Operation Task System in Hospitality and Tourism: Central Parks - Case Study Example

Hospitality and Tourism Operations Systems task Week ends, leisure trips, tours and activities of those kind involves much of intangible feelings andthose feelings need much nurture and care. The importance of customer satisfaction in tourism becomes of much relevance just because of this reason. In the case study of ‘a family weekend at Center Parcs, the discussed weekend also would have involved with such feelings and anticipation of much days. As a customer, all of those who were involved in the party would be expecting to be in the best of their moods in that week end. Thus by mandate the tourism service caterer holds the responsibility of delivering the best of hospitality and service. This essay is a trial to review the processes involved in the hospitality delivered by Center Parks and the resultant customer satisfaction level. Based on the experiences that Andrew, Wendy and the rest of the party had at Center Parks, a service receipt flow process chart has been formulated as below. In general, the party seems to be quite satisfied with service rendered. How ever, the reporting should be taken into view along with the reality that the said party is an old customer and they had a good experience with the service provider the year before. A detailed review of the whole process brings out some areas of operation which needs improvisation and can result in better customer satisfaction. Overview of the tourism operation task Trip planning being the foremost step in the whole process was satisfactorily done as the party had a prior experience .Moreover the promotional materials provided by Center Parks was quite explanatory for the party to decide upon the facilities to be selected. The booking call went into an automated answering system which is for obvious a less welcoming notion than a human voice. How ever the customer was satisfied with the speed with which the call was delivered to the booking agent. The service of the booking agent was also pleasing. The booking process also involved an advance payment which utilized the credit card facility. This puts an ease to the payment process. Further the party was given confirmation of the booking by post which gives any customer a feeling assurance. The full payment was also taken three weeks before the date of visit, which was already notified to the party along with the confirmation of booking. The information on the whole package of activities was received by the party ten days prior to the booked date. This gives the customer a complete idea of what to expect and what not to. Advanced reservation facility for the leisure activities and the registration form was also provided with the information package. Although this facilitates the crowd management, the activities which could be reserved were very few in number. An online version of the reservation system which adds precision and speed to the process was appreciated by the customer. After the party arrived at Sherwood Forest, the check in was done before the car was parked. The party had to wait before four other cars in front made their check in. The time left before they could enter the villas was ultilised for making bookings for Aqua Sona. They also tried to hire bicycles but decided to postpone it till the lunch because of the long queue. The tiring queuing system is for no cause an interesting activity during a leisure week end. The party spent three hours and enjoyed the facilities at the Aqua Sona. Later their car was taken to the villa to unload the luggage. The existing rule in the village was that no cars were allowed to be taken in before 3.00 pm. The drive was quite difficult as the roads were narrow and the cars parked on the sides added to the mess. The car had to driven back to the parking area as there was no provision of parking close to the villa. Though the villas were quite close by the privacy of each villa was quite maintained. The party had dinner together for which they found it difficult to find a suitable and comfortable place to dine. They had to wait 20 minutes before they could get a table of fifteen Before they left to their villas, they went to the leisure booking point to make bookings for the next day. They couldn’t make many of the bookings of their choice as they were full. The connectivity in between places of interest was also demanding. It should be taken into consideration that the group had a wider age range which was from 15 to 83. However the group had a wide range of activities to do in the next day. The car had to be taken from the parking to the villa on the day of departure to pack off the belongings. They could also enjoy of the leisure activities in that morning too. Shortly after ten in the morning they checked out of the village after dropping the keys and the customer satisfaction note. The case ends with a very positive note of a satisfied customer waving off with affirmative plans to come back. Two major potential problems for the customers The World Tourism Organization defines tourists as people who "travel to and stay in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes not related to the exercise of an activity remunerated from within the place visited". So a tourist of any kind would expect a change from his usual environment and to be treated with hospitability added with proper facilitation. With reference to the case study of ‘a family weekend at Center Parcs, two major overlooked factors in the service provided were identified. 1. Internal transit All the members of the party belonged to much farther areas from the Centre Parc. It is quite justifiable to assume that they would have had a tiring long drive to reach the destination. The first thing they had to do at the check in lodge was to wait for four cars in front of them to check in. Psychologically this situation would have made no difference to them than being in a busy traffic signal light which is a boring routine of urban life. The first impression lacks a positive flavour which adversely affects customer satisfaction. To add to this dissatisfaction further the car was to be driven through a narrow road with many cars parked on the sides. This puts the customer into doubt. The customer may suspect on the uniqueness of the place doubting it to be a crowded place. The cars both parked and moving in these roads would be alien to the ambience of the woods. Now the car had to be moved back to parking after unloading the luggage. The driver had to return to the villa on foot no matter how far the villa was Moreover the cars moving in an ought to be silent place, poises issues like noise pollution and also air pollution due to exhaust emissions. A suggested solution for this problem can be the introduction of a common transit system. Many forms of this may include Electric trams; Bio fuelled vehicles; Alternate energy driven vehicles and other common transport systems. These kinds of services may be properly scheduled with in the village so as to put off unwanted traffic from the village roads. An example for such an effective system is being successfully run at Buderim Ginger Factory at Queensland in Australia. The details of this train trip can be viewed in the website< http://www.buderimginger.com/GingerFactory/tours.htm>. More over this is an effective system to connect different leisure activity centres with in the village. Older people take a greater advantage of this facility. This also addresses the soaring fuel issues and the alternate ways of energy generation can help the village to set a model amongst the ones of its kind. According to the Electric Vehicle Association of Canada, Carbon Dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions are minimal for electric cars powered from sustainable electricity sources or for internal combustion engine cars that are run on renewable fuels such as bio-diesel . This will also reduce the crowding in the cycle hire shop inside the village and will provide an additional option to the customers. 2.Customer Based Approach The party belonged to people from the age group of fifteen to eighty three. But the services rendered to them as a group had a general approach where in the special requirements of a particular age class was not dealt with. The very incident that the grand parents had to gently walk when the others in the group had the luxury of the bicycle ride from the cycle hire shop to the villa proves this fact. The restaurants also seemed to cater a particular cultural class. The loud music in the Huckleberry’s American Diner made the group not to dine from there for the sake of the grand parents. The cuisines in different restaurants didn’t have an integrated approach to include variety in their menu. The common transit system as explained in the above head would serve to a major extend in solving this issue. This can cater service to the older people and help them to get connected in between places within the village. The time spent for transit also can be utilised for a video show on the policies and the services in the village. The interaction in between different customers should also be encouraged during this travel to help a cultural exchange. It should also be ensured that proper information on the restaurants be provided in the information pack. The advance booking facilities also should be widened. The restaurants should ensure to entertain different social and age groups and the same restaurants should have variety in entertainment and menu. Role of Information technology in Center Parcs There had been a growth of 305.5 % in the number of internet users all around the world since the last eight years. This statistics has been explained in the website . Centre Parcs is utlising the boons of Information Technology to a good extend. The reliability of customers in general to the internet based booking systems is also worth a research in this context. A study conducted by Yesawich, Pepperdine & Brown/Yankelovich Partners revealed that 66% of American Internet users believes that internet based Tourism web sites provide better services than travel agents. The details of the study can be viewed in the website http://www.etourismnewsletter.com/ecommerce.htm#behaviour>. The World Tourism Organisation, in its newsletter states that over 21% of the worlds’ population uses internet and they represent a market segment that has to be targeted. It also makes the point that internet is changing the way to reach travel consumers as they are turning online. This can be viewed in the website http://www.unwto.org/media/mag/en/pdf/wtonews2008_2.pdf The online registration system piloted by Centre Parcs aims at the ever increasing number of internet using travel customers. This facility adds to the ease and speed of the booking process as well. The booking details could be read by the visitors from different parts of the country at the same time just by entering the booking number. This also saved the cost in sending the booking details by post. However the service provider should work more on the publicity of the system so that more people use this facility. Marketing is an area wherein Information Technology can be utilised to gain an external strategic advantage. Internet advertising can be enhanced and customer testimonials can be published in order to build reliability parallel with publicity. The customer data base can be developed and streamlined using information technology. The bar coding system in cycles which is used by Centre Parcs is one another exemplary utility of Information technology. The billing system, check in and check out process, internal communication, booking system, automated reminders to customers are other examples of utilities of Information Technology. Diversity in Centre Parcs The case study lists a number of diverse activities within the village. This diversity should be maintained and different parts of the village should be unique in its own way so that different target groups can be catered. The interest on leisure differs from person to person. So maintaining the diversity in different parts of the village is an important deal. Even for a single person, this diversity provides variety in activities and will prompt the customer to visit again. Quality Assurance Managing and maintaining the quality standards has an integral part to play in customer satisfaction. Regular quality checks have to be conducted to ensure that the provided standards are being maintained. Standards should be maintained for factors like hygiene, staff management, environmental standards, price, product updating and other relevant benchmarks. The following aspects will add to the quality of service being rendered and subsequently to added customer satisfaction. 1. Fair trade certification Tourism Concern defines Fair trade in tourism as a key aspect of sustainable tourism. It aims at maximising the benefits from tourism for local destination stake holders through mutually beneficial and equitable partnerships between national and international tourism stake holders in the destination .The Fair Trade Labeling Organistions International(FLO}gives certification for fair trade products and services. Efforts should be done to attain such certifications which directly increase the customer reliability. Some of the criteria in fair trade in tourism are Fair trade partnerships between tourism and hospitality investors and local communities Fair share of Benefits for local stake holders Fair trade between tourists and local people Fair and sustainable use of natural resources Fair wages and working conditions If these standards are ensured, it increases the credibility of the organisation and thus can ensure trust among customers 2. Environmental Concern Environment protection and related activities should be encouraged which adds again to the credibility of the organisation. Tree planting programmes and other environment protection programmes should be encouraged to be done by the customers with in the village so as they also get a feel of participation. Participatory programmes as described in the website < http://www.kabani.org/tourmasc.html> can be taken as exemplary models. Environment Impact Assessments should be done in regular intervals. Details of Environment Impact assessment can be viewed at the website http://www.communities.gov.uk/planningandbuilding/planning/sustainabilityenvironmental/environmentalimpactassessment/> .The carrying capacity of the place also should be assessed because if the visitors exceed this limit, it may affect the environment as well as the quality of the service 3. Customer Satisfaction Survey Random surveys on Customer Satisfaction should be conducted over the routine customer satisfaction form which is collected. The survey formats are readily available in the internet, for example as given in the website 4. Update Information The information provided on the information packs should be updated regularly as per the state of the art industry standards. The price should also be updated after scientific evaluation of the economics involved. 5. Capacity building of staff The staff should be trained regularly on latest innovations in the industry. The performance of the staff should be evaluated regularly. WORKS CITED Electric Vehicle Association of Canada,2002, Fuel Cell Markets,Iver,Viewed 16 September 2008 http://www.fuelcellmarkets.com/fuel_cell_markets/5,1,1,663.html Taste of ginger tour,2002,Buderim Ginger,Buderim, Viewed 16 September 2008 < http://www.buderimginger.com/GingerFactory/tours.htm>. Internet Usage Statistics,2008,Miniwatts marketing Group, Viewed 16 September 2008 http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm Make etourism work for your destination, 2008, World Tourism Organisation, Madrid, Viewed 16 September 2008, http://www.unwto.org/media/mag/en/pdf/wtonews2008_2.pdf Fair trade in tourism,2008, Tourism Concern, London, Viewed 17 September 2008, http://www.tourismconcern.org.uk/index.php?page=fairtrade-network Fair trade, 2006, Fair Trade Organisations International, Viewed 17 September 2008, Tour Masc, 2006, Kabani-the other direction, Mananthavady, Viewed 16 September 2008, http://kabani.org/tourmasc.html Customer Satisfaction Surveys and Questionnaire Templates at Question Pro ,2oo7,Question Pro, Viewed 17 September 2008 ,http://www.questionpro.com/akira/showArticle.do?articleID=customersatisfaction01 World Tourism Organization.,2003 ,WTO news, 2003 (3). Madrid: World Tourism Organization. Environmental impact assessment,2004, OPSI Information Policy Team, Colegate, Viewed 17 September 2008 http://www.communities.gov.uk/planningandbuilding/planning/sustainabilityenvironmental/environmentalimpactassessment/> Read More