QA Systems in Upscale Hotels

QA Systems in Upscale Hotels character reference authorization agreements be an important element of each business strategy. As Porter (1985 and 2004) suggests, fictitious character is now seen as a major force for gaining competitive reinforcement, particularly with the consumer. There is no commercial message activity where this is more important than in the hotel sector. As Yavas et al (1995) state, the nous is no longer whether to have note self-assurance broadcasts, but quite an how to make these programmes work, in spite of appearance this sector of hospitality.It back end be argued that in name of lumber assurance dodges delivery the hotel sector is in a characteristic position, particularly when it is related to overhaul rapture (Parasuraman 1997, Schiffman and Kanuk 2000). Unlike most former(a) industries, where node contact and engagement during a visit might be fleeting, as happens in retail shop environment, a hotels interaction with guests foundatio n last from a few hours to several days. Furthermore, as Kandampully et al (2001, p.28) the part of the hotel w be also has to take into account the customer-to-customer interactions.Following a sketch literature review, the intention of this essay is to examine timberland assurance dodges and pass judgment the effect that these ashess have upon help quality and customer gladness inwardly the upmarket Hotel grocery store.Quality assurance and management within the hotel environment is centre upon satisfying the customer. Therefore, this review concentrates on the existing literature relating to customer satis concomitantion and the various regularitys and frameworks of serving quality related to this focus.Academic literature relating to customer satiscircumstanceion f alls within cardinal main categories, these be the mental detections of the customer and the practical ways in which customer satis accompanimention chiffonier be implemented to help a business r each out its objectives. In the hotel sector, this objective is to try and engender a high direct of customer satisfaction in order to positively influence our customers repurchasing and communicative behavior (Hennig-Thurau and Hassen (2000, p.62).However, to achieve this aim the business has to understand what drives customer satisfaction. Christopher (1984), Holbrook (1999), Schiffmand and Kanuk 2000 and Brennen (2003) all ascertain that satisfaction is related to the consumers perception or judgement of a convergence experience and survey when set against their calculateations and the payment made. Zeithamls (1998, p.14) describes it as follows, cosmos that comprehend value is the consumers overall assessment of the utility of a product establish on perceptions of what is certain and what is given value represents a trade-off of the large give and get comp unmatchablents, in separate words the cost salaried is taproomd against the value expected . Therefore, it can be suggested that the greater the usefulness quality the higher 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 much(prenominal) as a hotel, consumer satisfaction does not but rely upon the quality of service satisfaction received from business employees, although this is an essential element. The physical environment, for lesson the dcor, bedrooms and other facilities offered, are also elements of the consumers perceived value and service satisfaction. If whatsoever of these are deemed as sub- exemplar, particularly when related to the price paid, this testament disregard the customers enjoyment and levels of satisfaction.It follows thence that only by concentration upon providing quality within all of these areas of the product will the business be able to determine satisfaction and encourage customer loyalty (Holbrook 1999, p.12 1), which Porter (1998), Parasuraman (1997) Agrawal (2000) and Harrison (2003) all suit is essential to competitive advantage.There are numerous quality assurance cadence systems and modulars available for use within the business environment. client feedback is one such measurement. Client feedback can be achieved by two methods. The low gear way is to give questionnaires that hotel guests are asked to complete before the end of their stay. The sec is to rely upon foreignly conducted questionnaires, interviews and polls, which can be conducted on a nonstop basis.However, whilst comments and responses provided by customers may act as a good tribute 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) and can therefore be misinterpreted. For example, a simple 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 commensurate detail to be able to locate and go down the specific areas of the business where deficiency of service quality is occurring. Furthermore, a system of continuous surveys adds to the business administration costs and, in addition, raises the inherent extend of sampling (Visit Britain 2008 b). Evidence of these limitations can be seen in a late(a) survey conducted by Visit Britain (2008 a) (see figure 1). range 1 guest hotel choice determinantsSource Visit Britain (2008 a, p.11)Whilst it is clearly apparent 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 analysis of the areas where satisfaction has been ach ieved or denote what areas were not satisfying.To provide detailed quality service observations therefore, a more robust quality assurance system is infallible and most of these are ground upon variations of the Total Quality counseling (TQM) system (Dotchin and Oakland 1994 and Ziethaml et al 2000). These methods are knowing to assess and monitor the level of quality being binded throughout all areas of the business process and its supply chain, from an internal as well as external viewpoint. One such variation, particularly applicable to the hotel industry, is the SERVQUAL method, which originated from the works of Parasuraman et al (1991).Kandampully et al (2001, p.68) observe that many academics and practical studies have use SERVQUAL as a true measure of customer service and that it has been extensively applied (Shahin 2005, p.4) in service establish organisations. Amongst these service industries will be included the hospitality and hotel sector of the tourism industry.D espite the fact that recent researches have sought to extend the elements of quality measurement with the SERVQUAL model, fundamentally it is keep mum based upon the level of quality assurance to be measured and gained within five key sectors of the business processes, which are Tangibles Physical facilities, equipment and appearance of personnel.Reliability Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately.Responsiveness Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service.Assurance (including competence, courtesy, credibility and security). intimacy and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence.Empathy (including access, communication, understanding the customer). Caring and severalise oversight that the firm provides to its customers.Source Sahney et al 2004The SERVQUAL measurement can be used internally, through measurement against preset quality assurance standards such as the ISO 9001 Quality certification process (BSI 2008) and the booster evaluate system operated by Visit Britain (2008) in conjunction with the Automobile Association. In this skid the hotel services and processes are measured against pre-determined sets of quality criterion and monitored at least(prenominal) 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 some years and is tried and tested(Shahin 2005, p.5), devising it a firm favourite within the hotel service industry, where managers are golden 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 Rating systems conform to these determinants.As will be seen from the following 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 school principal hotels, in each of these cases the hotel will have to achieve much higher levels of standards.4.1 Star Rating systemAlthough the Star Rating system is formatted in a slightly different way to SERVQUAL, the quality elements of this process are withal graded in a similar manner. The main difference is the fact that there are stripped quality requirements before the hotel will even up be considered for a rating. However, even these equate to the tangible element of the SERVQUAL system (figure 2).Figure 2 Minimum entry requirementsSource (Visit Britain 2005, p.8)Once the minimum entry requirements have bee n met, to assess which star level is applicable to the proof 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).Figure 3 Quality bands for star ratingStar ratingBandsOne star30-46%Two stars47-54%Three stars55-69%Four Stars70-84%Five Stars85-100%Source 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, intellectual nourishment 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 cardinal stars or a lower standard. For instance, in the example shown on a lower floor (figure 4), despite the fact that the hotel being monitored has achieved the five star req uirements in collar of the five bands, its failures in the other two would demote it to a four star hotel.Figure 4 Quality bank achievement trainStandard12345CleanlinessX helpXFood qualityXBedroomsXBathroomsXSource adapted from Visit Britain (2005, p.7)4.2 SERVQUAL systemWhen using the SERVQUAL system, which is largely 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 significant 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 comparisonsSERVQUAL criterion5-star hotelTravelodgeTangibility20%20%Reliability20%30%Responsiveness20%15%Assuranc e20%25%Empathy20%10%Total100%100%It is apparent from the preceding(prenominal) comparison that the 5-star establishment requires their quality of service to be more equilibrise, in other words no one area of their product should be delivering a lower quality of service than any other. However, with the 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 want to be compensated by increased levels of satisfaction in other areas of quality if the business is to remain successful.What 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 directly related to the quality of service provided by their human resources, 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 fulfil 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 (Zeith aml 1988 and Parasuraman et at 1994). A customer who decides to spend a greater amount of his or her disposable 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 exist in all aspects of the hotel product. This includes the dcor and the standard pressure 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.It 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 five 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 retained 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, so improving the hotels revenue and profitability levels.Agrawal (2000). Managing service industries in the new millenary Evidence is everyt hing. Paper presented at the AIMS Convention on assist ManagementBerry L L and Parasuraman, A (1991). merchandise Services Competing through and through Quality, eject Press. New York, USBoztepe, Suzan (2007). User Value Competing theories and models.International journal of Design,Vol. 1, Issue. 2, pp.55-63.Brennan, Ross (2003). Value in merchandise Confusion or Illumination? functional from http//mubs.mdx.ac.uk/Research/Discussion_Papers/ securities industrying/dpap%20marketing%20no25.pdf (Accessed 22 celestial latitude 2008)BSI (2008). ISO 9001Quality. Available from http//www.bsi-global.com/en/Assessment-and-certification-services/management-systems/Standards-and-Schemes/ISO-9001/ (Accessed 22 December 2008)Chetwynd, Catherine and Knight, Jenny (2007). Time to capitalise on falling hotel occupancy.The Times. London, UK.Christopher, M. (1996). From steel values to customer value.journal of Marketing Practice Applied Marketing Science,Vol. 2, Issue.2, pp.55-66.Dotchin, J.A an d Oakland, J.S (1994). Total Quality Management in Services Part 3 Distinguishing perceptions of Service Quality.International Journal of Quality reliability Management, Vol. 11, Issue. 4, pp.6-28Gale, B. T. (1994). Managing customer value. guiltless Press. New York, US.Harrison, Jeffrey S (2003). Strategic Management Of Resources and race.John Wiley Sons Inc.New York, US.Hennig-Thurau, Thorsten and Hansen, Ursula (eds) (2000). Relationship Marketing Gaining war-ridden Advantage Through Customer Satisfaction and Customer Retention.Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidleberg. New York, US.Holbrook, M. B. (Ed.). (1999). Consumer value A framework for analysis and research.Routledge. New York, US.Kandampully, Jay., Mox, Connie and Sparks, Beverley (2001). Service Quality Management in Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure.Haworth Press. New York, US.Kotler P (1999). Marketing Management Analysis, Planning, Implementation, and Control (Millennium ed.) Englewood Cliffs, N JPrentice-Hall, 279-317.P arasuraman, A. (1997). Reflections on gaining competitive advantage through customer value. Academy of Marketing Science, 25(2), 154-161.Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1991), Refinement and reassessment of the SERVQUAL scale.Journal of Retailing, Vol. 67, pp. 420-450.Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1993), Research note more on improving service quality measurement,Journal of Retailing, Vol. 69, No. 1, pp. 140-147.Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V.A. and Berry, L.L. (1994), Reassessment of expectations as a comparison standard in measuring service quality implications for future research,Journal of Marketing, Vol. 58, pp. 111-124.Porter, M. E. (1998). Competitive advantage Creating and sustaining superior performance.Free Press. New York, USPorter, M.E (2004). Competitive Advantage. Techniques for Analysing Industries and Competitors.Free Press.New York, USSahney, S., Banwet, D.K., and Karunes, S. (2004), A SERVQUAL and QFD approach to total quality rep roduction A student perspective,International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Vol.53, No.2, pp. 143-166.Schiffman, L g and L L Kanuk (2000). Consumer Behaviour.FT Prentice Hall, New Jersey, US.Shahin, Dr. Arash (2005). SERVQUAL and Models of Service Quality Gaps A Framework for Determining and Prioritizing Critical Factors in Delivering Quality Systems. AvailableVisit Britain (2008 a). UK Market Profile 2007. Available from http//www.tourismtrade.org.uk/Images/UK_DMarketing_tcm12-22850.pdf (Accessed 21 December 2008)Visit Britain (2008 b). Britain Inbound Overall Market Profile. Available from http//www.tourismtrade.org.uk/Images/InboundFINAL_2008_%20BritInbound3F_tcm12-40935.pdf (Accessed 21 December 2008)Visit London (2005). Hotel Accommodation Quality Standards. Available from http//www.qualityintourism.com/ case/pdfs/Standards/Hotel%20Standard%20INT.pdf (Accessed 21 December 2008)Yavas, U., Yasin, M and Wafa, m (1995). Front and back-stage strategies in servi ce delivery in the hospitality industry a conceptual framework.Market Intelligence Planning.Vol. 13, Issue, 11, pp.22-26Zeithaml, V. A. (1988). Consumer perceptions of price, quality, and value A means-end model and synthesis of evidence. Journal of Marketin,, Vol. 52, Issue. 3, pp.2-22Zeithaml, V.A., Parasuraman, A. and Berry, L.L. (1990),Delivering quality service Balancing customer perceptions and expectations.The Free Press, New York, NY.