Reflective Essay on Front Stage and Back Stage Operations in Hotels

This reflective essay examines the service industry, focusing on the hospitality sector and the operations of the Regatta Hotel. The essay begins with an introduction to the service industry, its classification, and the importance of service quality, intensity, and variability, particularly within the hospitality sector. The author, a former front desk intern at the Regatta Hotel, provides insights into both front-stage and back-stage operations, illustrating these with flowcharts. The essay then delves into the significance of service encounters, defining them and exploring their impact on customer satisfaction. Managerial implications are analyzed, highlighting the importance of customer choice, fairness, and knowledge in delivering satisfactory service. The conclusion emphasizes the link between service quality and the seamless flow of front and back-stage operations, using the Regatta Hotel as a practical example.

Running head: REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Reflective Essay
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author note

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REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Introduction
Service industry has been considered to be residual and tertiary sector in the economic
category. There are several classification methods that have been utilized in the service
industry for providing services to each sector. Most of the service organizations use the
‘people-oriented approach’ within their organization. Especially in the hospitality industry,
the service quality, Service intensity, service variability matter for the good will of the
organization. There are different kinds of service encounters in the entire day in the hotel and
these encounters reveal the quality of service along with the intensity and variability of the
service (Lugosi 2014). For this study, I will take the Regatta Hotel where I have worked in
the past for two months. I was working there as a front desk intern, so I have some
knowledge about the internal service channel of the hotel. In this essay, I will present the
front stage and back stage operations in the form of flow charts along with explaining the
significance of the service encounter and analysis of the managerial implications.

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Client with any requirement or any issue
PERFORMANCE
Directly interaction with the employees regarding décor or any equipment along with other consumers
Client with a solution
REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Flowchart
Figure 1: Front Stage operations
Source: Author

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Raw materials or the Components,
Information
TRANFORMATION
Employees, technology and equipments
Finished products, processes knowledge and information
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Figure 2: Back Stage Operations
Source: Author

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REFLECTIVE ESSAY
Explanation of significance of the service encounter
‘Service Encounter’, the term itself has attained various usages in the hospitality
industry. Daugstad and Kirchengast (2013) broadly defines that service encounter is the
dyadic communication between the provider of service and the consumers of the service. This
definition also adheres to another definition of service encounter that it is the role
performances between two individuals, where both the provider of the service and the
customers have a specific role to play. This mostly focuses on the specific interpersonal
elements of the performance of the organization. As Lin and Fu (2017) define, service
encounter is the only time whole the customers interact with the specific service, provided by
the organization, directly. This definition mostly includes various aspects of the service
industry, especially in hospitality, where the customers can interact with the concerned
personnel, and the physical competences along with other elements within a hotel. Hsiao and
Chuang (2016) suggest that there have been several surveys and studies regarding the
significance of the service encounters along with the dependence of the service satisfaction of
the customers. This also suggests that the factor of the human interaction in the service
delivery is very much necessary for determining the satisfaction or the dissatisfaction of the
service. A recent study has also mentioned that, in any hospitality organization, the
interaction between the customer and personnel form the hotel is considered to be a major
predictor of the overall satisfaction of the customers with the organization. If a customer
comes to Regatta Hotel and asks for his or her concern at the front desk, the front desk
personnel should be adequately polite and should answer back with right and relevant
information. This may influence the customer to stay in our hotel and avail our services.
However, if the scenario is just the opposite and the personnel do not answer in correct way
with all the necessary information, we may lose a valuable customer. There have been several
studies regarding the customer satisfaction, where researchers have indicated that the

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dissatisfaction or satisfaction level of the customers is always influenced by the service
encounters that the hotel provides.
Therefore, it can be said that the actions of the service providers directly affect the
clients. Even thought this experience is mostly intangible, it also involves few tangible
elements such as the flow of information, food or the manufactured products provided by the
hotel (Reynolds et al. 2014). A hotel room in Regatta Hotel should affect the comfort level of
the guests in a positive manner. Even though this service is mostly supported by the tangible
elements, its essence is what we call the performance or the service encounters of the
organization. This interaction generally takes place at the front stage operations. Depending
on the kind of service that is being provided, the interaction should be intensive or high
(Yang, Ryan and Zhang 2016). However, front stage and back stage operations in Regatta
Hotel are always related like any other service sectors. The front stage personnel is only
capable of providing service as promised to the clients if the back stage operations are
moving smoothly.
Analysis of managerial implications
From the findings of few recent studies indicate that it is very important for the
consumers to have the authentic choices within the exchange of service in the hotel. If the
hotel allows the client or the guest to choose what services they want to avail, they are giving
a sense of control to the consumers. However Reynolds et al. (2014) also suggest that the
customers will be far more happy and satisfied with the service if they had no control here.
For example, in the restaurant of the Regatta Hotel, the waiters or the patrons are allocated to
different tables on the basis of their service stations, not depending on what the client prefers.
However, in such situations, if the restaurants start selecting the table and the waiters, it
would not be much appreciated by the customers at all; rather it would worsen their dining

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experience. This may affect the customer experiences in a negative way as well. The
assigning of the tables are entirely management jobs, if it is done with consulting the guests,
it would affect their satisfaction level negatively (Kontogeorgopoulos 2016). Especially, if
the customers start claiming few specific tables, it would create a mess in the restaurant.
However, satisfaction or the dissatisfaction levels of the customers also depend on the
behavior of the providers of services. Especially, it is more applicable while the mo desirable
option is not available for the customers. The front desk managers should attempt offering the
guests a varied range of other substitutes. The action may seem to be very simple, but it may
result into either a satisfactory or a dissatisfactory experience of the guests. So, it is entirely
the manager’s job to please the guests even if their first choice of service is unavailable for
them. Yang, Ryan and Zhang (2016) suggest that if the service is consistent, impartial and
knowledgeable, there should always be a strong relationship between the customers and the
service providers. In the hospitality industry, it is important to have the adequate knowledge
regarding he services. It may be as simple as answering a mere question of the customers, but
it reflects the implications of the confidence of the customers on the service of the hotel
(Hsiao and Chuang 2016). Along with that, impartiality also affects the overall customer
satisfaction. For instance, when the customer sees a bottle of water is priced way too high
than it is available in the market, it may affect the overall customer satisfaction. The customer
may think of this to be unfair. However, on the other hand, showing interest or considering
the customers’ choice of service is strongly related to the overall satisfaction of the
customers. Therefore, the front stage operation managers in Regatta Hotel should ensure that
their back stage operations flow in a way that reflects the customer satisfaction to a great
extent.

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Conclusion
In conclusion it can be said that the quality of service mostly reflects the smooth flow
of front and back stage operations. In a hotel like Regatta Hotel, the service encounters tend
to highlight the output and input of the service provider and the customer. This study has
reflected both the front and back sage performance of Regatta Hotel along with its managerial
implications.

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Reference list
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Kontogeorgopoulos, N., 2016. Forays into the backstage: volunteer tourism and the pursuit of
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Lin, C.F. and Fu, C.S., 2017. Advancing laddering and critical incident technique to reveal
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Lugosi, P., 2014. Mobilising identity and culture in experience co-creation and venue
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Reynolds, P., Balan, P., Metcalfe, M. and Balan-Vnuk, E., 2014. Investigating innovative
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