Tourism and Hospitality Marketing

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Introduction to Hospitality and Tourism Services Marketing

Module 2. Introduction to Hospitality and

Tourism Services Marketing
Service Quality, customer satisfaction and value are the most significant factor in

order to sustain a competitive advantage with other business in the tourism hospitality

fields. There are various important reasons why a service quality affects the customer

satisfaction and vice versa. The values are also a significant factor in order to achieve a

customer satisfaction and that will lead to a quality service to the customers.

Course Learning Outcomes:

By the end of the module the students will be able to:

1. Define the service quality and customer satisfaction;

2. Identify the dimensions of service quality;

3. Know the different elements in customer satisfaction; and

4. Analyze the service trends that affects the industry of tourism and

hospitality.

SERVICE QUALITY

These are various meaning of service quality in tourism and hospitality industry:

“The outcome of an evaluation process where the consumer compares his expectations

with the service, he perceived he has received.” - Grönroos

“An attitude related, but not equivalent to satisfaction and result from a comparison of

expectation with perception of performance.”- Prasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry

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“A way of measuring how very well the services level provided matches customers’

expectations with a consistent basis” -Webster

“Service quality is the ability to satisfy as well as meet or go over the customers’

expectation.” -Lee, Khong and Ghista

“An action or an activity which can be offered by a party to another party, which is basically

intangible and not affect any ownership. Service may be related to tangible product or intangible

product.” -Philip Kotler (1997)

“Service quality is a focused evaluation that reflects the customer’s perception of specific

dimensions of service namely, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy and tangibles”

–Zeithhaml and Bitner (2003)

There could be a numerous definition of service quality, but in the tourism and hospitality

industry it means a life for the industry. This is an important factor for the business to gain a

competitive advantage and customers’ confidence in the highly competitive marketplace, and

because of this service quality can give the tourism and hospitality industry a chance to be

different with advantage to other organization.

By having a service quality in the business this could benefit the business by having a

satisfied customer, building a good image, creating loyal customers and by having competitive

advantage to a business.

Dimensions of Service Quality

According to John Spacey (2017), there are 10 dimension or types of service quality. These

dimensions are needed in order to satisfy the customers in the services provided for them. It is

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important that in order to give a service quality, the products and services must provide the

following dimensions:

1. Reliability- in tourism and hospitality, time is important for the staff as well as for the

customers. It is important that the information provided by the staff are well reliable and

can be accountable. A good example of this are the flight departures of an airline company,

your company can be called reliable if there are no delays and are usually on time.

2. Responsiveness- It is also important that the company and its staffs are approachable in

times that the customers’ needs something. An example of this are emergencies that

involves your customers, make sure that you are well responsive to their needs and as well

as it is also important that you are knowledgeable to the kind of information that they want

about the services.

3. Empathy & Tailoring- employees in the tourism and hospitality industry must know the

kind and the needs and wants of their customers. Not all people are same customers even if

they availed same products and services. In this case for example, some of customers

enjoys a personal conversation while others prefer to maintain distance.

4. Competence & Diligence- it is necessary that staffs or professionals that handles customer

services should be aware of their assigned job.

5. Consistency- repeat customers means that the company satisfied their needs and wants. It is

important that staff should deliver the same amount of giving the service to your customer

in order for them to become a loyal customer.

6. Safety & Security- making sure that the customers’ are safe and secure even after your

transaction with them. For example are the personal data’s that you gained from your

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customer as part of your transaction with them, it is important that you secure their

personal data and make sure that it is safe in your office.

7. Environments- it is important also that the quality of the environment where your service

will undergo are always there.

8. User Interfaces- this are pleasing and are productive to use.

9. Tangibles- although tourism and hospitality industry are said to give more intangible goods

rather than tangible goods, as part of giving a quality services it is also important to make

sure the quality of tangible products that will be used or give to the customers.

10. Experience- the main intangible product in tourism and hospitality industry is experience.

It is important and as part of service quality to give the customer a memorable and satisfied

experience to the services consumed from your company.

Measuring Service Quality

Pascal (2016), cited 9 Practical methods for in measuring service quality. Measuring a

service quality is a crucial part because not all services are the same, and at the same time not all

service providers has same level of expertise. In order to measure service quality here the

following measurement:

1. SERQUAL- this is a survey method where in you can ask the customers of the experience to

your company’s service.

2. MYSTERY SHOPPING- a way wherein you hire an undercover customer to test if staffs are

giving same quality of service.

3. POST SERVICE RATING- asking customers to rate the service experienced to the company.

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4. FOLLOW-UP SURVEY- this type of survey is you are using an email to rate your company’s

service.

5. In-APP SURVEY- this can be accessed through mobile app or website, questions are asked

while they are in the application.

6. CUSTOMER EFFORT SCORE (CES) - in this measurement according to Harvard Business

Review, instead of delighting the customers, the company should make it as easy as

possible for them to have their problems solved.

7. SOCIAL MEDIA MONITORING- customers found a way in order for them to be heard, either

by praising the company for giving them a quality service or by posting their bad

experience.

8. DOCUMENTATION ANALYSIS- With this qualitative approach you read or listen to your

respectively written or recorded service records. You’ll definitely want to go through the

documentation of low-rated service deliveries, but it can also be interesting to read

through the documentation of service agents that always rank high.

9. OBJECTIVE SERVICE METRICS- These stats deliver the objective, quantitative analysis of

your service. These metrics aren’t enough to judge the quality of your service by

themselves, but they play a crucial role in showing you the areas you should improve in.

CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

The customer satisfaction is about the feelings or the experience of a customer which can

be either satisfied or dissatisfied from the customer’s assessment on the quality of service

provided. The tourism and hospitality industry are continuously trying to improve the service just

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to satisfy their customer because higher customer satisfaction will leads towards customer

loyalty.

There is a theory called disconformity theory, it was presented by Oliver, he said that

satisfaction stage is the resultant of the distinction between the expectation and actual

performance. Satisfaction will be encouraging when the actual level of services or products is

better than the anticipated (positive disconfirmation), whereas (negative disconfirmation) when

the product or services level is lower than expected.

Here are more definitions of customer service:

“Customer satisfaction is essential for corporate survival.” – Vavra (1997)

“Knowledge of customer expectations and requirements is essential for two reasons – it provides

understanding of how the customer defines quality of services and products, and facilitates the

development of a customer satisfaction questionnaire.” -Hayes (1997).

Furthermore, customer satisfaction is recognized as of great importance to all commercial firms

because of its influence on repeat purchases and word of mouth recommendations- Berkman and

Gilson (1986).

In general, in tourism and hospitality industry serving the people is the major activity and being

served expertly is what the guests expects from the industry. The customer satisfaction is a determinant

of the level of the success of a business. However, customer satisfaction is not only met by giving them

a quality service but also satisfying them with different elements around your business. Here are the

following important elements that affects customer satisfaction on your business:

Customer Service- this begins the moment an individual approached your business, either to

make a reservation or to gather information. High quality service means meeting -- and

exceeding -- your guests' expectations to feel warmly welcomed.

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Environment- The physical perception imparted by your hospitality business is important in

achieving customer satisfaction. Your environment must be clean, well-lit and comfortable,

however, for your customers to feel at home.

Security- A secure environment means having plenty of friendly employees visible to guests

from the moment of arrival to departure. Helpful, too, are frequent interactions with guests

to instill a sense of inclusion in the goings-on at your establishment. Security need not be

overt, however. Armed and uniformed security guards will frighten guests rather than

impart a sense of safety.

Value- Value can be inexpensively included in their visit in the form of discounts, free candy

or snacks, bottled water at no charge, gift cards and the like. Guests generally don't expect

these perks, so they can build repeat business -- a sure sign of customer satisfaction

Measurability- Your goal is to achieve 100 percent customer satisfaction. You can use

various tools to gauge your progress toward that goal. Customer survey cards are mini-

surveys, allowing your guests to tell you about their experience. This type of tracking

system identifies areas for improvement and areas where you and your staff are

successfully serving your guests.

Measuring Customer Satisfaction

Managing customers’ satisfaction efficiently is one the biggest challenge an organization

face. The tools or methods to measure customer satisfaction needs to be defined sophisticatedly to

fulfill the desired norms. There are following methods to measure customer satisfaction:

1. Direct Methods: Directly contacting customers and getting their valuable feedback is very

important. Following are some of the ways by which customers could be directly tabbed:

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a. Getting customer feedback through third party agencies.

b. Direct marketing, in-house call centers, complaint handling department could be treated as

first point of contact for getting customer feedback. These feedbacks are compiled to

analyze customers’ perception.

c. Getting customer feedback through face to face conversation or meeting.

d. Feedback through complaint or appreciation letter.

e. Direct customer feedback through surveys and questionnaires.

Organizations mostly employ external agencies to listen to their customers and provide

dedicated feedback to them. These feedbacks needs to be sophisticated and in structured format

so that conclusive results could be fetched out. Face to face meetings and complaint or

appreciation letter engages immediate issues. The feedback received in this is not uniformed as

different types of customers are addressed with different domains of questions. This hiders the

analysis process to be performed accurately and consistently. Hence the best way is to implement

a proper survey which consists of uniformed questionnaire to get customer feedback from well

segmented customers. The design of the prepared questionnaire is an important aspect and

should enclose all the essential factors of business. The questions asked should be in a way that

the customer is encouraged to respond in a obvious way/. These feedback could receive by the

organizations can be treated as one of the best way to measure customer satisfaction.

Apart from the above methods there is another very popular direct method which is

surprise market visit. By this, information regarding different segment of products and services

provided to the customers could be obtained in an efficient manner. It becomes easy for the

supplier to know the weak and strong aspects of products and services.

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2. Indirect Method: The major drawback of direct methods is that it turns out to be very costly and

requires a lot of pre compiled preparations to implement. For getting the valuable feedbacks the

supplier totally depends on the customer due to which they loses options and chances to take

corrective measure at correct time. Hence there are other following indirect methods of getting

feedback regarding customer satisfaction:

a. Customer Complaints: Customer’s complaints are the issues and problems reported by

the customer to supplier with regards to any specific product or related service. These

complaints can be classified under different segments according to the severity and

department. If the complaints under a particular segment go high in a specific period of

time then the performance of the organization is degrading in that specific area or segment.

But if the complaints diminish in a specific period of time then that means the organization

is performing well and customer satisfaction level is also higher.

b. Customer Loyalty: It is necessarily required for an organization to interact and

communicate with customers on a regular basis to increase customer loyalty. In these

interactions and communications it is required to learn and determine all individual

customer needs and respond accordingly. A customer is said to be loyal if he revisits

supplier on regular basis for purchases. These loyal customers are the satisfied ones and

hence they are bounded with a relationship with the supplier. Hence by obtaining the

customer loyalty index, suppliers can indirectly measure customer satisfaction.

Importance of service quality & customer satisfaction

Customer Loyalty- Happy customers are loyal customers. Not only is it important for you to

provide stellar service, but awesome products as well. Make it a point to be on the fast

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track for keeping up with trends that your customers may follow such as building personal

assistance services for traveling customers or making special concessions for avid repeat

consumers. Be sure you have items on hand so when your customer needs you and your

products, everything’s available. A customer who has to continuously wait for you to do

your part may grow tired, no matter how loyal, and venture off to your competition. Keep

customers loyal by focusing on them at all times.

Happier Environment- The physical perception imparted by your hospitality business is

important in achieving customer satisfaction. Your restaurant or hotel need not spend lots

of money to create an amicable environment. Over-the-top interior design can be perceived

as either cold and off-putting, genial and inviting or somewhere in between. The difference

lies in the emotive quality of your employees — the main ingredient in creating a special

experience for your guests. Your environment must be clean, well-lit and comfortable,

however, for your customers to feel at home.

Increased Security- When customers are paying to be served, they expect to be able to relax

and enjoy themselves without worrying about security. A secure environment means

having plenty of friendly employees visible to guests from the moment of arrival to

departure. Helpful, too, are frequent interactions with guests to instill a sense of inclusion

in the goings-on at your establishment. Security need not be overt, however. Armed and

uniformed security guards will frighten guests rather than impart a sense of safety.

Better Value- Your guests need to believe they are receiving an excellent value for their

money. Value can be inexpensively included in their visit in the form of discounts, free

candy or snacks, bottled water at no charge, gift cards and the like. Guests generally don’t

expect these perks so they can build repeat business — a sure sign of customer satisfaction!

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Service Trends Affecting the Hospitality and Tourism Industry

The TEN patterns that have reshaped (are as yet reshaping) the industry

#1 - Virtual people group

Interpersonal organizations and specifically TripAdvisor have profoundly affected clients.

This has prompted more straightforwardness and, generally speaking, to an improved nature of

the administrations gave by friendliness organizations.

#2 - Sharing economy

Airbnb speaks to a significant disturbance in the inn business, making the serious scene

harder than any time in recent memory. This is additionally fortified by the way that housing

properties recorded on Airbnb don't really need to agree to indistinguishable guidelines and

guidelines from customary inns.

#3 - Online Travel Agents (OTAs)

They have had at any rate three significant effects on the neighborliness business.

To start with, they have changed dispersion channels and therefore removed an incentive

from hoteliers.

Second, the reputation of brands claimed by Booking Holdings and Expedia are with the

end goal that these organizations have nearly supplanted lodging brands.

Third, they have assembled strong relations with explorers. Presently, hoteliers need to

pay to gain admittance to these clients, along these lines prompting a more slender net revenue

for the previous.

#4 - Digitalized visitor encounters

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Applications, specifically, are progressively significant in the manner in which hoteliers

deal with the administrations they give to their clients and would now be able to control

numerous parts of the visitor cycle and experience.

#5 - Booming worldwide the travel industry

Minimal effort bearers empower more individuals to venture to the far corners of the

planet at a sensible cost. In addition, a few developing markets have seen their GDP increment at a

quick pace, accordingly empowering their residents to venture to the far corners of the planet.

Clients from South Korea, China, India, and others, presently establish an enormous group of

potential explorers. Their interest, obviously, bigly affects the offer.

#6 - Experience economy

Clients demand extraordinary personalization, one of a kind encounters, etc. This could

prompt the demise of the trip specialist and the ascent of the free explorer.

#7 - Asset the executives rehearses

The benefit light methodology has gotten common in the business. The partition between

the administration of tasks and land resources presently permits accommodation organizations to

concentrate on their center business, in this way improving efficiencies.

It, in any case, prompts extra unpredictability and potential organization issues, clarifying

the rise of new kinds of occupations, for example, resource chiefs.

#8 - Professionalization

As expressed above, new position profiles have developed after the expanding

unpredictability of the friendliness business. In equal, the requirement for quantitative abilities

(for estimating, planning, and so forth.) has likewise expanded.

#9 - Generations Y and Z

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These new ages have various prerequisites and necessities contrasted with more seasoned

ages. A respondent said "More seasoned ages consider inns and vehicle rentals. More youthful

ages consider Airbnb and Uber."

#10 - Sustainability

Individuals are getting progressively delicate to ecological and social issues. A respondent

said this "must be considered in marking, yet be careful with green-washers: purchasers are

currently very much aware that window-dressing exists, and they won't get it."

Today – Hospitality industry 2.0

What does the eventual fate of neighborliness hold? By and large, our personnel proposes

the requirement for hoteliers to appropriately grasp the previously mentioned patterns and

comprehend what's in question. Six measurements turned out from our review:

#1 - Standardization can never again be the standard.

It is getting basic to customize and tailor the administrations to the requirements and

inclinations of the voyagers.

#2 - To make esteem, center on specialty markets.

More customization and specialization may empower expanded worth creation for

neighborliness organizations. Be that as it may, be cautious, as a respondent stated, as this

requires to really consider the incentive of your offer and not "just marking and rebranding".

#3 - Exploit innovation as a quickening agent for business.

Innovation will be at the center of the inn experience both in the room, when the excursion.

This will prompt the improvement of new ideas and more development in the business and add to

the rise of a perpetually individualized offer.

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#4 - Social duty is a good and monetary commitment.

The effect of an Earth-wide temperature boost would today be able to be viewed as a

significant hazard for the two companies which may lose in incomes and benefits and society all in

all. It is therefore basic for governments yet significantly more so for partnerships to turn out to

be increasingly reasonable: "green, however genuine practical plans of action".

#5 - Develop progressively responsive and versatile plans of action.

"The travel industry, in spite of ever-developing progressions of voyagers, will become less

secure and progressively inclined to emergencies" as the number of explorers relentlessly keeps

on developing. This will be joined by expanded guidelines as a reaction to a disproportional

increment in vacationer streams in certain spots (for example Venice or Barcelona).

#6 - Manage abilities effectively.

The times of durable worker maintenance just as inactive, various leveled the board styles

are certainly gone. "Drawing in, creating and keeping the correct ability into and inside the

neighborliness business keeps on staying a center test."

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References and Supplementary Materials

Books and Journals
1. Prasanna Kumar; 2010; Marketing of Hospitality and Tourism Services; New Delhi;
Tata Mc Graw Hill Education Private Limited
Online Supplementary Reading Materials
1. 10 Types of service quality; https://simplicable.com/new/service-quality;
20January2020
2. What is customer satisfaction; https://simplicable.com/new/customer-satisfaction;
20January2020
3. Definition of Service quality;
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/marketing/definition-of-service-quality-
marketing-essay.php; 20January2020
4. 9 Practical methods for measuring service quality;
https://www.userlike.com/en/blog/measuring-service-quality; 20January2020
5. Customer satisfaction in the hotel industry tourism Essay;
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/tourism/customer-satisfaction-in-the-hotel-
industry-tourism-essay.php; 20January2020
6. Customer satisfaction in the hospitality industry;
https://yourbusiness.azcentral.com/customer-satisfaction-hospitality-industry-
9329.html; 20January2020
7. Methods of measuring customer satisfaction;
https://www.managementstudyguide.com/methods-of-measuring-customer-
satisfaction.htm; 20January2020
8. Top 6 Digital Transformation Trends in Hospitality and Tourism;
https://www.forbes.com/sites/danielnewman/2018/01/02/top-6-digital-
transformation-trends-in-hospitality-and-tourism/#24bfbab767df; 30January2020
9. Top 10 Trends in Reshaping Hospitality; https://hospitalityinsights.ehl.edu/2019-
top-hospitality-trends; 20January2020

Online Instructional Videos

Course Module