Impact of Service Culture and Technology on Hotel Guest Experience

This report analyzes the significant role of employees and technology in shaping the guest experience within the hotel industry. It emphasizes the importance of service culture, internal marketing, and employee engagement in delivering exceptional customer service. The report also explores how technology, including social media and digital interfaces, influences each stage of the guest journey—from pre-arrival to departure—and highlights the need for hotels to invest in technological advancements like Wi-Fi infrastructure, robots, and cloud services to enhance guest satisfaction and drive revenue growth. The study concludes that a balance between human resources and technological applications is essential for hotels to thrive in the competitive hospitality market.

Hotels and the Guest Experience
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Table of Contents
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Assessment 1- Report on Service Experience..............................................................................4
Assessment 2- Group Business Report........................................................................................7
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................9
References:....................................................................................................................................10
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Introduction
It is well established that employees are the essential part of the organisation. These are those
resources which help the organisation to reach its goals or objective by performing the required
task or work by using their skills and expertise. It is the workforce of the organisations which
maintain its promises made to the community to provide effective products and services. The
study will be made under this assignment about the significance of the workforce in the
hospitality sector. This assignment focuses on the services provided by the Hotels and the
experiences of the guest staying for the leisure or business purposes. An analysis will be made on
the enhancement of the professionalism in hospitality and tourism sector. Moreover, it also
includes the application of technology to the operation of the hospitality organisation and its
impact on the organisation and its guests.
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Assessment 1- Report on Service Experience
According to Hudson & Hudson (2017), employees are the most significant part of the
organisation operating in the business environment. However, it has been seen that organisation
are more focused on generating more revenues and is involved in cost-cutting as they don’t want
to spend funds of the organisation on the workforce. Due to this, an organisation completely
misses the point that these are the individuals who make sure that the promises made by the
organisations are delivered (Hudson & Hudson, 2017).
This includes the significance of service culture in the business sector. According to Kaufman
(2018), states that the culture of the service holds an essential place in the business world and is
more important in the hospitality industry. Service can be defined as taking or making certain
actions to develop value for some other person and to satisfy their needs. It can also be said the
service is the performance of work or task for some other person. This brings the concept of
service culture which means a group of individuals focusing on developing value for some other
persons, which may be internal or external to the organisation (Kaufman, 2018). Service culture
involves the belief of the employees, inherited skills and knowledge required for the job, values,
beliefs, behavior and attitude towards work, all of which aims at the performance of work or task
for others. Most of the organisation operating its business in domestic as well as the global
market works on this basis i.e. providing the service to the community for its growth and
development and organisation will be able to generate more revenues. Having effective service
culture is essential for the survival of the organisation in the hospitality industry for a long period
of time.
It is stated that the consumers are the key person who provides business to the organisations but
the internal consumers such as the workforce of the organisation are the pillars for the
enhancement and growth of the organisation in this aggressive market. Therefore, it is essential
that organisation must focus on internal marketing as they do for the marketing outside the
organisation. According to Bowie, et, al. (2016), internal marketing can be defined as the
relationship of the organisation with its workforce to keep them encouraged for serving the
community i.e. the external consumer. Taking into consideration the hotel industry or the
hospitality industry, it is the staff of the hotel that represents the organisation and becomes its
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face as it is the staff to get into contact with the consumers at first instance. Organisations
organises training programmes in this regards to gain skills and knowledge which helps them to
serve the customers and handling different guest visiting the properties of the organisations i.e.
Hotels (Bowie, et, al., 2016). The staffs of the hotels have limited scope of innovating the way of
working, their main purpose is consistency and not innovation.
According to Gibson, (2016), in this competitive market, the organisation focuses more on the
guest experience of the guests in the business sector, the hotel industry must make sure it is on
the frontline of providing the services to the guest as this industry is consumer-centric. In the
recent times, it has been seen that there are various factors which are to be taken into
consideration while focusing on the guest experience which includes: the location of the property
of the hotel, cleanliness of the hotel, quality of the services provided by the property, other
leisure services which include spa, fitness club, extremely comfortable guest rooms, etc. Most of
the times the improvement in the guest experiences is technologically based. Half a century ago,
guests have fewer options of entertainment in the hotel room and at that time having color
television and air conditioners helped in booming the sale of the hotel (Gibson, 2016). However,
these amenities have lost its value in the recent times. In the recent times, there have been
various changes made in the hotels which have improved the customer services such as having a
Wi-Fi connection, key card instead of the key locks for opening the door, room service through
phone tablets, etc.
According to Kurtzman (2017), engagement of the employees plays an essential role in the
hospitality industry. However, it is essential for every business industry but is more significant
for the hospitality industry. As this industry is customer-centric, it is necessary that the customers
are provided good quality of service so that it can help in generating more revenues for the
organisation and its enhancement. At first instance, it is the employees or the staff of the hotel
who comes in contact with the guests. From the instance of getting into the hotel, the employees
involve the guards, valet, staffs at the reception of the hotel, etc, plays an important role to serve
the guests properly. It is the staff of the hotel who handles every complaint, issues, etc of the
guest and deals with different guests. For this, it is essential that the management of the
organisation must make sure that such staffs of the hotel are satisfied with the job otherwise, it
may affect the reputation of the organisation in the market (Kurtzman, 2017). Losing the skilled
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and experienced staff due to dissatisfaction with the job will affect the organisation as the whole
process of hiring new staff, training them will be repeated again and it will result in incurring
more cost for the organisations. If some of the dissatisfied staff remained in the organisation,
they won’t be able to work with the same commitment or enthusiasm which will reduce the
quality of the services and will ultimately put a dent in the image of the hotel. Therefore, it is
essential that the organisation must focus on the employees’ engagement and provides various
benefits so that they remain motivated to serve the customers of the hotel with good mood.
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Assessment 2- Group Business Report
Technology has become an integral part of everyone’s life. Not this individuals, but
organisations have adopted digital technology for organising, managing its functional and
operating activities. It has been seen that the use of technology for the performance of task
reduces the workload of the employees of the organisation. Moreover, it ensures the effective
performance of the task assigned. According to Walker & Walker (2016), it is essential for the
hospitality industry as well. As technology reduces the efforts of the individuals, this also helps
the guest of the hotels to enjoy their stay in the hotel and ensures the provision of good
experience for them as it helps in marketing by means of word of mouth by the guest itself
(Walker & Walker, 2016).
According to Ryan (2016), the implementation of the digital technology into the operations of
the hotels is considered to be the differentiator in the business for winning the consumers.
Technology helps to enhance the experiences of the guest by which hotels are able to get more
popularity along with the increase in revenues of the organisation. Various international
organisations operating under this line of business makes sure that proper fund is invested in the
application of technology. It has been noted that technology is termed as “very or extremely
significant” for the hotels and it is essential that hotels keep focusing on the implementation of
the new technology and keeps investing it for a better experience to the guests of the hotel. It
essential for the stay of the guest and making him/her enjoy such stay, that technology must be
used (Ryan, 2016). As workforce of the organisation is a significant part of the hotels, in this
digital era, technology is as significant as the staff. It is not necessary to always be dependent on
the human resources for small operations when it can be performed by using technology. This
can be understood with the help of an example i.e. use of technology also includes the use of
social media by the organisations operating in the hospitality industry. In the recent times, it has
been seen that various organisations are active on the social networking sites such as Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, etc. This helps the hotels to connect better with the consumer at large as
social media is used by consumers all over the world. This helps the organisation to do
promotions by introducing different offers for the consumer which will attract more and more
guests to the hotel (Hajli, 2014). This platform can be used for providing the information by the
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guest about the grievances or the issues faced by them and the solution of which are provided by
the organisation or the customer care department of the organisation.
According to Giaoutzi, (2017), there is four stage of the guest journey which includes the pre-
arrival, Arrival, Occupancy and Departure. Technology plays a significant role in influencing all
the four stages of the journey of the guest. At first stage i.e. Pre-Arrival which means when the
guest has not arrived at the hotel or is just thinking to book the hotel. There are various factors
which are to be considered at this stage such as rating of the hotel, promotion, quality of service,
location, the loyalty program for the members, etc. All these factors are available with the guest
with just one click on the internet. There are various sites which provide every factor mentioned
above along with reservation and the fare for the day. Technology has made getting or booking
the hotel easier which is comforting for the guests. At the second stage, i.e. Arrival, registration
and assignment of the room is done (Giaoutzi, 2017). All of these formalities are fulfilled with
the help of the interface developed for that particular hotel, which helps to get the count of
vacant rooms or which room was booked by the guest, etc. This stage is also known as “Check-
in”. After the guests are registered, they are allotted a key card for getting into the room which is
also an example of the efficiency of the technology. The third stage i.e. occupancy is also
influenced by the technology. This stage includes the coordinating with the guests and requests
made by them, their security, etc. The entire request of the guests such as an order for dinner is
noted on the digital system so that such order cannot be missed. At last, Departure is the final
stage which is also known as “Check-Out” in which the accounts are settled by the guests for the
stay and for the foods and other facilitates enjoyed by him. This is also done by the credit/debit
card, PayPal, online banking, etc.
According to Aurecon (2018), there are various technologies which must be adopted by the
hotels as this attracts more and more customers which ultimately help in generating more
revenues. This includes the Wi-Fi infrastructure overhauls, robots and infrared sensors, cloud
services, feedbacks on social media, etc. As most of the hotels have already adopted the use of
smart room key card, Mobile Communication, NFC technology, etc, therefore it is recommended
that the technologies mentioned above must be adopted by all the hotels.
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Conclusion
From the discussion made above, it is concluded that there are various factors which are to be
considered while operating in the business environment. These factors affect the operations of
the business if not taken care of. This includes the employees of the organisation, and
implementation of technology. In the hospitality industry, human resources are most significant
as it is them who deals with the guest and represent the organisation in the market. If these
resources are not satisfied with their jobs, then it is necessary that the organisation must
encourage them by providing bonuses, leisure trips, etc. otherwise it will reduce the quality of
the services which will affect the image of the organisation. At the same time, implementation of
the technology is also significant for the success of the business in the hospitality industry as it
enhances the experiences of the guests.
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References:
 Aurecon. (2018). Technology in the hospitality industry – exploring the very latest
trends. Available at: https://www.aurecongroup.com/en/thinking/insights/aurecons-
successful-hotels/technology-in-the-hospitality-industry-exploring-the-very-latest-
trends.aspx. [Accessed: 12.05.2018]
 Bowie, D., Buttle, F., Brookes, M., & Mariussen, A. (2016). Hospitality marketing.
Taylor & Francis.
 Giaoutzi, M. (2017). Tourism and regional development: New pathways. Routledge.
 Gibson, S. (2016). Mobilizing hospitality: The ethics of social relations in a mobile
world. Routledge.
 Hajli, M. N. (2014). A study of the impact of social media on consumers. International
Journal of Market Research, 56(3), 387-404.
 Hudson, S., & Hudson, L. (2017). Marketing for Tourism, Hospitality & Events: A
Global & Digital Approach. Sage.
 Kaufman, R. (2018). Service Culture- What does it mean. Available at:
https://www.upyourservice.com/blog/service-culture-what-does-it-mean. [Accessed:
12.05.2018]
 Kurtzman, J. (2017). Why is the employee engagement in the hospitality industry
important? Available at: http://blog.rewardian.com/why-is-employee-engagement-in-the-
hospitality-industry-important. [Accessed: 12.05.2018]
 Ryan, D. (2016). Understanding digital marketing: marketing strategies for engaging the
digital generation. Kogan Page Publishers.
 Walker, J. R., & Walker, J. T. (2016). Introduction to hospitality management. Prentice
Hall.
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