Chef:
This involves assisting the Food and Beverages Manager. Tasks include the production of all menu items at a consistently high standard whilst adhering to the food hygiene legislation and the Health & Safety at Work Act. Responsibility for the smooth running of the kitchen must be taken into account and to make sure that a positive and professional work environment is maintained.
Night Porter:
This job is for people who want to work on late shifts and who show maturity and intuitive. Within the Travel Inn a typical shift runs from 11pm to 7am. The job entails security of the hotel and the customers within. Tasks include security walks, and interaction with many guests. Delivery of newspapers will be made to guests who have requested them. Plus being able to deal with any situations that can arise during the night that will need to be dealt with.
General Manager
This job involves the experience of at least 3 years experience of hotel management behind the candidate even before consideration can be made. It is a job that involves the ability to communicate well with other members of staff and also guests. It requires a lot of focus, attention to detail, and determination to succeed is exceedingly important.
Graduate Trainee:
The Travel Inn is proud to offer job positions to university graduates. They want to give a chance to people who want to break into the hospitality industry by offering graduates the chance to join their “Shooting Star Management training Programme”. This lets students have a years training of how to manage a successful Travel Inn, giving the chance to work in different departments such as Food and Beverages, Human Resources and many more.
The Importance of Customer Service
Customer Service is the most important part of the Hotel industry. Without good customer service there would be no business. Customer Service involves everyone pulling together to ensure that customer’s will return to stay again within the hotel. Excellent Customer Service not only benefits the customer’s but the staff within the hotel as well. It creates a pleasant working environment as staff enjoy it when customer’s thank them for the great service that they have given them.
The purpose of customer service for the Travel Inn is to:
- Increase Sales Figures – Try to sell 100% rooms every night of the week.
- Satisfy customers
- To maintain a better public image
- To take the edge over competition
- To gather more customers through repeat visits and recommendations.
They also want staff to benefit from a high level of service to each other, these benefits include:
- A happier and more efficient workforce
- A more pleasant place to work
- Improved job satisfaction
- Improved chances of promotion within the organisation.
Effective Customer Service to the Travel Inn is vital. It costs much more to gain a new customer than to keep an existing one. It is likely that even if two customers are to have a bad stay with the hotel then they lose reputation with those two customers and also the people who they tell about the experience.
The Travel inn believes that good customer service comes from the people who work within the hotel. The staff have a lot of interaction with the customers, and they want customer’s to be surrounded by staff that really enjoy and feel passionate about their work. Professional people who are also knowledgeable and take their roles very seriously. They feel that this creates a special environment for all customers and staff themselves.
The Travel Inn knows how people will judge them- by good customer service, comfort and value for money. They are in the business of attracting customers, as guests are the only source of income that they have. The whole organisation of the Travel Inn is aimed at providing guests with what they really want, and by using feedback to check whether what they are doing is successful. Overheads are high, with land and buildings being expensive to purchase the Travel Inn, must maintain their target of 100% occupancy in order to attract customers and make a profit. In order to keep the guest charge as low as it is, staffing needs to be at a minimum, but they have to keep guests satisfied at all times. Systems are used form all activities such as cleaning to cooking to ensure that everything is the same everywhere and staff can cope.
Costs of building the Travel Inn hotels are fairly low, but quality for the guests are maintained by focusing on the design. Every Travel Inn has the same prefabricated element. Bedrooms for the guests are produced in factories all to the same design pattern. Including that of furniture and bathroom facilities. These rooms are transported to the hotel and slipped into place. This method of building enables prices to be considerably as low as this. The Travel inn can afford to buy expensive fittings because of their order quantity.
Corporate Whitbread feel that staff are key members to the team and they are a part of what makes a hotel successful. They want to meet differing needs of guests by offering various styles of hotels to them. They offer budget accommodation like the Travel inn to leisure and banquet experiences at the Marriott and country club hotels. They say that staff must constantly use their skills and knowledge to ensure that each guest has an enjoyable and memorable experience.
How the Travel Inn use Customer Service to meet customer needs and strategic objectives.
There are many ways in which customer service meets the needs of customers in the eyes of the Travel Inn.
Communication:
Most people if all not people working in the Travel Inn will have to come in contact with customers at some point. This may be over the telephone, face-to-face or even in writing. All guests would expect to receive a high standard of communication. When communicating with customer’s staff must make sure that they use the appropriate body language, pitch and tone of voice and language. They must also ensure that they ask appropriate questions, work accurately and listen and respond to customers. For example at the Travel Inn they make sure that they hire well-mannered and polite receptionists. A receptionist plays a very important role on bringing in customers. They start off the process, if a customer rings through to the Travel Inn and wants some information about booking a room they don’t expect to be confronted with a member of staff who doesn’t care and is unwilling to help. If they are confronted with a polite member of staff it is most likely that they will recognise this good service and choose to stay in the hotel.
Presentation:
First impressions count for any customer. Especially in the hotel business where dealing with people is such an important part of the work. The Travel Inn is proud to say that by the way they present them selves-(the staff) and the organisation itself makes an influence on how guests enjoy their stay. Personal Presentation is very important staff must be hygienic, be dressed in the correct uniform and look smart at all times, have a sensible and professional behaviour and attitude and finally have a bubbly and welcoming personality.
The effectiveness of handling customer complaints:
The Travel Inn feel that dealing with customer queries and complaints should be an interesting and confidence building task. It is important that the staff know how to deal with complaints in the correct manner, whether it be in writing, on the telephone, or face to face with the guest. If a customer rings the Travel Inn for example and has a problem with their stay, they can be reassured that staff will listen carefully to the problem at hand. Staff will be keen to apologise to the customer for any inconvenienced that may have been caused, try and find the best solution to the problem, agree the solution with the customer, and generally make sure that what has been promised is carried out. This should provide the guest with reassurance and hopefully they decide to come back and stay.
From the examples above alone the Travel Inn can meet strategic objectives successfully if they are all carried out in the correct manner. By communicating properly with a customer you are getting to know the person, what they like and what their needs are. By listening to them the Travel Inn can fulfil these needs and therefore increase sales, which is their biggest objective. The Travel Inn’s strategic objectives are to ensure that all staff contribute to this by effectively giving good internal and external customer service, for example treating other members of staff at a high level of standard that you would expect to be treated yourself, and by providing guests with a great service from start to finish.
The Travel Inn spend a lot of time training staff and setting procedures that staff can work to in order to do their work effectively, such programmes are:
First Impression – Training manual focusing on responsibilities, the aim of the organisation and the importance of customers.
Impact- Developing the skills required for their jobs, be it as managers or operatives.
Standards- Service quality training programmes, which set standards for all areas of activity and customer service within the hotel.
The also like to encourage their staff by offering career development opportunities. Ensuring that all staff know what their role is and how to carry out their job properly. By putting in place systems, which enable people to do their work effectively and therefore reduce frustration.
They like to monitor their staff and the way they perform also. This can be done by several meeting with managers, through appraisals and checks against the standards criteria.
Selling skills are also an important part of customer service. A staff member has a main aim of satisfying customers by meeting needs and expectations. In doing this it is almost inevitable that the service will be sold to the customer, but the main selling aspect of the relationship with the customer should be the end result of giving good customer service. In order to carry out duties and responsibilities, staff need to have detailed knowledge about the Travel Inn’s service it offers along with several personal qualities. Personal skills and attributes that help to give good customer service are:
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Honesty- Giving truthful advice and information to customers to ensure that the service will meet needs and expectations.
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Initiative- The ability to react quickly and efficiently on an individual basis.
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Knowledge- knowing enough about the Travel Inn, the job and the service offered, so information can be provided when needed.
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Consistency- ensuring that the same level of service is given at all times regardless of the situation or the needs of the customer.
Customers and their needs
Travel Inn facilities will be used by a lot of different types of people, including those with specific needs such as people with young children and disabled visitors. They all equally require a high level of customer service.
To be able to provide excellent customer service, staff will have to identify and meet the differing needs of a wide variety of customer’s.
Hotels of this type have the following types of customers:
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Family Groups – Family groups need to be provided with family rooms, with access to cots etc if needed. They need to be around child friendly staff. Plus they need to be supplied with appropriate menus in the hotel restaurants.
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People with specific needs/disabilities- Rooms need to be equipped with suitable facilities, such as disabled bathrooms, panic buttons. The hotel needs to have disabled parking, and within the hotel itself, should be lifts and wide access where wheel chairs can be used. Sympathetic staff is a must.
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Passing trade- People such as travellers, businessmen and women and holidaymakers on a short stay. They all need to have a comfortable room and a range of facilities. The opportunity for a easy check in and check out, plenty of refreshments and food, easy parking and polite and efficient staff at unusual hours.
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Regular Customers- Regular customers expect to be treated in a good manner as they are using the hotel frequently. They like it when staff give them recognition as repeat customers. They need to have repeatable quality and service, the same every time. The usual coffee and tea facilities should be provided, and possibly a sort of discount could be arranged for them.
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General Public – They need a central reservation with easy telephone and Internet booking. To have personal care products available for sale on arrival for example toothpaste etc. They should expect bathrooms to be supplied with towels, soaps, shampoo etc. Within the hotel should be easy access to taxi services and in case of emergencies warning notices about fire procedures must be placed in every room and around the hotel.
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Internal and External- Customer service must be provided to both internal and external customers. External customers are the hotels consumers or visitors. They often pay for products and services and expect to be treated well in return. Internal customers are the people that you work with for example other employees working in different departments. Staff have the same responsibility to each other as they do with external customers.
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Non English speakers- Patient staff are needed in this case, who are willing to help out at all times. Around the hotel signs should be in other languages not just English, so foreign customers can feel relaxed and also enjoy their stay. Possibly staff who can speak a second language would be helpful so that they can communicate easily with these customers if any problems were to arrive. Though even if staff are not proficient in other languages, there is still a great deal that can be done to help the communication process, gestures can be used as when pointing out directions, using diagrams and pictures can help and by also keeping dictionaries around in order to translate key words. Tourist information should be readily available if they were to be interested in visiting local attractions.
Incorporation of Consumer Protection into the Customer Service Policy
If the Travel Inn were not to incorporate consumer protection into the customer service they provide there are many consequences they will have to face such as:
- Prosecution
- Prison
- Closure of the premises
The most likely though would be for their reputation to fall dramatically and the loss of customers. Customers could sue the hotel, and they could end up being paid compensation, which would result in the fall of income and profits being affected.
There are many laws out there that have to be abided by. The Travel Inn makes sure that the customer is given peace of mind by sticking to the laws they are given, on giving consumer protection within customer service. Some are shown below:-
Sales of goods act 1979 – the seller has the right to sell the good: the goods will match any description applied to them; the goods must be of satisfactory quality; the goods are fit for the buyer’s purpose and, if cold by sample the bulk matches the sample.
Supply of goods act 1982 - For contracts other than for the sale of goods, details the rights of purchasers and the duties of sellers.
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Consumer Protection Act 1987 - Provides for liability for damage caused by defective products
- Provides for the protection and safety of consumers by enabling Regulations/Orders to be made controlling consumer goods
- Prohibits the supply of unsafe goods
- Provides powers for seizing and forfeiture of unsafe goods
- Provides powers to suspend the sale of suspected unsafe goods
- Provides powers to require persons to publish notices warning consumers of unsafe goods previously supplied
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Prohibits misleading price indications.
Travel Inn’s ways of monitoring and improving Customer Service.
Firstly in order for customer service to be improved, the quality of existing customer service must be assessed. Standards must be set, and a measurement system must be developed. The Travel Inn have their own Standards of Operation, standards are divided into four parts and are explained below:
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The standard- What we are to achieve
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Standard Procedures- the key points or methods by which we know have successfully achieved the standard.
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Best practice/Enhancements- Ways/Tips which have been shown to be the most successful in achieving our standard.
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Totally Unacceptable- A point which is so important that if it is not achieved it could be either injurious to our customers or staff, or cause them not to want to return to the Travel Inn.
A few examples of the Travel Inn’s many different standards are shown below:
The Travel Inn not only provides staff training in customer service, but the hotel also continuously monitors, assesses and evaluates its levels of customer service to ensure that it is meeting needs and expectations. If after evaluation, areas are not meeting these expectations, it gives the Travel Inn the opportunity to make any changes that may be necessary.
Many of the techniques the Travel inn use to improve and monitor customer service are shown below:
Benchmarking:
Travel Inn Benchmark:
We're so confident that we can always maintain our high standards; we guarantee good quality rooms, friendly service and comfortable surroundings - everything you want for a good nights sleep.
Benchmarking is the involvement of setting standards and measuring the hotels performance against them. For example, the Travel Inn promises to be value for money, by keeping hotel prices low at all times. Customers tend to have clear views on what they feel is value for money, and how much they are prepared to pay for a particular service. The Travel Inn is constantly aware of customer’s expectations of price and have set this standard to meet this expectation. They try to understand fully what the customer feels is good value for money, and if the price they set for a guest to stay is a reasonable price for the service that they should expect. As above they also state having comfortable surroundings – they
Ways of Improving Customer Service
Though the Travel Inn does strive to maintain a high level of customer service, there is always a room for improvement. Below are some of my recommendations on how the Travel inn could improve its quality systems to help meet customer expectations.
go to address above to find out how to improve customer service