Hospitality Operations Management: Performance and Satisfaction

This report provides an overview of operations management in the hospitality industry, focusing on enhancing customer service and satisfaction. It examines various processes within a hospitality business, including housekeeping, supply chain, guest arrivals and departures, and food and beverage services, using Metro Inns as a case study. The report identifies and explains several models and concepts for improving customer satisfaction and overall performance, such as the ACSI model, disconfirmation of expectation model, the performance model, KANO model, Business Process Redesigning, Reconfigurable manufacturing systems, Six Sigma, and Lean manufacturing. It emphasizes the importance of integrating these operational activities to achieve efficiency, maintain quality standards, and meet customer expectations, ultimately leading to improved business performance and customer loyalty. Desklib offers similar solved assignments and study tools for students.

Hospitality
Operations
Management
Improving performance and customer
satisfaction through operation
management concepts

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Overview of the process/operations and organisation focusing on the customer service and the
impact on customer satisfaction.......................................................................................................1
Housekeeping operations........................................................................................................1
Operations or process related to supplying necessary inputs.................................................2
Operations/Processes on guest arrivals and departures..........................................................3
Accompanying operations like producing and serving food and beverage............................4
Concepts and appropriate models to customer satisfaction and overall performance.....................5
ACSI Conceptual model.........................................................................................................5
Disconfirmation of expectation model...................................................................................6
The performance model..........................................................................................................7
KANO Model.........................................................................................................................7
Business Process Redesigning................................................................................................9
Reconfigurable manufacturing systems.................................................................................9
Six Sigma..............................................................................................................................10
Lean manufacturing..............................................................................................................10
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................10
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Operations management can be considered as the process of administration for the business
practices and overall proceeds from resource acquisition to final consumer so that greater level of
efficiency and effectiveness can be generated with the organisation. Hospitality industry is very
huge and it includes many businesses like hotels, bars, restaurants, clubs etc. where operations
management is necessary to provide greater customer satisfaction. There are many functions and
activities within a hospitality business like room service, food and drink, bars, leisure, etc.
(Goshime, Kitaw and Jilcha, 2018). It is very important that an organisation should improve its
performance and this could be done by the use of operations management activities within the
business and it also helps to provide better customer satisfaction. Metro Inns is a budget
restaurant, hotel and bars, located in the Newcastle, UK and many other countries of the world
that have unique preferences among the customers. The report will be providing an overview of
the processes or operations of hospitality business for providing better customer services and
satisfaction. In the end, it will identify various concepts and appropriate models that can be
helpful to improve the operations management and performance of the organisation to provide
maximum customer satisfaction.
Overview of the process/operations and organisation focusing on the customer
service and the impact on customer satisfaction
There are many operations management activities that are highly integrated and independent
which provide support to the business processes. The complete operating processes of Metro
Inns Hotel comprise various processes of production as well as service activities. Production
activities within Metro Inn hotel consist of product characteristics like serving food, providing
drink, etc. The service activities within the Metro Inns hotel comprises of accommodation,
serving meals and beverages, laundry and washing, entertainment activities, and many others.
Housekeeping operations
It is the most important part within any hospitality organization. Similarly the operation
within the Metro Inn hotel and bars comprises activities such as reservation, food production and
other activities like serving guests and improving their experience. The productions of food and
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hotel room reservations, dining reservations etc. are the major operational activities that are
performed by Metro Inn hotels and bars for providing a feel at home environment to the
customers. The hotels try to maintain quality standards by providing general cleanliness, hygiene
and technical maintenance for improving health and safety of guests, staff and visitors (Tomic
and Brkic, 2018). The hotel housekeeping operations mainly consist of activities like equipment
supplier accommodation, room supervision, dry cleaning and laundry, etc. The other operations
for processes consist of the hygiene of public space, safety and security, public space decoration,
and maintaining a soothing environment with lush green natural views.
Figure 1: process classification in hospitality
Operations or process related to supplying necessary inputs
Operational activities within a hospitality business depend on the type, size, category and
other elements of the Metro Inns hotel. The activities of this business operation or process in the
hotels depend upon the type size in category of the hotel along with the time of its operations
(Santa, MacDonald and Ferrer, 2019). The process of supplying necessary inputs is very
important for identifying the suitable raw materials needed for continuous production and to
provide services to the customers on a regular basis. It consists of activities like selecting the best
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suppliers, selecting food and drink options, checking the quality of food and beverage,
warehousing of the goods, etc. These operations within Metro Inn hotels are necessary for
acquiring best quality products and maintaining the quality standards in the production of food
items so that maximum customer satisfaction can be obtained. Metro Inn hotels and bars mainly
deal in food and beverages along with stay services at the hotel that makes it necessary for the
organisation to maintain quality standards and adequate safety and security at the hotel.
Figure 2: Hotel Housekeeping Operations
Operations/Processes on guest arrivals and departures
The operations related to the guest arrivals and departures are categorized mainly into the
five activities (Fargnoli and et. al., 2018). It consists of important operations and tasks related to
providing guest services and guest accounting at the Metro Inn hotel and bars. It consists of front
office operations and the star must be well aware of the guest services as well as guest
accounting activities stage by stage in a formal manner. The front office managers have
considerable understanding of the processes in the hotel and they must be aware of systematic
approaches for welcoming guests and their departures. The guest mainly prefers the hotels after
witnessing the pre arrival activities and post arrival as well as departure activities of the hotel.
Their experience in terms of staying in the hotel as well as their convenience makes them loyal
towards an organization.
The operations within the Metro Inn hotel are created in such a manner that it affects the
choices of customers, improves their experience with their hotel, creates positive advertising and
promotions, Hotel loyalty programs, easy bookings, digital payment systems etc. The destination
of the hotel is made in such a manner that reservations, recreational facilities, interaction with the
customers, hotel room services and agar facilities can be provided effectively to the
customers. The Metro Inn hotel tries to synchronize best arrival and departure operations so that
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customer experiences can be enhanced. They have used short term reservations and long term
reservations so that battle options to the customers according to their needs can be provided
(Torlak, Demir and Budur, 2019). The hotel also provides guaranteed reservations and
unguaranteed reservations according to the needs of customers which help to diversify their pre
arrival scenario.
The organization also focuses on improving the departure of the guests by including the
services such as responding constantly to the customers, taking feedbacks and suggestions and
encouraging the guests to come again at the hotel. Metro Inn hotels and bars are famous for
providing privilege to the customers who are most loyal to the organization. It helps to provide
anticipatory service that could easily meet or exceed the expectation of the customers.
Figure 3: Supplying Necessary Inputs
Accompanying operations like producing and serving food and beverage
There is a huge diversity in the activities related to the production of food and beverages
within the hotels. Every Hotel has their unique taste and cocktail that attracts the customers,
similarly Metro Inn hotel have developed its own tastes and cocktails that provides it the
opportunity to enhance customer satisfaction. The hotel maintains a quality standard while
preparing and serving food and beverages to the customers (Marques and et.al., 2021). It also
divides its operations into two sub processes so that food and beverage operations can be
performed differently. This helps to improve the quality of work and provide satisfaction over
the expectations of the customers. The wide range of food and beverages through limited menu
or extensive menu offered by Metro Inn hotels helps to satisfy the needs of customers from
different financial backgrounds.
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Figure 4: Producing and Serving Food and Beverage
Concepts and appropriate models to customer satisfaction and overall
performance
There are many models and concepts to customer satisfaction that are highly interlinked and
interdependent on certain factors like quality, perceived value and the expectation of customers
(Solmaz, Aşan and Şıhmantepe, 2022). Some of the customer satisfaction models are described
below:
ACSI Conceptual model
This customer satisfaction model can be explained as a set of equations like perceived
value, perceived quality and expectations of customers that provides satisfaction to them. The
customer satisfaction model mainly describes the customer complaints and customers loyalty
towards a business (Trimble, Murambiwa and Du Plessis, 2019). This model is based on the
American Customer Satisfaction Index or ACSI that provides the measurement of customer
satisfaction through the dependent variables like perceived quality pursuit value and customer
expectations.
 Perceived quality is expected as the first determinant of satisfaction level of the
customers. This is helpful in evaluating the market consumption patterns and demand for
products by the customers, which helps to identify the customer experience and the direct
effects of product or services on customer satisfaction.
 Perceived value is another determinant of the satisfaction level of customers that helps to
identify the satisfaction level of customers towards a product according to its quality and
the price paid for the product. It mainly measures the quality of the product according to
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the prices paid and helps to identify the level of customer satisfaction. The prices are very
important but the satisfaction level of customers for the quality declines with continuous
purchases.
 Expectation of customers: It is the third determinant of customer satisfaction that
measures the anticipation of the quality of product and services (Inoue, 2021).
Expectations of customers before consumption and after consumption help the
organisation to improve advertising and worth of mouth along with the forecasting of
companies ability to deliver high quality products in the future.
Figure 5: ACSI Customer Satisfaction Model
Disconfirmation of expectation model
The disconfirmation model demonstrates the ability to affect customer satisfaction by
combining the performance of goods and services with customer expectations. It states that the
expectations that are helpful in increasing the level of perceived performance of the product will
definitely provide greater satisfaction to the customers. With the help of disconfirmation of
expectation model the Metro Inn hotel can definitely increase the quality of products and
services so that greater customer satisfaction can be achieved (Shi and et.al., 2020). The model
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describes three stages of operations that can help to improve satisfaction levels that are pre
consumption, consumption and post consumption.
 Pre consumption operations within the Metro Inn hotels and bars can be improved by
improving the reservation and booking facilities within the hotel.
 Consumption operations within the Metro Inn hotel and bars can be improved by
improving all the functions related to the housekeeping, front office, food and beverage,
etc. activities within the hotel.
 Post consumption operations can be improved by facilitating proper discharge and
goodbye to the customers along with providing alluring opportunities for the customers to
visit the hotel.
The performance model
It consists of a conceptual theory that explains that the customer's perception about a
product or service derives their expectations towards its performance and creates positive effects
on customer satisfaction (de Andrade, 2020). With the help of this model Metro Inn hotel can
offer greater quality of products to the customers, provide better services and improve the
perception of customers according to their prices paid for a given product. By this the customers
can perceive better performance from the products and services according to the given value for
cost. In demonstrating that the products and services that have high cost must provide greater
satisfaction to the customers and it is important for maintaining greater level of customer
satisfaction.
KANO Model
This model of customer satisfaction classifies the attributes of products according to the
preciseness of the customers and its effects on the satisfaction level of customers. It can be
helpful for providing design decisions for Metro Inn hotels to provide better customer services to
meet customer expectations and achieve better products and services. The model divides the
attributes of products into four categories that are given below:
 Threshold attributes refers to the attributes that are expected by the customers in the
product or services and this must be included in the products and services of the
organisation.
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 Performance attributes are likely preferred by customers within the products and
services of the organisation. Metro Inn hotels and bars must fulfil these requirements of
the customers so that it can maintain a delightful customer experience and have greater
comparative advantage in the future.
 Excitement attributes: These attributes are not expressed by the customers explicitly but
it consists of the changing trends that may gain demand in future. In order to stay ahead
of the competition the Metro Inn hotel must prepare certain attributes that can help it to
fulfil the requirements of customers according to the changing trends.
 Indifferent attributes: It consists of those attributes that do not fall in any of the three
categories mentioned above. It is because of low customer expectations towards those
products and these types of products or services must be excluded from the organisation
or their production should be decreased. The Metro Inn hotels and bars can remove
certain items from their menu that are not in demand and create some new factors that
can attract customer attention.
Figure 6: KANO Model
Operations Management models and theories for enhancing performance
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Modern operations management revolves around the 4 theories that are Business Process
Redesign (BPR), Reconfigurable Manufacturing Systems, Six Sigma and lean manufacturing
(Pishdad-Bozorgi and et.al., 2018).
Business Process Redesigning
BPR was formalised in 1993 and this strategy focus is on analysing and designing the work
flow and business processes within an organisation for increasing the optimum operational
performance of the organisation. Metro Inn hotel and bar can use BPR for improving its focus
towards maintaining a consistent work flow by establishing standard operating procedure (SOP).
Reconfigurable manufacturing systems
Reconfigurable manufacturing systems are the production systems that are designed to
incorporate the dynamic changes in the software, hardware and structural components of the
organisation. This can allow Metro Inn hotels and bars to rapidly adapt to the changes and
redesign their capabilities to improve performance.
Six Sigma
Six-Sigma mainly focuses on improving the quality that was developed in 1995 to 1987 at
Motorola. It controls the sequence of the organisational operations and aligns them with the
financial targets for improving the profits and reducing the costs. With the help of six Sigma
strategies the Metro Inn hotels can improve its profit generation and create an influential effect
on customers (Barnes, 2018).
Lean manufacturing
Lean manufacturing is a systematic method for eliminating the wastage of resources in the
manufacturing process of the organisation (Waleczek and et.al., 2019). With the help of lean
manufacturing process Metro Inn hotel can reduce the wastage of resources within the
organisation and improve the utilisation of resources for optimising the operations and processes
within the organisation.
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CONCLUSION
It has been concluded from the above report that operations management within an
organisation is very important for improving the overall efficiency and effectiveness of the
Organisation. It has been identified that the operations management activities enhance business
performance and customer satisfaction. It has been discussed that there are various processes and
operations that can help to improve customer services within an organisation. Some of the
operations and processes within the hospitality business have been explained such as
housekeeping, supplying necessary inputs, guest arrival and departures and food and beverage
operations. Moreover, description of the appropriate models like ACSI Customer Satisfaction
model that demonstrate the perceived quality, perceived value and expectations of customers for
improving customer satisfaction within the business. In this context disconfirmation of
expectation model has also been described that provides preconception operations, conception
operations and post consumption operations for enhancing customer experience and satisfaction.
Along with this, some other models like the performance model and KANO model has been
discussed in the report. Finally there has been a description of operations management model and
theories for improving the overall performance of the organisation and enhancing customer
satisfaction.
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