Managing quality service in hospitality ebook

Thus the importance of managing service quality has never been greater. In the scheme of business process, it has become apparent that HTL organizations' ultimate goal of maintain- ing a loyal customer base, by offering superior quality of service, tran- scends the obvious primary functions of management confined within functional and organizational boundaries.

Hence, this book has undertaken an interdisciplinary approach to service quality management within hos- pitality, tourism, and leisure. Contributors to this book have drawn on their expertise from various disciplines and countries and, here, collectively examine nascent under- standing, approaches, and strategies pertinent to the management of ser- vice quality in hospitality, tourism, and leisure organizations.

However, a different approach to the management and marketing of tourism, hospital- ity, and leisure services than to that of physical goods is required. These services differ from physical goods in a number of unique characteristics, which have significant implications for management and marketing strate- gies. This chapter covers three main issues: 1. It defines the phenomena of tourism, hospitality, and leisure and clarifies the relationships between these three areas.

It introduces the concepts of products, goods, and services in a marketing context. It explains the concept of tourism products and tourism service. Tourism has a number of different definitions. It is very difficult to pinpoint a definition that would give a meaningful and adequate explana- tion of tourism, because the concept is fragmented, wide-ranging, and multidimensional.

Historically, the concept of tourism was first developed in the period between the two world wars. Since , the concept of tourism has been broadened by including various forms of business and pleasure travel. McIntosh, Goeldner, and Ritchie defined tourism as a short-term movement of people to places other than their normal place of residence and work, including the activities of persons traveling to and staying in locations outside their places of residence and work for not more than twelve months, for the purpose of: 1 leisure recreation, vacation, health, study, religion, and sport ; and 2 business, family, mission, and meetings.

Several characteristics of tourism may be identified based on the ana- lyzed definitions: 1. Two main elements: a movement, which refers to the journey trav- el to and from a destination the dynamic element of tourism ; and b the overnight stay outside the permanent residence in various destinations the static element of tourism 2.

Movement to and from the destination is temporary temporary change of residence , short-term, with intention to return 3. Destinations are visited for purposes other than taking up permanent residence or employment 4. The activities tourists engage in during their journey, and the stay outside the normal place of residence and work, are distinct from those of the local residents and working populations of the places visited The review of various definitions also illustrates a number of conceptu- al problems in defining tourism.

There is no agreement on how far an individual has to travel, how many nights the individual has to stay away from home, or what activities must be engaged in, etc. There are also cross-national differences in defining the concept of tourism. Four groups of participants are involved and are influenced by tourism: 1 tourists, 2 businesses providing goods and services that the tourist market demands, 3 the government of the host community, and 4 the host community.

Mcintosh, Goeldner, and Ritchie defined tourism as the sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from the interaction of these four groups in the process of attracting and hosting tourists and other visitors. These groups cooperate to accomplish a set of goals at the micro and macro levels within constantly changing legal, political, econom- ic, social, and technological environments.

Tourism is very dynamic. Concepts of Tourism, Hospitality, and Leisure Services 3 It is generally agreed that tourism is fragmented. It is made up of various sectors or subindustries such as transportation, accommodation, attractions, amenities, catering, entertainment, eating and drinking establishments, shops, activity facilities leisure and recreation , and many others.

These sectors provide products and services for individuals or groups of tourists who travel away from home. Consequently, tourism is an amalgam of the products and services that its various subsectors make available for tourists. The provision of these products and services depends on the linkages be- tween various sectors and their mutual interactions.

Tourism is the most wide-ranging industry, in the sense that it demands products from many sectors of the economy Edgell, and employs millions of people in different sectors. For example, airplanes and buses must be manufactured to transport tourists; computers must be produced to make hotel booking and airline reservations; steel, concrete, and glass are needed to build hotels and restaurants; fabrics are needed to make clothes; meat, wheat, and vegetables must be grown to feed visitors.

No other industry has so many linkages and interactions with so many sectors of the economy Edgell, , and delivers so many different kinds of products and services to its consumers. Tourism is multidimensional. Mcintosh, Goeldner, and Ritchie noted that tourism embraces virtually all aspects of human life and society. Tourism is a major economic activity of the travel, lodging, retail, enter- tainment subsector, and many other subsectors that supply tourist needs.

It is a major sociocultural activity that provides different tourist markets with cultural experiences. Tourism involves production, marketing, and con- sumption of numerous products such as car rentals, hotel rooms, meals, etc. It requires researching, planning, managing, and controlling tourist enterprises.

It is about the location of tourist areas, their physical planning, and changes that tourism development brings to the landscape and com- munity. The industry depends on various intermediaries and organizations that perform tourism activities. Tourism also involves a historical analysis of tourism activities and various institutions. It is difficult to apply the concept of an industry to tourism in view of the special nature and complexity of the potential contributors to the tourism product.

Tourism is about activities and services. It is about the buying, selling, managing, and marketing of numerous activities and ser- vices, which range from renting hotel rooms, selling souvenirs, and man- aging an airline Edgell, , to marketing special events. However, since these activities and services represent the supply in the market tour- ists constitute the demand and are part of the economy, they might be described as the tourism "industry. Travel refers to the spatial displacement of people and the activities of people taking trips to places outside their residence for any purpose except daily commuting to and from work McIntosh, Goeldner, and Ritchie, Travel may be undertaken for tourism purposes, or other purposes such as migration, commuting, or exploring.

It includes both business and convention tour- ism as distinguished from "pure" pleasure tourism. Thus, travel has wider meaning and application than tourism. Hospitality is concerned with the provision of accommodation and catering food and beverage services for guests. It also refers to the reception and entertainment of travelers, the way they are treated by indus- try employees with empathy, kindness, and friendliness , and an overall concern for the traveler's well-being and satisfaction.

Tourists are not the only consumers of hospitality services; local residents also use them. Leisure is considered to be part of free time available to the individual after necessary work and duties are accomplished, to be spent at the discre- tion of the individual Miller and Robinson in Mieczkowski, It refers to the time free from obligations, filled with specific activities, without pressure of necessity.

The problem is, however, in distinguishing between work and leisure activities, and activities undertaken for the purpose of subsistence e. The same activities can be regarded as leisure and as obligations by different individuals. For instance, gardening can be re- garded as a leisure activity by some people and as work by others. Eating, shopping, social activities, and even sleeping may be considered as leisure rather than necessity.

The difficulties in categorizing leisure activities were illustrated by Cosgrove and Jackson in Mieczkowski Tourism activity is only possible during time available for leisure. However, much of leisure time is spent at home or close to the place of residence; therefore, it is beyond the scope of tourism. Tourism can also be substituted for leisure e.

Moreover, vacation experiences may affect the expectations of leisure experiences at home. For example, experiences of playing golf can create the expectation that golf courses should be provided in every local recreation and leisure center.

Experiencing high-quality facilities in local recreation centers may create high expectations for vacation resorts. Concepts of Tourism, Hospitality, and Leisure Services 5 Often, leisure is used synonymously with recreation. Recreation refers to the experiences and activities or inactivities undertaken during leisure time to recreate physically, psychologically, spiritually, and mentally after work in order to prepare the individual for future work Mieczkowski, Recreation activities may include play, games, sports, cultural func- tions, informal education, sightseeing, entertainment, relaxation, and amuse- ments, as well as travel and tourism.

Clawson and Knetsch in Mieczkowski argued that recreation is the attitude toward activities. An activity is recreation when it involves no feeling of obligation. Recreation is only possible during leisure time. However, not all leisure can be regarded as recreation e.

The same activities may be regarded as recreation by one individual yet work by another. The assess- ment of what activities are recreational depends on the individual's attitudes and feelings. For example, sport activities can be viewed as recreation, or as a job in professional sports Mieczkowski, Tourism is a form of recreation.

Recreational tourism is the most signif- icant part of tourism. However, tourism includes elements such as busi- ness tourism, which cannot be classified as recreation. Recreation also involves elements such as urban recreation, which cannot be classified as tourism. Further, tourism can occur within work time business tourism whereas recreation occurs during leisure time. Some forms of tourism, such as health tourism, pilgrimages, and visiting friends and relatives are often not associated with recreation.

Also, tourism is always associated with temporary change of residence and overnight stay outside the perma- nent residence. In contrast, most recreation occurs at home within the local community. In addition, the purchase of recreation equipment often re- quires financial expenditures that otherwise could have been allocated to tourism and travel. Also, tourism has far more significant commercial implications for the economy than recreation, which is often provided for, free of charge, by the government or social organizations.

Further, tourism does not require learning special skills, as opposed to recreation, which may require the acquisition of special skills Mieczkowski, such as sport skills. In summary, the concepts of tourism, hospitality, and leisure are differ- ent, although they are related. Tourism and hospitality are concerned with the provision of goods and services; leisure is a concept of time; and recreation is a concept of activity.

Much tourism takes place during leisure time. Recreation is often the main purpose for participation in tourism. All these concepts are characterized by very complex relationships in the creation and delivery of their services to tourists. In the marketing literature, goods and services are both described as products Cowell, In simple terms, tangible products are often referred to as goods, while intangible products are often referred to as services.

Services are a different type of product than goods Foxall, Some products are a mixture of a tangible good and intangible service. For example, restaurants offer a tangible product in the form of food and an intangible product in the form of atmosphere, advice on food and beverage selection, and speed of meal preparation.

Kotler lists four distinct categories of products: 1 purely tangi- ble goods, 2 tangible goods with accompanying intangible service, 3 a major intangible service with accompanying tangible goods, and 4 a pure intangible service.

However, Levitt argued that there is no pure service industry because there are no pure intangible services, only indus- tries with greater or smaller service components. It is very difficult to define a pure service and a pure good. A pure good implies that no element of intangible service is offered with the good the customer receives. A pure service implies that there is no element of physical goods in the service offered.

However, Shostack went further in the analysis of the categories of products and described a product continuum, known as a tangibility spectrum, which ranges from tangible dominant goods to intan- gible dominant services. According to Shostack , a key determinant of whether an offering is a service is the degree of intangibility. Services tend to be more intangible than manufactured products; manufactured products tend to be more tangible than services.

For example: salt, soft drinks, detergents, or cars can be classified as very tangible products. On the other hand, education and consulting can be classified as very intangi- ble products. However, tangible products such as cars also require many intangible service elements such as the transportation process itself. An intangible service such as education includes many tangible elements such as books.

Consequently, all marketing products are mixtures of tangible goods and intangible services. Services are provided in every sector of the economy: in retailing, whole- saling, transportation, telecommunication, finances, health, education, and many other sectors, including tourism, hospitality, and leisure. For example, renting a hotel room, depositing money in a bank, visiting a doctor, getting a haircut, or traveling on an airplane—all involve buying a service.

However, the theoretical concept of service is very complex and diffi- cult to define. It consists of a set of different elements. Thus, it can be explained in several different ways. It has been agreed that service repre- sents one of the main aspects of product delivery. Production may or may not be tied to a physical product" Kotler et al.

The literature also refers to services as deeds, processes, and performances Zeithaml and Bitner, and interactions or social events Normann, The focus is on the service process or service encounter, which has been defined as the interaction between the customer and the firm or the dyadic interaction between customer and service provider Czepiel, Solo- mon, and Surprenant, ; Shostack, ; Solomon et al.

Shostack defined this encounter as a period of time during which a provider and a customer confront each other, or a moment of truth. What happens between a customer and a provider during this encounter determines the quality of the services and a customer's satisfaction with service.

The extent of personal interaction between a provider and a customer and the length of this interaction vary among services. Mills divid- ed services into three primary categories: maintenance-interactive, task- interactive, and personal-interactive. The first type is of a simple nature and is characterized by little uncertainty in transactions e. The second type is characterized by greater risk in transactions and depends upon the service providers for information and expertise e.

The third type is the most complex. It depends upon a very intense interaction between the provider and the customer, the performance of the service providers, and their competence and personality. This type of service is very labor intensive and is characterized by the greatest risk in transactions e. The performances and activities of the providers during the service encounter create customers' experiences with service.

When a customer "buys" a hotel room tangible and visible goods such as bed or furniture he or she also purchases a hotel experience the hotel atmosphere, the way the customer is treated at the front desk, by a concierge or a waiter. The experiences purchased create certain real benefits for customers. Some of the benefits are physical, such as the comfort of a hotel bed, and others are psychological or emotional benefits such as enjoyment and happiness.

Usually customers purchase a bundle of benefits that is a combination of physical and psychological benefits. During the interaction with a provider the customer evaluates whether the provider is able to fulfill the custom- er's expectations and deliver benefits that generate satisfaction. Bateson argued that services should be defined in terms of the extent to which the customer receives the intangi- ble benefits of service during the service encounter.

The general consensus is that services could also be defined as satisfac- tion with interaction experiences. However, the services marketing literature indicates that there is a difference between these two concepts. Satisfaction is a psychological outcome deriving from an experience.

Westbrook described it as an emotional state that occurs in response to an evaluation of the interactional experiences.

Service and, in particular, service quality is concerned with the attributes of the service itself Crompton and MacKay, and how to satisfy customers so that they develop positive percep- tions of the service Ostrowski, O'Brien, and Gordon, Satisfaction depends on the quality of service attributes Crompton and MacKay, Usually a high quality of service attributes results in high satisfaction. All services are characterized by intangibility, perishability, inseparabili- ty of production and consumption, and heterogeneity.

These unique charac- teristics of services which will be discussed later are constantly acknowl- edged in the services marketing literature e. These characteristics make it difficult to evaluate services Zeithaml, The criteria of service quality are still not adequately determined.

This book was released on 14 February with total page pages. Many other texts in this subject area skip over guest-focused service strategy in hospitality or service organizations.

This text fully covers the topic of managing hospitality organizations by using academic studies and real life experience from companies like Walt Disney Company, Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, Darden Restaurants, Southwest Airlines and many others. The text is written in three sections: strategy, staffing, and systems.

Each chapter includes suggested hospitality activities for students in which students are encouraged to visit local organizations to talk with guests, employees and managers to obtain a variety of perspectives on the guest experience. Other activities will have students going to the internet to visit established sites for hospitality organizations. Condition: New. New Condition. Ships Within business days. Book Description Condition: New. This is a brand new book!

Fast Shipping - Safe and Secure Mailer - Our goal is to deliver a better item than what you are hoping for! If not we will make it right!. Satisfaction Guaranteed! Book is in NEW condition. Seller Inventory Book Description HB. Ford, Robert C. Publisher: Delmar Cengage Learning , This specific ISBN edition is currently not available. View all copies of this ISBN edition:. Review : [This text] has got almost everything that I want to teach an undergraduate student in the area of hospitality customer service management compressed in around pages.

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