Customer Service in Hospitality Industry: SERVQUAL Model, Acid Tests of Service Recovery, and Survey Report

This report discusses the importance of customer service in the hospitality industry and provides insights on the SERVQUAL model, acid tests of service recovery, and survey report with recommendations for better customer service. It includes a summary and conclusion, along with references.

Customer service AS2
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Key Sections....................................................................................................................................3
Service quality (SERVQUAL) with specific focus to dimensions and gaps.........................3
Understanding of the four acid tests of service recovery.......................................................6
Survey report with recommendations for better customer service.........................................7
Summary and Conclusion................................................................................................................8
References........................................................................................................................................9
Books and journals.................................................................................................................9
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Introduction
The customer service is plying most essential role in development of organisational
productivity. It main objectives of hospitality industry is to satisfy the needs and demands of
customers and make improvement according to them. It is important for the hospitality industry
is to create a customer centric services and analyse their working environment which is effective
in developing needs of customers (Lai, and Lam, 2021). The organisation selected with given
report is The Ritz London. It is one of the 5 star hotel which was opened in the year 1906. hotel
is having 111 rooms within an hotel. This report includes service quality with specific focus to
dimensions and gaps. Further, it includes understanding of four acid test of the service recovery.
Also, it includes survey report which is having recommendation for better customer service.
Key Sections
Service quality (SERVQUAL) with specific focus to dimensions and gaps.
This model was build by Parasuraman, Zeithmal and Berry. It is also called as the gap
model or a rater model. This model is used by the company to measure the service that they are
providing to their customer. In simple term this model is used to know the quality of the service.
Quality of service means the difference between the perception of customer's and customer
expectation of the service delivery. This model is used to identify the gaps and dimension of the
quality. Basically this model is for analysis used by hospitality industry. This is used so that gap
can be evaluated and a proper step should be taken to remove that.
Gaps in SERVQUAL model are:
There are five gaps that are there in the model by using this organization mesure the gap and then
proper action take to reduce the gap.
Gap 1: Knowledge gap
This gap arises when company does not have enough information about what customer want and
what they receive. They have not enough knowledge about the needs and wants of the consumer.
This gap can be happen with lots of reason that are lack of customer interaction, communication
gap, lack of market research or due to not listening customer complaints properly. If these arises
then they will act as barrier in company growth. Due to this service industry will not built a
strong customer base for their organisation and retention of clients in future will be difficult.
Gap 2 Standard Gap
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when policies are not made according to the needs then this will known as standard gap. This gap
is a difference between customer expectation in terms of needs and then translating these into the
policies and standard. A wrong assumption made by the manger creates this gap. The standard
gaps arises because of unclear goal setting, failure in updating service standards, insufficient
commitment. Due to these gap service standard of the industry goes down.
Gap 3: Delivery gap
The gap between service delivery and actual deliver of policies and standard is known as
delivery gap. A dissimilarity between them cause gap in the hotel industry. Delivery gap can be
arises because of gap in sharing information, use of poor technology and many more. Main
reason for the differences are ineffective teamwork, lack of skills and knowledge, un- utilisation
of human as a resource and poor employee in training in technology. This gap is only measures
when the service is actually provided. The gap is useful to know the expectation of consumer.
Gap 4 : Communication Gap
When there is a difference between the consumer and the manger in sharing information. This
gap arises because what company promote is different from what actually they provide. It also
happen because of lack in commitment. This gap is very important because buyers
disappointment is the main reason. There is less interaction between the consumer and the
marketing department. The promises made by the industry is different. External communication
is the reason of the widen of this gap. If this dimension arise then the service industry is in big
trouble as this can cause shutting down of business.
Gap 5: Customer gap:
customer expectation and perception are the two dimension of this gap. Difference between these
two elements creates customer gap. Occurrences of this happen when customer is not able to
understand what service the industry provide. If the organization doesn't analysis this gap then
they can loose their customer base frequently. Satisfaction plays a role in this and this can only
be done when industry explain the buyer about their services. This gap is the extension of gap 1,
2, 3 and 4.
In the context of Ritviz hotel, the difference of gap occurs due to communication and the
delivery. It is important for organisation to shorten their communication gap and delivery the
needs according to customer perception. Proper training should be given to the employee to
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communicate effectively so that consumer needs and wants can be analysed properly. If they can
measure it properly then the gaps can be decreases in large quality and services can be improved.
Dimension of SERVQUAL model:
There are five elements of service quality i.e., Tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, empathy
and assurance.
Tangibility: It refers to the tools , equipment and physical facilities that the organisation provides
to their customer. This is important elements as it helps the organisation to use latest technology
in providing best quality. Staff appearance is a main factor in tangibility. With the use of this
they can provide in time service with effective and efficient manner. Cooperative advantage can
also be gain by use of this in hospitality industry. As technology plays a great role in the hotel
industry.
Reliability: if the service is provided by the company as per the promise made by them to their
consumer then this is refer as readability. If the organization want to increase their customer base
then they should provide what they advertise. Working according to the instruction they give is
importation factor in this. What is promoted and what actually is rendered should be same.
Assurance: The ability of the employee to give best service is equally important. If organisation
works according to the customer and assure them they provide best facility then it will help in
building the confidence of the customer. Employees training is important to provide assured
service quality to their clients.
Empathy: the attitude of employee towards the customer is very important. If the employee is
caring and is well mature then it is a great source. Individual attention of the employee towards
their customer is important. This will help the company to retain their customer for longer period
and will increases their market image. Customer will feel valuable and will be satisfy if empathy
towards them is great.
Responsiveness: willingness of the company towards their employee is important. Helping their
customer, solving their query is important. To create an surrounding full of responsiveness is
important to gain market share.
Understanding of the four acid tests of service recovery
Hospitality industry is one of the biggest sector within an economy. It is essential for the
organisations to manage its customer services and their demands in effective manner. In most of
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the hotel, it is seen that customer are expecting to get best services from organisations and this
resulting in enhancing customer satisfaction and their loyalty. Service recovery is the process
which is noted by organisations or hotels that is to be required by customers. It is done in order
to make improvements in their business processes (Umakanthan, Chattu and Bukelo, 2021). It is
regraded as the identification of the things which are being needed by customer and also it is a
responsibility of managements in proper way. In regard with The Ritz hotel, is the service
provided by organisation in order to gain customer services and satisfaction. In most of the areas
it is these service are not up to the marked and ranking is less as compared to the other hotels.
There can be certain problem which can be raised to the customers mostly are related to room
services, food quality and meaningful services etc. there are some of the areas which acid test
techniques can be the best one for issues and providing them a real solutions.
 Apologise: This is the first step which covers under acid test technique. In this staff
members have to apologise in front of customers. This helps them in attracting customers
towards the brand and should be declared as one of the best method in development of
the hotel growth and opportunities (Crook, Raza, and Edison, 2021). Further, in context
with The Ritz hotel, they have to provide with this things which is being faced by
customers while apologise for this act.
 Review : This is the another step which is used by the hotel and taking review of the
customers while providing them their products and services. This helps in development
of the organisational growths and opportunities. Review from the customer results in
making improvement in the organisations products and services and providing more
better services to the customers in order to enhance their customer loyalty. In Ritz hotel,
establishments of primary issues related with quality of food services. In this hotel take
review from customers and make improvement in their quality of food and attract them
towards the brand.
 Fix and follow up : This is the next step in which acid test technique is measured as in
this hotel tries to fix those issues which are being faced by customers (Gerussi, Peghin
and Tascini, 2021). In this stage, customers are taken a issues and any type of complaints
and these are to be solved by managers of the hotels. This helps them in satisfying
customers and maintaining customer loyalty while resolving their issues. In context with
The Ritz hotel, they are also fixing the issues faced by organisations and developing their
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customer base well. Further, hotel is considering the issues of customer so that they are
feeling valued and so that they are providing solutions to the customers as well.
 Documentation: This is the last factor which needs to used within an organisation. It
needs documentation which is made for the hotel. This document includes issues faced by
customers and according to that they make changes. In context with The Ritz hotel, it is
to create document which includes problem that is to be faced by customers while
visiting the hotel (Asante-Sackey, Rathilal and Pillay, 2021). This will be helpful for
hotel as they could take immediate actions in order to measure their problems and satisfy
customers in order to improve their business operations.
Survey report with recommendations for better customer service
Aspect of the survey
The main objective of this survey is to understand about need and preferences of
customers with regard to hospitality sectors (Suri, Potani, and Rogers, 2021). This helps hotel in
providing better service qualities to their customers and competing with their competitors as
well.
Survey questions
This survey is formed in such a manner that every customer should understand the
questions and provide data for improvement in their customer’s service. Here are some other
questions which are mentioned below:
Q1. What is the experience of using the booking service in Ritz hotel from website of
company. This is scale of 1 to 5 and justifies a reason behind that. The rationale of this includes
responsiveness to the guests and user friendly experience.
Q2. Rate the response regarding handling of the complaints at definite time duration. The
reason behind choosing these questions is to satisfy customer according to the needs and
requirement of the customers.
Q3. Experience of dealing with customers services which is offered by hotel to the
customers. This includes quality of food services, maintaining proper sanitation, handling of
complaints and behaviour of staff.
Presentation
This survey is conducted between 500 customers who are the regular customers of the
hotel. Here is the answers presented within regards with the customer discussed below :
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Q1. This question is being answered by more than 60% people who are having a majority
that they are satisfied with the experiences and working of the company website. But on the
other hand , some of the customers did not handling the problems in order to work with the hotel.
According to some customer, they find difficulty in late services provided by hotel management
(Herath, and Verchot, 2021).
Q2. In this around 70% of the people said there are various little amount of people who
are satisfied with the complaints handled by hotel. As many of the other guests are not satisfied
because they think hotel is not providing them effective services and not handling their
complaints as well.
Q3. This is answered by around 99% of the customer as they said they are satisfied with
the hotel services but rest of the other people said they improve their quality of services but not
able to deal with the customer as well. Many said hotel staff is not that much serious about
providing better services to the customer.
Analysis of survey
It is analysed from the above survey that The Ritz hotel is to really improve their quality
of services and staff as well. They should have to focus on understanding about customer’s needs
and expectations. They mainly want to make improvement in customers service quality of food
and service. It is important for the hotel to modify their goods and service in order to specify
needs and requirements.
Summary and Conclusion
It is being concluded from the above information that it is important to satisfy the need and
demand of customers as it helps to increase the profitability and growth of business. Satisfy
customers will resulting in enhancing of organisational probability and loyalty of customer. In
order to develop and grow effectively, company should work according to the customer and
satisfy their needs and demands.
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References
Books and journals
Asante-Sackey, D., Rathilal, S., Kweinor Tetteh, E., Ezugbe, E.O. and Pillay, L.V., 2021.
Donnan Membrane Process for the Selective Recovery and Removal of Target Metal
Ions—A Mini Review. Membranes, 11(5), p.358.
Crook, H., Raza, S., Nowell, J., Young, M. and Edison, P., 2021. Long covid—mechanisms, risk
factors, and management. Bmj, 374.
Gerussi, V., Peghin, M., Palese, A., Bressan, V., Visintini, E., Bontempo, G., Graziano, E., De
Martino, M., Isola, M. and Tascini, C., 2021. Vaccine hesitancy among Italian patients
recovered from COVID-19 infection towards influenza and Sars-Cov-2 vaccination.
Vaccines, 9(2), p.172.
Gerussi, V., Peghin, M., Palese, A., Bressan, V., Visintini, E., Bontempo, G., Graziano, E., De
Martino, M., Isola, M. and Tascini, C., 2021. Vaccine hesitancy among Italian patients
recovered from COVID-19 infection towards influenza and Sars-Cov-2 vaccination.
Vaccines, 9(2), p.172.
Herath, V. and Verchot, J., 2021. Insight into the bzip gene family in Solanum tuberosum:
Genome and transcriptome analysis to understand the roles of gene diversification in
spatiotemporal gene expression and function. International Journal of Molecular
Sciences, 22(1), p.253.
Lai, C.K. and Lam, W., 2021. Laboratory testing for the diagnosis of COVID-19. Biochemical
and biophysical research communications, 538, pp.226-230.
Suri, D.J., Potani, I., Singh, A., Griswold, S., Wong, W.W., Langlois, B., Shen, Y., Chui,
K.H.K., Rosenberg, I.H., Webb, P. and Rogers, B.L., 2021. Body Composition Changes
in Children during Treatment for Moderate Acute Malnutrition: Findings from a 4-Arm
Cluster-Randomized Trial in Sierra Leone. The Journal of Nutrition.
Umakanthan, S., Chattu, V.K., Ranade, A.V., Das, D., Basavarajegowda, A. and Bukelo, M.,
2021. A rapid review of recent advances in diagnosis, treatment and vaccination for
COVID-19. AIMS Public Health, 8(1), p.137.
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