Service and Hotel Management Chapter 3 Service and Hotel Management Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

“Customer” versus “Guest” Service An important element in lodging operations “Customer” versus “Guest” Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

Quality Impacts Service Quality: the consistent delivery of products and services according to expected standards. Service: the process of helping guests by addressing their wants and needs with respect and dignity in a timely manner. Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

2 important points of service: Service Concerns 2 important points of service: Service is not the same as servility Properly addressing a guest’s “wants” first requires defining those “wants.” Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

Service Concerns Value: the relationship between price paid and the quality of products and services which are received. Employee to Guest Ratio: the number of employees relative to the number of guests. In the lodging industry, this is typically expressed in terms of employees per room. Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

Service Expectations Important parts of a first impression include: No (or a short) wait to check-in A friendly welcome and acknowledgement of your name Correct reservation information The proper room available for you Answers to your questions Directions to your room Suggestions about where to park your car Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

Ingredients in a Quality Service System Consider the guests being served. Determine what the guests desire. Develop procedures to deliver what guests want. Train and empower staff. Implement revised systems. Evaluate and modify service delivery systems. Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

1. Consider the Guests Being Served Similar and diverse needs Basic service expectations Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

2. Determine What the Guests Desire Can be done by: “Managing by walking around” Questionnaires (comment cards) Talking with guests as they check-out Asking line-level employees Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

2. Determine What the Guests Desire Supervisor: a staff member who directs the work of line-level employees. Manager: a staff member who directs the work of supervisors. www.satisfactionservicesinc.com Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

3. Develop Procedures to Deliver What Guests Want Benchmark: the search for best practices and an understanding about how they are achieved in efforts to determine how well a hospitality organization is doing. Cross-Functional Team: a group of employees from each department within the hospitality operation that work together to resolve operating problems. Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

4. Train and Empower Staff Empowerment: the act of granting authority to employees to make key decisions within the employees’ areas of responsibility. Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

5. Implement Revised Systems Might involve: Testing new strategies Implementing the changes in some sample cases “Rolling out” the plan changes to all areas if they are found to be effective Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

6. Evaluate and Modify Service Delivery Systems Repeat Business: guests who return to the property for additional times after their first visit. The process of quality guest service is cyclical. www.toolkit.com Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

Service and “Moments of Truth” “Moments of Truth”: any (and every) time that a guest has an opportunity to form an impression about the hospitality organization. Moments of truth can be positive or negative. Wow Factor: the feeling guests have when they receive or experience an unanticipated extra as they interact with the hospitality operation. Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

Service and “Moments of Truth” Word of Mouth Advertising: favorable or unfavorable comments which are made when previous guests of a hospitality operation tell others about their experiences. Zero Defects: a goal of no guest-related complaints which is established when guest service processes are implemented. Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

Service “Delivery” by Employees Accountability: an obligation created when a person is delegated duties/responsibilities from higher levels of management. Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

Management Tactics for Effective Guest Service Checklist to Maintain a Service Priority: Recruit and select service-minded staff. Provide effective orientation and training. Supervise with a service emphasis. Empower staff with decision-making authority for service. Emphasize continuous quality improvement. Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

1. Recruit and Select Service-Minded Staff “Employer of Choice”: the concept that the hospitality operation is a preferred place of employment within the community by prospective applicants who have alternative employment opportunities. Turnover Rate: a measure of the proportion of a workforce that is replaced during a designated time period (for example, month, quarter, or year). Number of Employees Separated = Turnover Rate Number of Employees in the Workforce Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

1. Recruit and Select Service-Minded Staff Mission Statement: a planning tool which broadly identifies what a hospitality operation would like to accomplish and how it plans to accomplish it. Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

2. Provide Effective Orientation and Training Common mistakes while planning for and presenting training programs: Emphasize only skills Short-change the length of training www.customerservicefocus.com Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

3. Supervise with a Service Emphasis Managers should thank staff members when exceptional guest service is rendered. Managers should discuss service-related problems and mutually agree upon corrective action during times of performance appraisal. Employee compensation decisions should be based, in part, upon the consistency of quality service delivered. Managers must role-model service. Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

4. Empower Staff with Service Authority Lodging managers empower their staff as they: Share their service mission Provide the training and other resources required to meet the needs of the majority of guests Encourage staff members to help guests with out-of-the-ordinary service requests www.hospitalityexcellence.com/training/htm Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

5. Emphasize Continuous Quality Improvement Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI): on-going efforts within a hospitality operation to better meet (or exceed) guest expectations and to define ways to perform work with better, less costly, and faster methods. Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

Lodging Property Staff Are Service Professionals Professionals: persons working in an occupation which requires extensive knowledge and skills in a specialized body of knowledge. Applicable occupations typically involve a common base of information and often require licensing or registration. Licensing: formal authorization to practice a profession that has been granted by a governmental agency. Registration: acceptance for one to work within a profession that has been granted by (typically) a non-governmental agency such as an association. www.ei-ahla.org Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.

Benchmark Against the Best: The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award: an award granted to relatively few United States businesses that demonstrate successful quality-related strategies relating to leadership, information/analysis, strategic planning, human resource development/management, process management, business results, and customer focus/satisfaction. www.Ritzcarlton.com Hayes/Ninemeier: Foundations of Lodging Management. (C) 2006 Pearson Education, Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458. All Rights Reserved.