Managing Quality in Hospitality, Tourism and Events

This report discusses the importance of quality management in the hospitality industry and its impact on brand image and customer satisfaction. It focuses on the issues faced by Airbnb and suggests quality management techniques to improve its operations.

Managing Quality in
Hospitality, Tourism and
Events

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Quality management is an essential component in hospitality industry which help in
attracting customers and gain a competitive edge in market. It is important that the organisations
which are linked to this sector focus on providing high quality service to their customers so that
they can build a strong brand image in market. In this report the issues which are faced by
Airbnb are discussed along with the quality management techniques which can be used by its so
as to improve its brand image in market.

Table of Contents
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY.............................................................................................................2
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................4
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
1) Identification and description about quality management......................................................4
Problems that are being faced in Airbnb.....................................................................................6
Assessment of the impact of technique which can be used to improve quality management.....8
Recommendations.......................................................................................................................9
CONCLUSION .............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Hospitality relates to the relationship between a guest and a host wherein it is important
that high quality of service is provided by the host to their clients in order to achieve their
confidence and gain a competitive advantage in market. Quality management is important in
hospitality and tourism industry so that customers can be provided with products and services
with desirable quality standards which give them high value for their money (Andrades and
Dimanche, 2019). This report is based on Airbnb Inc. is an online marketplace which help in
arranging or offering lodging and other tourism experiences. The company was founded in 2008
and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. In this report discussion on quality
management, problems faced by Airbnb, use of quality management techniques and their impact
on Airbnb, recommendations etc. will be done.
MAIN BODY
1) Identification and description about quality management
Quality: Quality is a tool which help in comparing the goodness of a product or service
with other similar product or service so that higher satisfaction of customers can be achieved in
the same value of money. Higher the quality, higher will be the satisfaction of customers so that
a loyal customer base can be created.
Quality management: It is related to the act of overseeing all the activities and tasks
which are performed in company to produce products or services so that high quality standards
can be met. This help in ensuring that the customers are provided with a consistent quality of
products and services which help in building customer expectation and creating a high brand
image of the organisation so that a loyal customer base can be formed (Clifton, 2019). Quality
management has four components: quality planning, quality assurance, quality control and
quality improvement which must be efficiently used so as to ensure high quality to customers.
Airbnb in order to increase its customer base and increase its sales need to ensure that quality
management techniques, policies, processes etc. are followed so customer satisfaction can be
increased. It also help in enhancing the brand image of company in market which help in
attracting more number of customers and increase its sales. High quality help in setting high
prices for the products and services offered to customers, increase market share and also create a
loyal customer base thereby increasing the competitiveness of company.

Evolution of quality: The concept of quality has evolved through years so as to reach to
the TQM technique which is recently used so that high quality of goods and services can be
produced. In the early 1900s, the beginning of factory productions, F.W. Taylor emphasized on
product inspection while Redford emphasized on product design so as to measure the quality of
final products manufactured. In 1924, Walter Shewhart introduced Statistical Process Control
(SPC) by means of control chart in order to keep a control over production of products (Lee, Kim
and Kang, 2019). In 1930s, Dodge and Romig introduced Acceptance Sampling Inspection
Tables so as to determine the quality of products. After the 2nd world war the importance of
quality control increased which resulted in introduction of SQC by W. EdwardDeming in Japan
in order to lead the areas of manufacturing especially the American Manufacturing Firms. In
1950s, the concept of quality assurance was developed by Joseph Juran in America emphasising
on accurate and complete identification and measurement of cost of quality. In the 1960s, the
concept of zero defects was developed by Philip Crosby who also focused on employee
motivation and awareness with the growth of Industrial Revolution in Japan. In 1970s quality
assurance methods were used in services such as government operations, heath care, banking etc.
and the focus was on reducing defects than correcting them. During the same period British
Standards (BS 5750) emerged along with ISO 9000 Standards of quality. In the late 1980s Total
Quality Management (TQM) was developed in Japan which was increasingly used in all
businesses. In the 21st century the concept of quality has become a total or gross approach in
terms of “Business Excellence”.
Quality Guru: A person ho is good, wise and a teacher having a concept and approach to
quality within a business so that quality can be measured in business. There are three groups of
quality gurus: Early 1950s: These are the Americans who took the message of quality to Japan. W
Edwards Deming believed management to be responsible for 94% of quality problems
and a developed fourteen points plan which can be applied by management in all the
organisations so that high quality can be ensured. He also developed a PDCA cycle so
that problem solving can be systematically done which will help in carrying out the
business process in an efficient manner and reduce the amount of errors hence enhancing
their quality.

 Late 1950s: These are the Japanese who developed new concepts in response to the
Americans. Dr Kaoru Ishikawa was a Japanese quality guru who developed a
organisation-wide quality control which emphasised on the role of humans in maintaining
high quality of company products and services. As per him there are seven basic tools of
quality which help in analysing problem and develop improvements sop that high quality
can be maintained in company (Airbnb, 2020).
 1970s-1980s: These are the Western gurus who followed the Japanese industrial success.
Philip B Crosby is known for the concepts of “Quality is free” and “Zero defects” and his
quality improvement process is based on for absolutes of quality: Quality being in
conformance with requirements, prevention helps in increasing quality, zero defects can
help in increasing performance standard and measurement of quality is price of non-
conformance. All these four components can be used to increase the quality of products
and services.
Problems that are being faced in Airbnb
Airbnb is an online marketplace which help in arranging and offering accommodation,
lodging, tourism experiences for all the tourists and travellers and it acts as a broker receiving
commissions from each bookings. The company is based in San Francisco, US and was founded
in 2008 by three founders Brain Chesky, Joe Gebbia and Nathan Blecharczyk. The company has
evolved as one of the world's leading community-driven hospitality company which makes
various facilities available to its customers. The company is recently facing certain issues which
has affected its brand reputation as it is unable to provide customer satisfaction through its
unreliable services. The company has also been accused of cancelling almost 1.1 million
bookings at the last minute, which affects the customers plan of holidays leaving them with no
accommodation facilities in the middle of unfamiliar cities (Mehralian, and et. al., 2017). It is
also found through surveys that the customer service of Airbnb is appalling which do not give
required response to customers which leave them with dealing with their problems on their own.
The customer care service of company is unhelpful for customers and many a times they are
responded by rude attendants. Also the company fails in refunding the amount of cancelled
tickets leading to highly dissatisfied customers. The company received appalling ratings on a
review website like Trust pilot which affected its brand image in the market and led to decrease

in the customer base. On the basis of the problems being faced in Airbnb it can be said that
following are the issues which can be identified: Ineffective management: As the company cancelled 1.1 million bookings it can be said
that the management of company is ineffective and is unable to properly determine the
demand and supply in market. It has resulted in its inability in providing its customers
with accommodation facilities as per requirement in market. It has also lead to its
inability in refunding its customers and giving them rude response. The ineffective
management in company can help in efficiently managing all the processes and services
which is given by company thereby improving the brand image of company. Lack of proper security measures: The another issue which is being faced by company is
that it is unable to provide its customers with secure and safe services thereby resulting in
accused of providing unreliable services to its customers. Also the company is not
following security measures in using the technology which has lead to many fraudsters
using its websites making the customers of Airbnb the victims to many frauds like non-
refundable cancelled tickets, false bookings etc. This has lead the company to face a loss
in its brand image thereby affecting its loyal customer base and decrease in its sales
(Moutinho and Vargas-Sanchez, 2018). Reliability: The company is being accused of providing unreliable services to its
customers which means that they are not being able to meet the expectations of customers
in an efficient manner. The company has also cancelled many bookings at the last minute
which leaves its customers on streets of an unfamiliar city. The company also fails in
refunding its customers of responding effectively to the queries of customers which leads
to highly dissatisfied customers. Responsiveness: The company is highly non-responsive to its customers which means
that its customer care service is unable to respond efficiently to the queries of its
customers. This has increased the appalling ratings of company as customers are neither
helped and they are given rude response which lead to a further decrease in the reputation
of company for customers. Assurance: This element relates to giving assurance to customers that the services which
are being given to them are of high quality and providing them with the same quality of
services as promised which help in gaining their trust. Airbnb is unable to gain the trust

of its customers as they do not properly respond to their queries and leave their issues
unresolved which affects the trust of customers. Empathy: This element is related with being concerned about customers and take care of
their safety and security so that a safe and comfortable stay can be arranged for
customers. However, Airbnb is unable to empathise with their customer as they do not
properly respond to their customers, have been accused of giving unreliable services, do
not refund their customers etc. This affects the ability of company to make long-term and
good relations with its customers which is important to build a strong brand image in
market (Nhat, and et. al., 2019).
 Tangibles: These are related with the services which are received by customers and can
be compared on the basis of comfort and safety it is able to provide than its competitors.
From the appalling reviews which Airbnb received from its customers on Trustpilot it can
be said that the company is unable to provide better service to its customers.
Assessment of the impact of technique which can be used to improve quality management
From the above discussion it can be said that the company is unable to provide high
quality service to its customers which also affect their trust in company service. It means that
Airbnb needs to adopt certain techniques which can help it in improving the quality of service
which is important to create strong brand image in market. Key performance indicators (KPI) is a
technique which help in measuring the ability of an organisation in meeting its business
objectives in an efficient manner (Sainaghi and Mauri, 2018). KPIs can be used by companies to
evaluate their success in accomplishing their targets while also improving their quality of service
which they provide to their customers. High level KPIs focus on the overall performance of
company while the low-level KPIs focus on processes in departments such as sales, marketing,
HR and others. Airbnb can improve the quality of their service by making strategic and
operational improvements so that better decisions can be made and customers can be provided
with high quality service.
The key performance indicators can help Airbnb in delivering consistent and high quality
facilities to its customers so that overall performance of company can be improved. Following
are the advantages and disadvantages using KPI:

Advantages Disadvantages
KPI will help Airbnb in measuring its
performance based on some key indicators so
that improvement in its performance and
productivity can be made. Also it will help in
motivating employees to increase their
performance so that overall company
performance can be increased.
With high focus on getting results for short
term goals it can affect the motivation of
employees to stay focused on the quality of
work over long time. Also as this technique is
result oriented it may lead to decrease in the
creativity of employees which will decrease
innovation in company services and products.
Thus it can be said that KPI can be used by Airbnb to improve its service which will help
it in providing high quality service to its customers and gaining their trust so that its sales can
increase. This will also help in improving the performance of its employees which will be
beneficial in building good and long-term relation with their customers so that a loyal customer
base can be created along with building a brand image in market.
Recommendations
From the above discussion it can be seen that Airbnb is facing many issues in the market
which has led to its deteriorating brand image which has also affected company profits. It is
important that the company use quality management techniques so that customer satisfaction can
be increased. The company can also use TQM or total quality management technique which can
help it in meeting customer expectations in a efficient manner so that they can be satisfied by
company services (Wong, Ji and Liu, 2018).. It is a participative, systematic approach which
help in planning and implementing improvement process in company and also the decisions are
made based on the opinions and views of all the workers which helps in bringing innovation in
company. With the use and effective implementation of TQM in Airbnb the issues faced by it
can be dealt with in an efficient manner: Customer focus: With this technique the company can become more customer focused
through employee training, designing effective processes etc. so that the quality of
services can be improved which is important to maximise customer satisfaction. Employee engagement: Through this approach employees can be involved in taking
decisions which will motivate the employees to perform better in company as their views

and opinions will be valued. This also help in building a friendly working environment so
that employees can perform their work in an efficient manner. Continual improvement: Continuous improvement in company processes can help in
increasing the quality of services of company and solving issues that are being faced in
Airbnb.
 Integrated system: Integration will help in improving communication with customers,
service partners, suppliers etc. so that the quality of service can be improved and better
services can be given to customers.
CONCLUSION
From the above report it can be concluded that quality plays an important role in
hospitality, tourism and event industry which also help in building strong brand image of
company. Quality management techniques can be applied by company so that they can provide
high quality service to their customers and timely resolve the issues faced by company so that
brand image of company can improve.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Andrades, L. and Dimanche, F., 2019. Destination competitiveness in Russia: tourism
professionals’ skills and competences. International Journal of Contemporary
Hospitality Management.
Clifton, D., 2019. Hospitality Security: Managing Security in Today's Hotel, Lodging,
Entertainment, and Tourism Environment. CRC Press.
Lee, J., Kim, S. H. and Kang, B., 2019, October. US DMOs and Meeting Planners, do they
really ENGAGE with each other? Customer engagement in the context of event
industry. In Journal of Convention & Event Tourism (Vol. 20, No. 5, pp. 351-374).
Routledge.
Mehralian, G., and et. al., 2017. TQM and organizational performance using the balanced
scorecard approach. International Journal of Productivity and Performance
Management.
Moutinho, L. and Vargas-Sanchez, A. eds., 2018. Strategic Management in Tourism, CABI
Tourism Texts. Cabi.
Nhat, T.Q.M., and et. al., 2019. On the Position Determination of Docking Station for AUVs
Using Optical Sensor and Neural Network. International Journal of Engineering and
Technology Innovation. 10(1). p.15.
Sainaghi, R. and Mauri, A., 2018. The Milan World Expo 2015: Hospitality operating
performance and seasonality effects. International Journal of Hospitality
Management. 72. pp.32-46.
Wong, I. A., Ji, M. and Liu, M. ., 2018. The effect of event supportive service environment and
authenticity in the quality–value–satisfaction framework. Journal of Hospitality &
Tourism Research. 42(4). pp.563-586.
Online:
Airbnb .2020. [Online] Available Through:
<https://www.trustpilot.com/review/www.airbnb.com>