Analysis of Customer Service Management at Hothorpe Venues

This report provides an in-depth analysis of customer service management at Hothorpe Venues, a versatile event venue specializing in weddings, conferences, and meetings. It examines the customer service journey, from pre-arrival to departure, highlighting key touchpoints and the importance of physical evidence in shaping customer perceptions. The report details the stages of the customer service journey, including arrival, occupancy, and departure, emphasizing the significance of each interaction. It also explores the physical evidence that impacts customer satisfaction, such as the venue's ambiance and the quality of services. The report also examines the on-stage touchpoints, such as greeting guests, registration, bag delivery, and food service, and their impact on the overall customer experience. Additionally, it addresses the social distancing measures taken by the venue. The report concludes with recommendations for enhancing customer service and maintaining a positive customer experience. The content is valuable for students studying customer service, marketing, and hospitality management.

Customer service
management for tourism
and hospitality.

Executive summary
Events services are severely affected by the pandemic and are needed to take some serious steps
in order to start again their business with proper safety measures and without any recklessness. It
is important to understand the importance of safety measure.

TABLE OF CONTENT
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................4
Hothorpe Venues customer’s service journey from arrival and attendance at the wedding
ceremony and reception............................................................................................................4
Physical evidence: ....................................................................................................................5
On stage touch points................................................................................................................6
Service blueprint.......................................................................................................................9
Social distancing measures taken..............................................................................................9
RECOMMENDATION.................................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................11

INTRODUCTION
Hothorpe venues is a versatile venue that provide various of services to its customer related to
events within a comfortable and well kept Georgian Manor House. The venue has been a popular
destination for business conferences and meetings , weddings, group breaks and functions. The
venue attracts around 23000 visitors every year (Centobelli, P. and Ndou, V., 2019.). The
company is providing event management services to its customers and is headquartered in
Theddingworth, Lelcestershire, United Kingdom. The company was founded in the year 1984.
the company has space and versatility with 10 meeting rooms, 55 suite bedrooms and 12 acre of
land which is required by clients in order to have a successful event. The venue has a peace of
rural setting and has a large garden which is great for leisure activities and team building
activities. The Hothorpe venue is available on reasonable cost which is why it attracts clients
from not for profit organization to high class corporate business guests, from holiday church
group to wedding couple. They have a team of experts which can provide professional and best
in class services according to the needs and requirements of the clients. Demographic profile is a
form of demographic analysis which helps the marketer in order to collect the particular
description of its target customers so that they can become more efficient and can provide best
advertising to the services and the products of the company so that they can attract target
customers and the efforts of marketing can become successful (Chen and et. al., 2021.). It helps
the marketer in identifying any gaps in the marketing efforts and strategies which is very
beneficial for the company. The Hothorpe venue makes sure that they have the right information
of their targeted customers so that they can make their marketing efforts in that direction. The
company collects information abut the age, gender, income, education, marital status,
employment, geographical location, home ownership, race or ethnicity. All these factors helps
the company to ensure that they can plan their marketing efforts are in right direction.
Consumer trend can be a new expectation, behaviour, opinion or attitude of a customer. It is
important for the marketer to stay updated to be on the top of the consumer trend (Dong and et.
al., 2018.). The term trend is not limited up to a style or a brand but also include the values of the
customers that attract them towards a specific product or services. The consumer trend analyst
states that experimental products provide more satisfaction to their users as they do not have any
expectations from that new product or service. It is important for the company to be proactive in
the case of consumer trends in order to prepare those trends beforehand. In case of Hothorpe

Venues they have analyzed the trend among customers about healthy food habits and they make
sure that their menu include items that are healthy and also some dishes for vegetarian
customers. They are using more and more environmental friendly methods so that they can
support the trend of sustainability which also helps them in attracting more customers (Falter, M.
and Hadwich, K., 2020.). The typical Hothorpe Venue customer will expect the best in class
services as the venue is popular for its affordable and extraordinary services.
MAIN BODY
Hothorpe Venues customer’s service journey from arrival and attendance at the wedding
ceremony and reception.
It can be referred as the guest cycle hat are important for any business or hotel in those sector to
understand properly in order to serve their customers the best in class services. Its the main duty
of the front office department of the company to ensure that their customers are having necessary
support related to their queries and their check in (Fan and et. al., 2020.). The front desk of any
hotel have the major amount of interaction with customers directly so it is important to for the
hotels and venues to make sure that their staff is properly managed and behaved.
The four stages of customer service journey are as follows:
Pre Arrival: The first stage of the customer service journey starts before the customer actually
arrive at the venue. It refers to the stage up to which the guests only have interacted with the
venue on phone calls or via internet in order to collect information regarding bookings or
location or other information (Gallarza, M.G., Arteaga, F. and Gil-Saura, I., 2019.). It gives little
time to the venue to crate an impact on the guests and also a little time to get everything ready
for the customers that are going to arrive soon. It is important for the venue to understand that
this is the crucial time which can make or break the image of the venue. They need to prepare
every thing in advance so that the guest will not have to wait for the formalities to be completed.
Arrival: It is the second stage when the guest arrive at the wedding venue some time before the
actual ceremony starts. They have their reservations in the hotel. It is the first time where the
hotel get to have a face to face interaction with the customers and they need to make sure that
they have a good impact on the customer (Kong and et. al., 2018.). The services that are provided
at this stage is doorman and poster services, reaching at the front desk the services that the

services that must be provided are registration, room assignment, issuing keys, baggage
handling. All these services are included in the first stage and the venue makes sure that these
services does not take much time as some customers do not like waiting at the front desk. Te
smooth functioning of front office ensures minimum waiting to their customers and helps the
venue to create a positive impression on their guests.
Occupancy: It is the third stage where the venue have the guests in their assigned rooms and then
they have to provide services which are required to them. The housekeeping services are the
basic services that are provided by the Hothorpe Venue. The customers generally asks for food
and beverages, shops nearby, main attractions nearby, etc. It is important for the staff of the
venue to provide the best services to them (Lei and et. al., 2020.). It can be said that the services
provided by the venue will decide the impression of venue in the eyes of the guests. Delayed
services is not very welcoming and will also spread a bad word of mouth.
Departure: This is the last stage of customer service journey and the last interaction between the
venue and the guests. It will decide whether the guests will come back or not. This stage is filled
with formalities related to check out and bill settlement (Mahr and et. al., 2019.). The Hothorpe
Venue males sure that their guests does not have to wait for longer duration of time in order to
do check out. The venue also provide special packages to the newly wed couples as a gift of
wedding. The venue all by themselves arrange special gift items for the guests of the wedding as
a token of thanks and to make their stay remembering.
Physical evidence: The customers are generally believe the tangible benefits that they get from
the services before purchasing any service. In order to assess the amount of satisfaction that they
get after consuming a particular service the customer requires physical evidences. Physical
evidence affects the perception and expectation of the consumer about service quality. The venue
needs to understand the importance that physical evidence hold in service industry. In order to
have a physical evidence the venue needs to take the support of effective planning and make
strategy that can help the company in fulfilling this demand. The strategy must be linked with the
objectives and goals of the organization (Mutalib and et. al., 2018.). The corporate and marketing
specialists of the organization needs to pay high attention to the customer experience and the role
of physical space and tangibles that can have an impact on those experiences. In context to
Hothorpe Venue, they make sure that the guests and customers of the venue get to have an
extraordinary experience with the services of the venue. They provide delightful experience to

their customers with the help of a team of professionals that are dedicated in the work of
providing delightful experience to the customers. It helps the venue to create a positive impact on
the customers and in providing them physical evidences.
On stage touch points
Greet and take bags: The first interaction that the guest have with the staff of the hotel is when
the guest enters and they hand their bags and suitcases to the staff member that are responsible
for the safe delivery of those bags to the front desk as well as room assigned to the guest (Palang,
D. and Tippayawong, K.Y., 2019.). The interaction of the team member and guest at this stage is
an important part for the overall impression of the hotel. It is important for the team member to
behave appropriately in front of the guest and be helpful as much as they can which will help the
company in improving their image.
Process registration: It is the registration that take place when the customer reaches to the front
desk of the hotel. The check in process is also known as registration process which is necessary
to be followed by both guests and team members in order to assign a room to the guest according
to their requirements. This interaction is a direct interaction with the customers of the hotel as it
helps the customer to collect information about the hotel and about the services of the hotel. The
front office of the hotel must make sure that this interaction must not be long in order to avoid
waiting time.
Deliver bags: The third interaction is when the team member deliver the bags of the customers
to the room assigned to them. This interaction must be polite and well behaved as the customer
will also ask for additional services at this stage and the behaviour of the staff can make or break
the reputation of the hotel. The bags must be deliver inside the room so that the customer does
not have to drag their bags even for a little.
Deliver foods: The other interaction of the guest with the team member is when the guest orders
food. It is an essential service that is provided by the hotel and the housekeeping department
must know the importance of this service (Vatankhah, S. and Darvishi, M., 2018.). The food
must be delivered within the time span and the food must be hot and fresh otherwise the guest
will be disappointed with the food as well as with the services which is not a good thing for the
hotel and its reputation.
Process checkout: It is the interaction that takes place at the time of check out of the customer.
It is the last chance of the hotel to create a long lasting delightful impact on the customer with

the help of their extraordinary services. These interactions will decide whether the customer likes
to come back to the hotel or not and that is the reason why the hotel need to focus more on these
interactions in order to attract new customers.
Off stage touch points
Make reservation for guests: Although the front desk has the responsibility to confirm the
reservations of the guest but a whole team is working behind the scene in order to manage the
reception desk of the hotel. Their are lots of team members that are working in order to make
sure that the processes of the hotels are working properly. Its a team work that all the guests are
able to have the services that they require individually. In context to Hothorpe Venue, they make
sure that their front office department have all the skilled personals that are required so that their
is no problem in the system of reservations and the requirements of the guests are managed
efficiently.
Take bags to room: the another work that are done by the back end staff is to make sure that
right luggage reach the right room to the right owner before the guest enters the room. It is
important to make sure that the guests are not waiting in the room in order to get their luggage
which was handed over to the staff of the hotel (Xu, H., Liu, Y. and Lyu, X., 2018.). In context
to Hothorpe Venue, they make sure that the luggage of the guest reach safely to their rooms
without any interruption. This is the reason why they have separate elevators for the staff
members.
Take food order: The third work at the back end is to take order from the guests on the phone
call connected from every room to the office. It is important to make a list of the requirements of
the customers, then give it in the kitchen with the correct room number on it in order to make
sure that correct food reaches to the correct guest. Mixing up in the orders can be a big issue and
can also be very harmful for the reputation of the venue. In context to Hothorpe Venue, they
have token for each and every room and a specific detailed notebook in order to avoid any
mistake.
Support system
Reservation system: The first task of the support team is to take all the phone calls, resolve their
queries, encourage them for booking by providing attractive offers according to their
requirements and then confirm their bookings. After taking bookings from the customers they
have to deliver all the information taken from the customers to the front office department

including all the specific detailed information provided by the customers. In context to Hothorpe
Venue, they make sure that they have a systematic process for all these work in order to avoid
any mistake.
Registration system: The registration process takes place when the customer enters into the
hotel and do the formalities for the check in process (Ye and et. al., 2019.). These are the
essential information that is required by the hotel in order to make sure that the customer has a
true identity as specified by them on the phone call and it is safe to assign room to them. In
context to Hothorpe Venue, they make sure that their registration process is fast and does not
involve much waiting time as it may cause inconvenience to the customers. Systematic process is
provided to the staff of front desk to collect the requited information.
Prepare food: the another important task that is done by the support team is to provide the food
that is required by the guests. The preparation of the food requires a full kitchen staff that are
ready to make anything that are ordered by the guests. They make sure perfect taste is indulge in
the food so that the customer can really feel the taste and feel delightful. The experience of food
can actually make the customer happy and can also put a good impression regarding the services
of the hotel on the customer. In context to Hothorpe Venue, they make sure that their kitchen
staff is preparing food with all hygienic safety standards and are making food with best of their
capacity. They always serve quality and fresh food to their guests.

Service blueprint
Social distancing measures taken
Social distancing measures are really important for all the staff members of the venue in order to
make sure that the staff members as well as guest are safe. Because of the ongoing Pandemic of
COVID 19 it is important to take measures for the sake of safety. The Hothorpe Venue, is
following all the social distancing measures that are necessary(Zobnina, M. and Rozhkov, A.,
2018.). They are especially careful when it comes to on stage touch points as in that stage the
staff members and the customers are coming directly into contact with each other. The company
has also provided separate elevators for the staff as well as for the customers. The elevators takes
only one family of customers at a time and before other enter the elevator is is essential to
sanitize the elevator again. This will help in having minimum contact with the customers. The
hotel also have the facility of food delivery without touch of staff member and through robots. In
the lobby and the hallways their are proper security keeping an eye on those who are not
following social distancing rules.

RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended to Hothorpe Venues to keep all the safety measure when they are organizing
event. It must be compulsory for all the guest to wear mask and follow social distancing. In order
to exceptional services to the customers the hotels must develop the idea of window tables which
will ave glass mirror on all the table which will prevent all the guests to come into close contact
with each other even at the time of having meals. It will not interrupt the interaction of the
customers as its a glass mirror but will help in maintaining social distancing. It will also help the
company in earning the trust of their guests that the hotel is genuinely concerned about their
safety. It will also help the company in creating a brand image. The hotel must make sure that at
the time of wedding ceremonies they implant several camera and several digital LED’s in all
over the garden which will help in social distancing and will not create ruckus on the stage or
nearby the stage. It is important to know the importance of social distancing in order to be safe
and healthy.

CONCLUSION
It is concluded from the above report that it is important for all the event venues and hotels to
make sure that they are following all the necessary social distancing measure that can help in
building a safe environment. In this report a blueprint of the Venue is also given which will help
in understanding and analyzing the workings of the hotel and its on stage and off stage
interactions or touch points that helps the hotel in running and operating smoothly and without
any interruption.

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