Call for Papers: European Academic Conference on Business Tourism and Hospitality

Date: October 15^th &17^th 2014

Location: Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Deadline for abstracts/proposals: 31st August 2014

Conference will be held at Ryerson University, Toronto, Canada will be discussion share idea in presenting in sustainable business economics marketing finance tourism e-tourism & hospitality conference supported by IJBTS Journal Vol.3 No.1

 

Website: http://www.eabthconference.com/14780825/call-for-paper

Call for Papers: International Conference on Tourism Transport and Technology

August  1^st & 3^rd 2014 London, United Kingdom

The conference focuses on academic research in the fields of :

* Tourism & Hospitality

* Transport & Logistics

* Technology & Sciences

* Business & Economic

* Social Sciences

Europiean Academic Conference focus on Tourism & Hospitality; Transport & Logistics; Technology & Science; Business & Economics; supported by international journal vol.3 No.1

Deadline for abstracts/proposals:  June 30th 2014

Website: http://www.ictttconference.com

The Importance of Verbal Skills in the Hospitality Industry

Embassy Suites Phoenix AZ

Communication in the hospitality industry is an important method of raising customer service levels and ultimately customer satisfaction. The preparation of students in communication is important for a range of duties in life but is a core element of the service industry. Rahim & Tazijan surveyed a number of hospitality managers and interns to determine their communication needs for future course development (2011).

The hospitality industry is a growing field in the U.S. as manufacturing stagnates and the service sector increases. According to the World Bank, the service sector comprises a significant portion of the overall economy in the post-industrial countries. As this service sector grows, the need for students that can communicate well is important.

Verbal communication is something we learn since we first begin to walk and as we become more proficient, the more capable we are in relaying information. Customers in particular desire communication that is friendly, accurate, and helps them solve a problem. The choice of words and tone has a large impact on customer impressions.

It is not a skill that is easily learned but can be mastered over time. College graduates should have a level of eloquence in their speech that affords them the opportunity to take higher-level positions. Whether one is within the service field or within a management position, it is beneficial to be able to speak well and communicate effectively.

Once graduates have mastered the basics of proper language, they are able to apply those concepts in other situations. Whether they are giving directions or helping a guests with an inquiry the ability to speak well makes all of the difference. It is this clear transference of knowledge that helps customers feel as though their needs are being addressed appropriately. Such skills are highly important in conflict situations.

The researchers found that the majority of managers (91.6%) indicated that interns had low ability and this influenced their ability to inform guests of transportation, entertain guests, and explain hotel policies to guests. Of all the respondents the skills of transportation arrangement, entertaining guests, answering customer questions on items, explaining fire escape routes, and explaining local attractions appeared important. Amazingly nearly a third of interns believed that some of these skills were unimportant leaving dissonance between the manager and themselves.  

Kusluvan, S. & Kusluvan, K. (2000). Perceptions and attitudes of undergraduate tourism students towards working in the tourism industry in Turkey. Journal of Tourism Management, 21(3)

Rahim, S. & Tazijan, F. (2011). Analyzing the training and internship needs assessment of verbal communication skills amongst hotel practitioners. English Language Teaching, 4 (3).

World Bank. Growth of the Service Sector. Retrieved 11.19/2013 from http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/beyond/beyondco/beg_09.pdf

Measuring Service Quality Beyond Metrics

Service management within the hotel industry is vitally important for raising perceived customer value. The more value an organization develops the more likely customers will experience a positive impression of the business. This impression has dollar and cents value. Despite this knowledge many hotels have a difficult time implementing new customer service programs that further their strategic interests. Part of the problem may lay in the culture of the organization, improper metrics, and a misaligned perception of total service quality. 

Let us assume for a minute that a new program to reduce checkout speed failed after implementation. The decision-makers trained the front desk representatives and measured the amount of customers they have attended to within the metric time-frames. Even though the speed increased the level of service declined as employees attempted to meet the service metric and ignored fundamental service expectations. 

Even though management has pushed for this speed they failed to see the fundamental value of a positive experience that lays in the total customer experience. Employees focused closely on the metric but ignored all other variables in an attempt to fulfill the requirements. This is an example where a seemingly concise strategy failed because it only partly represented the customer’s needs. 

To develop a stronger service culture and a higher level of customer satisfaction requires a proper focus on a service culture that continually reinvents itself based upon the needs of their patrons. The essential issues exist within the pro-active attitudes and the way in which employees view their job responsibilities. Is their job defined as the quality of service or is the job defined by the metric? Allowing for greater awareness of the fundamental aspects of customer service allows for a higher level of employee performance beyond short-term gains. 

To create this greater awareness it can be beneficial to understand the local culture and how employees view the concept of service management. For example, a study analyzing the influence of culture and service found that national cultural values impacted the overall personal perceptions of service quality dimensions (Dedic & Pavlovic, 2011). Knowing how employees and managers are perceiving customer service helps in developing stronger methods of improving customer service delivery. 

To understand the differences between employee perceptions and customer perceptions can be furthered by using an employee survey that assesses employee customer service perceptions and comparing the results to customer’s expectations of quality service. Where there is difference there will be a misalignment of service delivery. Better alignment can come through stronger training programs that help bridge the misalignment between employee’s understandings and customer understandings. 

The organization should develop a customer centric approach to its service metrics, employee training, and program implementation. Companies that have developed winning cultures place emphasis on customer service, business growth and employee development (Bradt, 2008). Positive growth is found in customer satisfaction, the expansion of successful services, and the development of employee skills and perceptions. 

 Fundamentally, customers have a variety of factors that constitute a positive experience and focusing simply on a speed metric may miss the other aspects that are inherent in patron retention. Such customers want a friendly attitude, competence in the expected service, and have their issues handled promptly. Failing to understand the totality of the service limits the likelihood of successful program implementation.

The next time you or your management team implements a program that appears to have unintended effects on customer service quality consider the type of metrics being used and ensure that they meet customer expectations in the widest possible sense. Furthermore, ensure that employees’ understandings and definitions of customer service are comparable with customer perceptions of quality service. Where there are differences, consider improving training to bring these two perceptions into alignment and redeveloping metrics to create a more beneficial measure of performance. 

Tips:

-Ensure metrics actually measure what is important to customers.

-Avoid having service quality defined exclusively by the service metric.

-Focus on the total customer experience.

-Develop training programs that increase both skill and perception.

-Ensure that the latent culture is customer versus organizational centric.

-Ensure that customer service programs actually align with strategic approaches. 

Bradt, G. (2008). 5 simple steps to build a winning corporate culture. Supervision, 69 (3). 

Dedic, G. & Pavlovice, D. (2011). A taleof two nations-empirical examination of influence of national culture on perceived service quality. International journal of management cases, 13 (3).

The HRM Practices that Lead to Hotel Performance

Human resources management practices can have a large impact on the overall success of hotel operations. These functions may appear to be subtle but influences nearly every aspect of human capital that makes its way into the customer service experience. It also impacts the ability of an organization to weather changes and develop to market realities. New research helps define which aspects of human resource management impact hotel success and which do not. Human resource administrators would be wise to take into consideration this research.

First, it is necessary to define human resource management. Proper human resource management entails the practices that encourages the organizations knowledge, skills and abilities to contribute to business outcomes (Huselid, et. al, 1997). In other words, it manages and fosters those human elements that make a business successful. This can include everything from recruitment to strategic training. 

Human resource management often entails a theoretical lens for understanding and studying its impact on the organization. According to Mudor & Tooksoon (2011) a conceptual framework of HRM practices includes supervision, job training and pay to foster understanding. The supervision is the practices and techniques managers use, job training is the enhancement of capital, and compensation is the pay practices. When each of these concepts are done well the entire organization will do well in terms of its employee management.

The study conducted by Nakhleh, Patel, & Dagarwala (2012) brings to light which type of HRM practices have the largest impact on hotel performance. Surveys were sent to all three star hotels in Vadadara based upon the website Cleartrip.com. The target group consisted of managers, assistant managers, and reception heads of 13 hotels. The researchers sought information on the independent variables associated with HRM such as selection, staffing, training, performance appraisals, performance rewards, employee relations and internal controls. The dependent variable was the hotel performance in the form of effectiveness, efficiency, quality, satisfaction and occupancy rate. 

Results:

-Selection, staffing, training & development, performance appraisal and performance reward had an association with hotel performance. 

-Employee relations and internal communication had a weaker association with hotel performance. 

Analysis and Business Application:

The results help show that the people we recruit and their development have a positive impact on hotel performance. Once strong employees are selected it is the accurate feedback that allows employees to gauge their ability and find areas where they can emphasis improvement. Such motivation is maintain through the use of adequate rewards. Such rewards are an external appreciation for an internal experience. In alignment with studies discipline isn’t a major detractor to performance as long as it is perceived to be just and fair. Relationships are fostered primarily through the immediate manager and this takes precedence over more formal communication strategies. Organizations would do well to consider this when designing their own communication approaches.

Huselid, M.. (1995), The impact on human resource management practices on turnover, productivity, and corporate financial performance. Academy of Management Journal, 38(3)

Mudor, H. & Tooksoon, P. (2011),Conceptual framework on the relationship between human resource management practices, job satisfaction, and turnover.  Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, 2 (2).

Nakhleh, H., Patel, N., & Dangarwala, U. (2012). The effectiveness of human resource management practices on hotel performance. International Journal of Research in Commerce and management, 3 (3).