TOU9162M Customer Services Management Assignment Sample
Executive Summary
Customer service management is the exercise of empowering the organisation with tools and techniques and daily support to be able to deliver customer services. This report aims to evaluate Greenbrier Hotel located in West Virginia, US customer service issues, and its impact on other areas of the organisation and key stakeholders. Customers face bad experiences during their stay in the hotel which affect their brand image, support functions, and key stakeholders like investors, partners, government, and others. Thus, the report provides suitable and achievable recommendations for Greenbrier to improve its customer services.
Introduction
Customer service management (CSM) is the practice to empower teams with the tools, training, and daily support they need to offer customer service experience. The aim of CSM is to improve reputation, customer retention and enhance brand loyalty that drives sales and profit. Since, organisations strive to meet the needs and expectations of the customers, technology, and innovation has been developed to reshape the way of offering customer service (Samatovich, 2021). The rapid advancements in the customer service landscape such as automation, artificial intelligence, and social media channels have created several opportunities for organisations to deliver customer experience. The present report describes Greenbrier Hotels’ customer service issues that affect other areas of the organisation. Moreover, the impact of the problem on key stakeholders and appropriate recommendations also provides.
Task 1: Discuss the problem and its impact
Greenbrier Hotel is both National Historic and a five-star hotel that attract tourist from across the world. It is located in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia, America, and has a beautiful ambiance, gardens, ballrooms, and sweeping staircase, and maintains the best standard of elegance. It provides high-level comfort for 21st-century travellers. Greenbrier is the historical and most famous hotel in the US which attract youngsters and they focus to improve their customer experience strategies (Greenbrier Valley, 2023). However, in the hospitality industry, it is very difficult to satisfy all customers because people came across the world and have different and unique expectations that cannot be possible to meet. Although, the efficiency of hotel staff, their management capability, customer service policies, and many more things determine their customer’s overall experience and satisfaction level. It is a fact that every organisation irrespective of the industry has some issues that affect its competitiveness.
Greenbrier operates in the hospitality industry which is very vulnerable to external challenges, for example, the Covid-19 pandemic, weather and natural causalities, and many more. It also affects their business operations and customer service management due to a lack of workers, lack of resources, financial crisis, and so on. Thus, it is vital for the hotel to focus on internal structure and system improvement (Baum, 2019). However, Greenbrier has some internal issues that significantly affect its customer service management and other operational areas. The following are discussing customer service management issues:
Inconsistent and slow services: From the customer review, it was found that in a five-day stay, a customer experience poor services at the pool and pool restaurant, for example, slow seating, order taking, and erroneous charges. It shows a lack of professionalism in the offering of services which significantly affects their reputation and competitiveness. Moreover, the fitness and tennis centre erroneous charge as well as the restaurant. Further, the food is the same in all three types of restaurants which are supposed to be different. They assign freshers who serve badly to the guest and not fulfil their daily needs (TripAdvisor, 2020). Other than that, drink sizes were extremely small. Housekeeping is another area where they serve badly were not prepared and were not willing to correct, towels were not changed, and trash cans were not emptied. It also showed that everyday services were hurried. The customer also reviewed that they mainly focus on casino and the PGA tour event and they were not interested which annoyed them (Goryushkina et. al. 2019). In summary, the customer service is very bad at Greenbrier Hotel.
Slow and poor services: In another review, the customer said that the location of the hotel was very nice and soothing along with three golf courses that are free of cost. However, the stay was very frustrating from the point of customer service. For example, in every restaurant, the services are expensive and slow and even sometimes the order never came. The name of the wine could not read by the waiter which was surprised them and they pay 26.5% additional and 20% mandatory gratuity and a 6.5% historic preservation fee on every bill including water bottle, alcohol, coffee, and toast (TripAdvisor, 2021). Further, they observe that waiters show a lack of motivation and thus the quality of services is very poor. Starting the Greenbrier was frustrating for the guest. The arrival when the luggage is unpacked from the car was crowded and had only one bellman on duty.
The check-in desk said we could go over to the concierge. When they asked the concierge, he said that they gave us the wrong information and the hotel did not do anything to solve this problem. Further, they book a gold lesson but the hotel did not arrange it and provided the wrong information about the availability. The housekeeping staff was very annoying as they ran out of tissue, and they even wrote for a refill in all caps, but three different housekeepers ignore their request. Additionally, they find that they overcharged for the room because an incorrect reservation was entered (Kansakar et. al. 2019). It shows a lack of professionalism and ignorance about customer services and focuses only on profitability.
These two reviews show that there are serious issues with customer service management which not only affect other areas of the organisation but also ruin their market reputation which is across the global world. Other than these two reviews, the company faces the following issues which make an adverse impact on other areas of the organisation:
Communication and collaboration: Effective communication is very important in the hotel industry. Miscommunication between different departments or between workers and guests can lead to delay, frustration, and confusion. It directly affects customer service management because poor communication led to poor collaboration and thus, all departments pass on customer instructions to each other which cause delay and poor quality of services (Jiang and Wen, 2020). Further, miscommunication in supporting functions like the finance department, human resources, and technical department also leads to poor customer service.
Response time: Quick responses to guest inquiries, complaints, feedback, and requests are vital in the hospitality industry because they determine the overall experience. Delays to address customer concerns adversely affect customer satisfaction. Slow response time and even no response is very common in Greenbrier hotel which causes poor customer service.
Staffing and training: Greenbrier Hotel often struggle with retaining skilled workers and recruitment. Inadequate training results in poor customer service and dissatisfied guests. Moreover, finding youngsters to work in the hotel is very difficult due to poor employee satisfaction as well. Therefore, employee satisfaction determines customer satisfaction and for that, the organisation has to invest in staffing and effective training.
Consistency in quality of services: Maintaining consistent quality in services across all areas of the hotel is the biggest challenge (Martínez et. al. 2019). Guests expect high-quality services, and inconsistency leads to dissatisfaction. Greenbrier has three types of restaurants that have their own specialty but they serve similar type of food and do not maintain consistency of each restaurant which ruin their experience.
Technology integration: Customers are one of the most crucial parts of the debate as they are the ones aiming for or using technology in customer service. They are crucial because they value convenience, personalised experiences, speed, self-service options, digital communication channels, and chatbots which enable them to resolve issues and access information when they like (Huang and Rust, 2021). While there are some customers who are concerned with the lack of human interaction from potential data breaches and the potential for technologies to replace human customer representatives. Whereas organisations are vested in this debate to enhance customer service which can lead to improved operational efficiency, the ability to gather customer data, and cost savings for better decision-making. Greenbrier needs to adopt the latest and advanced technologies to improve customer service. Further, the customer face issues like poor Wi-Fi connectivity, an online booking system, and other technological challenges.
Customisation: Greenbrier does not offer personalised services to their customer which is very important for today’s time when customers get used to availing of tailored services. Customers appreciate the personalised experience and they anticipate their needs (Khanra et. al. 2021). The hotel fails to understand their customer expectations which affects their competitiveness.
Problem resolution: Efficiently solving customer issues is critical to maintaining customer satisfaction. Poorly handled complaints and feedback for example, not refilling tissue boxes, not emptying the trash can, not resolving the issue of beds and stinky mattresses, and wrong reservations damage their reputation in the hospitality industry.
The above discussed customer service management issues affect other areas of the organisation. For example, lack of communication and collaboration affect support functions. Complaints about maintenance and housekeeping raise questions about the efficiency of workers that affect the HR department. High and wrong charges show a lack of commitment and efficiency of the financial department and wrong reservations show technical glitches (Rutherford, 2021). In order to offer the best customer service, all departments whether customer-facing or supporting, have to collaborate with each other and work together toward customer satisfaction goals. If the hotel continue involves in such poor services, then it affects their competitiveness, their demand start reduces and many competitors in the hospitality industry can leverage this situation. It affects employability, investment, and profitability. Further, the hotel can lose its corporate clients which generate most of the business. Thus, customer satisfaction is very important to remain competitive and ensure the overall development of the hotel.
Task 2: Impact the problem is having on key stakeholders
Service blueprint is the strategic framework that enables how to supply services and communicate service gap to identify and real gaps in customer service management.
Customers: The customer is the most important stakeholder that generate sales and revenue for the organization The hotel has to consider the gap in customer service area and emphasis their service management like customer expectation, understand customer needs, service delivery policies, improving customer journey, contact person, external communication, and many more. The hotel has to focus on the service paradox which is the situation where customers think about the organisation after they correct the problem with their services as compared to how they would regard the firm if the correct service had been provided. Greenbrier needs to improve service paradox like sending regret message, offering some additional services free of cost, giving discounts on their next visits, and show that how they improve their faulty services.
Moreover, Greenbrier has many internal and external stakeholders like employees, shareholders, investors, partners, clients, government, customers, and consultants. The company deals with over 100 partners in order to support businesses, customers, and communities (Nam et. al. 2021). Moreover, the company also values natural resources and environmental sustainability. Thus, the company involves in sustainable business practices that mirror their appreciation and concern about natural resources. Hence, the company often gets in touch with consultants, partners, and the government to highlight environmental issues including ESG (environment, social, and governance). However, customer service also includes corporate social responsibility and social aspect that needs to consider in the strategy-making. Poor customer service, and other internal challenges that indirectly affect customer services, also have significant impacts on key stakeholders. The following are describing the impact of the problem on having key stakeholders:
Investors: In the hotel industry, investors are key stakeholders because they navigate the progress and growth direction of the hotel (Nyirangondo, 2020). Greenbrier also has many investors who not only invest in the hotel but also generate business by directing strategic clients to the hotel for example, corporate meetings can hold in this hotel. If the waiters are not having professional skills, then they can lose significant clients that generate large businesses. Other than that, negative reviews about the hotel services, additional charges, and technical glitches in reservations that cause overcharged discourage investors to continue investing in this hotel.
Government: If the hotel provides the best quality services, then they can attract government clients as foreign delegate stays, meetings in their conference hall, and government parties. Moreover, US Economic Development Administration funded the hotel and helps to gather data for the strategic plan process (Blum and Kelbel, 2020). Hence, the hotel needs to hire professionals that can offer the best quality services to customers. If the government gets to know about the poor quality and dissatisfaction of the customer, then they cannot only lose the funding, and clients but also, get on the radar and each activity started to observe which creates additional pressure to perform high. Further, it leads to compliance with legal regulations and surprise audits also can occur which creates an additional burden on the hotel administration.
Senior management: If the workers continue to provide poor quality services, representing a lack of communication and collaboration, then it raises questions on the effectiveness and control of senior management over the activities of their hotel (Barkey-Bircann et. al. 2019). Best quality services, and worker behavior toward customers and their peers as well, show the effectiveness of senior management and leaders. In some cases, the senior manager needs to resign from their post and they terminate other leaders and managers for poor performance. Thus, customer satisfaction affects entire organisation areas.
Partners: Greenbrier has more than 100 partners who help to focus on communities, businesses, people, and environmental areas. If they found that the hotel is not fulfilling their basic job which is customer service, then they can back off from their partnership deed, and the company has to face loss and poor reputation. In the hospitality industry, customer service determines the future of the firm because it is the core business of hotels which not only attracts customers but also investors, shareholders, consultants, and partners (Martin, 2023). Poor customer reviews lead to poor bad-mouthing that adversely affects marketing efforts and shows a contrast between commitment and reality.
Other stakeholders: Multiple stakeholders are affected by the implementation of customer service. Stakeholders such as policymakers and regulators who established regulations for customer service and experience need to ensure the ethical and effective use of technology. In this context data security, privacy and to protect customer interest ((Trivedi, 2019).). Whereas vendors and technological providers see a significant opportunity as they develop innovative solutions to meet the organizational needs or customer service experience. On the other hand, industry experts bring valuable insights into the debate by analysing market trends format providing guidance, and researching best practices. Industry experts often vouch for a more balanced approach emphasizing both the human aspect as well as the technological aspect in delivering a better customer experience.
Customer service affects other areas of the organisation and key stakeholders that directly or indirectly affect the hotel’s profitability, competitiveness, and brand image. Customer satisfaction determines the future growth of the company otherwise, there is a lot of competition in the hospitality industry that can leverage the weaknesses of the company (Humphreys, 2021). Therefore, Greenbrier should recognize the importance of customer service management to get competitive advantages and ensure sustainable growth in the global market.
Service Paradox
The implications of service paradox can be analyzed as situation in which customer thinks more highly of the company after the company has corrected the problem. It is based on new criteria of working, regards to which new efficient changes have to be done in an extended format (Dmitrijeva et. al. 2022). Greenbrier Hotel has been working towards a service recovery paradox, in which it proposes specific efficiency regarding maintaining customer loyalty parameters in the most advanced format. The analysis has presented core facts regarding, in which efforts to resolve new issues are done by service paradox in most effective format. Through services paradox recovery, it means customers’ needs are met with higher lifetime value, new enlarge changes, and support towards customers in business parameters in an efficient manner.
Integration of services paradox enlarges specific focus on extended imperative change, for relevant technical paradigms in business. The company with service paradox will be focusing on enlarging changes; develop long-term vital benchmarks in customer services profoundly. Also, analysis signifies extended change to be pertained for larger diverse corporate changes in an effective format, for leading technical changes in extended change (Willems et. al. 2022). Integration also advances competent scope, to be done in extended change related to improvised goals within a longer technical period.
Task 3: Recommendations
As per the above-discussed customer service issues in Greenbrier Hotel, which have a significant adverse impact on other areas of the organization and key stakeholders, they must respond and resolve it quickly. The following are providing some recommendations that help to resolve the issue.
Improve recruitment strategy and increase employee motivation: Greenbrier has a renowned position in the hospitality industry. They can attract skilled and talented people to their hotel. Recruit experienced and professional staff, reduce half of the problem. Moreover, a lack of effective training also leads to low professionalism (Spence et. al. 2022). Therefore, the hotel authority should apply some filters on their recruitment strategies and hire experienced, talented, professional, and committed people who can serve customers properly and understand the importance of customer satisfaction. Other than that, it is a fact that all employee work for motivation whether financial reward, social recognition, or any other. Thus, the hotel authority should consider Maslow’s hierarchy of motivation and meet all the needs systematically which increases their motivation level so they can perform appropriately. If the employees are satisfied, engaged, and happy to work with and for the organization, then they can serve better to the customer than a demotivated employee. Hence, Greenbrier Hotel should consider the primary area that determines better customer service.
Focus on decision-making strategies: Decisions about hotel progress, change management, and implementation innovation should consider customer satisfaction in the centre. If development decisions consider profitability, then they have to compromise on customer satisfaction as they charge high or wrongfully to the customer which ruins their experience (Arbogast et. al. 2020). Therefore, customer satisfaction should be at the center of the decision-making process. Other than that, they should ask employees for feedback and suggestions as well as include them in the process, so their engagement level will increase. When they know the purpose of their operations and job it ultimately reflects in their performance.
Improve digital marketing: Customers prefer internet reviews and social media posts before making bookings. Thus, the hotel should also focus on digital marketing and post honest reviews of the customer on their site and reply to them with satisfactory answers that attract other customers. Showing loyalty toward customers is the best policy to retain them (Clevenger et. al. 2019). Greenbrier should provide the best quality experience to their customer so they can word-of-mouth to the hotel.
Facilitate communication with customers: To improve customer experience, the hotel should facilitate two-way communication with customers. For example, confirm their arrival time, ask for details on the time of check-in, responding quickly to their demand like refilling water bottles, sending food, coffee, and whatever they demand. Further, they should foster honest and loyal communication and not apply any hidden charges and taxes. After their visit, the hotel should send a newsletter and communication, of course after taking permission, to keep engaged with them (Ahani et. al. 2019). Regular and effective communication is the best way to improve customer service as they should entertain their feedback, respond to their complaint, and reply to their reviews on their site.
Data-driven approach: A data-driven approach is significant for organizations as it will help in continuous improvement and problem-solving. By leveraging data analytics, organizations can gain insights into customer preferences and behaviors which can be leveraged to take a data-driven and more accurate decision (Lee and Lee, 2020). Organizations need to conduct regular customer feedback loops to identify areas of improvement and structure their technology and optimize them according to this feedback to enhance customer service experiences. Continuous improvement plays a significant role in solving problems that are phased building optimization of technology in customer service experience.
By analyzing the key performance indicators and benchmarking the market standards, organizations can identify areas of improvement and can align them towards their digital transformation strategy to implement the iterative changes ((Taherdoost, 2018). This can be done through finding the user interface, addressing the regular concerns of the customers, and improving the overall functionality of the technology. For all those who are not skilled and takes a week, training should be given. It is suggested to encourage the employees to take trials and run competitive pilots to get feedback. This will help the employees to guide the intensity of a method and type of training which is required for the integration of the new technology.
These suggestions would be helpful for Greenbrier Hotel’s customer service issues. However, they should continuously involve in customer service and improve their satisfaction level.
Conclusion
To solve the implications and challenges due to poor customer services, Greenbrier should involve in improved and robust strategies and a re-development plan. Customer review shows that they experience bad service and rude behavior of staff in Greenbrier Hotel which adversely affects other areas of the organisation and key stakeholders. Thus, the present report describes those effects and appropriate and achievable recommendations.
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