Literature Review Of Self-Service Technology In The Hotel Industry

The rationale behind selection a literature review as study methodology, because the literature review method help to demonstrate and describe current knowledge

Daymond et al (2011) were of opinion that literature review of a research should be done using a wide range of high quality literatures. On the other hand, Creswell (2007) argued that although an extensive literature review is important, outdated literatures could affect the result and findings of the study. The researchers offered unbiased and overt review by acknowledging the views of many authors and arguments about the problem of the study.

The development of literature review is critical for a research project. The key to research is to refine it and go in depth. A researcher can refine his research by using online data bases in libraries to reduce search results and find the most scholarly articles about the research topic. Understanding different theories is critical because you want to make sure that a theory is tested and accurate. After a researcher has narrowed down his results through effective research techniques, he will be able to assess his hypotheses quicker and accurately through either qualitative or quantitative research

Both Machi and McEvoy (2012) and Bell and Waters (2014) stated that there are several reasons why the author needs to complete a literature review. The most consequential motives are to compare previous findings, to justify the thesis of this paper, to identify similar work done within the subject area and to critique existing conclusions and suggest further studies. Furthermore the author must gain knowledge and understanding of the most important issues to establish the researcher’s theoretical framework and methodological focus. This literature review will illustration how the investigation the author is conducting fits with what has gone previously and puts it into perspective.

According to Baridam (2001), it is not enough to review literature without presenting the studies by topic and determining how each of these topics relates to the researcher’s own study. A systematic presentation of the literature forms the foundation of the study.

Managers who doubt this financial IT investment should ask themselves if they can afford loosing a customer on the grounds of not satisfying his needs. Since the rare resource of a company is its capabilities that create value with the technology, while actively implementing the CRM technology, on top of all the current capabilities and expertise already employed by Wyndham, it would be beneficial to add additional supporting business processes such as Newsletters, that can be published weekly or monthly, making sure not to bore the reader with regular issues of nonsense, but highlight the special program services and the company’s new moves in the field, Regular follow up calls to identify with the customers and find out how they are doing and regular market/satisfaction surveys that can be sent by e-mail, post online and most important, reviewed regularly by the company. An online guest feedback system can be implemented to help track customer service levels. Believing that taking care of the hotel’s employees will result in them taking care of the guests, a natural extension would be to implement an online employee opinion system as well, where employees can complete an online survey to measure their satisfaction and provide an immediate feedback. A key driver of guest satisfaction is how well employees handle issues that arise during a guest`s stay. It

Customer satisfaction and service quality are the two important components that direct anyone’s attention in every concept related to marketing, services, etc. (Spreng and Mackoy, 2006). In today’s competitive era, the success lies in

This report analyses best practices implemented in world’s largest hospitality brands: Ritz-Carlton and Hilton Worldwide and how service excellence is achieved by them. It is divided into two main parts:

Hilton Hotels, one of the biggest worldwide corporations in the hospitality industry, adopted a Customer Really Matter (CRM) strategy to manage its diverse segments of hotels and to improve customer experience. The cornerstone of the CRM, the custom-built OnQ information system, built profiles of the guests, which could be used by the front desk employees and the reservations center to better serve the customers. The OnQ system did improved efficiency of call center operations, but the way of using it also reduced the flexibility of the customer service in the hotels. It could benefit or harm the service-profit chain depending on the specific situation. A few recommendations were made at the end of the case study to improve the system. In general, Hilton should implement big data analytics and give more control to the customers.

Dave Sinclair, vice-president of human resources at Blue Mountain Resort (BMR), was considering his options concerning the company's service quality program. He gathered together a team of 25 BMR managers to identify opportunities to improve service quality. They had provided Dave with a number of specific proposals he wanted to evaluate and decide on a course of action. From all, Dave identified three proposals that required careful consideration: costumer flow, speed of service and information technology (IT).

Hospitality Management is a difficult and competitive market, and any lack in customer service can result in defecting customers or the termination of a relationship between a customer and a service provider. In this paper we will look at Hilton a company that has continually ranked amongst the top ranking hotels and continues to improve. Hilton’s customer service ranks as one of the top hospitality providers in the United States. We will look at the history of how Hilton came to be the name brand it is today and some of their process the used to narrow the customer service gaps such as Hilton Honors, the Hiltons Reservation Customer Care, and RESMAX. We will look at how they look at how Hilton manages the customer expectations through the use of employee training and their decreased the customer service gap through employee retention. We will also look as how Hilton co-partnered with Citibank in order to offer its Hilton Honors member additional benefits in order to keep in line with the customer service that the customers have come to expect.

Customer service is very important element in hospitality industry. A good restaurant or a good hotel always have an excellent service first. Hotels and restaurants put added value in their products and service make guest love it. Some hotels give guest drink when they arrived or prepare small birthday gifts to their loyalty guests. But sometimes hotels spend lots of money to added value of customers’ experience but customers still don’t like their service. So, what’s happening? Hotels gave service and improved service are not customers needed or most needed. That’s the gap between you and your customer. “You know your hotel inside out, but do you ever see it through your guests' eyes? In many cases, there is a disconnect between what hoteliers think

Kotler & Keller (2008) build on this definition, stating that customer satisfaction is determined by “the degree to which someone is happy or disappointed with the observed performance of a product in relation to his or her expectations”. Performance that is below expectations leads to a dissatisfied customer, while performance that satisfies expectations produces satisfied customers. Expectations being exceeded leads to a “very satisfied or even pleasantly surprised customer” (Kotler & Keller, 2003, p. 80).

Service quality represents a fundamental aspect of delivery, which strongly influences consumer satisfaction and, as a result, loyalty. In today’s global market a customer’s service expectation has to be met and exceeded eventually in order to retain customers as well as achieve success. Perceived quality of a product or a service is becoming one of the major competitive factors in the business world and has led to the innovation of the ‘Quality Era’ (Peeler, 1996). In simple words, the comparison of customer expectations with service performance is service quality. On the other hand, customer satisfaction is defined as a pleasurable fulfilment response toward a good, service, benefit, or reward (Oliver, 1997). Both of these

2. Literature Review 2.1 Previous Theory on Service Quality and Customers Satisfaction Parasuraman et al., (1985, 1988) proposed service quality model for the first time and they said service quality can be measure through functional quality dimension which has five components (tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy). This model identifies the gaps of service quality of the service organization which describe five gaps during the service expectation till the actual service delivery. First gap is the service providers do not know what the expectations of the customers about the service. Second gap is the service provider does not recognize the standard of service that customer expect. Specifications of the service and delivery of service is the third gap. Forth gap is related with delivery of the service. Last and final gap is the customer’s expectation about the service and the perceived service. In latter part Haywood-Farmer (1988) mentioned that there are three important attributes in a service quality for instance (1) physical facilities and processes (2) people’s behavior (3) professional judgment. However, Brogowicz et al., (1990) developed a model for