Customer Service Assessment 2

This document is an assessment of customer service in the hospitality industry, specifically focusing on the service quality and service recovery techniques of Corus London Hyde Park. The assessment includes an analysis of service quality dimensions and gaps, as well as recommendations for improving customer service based on a survey report.

Customer Service
(Assessment 2)

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................3
Analyse service quality with specific focus to dimensions and gaps.....................................3
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the acid tests of service recovery within the
hospitality organisation..........................................................................................................5
Prepare a survey report with recommendations for better customer service..........................6
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................7
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................9

INTRODUCTION
Customer's and their demands varies industry to industry and from business to business.
Hospitality is one of those industries where customers are the key to their success and
sustainability in the market and in the competitive environment. In concentration to the same,
customer service plays an active role in changing the firm into a productive one with increasing
efficiency and profitability (Song and Noone, 2017). Customer service is inclusive of all the
activities that are performed and offered to the clients by identifying their perceptions and
according to the instructions provided. In hospitality sector customer service includes the core
and substitutive activities that hotel will offer to the end user with advanced values and
additional benefits. The chosen hospitality organisation is Corus London Hyde Park that is
situated in an elegant Georgian mansion which is 200 years old listed.
The hotel is present on a fashionable Hyde Park neighbourhood of London. The hotel
aims at offering a discreet, warm and comfortable environment to customers with four star
facilities and amenities for rendering the guests a feeling like home and entirely safe. The
respective report is inclusive of three major segments which is a survey report. The first aspect is
service quality analysis of which is made with the help of SERVQUAL tool. Moreover, four acid
tests will be used for suggesting the service recovery techniques and processes which will enable
Corus London Hyde Park to reduce gaps in customer service and expectations of the buyers.
Furthermore, at the end according to the survey results some recommendations are provided for
moving towards betterment and higher level of productivity (Walsh and Hammes, 2017).
MAIN BODY
Analyse service quality with specific focus to dimensions and gaps.
Service quality is the way for the firm specifically the hospitality organisation to win in
the market and attracts most customers as well as keep them loyal to the brand in the longer run.
The service quality of Corus London Hyde Park needs to be evaluated for conducting the survey
effectively and efficiently (Ngwenya, 2017). Thus, SERVQUAL model is used which is a
framework established exclusively for evaluating and examining the service quality of service
offering firms while operating in their respective industries. The model enable in searching and
identification of gaps within the service the Corus London Hyde Park is providing to guests and

the service expected by them. Therefore, the analysis of the hotel customer service quality is as
follows: Tangibles, is referring to physical facilities, equipment and staff quality of Corus London
Hyde Park. The hotel is fully equipped and properly staffed as well as the location in
which the hotel is situated is attractive enough which adds up to the tangibility along with
experts in all the required and respective functioning for instance, housekeeping. Reliability, concept is puts lights on the ability of Corus London Hyde Park to perform
the expected services in the most accurate and dependable manner. The hotel is reliable,
the customers are served with what they are promised and paid for as well the staff is
very helpful and supportive which results in better experiences of stay (Zoghbi-
Manrique-de-Lara, Suárez-Acosta and Guerra-Báez, 2017). Responsiveness is expressed in concern with help and support provided to guests at the
time of their stay for while meeting their needs and desired service expectations. Corus
London Hyde Park Hotel's, has a flourishing culture of being responsive as employees
are fully supportive and trustworthy by the guests keeping their needs as the priority of
the hotel and their job role. There are several reviews of existing customers which
showcases the positive responses over responsive behaviours of hotel staff and attitudes
of management. Assurance aspects related to staff ability to make people that is guests visiting Corus
London Hyde Park to trust them and put enough confidence for offering the best and
suitable services. This service criteria is also meet by the hotel staff and management as
both are most focused on fulfilling customers expectations form the accommodation
service providers.
 Empathy is the degree of care and individualisation of services that are offered and
ultimately rendered to the guests who are visiting the hotel. This service area is where
Corus London Hyde Park excels and surpasses other competitors in the area. The hotels
culture is developed in the way which is supportive for guests in the most situations and
aimed at providing them the most personalised experiences while serving them at the
time of their stay in the hotel (Patrício, Gustafsson and Fisk, 2018).
The Gap Model Service Quality:

Managing service quality is an important approach enabling organisations an ability to
offer utmost satisfaction to customers and potential buyer who are associated with the brand. In
service sector organisations. The SERVQUAL model is used for making sure that best services
is provided to clients in regards to the same while implementing the model there are five Gap's
which are developed and affects the business these are as follows:
Illustration 1: Describe the five dimensions of service quality. Describe the five dimensions of
service quality, 2020
(Source: Describe the five dimensions of service quality. Describe the five dimensions of service
quality, 2020)
 GAP 1: Customer Marketing Research- The first gap is of need and expectations of
people which is established if the management of the organisation do not fill the gap
between their offerings and expectations of there customers. The management needs to
make better market research for filling the gap.

 GAP 2: Design- The next gap is of design where the goals of the organisation established
are not appropriate according to the target customer's expectations. Basically the goals of
people and company are not aligned.
 GAP 3: Conformance- This gap is developed if the service delivered and specification
set by management of the service organisation do not match and people are left
unsatisfied and unhappy.
 GAP 4: Communication- The name suggest the gap and it arises due to lack of
transparency between the organisation and its customer base. The entity needs to be more
communicative and keep customer informed in the best manner possible
 GAP 5: Customer Satisfaction- This gap is the result of the other four gaps and if they
are reduced this gap will never rise and extend.
Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of the acid tests of service recovery within the
hospitality organisation.
As per the evaluation and identification in the above section of customer service quality
standards of Corus London Hyde Park it was recognized that hotel stands ahead in all five
aspects related to better service deliveries and effectual customer services being provided.
Despite of its better performances the hotel can use four acid tests for making service recoveries
and moving towards betterment and upliftment of the service qualities of staff performances
while meeting customers and working for them on behalf of the hotel. Cost of Quality (Juran)- The concept was highlighted by Juran who established focus on
quality cost which firms dealing in service sectors may incur or incurring from past due
to poor quality of their offerings. The costs like prevention cost, defect cost can be
reduced and even eliminated form the operations entirely if service quality is increased.
For instance, in Corus London Hyde Park Hotel can focus on the problems which raises
the need for the hotel to make refunds to customers and reduce the leakage form the
service systems (Choi, 2018). Service Process Control- This is a feedback control system which states that the hotel
should have a comparative platform on which they can make comparisons of the output
developed and the service standards which were pre determined. The Corus London
Hyde Park Hotel can use this to know their customer's experience and making self
evaluation of their processes.

 Statistical Process Control (Deming)- This is the method which includes certain set of
methods and key aspects of productive and effective service quality. The tools enable to
make statistical changes and development in services for Corus London Hyde Park Hotel
when the outputs are thorough analysed and leakages are identified for making
appropriate changes in the processes for betterment and reducing defects from operations
either form products or services which are offered (Podgorny, Indyk and Goodyear,
2018).
 The term unconditional service guarantee is an important aspect or field for hospitality
sector that make focus on customer's, needs and wants that are available for persons on
unconditional basis. This is an important statement which highlights on the value of the
customer services specifically to add more value among products of respective HOTEL.
This is also used by the customer service for identifying statement that render and
demonstrate about high value that make unconditional guarantee to enhance and improve
service chain. It results that the hotel culture must be developed in a systematic way to
offer best quality service in order to increase trust of staff to make positive perception
among workplace.
Prepare a survey report with recommendations for better customer service.
Sr. No. QUESTIONNAIRE
Q1. Your overall experiences about hotel Front Office operations, including Check-
in and Check- out and complaint handling procedures by the Guest Relations
officer.
Q2. Your experiences about hotel’s Housekeeping performance.
Q3. Your overall dining experiences in the hotel’s Restaurants. (Breakfast, Lunch,
afternoon tea and Dinner).
Presentation of survey report:
The above survey questionnaire comprises of three question which was given to 40
respondents for knowing the customer service standards of the Corus London Hyde Park. The
responses and their results are presented below:

1. For the very first question out of 40 respondents, 80% respondents were happy and
satisfied with the services being offered to them in Corus London Hyde Park by the front
office department. 20% respondents assessed the service as average as they felt the need
little fast replies in case of emergencies and the waiting time in the hotel.
2. In response of question 2 out of 40 respondents, 90% respondents addressed the quality
of the services offered according to the expectations by the housekeeping employees and
were satisfied. The other 10% shared their view as average and raised concerns for
improvement (Wang, Luo and Tai, 2017).
3. For the next question, out of 40 respondents, 50% showed their satisfaction with their
dining experiences within Corus London Hyde Park. The other remaining 50% showed
the response as average and the hotel need to improve their food and beverage services
like menu design and items as they are very simple and outdated.
Recommendations:
 Training and Development- The major change which needs to be incurred in Corus
London Hyde Park is of staff trainings and developments. The employees of hotel are
experts in their fields and respective job roles but their knowledge and practices through
which job roles are performed have to be updated according to the changing work
practice of the industry. The competitive environment is getting aggressive and changing
social dynamics is evolving the needs and preferences of people are changing. Thus, it is
recommended to Corus London Hyde Park for developing new training and development
sessions for the individuals of organisation, this will also offers a benefit to staff for
upgrading their skill sets and move further in their career. This will work as a motivating
factors for employees that will be reflected on their workplace productivity and
proficiency (Wang, Lee and Trappey, 2017).
 Bringing in new and fresh talents- As referred to some of the reviews and comments
provided by existing customers on separate booking sites the food and beverage menu
and dishes of Corus London Hyde Park are average. That is their food & beverage menu
for breakfast, lunch and dinner needs to be changed. This raises the need and concerns for
new staff members for a updated and fresh views and ideas. The hotel is in need for
innovating and making changes in their food and beverage menus and presentation styles.
This is why new staff member needs to be hired for bringing in fresh ideas and

developing changes by meeting the new social trends and requirements of the customers
visiting Corus London Hyde Park (Liu and et. al., 2018).
CONCLUSION
The above assessment is made on customer service of the particular hospitality
organisation and it summarises the importance of the aspects related for the industry and
companies administrating in the field for earning revenues, profits and most importantly sustain
in the market. The project includes a thorough customer service analysis and comparisons of
hotel and through which number of gaps in customers expectations and the service deliveries are
identified in context of staff and overall hotel performance. In order to do so SERVQUAL model
is used. Moving further, in addition to the analysis four acid tests are suggested in form of
procedures that will be beneficial for the hotel and can be used for making service recoveries and
developments in relation to expectations and preferences of hotel guests. Thus, the company can
adopt the methods like Unconditional Service Guarantee, Statistical Process Control (Deming) ,
Cost of Quality (Juran) and Service Process Control for making service recoveries in regards to
reducing gaps between service performances and perceptions of buyers. Lastly, a survey is
performed with the help of questionnaire of three questions and according to the responses of the
respondents recommendations are provided. In relevance of the survey some mixed responses
were received. Therefore, suggestions for improvements and improvisation in customer services
are made for bringing change and evolution in hotel customer service actions and related
employee performances by offering them a chance to develop higher goodwill and earn guests
loyalty as well as be achieve the targets.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Choi, S., 2018. Enhancing Customer Response Capability through Organizational Knowledge
Resources in Service Encounters. In PACIS (p. 233).
Liu, W., Wu, R., Liang, Z. and Zhu, D., 2018. Decision model for the customer order decoupling
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Ngwenya, M., 2017, December. Analysing service quality using customer expectations and
perceptions in the South African telecommunication industry. In 2017 IEEE
International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Engineering Management
(IEEM) (pp. 1094-1097). IEEE.
Patrício, L., Gustafsson, A. and Fisk, R., 2018. Upframing service design and innovation for
research impact.
Podgorny, I. A., Indyk, B. and Goodyear, T.F., Intuit Inc, 2018. Method and system for
providing domain-specific and dynamic type ahead suggestions for search query terms
with a customer self-service system for a tax return preparation system. U.S. Patent
Application 15/296,297.
Song, M. and Noone, B. M., 2017. The moderating effect of perceived spatial crowding on the
relationship between perceived service encounter pace and customer
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Walsh, G. and Hammes, E. K., 2017. Do service scripts exacerbate job demand-induced
customer perceived discrimination?. Journal of Services Marketing.
Wang, Y. C., Luo, C. C. and Tai, Y. F., 2017. Implementation of delightful services: From the
perspective of frontline service employees. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism
Management, 31, pp.90-104.
Wang, Y. H., Lee, C. H. and Trappey, A. J., 2017. Service design blueprint approach
incorporating TRIZ and service QFD for a meal ordering system: A case
study. Computers & Industrial Engineering, 107, pp.388-400.
Zoghbi-Manrique-de-Lara, P., Suárez-Acosta, M. A. and Guerra-Báez, R. M., 2017. Customer
citizenship as a reaction to hotel's fair treatment of staff: Service satisfaction as a
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Online:
The SERVQUAL Model, 2016. [Online] Available Through:
<http://www.simplynotes.in/mbabba/the-servqual-model/>
Corus Hyde Park Hotel, 2020. [Online] Available Through:
<https://www.corushydepark.com/special-offers/>