Causes and Solutions for Poor Guest Satisfaction in the Hospitality Industry

This case study focuses on the causes of poor guest satisfaction in the hospitality industry, specifically at the Imperial Hotel London. It discusses unhygienic rooms, untrained staff, poor guest service, absence of guest amenities, charges for internet usage, poor quality food, lack of efficiency and effectiveness, lack of smooth operations, and their impact on guest satisfaction. The study also presents a 3-point plan to solve the problem and explores management and operations theories and principles that can help improve guest satisfaction.

Case Study

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
Likely causes of the problem.......................................................................................................1
Plan for solving the problem........................................................................................................3
Management and operations theories and principles...................................................................4
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................7

INTRODUCTION
Hospitality refers to the relationship which is exhibited between a guest and a host. It
covers hotels, resorts as well as recreation centres (Bavik, 2016) (Dzhandzhugazova and et.al.,
2016). This report is based on the case study of Imperial Hotel London. It is an old hotel in
London, United Kingdom which specializes in providing various services to the guests. The
hotel has been facing different problems recently. These are creating an impact on the operations
and functioning and are also hurting the overall level of revenues and profits. The management is
expected to identify them quickly and take strong rectifying actions so they can be resolved. This
will make sure that the hotel does not falls behind its competitors and maintains a strong growth
rate in order to sustain in the market in the long-term period of time. One of these problems is
poor guest satisfaction. In this case study, focus will be made on likely causes of the problem,
use of a 3-point plan for its resolution. Additionally, analysis of management and operations
theories and principles which can help in solving issues will be made as a part of this assignment.
MAIN BODY
Likely causes of the problem
There are different causes for the problem of poor guest satisfaction. These are identified
as follows-
Unhygienic rooms- When the rooms in the hotel are unhygienic and do not offer the
required facilities to their guests then this can result in problematic situation for the hotels (Falk,
2016). This can happen because of the dissatisfaction of the customers and clients of the hotel. In
Imperial Hotel London this a problem which is being faced by the guests which can result in
poor guest satisfaction.
Untrained staff- There are problems which the guests face due to the non-cooperation
which they received from the staff (Jones, Hillier and Comfort, 2016). When the employees in
the different departments of the hotel are not able to cooperate and coordinate then this can
create issues for the customers resulting in poor guest satisfaction. In Imperial Hotel London this
is a problem which is being faced by the clients.
Poor guest service- The hotels need to provide good services to the guests so that their
satisfaction level remains high (Joo-Ee, 2016). Thus in the context of the hotel there is a
requirement that the right services need to be provided to the clients so that they give positive
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reviews and feedback. In Imperial Hotel this issue is being faced because the some members of
the staff of the hotel are not providing their best services to the guests.
Absence of guest amenities- There is an absence of certain guest amenities which should
be present at such a high-scale and luxury hotel. These are posh suites, high-end luxury facilities
etc. The clients expect top-class services when they come to the hotel and pay higher prices for
their stay. In Imperial Hotel this is an issue which is faced by the customers which leads to a
negative feedback and is not good for the business of the hotel.
Charges of Internet usage- The guests who pay higher charges for staying in a posh
hotel can become dissatisfied if they are charged for their internet usage. Thus this lead towards
problems and issues. Imperial Hotel's clients are becoming dissatisfied with the hotel because
they are charged for using the Wi-Fi of the hotel. This leads to negative reviews from them
damaging the reputation of the hotel in the market as compared to the competitors.
Poor quality food- It is important to provide good-quality food to the guests and clients
of the hotel. This is the responsibility which is fulfilled by the F&B department of the hotel. In
Imperial Hotel, the guests are dissatisfied with the quality of food which is provided. They feel
that it is providing low-quality food compared to the prices which are being charged by it. This
is forcing them to give low-star reviews to it on travel sites.
Lack of efficiency and effectiveness- The absence of efficiency and effectiveness can
create issues for the guests of the hotel. In the context of Imperial Hotel, this creates issues for
the guests resulting in low satisfaction. The main cause of this is that the staff of some of the
departments of the hotel are not able to handle the queries, problems and issues in an efficient
and effective manner. Thus this leads towards poor guest satisfaction.
Lack of smooth operations- Long waiting time at check-in, check-out can irritate the
guests. This happens due to lack of the required smoothness in the operations of the hotel. In
Imperial Hotel this is not happening which creates dissatisfaction for the guests of the hotel.
Relationship with other problems- The reasons for guest dissatisfaction which have
been discussed above can be linked with the other problems of the hotel. Unhygienic rooms,
Absence of guest amenities can be linked with the problem of Back of house staff. Untrained
staff, Poor guest service is due to high staff turnover. Charges for internet usage, lack of smooth
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operations is due to problem of Front of house staff. Lack of efficiency and effectiveness, Lack
of smooth operations is due to negative work culture among the staff.
Plan for solving the problem
A 3-point plan can be used by the management of Imperial Hotel to solve the problem of
poor guest satisfaction. The managers of the hotel are required to make sure that they can frame
it quite carefully so that they are able to achieve their desired goals and outcomes in the future
time period.
There are different departments which exist within a hotel such as Front Office, Back
Office, F&B, Maintenance, Hospitality etc. There are separate heads for all of them. Thus, there
is a requirement of making sure that the managers can consult with the head of all the
departments so that they are able to frame the plan correctly. If they consider all the parameters,
situations and circumstances of the hotel while framing it then this can make sure that higher
level of productivity is achieved.
The 3-point plan for solving the problem of poor guest satisfaction at The Imperial Hotel
is as follows-
 Providing training sessions for the staff- The staff's efficiency and effectiveness can be
improved if the right training sessions are provided to them (Ling, Liu and Wu, 2017).
Thus as the guests of the The Imperial Hotel are not satisfied with the services provided
to them there is a requirement to provide the training sessions to the staff so that they are
able to find out where their problems are lying and therefore rectify them. This will
ensure that the company is able to achieve a strategic edge over its competitors and can
target the maximization of its profits in the future time period.
Trained specialists in the hospitality industry can be called upon to provide this type of training
to the employees who are working in the hotel to ensure higher level of efficiency and
effectiveness. Also there is a requirement from the workers to make sure that they are able to
learn by attending these sessions and are able to solve their problems and issues easily.
 Using feedbacks of clients- Feedbacks from the clients are quite important for the
organizations in the hospitality industry (Mmutle, 2017). If The Imperial Hotel is able to
use these feedbacks in the positive manner to find out the areas where improvements can
be done to improve the staff efficiency then this is going to ensure that the employees of
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the hotel are able to increase their productivity and work towards ensuring satisfaction of
the guests of the hotel.
Feedback has to be taken seriously. This is so because using them the right improvements can be
made. Thus In the Context of The Imperial Hotel the feedbacks of customers and clients should
be used in an effective manner so that the proper actions are taken in order to facilitate
improvement. This can be in the different areas of the hotel such as Front Office Department,
Back office Department, Maintenance, F&B, Services etc.
 Change in organizational structure- By changing the organizational structure the
companies can ensure that they are able to delegate more authority to the workers for
taking correct decisions. In The Imperial Hotel this can ensure that the guests are satisfied
as the workers will be able to take decisions without delay and there will be no
communication gap created between the departments.
Management and operations theories and principles
The Management and Operations theories and principles are useful from the point of
view of the companies so that they are able to raise their overall efficiency and effectiveness
level by optimizing their resources.
Six Sigma-
It is a method which can be used by the companies so that they can improve their
business operations (Putra, Cho and Liu, 2017). For implementing it DMAIC approach is
required. This can be used in the following manner-
 Define- This means identification of the problem which is required to be fixed. In the
context of The Imperial Hotel it becomes very essential to identify the problems which
are existing with its processes so that the necessary actions can be taken for
improvement.
 Measure- This refers to the measurement of the performance. For The Imperial Hotel it
is necessary that it is able to measure the overall performance. In this way it will identify
the right methods which can be used for improving performance without problems and
issues.
 Analyse- In this step, the measured performance is analysed. This can be done by either
comparing it with the established standards or with the competitors. Thus deviations and
variances can be identified easily.
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 Improve- After the deviations and variances have been identified there are actions which
can be taken for the purpose of improvement (Torres, van Niekerk and Orlowski, 2017).
Therefore in the context of The Imperial Hotel this facilitates the required improvement.
 Control- This refers to the controlling after the results have been obtained (Wang, 2016).
If the results obtained are not according to the set standards then it requires that the
appropriate methods are used for this purpose so that the expectations regarding the
performance are fulfilled. In The Imperial Hotel this is a necessary procedure which is
required to be undertaken.
Apart from this Business Process Rengineering approach can be also used by the
companies so that they are able to redesign the processes effectively and efficiently. In it the
business processes are redesigned so that improvements in productivity, cycle times and quality
can be achieved (Business Process Rengineering, 2018). The steps in it are as follows-
 Focusing values on needs- For the companies it is important that they are able to focus
the values on the needs of the customers. Thus in The Imperial Hotel the focus should be
on the needs. By doing so the organization will be able to identify what the customer
actually wants and thus this will enable them to solve the problem of poor guest
satisfaction.
 Redesigning of core processes- In the firms, it is necessary that the core processes can
be redesigned. In the context of The Imperial Hotel this helps a lot in achieving the
desired goals and objectives. This will help it in achieving optimization to solve the
problem of poor guest satisfaction.
 Reorganizing of business- For achieving optimization and the efficiency the firms need
to reorganize the different functions in a business. The Imperial Hotel needs to do this.
This will enable it to reorganize the functions so that the requirements are fulfilled.
 Rethinking of issues- If the managers in a particular company are able to focus on issues
faced by the guests then this helps in achieving optimization. In The Imperial Hotel the
managers should rethink on these issues to solve the problem of poor guest satisfaction.
 Improvement of business processes- There are different business processes within an
organization. In The Imperial Hotel the management should make sure that it is able to
improve processes for solving the problem of poor guest satisfaction.
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CONCLUSION
From the above case study, it can be said that in the hospitality industry there may be
different problems which can be faced by the customers and clients. They can arise because the
companies are not able to fulfil all of their expectations and this can lead towards their
dissatisfaction. One of them is poor guest satisfaction. There can be different causes of this
problem. A 3-point plan can be used for solving this problem. Also, management and operations
theories and principles can be used so that the problem can be identified and the right approach is
adopted for solving it.
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REFERENCES
Book and Journals:
Bavik, A., 2016. Developing a new hospitality industry organizational culture scale.
International Journal of Hospitality Management. 58. pp.44-55.
Dzhandzhugazova, E. A. and et.al., 2016. Innovations in hospitality industry. International
Journal of Environmental and Science Education. 11(17). pp.10387-10400.
Falk, M., 2016. A gravity model of foreign direct investment in the hospitality industry. Tourism
Management. 55. pp.225-237.
Jones, P., Hillier, D. and Comfort, D., 2016. Sustainability in the hospitality industry.
International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Joo-Ee, G., 2016. Minimum wage and the hospitality industry in Malaysia: An analysis of
employee perceptions. Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism. 15(1).
pp.29-44.
Ling, Q., Liu, F. and Wu, X., 2017. Servant versus authentic leadership: Assessing effectiveness
in China’s hospitality industry. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly. 58(1). pp.53-68.
Mmutle, T., 2017. Customers' perception of service quality and its impact on reputation in the
hospitality industry.
Putra, E. D., Cho, S. and Liu, J., 2017. Extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on work engagement in
the hospitality industry: Test of motivation crowding theory. Tourism and Hospitality
Research. 17(2). pp.228-241.
Torres, E. N., van Niekerk, M. and Orlowski, M., 2017. Customer and employee incivility and
its causal effects in the hospitality industry. Journal of Hospitality Marketing &
Management. 26(1). pp.48-66.
Wang, C. J., 2016. Does leader-member exchange enhance performance in the hospitality
industry?. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management.
Online
Business Process Rengineering. 2018. [Online]. Available through:
<https://www.bain.com/insights/management-tools-business-process-reengineering/>
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