It shows some of the important areas to be considered while sousing on customer service, which are staff training and development, customer satisfaction and retention, customer focus and service quality and service standard and procedures. Customer Service 1 . Introduction: The following report gives the brief idea about customer service and its care followed in hospitality sector. A critical review of approaches towards the customer service and Its care, and the achievement of the customer value and satisfaction In the hospitality Industry are seen In the following report.
The report also helps to Identify the difference between the customer and the consumer and how It can be made utter to Improve Its service. The report shows the area that the company has to maintain in order to deliver satisfying customer service. It tells the meaning Of customer service and its importance, the role of the customers’ loyalty and the employees’ participation. Therefore to support this report, research has been made and company which has been observed is, The Holiday Inn City West, Edinburgh.
The hotel comprises of 101 rooms including 18 Junior suites. With the distance of only 5 mile from the airport and less than 2 mile from the city centre, it is easily accessible. The location of the hotel provides the fantastic view of the city or Pendant Hill. The hotel offer both A La Carte and Table Dhoti menus with the facility of kids stay and eat for free. With the 80 onsite car parking facility for complementary along with new technology and refurbished meeting networks, the hotel Is perfect for organelles meeting, wedding and conference.
The hotel can cater up to 130 delegates In a theatre style in conference room. The hotel offers different packages called the ‘Hotel Packages’ according to the rates of the hotel. 2. Methodology: This report has been prepared by observing the academic secondary research containing books which provides the knowledge and the ideas of different writers and internet research because the hotel website provides the up to date data about the hotel and the primary research of practical experience (six months of placement in Holiday Inn City West, Edinburgh).
Along with the facilities provided by the hotel, the hotel lays a great emphases on the customer services to provide excellent service In order to satisfy the customer as customer Is the only business and profit to the many and as according to Daffy, (2001 ) all the profit comes from the customer that is if no profit then no business, if no customer then no profit, so if no customer then Therefore to maintain the customer service the company has focus on the following: 2. 1 .
Customer focus: According to Richened (1996), the success to the company’s long term financial is created by the company’s employees, investor and customer loyalty. Hence to maintain the customer loyalty good service worth the value should be provided to the customer as it is more expensive to get a new customer then those of the existing en. According to Miller (2007) states that the recovery of the mistakes will determine whether the customer would like to continue to do business with the company.
About 75% customers will come back if the problems are resolved as per their satisfaction and 95% of the customers will return if the problem is solved on the spot. Hence, it can be seen that the employees’ effective problem handling and loyalty is very effective. Customers should be placed at the top of the organization chart in order to run the business successfully. Miller (2007) states that customer expect the value room four point of view, that is the product or service price, the quality, the degree of innovation and the service provided.
Understanding the customers expectation and perception is very important that is the reliability of the product and the service that the customer expect has to be performed accurately and dependably and the earliest responsiveness to their need and wants performed by the employee. 2. 2. Customer satisfaction and retention: Customer satisfaction is the feeling of the customer’s contentment with a customer service. It helps to know the expectation and the perception of the customer.
With feedback from customers it is possible evaluate the problems of the customer and provide solutions to it in order to provide a good customer experience and to support this, Harris( 2007 ) states that the best way to measure satisfaction is by asking frequent relevant questions to customers which provides helpful information and the common method to obtain is through a survey. Some of the few important questions which should to asked are: * Who are the customers? * How did the customer start the business with the hotel? * Where is its location? Where is the location of the business that the customer conducted? The date and time of the business conducted. * Asking about the experience that the customer had. * And asking how to make their Job better. ( Elaine K. Harris, 2007, pig 142) The information about the customer satisfaction can be obtain through several ways like survey, guest comment cards, verbal guest comments, customer intelligence where the information of the guest is collected and the guest history is created where it helps to create a better service and understand the customer.
Customer retention has to be maintained in order to maintain the current customers than to maintain the existing customer. Well customer retention is when the company follows up the meets and needs of the existing customer on the frequent basis along with attracting the new customer. 2. 3. Service quality and service procedure and standards: According to Paranormal, Chatham and Berry (1985, cited in Lockwood et al, 1996) shows the reason why service quality is important as it creates true customer that is long term and loyal customer, quality leads to efficiency.
The service quality faces challenges in maintaining I. E. , whether it is perishable, intangibility, simultaneously. 2. 4. Staff training and development: Through staff training and development, knowledge, skills and attitude towards the customer is enhanced by the employees, most importantly by listing to the customer. According to Cook ( 2008, pig 184) states that ” training and development not only helps the organization be more flexible, proactive and customer focused in the face of fear competition, but it also a prime motivational tool. However, it should be understood that a correct environment should be created in order to train and develop the employees that is the trainer and the managers should motivate the rainier to learn and practice. Customer feedback is the best option for the training and development of the employees. Training should be provided to all members of staff and the managers and head of departments. The managerial level of training should involve leadership, communication, presentation skills and coaching. It is very essential for the front line staff to train on customer service as they are the first employee who will be facing the customer.
The training should include teamwork, knowledge, skills, problem solving and so on. While recruiting the employees and ruing the introduction of the employees, it should be kept in mind that customer focus is the most important criteria that that company has to consider. According to Cook (2008) states that in the recent developing organizations are recruiting employee with right attitude as the company can train skills and knowledge to the employee but if the employee which are being trained do not have the correct attitude towards the customer, then the development of the company would fall.
Hence, it is necessary that the employee should have the correct attitude to work in order to deliver the satisfying customer service. . Conclusion: maintain a satisfying customer service the most important focus should be the customers because as stated above customers are the source of business and profit to the company, if there is no customer then there is no business in the hospitality industry. It can be understood to why customer loyalty is important since it is cheaper then attracting the new customer. The role of the employees’ that needs to perform in order to meet the needs and expectation and perception of the customer.
The report also gives information about customer satisfaction and retention. It tells that customer feedback and asking relevant question is the best way to find out the customers likes and dislikes. And lastly, it gives the idea of employees’ training and development can make the staff more flexible, proactive and customer focused but it should be remembered that correct environment should be created to train the employees by the trainers and managers to motivate the employees. 4. Reference: * http://www. Holidaying. Com/hotels/KGB/en/Edinburgh/debut/hotelier (to get the information about the hotel. ) * http://www. Vacationland. Mom/info/ accommodation/holiday-inn-Edinburgh-city-west-p189741 ( to get the information about the hotel) * Harris, E. , (2007), ‘Customer Service: A Practical Approach’, (4th Deed). New Jersey: Pearson. Chi 10 * Daffy, C. , (2001), ‘Once a Customer, Always a Customer,’ (3rd Deed). Dublin: Oak Tree Press. Cash * Richened, Frederick (1996), ‘ The Loyalty Effect: The Hidden Force Behind Growth, Profits and Lasting Value, Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. * Miller, F. Ray ; Miller, Laura E (2007), ‘ That’s Customer Focus! : The Overworked and Underrepresented Manager’s Guide to Creating a Customer-Focused Organization,’ Book Surge: Chi 1
