Key Issues for Hospitality and Tourism Managers

This article discusses the key issues faced by hospitality and tourism managers, focusing on customer service behavior and service recovery. It explores the importance of customer satisfaction, the impact of customer complaints, and the strategies for effective service recovery. The article also highlights the role of culture and demography in customer complaint behavior. References are provided for further reading.

Key Issues for Hospitality and Tourism Managers

Contents
Customer Service Behaviour...........................................................................................................2
Service Recovery.............................................................................................................................4
References........................................................................................................................................5

Customer Service Behaviour
The most important stakeholder, no matter how much we deny, is the customer for every profit
making organisation and also the non-profit making organisation. If the customers are not happy,
then it is highly likely that the products together with the company will exit the industry very
soon.
When it comes to Tourism and Hospitality industry, same kind of importance is being given to
the customers and they determine almost all kinds of product development and organisational
operations that take place.
In customer management process and client relationship, it becomes important that there is
analysing of Customer Complaint Behaviour. Before proceeding with its detailed practical and
theoretical concepts, it is important that there is an understanding made of what exactly is
customer complaint behaviour (Michel & Meuter 2008).
We, human beings, as customers tend to be very cautious of what is being offered to us in return
of the price we pay. When the product or the service offered is not up to the mart we tend to talk
about it in our circle rather than complaining it to the company directly. Though, it cannot be
denied that a good percentage of customers chose to use the feedback option for complaints.
While the ones that are received through feedback can be obtained, processed and worked up on,
it becomes increasingly difficult to find out how consumers are responding towards the product
in their peer group and family (De Matos et al 2007).
With the advent of the social media, it is no difficult job for one customer to get in touch with a
thousand other customers and this is what contributes to brand devaluation and hampering of
brand image (Garg 2013).
Here it becomes increasingly important to understand the factors that are contributing to
customer complaints behaviour. It is important to note that in with higher incidence of negative
customer behaviour, it is important that companies resort to service recovery. It could be rightly
concluded that that both the concepts are inversely related to each other. While it is highly
damaging to have negative customer behaviour, it has also been practically observed that service
recovery is helpful in minimizing the damage (Chung & Beverland 2006). In customer management
process and client relationship, it becomes important that there is analysing of Customer
Complaint Behaviour. The primary driver of customer complaint is dissatisfaction. However it
has also been seen that dissatisfaction is an important determinant but not a necessary
determinant as, often, dissatisfaction does not turn into complaints.
In a research it has been found that an airline the service and business of it was better than the
other companies that did not receive many complaints. Consequently, this airline company did a

better business than the ones that received and had to reciprocate to a fewer complaints (Wood &
Tadisina 2008).
CCB can be shortly described as a set of behavioural and also non behavioural responded from
the side of the consumers that is generally triggered by dissatisfaction which is felt during and
after the purchase and consumption of the product. It is both a cognitive process as well as an
emotional response (Chen & Kim 2019).
So response becomes quite important here. There has been identification of three categories of
responses. Voice response, private response and also third party response are the three kinds of
responses. Voice response will include calling up the seller, private response includes word of
mouth and third party that includes legal actions.
From the side of the consumer there are certain complaint motivators that are in action. Based on
the dissatisfaction response the consumers are going to analyse and decide the coping strategies
which will help them reduce the tension and distress that is caused by the purchase or
consumption or both of a particular goods and services. Here too, there are certain categories of
it. Problem focused, emotional focused and also avoidance type.
In problem based coping strategies the consumers directly ask for the remedy of the situation. In
emotional response there could be self-blame and sympathy.
In tourism and hospitality industry it is seen that culture plays an important role in determining
the response. Culture has always played a vital role in shaping up the response and customer
service. In Chinese culture it is generally not appreciated in getting in face argumentation. The
Chinese culture believes that there must not be any effort taken in distorting the harmony in the
society. Culture therefore becomes an important factor in acting as a motivator in launching
complaint. While in one culture the direct complain can be on minor issues, in Chinese culture
the complaints that are severe will not be directly brought the company but will come through a
method or channel that does not include face to face confrontation (Chung & D’Annunzio-Green
2018). From the side of the consumer there are certain complaint motivators as has been
mentioned above that are in action and has to be give due importance. Based on the
dissatisfaction response the consumers are going to analyse and decide the coping strategies
which will help them reduce the tension and distress that is caused by the purchase or
consumption or both of a particular goods and services.
In a research it has been found that there are higher chances of complaints from female, young
customers and also the well-educated customers. Here it can be seen that demography plays an
important role in determining the complaint behaviour in Tourism and Hospitality Industry. 66
per cent of the demographic population belonged to middle age and around 24 per cent belonged
to the age group of 18-24 (Klein & Dodds 2018).

The customer publicly companioning about the dissatisfaction of the purchase belong to younger
age group. In tourism and hospitality industry it is seen that there is higher incidence of
receiving complaints from middle age group and younger age group because they are the highest
purchaser of the products that are manufactured by this industry or the services. Gender here also
plays an important role in customer complaint behaviour in tourism and hospitality industry.
The research study showed that 60 per cent of the complaints come from females. So, one can
conclude that the female customers are more likely to voice out as compared to the male
counterparts.
Another important factor that comes to play and acts as a determinant of factor of CCB is the
level of education. 67 per cent of the complaints come from people who have college or
university level education while the rest are from primary level education (Dodds Ali & Galaski
2018).
Service Recovery
An important term in the tourism and hospitality industry is service recovery. Service recovery
becomes vital in handling the complaints, retaining the customers and also the help reduce the
risk of circumstances that leads to negative thinking of the consumers which can act as a
damaging determinant in brand image.
One of the fastest growing industries is said to the hotel and tourism industry. More than ever,
the consumers of this industry are expanding in number and so are the customer services. With
higher profitability there is a high need of marinating a quality in the service and in this, service
recovery becomes an important factor (Ye & Song 2018).
Service recovery has gained greater importance with the growth of competition and changing
lifestyle of people which includes more of travel, consumption of restaurant food and so on and
so forth. These factors, along with rising education and purchasing power of the general public,
have led expansion of the customer base. When the demand of services increase there is an
increase in the number of service providers too and this is exactly the situation of the hospitality
and tourism industry (Migacz Zou & Petrick 2018).
Service recovery may, in general, be defined as the actions that are taken by the service providers
in order to retain the customer and also bring in changes in the way the product is manufactured
or a service is provided and also analysing the utility that it is providing. It is also an important
determinant in product engineering (Magnini et al 2007).
McCollough’s theory of “service recovery paradox” has expressed and proved that fact the
service recovery helps in better brand image build up and the customers are better satisfied when
the company is actively engaged in service recovery.

Another important theory that is there in service recovery is the justice theory. This theory is
used in making the consumer realize and understand the process of service recovery that is
initiated from the side of the service providers.
The service recovery paradox has often led to the establishment of a better brand image. Yet one
company cannot actively and positively rely on this. Sometimes those complaints may be
damaging. As this been mentioned above, culture and demography play an important role here
too.
Here are some of the vital service recovery steps:
1. Anticipating the needs consumers have: This is the first step in having to work in the way of
service recovery. For this, there must be an understanding of the consumer experience pathway
and see what the expectations are along that pathway.
2. Acknowledging their feelings: Here the management or the service recovery team will have to
understand and identify key issues that the consumers are facing. Along with key issues there as
to be the identification of key needs.
3. Apologizing and owning the responsibility: It is important that the clients are made o realize
that the company is taking responsibility of the mistake that has been committed. This can be
formally done through email or voice call. This is one of the vital steps in service recovery. The
clients get a personal intimation of the fact that their complaints have been registered brand and
is now being worked upon.
4. Offering alternatives: The client can be offered alternatives or compensation.
5. Training: It is important that training is carried out of the staff in help process better service
recovery.
5. Making amends: This is the final step. Making amends and the keeping a track of the fact
whether the recovery has reached the customer is also a part of the process.
Conclusion
It is important that the customers are made to feel like the most important stakeholder because
they have the power to influence the profitability of the brand. No matter how much of varied
kinds of strategies are employed it is the customers who make and break the product in the
market. Of course, we cannot overlook the viability of the product or the service of a company.

References
Dodds, R., Ali, A., & Galaski, K. (2018). Mobilizing knowledge: Determining key elements for success and
pitfalls in developing community-based tourism. Current Issues in Tourism, 21(13), 1547-1568.
Ye, Q., & Song, H. (2018). Tourism Management Perspectives. Tourism Management, 26, 89-96.
Klein, L., & Dodds, R. (2018). Blue Flag beach certification: an environmental management tool or tourism
promotional tool?. Tourism Recreation Research, 43(1), 39-51.
Chung, K. L., & D’Annunzio-Green, N. (2018). Talent management practices in small-and medium-sized
enterprises in the hospitality sector: An entrepreneurial owner-manager perspective. Worldwide
Hospitality and Tourism Themes, 10(1), 101-116.
Migacz, S. J., Zou, S., & Petrick, J. F. (2018). The “terminal” effects of service failure on airlines:
Examining service recovery with justice theory. Journal of Travel Research, 57(1), 83-98.
Chen, P., & Kim, Y. G. (2019). Role of the perceived justice of service recovery: A comparison of first-time
and repeat visitors. Tourism and Hospitality Research, 19(1), 98-111.
De Matos, C. A., Henrique, J. L., & Alberto Vargas Rossi, C. (2007). Service recovery paradox: a meta-
analysis. Journal of service research, 10(1), 60-77.
Magnini, V. P., Ford, J. B., Markowski, E. P., & Honeycutt Jr, E. D. (2007). The service recovery paradox:
justifiable theory or smoldering myth?. Journal of Services Marketing, 21(3), 213-225.
Michel, S., & Meuter, M. L. (2008). The service recovery paradox: true but overrated?. International
Journal of Service Industry Management, 19(4), 441-457.
Chung, E., & Beverland, M. (2006). An exploration of consumer forgiveness following marketer
transgressions. ACR North American Advances.
Garg, A. (2013). Service Recovery Paradox in Indian Banking Industry: An Empirical Investigation. The
South East Asian Journal of Management, 108-122.
Lastner, M. M., Folse, J. A. G., Mangus, S. M., & Fennell, P. (2016). The road to recovery: Overcoming
service failures through positive emotions. Journal of Business Research, 69(10), 4278-4286.
La, S., & Choi, B. (2012). The role of customer affection and trust in loyalty rebuilding after service failure
and recovery. The Service Industries Journal, 32(1), 105-125.
Tsarenko, Y., & Tojib, D. (2012). The role of personality characteristics and service failure severity in
consumer forgiveness and service outcomes. Journal of Marketing Management, 28(9-10), 1217-
1239.
Ma, J. (2012). Does the customer-firm relationship affect consumer recovery expectations?. Academy of
Marketing Studies Journal, 16(2), 17.

Zourrig, H., Hedhli, K., & Chebat, J. C. (2014). A cross-cultural perspective on consumer perceptions of
service failures’ severity: a pilot study. International Journal of Quality and Service Sciences, 6(4),
238-257.
Wood, M. S., & Tadisina, S. K. (2008). What have you done for me lately? The impact of failure severity,
prior failure, and company control on service recovery outcomes. In POMS 19th Annual
Conference (pp. 1-28).