Learning Objectives Chapter 11: People: Services and Service Quality

1. Learning ObjectivesChapter 11: People: Services and Service Quality • Identify the two main groups of people involved in hospitality and travel marketing and how they interact. • Explain the key role played by people in the marketing mix. • 3. Describe the total quality management (TQM) concept, including its key principles. • Identify the benefits of customer codes and guarantees. • Explain the importance of employee selection, orientation, training, and motivation programs in delivering service quality.

2. Learning ObjectivesChapter 11: People: Services and Service Quality • Describe the concept of empowering employees and how important this is to customer satisfaction. • Explain the five dimensions of the SERVQUAL model and how this technique is used to measure service quality. • Explain why the relationship marketing concept is so important in the hospitality and travel industry and how it is done successfully. • Describe the customer mix and explain why organizations must manage it.

3. Role Played by People in the Marketing Mix • Personal service is the key component of the marketing mix in hospitality and travel. • People alone can make or break a guest’s experience. • No amount of good facilities can make up for poor service.

4. GUESTS (Customers) HOSTS (Employees) Two Main Groups of People Involved in Hospitality and Tourism +

5. Total Quality Management(TQM) A process designed to cut down on an organization’s “defects,” to determine its customer requirements, and to satisfy these requirements. TQM’s key principles are: • Commitment to quality • Focus on customer satisfaction • Assessment of organizational culture • Empowerment of employees and teams • Measurement of quality efforts TQM

6. Benefits of Customer Codes and Guarantees • Communicate to guests what to expect in the service delivery. • Give the organization’s employees a clear idea of what is expected of them in serving guests. • May also articulate what the organization will do for the guest if the service delivery is not satisfactory.

7. Employee Selection, Orientation, Training, and Motivation Managing “internal customers” • Staff selection • Orientation • Training • Motivating and retaining • Empowering

8. Empowering Employees Giving employees the authority to identify and solve guest problems or complaints “on the spot,” and to make improvements in work processes when necessary • Decentralizing decision-making or “flattening” the organization chart. • Having greater trust in subordinates and their judgments

9. SERVQUAL Model Dimensions • Tangibles (physical facilities, equipment, staff appearance). • Reliability (ability to perform the service dependably and accurately). • Responsiveness (willingness to help customers and to respond promptly). • Assurance (knowledge/courtesy of staff and ability to portray trust and confidence). • Empathy (degree of caring, individualized service).

10. Relationship Marketing Building, maintaining, and enhancing long-term relationships with individual customers • Managing service encounters. • Providing customer incentives. • Providing special service options. • Developing pricing strategies to encourage long-term use. • Maintaining a customer database. • Communicating with customers through direct or specialized media.

11. Customer Mix The customer mix is the combination of customers that use or are attracted to a specific hospitality and travel organization They must mix well and not conflict with one another