ELE800: Communication Summative Assessment - Hotel Industry Report

This report analyzes effective communication strategies within the hospitality and tourism industry, focusing on how hotels can enhance guest satisfaction. It explores various interaction points between hotel staff and guests, from booking to check-out, and identifies key communication techniques such as pre-stay emails, questionnaires, and customer relationship management (CRM) tools. The report emphasizes the importance of gathering guest preferences, providing personalized services, and using feedback mechanisms like surveys to improve service quality. Additionally, it highlights the significance of staff training in communication skills and provides examples of successful implementation by global hotel brands like Hilton. The report concludes that consistent and effective communication is crucial for building customer loyalty and ensuring a positive guest experience, which is essential for success in the competitive hospitality market.

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Communication
Summative Assessment

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Effective communication is considered as a significant and the most used skill in the
hospitality and tourism industry since it allows hotel managers and employees to clearly
communicate with guests and each other to deliver better services. Hotels use a number of
tools in order to improve their guests’ experience by fulfilling their demands and providing
them a memorable experience which they can achieve through better communicating with
guests (Bavik, 2016). When the time guests book a hotel and during their stay and check out,
there are a number of engagement points between the hotel staff and customers through
which they can build a positive relationship with them. During these interaction points, hotels
can implement different communication tools in order to enhance the satisfaction level of
guests by assessing and fulfilling their demands (Choudhury & McIntosh, 2013). Effective
engagement is relevant without which it becomes difficult for hotels to build a loyal customer
base that prefers to acquire their services and recommend them to others as well. The
objective of this report is to identify different engagement points in which hotel staff
members interact with customers and how they can use a range of communication techniques
in order to enhance their guest satisfaction level at each engagement point. This report will
evaluate evidence from a range of scholarly and professional literatures and identify
examples of effective communication policies to improve relationship between hotels and
guests to achieve higher satisfaction level.
There are different ways through which hotels can prepare themselves to improve the
quality of communication with guests to make sure that they build a positive relationship with
them. They can simply pre-stay emails or ask guests regarding their personal preferences on
arrival and periodically interact with them to determine whether they are happy during their
stay or not (Law, Buhalis & Cobanoglu, 2014). When guests arrive at the hotel, it is
important that the hotels must prepare themselves in advance to determine what they might
need, which will make a significant difference in their experience with them. The first
interaction between hotels and guests is during the booking process; guests can choose
between online or offline booking options to find the most suitable hotel for them, and the
hotel should also be prepared to deliver effective services to their guests (Koc, 2013). For
instance, many young parents appreciate if they receive specific facilities and amenities
during their stays, such as babysitting service or a baby crib. It makes their stay more
enjoyable since if the infant starts screaming or crying at 11 pm, then it will take them a lot of
time to set up a crib; therefore, they would appreciate the thoughtfulness and facilities
provided by the hotel which caters to their needs. During this interaction, the hotels can check

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the need of their guests in advance by asking them to specific these requirements during
online booking or ask them during offline booking (Choudhury & McIntosh, 2013).
During this interaction, hotels have the option to learn about the preferences and
requirements of their guests to anticipate their needs before they arrive. This special treatment
will make a world of difference in their experience, and they will be more likely to select the
same hotel and recommend the same to their friends and family members (Chevers &
Spencer, 2017). In this regards, one of the key communication tools which can be used by the
company is a survey or questionnaire. After confirming the booking, the hotels can send pre-
stay emails to their guests in which they can include questionnaires by using hotel-specific
survey tools. Some examples of these survey tools include Revinate, Guestfolio, ReviewPro
and SurveyMonkey through which hotels can prepare an Online Guest Survey Form to learn
about the demand of their customers and understand their needs to make sure that they
remain prepared for them (Hsu, 2012). Online tools play a major role in this regards because
guests will be able to submit their feedback at the comfort of their home whenever they get
free time. For example, people who stay in hotels for business meetings in other countries
find it difficult to run over to the locations of meetings, and they have to rush to these
meetings; however, hotels can make their life easier by acquiring pre-stay information
through their online questionnaire (Zhang & Vasquez, 2014). The hotel can arrange
transportation facilities, book restaurants new the location of their meetings and recommend
friendly cafés in the nearby area to set up meetings.
The hotels can also rely on both online and offline communication tools to learn about
why guests are coming, which will give them an idea regarding how they can improve their
stay. For some guests, it could be an annual vacation whereas, for others, it could be a
wedding anniversary, family reunion, graduation, birthday or other occasions. The hotels can
use this information to give a small surprise to their guests by decorating their room for a
particular occasion, which will improve the stay of customers (Bentley et al., 2012). The
hotels can also pick a location for their guests to celebrate their special occasion or
recommend them other options to enjoy their stay and make the most out of their vacation. At
the very least, the hotel staff can congratulate the guests on arrival and ask if they need
anything special to make their trip more memorable (Virginia Phelan, Chen & Haney, 2013).
These gestures assist in improving the satisfaction level of guests because it shows them that
the hotel cares about their needs and wants, and they are actively taking interest in fulfilling
them. These are just some examples of effective communication techniques which can be

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used by hotels at the time of the booking to make sure that they increase customer satisfaction
level. These steps can only be taken if the hotels collect pre-stay information from their
customers by communicating with them during the booking process; thus, hotels should
implement effective communication strategies during different interaction points to make
sure that their guests remain satisfied during their stay (Ettinger, Grabner-Krauter &
Terlutter, 2018).
The hotels can also rely on a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) tool which
can help them understand how customers choose products and services during their stay. This
understanding assists hotels in assessing the demand of their customers and provide them
promotion offer which caters to their need, and it allows them to improve their experience
during the stay (Mohammed & bin Rashid, 2012). This information can be used by hotels
during the Service Optimisation (SO) platform, which allow them to aggregate and evaluate
the current and future stays to deliver them better services. Multinational hotels can also
implement a Central Reservation System (CRS) which allow them to manage the reservations
of their guests across a portfolio of hotels and share information between them to deliver the
value of the guests and fulfil the role and responsibilities of the result. Through this system,
the preferences of guests can be shared between different hotels situated across the world that
improve their experience (Kim, Ham & Moon, 2012). This enables hotels to take care of
guests’ needs when they visit another branch of the hotel in another country, and they can
personalise their services based on their needs, which builds brand loyalty. This is a simple
communication technique which enables organisations in ensuring that they foster effective
relationship with their customers and focus on meeting their demands to achieve a high level
of satisfaction level (Prayag, Hall & Wood, 2018).
During the stay, there are different interaction points between the hotel staff members
and the guests during which relevant data can be collected by hotels to make sure that they
understand the needs and demands of their guests (Law, Buhalis & Cobanoglu, 2014). While
serving them breakfast, lunch, dinner or cleaning their room, there are different times when
the employees interact with guests which is a great time for them to communicate with them
in order to collect their feedback and improve their overall services. Feedback is a key
communication technique through which hotels can learn about their customers’ needs and
understand their preferences to make sure that those preferences can be fulfilled by them
when they discharge their duties (Ekiz, Khoo-Lattimore & Memarzadeh, 2012). There are
different ways through which hotels can collect feedback from guests such as implementing

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in-room technologies or providing them a survey to fill regarding their opinions regarding the
services of the company. The hotels should not only collect the feedback to learn about the
needs of their customers; instead, they should respond to the feedback by taking actions to
meet the demand of customers.
Many times guests provide their feedback through online websites after they check-
out of the hotel; thus, hotels should also respond to the criticism in these comments to make
sure that show their response to them and highlight how they have improved their services
(Chevers & Spencer, 2017). This practice encourages people to check out the new
arrangements of the hotel second time, which will increase customer satisfaction and brand
loyalty. Customer satisfaction surveys are another communication tool which can be used by
hotels through which they can collect their relevant feedback. This survey can be sent
through automated emails given to the customers after their trip to highlights the factors
which they like and did not like during their stay (Park & Allen, 2013). The information
collected through these surveys should be used in order to guide future decisions made by the
company. The hotels should make sure that their policies and marketing strategies take into
consideration the information given by guests during their surveys to make sure that they use
such data in order to design their services and marketing strategies (Bavik, 2016). This will
increase the satisfaction level of guests when they visit the hotel second time, and new guests
will also not face the same issues during their stay.
The satisfaction level of guests depends upon their interaction with staff members in
the hotels and whether or not they are able to deliver them high-quality services to fulfil their
demands or not. Hotels can achieve this by conducting staff training through communication
skills programs that are focused on developing skills and knowledge of employees to make
sure that they are able to effectively communicate with guests in crucial circumstances such
as attending them at the front desks, helping their fill-up the documents, dealing with their
complaints, coordinating between departments and others (Ineson, Benke & Laszlo, 2013).
The employees should receive communication training for around a period of one month in
which they should rely on both on-the-job and off-the-job training methods to improve their
communication skills. The teachers can also use techniques such as role-play in order to
make sure that staff members are able to understand the stress which they face in that
situation and prepared themselves in advance to effectively deal with those issues (Cohen,
2017). Moreover, staff members who have already received training should also have the
option to improve their communication skills by taking classes to make sure that they are able

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to improve their skills and knowledge. Since the staff members interact with guests
throughout their stay, preparing them for these situations will make them confident of
meeting the demand of their guests, which lead to high guest satisfaction levels. A good
example is Hilton Hotels and Resorts, which is a global brand that operates in the hospitality
industry, and the company has established its hotels in more than 85 countries (Widener,
2019).
The company also established an extensive training program for its employees in
which they are taught how to handle the challenges faced by guests based on their past
experiences to continuously deliver high-quality services in the future. The company has also
launched Hilton Worldwide University in which it offers training to more than 300,000 staff
members in order to improve their communication and other skills to make sure that they
deliver high-quality services to guests (HWU, 2019). During these sessions, the hotel
managerial staff should also listen to the staff members to collect relevant information about
the guests since they are the one who directly interacts with them on a personal level.
Successful communication is a two-way process; therefore, hotels should set up periodical
sessions or meetings in which employees should provide their feedback regarding the
challenges which they face while delivering services to guests and policies should be
implemented to address these challenges (Koc, 2013). Guest satisfaction level should be
monitored throughout their stay to make sure that they have a good time, and they are able to
address the challenges faced by them during their stay (Chevers & Spencer, 2017).
Employees should be trained to attend the guests, and they should know how to communicate
with them to address their complaints. However, this monitoring process should be a natural,
non-invasive way to make sure that guests did not feel like their privacy is being breached.
Another major interaction point between the hotels and guests is when they check-out
the hotel, and it is important that hotels must create a great last impression to make sure that
they visit again. In case the check-out experience of guests is not positive, then they are less
likely to visit the hotel next time (Bavik, 2016). The end experience of guests is just as vital
as the first one, and the hotel should make it simpler for guests to make sure that they leave a
great last impression. In this regards, communication is the key and hotels should rely on
both online and online techniques to make their process easier for customers. The guests
should leave their feedback on the desk, and they should also have the option to provide their
feedback through an online portal to make sure that it is shared with others (Luo & Milne,
2014). The hotel staff should not take too much time for their guests while dealing with them,

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and they should offer them to call a taxi to the airport and thank them for their custom.
During these interactions, the guests should be acknowledged by their names and they should
be informed regarding any possible traffic delays or change in weather conditions which
could affect their journey (Prayag, Hall & Wood, 2018). These are different interaction points
between hotels and guests in which hotels can rely on different communication techniques to
make sure that the high satisfaction level of guests can be achieved.
Based on the above observations, it can be concluded that effective communication
techniques are crucial for hotels to make sure that they positively influence their guest
satisfaction level. These communication techniques can be used by hotels during different
interaction points to make sure that they understand the factors which affect the satisfaction
level of guests and implement policies to positively influence them. Through effective
communication techniques, hotels can learn about their guests’ preferences before they
arrive, and they can prepare themselves to fulfil their demands and put extra efforts to make
their stay more enjoyable. Employee training is also crucial to make sure that they are able to
effectively communicate with guests to learn their preferences and deliver them high-quality
services. Both online and offline communication techniques should be used by hotels to
collect feedback from customers and improve overall communication, which will allow them
to improve their guest satisfaction level. Ultimately, communicating with guests can let hotels
understand them on a deeper level, and they will feel appreciated, which will improve their
satisfaction level.

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References
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