Quality Assurance Systems in the Hotel Industry

tint federal agency Systems in the Hotel IndustryQuality authority agreements in the upscale hotel sector1.IntroductionQuality sureness systems atomic number 18 an important element of any bloodline strategy. As Porter (1985 and 2004) suggests, choice is now seen as a major force for gaining competitive advantage, particularly with the consumer. There is no commercial activity where this is much(prenominal) important than in the hotel sector. As Yavas et al (1995) state, the question is no longer whether to view as whole t unmatchable assurance political programs, still rather how to make these programmes work, inwardly this sector of hospitality.It can be argued that in cost of whole step assurance systems delivery the hotel sector is in a distinctive position, particularly when it is related to helping felicity (Parasuraman 1997, Schiffman and Kanuk 2000). Unlike most other industries, where guest contact and engagement during a visit powerfulness be fleeting , as happens in retail shop surroundings, a hotels interaction with clients can last from a few hours to several days. Furthermore, as Kandampully et al (2001, p.28) the prime(prenominal) of the hotel produce also has to take into account the client-to-customer interactions. hobby a brief belles-lettres review, the intention of this essay is to examine gauge assurance systems and evaluate the onus that these systems have upon serve up prime(a) and customer propitiation within the upscale Hotel market.2.Literature ReviewQuality assurance and management within the hotel environment is foc lend oneselfd upon satisfying the customer. Therefore, this review concentrates on the existing literature relating to customer pleasure and the various methods and frameworks of run timbre related to this focus.2.1Customer felicityAcademic literature relating to customer satisfaction f eithers within deuce main categories, these being the psychological perceptions of the customer and the pragmatical ways in which customer satisfaction can be implemented to help a occupation achieve its objectives. In the hotel sector, this objective is to try and engender a high level of customer satisfaction in order to positively influence our customers repurchasing and communicative behaviour (Hennig-Thurau and Hassen (2000, p.62).However, to achieve this aim the business has to make what drives customer satisfaction. Christopher (1984), Holbrook (1999), Schiffmand and Kanuk 2000 and Brennen (2003) all agree that satisfaction is related to the consumers perception or judgement of a product experience and esteem when set against their expectations and the payment made. Zeithamls (1998, p.14) describes it as follows, being that Perceived value is the consumers overall assessment of the utility of a product based on perceptions of what is authentic and what is condition value represents a trade-off of the salient give and get components, in other words the comprise paid i s measured against the value expected . Therefore, it can be suggested that the greater the function spirit the higher(prenominal) the satisfaction (Kandampully et al. 2001, p.8) and, conversely, the higher the price the greater the perception of value.Bostepe (2007) further identifies that, within a service environment such as a hotel, consumer satisfaction does not simply rely upon the woodland of service satisfaction received from business employees, although this is an essential element. The physical environment, for example the dcor, bedrooms and other facilities offered, ar also elements of the consumers perceived value and service satisfaction. If any of these are deemed as sub-standard, particularly when related to the price paid, this lead reduce the customers enjoyment and levels of satisfaction.It follows whence that only by concentration upon providing quality within all of these areas of the product pass on the business be able to assure satisfaction and encourag e customer loyalty (Holbrook 1999, p.121), which Porter (1998), Parasuraman (1997) Agrawal (2000) and Harrison (2003) all agree is essential to competitive advantage.2.2Methods used to measure customer satisfaction and service qualityThere are numerous quality assurance measurement systems and standards available for use within the business environment. Customer feedback is one such measurement. Client feedback can be achieved by two methods. The first way is to provide questionnaires that hotel guests are asked to complete before the end of their stay. The second is to rely upon externally conducted questionnaires, interviews and polls, which can be conducted on a continuous basis.However, whilst comments and responses provided by customers may act as a good testimonial for the business (Porter 1998, p.1478), these systems have their drawbacks. In addition to the fact that not all customers might respond, the design of the process itself is often flawed (Kandampully et al 2001) an d can therefore be misinterpreted. For example, a elemental complaints procedure would not necessarily identify areas of quality success. Secondly, these feedback processes tend to lack definition. Their use may therefore be inhibited by the fact that they do not provide management with able occurrence to be able to locate and resolve the specific areas of the business where deficiency of service quality is occurring. Furthermore, a system of continuous surveys adds to the business administration salutes and, in addition, raises the inherent issue of sampling (Visit Britain 2008 b). usher of these limitations can be seen in a recent survey conducted by Visit Britain (2008 a) (see figure 1).Whilst it is understandably spare from these results that customer satisfaction in related to encouraging loyalty and retention, as well as being inherently useful in turning existing customers into promotional tools for the hotel, this does not provide management with a detailed compend of the areas where satisfaction has been achieved or denote what areas were not satisfying.To provide detailed quality service observations therefore, a more robust quality assurance system is required and most of these are based upon variations of the Total Quality watchfulness (TQM) system (Dotchin and Oakland 1994 and Ziethaml et al 2000). These methods are designed to assess and monitoring device the level of quality being maintained throughout all areas of the business process and its supply chain, from an infixed as well as external viewpoint. One such variation, particularly applicable to the hotel exertion, is the SERVQUAL method, which originated from the works of Parasuraman et al (1991).3SERVQUAL MeasurementKandampully et al (2001, p.68) observe that many academics and practical studies have used SERVQUAL as a true measure of customer service and that it has been extensively applied (Shahin 2005, p.4) in service based organisations. Amongst these service industries will be included the hospitality and hotel sector of the tourism industry.Despite the fact that recent researches have sought to extend the elements of quality measurement with the SERVQUAL model, fundamentally it is still based upon the level of quality assurance to be measured and gained within pentad key sectors of the business processes, which are Tangibles Physical facilities, equipment and appearance of personnel.reliableness Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately.Responsiveness Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service.Assurance (including competence, courtesy, credibleness and security). Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence.Empathy (including access, communication, understanding the customer). Caring and individualized attention that the faithful provides to its customers.Source Sahney et al 2004The SERVQUAL measurement can be used internally, through measurement against preset qua lity assurance standards such as the ISO 9001 Quality certification process (BSI 2008) and the Star evaluate system operated by Visit Britain (2008) in conjunction with the Automobile Association. In this case the hotel services and processes are measured against pre-determined sets of quality criterion and monitored at least annually by those who regulate these standards. The internal quality assurance programme is also complemented by external consumer questionnaires and interview surveys.The SERVQUAL quality assurance method has been in existence for more or less years and is tried and tested (Shahin 2005, p.5), making it a firm favourite within the hotel service industry, where managers are comfortable and confident with the outcomes of these measurements. An element of SERVQUAL that is considered particularly important in this respect is the fact that the system and its measurements are monitored and updated on a regular basis (Holbrook (1999), Sahney et al (2004) and Boztepe (2007)), for example annually (Shahin 2005, p.6). Both ISO 9001 and the Star rank systems conform to these determinants.4Quality assurance in Upscale HotelsAs will be seen from the future(a) analysis, the quality assurance systems applied to the hotel in terms of both the internal industry Star Rating and external SERVQUAL systems are virtually synonymous in terms of the standards and factors they rely upon for measurement. To maintain their perception as upscale or 5 supporter hotels, in each of these cases the hotel will have to achieve much higher levels of standards.4.1Star Rating systemAlthough the Star Rating system is formatted in a meagerly different way to SERVQUAL, the quality elements of this process are still graded in a equivalent manner. The main difference is the fact that there are minimum quality requirements before the hotel will all the same be considered for a rating. However, even these equate to the tangible element of the SERVQUAL system (figure 2).Once the minimum institution requirements have been met, to assess which star level is applicable to the establishment independent inspectors will monitor five quality bands and award a quality percentage to each. These percentages determine what rating the establishment has achieved (figure 3). guess 3 Quality bands for star ratingSource Visit Britain (2005, p.6)Furthermore, this standard of quality has to be achieved across a range of five product elements, which include cleanliness, service, food quality, bedrooms and bathrooms. Simply complying in one of the areas is not sufficient to earn the highest star. Therefore, if the hotel fails to achieve the required 85-100% standards during an annual monitoring it risks its rating being downgraded to four stars or a lower standard. For instance, in the example shown below (figure 4), despite the fact that the hotel being monitored has achieved the five star requirements in three of the five bands, its failures in the other two would demo te it to a four star hotel.Figure 4 Quality bank achievementSource adapted from Visit Britain (2005, p.7)4.2SERVQUAL systemWhen utilise the SERVQUAL system, which is mostly based largely upon the results of customer satisfaction surveys, although all hotels would be looking to achieve the maximum service quality satisfaction level of 100% in terms of the overall scoring, there is a important difference in the way this would be achieved when related to the different standard of establishments. To provide an example of how this equates in practice, the following is a comparison between the SERVQUAL requirements of a 5 star hotel against lower rated hotel, such as the budget Travelodge hotel chain (figure 5).Figure 5 SERVQUAL comparisonsIt is apparent from the above comparison that the 5-star establishment requires their quality of service to be more balanced, in other words no one area of their product should be delivering a lower quality of service than any other. However, with th e budget chain, which operates on a low cost strategy that eliminates much of the human resources and food elements, these specific areas are shown to have less importance to the business, but need to be compensated by increased levels of satisfaction in other areas of quality if the business is to remain successful.4.3 FindingsWhat is immediately apparent from the analysis of the two quality assurance systems identified above as being used within the hotel sector is their compatibility. This not only applies to the systems per se, but also to the measurement of the results. In both cases an upscale hotel would need to achieve a balanced score with high ratings in all of the quality determinants if it is to maintain its market position and be perceived by the potential customer as a quality (5 star) hotel. Conversely, the lower quality hotels pay less attention to those areas of the standards that are more forthwith related to the quality of service provided by their human resource s, relying instead upon other elements to satisfy customer quality perception, such as low cost (Porter 2004).Whilst it could therefore be stated in simple terms that quality assurance is related to the price being paid for the product, what research such as that conducted by Shahin (2006), Ziethaml et al (1990) and Holbrook (1999), and the fact that all hotels, irrespective of their standards, operate quality assurance systems, shows is that price is simply one element required to fulfill customer satisfaction needs.Whatever price is being charged for the hotel product the customer will still weigh the experience received against the value they expect from the product enjoyed at that price (Zeithaml 1988 and Parasuraman et at 1994). A customer who decides to spend a greater amount of his or her available income on arranging to stay in a 5-star hotel will have a much greater value expectation than one who chooses a budget hotel stay. The former will expect the service quality to ex ist in all aspects of the hotel product. This includes the dcor and the ambiance of the environment, the facilities that are being offered, including meals and room service, and the performance of the hotels human resources. If these quality expectations are not met that customer will perceive that they have not received value for money and therefore will view the experience as less than satisfactory. Therefore, they will be unlikely to promote the hotel in a positive manner to others or re-use it.5ConclusionIt is apparent that in the case of an upscale or5-star hotel the combination of the industry Star Rating and SERVQUAL quality assurance systems will have a significant impact upon their service quality and the level of customer satisfaction achieved from using the product.In terms of the Star Rating system, the higher the star rating the greater the expectation of the customer in terms of their perception of the quality that will be found in this establishment. Therefore, the fi ve star establishments are likely to attract customers who wish to avail themselves of the higher quality experience.With regard to the external SERVQUAL system of measurement, because these are results from customer experiences, the greater the levels of quality achieved in the areas measured, the more likely it is that customers will be well-kept and act as recommenders to other potential customers.In both cases therefore, it can be concluded that the quality assurance system is designed to achieve competitive advantage by attracting additional market share, thus improving the hotels revenue and profitability levels.ReferencesAgrawal (2000). Managing service industries in the new millennium Evidence is everything. story presented at the AIMS Convention on Service solicitudeBerry L L and Parasuraman, A (1991). marketing Services Competing Through Quality, Free Press. New York, USBoztepe, Suzan (2007). User cherish Competing theories and models. 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