Service Quality at Remington Hotel - Case Study Example

Management Report Name Institution Tutor Date A Report on the Case Study conducted on the Service Quality at Remington Hotel This is a report on a two-day customer and hotel interaction that took place in Remington Hotel. The hotel representative was a new employee who was planning to improve the services at the hotel by implementing new ideas with a background of experience. The report focuses on answering the study questions. The examples of service quality gaps identified for the case study The service quality gaps are usually because of either the deformation or uncertain occurrences on both the customers’ perception and expectations (Parasuraman et al. 1985, 41-50). The customers’ expectations are perceived as normative with predictive standards i.e. the customers always know what their chosen service provider should and will offer to them. This makes it possible for one to assess the expectations and perceptions involved in service providing processes. Therefore, service quality measurements can be done by conducting interviews on customers for instance using a standard questionnaire. The questionnaire can consist of the five major service quality dimensions as was in the case study of the hotel (“organization”). They include; assurance, reliability/dependability, empathy, tangibles and responsiveness. According to the case study, four internal gaps can be identified. These gaps do not occur singularly but interact and combine to cause major defects on a particular organization. The identified gaps include the following. The first gap was between the actual customer’s expectation of the service and the managerial expectation. This gap was caused due to the lack of understanding by the manager on how customers acquire their expectations from the different sources like advertisement past experience, personal needs etc. The gap might have been caused by insufficient time allocated for gaining the correct knowhow of the customer or the existence of many managerial layers i.e. top management and contact personnel management. It could have also been as a result of improper information from the analysis of the market and demand (Gronroos 2007), etc.This gap can be decreased by increasing analysis of the market, improved communication between employees & management and making sure the layers of management are decreased. The second gap was the discrepancy between managerial expectation and the specific expectation established by them for the service delivery. This is related to the lack of managerial commitment to service quality, the level of goal setting, the level of appropriate service standardization and the feasibility point of view. The gap can be prevented through the proper setting of goals and the appropriate standardization of the service delivery process. Other suggestions suggest that commitment from both the managers and the employees is more essential then the setting of goals and standardization. The third gap was seen when the employees were not able to offer/ the service to the customers at the customer’s request or desired point. It consists of the discrepancy between the certain expectations of a service established by the management and the service at actual performance. The gap is usually influenced majorly by three factors; cooperation, employee to job and perception of control. This was actually proven in the case study. For the three factors to be efficient for the gap, other endogenous factor like the one commitment and trust need to be considered as they also influence other quality gaps in an organization. Ambiguity and conflict of roles in the organization can also contribute to this gap. Other solutions related to this gap include; improved training of employees, creation of a better system of work supervision and the introduction of better internal marketing in a particular organization (Gronroos 2007: 117). The fourth gap was another major cause of low perceptions of service quality from the customer. It occurs between the promises of service from a firm and the actual service delivery. The promises contribute widely to the expectations developed by customers. Most of the time, organizations have overpromises to the customers through advertisements, information from contact personnel and/or other service marketing avenues. The exaggerated promises might be as a result of; improper marketing communication-operations coordination and integration, failure of the organization to perform their services in accordance to the specification, while communication from external sources follows the required specifications; and propensity of people to make many promises (Gronroos 2007). This gap can be prevented when organizations pay more attention to the modes of advertisement, ensuring that they are well planned, accurate, appropriate, up to date and very realistic. There are gap models that show the point of origin of service quality. The models clearly show the various guidelines on operations that help prevent the losses of quality in the service quality gaps. They are based on the existing marketing and service operation factors. At the same time, no direct suggestions are there on the systemic ways of finding and dealing with the quality gaps. (Parasuraman et al. 1985) the models reveal the changes in the information concerning customer expectations, the evolution of the employee comprehension and view of customers’ needs upon a particular service. Gaps of service quality in an organization usually show the cause effect chain where the losses in service quality occur. Customer’s expectation is essential in the effectiveness of the model because it is a factor that is prone to sudden and continuous changes. In conclusion, the quality gaps are considered the best explanations for the service quality process within an organization. The use of a model helps managers to extensively understand the origin of service quality and equip them with the ideas on which quality gaps might arise. One service quality dimension that can be improved form the case study An appropriate attempt was to start by improving on reliability dimension of service quality of the hotel. This usually on the after-sales services that customer’s experience. It goes beyond the objective qualities of service and focuses on the treatments on customers after a service is sold to the customer. For instance, complain from someone who has already purchased a car is less likely to be profitable to the company than a complaint from someone who is just about to purchase the car. Having considerations for a present customer to a potential one does not bring new business I the same way. When attending to an existing customer, reward is not immediate. Even a bank customer at the bank does not bring revenue to the bank, but only adds more work to the bank and also utilizes employee time. The assurance dimension ensures that service quality is priority and that customers are treated with no nuisance. Actually, customers are not supposed to be bringing in revenue at every step of the service but the service provider should ensure that the particular service is provided at every step involving the customer. This should not be as favor but as part of the service that was paid for by the customer. The impact of choosing the reliability dimension The impact is very positive because, the results of the customers’ expectation on the level of the hotel’s reliability were very high. Therefore, choosing to improve the reliability dimension will ensure that the customers’ desire for a change that they prefer is given priority. Eventually, this will result to an effective service provision that will better the reputation of the hotel in case of a repeated visit by the same customer or a reference from the customers. Improvement of service quality Fortunately, even if the status for a particular service is worse, it can be made better. There are strategies that the management can apply in order to experience an improvement in their service as providers. The strategies are divided into three; typical strategies, operations-driven and customer-driven strategies. The typical one includes the following Ensuring that cost is carefully controlled at every step of the service. Ensuring decrease in the inappropriate use of materials or labor Adopting new technology by employing automated machinery to replace the workers Allowing paraprofessionals to perform the work initially performed by high earning professionals through the installation of expert systems The process of improve service quality occurs gradually and for major effects, the entire process of service delivery needs to be restructures. The operations-driven ones are the following; Controlled cost and reduced misuse Creation of a productive capacity that matches the average service demand Automation of labor roles Increased employee training Improving the e equipments and systems used for service Widen the roles of to be performed by all employees Reduce the unskilled labor by using expert systems Restructuring of the service process The customer-driven strategies include the following; Introducing self-service to the customers Ensuring the customers are involved more during production Identify the customer demand and change its timing away from peaks. This enables the management to use the productive assets of the organization properly hence offering better services to the customer. Ensure the organization’s website is reliable and then encourage the customer to refer to it for information and be served from there. Other improvement strategies are; requesting the customer to make use of third parties in the service and the organization should allow supplementary services to be offered by other intermediary organizations. Finally, all service providers in various sectors should ensure that their services are of quality and that their customers always leave their premises satisfied and in have a desire to come back for more. This reciprocates good and continuous returns to the particular service provider. Bibliography Christopher , L. and Jochen W 2007, Improving Service Quality and Productivity, Oxford University Press Chuck Chakrapani 1991, Researching The Three Dimensions of Service Quality, London, Routeledge Gronroos, C 2007, Service Marketing and Management, Customer Management in Service Competition, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons. Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, VA., Berry, LL 1985, A conceptual model of service quality and its implications for future research, Journal of Marketing 49(4): 41–50. Read More