Assignment on Services Marketing (MKT-6302)

Semester: Fall-2023
MBA (Professional Program)

Group Assignment
Recently you have visited Cox’s Bazar with your family members, the longest unbroken
sea beach in the world and stayed in a 4 Star hotel located in nearby the beach. During
your visit and staying the hotel you have conducted a survey on the customers’
satisfaction on the services provided by the hotel. The survey result found that hotel
frequently fails to provide the committed services to the boarders. Your experience is not
different from the survey result. Now based on your experience and the survey result,
recommend some strategies to the hotel authority for service recovery and justify your
arguments in favor of your recommendations.
Instructions:
i. It is a group assignment. Form a group of maximum 7 members (For section –A)
and 6 members (For section – B).
ii. The length of this assignment would not be more than 12 pages typed and printed in
a4 size white paper in 1.5 spaces, Times New Roman font and the font size 12.

(Date of assignment presentation and submission: 7th October, 2023)

Individual Assignment
Read the following Case and answer the questions that followed:

A COMMITMENT TO CUSTOMER SATISFACTION

It is important to note that it is necessary for a company to be customer-oriented to be
successful. At the heart of an organization's strategic planning, and the implementation of
those plans, is a strong commitment to customer satisfaction.
But we raise the question of whether there should be a limit to this commitment,
especially when it affects a company's profitability. Let's consider the case where
American Airlines (soon followed by its competitors) engaged in a tactical
implementation move designed to achieve customer satisfaction and therefore more
business. Prior to the Summer of 1992, the airlines announced air fares at 50 percent of
the regular coach price for flights within the mainland U.S. Some restrictions applied.
This "window of opportunity" for a 50 percent price discount was open only for tickets
purchased between May 27 and June 5. The
trips had to be completed by mid-September and required to stay over Saturday night.
So far, so good, Airline traffic increased considerably, Hotel business was above
expectation in many markets because of the surge in air traffic. Hertz announced it was
buying 20,000 additional cars to handle the increase in travel.
Something else also happened. Many people had purchased tickets for summer trips
before the price cuts were announced. Now these people returned their tickets (where
allowed), got a refund, and then immediately made a new reservation and bought a new
ticket at the 50 percent price. The airlines obviously lost a lot of money in these
transactions. Even with a $25 charge for rewriting or refunding a previously purchased
ticket, the 50 percent price provided a considerable saving to most travelers.
Retail stores also often face a similar situation. The customer buys a shirt for, say, $40,
and 2 days later it goes on sale for $20. Not having worn the shirt, the customer wants to
return it and get another one of the same kind for $20.

Questions:
a. Do you think that an airline or store provide this return-rebuy opportunity? Why or
why not?
b. How will you evaluate a company if it places limit on its commitment to customer
satisfaction? Validate your arguments.