and both dealt with this diversification in equal measure. In the past, the host provided protection to the guest including all their belongings, which is even more advanced today. Knowledge of diverse cultures for better remarkable experiences in the hospitality industry today was the same in the past. The principle of the guest is always right is as ancient as the history of hospitality meaning that this principle originated at the birth of hospitality (Prideaux, Moscardo and Laws, 2006, p. 64). The practice of hospitality, which includes the disciplines of accommodation, food and beverage and front office all have their history from the past though not advanced and structured like today. A typical example can also be borrowed from the bible during the birth of Jesus Christ, where He was born on a manger since all the hotels were fully occupied. This means that the same accommodation service that was being provided then is still the same one offered today although advanced in various ways (Sheth, Parvatiyar and Shainesh, 2001, p. 47). Question 3: With the Move towards Profit, the Spontaneity of the Act of Hospitality Has Been Somewhat Lost, Giving Way to Economic Rationalization, Regulation and Performative Behavior. Discuss Recently in the hospitality industry, there has been a move towards profits, which has led to the loss of the spontaneity of the act of hospitality. This gives way to economic rationalization, regulation and performative behavior. In the article, Lashley observes, that “hospitality requires the guest to feel that the host is being hospitable through feelings of generosity, a desire to please and a genuine regard for the guest as an individual”. The article expounds the need to satisfactorily meet the guest’s expectations as paramount which also includes the hospitality establishment being generous to the guest. Unfortunately, the focus has now changed due to the cost implication of this trend since the hospitality industry is now profit-oriented and the pressure to minimize costs is high. Staff performance is now pegged on specific targets of performance, limiting the extra mile that is essential to the guest. The management has revolutionized the industry by operating in a rigid business environment rather than blending both the business factor and the hospitality factor. Essential key products that were being offered to guest’s as free samples are no longer there since the costs are being reduced. There is need for the hospitality industry to strike a balance between managing costs and offering the best quality experience to the guest. The guest is nowadays viewed as an instrumental source of income unlike in the past when they were treated as kings first and incomes followed later. The need to stay afloat due to stiff competition in the hospitality industry has lead to the management going back to the drawing board where the guest becomes the opportunity cost of the management’s decisions. Without any choice, the guest’s are forced to take what is being offered. This hurts the repeat client business but then again things have taken a different direction (Sheth, Parvatiyar and Shainesh, 2001, p. 57). Hospitality Staff are today focused on meeting their targets and surpassing them to stay in employment as opposed to focusing on offering the hospitable experience that the guest urgently requires. This limits there potential and adversely affects the guests. Hotel services and amenities have also been affected significantly with this strategy since everything is focused on cost cutting. Managing costs is ideal than cost cutting, which means that when cutting, one cost is deprived of some valuables from the guest. Managing costs is a more effective way and is not fully felt by the guest. There is need to strike that balance of harmonizing both the principles of hospitality and financial best practices. This will enable the guests to continue enjoying what they have always enjoyed and at the same time ensuring the profitability of the hotel (Sheth, Parvatiyar and Shainesh, 2001, p. 89). Question 4: "Guests and/or Customers From Different Cultures Would Often Bring With Them Different Expectations And Ideals Of What Constitutes Good Customer Service". Discuss this statement with relevant examples to illustrate your points Guests and customers from different cultures would often bring with them different expectations and ideals of what constitutes good customer service. Culture is a unique behavior, a way of life of a certain group of people that usually distinguish them from other people (Gong, 2008). Currently, diverse cultures of guests and customers in the hospitality industry significantly influence the way that these guests describe what good customer service is. The high rate of globalization has seen many people travel abroad from different countries, which is overwhelming for the hospitality organizations as accommodating these wide range of cultures can become a challenge. Cultural diversity brought occasioned by visitors can bring great opportunity to the industry and other benefits. It is important to factor in the different cultures in the operations of the organization, as it will determine how the customers perceive the customer care experience (Yilmaz, 2009, p.346). Customers from different cultures have different tastes in terms of cuisine, music, religion, dressing and language. For instance, bowing is a well- known Japanese etiquette and incase a Japanese is visiting a hotel in the United States; he will not take a handshake to be a good customer service gesture. If the hotel expects other Japanese visitors in the future, the management will train employees in charge of welcoming guests on how to execute a good bow towards Japanese customers. When it comes to food and cuisine, pouring soy sauce directly on rice is not a Japanese custom. Instead, the soy sauce is put in a small bowl and the rice is added onto it (Wang & Tailor, 2008, p.12). It is important for the hospitality industry to integrate the cultures suggested by the customers to make them appreciate customer service. There is a common principle that the customer is always right. This is not the case for Japanese hotels but they view the customer as a king/queen (Yilmaz, 2009, p.380). The Chinese economy is growing at a significantly higher rate and many Chinese citizens are travelling all over the world taking their traditions and culture wherever they go. The Chinese are very superstitious about the directions that buildings face and placement of some items such as windows and furniture. According to Gong (2008), they value their Chinese cuisine and in most cases, they will evaluate the quality of the customer service by the food that they are offered. This has seen many hospitality industries incorporate the Chinese food in their menu. When we look at the American culture, the value of customer satisfaction is measured by the amount of tip from the customer. Most customers and guest visiting other countries from the United States will offer tips to waiters or receptionists according to their friendliness, timeliness and generally the type of services that they have been accorded. This idea has widely spread all over the globe to even the developing countries in Africa. These examples bring out the expectations and ideas that each culture perceive to be a quality customer service (Wang & Tyler, 2008, p. 315). Question 5: The Impact of Globalization on Patterns of Food Consumption; Whether Globalization is leading to Differentiation or Homogenization of Food Consumption Patterns Globalization is the process of interaction and integration of people, companies and governments of different nations for the purpose of trade, economic development and information sharing which has a significant effect on culture of a given nation. With globalization, food is being processed and preserved in one country and sent to another where it is consumed. This has diversified the source of foods, especially those that are not found locally in some countries. Globalization has continued to create a uniform source of through trade since more countries continue to export foods that they produce in excess and import the foods that are not found in their countries. Fast foods have continued to grow which alter the slow patterns of dining or traditional meals in many countries. In developing countries, the impacts of globalization of food consumption are more pronounced (Peter, 2007, p. 27). According to Peter (2005), globalization significantly influences human activity including production of food and consumption. One of the debates is the issue of symbolic vs. obligatory in food whereby some foods are symbolic to a certain people but more people in other countries are adopting them. For example, wine has long been regarded as part of the western culture but with globalization, more people in the Asian and African countries are acquiring more knowledge and appreciation of wine. Many cultures are now integrating western cuisine and dishes, methods of preparation and serving in their food consumption industry (Peter, 2007, 23). This has resulted in homogenization as people from different cultures are willing to try out other dishes from other cultures and this interest grows with globalization. Another debate on the impact of globalization on food consumption patterns is novelty versus familiarity. With globalization, there is diversification and increase in food availability. For example, a person can easily find pizza, which is American in other countries or even a Mexican dish in England. For this reason, people from various parts of the country v often feel at home when visiting foreign lands (Peter, 2007, p. 24). Contrast versus extension that comes with globalization affects the patterns of food consumption. In many cases people who dine out prefer to eat something out of the ordinary for example when eating food from where they have originated. If the level of diversity is high, a tourist visiting a place may find it hard to cope with the available food. Homogenization in the tourism industry results from the fear of tourist to consume foods from other cultures from perceived health risks and risk of not being accustomed to the taste and flavor of these foods (Rid & Bojanic, 2008, p.20). Although globalization has led to homogenization of food consumption patterns with the growth of the tourism industry, the tourism industry demands a certain degree of heterogeneity. Many people visit various places of the world to experience the different way of lives including the foods. For instance when a foreigner visit Africa, they expect to have a taste of the continental dishes, the dinners in the wild areas as they enjoy the nature. With globalization, localization is being encouraged to preserve the authentic nature and culture of the people to act as a tourist attraction (Reid & Bojanic, 2008, p. 27). In conclusion, the hospitality industry is a diverse industry with a very rich historical background. The current changes in this industry are however not blending well since the guest is becoming the opportunity cost and suffers in silence. There is an urgent need to address these paramount issues to ensure that the status of the guest who is king in the industry remains. Once the guests feel that they are being short-changed, they will definitely look for an alternative, leading to a huge loss to the industry. The management needs to address these trivial aspects in order to harmonize all differences and retain the glory of the hospitality industry. Reference List Barrows, C and Powers, C 2008, Introduction to the Hospitality Industry, New York, John Wiley & Sons. Ford, R and Heaton, C 2000, Managing the Guest Experience in Hospitality, Delmar/Thomson Learning. Ford, R. C., Sturman, M. C and Heaton, C. P 2011, Managing Quality Service in Hospitality: How Organization Achieve Excellence in the Guest Experience. Cengage Learning. Prideaux, B., Moscardo, G and Laws, E 2006, Managing Tourism and Hospitality Services, Theory and International Application, Washington DC, CABI. Sheth, J. N., Parvatiyar, A and Shainesh, G 2001, Customer relationship management: emerging concepts, tools, and applications, New Delhi, Tata McGraw-Hill Pub. Co. Peter .O 2007, Global governance of food production and consumption: issues and challenges, Cheltenham, Elgar. Reid, R. D and Bojanic, D. C 2008, Hospitality marketing management. Hoboken, NJ, Wiley & Sons Gong, Y 2008, managing cultural diversity in Hospitality industry, Las Vegas, University of Nevada Press. Wang, Y and Tyler, K 2008, Cultural perceptions: Chinese perceptions of hotel service quality. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, 2(4), 312-339. Yilmaz, I 2009, “Measurement of service quality in the hotel industry.” International Journal of Tourism & Hospitality Research, 20(2), 375-386. Read More