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Introduction of Managing The Customer Experience Assignment
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Positive customer experiences are the stepping stones for the success of the hospitality business, especially within the rising competition on a domestic and global scale. It promotes brand advocacy, brand loyalty and customer retention, eventually enabling the hospitality businesses to become scalable with time. The current study is going to highlight all the necessarily functioning departments within the accommodation services business in the context of Travelodge, UK, a longstanding hospitality business chain in the United Kingdom. The study is further going to discuss the roles, importance and key functions of the major departments within the accommodation service that serves towards the betterment of customer experience.
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LO1: Types of accommodation services in the hospitality industry
P1: Size as well as the scale of accommodation services within the hospitality industry
The accommodation services within the hospitality industry are responsible for providing different types of services that attract and retain customers within hospitality facilities. Currently, the hospitality industry of the UK is on the verge of development with a gross value of £59.3 billion within the UK economy. The hospitality industry has contributed 3.0% to the economic output of the UK in 2020 (Commonslibrary.parliament.uk, 2022).
Accommodation business turnover in the UK
(Source: Statista.com, 2022)
The sector has recently opened up 2.38 million job vacancies within the country that eventually contributed to the 6.9% development of the total employment margin in the UK (Statista.com, 2022). The size of the hospitality industry has allowed accommodation services to become scalable with time, which eventually enabled dominant hospitality services like Travelodge to introduce new-age and trend-based services to their organization.
P2: Different forms of ownership in accommodation services
Ownership in accommodation services is categorised into four different types that control all the necessary actions of accommodation services within the hospitality industry. The four types of ownership are privately operated and owned, Leased, Franchise and Managed (Shamim et al. 2021). Among all these available types, the process of leasing and franchise can commonly be found in the UK hospitality industry.
Types of ownership in accommodation services
(Source: Shamim et al. 2021)
Some leased hotels can also be privately owned like Travelodge. It is currently the biggest hospitality chain in the UK with 590 hotels across Europe and 40,000 guest rooms altogether (Travelodge.co.uk, 2022). Leases are generally set in longer terms than other types of ownership that make them comparatively more profitable to some extent.
P3: The role of online review sites, grading and classification system in customer bookings
In the current age of digitalization, customers have become more inclined towards a pre-research before checking into a hotel while visiting places worldwide. According to the study by Olimovich et al. (2020) has outlined that, approximately 24% of customers prefer to stay in hotels with a rating over 3.9 on the online sites. It consolidates the fact that online reviews are extremely important in maintaining the customer experience. The classification system clarifies the current market standing of the hotel for the customers that eventually allows them to make booking decisions based on that. Grading, on the other hand, maintains the level of transparency among the customer and the hospitality authorities (Provotorina et al. 2020). Hence, three of these factors predominantly control and influence the choice of the customers in terms of bookings in Travelodge.
M1: Evaluation of different accommodation services and implications of classification, grading and review systems upon customer bookings
Among all the existing types of accommodation services, privately owned facilities provide the owners with freedom that allows them to control businesses more meticulously. On the contrary, it involves a few big risks like making decisions on their own and operational management of growth and structure. In the case of leased and managed hotel services, the process of grading and classification becomes easier compared to other accommodation services (Song et al. 2020). As these two types incorporate full-fledged management on their own, it boosts the chances of a positive customer experience for them. Travelodge uses a clear grading and classification system with a proper online set-up in order to appeal to the customers and provide a positive accommodation experience to them successfully.
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LO2: Discussion on the role of the Front Office department in accommodation services
P4: Organizational functions of Front Office in accommodation services
The front office is considered to be the first department that preliminarily connects with the customers and delivers the first impression to them in the earnest. So, the front office department is responsible for multiple operations within a hospitality service starting from reception, reservations to registration and providing bill statements to guests. Further, the front office department also manages the residential expectations of the guests and delivers a longstanding impression on their thoughts and perceptions of customers (Wang et al. 2020).
Roles of the Front Office department
(Source: Wang et al. 2020)
Additionally, the front office operations also involve assigning rooms to the guests who are making on-spot bookings. For Travelodge, the Front Office department appears as extremely necessary due to their management of customer impressions successfully.
P5: Roles of Front Office in accommodation services organizations
The roles of the Front Office in accommodation services are utterly customer-centric for hospitality organizations. First, they control the check-in and check-out operations of the guests who are visiting their hotels. Then, the foreign exchange, inquiry and assignment of rooms are also their roles within accommodation services. The department also controls the reservations of the guests and makes telephonic exchanges with customers whenever necessary (Mariani and Borghi, 2018). Additionally, the Front Office department is also responsible for doing cashiering and finance operations that constitute them as the nerve centre of the accommodation services in the hospitality industry.
M2: Discussion on the way Front Office contributes to achieving business objectives and missions
The Front Office department of accommodation businesses helps the organizations to maintain a comprehensive database of the guests. It further allows the organizations to keep an account of their businesses throughout the year. They also coordinate the guest services that eventually contribute to building a positive reputation among the customers successfully (Hu and Yang, 2020). The impression of the front office department sets the level of satisfaction among guests that further allows the business organizations to attain all their business objectives successfully. The impression of the front office has allowed Travelodge to make GBP 284 million in 2020 even after the 61% decrease in business due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Travelodge.co.uk, 2022). So, the contribution of the front office department towards making businesses can be termed as a necessary and wholesome process behind the achievement of business goals for accommodation sectors.
D1: Role of the front office in achieving positive classification, review and grading
The front office department makes the first communication with the customers and guests who are willing to stay in the accommodation services. So, the first impression utterly depends on the way customers are going to rate the hotel’s service. The front office enables customers to get the essence of the organizational culture and ambience of the hotel in its earnest (Filieri et al. 2021). Further, the positive vibes of the customers can earn the hotel a positive classification along with favourable reviews and proper grading among the market.
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LO3: Assessment of the contribution of the Housekeeping department in accommodation services
P6: The key roles of the Housekeeping department in Travelodge
The housekeeping department of Travelodge maintains the cleanliness, aesthetic upkeep and maintenance of rooms and services within the organization. It maintains all the cleanliness operations within the hotels and their surroundings which create a positive impression among the customers at first. Recently Travelodge has introduced 4,000 housekeeping Bed Month to their customers that allowed them to become the most agile housekeeping department within the accommodation industry in the UK (Travelodge.co.uk, 2022). Online websites like Tripadvisor, Glassdoor and Booking.com have given an average rating of 53% to the housekeeping department of Travelodge. It constitutes the fact that among all the available hospitality options in the UK, Travelodge holds a very distinctive place among customers as well as the UK hospitality market.
P7: Importance of forecasting linen stock in accommodation services
Linen appears as one of the most crucial assets of the housekeeping department of the hospitality sector. It allows housekeeping departments to correct the procedures and correct policies within the organizational environment. Forecasting lenient stocks allow the hotels to maintain a proper scale of issuing, storing and replacing linens from the rooms every day (Nunkoo et al. 2020). It eventually represents the cleanliness and purity of the accommodation centre that eventually allow the hotels to become customer-favourite with time. For Travelodge, the process of linen stock forecasting is lengthy but accurate that allows them to become a pioneer organization in terms of cleanliness and hospitality.
P8: Importance of the interrelationship between Housekeeping and other departments within accommodation services
The housekeeping department of the accommodation services helps in the coordination between other crucial departments like personnel and the recruitment department. It addresses all the indiscipline within the organizational environment of the accommodation services and points out the disruptions within the services (Sheikhmozafari et al. 2020). Eventually, the housekeeping department also participates in the induction program which enables them to follow through with the grievance regarding the accommodation services.
M3: Evaluation of the relationship between Housekeeping and other departments within Travelodge
The housekeeping department of the accommodation services in Travelodge maintains various types of actions within the company. The relationship between the housekeeping department and other departments within the organization allows it to control the running induction program and customer retention successfully. Further, they offer a locker facility to their customers and create a secure environment for them to blend in properly (Sahoo et al. 2020). Hence, the interrelation between these departments maintains the stability and reputation of the accommodation service successfully.
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LO4: Exploration of the roles security and facilities play within accommodation services
P9: Importance of repair work and maintenance schedule in maintaining customer experience
The repair work department allows the accommodation services to prevent maintenance issues. The stability of the repair work schedule can allow hotels like Travelodge to maintain a level of service quality successfully. The immediate action by the repair department always leaves a positive impression on the customers regarding the service provided by the authority. It also helps in keeping the costs down eventually maintaining the property functions and appearances within the accommodation services.
P10: Importance of security in Travelodge
Safety and security are s top priorities for customers, especially when choosing hotels and accommodation services online. In Travelodge, the security system protects the guests, staff and assets with utmost authenticity. All the belongings of the hotels and their assets and resources are under constant surveillance due to the daily security operations within the accommodation services (Garbin Prani?evi? et al. 2020). The maintenance of proper security can allow accommodation services to become more viable and attractive for the customers who are attempting to search for hotels online.
M4: Role of maintenance in managing guest satisfaction within accommodation services
Managing guest satisfaction appears as a major priority for accommodation survival providers as all their actions are customer-centric. The maintenance of services and places within the accommodation services allows the organizations to become proactive and attain repeat customers. It can also create a positive reaction among the customers, especially in terms of attaining a favourable place in the competitive market (Anichiti et al. 2021). Hence, the contribution of maintenance is wholesome for accommodation service businesses that allow them to become customer favourites in no time.
D3: Importance of communication between Housekeeping and other departments
Communication is a necessary tool for accommodating organizations to maintain customer expectations successfully. The communication thread between the housekeeping department with other departments can allow hotels to keep a detailed account of all the benefits and shortcomings of the organization successfully (Hu and Yucel, 2018). So, the maintenance of proper communication is extremely necessary for accommodating organizations like Travelodge for the scalability of the business across domestic borders.
Conclusion
The hospitality industry is heavily dependent on various actions like maintenance, security, housekeeping and front office. In the case of Travelodge, the agile front office department and the active housekeeping department have allowed the organization to become successful in their business within a very competitive market. Further, it can be assessed that with the help of proper front office options accommodating organizations can attain a favourable place in a competitive market. Hence, maintaining customer experience heavily depends on the digital as well as the physical presence of the hotels with competitive advantages in housekeeping, security, maintenance and front desk.
References
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