International Tourism Management Service Quality Report

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INTERNATIONAL TOURISM MANAGEMENT SERVICE
QUALITY
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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
1. Justify the importance of managing and measuring service quality, recommending the
adoption of appropriate service quality management methods..................................................4
2. Case study analysis..............................................................................................................11
3. Production of a Customer Feedback System (CFS) framework that the organisation can
utilise to monitor and continually improve service quality......................................................15
Conclusion................................................................................................................................17
Reference..................................................................................................................................18
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Introduction
Managing the service quality refers to managing of the operations of an organization to
ensure higher quality of services is provided to its customers based on a pre-defined standard
according to the organizational culture (Sigala, 2014). Further, service quality can be
ascertained as the view on the service standards that are served to the customers by an
organization. The aim of “service quality management” is to signify the various gaps in their
structure and services and overcome the same. The aim of the report is to determine the core
concepts and principles of service quality management and the importance of measuring
service quality. Further, the study will provide proper recommendations that would help in
the improvement of service quality procedures.
For proper relevance, the study will be evaluated in context to the operations and services of
Canary Wharf Hotel. The standard of services provided by the organization has been
subjected to major changes due to its expansion of its domains and increase in its facilities.
The study will focus on the impact of the services currently provided on the front line staffs
of the organization, which communicate directly with the tourists.
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1. Justify the importance of managing and measuring service quality, recommending
the adoption of appropriate service quality management methods
Eight significant parameters ensure effective management of service quality. These
parameters or principles have appropriate certification from ISO 9000 (Moutinho et al.,
2018). The principles are:
 Consumer Focus
 Leadership
 Involvement of people
 Process Approach
 Continuous improvement
 Appropriate approach towards decision making
 Effective supplier relationship
 Systematic Approach to Management
These principles enhance the service quality measurement in two significant aspects. First,
through proper incorporation and usage of technological aspects, the quality of consumer
service is enhanced. This has lead to reduction of the time required for solving problems
faced by the various consumers and service providers have been able to provide proper
solutions for the same. On the other hand, these parameters focus on significant needs and
demands of the consumers.
Service quality measurement can be termed as a significant aspect in marketing. The rationale
for the same can be determined through two crucial aspects. First, through proper assistance
of these parameters, a business organization is able to identify the scale and quality of service
provided by its staffs and employees. These can be determined by measuring the scale of
customer satisfaction through the consumer feedbacks and the tendency of a customer to
attain its services again (Haven-Tang, 2014). Through these measurements, the organization
attains proper knowledge about the segments that it needs to improve. The required
improvements are based on the various departments of the organization, which are inventory
and operations management, consumer services, digital services, and payments methods.
The service quality measurements can help the corporations in the tourism and hospitality
industry to ensure proper services to its consumers and attain higher scale of profits in the
long end. Moreover, proper modifications and improvements in services, an organization will
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be able to provide higher customer satisfactions and attain positive customer feedbacks. This
will enhance the ratings of the organizations through effective feedbacks from industrial
experts and consumers. Further, the reduction in the time required, will ensure that a
customer has to wait less to attain proper services (Gibson, 2018). Through this, the
organizations will be able avail higher range of customer recommendations.
There are various benefits of managing the service quality, which are:
 Effective motivation and improvement of workers
 Development in quality of services provided by the firm
 Adequate training of staffs for self-development
 Efficient identification of consumer issues and mitigation of the same
 Enhanced customer satisfaction, recommendations, and loyalty
The importance of these benefits can be ascertained through two major segments. First,
through proper management in quality of services, a firm can ensure proper motivation
among the staffs. This main reason behind this is the standardized structure of the
management approach (Dhar, 2015). Fixed and pre-determined standards are set related to
consumer services and further, the workers are motivated to achieve the same. Due to this,
the organization is subjected to a reduced scale of employee retention, turnover, and conflicts.
In general, this enhances the performance and contributions of all the staffs.
Second, this management aims at providing proper services to the consumers and further,
enhances the customer’s loyalty towards the firm. The effective management leads reduction
in the scale of issues faced by consumers, which leads to higher positive feedbacks form
them. In addition, higher customer satisfactions lead to higher financial growth for the firm.
The mechanism of the same includes proper communication of the staffs with the top
management for proper mitigation of issues faced by consumers. With the help of this, a
tourism-based firm in future business will be able to attain effective development in brand
name and higher acclamation in the tourism industry.
For example, in a scenario where a tourist in Hilton London Metropole, a leading hotel chain
in United Kingdom faces issues regarding the allotment of rooms and booking time. In this
case, if the organization is able to mitigate this problem within a short time and allocate the
tourist with another room, then it will enhance the satisfaction scale of tourist. Further, the
firm will achieve positive feedbacks from tourist. These feedbacks will increase the brand
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name of the firm, which will help in motivating the staffs and enhance their contributions in
the growth of the firm.
Recommendations for appropriate service quality:
The service quality management requires various modifications to ensure proper
effectiveness in its services. Further, there can be various methods for the improvement of
service quality management, which are:
Monitoring through social media:
This management technique includes the usage of various social media platform like Twitter,
Facebook, and Instagram. The important for this approach can be ascertained through two
segments. First, customers across the globe have a high tendency of using these social medial
platforms for sharing their experience and feedbacks related to their travels and its providers.
Therefore, through these interactions, the major tourist and hospitality based corporations
will be able to gain appropriate knowledge regarding the various positive and negative
feedbacks about its services (Page, 2017). This will impart required details about the issue
faced by the major section of the travelers across the globe.
Second, various social feedback platforms as Trip Advisor consist of feedbacks from the
potential customers. These platforms are visited by the major section of travelers with the aim
to gather proper insight about the various tourism firms. However, any negative feedback
from the customers will influence the new customers in the market and restrict the firm’s
growth. To mitigate this issue, the firm must ensure profound monitoring of these feedbacks.
This will help them to ascertain the gaps in its services, and the scale of its impacts on the
services. Proper identification will help the firm to overcome these hurdles in an efficient
manner. Moreover, through effective monitoring, the management will be able to signify the
negative feedbacks on the platform, which aim at demining the status of the firm. These
platforms also provide the management a huge opportunity to communicate and interact with
the consumers by replying to their feedbacks. In the long end, this will benefit the company
by increasing their brand image and value.
Follow-up survey:
This approach aims at asking the tourists for proper feedbacks and comments regarding the
services of the organization through digital platforms and ratings. The major technologies,
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which can be used by the firms for this approach, are electronic mail and Google forms (Ford
et al., 2012). This entitles proper authorities to the customers and they are able to share their
experience through various ways. This can be termed as the major benefit of this approach.
Moreover, there is no time constraint for these feedbacks, which provides the consumers with
proper space and time for the feedbacks.
Moreover, there are varieties of types of survey platforms, which can be availed by the
various organizations. The major example of such platform is SERVQUAL. This platform
provides questions to the consumers with multiple options (Hollins, 2009). Further, the net
opinion is measured through proper mathematical manner. However, the major drawback of
this system includes the higher ratio of traffic in the tourist inbox section due to potential
feedback in lapse of prior time.
Henceforth, it can be determined that this approach can be essential for the various firms to
attain quick responses from the customers based on their experience.
Customer Effort Score:
This approach aims at mitigating the issues faced by the target audience with the help of the
available resources of the organization in the tourism sector. The mechanism of the approach
relates to proper rewards served to consumers based on any issues faced by them due to
improper services provided the staffs of the firm (Fleming, 2007).
The significance for the above method can be ascertained through two proper segments. The
firm will be able to segments its customers through various filters based on their inputs. On
the other hand, specific filters will help the organization to determine customer expectations,
their financial status and other aspects.
For example, the packages of the customers with higher expectations and better financial
conditions will include exotic and unique services. In a scenario, where these features are
missing, the customers can inform about the same to the top management of the firm. The
required effort in this process of the customer is minimal and further, the issue can be
mitigated by informing the local staffs of the organization. Therefore, the time required for
service improvement is less.
On the other hand, this platform will help the firm to specify the level of loyalty of a
customer. This identification will provide the firm an opportunity to the firm to provide more
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efficient services to their old and loyal customers every time they visit the organization after
that (Heskett, 2003). This will also help the firm to incorporate effective digitization in their
provided services, which is a major implementation in the modern day tourist firms. These
will enhance the level of services and assist the organization to attract more number of
customers in the tourism market. The major benefit of this technique is it aims towards
development of customer-centric problems and the issues. Further, the customers themselves
generate the issues. However, to match the expectations of the customers, the organization
will be required to allocate high amount of funds. These may have a negative impact on the
financial growth of the company.
Henceforth, this approach can be beneficial for the firms, which have a greater scale of cash
reserve and have the ability to gather the positive aspects from the negative comments. For
example, Premier Inn, a globally acclaimed tourist organization has been subjected to
complaints from the customers about its higher efforts for resolving a minor issue. This can
determined through two different perspectives (Hudson, 2013). First, from the tourist’s
perspective, he would want the issue to be resolved within a less time and further, want the
same not to be repeated in the future. However, from the firm’s perspective, it would aim at
resolving the problem in the best way possible to avoid the reduction in customer loyalty.
Therefore, through this, the firm will be able to provide their customers with time effective
developments and reduce the negative perception of the customers in the market.
Application of service quality management with relevant theories:
The measurement and management of an organization’s service quality can be determined
with the help of various related theories. The significant theories are:
 Unified Theory of Acceptance
This theory aims at combining the services of the firm and the expected performance of the
same. However, only large tourism organizations will be able to apply this theory due to their
customer effort score establishments for management of service quality. This theory includes
the behavior models and signifying behavioral approach of the various customers in
significant situations (van der Zee, 2015). Through this theory, the management will be able
to identify the various requirements for training among the staffs for their skill development.
This will help them to react effectively in any critical situation faced by the organization.
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Figure 1: Unified Theory of Acceptance
(Source: van der Zee, 2015)
 Theory of 10 Determinants of service quality
This theory portrays ten significant principles related to the improvement of quality of
services. The major aspects of this theory are responsiveness, courtesy, and communication
served by a firm. In addition, this theory helps the management to enhance their specific
approach towards the customers and the companies can develop their marketing strategies
through proper positive perspective of the tourists (Sigala, 2014). Through this theory, an
organization will also be able to ascertain the gap between the received services by tourists
and the actual services that have been served to them. Further, this modifies the perception of
the services and experience of the customers.
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Figure 2: 10 Determinants of service quality
(Source: Sigala, 2014)

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2. Case study analysis
The case study is based on the customer services provided by the Canary Wharf Hotel located
at Canary Wharf in London. According to Mensah (2019), the hotel has been given a three
star merit and it caters to the needs and requirements of numerous customers availing their
facilities since the year of 2000. The hotel had provided the facilities comprising of 100
rooms that are arranged properly with all the modernized facilities and services available
within the organizational sphere. The hotel boasts of near about 100 suites and luxury rooms
that have the technological features such as free Wi-Fi services that help the guests to avail
the internet.
The Canary Wharf Hotel tends to devise the appropriate strategies and policies that have their
relevance within the organizational circuit sand ensure providing the suitable customers
services. According to Amore (2019), the customers avail the services of the hotel that has
some additional elements such as a well decorated bar and a restaurant that helps in providing
the food and other services to the different customers in the open circuit. The suites that are
provided to the different customers are luxurious and create comfort for the people availing
the facilities on a full time basis. The Hotel has its own employees who are managed by a
manager. The manager has the responsibility of looking after the activities and services that
are done by the employees within the organization to enhance their brand image within the
organization.
The hotel has a bar and a café where the guests can relax and stay comfortable. The hotel
develops its services by integrating the varied ranges of IT systems that are beneficial for
designing of the facilities and arrangements that are provided for the customers present
within the market. According to Robinson et al., (2016), despite of providing a huge range of
services to the customers in the market, the hotel did not arrange for executing the different
activities that are relevant for establishing the different range of actions and services
happening within the organizational circle. The Trip Advisor reviews associated with the
assessment of the customer services provided by the organization involves the negative
comments about the category of activities and operations going on within the organization.
The services provided by the hotel comprises of vast range of sources of products and
services but the guest services that are provided is accomplished in a poor manner and needs
a vast scope of improvement.
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The management needs to look after certain problems that could be identified within the hotel
Canary Wharf. Despite being a three-star hotel, the hotel services provided to the customers
are not of a high level and leave a lot to be desired. The unity between the staffs is lacking
and the teamwork is lacking in unity and cohesion within the organizational circle to meet the
needs and requirements of the organization. The case study gives rise to the following
problems in providing the customer services within the hotel. They are as follows:
Problem issues faced by Canary Wharf Hotel
1) The customer services were faulty and the manager was very busy to look after the various
problems that hampered the business operations within the organization. The hotel thus
degraded their business performance, as they could not provide substantial services to their
guests and customers. The hotel management, the functional activities, and the development
of the appropriate customer services were dependent upon the varied range of customer
service strategies that were lacking within the organization.
2) The customers who had queries regarding the development and provision of the varied
range of customer services tend to adhere to the different strategies and policies that were
relevant to be followed and implemented within the organizational circle.
3) The staffs and the workers who work under the purview of the management operating the
hotel services and activities tend to be demotivated due to the lack of appraisal schemes
devised by the organization. The staffs thus lose the desire to work for the betterment of the
organization in future by devising the specific steps and measures being associated with the
organization.
4) The employees were over dependent upon their manager and did not feel the importance of
solving any queries of the customers on a regular basis. This affected the reputation of the
hotel, as it could not provide any stable solution to the development of the services within the
organizational circuit. The recruitment process followed by the HR department is very much
poor and lacks the standards associated with the organization by adhering to the specific
strategies. The specific steps and measures were framed that would help in establishing the
services properly within the sphere of the organizations.
5) The pay management of the employees is considered to be very poor by the management
of the Canary Wharf Hotel as it does not pay any heed to enhancing the quality of life of the
employees. The payment is not upto the standard level that the employees deserve to be paid
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