Improving Customer Service: Easyhotel Plc Initiative & Review

This report provides a comprehensive analysis of customer service practices within Easyhotel Plc, a UK-based hotel. It explores the importance of customer service policies, evaluating their purpose and impact on staff training and development. The report examines various communication methods used to foster a customer-focused culture, analyzes how customer perception is influenced by service provision, and assesses sources of information on customer requirements and satisfaction levels. Furthermore, it includes a specific piece of research on customer satisfaction, suggesting potential improvements in customer service. The report also discusses the planning and delivery of a customer service initiative, including staff training, and reviews personal performance in customer service delivery, offering recommendations for improvement. This analysis provides valuable insights into enhancing customer service within the hospitality sector.

Customer Service
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Contents
Introduction...........................................................................................................................................3
LO1: TASK 1........................................................................................................................................4
A. Explain customer service in hospitality operations and discuss reasons for using customer
service policies in your chosen hospitality organisation....................................................................4
B. Discuss the purpose of evaluating a customer service policy, indicating how this can assist future
staff training and development using your hospitality organisation as an example............................5
LO 2: Task 2..........................................................................................................................................7
A. Evaluate different communication methods and how these are used to best effect ‘customer
focused culture’ in your chosen organisation.....................................................................................7
B. Analyse how customer perception is influenced by customer service provision drawing examples
from your chosen hospitality organisation.........................................................................................8
LO3: Task 3.........................................................................................................................................10
A. Explain customer satisfaction and assess the various sources of information on customer
requirements and satisfaction levels in your organisation................................................................10
B. Carry out a specific piece of research on customer requirements and satisfaction levels for your
chosen hospitality organisation and suggest potential improvements in customer service...............11
LO4: Task 4.........................................................................................................................................13
A. Discuss how you would plan and deliver a customer service initiative in your chosen hospitality
organisation, bearing in mind that this will involve training hospitality service staff as well as
meeting customer requirements.......................................................................................................13
B. Explain how would review your own performance in the delivery of customer service and make
recommendations for improvement.................................................................................................14
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................................15
References...........................................................................................................................................16
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Introduction
In an organisation, the customers play a very important role in an organisation. In this way,
most of the companies especially the organisations of hospitality industry provide the
outstanding services to the customers so that they could be satisfied and the company could
gain their repeat visit. In this way, the organisations of this industry keeps the customer
service policies where the strategies and actions are explained so that the staff of the
company could provide the services as per these strategies so that the customers could be
happy. The assignment given below explains the various concepts of the customer services
that the organisations of the hospitality industry are adopting such as communication process
used by staff, benefits that the organisation could have through customer service policy etc.
the assignment also describes the methods and concepts used by the organisation in
measuring the requirement of the customers in the hospitality sector. For the purpose of the
better understanding, the hotel Easyhotel Plc is taken. Easyhotel Plc is UK based hotel that
provide the hospitality services to the customers and it was founded in 2004.
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LO1: TASK 1
A. Explain customer service in hospitality operations and discuss reasons for using
customer service policies in your chosen hospitality organisation.
Customer service in Easyhotel Plc
The customer services in the hospitality industry could be explained as an act of the
organisation where the outstanding services are provided to the customers so that they could
be satisfied and happy. All of this is done because of increasing the customers base for the
company (Dagger and Sweeney, 2017). Easyhotel Plc is the hotel that works for providing
the better services to the customers. Here, some characteristics of the customers service
provided by Easyhotel Plc are explained that would provide the idea about the customers
services. So, the main characteristics of customer service are:
- The good manners, politeness and behaviour of the staff in term of delivering the
customers service
- The time of the service delivery process
- Professionalism and expected result
- Personalisation of the service to meet the exact need of the customer.
Since, Easyhotel Plc is located in UK and the country holds first position in tourist receivers
country then it could be said that the Easyhotel Plc get the enough chance to deliver the
outstanding services to the customers. Easyhotel Plc could target both the domestic and
international customers from UK.
Reasons for using customer service policies in Easyhotel Plc
The customers services are designed by the organisation so that the customers could have an
idea about the type and the range of the services that are going to be received from the
organisations (Chang, 2000). Here, some reasons for using the customers services policies in
Easyhotel Plc are explained:
- Nowadays, the customers expectation has been increased. The organisation like
Easyhotel Plc has to take the helps of the customers service policies so that the
services as per the expectation of the customers could be provided.
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- The customer services policies in Easyhotel Plc so that the company would be able to
formulate the strategies that could be helpful in gaining the customer loyalty.
- Customer service policy is also used by Easyhotel Plc in gathering and storing the
information about the customers. With the help of this information, the new strategies
to maintain the customer base etc could be formulated.
B. Discuss the purpose of evaluating a customer service policy, indicating how this can
assist future staff training and development using your hospitality organisation as an
example.
Purpose of evaluating the customer service policy:
The customers service policy is designed by the organisation so that the satisfaction of the
customers could be gained. It has become very important for the organisation like Easyhotel
Plc to evaluate the customer services which are being processed in the organisation so that
the organisation could be aware of the effects of the customer policy on the organisation and
customers (Bowen, 2016). The several strategies are used by the organisations, like customer
feedback, survey, opinion and polls etc.
Easyhotel Plc uses the various customer service policies; here the evaluation of the “customer
feedback” and “customer loyalty and satisfaction program” policy would be done. Under the
customer feedback policy, the company Easyhotel Plc gathers the reviews of the customers
who have visited the hotel. Here, Easyhotel Plc provides the questionnaire to the customers
and asks them to fill and share their views and service experience with hotel. This is very
effective as the company get to know the taste of the customers and also their expectation and
level of the satisfaction. Another policy of Easyhotel Plc is the customer satisfaction and
loyalty program. Under this policy, Easyhotel Plc keeps the record of the customers and also
calculates the repeated visit of the customers. With the help of this, Easyhotel Plc is able to
know about are the customers are really satisfied with the service as they mentioned in their
questionnaire.
How this could assist future staff training and development:
The rate of success of the customer service highly depends on the employees and staff of the
organisations. In this way, Easyhotel Plc provides the training and development program to
the staff so that they could enhance their skills and could deliver the services to the customers
(Baskett, Muntz and Palacios, 2005). The customer feedback policy of Easyhotel Plc helps
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the company in assisting the employees and staff as this explains the experience of the
customers with the hotel in their own words. The mistakes that the company or the staffs
have been done in delivering the service is mentioned by the customers and then Easyhotel
Plc uses this feedback in providing the training and development program to the employees.
The new employees of the organisation also could get the benefit through this as they got to
know the main mistakes that they need to be avoided in delivering the services to the
customers.
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LO 2: Task 2
A. Evaluate different communication methods and how these are used to best effect
‘customer focused culture’ in your chosen organisation
There should be people flow of the communication in the organisation so that the best
services could be delivered to the customers. An effective communication in the organisation
also helps the company in creating the customer focused culture where the main benefits are
received by the customers and a good image of the hotel is created.
Communication methods in Easyhotel Plc
The different methods of the communication in Easyhotel Plc are explained below:
Figure 1: Communication methods (Reichheld, 2013)
As mentioned in the diagram, the methods of the communication in Easyhotel Plc could be of
three types. These are:
- Oral communication: Oral communication is very common in Easyhotel Plc as this
exists when the employees of the Easyhotel Plc talks to each other and also share their
opinion and views on the idea and concepts verbally. In Easyhotel Plc, the oral
communication could be executed through presentation, meeting, and training and
development programs.
- Written communication: written communication in Easyhotel Plc is executed through
emails, circulation, memo, letter etc (Schneider, 2010). This is a type of the formal
communication which is executed to inform the operations and activities of Easyhotel
Plc to the employees. In many cases, the written communication in Easyhotel Plc is
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also took place so that the employees could have the evidence of the communication
with other employees.
- Body language: It is a not verbal communication which is also existed in Easyhotel
Plc. There have been several times when the employees of the Easyhotel Plc have
used this method of the communication to express the honesty, anger and
disappointment and happiness inside the organisation.
How the communication methods are used to best effect ‘customer focused culture’ in
Easyhotel Plc
The different methods of the communication play a very important role in implementing the
customer focused culture. With the help of the oral communication, Easyhotel Plc would be
able to get the response and views of the customers about the customers policies and
operations. The written communication like questionnaire also helps the employees to make
the customer feel special and committed to the organisation.
B. Analyse how customer perception is influenced by customer service provision
drawing examples from your chosen hospitality organisation
As mentioned above that the way that the organisation behaves with customers or delivers the
services to the customers decides the success of the organisation into the hospitality industry.
Thus, Easyhotel Plc takes the help of the various processes so that the views of the customers
about the services of the company could be gathered and stored. For that purpose, the
customers feedback and Satisfaction and loyalty programs are run (Parasuraman, Berry and
Zeithaml, 2011). When it comes to the customers then it could be said that there are the
various factors that affect the perception of the customers such as information given in
websites, relatives feedback etc. In the other words, it could be said that the booking of the
customers is the result of either research that they have done on the websites or the
suggestion of the relatives or friends who have been the part of the hotel before. Here, a
perception and the level of the satisfaction are created in the mind of the customers. When the
customers enter in the organisation then they feel the environment and compare this with
their set perception and satisfaction. If it matches then the customers are happy otherwise not.
Here, it could be said that the company needs to create the customers services provision in a
way that could provide the satisfaction to the customers and their perception also could not be
changed.
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There have been many cases in Easyhotel Plc where the customer perception is influenced by
the customer provision. Easyhotel Plc is known for providing the great service to the
customers. Easyhotel Plc is two star hotels and the people who book their rooms here always
say that this is the best budget hotel of UK which provides the services like 4 star hotel
(Demoulin and Zidda, 2008). All the services like accommodation, meals, bars etc are
outstanding and the customers love the ambiance and environment of the organisation.
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LO3: Task 3
A. Explain customer satisfaction and assess the various sources of information on
customer requirements and satisfaction levels in your organisation.
The customer satisfaction could be measures through the behaviour of the customers after
receiving the services from the organisation. This basically, explains about how the services
have been offered by the organisation to the customers. If the customer is happy after
receiving the services then their satisfaction level is matched otherwise not (Mihelis,
Grigoroudis and Malandrakis, 2001). In this way, it could be said that for the organisation
like Easyhotel Plc, it is very important to gather the information from the end of the
customers so that the better policies on their satisfaction and expectation could be formulated.
Here, Easyhotel Plc uses two methods for gathering the information about the customers.
These are:
1. Primary data collection:
2. Secondary data collection:
Figure 2: Methods of information collection (Grove and Fisk, 2007)
Primary data collection: This is the process where the new fresh data is collected from the
various sources. The data collected through this method is very specific and accurate towards
the topic. Easyhotel Plc uses this method so that the accurate information about the customers
could be received by the organisation. The main methods that Easyhotel Plc uses under this
are: survey, focus groups and interviews. The surveys are done with the help of the
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questionnaire where these are given to the customers to know their interest and satisfaction
level. Sometimes the interviews are also arranged as per the consent of the customers.
Secondary data collection: this is the methods where the company tries to fetch the data
which is already has been used in doing various researches. The main motive of the company
to fetch this data is to get the assurance on the researches it has done. In Easyhotel Plc, the
secondary data could be of two types (Akbar and Parvez, 2009). These are internal secondary
data (this includes the sales figures of Easyhotel Plc, customer database, financial information
etc) and external secondary data (this includes journals, websites, national organisations,
articles etc).
B. Carry out a specific piece of research on customer requirements and satisfaction
levels for your chosen hospitality organisation and suggest potential improvements in
customer service
The research on the customer satisfaction and requirement on Easyhotel Plc is conducted
below:
Introduction: For the research, the sample which is taken is approx 20 customers. The main
purpose of the research is to identify the level of the satisfaction for the customers towards
the various services that Easyhotel Plc provides to them (Fang, Chiu and Wang, 2011). The
services include accommodation, room services, valet parking and currency exchange.
Research methods: the primary and secondary methods would be used by the company for
the purpose of collection of data. The methods used by Easyhotel Plc in using the primary
and secondary data are:
- Primary data:
o Survey: the survey has been conducted in the organisation to get the level of
the satisfaction for the customers.
o Interview: About 10-12 customers have been interviewed to collect the
accurate and precise information.
o Questionnaire: the questionnaire also has been used.
- Secondary data:
o Books
o Journals
o Websites
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o National organisation
Measurement: there are the various factors associated with the services that staffs provide to
the customers. Here, the measurement of the services is conducted on which the satisfaction
level of the customer is dependent on. The research would be conducted by keeping all the
factors mentioned below in mind:
- Foods: The factors that would be considered here are taste, hygiene, variety and
presentation.
- Accommodation: The factors that would be considered here are the space, clean,
decoration of room, TV, AC etc.
- Valet parking: The factors that would be considered here are the driving skills of
employee, behaviour etc.
- Room service: The factors that would be considered here are waiting time, delivery
time, friendliness of employee etc.
Limitation of research: The limitations of research are:
- The sample size of the customers does not included the customers with different
behaviour (Yang, 2003)
- Many customers were in hurry and they just fill the questionnaire
Results: After analysing all the factors it could be said that Easyhotel Plc is the hotel which
provides the outstanding services at low cost. The environment of the company is good and
the nature and behaviour of the staff is also outstanding. Besides this, the services of
company like valet parking etc are also good. Easyhotel Plc provides the proper training to
the staff and the effect of this could be seen in their behaviour and nature.
Recommendations: there the recommendations of the research are given:
- The company needs to include the range of the services to the customers
- Easyhotel Plc also needs to take the views of the employees and staff about how the
satisfaction level could be matched as they are in the touch of the customers directly.
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LO4: Task 4
A. Discuss how you would plan and deliver a customer service initiative in your chosen
hospitality organisation, bearing in mind that this will involve training hospitality
service staff as well as meeting customer requirements.
Providing the effective customer services is very important for the company. Here, the
planning and delivery of the customer service in Easyhotel Plc would be explained.
Easyhotel Plc provides the good services to the customers (Udo, Bagchi and Kirs, 2010). If
the company run a welcome program for the customers then it could bring a great success for
the company. So, here, planning and delivery of the customer services initiative “welcome
program” could be done with the help of following steps.
- Assess the customer service: Welcoming the customers would not affect the finance
of the company and before providing the welcome program, I must be aware of the
culture, name and need of the customers.
- Understand the customer requirement: here, the requirement of the customers could
be measured through different source of the customer information. With the help of
this, I would be able to know the satisfaction and expectation level of the customers.
- Create customer vision and service policy: For the welcoming program, the vision of
Easyhotel Plc would be “quality, happiness and value”
- Deal efficiency with customers: At this, the staff of the employees must have the
proper communication so that the best service could be provided. So good
communication, good usage of the equipments likes Orchestra etc. are in main
element where Easyhotel Plc needs to work. I am also planning to play orchestra.
- Educate your staff: For that purpose, the company Easyhotel Plc also needs to provide
the training and development program on using the equipment. Personality
development programs are also needed to be run so that the communication skills of
the employees could be enhanced.
- Delivery of service: here the services would be delivered. I have provided the service
in welcoming program of the customers.
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B. Explain how would review your own performance in the delivery of customer service
and make recommendations for improvement.
In Easyhotel Plc, good and effective and satisfactory services were provided by me in the
welcoming program of Easyhotel Plc which was initiative service for the company. Here, I
and my colleagues were trained about how the services are given to the customers and we
need to do. While reviewing, I would like to give above average performance in delivering
the welcoming programs to the customers. However, some areas of the improvements are still
there. So the recommendations for the customers service are given below:
- The quality of the service could be improved to the next level if there would be a
proper coordination among the members who are providing services
- Training must be provided by Easyhotel Plc time to time.
- The company also needs to hire more employees so that the burden of the team could
be released and they could be more focused in delivering the services.
- Motivational programs are must be there for the employees of Easyhotel Plc.
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Conclusion
There is more scope of the success, if the service delivery of the organisation is beyond the
expectation and satisfaction of the customers. Hence, it is very important for the organisation
to deliver the services that could enhance the level of the satisfaction for the customers. For
that purpose, the company also needs to provide the training and development program to the
employees so that they also could enhance their skills and talent towards providing the
effective services to the customers. Along with this, a proper examination of the environment
of the organisation must be executed so that the factors that could affect the service delivery
could be handled and a satisfactory service could be provided to customers.
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