Service delivery in the luxury hotel industry in Dubai: A hoteliers’ perspective Veronique Gregorec, Prakash Vel, Collins Brobbey Presented By Dr. Prakash Vel

1. Introduction  Dubai serves over 75% of UAE visitors.  Dubai hotel industry projected to reach long term growth peak by period marking EXPO  About 40 hotels and 52 upscale luxury properties. YearHotelsRoom Capacity , ,000

2. Literature Review  In service marketing a stronger held notion is: “Customer need not always be right. Let the seller beware”.  Factors influencing service process in Luxury Hotels: Customer Service Expectations (Hall and Millburn, 2007; Vigneron and Johnson, 1999) Service Delivery (Heskett, 1987; Ponsignon et al., 2011) Service Failure and Customer Complaining Behavior (Ekiz et al., 2012; Lewis and McCainn, 2004) Service Recovery Strategies (Lewis and McCann, 2004; Susskind and Viccari, 2011)

3. Research Methodology  Data Collection Strategy: In-depth Interview discussions.  Sample Respondents: 16 CEOs/ Hoteliers in the luxury hotel industry in Dubai.  Instrument Used: Discussion Guide.  Analysis: NVivo Data Analysis Software.

3. Research Methodology  Definition of Luxury Hotel Luxury hotels are traditionally associated with superior facilities and services (Presbury et al., 2005). Luxury is defined by a “wow factor” and is significantly different from “effective functional hotel service delivery”. Luxury Hotels offer a special “treat”, optimum service quality, luxury brand image, self indulgence and help clients achieve optimum social satisfaction (Millbum and Hall, 2007).

4. Customer Expectations  Customers look out of “the exceptional experience” as the factor that defines luxury. This exceptional factor is usually superfluous and wasteful.  Service quality criteria are a constant in luxury service delivery in addition to location and personalized service.  Cultural background of customer have some association with customer expectations.

5. Service Process  Location, technology, and physical aesthetics have become a norm in the entire hotel service industry and is default in luxury service offerings.  Luxury service processes are dominated by “treats” usually taking the form of individualized roles played by the people element of the service mix.  The process is allowed room for customization.

6. Complaining Behavior  According to hoteliers, complaints are classified into technical and behavioral aspects.  In order of severity, accidents, internet, service delays, and behavioral issues are most challenging to recover in that particular order  Arabs complained the more; complaints may also be depend on facility location and purpose of visit to hotel eg leisure or business trip

7. Service Recovery Process  Behavioral issues are more difficult to recover than technical issues as it is quite impossible to control the role played by “people”.  Customized, immediate and generous recovery measures are usually granted.  Recovery measures are influenced by gender, time of complaint, cultural background, and the capacity of service to address problem.

8. Future Research  A study will be conducted with the consumers of luxury hotels on the four main areas of:  Customer Expectations  Service Process  Complaining Behavior  Service Recovery Process  The findings from the perspective of customers would be contrasted with that of the hoteliers to identify gaps between service providers and customer perceptions.

9. References  Ekiz et al., 2012;  Hall and Millburn, 2007;  Heskett, 1987;  Johnson, 1999;  Lewis and McCainn, 2004  Marieke de Mooij, 2011  Millbum and Hall, 2007  Ponsignon et al., 2011  Presbury et al., 2005  Susskind and Viccari, 2011)