How personalised service can enhance guest satisfaction: A case study of JW Marriott, Austin

This literature review explores the concept of personalised butler service and guest satisfaction in the hospitality industry. It reviews existing literature and relevant models such as Expectation Confirmation Theory, Customer Satisfaction Pyramid, Cognitive Dissonance Theory, and SERVQUAL Model. The review also discusses ways of providing personalised service and factors affecting guest satisfaction. The case study of JW Marriott, Austin is used to illustrate the concepts.

Running head: LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature Review
How personalised service can enhance guest satisfaction: A case study of JW Marriott,
Austin
Student’s name:
Name of the university:
Author’s note:

1LITERATURE REVIEW
Literature review
1. Introduction
The hospitality industry is one of the fastest developing sectors of the world and the customer
satisfaction is the prime importance of the organisations in this industry. The researcher aims
to evaluate the role of adding value with the help of personalised butler service in enhancing
guest satisfaction and in this regard, the study conducts review of existing literature as it
would enrich an understanding of the concept of personalised butler service and guest
satisfaction from the perspective of the hospitality industry. As the research topic is about
personalised butler service and guest satisfaction, the researcher aspires to highlight the area
of these two variables through relevant models and existing theories. At the end of this
section, a literature gap has also been given.
2. The concept of personalised butler service in the hospitality industry
There is no denying that consumers value the personal touch (feeling as if they are valued
customer rather than just a source of income) while purchasing anything and hence, a
personalised service will make the customer come back after having made another
reservation. However, the competition is increasing among the hospitality industry players
and in this cut-throat competition era, hotels tend to introduce butler services that extend the
concept of personalised services.
Butler services enhance the customer satisfaction by making the guest’s arrival experience a
memorable one. The butlers of the hotels are tending to offer their guests to unpack their
luggage, complimentary pressing customers’ clothes, provide private resort tour, arrange tour
bookings or serve lunch or dinner on the beach or pool (Sylvester 2018). For staying
competitive, many of the hotels offer pre-arrival butler forms to the customers for

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heightening the guest satisfaction level by considering any dietary restrictions, babysitting
needs or requirements of any special occasions.
3. Concept of guest satisfaction in hospitality industry
The heart of satisfaction depends on the comparison between expected and perceived value of
service performances. According to the viewpoint of Denning and Hunter (2017), when
performance exceeds expectations, satisfactory level enhances. Customers are likely to be
valued only by the type of service they get is from the hospitality industry. From the
restaurants to the hotels and everything in between, the role of hospitality service provider is
to sustain customer satisfaction and happiness. Thereby, the hospitality service providers
keep the customers at the customers at the forefront of the operational plans in terms of
customer expectations and customer loyalty to prolong the hospitality industry afloat.
Customer expectations:
Getting service simply by just ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ or getting service with a smile is not
just enough for the today’s hospitality industry. Satisfied customers count for memorable
experiences and dynamic services thereby, customers are tending to receive quick services
and standard practices such as extended guest check out and customized menu item to feel as
if their business is appreciated.
Customer loyalty:
It is worth mentioning that happy customers are the loyal customers. Thereby, it is the
responsibility of the hotel service providers not only to provide stellar service but also
awesome products to the customers. Thereby, as stated by (Neuhofer et al. 2015), it is the
role and responsibility of the hotel service providers is to keep the customers loyal by

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building personal assistance services to the travelling customers or by making special
concessions for avid repeat consumers as well.
4. Theoretical perspective of guest satisfaction
Expectation Confirmation Theory (Oliver, 1970)
The expectation confirmation theory is a cognitive theory that explains post-adoption
satisfaction of the customer as a function of expectations, disconfirmation of beliefs and
perceived performance. Richard L. Oliver in the Expectation confirmation theory (1997)
argues that satisfaction is associated with disconfirmation experience that results from
comparing service performance against customer expectations. More specifically, it can be
stated that satisfaction is the result which is based on the differences between expected and
perceived services or performances. However, Bhattacharjee (2001) argued that the
satisfaction occurs when the customers get the service or product better than the expected
one. On the other hand, on some negative disconfirmation note, dissatisfaction comes into
account when performance is worse than the expected result. Therefore, as stated by Oliver
(19080), a relatively easy method to determine what services make customers satisfied is
simply to ask them. In this scenario, Lin et al. (2005), advocated that guest common cards
(GCCs) are used by most of the hotels to determine guest satisfaction. However, as per the
expectation-confirmation theory, satisfaction is the key result of direct experiences that
customers get from the provided services and it can be measured by comparing the
perceptions against standards.
However, Lin et al. (2001), argued that how services are being delivered play a pivotal role in
comparing to the outcome of the service process. Based on this statement, it is worth
mentioning that, if the customer expectations of butler services are high, then it would be

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difficult for the hotels to escalate customer satisfaction. It is essential for the hotels to reduce
the possible gap between expectation and perceived value.
This particular theory develops concept over positive disconfirmation and negative
disconfirmation and both lead to customer satisfaction. As per the positive disconfirmation,
satisfaction comes into play when customers get services much higher than that of the
expectation. Therefore, it is essential for the hotels to improved butler services to meet guest
satisfaction. Further, the study enriched to the fact that, guests are going through the
disconfirmation process for heightening satisfaction.
Customer Satisfaction Pyramid (Besedjnak, 2010)
Frank Besednjak’s presented this Customer Satisfaction pyramid model and this model tells
about the decisions and actions that reach the management in the next level of customer
satisfaction.
In the level one, it is the lowest stage in the customer satisfaction pyramid and it is the
reliability, trust and value. Therefore, these are the key elements of business when someone
makes selection to do the business with.
In the level two, it is included with the courtesy counts and this stage is about the
knowledgeable, timeliness and responsible. This stage is about showing up the promise,
giving intelligent choices to the guests and returning the phone calls to the customers and
taking responsibility.
Level three is about emotion and it is concerned with helpful nature and caring mind. The
representatives need to show emotions, not just the words (Hill and Alexander 2017). The
guests need to sincerely believe the representatives that these actions show indeed care.

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Level four is on the top of the pyramid where the staffs of the hospitality sector must be
friendly, fun and enjoyable as well as entertaining to the guests. The management can do
something rare and unusual so that the guests must be overwhelmed.
Cognitive dissonance theory
Cognitive dissonance theory is used by the theorists to explain consumer behaviour to the
service industry such as tourism and hospitality industry to evaluate the role of cognitive
dissonance in influencing a range of marketing related variables such as trust and perceived
value. According to the viewpoint of Benitez et al. (2017), the theory of cognitive dissonance
stated that people entail a motivational drive for reducing dissonance by altering their
attitudes, behaviours, beliefs and by rationalizing or justifying them.
The cognitive dissonance originally stated by Festinger’s in the year 1957 suggests that an
individual has an inner drive to hold behaviour and attitude in harmony and to avoid
disharmony as well. This is the principle of cognitive consistency. As per the model, when
there is an inconsistency in between behaviour or attitude (dissonance), it is essential to
change things to eliminate dissonance. However, Harmon-Jones and Harmon-Jones (2012)
argued that though the theory is a well-established one in consumer behaviour research, there
is scarce of application in recent marketing research. Further, the cognitive dissonance cannot
be physically observed and therefore, it cannot be measured objectively by the hotel service
providers to reach to the customer satisfaction.
SERVQUAL Model
Organisations measure customer satisfaction level by analysing various customer satisfaction
models and SERVQUAL model can be applied in such situation for determining guest
satisfaction in the hospitality industry. According to the viewpoint of Saleh and Ryan (1991),

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SERVQUAL addresses a range of parameters of service quality such as dimensions of
tangibles, responsiveness, reliability, empathy and the other one is assurance. All the
parameters are used to measure customer expectation level and the hotel employee quality as
well. However, () criticised the statement by stating that, the expectation is dynamic in nature
and therefore, it can change according to the guests' consumption situation and experiences.
According to SERVQUAL model, quality of service can be measured by recognising the
gaps between guests’ expectations and their perceptions of actual performances. Therefore,
the main dimensions of service of this model include
Tangibility: Tangibility refers to the availability of physical characteristics and hence,
physical surroundings can be represented by subjects (such as the appearance of the hotel
service providers) and objects (such as interior design).
Reliability: It is the ability to provide proper services at right place on right time. However, ()
argued that SERVQUAL model has lack of a few elements such as reliability depends upon
service customisation, care service and knowledge of service professionals rather than just
proper services at the proper time.
Responsiveness: It is all about the organisation’s willingness to provide assistance to the
customers by giving fast and efficient service performances. Hence, employees need to show
willingness to solve customer requests and problems promptly and efficiently. However, as
criticised by Kumar et al. (2009), rather solving customer problem, it is essential for the hotel
service providers to understand why people complain, when they complain, what they expect
and how to develop effective strategies to deal with inevitable service failures.
Assurance: the diverse features that deliver customer confidence by providing trustworthy
and polite behaviour from staffs. This particular evidence is criticised by Kouthouris and

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Alexandris (2005) by stating that, standard service performance is backed by proper
resources such as system, employee and technology. Thus, even when standards reflect
customer expectation accurately if the organisation fails to get support from resources,
standards will not be good.
5. Ways of providing personalised service in the hospitality industry
The increasing competition among the organisations within the hospitality industry escalates
the introduction of personalised services as the only feature for surviving the hotels within
this domain. In some other words, personalisation becomes a mandate characteristic of the
hotels to maintain the brand image in the cut-throat competitive market. However, Charhoth
et al. (2016) argued that most of the organisations are not able to introduce personalised
services to the regular business practices because high cost is involved in the services. As for
instance, Four Seasons Hotel spent near about 18 million dollars to offer personalised
dynamic web pages to the potential customers. However, as argued by Piccoli et al. (2017),
just because of the cost involved in personalising services, it does not mean hotels have to
neglect to establish small changes in offering their services to the existing customers so that,
the hotels can be able to earn customer loyalty.
As stated by Lo et al. (2015), there are a few ways that hotels can adapt to personalise their
services. One of the essential ways is to know the customers before their arrival. Before the
arrival of the customers, the hotel service providers need to know the personal favourites of
the customers in terms of food, activity preferences, facilities, details of their birthdays, job
title. Anniversaries and other details those are easily available.
Another way to personalise the hospitality services is by welcoming regular customers in
some special way for avid the repeat consumers. Hence, the hotels can facilitate a customer
special rooms, welcome drink or special menu prepared for them to make customers feel

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special. However, as argued by (Crawford 2017), give personal services to the regular
customers are more effective rather than that of special services. Hence, if the guests are on
family vacation, then the service providers need to give special attention in providing some
special benefits that can go a long course of time. They can inquire whether the hot water
system is working properly or not or whether they have any special preferences for the dinner
or breakfast.
6. Factors affecting guest satisfaction in hospitality industry
Service quality and customer satisfaction are different concepts but are related closely.
Customers can be satisfied through effective service quality. When the services provided by
the hotel employees resonate with the quality, it emphasises the customer satisfaction.
However, there are some of the factors that influence the service quality provided by the
organisations within the hospitality industry. These factors include hotel image, location of
the hotels and value for money, guests’ room facility, security, cleanliness and staff
knowledge and skills. However, there are some other factors that influence the guest
satisfaction can be provided in the following section.
The most crucial factor emphasises the availability of physical factors that comprises
equipment, materials, personnel and communication. The condition of the physical
surroundings refers to the tangible evidence of attention and care exhibited by the service
providers. Apart from the physical facilities, the ability to provide dependable and accurate
service holds another significant position in this scenario. This factor refers to the service that
is accomplished in the same manner, on time and without any error. Therefore, it is essential
for the service providers to entail the ability to provide promised services to reach the guest
satisfaction significantly. As stated by Oyner and Korelina (2016), reliability relies on the
willingness of employees to solve customer problem and request for creating positive

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perceptions on quality. Keeping customers waiting can create negative perception of the
hospitality services provided by the hotel unnecessarily. In this scenario, Ramanathan et al.
(2017) argued that reliability in terms of responsiveness is much more effective in satisfying
guests compared to the reliability in terms of promised services. However, on some different
note, Buhalis and Amaranggana (2015) argued that the hotels need to focus on the special
factor that is polite and trustworthy behaviour. It refers to the knowledge courtesy of the
service providers and their ability to escalate trust and confidence. When customers get the
assurance regarding the hotel services from the service providers, then it is more likely to
make the customers satisfied with getting any services. In this regard, it is worth mentioning
that, reliability takes the buzzword readiness into account to make the process of guest
satisfaction an effective one. Empathy includes approachability, the effort to understand the
requirements of the guests and the sense of security. When all these factors resonate with one
another, the process leads to the guest satisfaction.
7. Recent development of personalised service in hotel industry
Hotels can foster customer loyalty by making authentic and memorable moments for their
customers. On the other hand, Ford et al. (2015) argued that by treating the customers as the
unique individuals rather than a paycheque can forge the positive brand image in the market
to attract new businesses. A survey of 2016 states that more than half of the visitors claimed
they are happy with the services of hotel service providers if it meant getting relevant
discounts, deals and personalised services. However, Perel and Del Bosque (2015) argued
that personalisation has extended far beyond message and email interactions and thereby, it is
essential for the hotel service providers to have relevant information readily available for
developing the two-fold interaction memorable. Personalised services have now been
developed to butler services to heighten the customer satisfaction level to an extreme point.

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For this purpose, it is not just enough for the hotels to train the workers to make the
interaction personalised and thereby, the hotels need to go far beyond and generate plans for
guests to make them feel valued. For instance, implementing sensors in the guests' rooms for
measuring natural light and dime the artificial lighting lock the windows when guests leave
the room or start heating the room when guests arrive at the door will make the process of
personalisation an effective one. The introduction of Internet of Things (IoT) and smart
sensors are improving the way through which hotel service providers personalise the services.
8. Personalised services drive customer loyalty
Personalised services are more entertaining, memorable, engaging and inspiring for the
customers that ultimately lead to the guest satisfaction and drive sales and loyalty. The study
Herstein et al. (2018) found that gathering and applying customer insights and data for
delivering cross-channel and seamless experiences along with providing personal touches to
the travellers especially to the millennial customers are key to meet the customer experiences
and thereby it improves customer experience and fosters guest loyalty. As stated by Min et al.
(2015), personalisation basically comes in the business process when hotels can be able to
catch the customers own experiences and expectations and in the age of information
technology, it is no longer difficult to know customers. As opined by Kasiri et al. (2017),
personalised butler services do not depend on the gathered information and data rather it
depends upon the knowledge and skills of the hospitality service providers. As argued by
Kassinis and Soteriou (2016), an effective personalisation program revolved around just
because of lack of gathered data and lack of technologies as well.
Depending on the online tools and technologies, hotels send emails and invoice to the
customers by giving them the opportunity to book their suite at a lower price. By extending
the offerings and incentives, the companies are gaining customer loyalty that leads to the

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improved brand image in the market. At the present time, customers prefer value for money
and hence hotels are offering the facility of booking hotel rooms at minimal cost for repeat
customer will provide business profitability in terms of customer loyalty.
Further, it is worth mentioning that, customers are more likely to get special attention from
the hotel service providers when they visit the same place twice or thrice. When customers
would be able to receive special preferences and services rather than traditional services, they
will like to visit the same hotel once and again (Seric et al. 2016). Hence, the personalised
services push the customers to use the services provided by the organisations and help to
enhance the marketing ROI for the companies as well.
9. Impact of personalised services on guest satisfaction in the hospitality industry
Personalised services also refer to differentiated services or customer services emphasise the
guest satisfaction to lead to the organisational goal in terms of heightening business growth
and financial profitability. According to the viewpoint of Novelli et al. (2006), the
organisations that prioritise the customer experience through the effective use of personalised
services, have that potential to generate around 60% more profits than that of their
competitors. Personalised services are the kind of services that provide some special offerings
to the customers based on the preferences and the requirements of the customers. With the
help of these personalised services, the hospitality service providers become able to show
their customers that they are valued by the organisations. More specifically, by offering
personalised services on a continuous basis, it establishes a standard of care among the
customers and the customer appreciates such practices that lead to guest satisfaction.
Apart from this, personalisation in the customer services lead guests to feel engaged and
connected with the organisation. These kinds of facilities reduce the chances of strife and

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customer churn. Rather, customers feel satisfied to be associated with the organisation and do
their bit to let others aware of hospitality services provided by the company.
Not only service or product can be personalised rather, the form of distribution, promotion
and pricing can be personalised to make repeat customers satisfied (Benitez et al. 2017). Such
practices may lead to the positive word of mouth publicity for the organisation and hence, the
company can be able to enhance their brand image within the existing and target market.
Through personalisation in the customer services, organisations within the hospitality
industry can gain an in-depth and better understanding of the current customer base. By
knowing the potential customer base and having a greater understanding of the needs and
preferences of the customers, the more individualised service an organisation can create for
its potential guests. The demand for such personalised services would definitely be leading to
the higher sales and profitability for the company.
Organisations that rely on the efficacy of personalisation in customer service tend to invest in
technologies that would enable the organisations to process and access the customer
information more effectively and rapidly. Further, it is worth noting that, the feel of
personalisation within the guest satisfaction has extended to the online experiences.
Customers now have a plethora of means to have effective communication with the
organisation to know about the services and they expect the services to be focused on them.
Such personalisation in the customer services gives better chances for the organisations to get
success in the competitive market of the hospitality industry.
10. Literature gap
This research aims to find out the recent research on the customer satisfaction on the luxury
hotels. The personalised service is the new buzz word and the guests like the personalised

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services. The luxury hotels are using this to increase the guest satisfaction. Mainly corporate
travellers use the personalised service. This study strived to do the secondary research on the
guest satisfaction; however, in the literature review, it has not been possible to find out the
changes in consumer behaviour. The facts and figures of the customer satisfaction have not
been presented. The nature of the literature is experimental and hospitality sectors are mainly
taking a technological and innovative approach to satisfying the needs of the guests. The
recent development of the personalised services has been given; however, a gap has been
found among the critiques is the soft data provided by the customers have become as valuable
as big data. Hospitality organisations are struggling with the pool of big data and they cannot
find out the emotive responses of the customers.
11. Summary
It has been observed that personalised butler service can increase the customer satisfaction as
it provides what exactly guests need. Personalised services can increase the guest
engagement. The review of the existing literature would provide help in the data finding and
data analysis section where the primary data will be compared and analyse with the
secondary data sources. In the next chapter, data collection process of the research will be
discussed.

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