Service Quality Management at Sunderland International Hotel

This report examines service quality management at Sunderland International Hotel, focusing on customer satisfaction and operational efficiency. The report analyzes the importance of service quality, recommending the adoption of appropriate management methods such as SERVQUAL, RATER, and Crosby's theory to address issues like unethical staff behavior and consumer grievances. It evaluates current service delivery practices, including the impact of part-time employees, and discusses recruitment, engagement, and managerial implications. The report also proposes a customer feedback system framework to monitor and improve service quality, offering recommendations for staff training and operational improvements. The analysis includes gap identification in service quality, benefits of service quality management, and strategies to enhance services, such as e-services. The conclusion emphasizes the need for continuous monitoring and improvement to meet consumer expectations and ensure business growth.

SERVICE QUALITY

TABLE OF CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
MAIN BODY...................................................................................................................................1
1. Justification on importance of service quality management, recommending the adoption of
appropriate service quality management method........................................................................1
2. Current service delivery practices and recruitment of front line employees, their
engagement as well as managerial implications..........................................................................5
3. Producing a customer feedback system framework for Sunderland International Hotel in
accordance with monitoring and improving the service quality..................................................9
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................12
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................13

INTRODUCTION
Service quality management is the important aspect for all services industries as the
operations are based on bringing the satisfactory services among the consumers. There have been
effective increment and development of operations with the motive to enhance and improve
effective consumer satisfaction. The main motive of the business is for developing business
operations in accordance with having effective business growth. Managing activities, training
and development awarded to the employees as well as monitoring the financial aspects of the
business will be effective in improving operations. In the present report there will be discussion
based on operational aspects of Sunderland International Hotel. The grievances and complaints
from consumers will be acknowledged to bring effective services among consumers.
MAIN BODY
1. Justification on importance of service quality management, recommending the adoption of
appropriate service quality management method
To improve the consumer satisfaction with the business operations won which it is
necessary for the organisation to have adequate control over the services that has been made and
delivered by the organisations. The purchasing services from consumer which are usually
interested in the outcomes or experience that have been provided. It defines that, improving the
quality of services is basically based on consumers’ point of view (Hahn and et.al., 2017).
Therefore, it has been denoted as the subjective evaluation based on consumer preferences.
There might have challenges which in reference with determining, measuring, articulating as
well as improving the quality of services for the individual.
Service quality management and measurement:
This is the comprising between perceived expectation and performance of the business
with reference to address the issues and obstacles in order to meet profitable growth of the
business (Noe and et.al., 2017). The service quality management and measurement techniques
will be helpful in order to make better decisions regarding the business operations and growth
practices. In Sunderland International Hotel which will be effective for managing and operating
the activities. There is various feedback from the consumer which were relevant with the non-
satisfactory services as well as unethical response from the staff members.
Service quality Gap:
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The expectations from consumer is quite necessary for business to analyse and evaluate
the operational capabilities and consumer preferences for the business. Thus, the gap incurred in
the service quality process as the organisation is not capable of meeting the consumer
expectation on the required time (Teeroovengadum, Kamalanabhan and Seebaluck, 2016). There
have been various factors and issues which are regarding in appropriate operational management
in an industry.
The management of services has been based on understanding consumer requirement,
developing the services accordingly and the manner of delivering them. In Sunderland
International Hotel where it can be said that there have been various loopholes which are
relevant with the unethical and inappropriate management of the operations (Psomas and Jaca,
2016). Gap in service quality have been addressed on the basis of management perception gap,
quality specification gap, service delivery gap, marketing communication gap and perceived
service quality gap.
Service quality management methods:
Quality Management Models and Theories : There are several theories that pertains to
the improvement in the quality of products and services being delivered by organisation to its
customers. So for overcoming service quality issues there have been various methods which are
required to be implicated by Sunderland International Hotel such as:
SERVQUAL: This model has been developed on the expectancy disconfirmation
paradigm on which it is captures the consumer expectations as well as perceptions based on five
dimensions of managing the service quality. However, implication this technique will be
effective with reference to make the adequate operational development (Ali and Raza, 2017).
Thus, it consists of various features such as reliability, tangibles, empathy, responsiveness and
assurance with the measured and analysed data set. In accordance with the operational goals
stated for the business growth the monitoring and making necessary improvement in the better
operations.
RATER: To measure the consumer expectation this model has been developed by
Valarie Zeithaml, A. Parasuraman and Leonard Berry. This model was created with the motive
for making adequate increment and development of operational motives which in turn will be
useful to address and overcome with the business inefficiency (Kaura, Durga Prasad and Sharma,
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2015). As per the operational tendency of SERVQUAL model this model is also focused on
emphasising the five areas of operations such as Assurance, reliability, tangibility etc.
E-SERVICE: These are the services which have been operated by the business
organisation which in turn will be useful to address the obstacles. It basically demonstrating
various aspects such as service provider, receiver and the mode of delivering such services. It has
been main aspect of the business on which determining the operation requirement will be helpful
and applicable for the business with respect to improve the services. Thus, on which there are
various online business which will have effective operational increment (Izogo and Ogba, 2015).
Moreover, improving the services for Sunderland International Hotel on which improving the e-
services of the organisation such as e-booking, activities on social media as well as managing
feedback from consumer are based on improving the e-services of business. Timely addressing
the issues and operations will be effective for better operational management.
CROSBY'S THEORY : The theory was propounded by Philip Crosby that is based on
the idea that if the funds on spent on quality, then the funds are well spent and appropriately
invested. The category has laid down fourteen points that could improve the quality of services
delivered by Sunderland International hotel. These are :
 Obtaining the commitment from top management of hotel for improving the quality of
services provided to customers like spa, cleanliness, hygiene, proper greeting treatment of
customers, proper check in and check out time etc.
 Establishing a quality improvement who would carry out the work (Learn the Theories of
Total Quality Management, 2019.).
 Creating a metrics for measuring the performance of each activity. For example,
employing of more staff and technology at front office would lead to elimination of
mismanagement of activities at front desk, better customer attention and less traffic in the
lobby.
 Ascertaining the cost involved in quality improvement activities against the benefits it
will provide to the hotel.
 Training of supervisors and staff is necessary for implementing the plan of making things
better in the Sunderland International Hotel. Like how to handle complicated situations,
how to use the latest technology such as integrated management system, mobile operated
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room keys etc., being employed by the hotel for improving the efficiency of the
operations etc.
 Motivating employees to fix the shortcomings and defects.
 Ensuring that supervisors and employees understands the action plan for which goasl are
set for short period schedule.
 Ascertaining the root cause problems and eliminating them from the process. Like
inability of handling and accommodating wedding guests by staff of hotel clearly showed
that its employees required essential trainings.
 Establishing motivational, rewards, recognition and incentives programs for the
employees that could them in giving their best to the organisation. For example,
employees in the hotel are complaining about the reward system especially after the
increase in the number of customers and event bookings. The hotel is not following a
proper incentive system which is one of the reason why the quality of the hotel has
decreased which has also now questioning its reputation of being a well maintained 3 star
hotel.
 Monitoring and controlling the activities by developing a quality control council that act
as a watchdog for the progress made by the hotel in improving its services and
conducting regular meeting for discussing the same.
Importance of service quality management and measurement:
Benefits of implicating the service quality management will be effective with reference to
make better operational control by organisation. However, it has been suggested to the
professionals of Sunderland International Hotel that they can determine effective standard for the
number of services which were being offered by them among the consumers (Singh and Prasher,
2019). It can be analysed through survey, gap analysis, staff training and taking feedback from
consumers. Therefore, such measurements will be helpful in having information regarding the
issues and which will be managed through operating the business activities. Moreover, there are
various importance of measuring and maintaining the service quality such as:
 In a hospitality business it is necessary for the business in analysing the consumer
requirements by analysing their feedbacks, grievances and complaints in order to analyse
the drawbacks in offered services.
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 To manage the consumer satisfaction there is requirement of addressing their issues. It
can be helpful in developing the services they desired of which is known as service
quality management.
 It is basically based on the perception that how well a business is able to bring the
services among its buyers (Hahn and et.al., 2017).
 To maintain consumer satisfaction on which it is necessary to bring them adequate gains
and operational control over the costs implicated in various other activities.
 Improving the quality of room services, food and beverages as well as various other
accommodation facilities will be effective for the business to have adequate growth and
financial health.
Recommendations:
As per addressing various methods and operational determination of activities on which
making increment in the operations are the necessity in the business. There are various activities
which are required to be governed and monitored with respect to have better understanding and
control over quality of services offered by the hotel. Along with this, there will be requirement of
training the staff with proper operational policies as well as job roles (Noe and et.al., 2017). They
must be trained with context of presenting, behaving and communicating appropriately among
the consumers in Hotel. There must be recruitment of skills, talented as well as qualified
employees who would undertake the operational activities to mitigate the operational risks.
2. Current service delivery practices and recruitment of front line employees, their engagement
as well as managerial implications
Sunderland International Hotel have been operating services by facilitating the activities
such as gym, spa, swimming pool, dinning services etc. therefore, these are the operations which
are required to be governed, executed and monitored by the business professionals which in turn
will be helpful and effective in terms of addressing the operational aspects of the firm. In relation
with case study of hotel on which there have been various problems which are relevant with the
operational management and controlling the quality of services (Teeroovengadum,
Kamalanabhan and Seebaluck, 2016). There has been various feedback regarding consumer
grievances and inappropriate operational management in the business.
Impact of current practises :
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The current practises of hiring part-time employee could seen in a positive way from
the point of organisation. The operations of the hotel becomes cost effective due to the hiring of
part-time employees, effectiveness of employees' performance could be achieved by the
management due to the system of less working hours, higher flexibility and more job
satisfaction. The hotel used to maintained basic standard of a three star hotel by ensuring its
quality of services, appropriate recognition system and due attentiveness to the guest visiting the
hotel. This however, changed when hotel experienced more occupancy in its hotel, more
banquettes, conferences bookings etc. This all created the mis management that led to the
dissatisfaction amongst the employee and for which actions needs to be taken for retaining its
workforce.
People are to satisfied with the quality of services provided by firm. Along with this, the
unethical behaviour of workforce has presented the negative image of hotel in their mind. These
are the issues which are required to be resolved by the professionals at Sunderland International
Hotel. However, in relation with developing the current service delivery practices on which
making necessary improvement is quite mandatory for the growth and profitability of business
(Psomas and Jaca, 2016).
As per considering the operational practices of Sunderland International Hotel on which
it can be said business must bring reforms in the operational practices (Kaura, Durga Prasad and
Sharma, 2015). There must be effective expansion of the operations which are required to be
done in a manner to bring better control over growth and revenue of firm. Sunderland
International Hotel have estimated that there will be raise in the room occupancy around 200%
on which they could become able to generate the effective revenue and profitability. Moreover,
they have been recruited employees on which 60% are working on the part-time job. Thus, to
control the increase employee turnover they have to be focused on recruiting the full-time
workers.
The hotel requires improvements on the technical basis as well. As per the case study,
hotel was negatively reviewed by number of customers. One of the technical complaint a
customer made was 1 hour wait time for check in. This was because of the heavy traffic at the
front desk of the hotel. It was clearly a problem of shortage of staff who was unable to handle the
increased number of guest. Employment of staff is necessary for the smooth and seamless flow
of work within the premises for overcoming the problem of long waiting hours for check ins. It
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was also found from a survey that even five minute wait for checking in the room can increase
the chances of customer satisfaction by 50% (Reducing Hotel Check-In Times And Front Desk
Traffic, 2018).
Another way of reducing the traffic at the lobby of the hotel is to employ technology
solution such as mobile check-in. Sunderland International hotel can reap the benefit of
technology by employing its routine operations. For example, every customer nowadays possess
a smartphones and the management can process its activities via smart-phones, notifying
customers through the mobile that their customers are ready for check in. OpenKey, a mobile
and online tool that facilitate the customers in using their mobile phones as their room keys.
Traditional method for the traffic flow management could also use by the management of
the hotel. For example, providing appropriate trainings to the front desk employees so that they
can give more attention on the customers visiting the place. Such attention and distraction free
environment and service offered by the hotel helps it in making its guests feels special that. This
eventually helps in enhancing the overall customers' satisfaction (Kumar and Pansari, 2016).
Proper alignment of operational requirements and technical requirements could help the hotel in
obtaining the maximum customer satisfaction. Employment of staff and providing training is
necessary for overcoming the challenges it is current facing like long waiting hours at the lobby,
high traffic at the front desk, inability of handling customers during the events due to the lack of
adequate staff members etc. Employment of technology such as mobile key, kiosks, priority
check ins cane help the organisation in providing the quality service to the people at the front
desk. Such quality service would help in boosting the customer experience (Mone and London,
2018).
Impact of current services of Hotel on employees :
The impact of such practises would be such that front line employees would be more
secured their jobs, their careers and their satisfaction level with the job. Higher level of job
satisfaction means high retention power of the hotel that eventually leads to higher productivity.
Happy employees tends to provide more quality services to the guests visiting the hotel that
subsequently leads to maximum customer satisfaction. Poor performance of the employees in the
hotel is also because the hotel does not provide required awards and recognitions to the people
working for it. This causes motivation problems in staff that restricts them in performing their
duties as per their best capabilities. Therefore, engagement of the employees is necessary for
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improving the quality of servile that is being delivered by the Sunderland International hotel. The
organisation needs to develop proper and effective HR policies that are focussed on the
employees and their satisfaction with the jobs.
This can be reduced by hiring of full-time workforce and a provision of proper training
and development regime would help the organisation in retaining and engaging the employees.
This is because nobody desires to remain in a company or hotel where it sees signs of no career
growth and development. Thus, it is one of the crucial way of reducing the workforce turnover
(Chandani and et.al., 2016).
A proper mechanism of rewards and recognition must be formed by the management of
the hotel for improving the employee engagement. For example, monetary perks can be provided
to the staff based on their performance. This practise would create an urge in them for
performing at their best level and capabilities (Lee, Idris and Delfabbro, 2017). It is very
necessary to include non monetary benefits for the employees since not all the employees have
same motivational drivers which force them to work more hard. Job recognition, job security and
job enrichment are the ways through which employees of the hotel. A major factor the
demotivated the staff of the hotel was the majority of the people were hired on part-time basis
apart from management and supervisors. This system of part-time jobs creates a doubt in the
minds of people regarding their jobs, stability, growth and development. There is a high time for
the Hotel Sunderland International that it starts recruiting highly tried and skilled professionals
who can appropriately work and manage the activities in the premises for helping the hotel in
obtaining its objective of attaining the maximum satisfaction of customers by offering quality
services to them. It is evident from the scenario provided that, hotel's main reason of getting
negative review is either because of lack of sufficient staff or because of the inability of the staff
in handling the customers pleasant purely due to the lack of training.
Employee Engagement and Managerial Implications: There are some methods of
empowering and engaging the staff which the Sunderland International Hotel could adopt. This
will also solve the problem of employee turnover which is taking a toll on the quality of services
being rendered by the hotel. The ways are discussed below : Individual well being : Understanding the needs of each employee and satisfying them is
one of the method through which staff could be retained. Taking care of employee's
personal objectives would create a feeling in employees' mind that organisation cares for
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them and this could a base that they desire of being associated with the hotel for the
longest time. Appropriate performance appraisal scheme : Employee desires of getting the rewards
and recognition for the work done by it. Providing incentives, perks and job recognition
could motivate them to remain intact within in the hotel (Fabijan, Olsson and Bosch,
2015)
 Training and development : When somebody sees its personal growth and career
development in an organisation, it wants to continue delivering its services. Providing
training at the workplace helps in making an individual more skilled and competent that
is beneficial for both employee and the hotel. Like employees sees themselves growing in
the organisation while employer gets a more competent workforce that could perform the
activities with more efficiency which helps in raising the level of productivity of the
entire hotel. For example, Hotel Sunderland International only provides on the job training that
too only for a week by the supervisor. Such trainings are not sufficient for controlling and
improving the quality of the hotel's services and these short duration induction trainings
does not adequately make the employees competent enough to perform the task with
utmost discretion. Therefore, the management has to amend its HR policies of providing
training and development programs and shall make it more comprehensive in nature such
as class room training. Regular training sessions keeps the workforce updated of the
trends of the hospitality industry. This results in achieving employee satisfaction (Soltani
and Navimipour,2016). Flexible working environment : Hotel should create a suitable and pleasant working
environment for its employees where they could deliver their performance to their best
capabilities. Providing flexibility in the working like rotational shifts, flexible working
hours, two way communication system etc., empowers employees which helps in
reducing turnover and increasing the efficiency in their performances.
 Appropriate Remuneration : The employees of the hotel complained about the minimum
wages provided by the organisation which are not according to the standard set by the
legislation. Such inappropriate payment of remuneration increases the dissatisfaction
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amongst employees regarding their job, their anger towards management that leads them
to leave the organisation (Hollebeek, Srivastava, and Chen, 2019).
Therefore, in order to engage and empower staff, hotel has to provide appropriate wages
and salaries to its workforce for making them satisfied with the workplace.
3. Producing a customer feedback system framework for Sunderland International Hotel in
accordance with monitoring and improving the service quality
 Requirements, expectations and preferences of the customers are evolving
constantly which is asking for the framework of customer feedback system. This is the
reason why every organisation nowadays is keen on adopting this mechanism. Customer
feedback is a system where the organisations asks questions from its customers related to
the services offered by it, how did they like the quality of delivering the services, was the
price paid by the customers was worthy enough on spending on the organisation, any
suggestions for further improvements, reviews etc (Celuch, Robinson, and Walsh,
2015).
Hospitality firms are even more exposed to the challenges of ever changing preferences
of the customers as this industry is highly personalised and customised in nature. Preferences and
customer satisfaction level differs very significantly from person to person in the hospitality
sector which makes the necessity of a proper customer feedback system even more vital.
 From the given case study, it was observed that Sunderland International Hotel is
not maintaining an adequate and sufficient feedback system for making itself better and
for solving the problems of the customers. Customers have posted their reviews on hotel's
Facebook page and at other places on the online platforms which the hotel views once in
month. Also, because of the increased occupancy in the hotel, event bookings and
conferences, it has made disrupted the functioning of the management that has in return
made it inefficient in responding to the customer's feedbacks (Igba and et.al., 2015).
 Therefore, it is necessary that hotel adopt a very suitable customer feedback
system which supports the aspects of quality management that are monitoring and
controlling. The hotel could create a feedback system where the opinions of the
customers shall be taken on the digital platforms like on its official site. The reason of
selecting the digital platform is justified on the grounds that feedbacks are easier to
process when taken through digital medial that rules out the possibility of excessive
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