Providing Quality Service
Introduction
Tourism encompasses activities that involve the travelling of place to place for leisure, business or other purposes away from one’s usual environment. Tourism happens to be the number one global leisure activity. The importance of tourist activities around the world cannot be more beneficial. In most countries, Tourism injects immense reserve of foreign exchange and revenues for their economies. The foreign exchange earned funds development and infrastructural development projects in those countries. Other positive aspects of tourism include the diversification of culture around the world as well as the creation of jobs for millions of people in the form of tour guides, hoteliers, management and chefs (Enea, 2007). The Tourism sector has standardized its services to ensure that the diverse clientele enjoy value service and a value for money. The classification of hotels in categories based on bed capacity and the quality of services, the classification of tourist destinations and also the setting up of the World Tourism Organization has also enhanced tourism standards around the world and overall promoted the tourism sector.
Identify methods, strategies, and tools this industry uses to deliver the “wow” factor and enhance the guest experience.
In the Tourism and hospitality sector, the mark of quality involves several critical factors, which are the delivery of products and services in accordance with the expected international standards. The Global Tourism sector is highly competitive meaning hoteliers constantly re-engineer themselves and their brands to meet the expectations. There are various benchmarks of quality in the service and tourism industry in general and among these include; quality of food, the quality of the rooms and a friendly hotel staff. Guest satisfaction happens to be the most prominent mark of quality in this industry. Hotels make it their point to ensure that guests enjoy quality service and works towards retaining regular guests to the facilities (Enea, 2007) Investing in the hotel Human resources through employment, regular training and empowerment of staff enhances the hotel image. Acquiring accreditation for hotels forms the epitome of their existence, as it not only enhances their image as a world leader in quality.
Describe how the industry involves the guest in order to provide quality service.
Summarize two (2) service standards the industry uses to meet customer expectations.
The two most critical factors in enhancing standards in the tourism industry are Technology and the classification of tourist destinations and hotels based on the products offered, bed capacity and the quality of service. This has made it easy for the tourists to track the services and get value for their money (Roth, 2008). The advent of technology has enhanced the “wow” factor in the industry. More and more hotels and industry product providers are putting up websites on the internet, which have increased their visibility. A tourist visiting a particular country e.g. Thailand, will need to search on the internet, and they can have a wide array of search results from which they can choose the hotel they can choose from.
Social media has increased as hotels use Social Sites On these sites; they can easily attract new clientele as well as get feedback from the existing clients (Roth, 2008). They are also able to conduct surveys through these sites. There is also the use of blogs to highlight visits to places around the world. The application of technology has had an overall effect on service delivery. The automation of check-ins and the subsequent centralization of billing platforms for most of the hotels around the world tell of the meaningful gains made by hotels in the quest to adopt technology. Enhancing client security is a core factor in this industry as most hotels have applied technology to ensure that the hotels are secure. Other areas include the automation of orders for quicker service. Technology has also been critical in ensuring that hotels maintain a competitive advantage over the competition. It also ensures improved service delivery through incorporation of a wide variety of payment platforms, which ensures easy payment and ultimately giving the user superb customer experience.
The other industry service standard that is of utmost importance is the classification and the categorization of hotels and tourist destination. The basis of this categorization is factors such as natural scenery where you find some regions have long sandy beaches, whereas others are favorable for the savanna tourist. Others favor winter tourism whereas others are favored as sports tourist destinations. This classification makes it easy for the tourists to identify the most optimum and serene destination they want to visit based on those factors. The Classification also makes it easy to identify and sample multiple destinations in case a tourist visited a region over the winter season, they will most likely visit another region the next summer season.
Classifying and categorizing hotels based on the service delivery and capacity forms another critical benchmark in the tourism sector. The classification has criteria divided into five categories which include 1, 2,3,4,5 categories. The basis of the categories based on an assessment of quality and the service of the hotel (Wing, Sun Tung & Ritchie, 2011). The quality then critically looks at factors such as the quality of accommodation offered, the staff, and the effectiveness and speed of service. This usually ensures that the clients who are majorly tourists and travelers can get to make a decision based on that. For most travelers they can use such benchmarks to choose what hotel it is that they want to visit. An example would be that of a tourist who is visiting Indonesia. They can make a decision based on the benchmarks on which one star or two star hotels they think will suit their individual group of needs. The classification and categorization technique has since time proved to be effective.
Recommend one (1) “wow” element the industry could apply to each of the two (2) service standards in order to make the guest’s experience more memorable.
To improve on the two and to ensure upholding of standards in the industry, some of the recommendations would be the introduction of customer choice awards. For each of the categories, there should be awards and accrediting for the best two star hotels in the application of technology and the other subsequent categories. This will see healthy competition and ensure that the hotels work towards the improvement and the bettering of the service offering that they have. The industry regulators should also set a given standard for all the industry firms to achieve.
To make the customer experience more memorable, understanding their individual needs is critical. This means being able to connect with them from the minute they set in to the minute that they live the facility. The staff is particularly critical in enhancing the image of the hotel and ensuring that serve the customer in an effective way. Most of the customers need an emotional connection with them. This means, inquire from the customer what it is that they are looking for as well, as how the stay at the facility would be noteworthy. Personalizing communication between the client and the staff will be exceedingly critical in ensuring that the client feels high valued and create lasting memories. Feedback from the client will ensure that there will be better ratings for clients in the future (Wing, Sun Tung & Ritchie, 2011)
Recommend at least one (1) way the industry could better provide information to its guests.
Ensuring that existing and potential customers have information about the facilities and about the services offered will ensure that the hotel gets more clients. Mass media and Print media present some of the traditional means of information sharing on hotels and the overall service industry. There has also been the use of traditional means top share information and this is by brochures. Some of the emerging trends used to enhance the image of a hotels and the service industry are creation of a mailing list and a blog through which information on new products and services can be shared (Wing, Sun Tung & Ritchie, 2011). The use of application software in the form of apps is an emerging trend. Many clients have Smartphone’s and tablets. Having personalized applications will ensure that regular updates on products and service reach the clients. The applications, which will be on the gadgets of the clients, will also be an easy way of tapping the massive unleashed potential.
References
Enea, C. (2007). The Tourism Industry of Ethics and Tourism. Management & marketing 1, 166- 170
Wing, V., Sun Tung, J.R. Ritchie.B, (2011). Exploring the Essence of Memorable Tourism Experiences, Annals of Tourism Research, 38, 145-147.
