Tailieuxanh ch01 5868

CHAPTER 1
THE BASICS OF GUEST SERVICE

• After reading this chapter, you should be able to:
– Identify and describe the history, ages of change, and
current status of guest service in the U.S.
– Identify the uses of various reasons why guests may not
outwardly complain.
– Identify and explain the reasoning behind why guests share
their poor experiences with others.
– Describe the expectations of guests as they relate to
hospitality.
– Explain and apply the concept of using quality service as a
competitive advantage.
– Describe details regarding the legends of guest service.
Copyright © 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Guest Service is a
Science and an Art
• Both a science and an art
– It is much more than just being nice to people.
– Businesses fail at it all of the time.
– It doesn’t just happen by itself.
– It requires a special blend of:
• Procedure
• Technique
• Skill
• The human element
Guest Service is Integrated
• Integrated into the overall business model
– It is part of the company’s identity, or brand and must
be tailored to the individual operation
• Customized, planned, and executed
• Including systems that support it
– Employees must be knowledgeable about:
• Brand
• Products
• Operations
– Customers must be properly gauged or assessed to
ensure proper alignment with the brand image.
Guest Service is Integrated
(cont’d)
• It is:
– Part of the core of the business.
– Integrated into nearly every decision.
– Calculated and planned.
– Evident in all of the operations, the people, and the
plan.
Guest Service is
Meeting Expectations
• Definition
– Guest Service: Meeting guests’ expectations
– There are a variety of similar definitions.
• Anytime patrons, or even prospective patrons,
interact with a facet of the organization; customer
service is rendered.
• Quality customer service is meeting and exceeding
the individual customer’s expectations.
• If service meets or surpasses customer’s
expectations, in any situation, it is said to be quality
customer service.
Examples of Bad Service
• Staffing:
– They are understaffed.
– They aren’t paid enough.
– They aren’t properly trained.
– They are just having a bad day.
– No person or system is present to monitor.
– They are in training.
– They are overworked and tired.
– It isn’t their responsibility.
– The boss isn’t present or doesn’t care.
(cont’d)
• Systems:
– The computer is slow.
– The kitchen is slow.
– The _______ is broken.
– We just got a new _______.
• Setting:
– Everything in this neighborhood stinks.
– This place is all about low cost.
– We are renovating.
(cont’d)
• Capacity/Customers:
– There are too many customers.
– They didn’t expect this many customers.
– The customer is rude.
– The customers are too demanding.
– The customers don’t know what they want.
– The customers don’t pay attention.
– The customer doesn’t seem to mind. No one has complained
to corporate.
– The party next to us or in the other room is too loud.
• None of them are truly acceptable.
In the Guests’ Minds
• When they receive poor service:
– I don’t think it’s worth it. – There seems to be no solution in

– I tried before and no one listened. sight.
– I am in a hurry. – I’m afraid that they’ll mess with
– I don’t want to make a scene. the food.
– I feel bad for the staff. – I don’t think that it will make a
– It isn’t the staff’s fault. difference.
– I don’t want to get anyone in – I don’t think anyone cares.
trouble. – I just hate this place and I want to
leave.
• You may not always know the reason why a customer doesn’t
complain.
• While they won’t tell you, they will be sure to tell many of their
friends. Copyright © 2013 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Good Service
• A common phrase is:
“Good service can make up for a bad food, but good

food cannot make up for poor service.”
Competitive Advantage
of Service
• Everyone (essentially) offers a generic product:
– Food
– Bed
– Same setting
• Ritz Carlton
– “We are Ladies and Gentleman serving Ladies and
Gentleman.”
– “Fulfill even the unexpressed wishes of our guests.”
• Three Steps of Service:
– A warm and sincere greeting. Use the guest’s name.
– Anticipation and fulfillment of the guest’s needs.
– Fond farewell. Give a warm good-bye and use the guest’s
name.
Bad News Travels Fast
• The customer still needed to vent.
– Customers need to be afforded the chance to express themselves.
Venting is a normal part of the customer service process.
• Customers may seek revenge.
– If customers believe they have been wronged, they want to get even.
• Customers remember unusual events.
– Customers continually take in information and filter all but the most
unusual, emotional, or important of information.
• People love to repeat extreme events.
– Really great and really bad events are more interesting to share.
• People can relate to these incidences.
– Everyone has been wronged at some time.
• Service organizations and employees appear impersonal.
Value of
Returning Customers
• Loyal, return customers are highly sought-after prizes.
• Businesses spend infinite amounts of money attracting
customers and then undervalue them as they arrive and
experience the product.
• They are often treated as if it is the first and last time they
will ever be seen.
• It costs far less to keep a return customer than to obtain a
new one.
• Businesses should spend less money attracting customers
and more effort retaining the ones they have.
Ages of Service in U.S.
• Age of Service:
– The current age in the United States. As the United States lost its
manufacturing jobs, they were replaced with service-related jobs.
• Age of manufacturing:
– Originally, the United States was largely an agricultural nation. It
evolved into a thriving manufacturing nation but then quickly lost.
• Age of communication:
– While service continues to dominate the economy and employment of
the United States, the advances and proliferation of technology spurred
a new phenomenon of communication. Never before could so much
information be so readily available so cheaply and easily. Suppliers,
businesses, and customers can now all communicate in real-time and
have the ability to access each other’s records.
Ages of Service in U.S.
(cont’d)
• Age of technology:
– Coupled with service, the United States also saw a boom in
analog, then digital technology in the 1980s and 1990s.
This heavily influenced the way that businesses operate.
Business functions were expedited by computerization.
• As the United States lost many of its manufacturing jobs to
other countries, it began replacing them with service-related
jobs.
Background of Service
• Until recently:
– A majority of people lived in relatively small neighborhoods
where everyone knew each other.
– Workers had a craft or trade.
– As more people began working for an hourly wage for big-
businesses, craftsman began to lose their sense of neighborhood
and craft.
• This forever changed the idea and tradition of service.
– Management also changed to reflect the progression.
– Rewards, motivations, standard operating procedures, and
punishments reduced craftsman to a subhuman standards.
– Since the end of World War II, Americans developed a “need for
speed.” Customers grew to be impulsive, and expectations
increased.
Self-Service
• Advantages: • Disadvantages:
– Decreased labor – Loss of human interaction
– Increased speed of – Subject to input error
service – Difficulty fixing errors
– Increased processing – Unfamiliar with technology
– Shorter lines – Unfamiliar with process
– Increased access – Uncertainty of transaction
– Quality customer service
remains the cornerstone of
the hospitality industry.
Legends in Service
Management
• W. Edwards Deming:
– Statistician and management consultant considered to
be a leader in the customer service movement
– Total quality management (TQM) movement
– After WWII, approached the Japanese with idea of
applying statistics to automotive manufacturing and
helped to implement “continuous process
improvement.”
– As a result, the 1980s saw Japanese cars dominate the
car market.
Legends in Service
Management (cont’d)
• W. Edwards Deming (cont’d):
– Deming Cycle, most commonly
referred to as the Plan–Do–
Check–Act (PDCA) Cycle. Act Plan
• Four-step process for
implementing change, or,
continuous improvement.
• Useful for incremental or
breakthrough improvement. Check Do
• Promotes the idea that a
business can always improve.
Legends in Service
• Joseph Juran:
– Credited as being the “Father of Quality Service.”
– Friend and colleague of W. Edwards Deming
– Dr. Juran also helped to introduce quality to the
Japanese.
– He was a lecturer and business consultant in more than
40 countries.
Legends in Service
• Philip Crosby:
– Published a well-known book, Quality is Free.
– Able to show that quality programs would save much
more money than they cost.
– DRIFT (do it right the first time) and Zero Defects.
– It is an idea that promoted processes and procedures
that ran smoothly and efficiently, thus, doing it right
the first time.
Legends in Service
• Tom Peters:
– Popularized Management by Walking Around (MBWA)
• The idea that managers should “get in touch” with
the employees and customers
• To learn what is really occurring.
– Authored In Search of Excellence
– Dr. Peters was one of the first and most influential gurus
of contemporary management.
– Has advocated for service excellence through practical
means.
Legends in Service
• Peter Drucker:
– Commonly known as the “Father of Modern
Management”
– Advocated for the human side as opposed to the
numbers.
– He was popular for ideas such as “management by
objectives” and the “knowledge worker.”
– Was very interested in the concept of permitting
workers to think for themselves.
– He made many predictions, some of which came true.
Paradigms
• A belief that is commonly accepted as being the proper
way or method that something is to be done.
– This promoted “thinking outside the box,” in which a
paradigm was considered to be “the box.”
• The idea of a paradigm shift became very popular with
the quality movement.
Moment of Truth
• A point of service at which customer service is either
made or lost.
• The concept of the moment of truth was first popularized
by Jan Carlson of SAS Airlines.
• The service experience is made up of many moments of
truth.
– Each can be analyzed.
– Each should be valued.
Chapter Review
Questions
• What is the definition of quality guest service?
• Why do some customers choose not to complain?
• What “Age of Change” are we currently in?
• List five examples of self-service that you have used in the
past week.
• How did Deming help the Japanese?
• Why do we tend to forget certain events while remembering
others?
• When did the need for speed become popular in the United
States?
• Why does bad service still exist?
• Who is the Father of Quality Service?
• Who is the Father of Modern Management?

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CHAPTER 1

THE BASICS OF GUEST SERVICE

– I don’t think it’s worth it. – There seems to be no solution in

“Good service can make up for a bad food, but good

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