2016-04-07
Functioning of the Hotel 3
Functioning of the Bank 7
The Approaches of Both Organizations 9
Limitations of Both Organizations 9
III. Conclusions and Recommendations 12
References 14
Introduction
This paper is devoted to the two service companies, which operate in the United Kingdom. The first one is a hotel in London. Its name is Ramada London Finchley. It is one of the eponymous hotel chain Ramada. The hotel is located near the Alexandra Palace and East Finchley subway station. This hotel belongs to the three-star hotels and provides a wide range of hotel services to the customers.
Another service company is Harrods Bank Ltd. He is among the hundred largest banks in the United Kingdom. The main principles of the bank’s value system are exceptional quality and customer service. At the same time, there are a lot of competitors on the market of the UK. In this case, the bank should regularly revise its strategy and control how services are delivered at the bank.
As we can see, service management plays an important role in each of above mentioned organizations and can significantly impact on the further their activities. In this case, it needs to identify possible limitations of these organizations and develop recommendations, which can be useful to improve business processes both for the company and for customers.
Findings
Functioning of the Hotel
Let’s analyze the main business processes in the Ramada London Finchley. As it has been mentioned before, this hotel is a part of the large network chain Ramada. It offers more than 900 hotels in 50 countries around the world (Ramada World Wide Inc., 2016). The hotel declares that it offers high-quality accommodations at value prices. There are four main types of services, which hare delivered to the customers in the hotel: accommodation, meals, leisure and consumer services. The standard range of services in the hotel includes the following:
on - site restaurants,
a-la-carte food service,
business services,
fitness facilities,
swimming pools (Special Hotel Packages, 2016).
At the same time, Ramada London Finchley belongs to the hotels with middle prices. The motto of the hotel is: “You do your thing, and leave the rest to us” (A Word from Ramada, 2016). Chosen hotel is non-smoking and has free parking near the public transportation. Free Wi-Fi Internet access is an obligatory feature of the hotel. There are several types of suites in the hotel. The main characteristics of them are presented in the table 1. The hotel has an on-site flame Mediterranean restaurant, which offers meals from various cuisines (English or continental breakfast, dinner, lunch).
There are also family rooms in the hotel. The hotel offers long-let, day stay and night rates that is quite convenient for guests. At the same time, the hotel is a participant of the Wyndham Rewards Loyalty Program that offers different discounts and awards for the customers.
I have interviewed one of the sales managers of the chosen hotel in order to more effectively analyze the process of delivering services to the customers. A lot of questions were concerned the quality management system of service, service of VIP clients and promotion strategy that can positively impact on the customer loyalty and financial performance of the hotel.
Service of reception and accommodation of the hotel forms the first impression that a guest gets from the hotel complex. In this case, the head of this department is in charge of controlling the whole process of reception and accommodation of guests, he must skillfully resolve any conflicts, which may affect the prestige of the hotel. It should be noted that registration process takes less than five minutes for individual tourists and less than fifteen minutes for tourist groups. The structure of this department is the following: Deputy Director (Manager) Operation, floor staff, the senior maid, maids, cleaners, Floor butler, housekeeper, laundry workers and some others.
This service is an essential department in the hotel in terms of guests, as the staff of the service works with clients in continuous contact and performs all the functions associated with their direct services. One can say that excellent service at the reception is the first step in forming the client’s loyalty.
Another important department of the hotel is the food service. Director of the food complex controls the following activities: kitchen, buffets, banquet activities, in-site the restaurant, room service, stocked minibars, service in recreation areas, guest service in the bars. In our case, the hotel has only one restaurant with a limited menu.
Service the VIP-clients must be one of the most important and profitable directions in the activities of the marketing department of the chosen hotel. There are several special instructions for the hotel staff, which are used for maintenance of VIP-clients.
It should be noted that the category of VIP-clients typically include politicians, actors, business leaders, as well as the persons, which may be useful for the hotel business (member of the board of directors, a member of the central office of the hotel network, representatives of the corporate clients and others). This category of customers requires more attention of the hotel staff. When the VIP-clients arrive to the hotel, the director or a special VIP-services manager meets them. The common features of these customers are their high solvency, the need for expensive services and extremely scrupulous attitude to quality of service. The VIP-clients are usually well informed about the services provided in the best hotels around the world. In this case, all the guests’ expectations should be implemented.
The hotel network Ramada has an official site and all of its hotels present on the most popular tourist sites (booking.com, TripAdvisor and others). Free online booking of the hotel suites is available on the official site and on the websites of hotel’s partners. The current marketing activity of the hotel includes various elements:
various kinds of discounts: children, tourist groups, regular customers;
storage cards, bonus programs – when the customer receives some points for his order and can use them as bonus days of stay, special prices and other special conditions;
individual programs and benefits – when the hotel collects information about regular clients and builds individual service strategy for them depending on their needs and preferences;
corporate customer service program, which may include a free shuttle service, a special discount system, assistance in organizing conferences, excursions and business lunches (Marr, 2016).
All these offers are proposed to the clients in order to improve the service quality in the hotel and increase customer loyalty. As we can see, Ramada London Finchley differs by the quite high quality of services, which are delivered to the customers. At the same time, there are some problems, which are presented below in the paper.
Functioning of the Bank
Harrods Bank Ltd is one of the well-known banks in the United Kingdom. Its history has started in 1893, when the banking department has been opened. Nowadays, the bank offer customers a wide range of various accounts and lending products. The main goal of the bank is to satisfy clients and provide them with high-quality financial services (Harrods Bank Limited, 2016). The bank provides services in the context of personal and business accounts.
It should be noted that the bank has a separate range of services, which aim to protect customers from any fraud, problems or moot points:
making the complaint;
treating the customers fairly;
fraud prevention;
Financial Services Compensation Scheme (maximum sum is around £75,000) (Harrods Bank - FSCS, 2016);
lending standard board.
Each of these services is client-oriented and can improve customer loyalty and the whole activity of the bank. Let’s analyze each of above mentioned services as quite important in the service management of the bank.
The bank has a separate compliant service: each customer can make a complaint by e-mail, phone, in person at the bank or in writing by addressing his letter to the relationship manager. Another feature of the bank is the financial ombudsman service. Such service proposes all clients free and independent advice. The full details of their services are presented on the official website of the bank.
The next feature of the bank is that it treats customers fairly: the bank tries to find an individual approach to each client and achieve the positive outcomes for the customers. The bank always provides only clear and accurate information for all customers (Treating Customers Fairly, 2016).
Fraud prevention is the quite important direction for the bank. A lot of email fraud schemes have been found during last years. Harrods Bank was mentioned in some of that emails. In this case, the bank recommends all customers to check the email of the sender and to inform the bank security department in case of any fraud (Fraud Prevention, 2016).
The bank offers personal and micro-enterprise borrowing with fair rates for the customers. It can positively impact on the bank’s image and attract more new clients (Lending Standards Board, 2016).
Harrods Bank Ltd has individual quality management system. There are three departments, which are responsible for the high quality service: customer service department, quality service and marketing department. According to the information that I have got from the one of the bank’s manager, the quality management system of the bank includes the following elements: external attributes, internal attributes and office staff. Each group consists of several sub-requirements, which include specific highly specialized requirements. External attributes are presented as an outside office design, location in the city, adjacent area to the office and office work schedule. The group of internal attributes consists of two subgroups: interior of the office, organization of the work in the office. Bank staff also plays an important role in all business processes.
The Approaches of Both Organizations
The approaches of the above mentioned organizations have some similarities as well as differences. As we know, there are two approaches to customer service: massive and individual.
The mass approach requires simple and clear procedures. In other words, it assumes to think less and to do more. This option is suitable for big network businesses. Above mentioned bank and hotel are examples of such businesses. Thus, the mass approach is the base for both organizations. At the same time, the hotel as well as bank often uses individual approach, when services the VIP-customers and those, who needs additional and expensive products. One can say that the bank uses more individual approach than the hotel. It can be confirmed by the existence of special departments, which can analyze complaints and claims of customers. It should be noted that the use of both approaches simultaneously in specific cases is the most optimal strategy for the analyzed organizations.
Limitations of Both Organizations
Each of both organizations has some problems and limitations, which are connected with the service management. Let’s analyze them in more detail. The most important problems of the hotel are the overbooking, limited range of paid service and unmotivated staff.
For example, overbooking is due to uncoordinated or automatic operation of computer reservation systems, or due to inaccurate work of hotel employees. Therefore, it is recommended to contact the customers the day before arrival in order to avoid such situations, and always check a reservation number (Reynolds, 2016).
Limited range of paid service can be explained by the price segment, to which hotel belongs. The price segment of the chosen hotel is middle, so the number of VIP-clients is not big. In this case, the hotel does not actively develop current and introduce new services, exclusive offers or other opportunities for the customers make their pastime in the hotel more enjoyable.
One more important issue of the hotel is reducing employee motivation and even burnout of some employees. This problem also concerns the bank. It is connected with the principles of the modern world. As we know, burnout syndrome describes a typical phenomenon of our time. The modern world is characterized not only high rhythm, a variety of opportunities for activities and aiming at achieving, but also the lack of relations. It is a pragmatic time, filled with the spirit of consumption, in which all processes aim to achieve maximum performance and productivity.
Common reasons that can cause a so-called burnout syndrome include the following:
intensive communication with different people, including the negative sentiment ones;
work in a changing environment, frequent clashes with unpredictable circumstances;
features of life in metropolitan areas (for example, London), in the conditions of imposing communication and interaction with a large number of unknown people in public places, the lack of time and funds for specific actions to improve their health (Best Hospitality Degrees, 2016).
At the same time, there are some special reasons that can cause the burnout syndrome. They are as follows:
problems of a professional nature (career) and working conditions;
inability to assist the customer in some cases;
the impact of the customers, seeking to solve their psychological, financial or other problems by communicating with the employees;
threat of the customers’ requests with legal claims, lawsuits or complaints.
There are three main stages in the burnout syndrome development. Let’s analyze them in more detail. The first stage of this syndrome is characterized by forgetting any details and trifles. This can be expressed as follows: employee constantly forgets whether the required entry is counted in some document, whether to ask the planned issue and receive proper response. In addition, employee may experience some failure in the execution of motor actions. Very few people pay attention to the so-called “maiden memory” initially. The intensity of stress and psychological characteristics of the first stage of burnout can last from three to five years, depending on the type of activity (Arthur, 2001).
The second stage of burnout syndrome is characterized by a significant loss of interest in work and to communicate, both with colleagues and family members. Especially a person does not wish in any way to contact those who have to face the nature of their activities. This may be the bosses, customers, etc. Such a specialist can often be a sensation in the spirit of “week is unbearably long”. This stage of burnout syndrome can last from five to fifteen years, depending on a variety of factors.
The third stage is characterized by uttermost personal burnout, followed by the loss of all interest in work and life. The employee differs by the emotional indifference, a feeling of continuous loss of strength and loss of visual thinking.
There are several types of strategies in the context of the service management and communication with the customer: promotion strategy, communicative strategy, situational, entrepreneurial and psychotechnical one (Grönroos, 2007). The combination of their strengths can help both companies to improve own service management system.
Conclusions and Recommendations
It should be noted that the entire service sector is characterized by specific features: intangibility of services; inseparability from the source object and services; volatility of the quality of services; not retentive services; uneven service provision. These specific features make mobilize the workforce and the productive capacity of service organizations with a view to attract the maximum number of clients and satisfy their demanding requests (Dibble, 1999). At the same time, this task is simply impossible without a high level of service, culture, and compliance with the rules of etiquette. In this case, the first recommendation is to develop a service culture that includes psychological, ethical, aesthetic, organizational, technological and other indicators.
The driving force of hotel development must be a permanent incentive to innovation. Using innovations, it is possible to improve the quality of services, improve their beneficial effect; to expand the range of services and thus achieve competitive advantages of the organization.
One recommendation for the hotel is to maintain an appropriate level on a daily basis allows a strict work discipline, unconditional adherence to the practical rules and constant monitoring by the Governors. Therefore, for the management of the hotel is important to have a professional staff to carry out its constant support and encouragement to prevent blunting as acting, the possibility of theft and other illegal activities.
As for the bank, it needs to pay more attention on the professional development of employees, especially, middle staff. One more recommendation is extensions of rights and responsibilities of the employees in order to increase customer retention. All these activities can help avoid the burnout syndrome and can increase the employee motivation as a whole.
References
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Arthur, D. (2001). The employee recruitment and retention handbook. New York: AMACOM.
Best Hospitality Degrees, (2016). What Exactly is the Hospitality Industry?. [online] Besthospitalitydegrees.com. Available at: http://www.besthospitalitydegrees.com/faq/what-exactly-is-the-hospitality-industry/ [Accessed 7 Apr. 2016].
Dibble, S. (1999). Keeping your valuable employees: Retention Strategies for Your Organization's Most Important Resource. New York: Wiley.
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Treating Customers Fairly, H. (2016). Treating Customers Fairly - Harrods Bank Limited. [online] Harrodsbank.co.uk. Available at: https://www.harrodsbank.co.uk/banking-with-us/protecting-you-and-your-money/treating-customers-fairly [Accessed 7 Apr. 2016].
