Improving the service element for better times

Vipula Wanigasekera

Tourism has been a surviving industry all these years until it was given a new lease of life and hope recently, thus making stakeholders view the future with optimism despite the challenges. In this scenario, declining service standards in the hospitality industry is a concern being discussed in various quarters.

The Explanation cited in the past and even now, is that an ailing industry cannot retain the skilled staff who would eventually opt for greener pastures making the industry face a ' professional drain' over a period of time. (A short term cookery course had been good enough for some youth to find lucrative assignments overseas).

There is a dearth of talent in the industry when in fact such talent is very much needed now. Down the line, identification of positions viz ' waiters and room boys' also prevented females from starting a career in this industry due to the mindset of the society. A machine operator in the garment industry carries better recognition.

Macro elements

Naturally one needs to discount the macro elements such as the prevailing global economic conditions that affect this industry that will take a while to recover. Nevertheless, the conducive environment with peace returning to Sri Lanka should compensate this to some extent, hence the expectations for this industry to stand on its feet, sooner than later.

In the light of this, some effective measures are expected to arrest the declining service standards using ways and means within the control of the industry where the flaws observed are not directly caused by income generation and profit making.

Service standard is a key element that needs attention that is equally important to investment, infrastructure development and fully- fledged training, that the Government is working on.

We may call this 'gearing the human resources' to offer better service to their guests when major plans are taking off the ground.

The star class products and reputed operators have the standards, constantly monitored in relation to performance. Assessment of the nature of customer complaints give them a fairly good evaluation on the areas that need attention, adjustments and corrections. The grey area is of course, when the customers do not complain but leave, never to return to the same place or to the country again.

Sales theories say, Greeting the customer, Opening the lobby door or having a smiling lift operator are explicit gestures of a service or the tip of an iceberg. The attitude towards one's own job and preparation before hand, have much to do with providing a superior service by the hospitality industry in general.

Needless to state that the creation of an overall positive attitude towards the guests is of paramount importance to have a fully satisfied guest leaving the property and the country. To do this one needs to have a proper understanding of the ' would be ' demands of the guests.

Price war

The price war, which perhaps was inevitable in some situations had overshadowed the need to capture a good clientele on service. In most cases the operators are in day to day fire fighting, without much thought to an analysis of the rational and behavioral aspects of the visitors to be hosted. As a result an opportunity that would give a client a memorable moment or experience, would be lost.

For instance there is a distinction between the expectations of an average holidaymaker and an incentive traveller. The holidaymaker may well be conscious of the costs while the incentive traveller's bill is paid by another. Naturally, the incentive traveller's demands are higher with the anticipation of pleasant surprises and wow factors, which if offered at minimum or no cost, could even entice the holidaymaker to come back.

In theory the customer is always right. In practice we say, ' the customer isn't always right but you should not be the one to tell him'. That explains the insight of customer handling and how tactful one should be, because 'if the customer doesn't win, he doesn't come back-and then you lose anyway!

The other area is the preparation through effective internal communication and coordination. Attention that is given to a guest prior to interaction on inquiries, questions is the 'brilliance' of service.

Super service

Take a real case of a 'checking in guest' who inquires how the WIFI system works with an urgency of having to communicate through the net, and after an explanation by the front desk fully, he could still have a surprise visit by IT personnel minutes after entering the room. This was later revealed by the guest and was the yardstick used to measure the ' super service' of the hotel by him. Small things go a long way.

A steward who had worked over one year in a hotel restaurant by the seaside failed to explain to a foreign guest, how many times the fishermen in the area lay the Maadela nor was he able to explain the basic operation of it. This was a major attraction in the vicinity.

When speaking of training, there is a tendency to blame the lack of training facilities and non availability of qualified lecturers.

If one analyses the basic complaints of customers apart from the price, a considerable portion of the service standard can be improved with a mere re-approach in the attitudes.

There are lessons to be learnt from veterans of yesteryear, and a few active experienced professionals in the industry whose attention to details, styles of customer care, and ability to grasp and make salient moments into memories, need to cascade down to the future generation.

Classroom lectures and professional qualifications alone cannot and will not have this much needed 'passion for service' by the hospitality industry.