The document describes some of the challenges a prospective student encountered when applying to and preparing to attend State University, including an uninformative campus tour, a confusing application process, issues having their file and transcript located by the admissions office, and initially being accepted to a two-year program rather than their intended major. Overall, it raises questions about the effectiveness of State University's recruitment and admissions processes from the student's perspective.

1. Chapter 3
The Guest Experience
Are Hotels Doing
The Right Thing?

2. Chapter content:
•CH 3: The guest experience
The service environment
Service model
Gaps in service
Supplier-customer relationships and total quality

3. Why manage experiences?

4. The Cost of Poor Hospitality
• Service America! by Albrecht and Zemke).
• 96% of unhappy customers are never heard from.
• For every complaint received, the average company in fact has 26
customers with problems, 6 of which are serious problems.
• Complainers are more likely than non-complainers to do business
again with the company that upset them, even if the problem isn‟t
satisfactorily resolved.
• The average customer who has had a problem with an
organization recounts the incident to more than 20 people.
• Customers who have complained to an organization and had their
complaints satisfactorily resolved tell an average five people about
the treatment they received.
Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley &
Sons, Inc. All rights reserved

5. 7/25/2013 5
Possible Levels of Customer Expectations
(1/2)
Ideal expectations or
desires
“Everyone says this restaurant is
as good as one in France and I
want to go somewhere very
special for my anniversary.”
Normative “should” expectations
“As expensive as this
restaurant is, it ought to have
excellent food and service.”
Experience-based norms “Most times this restaurant is
very good, but when it gets
busy the service is slow.”
HIGH
LOW

6. THE CUSTOMER…..
• Discuss Johnson and Layton‟s quote
“It is only through the eyes of a
customer that definition of service
quality can be obtained.”

7. Customer Defined
• A customer is the receiver of goods or
services.
– This involves an economic transaction in which
something of value has changed hands.
• Internal customers
– Employees receiving goods or services from within
the same firm.
• External customers
– Bill-paying receivers of work.
– The ultimate people we are trying to satisfy.
• End user
– Another term that describes customers.

8. CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE?

9. • Customer Expectations
– Beliefs about ________________
– Serve as reference points against which
performance is judged
– In evaluating service quality, customers
compare ____________of performance
with ____________
Customer Expectations of Service

10. We are the music makers, and we
are the dreamers of dreams

11. The Service Environment
“Customers do not buy service delivery, they buy
experiences; they do not buy service
quality, they buy memories; they do not buy food
and drink, they buy meal experiences; they do
not buy events or functions, they buy occasions”

19. Flow Experiences
• Happiness
• process of total involvement in life”
• optimal experience”
• the best moments of our lives”
• the state in which people are so involved
in an activity that nothing else seems
to
matter: the experience itself is so
enjoyable that people will do it even at
great cost for the sheer sake of doing
it”
• Involves stretch/difficult/worthwhile
• Autotelic experiences – intrinsic
pleasures

23. THE SERVICE MODEL

24. There Were
No Guest
Towels In
The Room !!
Don’t Call
Me Late At
Night
Restaurant
Service Was
Slow !!

25. • Hotels Are Not Listening To Their Guests.

26. Frequently Asked Questions About
Customer Expectations
• What does a service marketer do if customer
expectations are “unrealistic”?
• Should a company try to delight the customer?
• How does a company exceed customer service
expectations?
• Do customer service expectations continually
escalate?
• How does a service company stay ahead of
competition in meeting customer expectations?

27. Customer
Experience
Management
vs
Customer
Relationship
Management

28. Customer-Driven Quality
Slide 1 of 2
Customer-Driven Approach
– Customer driven quality represents a proactive
approach to satisfying customer needs that is
based on gathering data about our customers to
learn their needs and preferences and then
providing products and services that satisfy the
customer.

29. Customer Experience
Management…
Customer Centric
Give customers what they want
Business Strategy
Make money and beat the
competition

30. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley &
Sons, Inc. All rights reserved
Dissatisfiers vs. Satisifiers
• Discuss Cadotte and Turgeon‟s survey results.
1. Dissatisfiers – complaints for low
performance, e.g. parking
2. Satisfiers – unusual performance elicits
compliments, but average performance or
even the absence of the feature will probably
not cause dissatisfaction or complaints, e.g.
atrium type lobbies

31. Copyright © 2007 by John Wiley &
Sons, Inc. All rights reserved
Dissatisfiers v. Satisfiers cont‟d.
• 3. Critical variables – capable of eliciting
both positive and negative
feelings, depending on the situation,
e.g. cleanliness, quality of
service, employee knowledge and
service, and quietness of surroundings
4. Neutrals – factors that received neither a
great number of compliments nor many
complaints are probably either not salient
to guests or easily brought up to guest
standards.

32. What is the Voice of the
Customer?
• The Voice of the Customer
– The voice of the customer represents the
wants, opinions, perceptions, and desires of the
customer.
• Quality Function Deployment (QFD)
– “House of quality,”
– Translates customer wants into a finished product
design.

33. Customer-Relationship Management
Slide 1 of 8
• Customer-Relationship Management
– This view of the customer asserts that he or she is
a valued asset to be managed.
– The tangibles meet the intangibles to provide a
satisfying experience for the customer.
• Four important design aspects
– Complaint resolution
– Feedback
– Guarantees
– Corrective action or recovery

35. Customer-Relationship Management
Slide 2 of 8
Figure 3.1
Complaint
resolution
Feedback
Guarantees
Corrective
action
Customer
Relationship
Management
Components of a
Customer-Relationship
Management Process

36. Customer-Relationship Management
Slide 3 of 8
• Complaint Resolution
– Complaint resolution is an important part of the
quality management system.
– Three common types of complaints
• regulatory complaints
• employee complaints
• customer complaints.
– The complaint-resolution process involves the
transformation of a negative situation in one in
which the complainant is restored to the state
existing prior to the occurrence of the problem.
– Complaint-recovery process

37. Customer-Relationship Management
Slide 4 of 8
Complaint Resolution (or recovery) Process
Apologize to
the customer
(contrition)
Compensate
people for
losses
Make it easy
for the
complainant to
resolve his or
her problem

38. Customer-Relationship Management
Slide 5 of 8
• Feedback
– There are two main types of feedback
• feedback to the customer
• feedback to the firm as a basis for process improvements
– Feedback to the firm should occur on a consistent
basis with a process to monitor changes resulting
from the process improvement.
– Some customer data is solicited and other data is
provided without solicitation.

39. Customer-Relationship Management
Slide 6 of 8
• Guarantees
– A guarantee outlines the customer‟s rights.
– The guarantee is both a design and an economic
issue that must be addressed by all companies
before the first sale occurs.
• To be effective, a guarantee should be:
– Unconditional
– Meaningful
– Understandable
– Communicable
– Painless to invoke

40. Customer-Relationship Management
Slide 7 of 8
To be effective, guarantees should be:
Unconditional
Painless to invoke
Meaningful
Understandable
Communicable

41. Customer-Relationship Management
Slide 8 of 8
• Corrective Action
– When a service or product failure occurs, the
failure is documented and the problem is resolved
in a way that it never happens again.
– Corporate teams or committees should be in place
to regularly review complaints and to improve
processes so the problems don‟t recur.

42. SERV.QUAL MODELS

43. Service Quality Theories
• Parasuraman, Zeithaml, and Berry in 1985 discovered 10 widely
cited service quality determinants, i.e., the basic criteria that
customers use to analyse quality irrespective of the type of
service:
reliability, responsiveness, competence, access, courtesy, comm
unication, credibility, security, understanding/knowing the
customer, and tangibles.
• This model identifies the different sources of gaps or differences
between the service quality that a customer expects to receive
from a service provider and the customer perception of the
service actually received.
• The model identifies 5 different types of gaps. The first four gaps
are called company gaps, and the last or fifth gap is called
customer gap - that is, the gap as perceived by customer. The
customer gap is the resultant effect of the four company gaps.

44. Measuring service quality:
SERVQUAL Model
(Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berry 1985, 1988)
Service
Quality
Reliability
Responsiveness
Assurance
Empathy
Tangibles

45. Class Discussion
The Five-Gap Model
of Service Quality
Question: Describe ways in which you as
a Manager could use the five-gap model
of service quality
©2006 Pearson Education, Inc. Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism, 4th edition
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 Kotler, Bowen, and Makens

46. The Gap Approach to
Service Design
• The Gap
– The gap refers to the differences between
desired levels of performance and actual
levels of performance.
– The formal means for identifying and
correcting these gaps is called gap
analysis.

47. The Gaps Model of Service Quality
Consumer
Past
experience
Expected service
Perceived service
Service delivery
(including pre- and post-
contacts)
External
communications
to consumers
Translations of
perceptions into service
quality specifications
Management perceptions of
consumer expectations
GAP 5
GAP 3
GAP 2
GAP 1
GAP 4
Personal needs
Word-of-mouth
communications
Marketer

48. • Not knowing what customers expect
• Not selecting the right service
standards and designs
• Not delivering to service standards
• Not matching performance to promised
Customer
expectations
Customer
perceptions
Reasons
for
Customer
Gap 5

49. Customer’s
expectations
Company’s perceptions of
customer expectations
• Inadequate marketing research orientation
• Lack of upward communication
• Insufficient relationship focus
• Inadequate service recovery
Reasons
for
provider
gap
I

50. Translation of perceptions into
service quality specifications
Management perceptions of
customer expectations
• Poor service design
• Absence of customer-defined
service standards
• Inappropriate physical evidence and
servicescape
Reasons
for
provider
gap
2

51. • Poor human resource policies
• Failure to match supply and demand
• Customer not fulfilling their roles
• Problems with service
intermediaries
Service delivery
Customer-driven service
designs and standards
Reasons
for
provider
gap
3

52. External communications to
consumers
Service delivery
• Lack of integration of marketing communications
• Inadequate management of customer
expectations
• Overpromising
• Inadequate horizontal communications
Reasons
for
provider
gap
4

53. Closing the gaps
• Refer to table 4.2, p. 104
• Gap 1: Learn what customers expect
• Gap 2: Establish the right service
quality standards
• Gap 3: Ensure that service
performance meets standards
• Gap 4: Ensure that delivery matches
promises

54. Closing gap 1: Learn what
customers expect
• Use research, complaint
analysis, customer panels
• Increase direct interactions
between managers and customers
• Improve upward communications
• Act on information and insights
listen to
customers

55. Closing gap 2: Establish the
right service quality standards
• Top management commitment to providing
service quality
• Set, communicate, and reinforce customer-
oriented service standards
• Establish challenging and realistic service
quality goals
• Train managers to be service quality leaders
• Be receptive to new ways to deliver service
quality
• Standardise repetitive tasks

56. • Prioritise tasks
• Gain employee acceptance of
goals and priorities
• Measure performance of service
standards and provide regular
feedback
• Reward managers and
employees for achievement of
quality goals
Service Quality Awards

57. Closing gap 3: Ensure that service
performance meets standards
• Attract the best employees
• Select the right employees
• Develop and support
employees
– train employees
– provide appropriate technology
& equipment
– encourage and build teamwork
– empower employees
– internal marketing
Can I
take your
order?

58. • Retain good employees
– measure and reward
service quality
achievements
– develop equitable and
simple reward systems
You are a
Star Service
Provider

59. Closing gap 4: Ensure that service
delivery matches promises
• Seek input from operations personnel on
what can be done
• „Reality‟ advertising
– real employees, real customers, real situations
• Seek input from employees on advertising
• Gain communications between
sales, operations and customers
• Internal marketing programs
• Ensure consistent standards in multi-site
operations

60. • In advertising, focus on service
characteristics that are important
to customers
• Manage customer‟s expectations
– What are realistic expectations?
– Explain industry realities
• Tiered service options
– Offer different levels of service -
user pays
Why do we
always have
to wait?

61. Service Satisfaction
Information System
• Customer Complaints
• Surveys
• Employee Surveys
• Focus Groups
• „Mystery shopping‟ research
• Competitive market surveys -
benchmark

62. Measuring Satisfaction
• Qualitative Research
• Understand key drivers /
determinants
• Questionnaire design
• Data analysis
• Service performance index (SPI)
• Importance - performance analysis

63. Best Practices
• Service Guarantees by Hampton Inns
– Unconditional guarantees
– Specific guarantees
– Implicit guarantees
©2006 Pearson Education, Inc. Marketing for Hospitality and Tourism, 4th edition
Upper Saddle River, NJ 07458 Kotler, Bowen, and Makens

64. The State University
Experience
• Wow! That State University video was really cool. It has lots of
majors; it‟s close to home so I can keep my job; and Mom and Dad
loved it when they visited. I wish I could know what it‟s really like to
be a student at State. Hmmm, I think I‟ll ask mom and dad to take
a campus tour with me…..
•
• I‟m sure that we took our tour on the hottest day of the summer.
The campus is huge – it took us about two hours to complete the
tour and we didn‟t even see everything! I wasn‟t sure that the tour
guide knew what he was doing. We went into a gigantic lecture
hall and the lights weren‟t even on. Our tour guide couldn‟t find
them so we had to hold the doors open so the sunlight could come
in. About three – fourths of the way through our tour, our guide
said, “State University isn‟t really a bad place to go to school; you
have to learn the system.” I wonder what he meant by that?

65. The State University
Experience
• This application is really confusing. How do I let the admissions office know
that I am interested in physics, mechanical engineering, and industrial
design? Even my parents can‟t figure it out. I guess I‟ll call the admissions
office for some help…
• I‟m so excited! Mom just handed me a letter from State! Maybe they‟ve
already accepted me. What? What‟s this? They say I need to send my
transcript. I did that when I mailed in my application two weeks ago. What‟s
going on? I hope it won‟t affect my application. I‟d better check with
Admissions………..
• You can‟t find my file? I thought you were missing only my transcript. I
asked my counselor if she had sent it in yet. She told me that she sent it
last week. Oh, you‟ll call me back when you locate my file? OK..

66. The State University Experience
• Finally, I‟ve been accepted! Wait a minute. I didn‟t apply to University College; that‟s a
two – year program. I wanted physics, M.E., or industrial design. Well, since my only
choice is U. College and I really want to go to State, I guess I‟ll send in the confirmation
form. It really looks a lot like the application. In fact, I know I gave them a lot of the
same information. I wonder why they need it again. Seems like a waste of time…………..
• Orientation was a lot of fun. I‟m glad they straightened out my acceptance at U. College.
I think I will enjoy State after all. I met lots of other students. I saw my advisor and I
signed up for classes. All I have left to do is pay my tuition bill. Whoops. None of my
financial aid is on this bill. I know I filled out all of the forms because I got an award
letter from the state. There is no way my parent and I can pay for this without financial
aid. It says at the bottom, I‟ll lose all my classes if I don‟t pay the bill on time….
• I‟m not confirmed on the computer? I sent in my form and the fee a long time ago. What
am I going to do? I don‟t want to lose all of my classes. I have to go to the admissions
office or my college office and get a letter that says I am a confirmed student. OK. If I
do that tomorrow, will I still have all of my classes?......
• I can‟t sleep; I‟m so nervous about my first day……..
• DISCUSSION QUESTIONS
• 1. What breakdowns in service processes has this student experienced? How might
these be a function of organizational design?
• 2. What types of process management activities should State University
administrators undertake?