Analyzing Service Quality and Acid Tests of Service Recovery in Hospitality

This document provides an analysis of service quality in the hospitality industry, with a focus on Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel. It discusses the dimensions and gaps in service quality and provides recommendations for better customer service. The document also explores the acid tests of service recovery in the hospitality organization.

Customer Service
(Assessment 2)

Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Analyse service quality with particular focus to dimensions and gaps..................................3
Demonstrate knowledge & understanding of the acid tests of service recovery in the
hospitality organisation..........................................................................................................5
Prepare a survey report along with recommendations for better customer service................6
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Customer service is defined as an important aim of service sector that is offering different
forms of facilities to customer as per their needs as well as requirements. Customer are one of the
major reason of a service based organisation that help in sustaining in market for longer time
period. In addition to this, it is important for hospitality organisation to emphasis on fulfilling
requirements of customer and maintain effective relationship with them so that they remain
loyal towards brand that help in maintaining performance at marketplace (Goodman, 2019). The
report is based on Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel that offer quality and leisure facilities to
customers. The report will cover service quality analysis of Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel
with the assistance of SERVQUAL model. In addition to this, four acid test of service recover of
respective organisation is described. In the last, a survey report is developed along with some
recommendations in order to improve service for guests.
MAIN BODY
Analyse service quality with particular focus to dimensions and gaps.
Service quality is one of the major key concern of hospitality organisation as its accuracy
as well as appropriateness directly reflects on hotels and its service performance that has impact
on overall business operations. Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel is one of the renowned
hotels which main aim is to provide high experience to customer by offering quality and on time
service as per the needs of customer. The hotel is located on the Porsche area that has tourist
attraction around or on a walking distance. For analysing and evaluating service quality of Ibis
styles London Kensington Hotel with particular emphasis on gaps & separate dimension with the
assistance of SERVQUAL model.
It is a quantitative analysis model which help business entities and higher authorities in
making comparison among service quality performance in association with customer service
quality and requirements of people visiting hotel. In easier term, such model will enable in
developing evaluation & comparison of the given service to customer in context with set
expectations for gaining understanding about gaps if any. SERVQUAL model is also termed as
GAP model that involve five components and dimension and on this basis gaps are identified.
Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel service quality analysis is given below:

 Tangibles- The first element of SEVQUAL model which emphasis on human resource,
physical assets & other presentable assets of Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel. In
addition to this, respective organisation have bundled of resources that is filled with
intangible asset in order to support customer needs as well as requirements (Shire,
Holtgrew and Kerst, 2017). It is analysed that Wi-Fi services in Ibis styles London
Kensington Hotel is not appropriate and due to this guest faces connectivity problems and
technical errors that is required to be fixed. Reliability- This element emphasis on accuracy and expertise of employees at the time of
performing as well as rendering service to customers. The employees in Ibis styles
London Kensington Hotel is experienced and well trained as its HR department make use
of effective training and recruitment approaches. Therefore, Ibis styles London
Kensington Hotel offer reliable service to customers. It is determined that because of
pandemic, organisation may lost its expert employees. Responsiveness- This component emphasis over customer service willingness and
support of people to assist visitors at their stay time. Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel
has a website and an effective team with job role of listening customer issues, addressing
them and meeting them in an effective and favourable manner for customers & to provide
them best experience before and after the booking and stay as well. Assurance- It reflect on expertise as well as abilities of employees trust the Ibis styles
London Kensington Hotel & themselves at the time of performing behalf of organisation.
It is important that housekeeping department & other functional units who have close
contact with customers be properly instructed in order to provide visitors and guest high
experience. Moreover, it also help in fulfilling requirements of customer in an effective
and proper manner.
 Empathy- The customer service department of Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel has a
team that mainly focus on understanding the viewpoint of customers so that they can
provide best and effective solution of the issues they faced at the time of staying with Ibis
styles London Kensington Hotel (Zhu, 2017). The employees while performing for
resolving issues of guest first should be emphatic and place themselves on customer place
as it help in developing measures and build string relationship with customers.

Therefore, with the help of analysis and evaluation of customer service quality of Ibis styles
London Kensington Hotel, it is stated that gaps among customer service offered by respective
hotel and customer expectations is low. The hotel emphasis over satisfaction of customer and
being empathetic and focused to solve the issues of guests which they faced while stay in hotel.
For this, it is important for addressing problems and fulfilling requirements and needs as well. It
enable Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel to develop as well as maintain strong and long-term
relationship with guest and also assist in influencing them for future purchase and consumption
of hotel services.
GAP model of service-quality: It is a framework that is used by business entities in order to
gain understanding about customer satisfaction. It consist of five major satisfaction gaps which
companies must address at the time of seeking to fulfil customer expectations. The model is
explained below in relation to bis styles London Kensington Hotel:
Illustration 1: Gap model of service quality, 2019

Gap 1: Market research gap- This gap take place when a service provider or an
organisation is not determine what customer needs and require. In addition to this, it also arise
because of insufficient communication and lack of market segmentation as well. Herein, it is
significant for Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel to conduct an effective market research as it
help in getting insight about customer needs that is fulfilled by them timely and properly.
Gap 2: Design gap- It is the second gap that occur when company might rightly comprehend
what customer want, but not set the proper performance standard. In addition to this, within a
hotel it take place due to inappropriate physical evidence, no quick services, unsystematic
service process etc. It is significant for Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel to focus on setting
standards of providing service to its customer as it help in declining the level of design gap in an
effective manner.
Gap 3: Conformance gap- It is the gap among service quality specification & service
deliver as well. It arise because of ineffective training, unwillingness or incapability to fulfil the
set standards of service. Along with this, the inability to match demand and supply can also arise
this gap. In order to deal with this gap, Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel is require to
continuously evaluate the performance its staff members with the set standards as it help in
providing effective service delivery to its customer and retain them for longer time frame.
Gap 4: Communication gap- It is the gap that take place among external communication as
well as service delivery. It is stated that customer expectations are mainly affected by the
statements made by the organisation advertisements and representatives. Communication gap
occur when such expectations are not met at the time of service delivery.
Gap 5: Customer expectations and perceptions gap- It is the last gap which is between the
experienced service and expected service. It is mainly arise when customer misinterpret the
service quality provided by organisation. For this, it is essential for Ibis styles London
Kensington Hotel to take feedback from its customer after providing them service as it help in
clarifying the mind set of customer towards the brand and also help in reducing the level of
misunderstanding and conflict that occur due to service quality.

Demonstrate knowledge & understanding of the acid tests of service recovery in the hospitality
organisation.
Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel has its own team of customer service that meets as
well as address complaints which customer raise and need solution as well. All these complaints
are received by a separate website and on official email of respective organisation. For making
effective and better changes, Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel can adopt acid testing
technique (Ye, Lyu and He, 2019). It is analysed that non-fulfilment of customer needs and
expectations is one of biggest failure of hospitality organisation performing within a diverse
business environment. Therefore, the acid test is showcased below in the form of back to back
stages. Apologize- It is the first test and herein an organisation can apologise customers and
guest before any convenience & stress faced by guest while staying in hotel. It is
important for Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel to be sincere enough to show regrets
for issues & discomfort caused. The guest require a sense of realisation from the senior
authorities of Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel for the issue caused to them because
of aby varied reason at the time of consuming services in hotel. Review- It is consider as another test that is properly review of guest complaints before
resolving it and finding solutions as well. In addition to this, it is a practical approach of
making improvements and delivery to customers. Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel
first have to review issues and the main cause of problem as it will assist in resolving
issues in a proper manner and draw best conclusion. Fix and Follow Up- The third test is undertaken to be most essential one as the issues as
well as complaints registered once be reviewed & analysed at such stage. In addition to
this, fixing and follow up test is where customer service executive of Ibis styles London
Kensington Hotel will be solving the problem by offering resolution to customer timely
and properly (Chen, 2017). Once the guest agrees to take up the solution provided a
follow up call will be made for taking feedback and to know their level of satisfaction.
Furthermore, it will influence the future purchase in favour of Ibis styles London
Kensington Hotel with long time customer relationship & loyalty towards brand.
 Document- The last stage and test is of documenting the overall companies as well as
procedure adopting for resolving it. Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel require to

document every set of action they develop to resolve customer issue & for making guest
satisfied with service. It will give hotel personalised information for providing best and
higher quality service in coming future to their customers. In addition to this, it also allow
to serve the same guest in improved and better way in future which leads to development
of brand image and performance at marketplace.
Prepare a survey report along with recommendations for better customer service.
Background of the survey
This survey is developed to assist Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel in better
understanding of guest in context to their requirements, needs and satisfaction level as well. In
addition to this, this survey will analyse customer perspective related to service provided by
hotel along with the customer level support.
Survey questions
The following are the questions asked from guest in survey with an aim to understand
their perception about hotel services:
1. What is the experience of customer about the services provided to them from front office
associated with check ins & check outs and complaints as well?
2. What is the customer experience regarding the dining hall concerning to food quality,
varieties and taste ?
3. What is the customer experience about the housekeeping performance?
Survey methodology
The present survey will be done on the basis of qualitative factor wherein guest will be
asking open ended question that required to be answered through existing customer so that Ibis
styles London Kensington Hotel is capable to make improvements in customer service. In
addition to this, population of 50 customer is consider for present survey.
Presentation of survey report
It is determined from above survey that customer service for Ibis styles London
Kensington Hotel has following response whose outcome is being measured by developing
positive as well as negative layer due to open ended question (Vareias, Repoussis and Tarantilis,
2019).
1. For question 1, it is analysed that 50% participants were satisfied with services provided
to them by front level officers of respective hotel. In addition to this, 38% participants

consider service as average and its little being unsatisfied with services. Moreover, the
remaining 12% respondents were dissatisfied or unhappy by front level operations of Ibis
styles London Kensington Hotel.
2. For question 2, it is determined that 78% participants market taste as well as quality
excellent. On the other side, 22% participants showed that they are not satisfied by the
taste and quality provided to them by Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel
3. For question 3, from the total 50 participants 88% said that they are satisfied with the
housekeeping performance whereas 12% respondents are not satisfied with housekeeping
service because of late and improper availability of services.
Recommendations
From the above survey, it is suggested to the Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel that
there is a requirement for making improvements within front level services. For this, there is a
requirement of hiring employees for front area so that they can greet customer with full
efficiency and enthusiasm as well. It is appropriately said that first impression is the last
impression and ineffective initial service sometimes develop negative mind set of guest and
decline its progress at marketplace. In addition to this, proper training is giving to employees so
that they can deal with customer queries and complaints in a proper manner.
Along with this, food management department will make use of some tools & strategies for
providing rapid service to customers with good taste and quality as well (Kevoe-Feldman, 2018).
Another suggestion to Ibis styles London Kensington Hotel is to make use of innovative
technology in order to provide ley less entry via mobile application as it assist in saving time of
customers and offer high customer experience as well. All this will assist company to improved
its customer service level and increase its performance as well as profitability level effectively.

CONCLUSION
From the above discussion, it has been concluded that it is important for a hospitality
organisation to focus on providing quality and on time customer service as it help in developing
positive mind set of guest towards brand. In addition to this, it can be attained by satisfying the
requirements of customer in an effective manner. customer service is basically an idea that
revolves around customer expectations and what is delivered to them by organisation. Therefore,
hospitality organisation require to develop effective measures for delivering best and appropriate
service to its customers as it help in maintaining level of performance and influence customer for
the repeat purchase of consumption of services.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Goodman, J., 2019. Strategic customer service: Managing the customer experience to increase
positive word of mouth, build loyalty, and maximize profits. Amacom.
Shire, K., Holtgrewe, U. and Kerst, C., 2017. Re-organising customer service work: an
introduction. In Re-Organising Service Work: Call Centres in Germany and Britain (pp.
1-16). Routledge.
Zhu and et. al., 2017. Workplace ostracism and proactive customer service performance: A
conservation of resources perspective. International Journal of Hospitality
Management, 64, pp.62-72.
Ye, Y., Lyu, Y. and He, Y., 2019. Servant leadership and proactive customer service
performance. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Chen and et. al., 2017. The impact of high-commitment HR practices on hotel
employees’proactive customer service performance. Cornell Hospitality
Quarterly, 58(1), pp.94-107.
Vareias, A. D., Repoussis, P. P. and Tarantilis, C. D., 2019. Assessing customer service
reliability in route planning with self-imposed time windows and stochastic travel
times. Transportation Science, 53(1), pp.256-281.
Kevoe-Feldman, H., 2018. The interactional work of suppressing complaints in customer service
encounters. Journal of Pragmatics, 123, pp.102-112.
Online:
The SERVQUAL Model, 2016. [Online] Available Through:
<http://www.simplynotes.in/mbabba/the-servqual-model/>