Developing a Service Blueprint for COVID-19 Hotel Measures

This report develops a service blueprint to demonstrate the implementation of COVID-19 government measures, particularly social distancing, within the Dukes London Hotel. It begins with an introduction to the hotel's operations and target customers, followed by an analysis of consumer trends and societal expectations in the hospitality industry. The main body of the report outlines the customer service journey, detailing how social distancing is integrated from booking to breakfast, including physical evidence like sanitization stations and room layouts. The report also covers on-stage and back-stage interactions, emphasizing staff roles in maintaining safety and hygiene, as well as support processes like procurement and guideline implementation. The report concludes with a summary of key findings and recommendations for the hotel to adapt and thrive in the post-pandemic environment, with references to relevant literature.

DEVELOP A SERVICE BLUEPRINT
TO DEMONSTRATE HOW THE
COVID-19 GOVERNMENT
MEASURES SUCH AS SOCIAL
DISTANCING CAN BE
IMPLEMENTED AT THE HOTEL

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
Customer service journey............................................................................................................4
Physical evidence of service journey..........................................................................................5
On stage interaction with team members....................................................................................6
Back stage interaction.................................................................................................................7
Support process...........................................................................................................................7
Identification of area where social distancing measures are implemented.................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................8
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Dukes London is operated and owned by the holding company and luxury property
developer Holding Tides International. It was established in 2004 and has developed own
portfolio of the residential, commercial and resort propertied in desirable locations of the world.
It is sophisticated luxury hotel in London and is part of Motels, Hotels and Resorts industry .
Hotel has employees across all the locations (Dukes London Hotel, 2020). In the corporate
family of Dukes Hotel, two companies are there. The hotel aims at providing the consumers with
mesmerising luxurious experience.
Demographic profile includes race, age, gender, ethnicity, income, marital status,
employment and education. Demographic profile is used for becoming efficient in advertising
the products and services as well as identifying the possible gaps of marketing strategies.
Targeting the specific group from the whole who are interested in the services and products help
company in more effectively advertising and marketing for garnishing maximum sales. Dukes
London target customers representing middle and senior professionals and business people with
high income levels who belong to the upper social class. The hotel target mainly the individuals
who pursue the luxury and royal lifestyle. It targets customers who want to have royal experience
in the stay. Hotel charge premium prices for the products and the services that are perceived to
be of higher quality.
Consumer trends could be described as behaviours or habits prevalent currently among
the consumers of goods and services. The consumer trend tracks more than what people buys and
the amount they spend (Dhugga, 2016). Data collected over consumer trends includes the
information like how the consumers uses products and how they communicate the brand with
social networks.
Hospitality industry is evolving constantly and the hoteliers have to keep pace integrating
the technology for serving the needs of guests better. Consumers are requiring internet of things
in the hotels for exciting them as it provides higher efficiency and convenience and also the
luxury sense. Dukes has incorporated hi tech internet services for increasing the demand for
hotels. Customers are also becoming environmentally conscious as the sustainability has become
important issue. It is changing the attitude of travellers in selection of the Hotel (Jayawardena

and et.al., 2013). Dukes hotel have environment friendly processes that does not affect the
environment.
Consumers are demanding unique brand experience for the cost they incur. Hotels have
started differentiating the brand by providing the customers something unique in the manner they
design, layouts and outfit of property and services. Travellers are now seeking for cool and
experiential hotel that provides them with novelty factor.
The societal trends are informed and influenced by the societal trends mainly. Dukes
London customer mainly looks for royal and luxury experience from the hotel. They expect
quality services that provides them immense experience on their stay. Customers also expects for
tech services such as internet for easing the experience (Gustavo, 2018). As the hotel is old
heritage building customers expects rich heritage experience with luxuries and qualitative
services with increased safety measures.
MAIN BODY
Customer service journey
For Duke London to revive its position back from the impact of pandemic COVID 19 it is
very essential for the hotel to work over regaining the consumer back. The major reason for this
is that because of the pandemic the consumers have fear that if they will go to the hotel then they
might get infected. Further during the time period of pandemic the there was lockdown and
because of that operation of hotel were shutdown (Ozili and Arun, 2020). Thus, there was a lot of
loss for the hotel. After the lockdown the hotel reopened and with more of the facilities and by
adhering to the guidelines provided by government. The most important guideline is relating to
social distancing which states that people must not be sitting very close to one another. As per
the guidelines being provided by the government of country the hotels and pubs can be opened
with social distancing of two metres as the ideal distance between people coming to hotel. For
this Duke London need to develop a customer service journey as this will assist the hotel in
managing the work in accordance with social distancing. The customer service journey includes
the overall experience which consumer gets while interacting with the company or place where
they come (Lachance, 2020).
Under this the consumer will come to the hotel on the basis of the guideline relating to
social distancing. For this hotel will first check the available rooms within the hotel and then

they will give booking to the consumer. For this they will first analyse the present vacant space
and then in accordance with it will provide booking to the consumers. Further for providing
booking to the consumer first it is the responsibility of Dukes London to ask for the number of
people which are present along with consumer (Filimonau, Derqui and Matute, 2020). This is
necessary as in accordance to the number of consumer coming to the place the hotel can arrange
for set up to cater to need of consumer in accordance with social distancing. After providing
booking to consumer the consumer arrives at the hotel.
For this the consumer first makes the reservation be looking at the website and different
advertisement with help of social media. Hus, after making reservation consumer will arrive at
the hotel. Further after reaching to the hotel first the customer will be sanitized by entering in the
full body machine sanitizer for the whole body to be sanitized. Further the bags and luggage of
the consumer will also be sanitized so that there will not be any risk of getting infected.
After this the customer will give their luggage to staff of hotel to be kept in place and will check
in the hotel. Further for the breakfast in hotel first the tables and chairs will be sanitized before
the customer arrive for their breakfast. After this on a table capacity of six people only three
people will be given place in order to maintain the guidelines of social distancing. Further these
tables will be arranged in such a manner that this involves two feet difference between the people
coming to have breakfast as per guidelines of government. After that the hotel staff will take the
order of consumer for breakfast and will prepare it in clean and properly sanitized kitchen by
complying with all the health and safety guidelines provided by government.
Physical evidence of service journey
The physical evidence is referred to as the things which are being available for the hotel
to manage all the operations of the company. It is very essential for the hotel to make the
physical evidence effective so that the operations of the company can be managed in proper and
effective manner. The first is the website and accounts on the social media and this is the most
important stage as consumer gets attracted with this only if this will not be good then consumer
will not be able to go to the hotel (Brammer, and Clark, 2020). The next is the parking of the
hotel as when consumer reaches to the hotel the first place where they visit is parking. Hence,
this need to be good and hygienic so that consumer has a good impression. Further, the next
physical evidence is the check in desk of the hotel. This is the place wherein the consumer will
go to check into the hotel.

After this the next physical evidence is either the stairs or elevators through which people
will travel to go to their rooms. In addition to this another major physical evidence is the room
wherein consumer will stay and if this will not be attractive then consumer will not like the
place. In the end the last physical evidence for the consumer is the ambiance where the breakfast
will be arranged for the consumers. If the environment will not be good, then this will create a
negative impact over the hotel and its performance and goodwill.
Along with this with this there are many different physical evidence which guides the
behaviour of the consumer towards the hotel and its reputation. These are like the uniforms of
employees working in hotel, their way of talking and greeting the consumer and many other
different things (Fröberg, 2020). All these things create a huge impact over the working and
profitability of the hotel to a great extent. With respect to current pandemic situation the most
important physical evidence for the hotel to maintain is the sanitizer machine and dispenser at
everywhere within the hotel. This is necessary as this will create a good image among the
consumers for the hotel.
On stage interaction with team members
The hospitality members must significantly focus on effectively improving the business
efficiency within the hotel. The hospitality service members must focus on greeting the members
which helps in creating a warm welcoming environment for the guest. The bags will be taken by
the staff and accommodated to the room. The guest will be given welcome drinks and before
that, temperature will be checked of the guest for taking COVID- 19 precautions. Hands of the
guest must be completely sanitized in order to ensure protective actions (Kilvington and Price,
2018). The name of the guests will be registered which will help in improving the business
functions and improved the operational performance and productivity within the hotel. Notifying
the wait time to the guest and maintaining proper social distance is one of the key prominent
measure which helps in improving the business efficiency and attain high degree of professional
standards. The hospitality staff will escort the guest to the table to make them feel comfortable.
The server and the hospitality staff greet the guests and take their o0rders in order to improve
their business performance. The hospitality staff will serve the drinks and food by taking proper
precaution like wearing gloves, mask, and head mask by complying with all precautionary
standards at the time of COVID-19. Proper feedback will be taken in the electronic form. This
leads to greater operational performance and efficiency.

Back stage interaction
Procurement of Raw material: It is first activity which will be performed under this activity
organization will make sure that different raw material which are procure in the organization are
procure from the verified source. At the time of sourcing and storing different raw material in the
organization it will be make sure that all the items are sanitized and in good condition.
Availability of precautionary measure resources: It is another important activity which need to
be looked at the back end of the contact. Hotel has to make sure that there is good availability of
resources which are helped to maintain and measure the health of the customer who are visiting
the hotel. Different precautionary measuring resources are presence of sanitizer, tissue paper and
temperature checking machine in the organization. Not only that Hotel also has to make sure that
all the precautionary resources which are also in the ready to use position. As any fault in these
sort of issue will be of no use for the organization.
Making different guideline in the Hotel: It is another important sort of activity which need to be
performed at the back end of the hotel. Under this activity organization has to make sure that
they are printing different guideline which has to be followed by the customer and different
employee in the organization to maintain a good sort of social distancing in the organization.
Support process
In light of the new standards of cleanliness, hygiene, and social distancing, the hospital
organisation is required to maintain social distancing criteria on the time of re-opening. For this
Dukes London can be involved in implementing remote hotel management process.
Telecommunicating is the device which can be used to gain support from all employees working
in company. In this manager of hotel need not to go anywhere, they can manage all task from
telecommunicating device. Manager can contact with staff members through it. For this it is
expected from staff members to support Dukes London manager. They need to be attentive and
coordinate whenever manager tries to contact (Fong and et.al., 2020). It has also been analysed
that team members must also provide their support to all decisions taken by manager. Their faces
must be covered with mask, hair with cap. All personal protection equipment needs to be wore
by every staff member. By this way Dukes London strategy related to social distancing can be
successful. According to The WHO, regular cleaning and social distancing are two main
preventive measures for COVID-19. All team members need to be supportive to be working in
shifts and also having lunch in shifts. There shift must be uploaded on digital platforms and they

must be engaged in regularly checking their shift timing. By this way hospitality organisation
can work firmly during these tough time (Courtemanche and et.al., 2020). This can assist them in
being more productive in crisis situation which is really necessary for their growth.
Identification of area where social distancing measures are implemented
Every staff member is expected to strictly follow the COVID-19 safety measures. There
are various places in Dukes London where social distancing can be implemented. Like there
should be less interaction between customers and staff. This can be clearly achieved by
implementing regular shifts during lunch and working hours. Hospitality organisation must be
involved in developing mobile check in check outs. This is one of the best measure for social
distancing. Here consumer do not have to spend their time in queuing up at receptions. For this
process to be successful managers can ask guest to submit their documents via mobile before
checking into room. They can also provide customer with unique code to unlock their hotel room
with that. It is the number one feature for maintaining a safe distance between guests and staff in
the hotel. Dukes London should maintain social distancing at their restaurant too (Briscese and
et.al., 2020). They will only allow half of the guest inside restaurant so that safety can be
maintained. Social distancing can also be maintained by motivating consumers to make use of
cashless payments. Hospitality organisation should also promote themselves on digital platforms
so that consumers can purchase food and services online. These are the places where social
distancing can be implemented. Dukes London can also be involved in making sure that only
half of the staff members are coming in shifts, so that there is no extreme crowd in hotel.
CONCLUSION
Social distancing is the action taken for minimising the contact with other individuals.
The action requires distance of around 2 metres from other individual for marking reduction in
the transmission of the flu virus strains, mainly COVID-19. It is aimed at avoiding the close
proximity with other people that help in slowing spread of the infectious disease. The social
distancing is non pharmaceutical action for controlling the action that could slow down or stop
spread of this contagious disease.
Consequences of the social distancing

There is obvious relation between the minimum social contacts and speed of spread of
disease there is very less knowledge and lack of the tools for understanding secondary effects of
containment measures.
The social distancing measures has increased the timing issues as staff is reduced in wake
of virus. It makes the services delay resulting in bad reviews and image of the Hotel. It is hard to
maintain timings of the services and also delays are seen by customers due to various issues
faced due to social distancing. Though the step is made for safeguarding the people but the
processes and procedures have been affected highly (Baum, Jacobson and Goold, 2019). Social
distancing measures have to be maintained for complying with the regulations. Properly defined
structure has been disturbed of the hotel due to the social distancing.
Recommendations over implementation of social distancing measures at Dukes London
It is essential for the Hotel to implement social distancing measures for meeting the
pandemic effectively. It has to cancel the events that include gatherings of people together like
the work conferences, sports games and cinemas. It has to close the facilities such as gyms,
swimming pools and clubs.
Hotel could implement the no outsider policies for suppliers and vendors and ensuring
that all the products are properly sanitised before they are taken inside hotel. Employees have to
service avoiding any physical contact with other employees or customers. Interactions should be
made maintaining a distance.
Dukes Hotel could also make rotational or flexible shifts of the employees so that all are
not gathered over single time over same location. Implementing staggered shifts if work requires
certain number of the customer service reps on the hotel for handling complex issues of
customers.
Those working collectively could insert partitions for avoiding contact and establishing
physical barriers for reducing the spread from cough or sneezing (Cronin and Evans, 2020). It
could also revise the seating arrangements if employees are working too closely. It could
promote alternate desks and could implement the rotational remote work where possible.
For the work conferences it could ensure that the arrangements are at required distance of
2 metres. Interaction with the customer should be made wearing the proper face masks and face
covers. It should avoid using instruments that requires physical touch, if used they are sanitised
every time they come in contact with the customers.

Social distancing could impact the culture and impact of employees' engagement and
productivity but they are essential for safeguarding both employees and customers from the
virus.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
Dhugga, D., 2016. Delivering motivation for change at DUKES LONDON. Strategic HR
Review.
Jayawardena, C.C., and et.al., 2017. Trends and sustainability in the Canadian tourism and
hospitality industry. Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes.
Gustavo, N., 2018. Marketing management trends in tourism and hospitality industry: facing the
21st century environment. International Journal of Marketing Studies. 5(3). p.13.
Fong, M.W., and et.al., 2020. Nonpharmaceutical measures for pandemic influenza in
nonhealthcare settings—social distancing measures. Emerging infectious diseases. 26(5).
p.976.
Courtemanche, C., and et.al., 2020. Strong Social Distancing Measures In The United States
Reduced The COVID-19 Growth Rate: Study evaluates the impact of social distancing
measures on the growth rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases across the United
States. Health Affairs. pp.10-1377.
Briscese, G., and et.al., 2020. Compliance with covid-19 social-distancing measures in italy: the
role of expectations and duration (No. w26916). National Bureau of Economic Research.
Baum, N.M., Jacobson, P.D. and Goold, S.D., 2019. “Listen to the people”: public deliberation
about social distancing measures in a pandemic. The American Journal of
Bioethics. 9(11). pp.4-14.
Cronin, C.J. and Evans, W.N., 2020. Private Precaution and Public Restrictions: What Drives
Social Distancing and Industry Foot Traffic in the COVID-19 Era? (No. w27531).
National Bureau of Economic Research.
Kilvington, D. and Price, J., 2018. From backstage to frontstage. Digital Football Cultures:
Fandom, Identities and Resistance.
Ozili, P. K. and Arun, T., 2020. Spillover of COVID-19: impact on the Global
Economy. Available at SSRN 3562570.
Lachance, E. L., 2020. COVID-19 and its impact on volunteering: Moving towards virtual
volunteering. Leisure Sciences, pp.1-7.
Filimonau, V., Derqui, B. and Matute, J., 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic and organisational
commitment of senior hotel managers. International Journal of Hospitality
Management, 91, p.102659.
Brammer, S. and Clark, T., 2020. COVID‐19 and Management Education: Reflections on
Challenges, Opportunities, and Potential Futures. British Journal of
Management, 31(3). p.453.
Fröberg, A., 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic: The importance of physical activity among faculty
members. Journal of American College Health, pp.1-4.

Online
Dukes London Hotel. 2020. [Online]. Available through : <https://www.dukeshotel.com/>.