Importance of and Benefits of Good Customer Service

Chapter 1 Introduction: –

Providing Quality customer’s service is one of the practical jobs that cannot be learned without experience, so it is very much important to deliver the best possible quality service to all the customers. When studied and analysed carefully about the importance of customers to organisation , the researcher found out that the cost difference between getting a new customer compared to retaining a current customer is that it costs 7 times as much as bringing in a new customer, than to keep an existing one. Eddy. B.W (1983);

Therefore we must ensure loyalty with our customers through utilizing all the “back to basics” of customer service. The customers change the organisation or leave because of a lack of attention that is given to them

When customers go to any of the organisation, there grows an opportunity to improve or worsen the relationship with the customers. Hopefully each and every organization wants to improve the relationship with the customers. Saunders, J A. (2004)

Thus utilizing this opportunity as one of the precious one, a good impression can be created by satisfying each and every need and wants of the customer from the organisation. It is in fact tough and hard to do so, but it is not impossible.

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1.1 Aim: – To make a review on the need of quality Customer service in the Brassiere Restaurant Hilton Hotel

As we know, each and every individual in this world is a customer to each other which are linked like a world wide websites. Providing the quality customer service is the need of the Hilton Hotel from every department because customers are their building blocks, and if the blocks are not sufficient the probability of declining and closing down the business rises. The Brassiere is a Samplecontinental cuisineat this celebrated Paddington restaurant. The Brassiere brings asumptuous menuserving breakfast, lunch and dinner for up to 160 guests. Patrons of the Hilton London Paddington enjoy a comfortable atmosphere for relaxed dining

Customers want proper attention and timely service as they pay for each and every activity. A very frequently uprising question in every manager or the executive bodies of the Hilton Hotel Restaurant is the importance of customer service.

Thus the main endeavour of this examination is to find the need of quality customer service in the Brassiere of Hilton Paddington Which is empathetic, supportive and accessible. The system utilized by Hilton Paddington to measure the guest satisfaction level is widely known as SALT, which means ‘Satisfaction and Loyalty Tracking Survey’. This is a system designed by Hilton and is updated daily. Different Department has different scores which at the end is the overall score. This determines the areas and the department that needs to improve and take the score high. (Hilton Hotel Paddington, 23rd March 2009).

1.2 Objectives: –

It is often said and extensively accepted that, eminence customer service is the keystone to all service-oriented business. Yet the words and concept are often not fully comprehended by many within the service providing department (Brassiere of Hilton Hotel).

The objectives of this research is to,

• Study the importance of quality customer service in the Brassiere
• To understand the benefits of Good customer service to Brassiere.
• To find the factors affecting Good customer service in the Restaurant,
• To study the techniques used by Hilton employees to satisfy Guests.
• Find proper way to satisfy guest and increase the revenue of the Hotel.
• Criticism and appreciation on the customer service level of Hilton Brassiere.

It is very difficult to track down the factors that affect the delivery of customer service, but the techniques and comments can lead us to determine it. There is no mystery to solve it but a simple understanding is enough. Every hotel gives service but something small and extra-ordinary from Hilton Brassiere will raise the satisfaction level. So the above objectives have to be met in order to keep the business in good level.

1.3 Rationale

The underlying principle for the research on the Need of quality customer service in Brassiere Restaurant of Hilton Hotel is to clearly understand and manipulate the standard and rectify its standard. To meet the need and wants of the customer’s by deploying some basic principles of Quality Customer Service in each and every step while dealing with the customers as a professional.

This helps to bring the improvement in Hilton’s Brassiere SALT score as the level of customer service is standardized. SALT scores can be increased by considering the following given points: –

Standard Service, Diversity and Equality, Physical access, Timeliness and Civility, Handling Complaints, making appeals, installing variations and choices and official language equality in both external and internal customers.

1.5 Summary:

Customer servicelevel of Brassiere, Hilton is a series of conducts designed to enhance the level of customer satisfaction – that is, the feeling that a product or service has met the guest’s expectation. To understand the importance of Quality customer service in Brassiere, and to deliver it accordingly is one of the major task of the Hospitality staffs.

Quality customer service plays a vital role in creating a good and positive impact to each and every one who comes and goes in Hilton Paddington Hotel. To survive in today’s highly-competitive global marketplace of business and customer service, Hilton has improved and is on the way to reach excellence in their quality products and service. So Quality customer service in current market matters a lot and is the key route towards growth and success of the Hilton’s Brassiere and the Hotel itself.

Chapter 2 Literature Review:

Introduction: –

Defining quality customer service and its components is a form that is actionable in the workplace is an important endeavour that an organisation should not take lightly. The quality of service must be kept always in a high standard either the organisation is medium or large sized business. Customers are so critical that they always look for value for money oriented products and services. So to attract more customers towards the particular business the level of service standard must me raised and carried consistently in each and every step while dealing with the customers. Without a clear and unambiguous definition of service quality, employees will be left with vague instructions and technique on improving and delivering service quality within the workplace. The result will be that each employee will be left to form and act upon his or her own definition of quality customer service which, more often than not, may be incomplete or inaccurate.

This paper will review and analyse the literature on need of quality customer’s service, particularly those that delineate its components as well as those that provide links to behavioural intentions. Various thoughts are put into to understand the need of quality customer service in the hospitality industry as well as in other sectors. As per PZB (Parasuraman, Zeithaml & Berr) RATER method, we can see and find the level of quality customer service delivered in every aspect and in every organization.

R: – Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately.

Assurance: – Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to Inspire trust and confidence.

Tangibles: – Appearance of physical facilities, equipment, personnel, and Communication materials.

Empathy: – Caring, individualized attention the firm provides its customers.

Responsiveness: – Willingness to help customers and provide prompt Service.

Quality Service: –

PZ (Parasuraman, Zeithaml ) defines quality customer service as “the degree and direction of discrepancy between customers’ service perceptions and expectations” (2006). Thus if the perception is higher than expectation, then the service is said to be of high quality. Likewise, when expectation is higher than perception, the service is said to be of low quality. Realising that there was not enough literature to produce a rigorous understanding of service quality and its determinants, PZB (1985) conducted an exploratory investigation to formally delineate service quality. Their investigation was composed of interviews with executives from four types of service businesses (i.e. retail banking, credit card, securities brokerage, and production repair and maintenance) as well as a number of focus groups composed of individuals who have recently received services from those businesses.

Quality Service Process: – One of the results of this investigation was the identification of ten determinants of service process quality. PZB (1985) listed them as follows:

Reliability: – Involves consistency of performance and dependability.

Responsiveness: – Concerns the willingness or readiness of employees to provide service.

Competence: – Means possession of the required skills and knowledge to perform the service.

Access: – Involves approachability and ease of contact.

Courtesy: – Involves politeness, respect, consideration, and friendliness of contact personnel (including receptionists, telephone operators, etc.).

Communication: – Means keeping customers informed in language they can understand and listening to them. It may mean that the company has to adjust its language for different consumers-increasing the level of sophistication with a well-educated customer and speaking simply and plainly with a novice.

Credibility: – Involves trustworthiness, believability, honesty. It involves having the customer’s best interests at heart.

Security: – Is the freedom from danger, risk, or doubt. Understanding/ Knowing the Customers: – Involves making the effort to understand the customer’s needs.

Tangible: – Include the physical evidence of the service.

The SERVQUAL instrument has been the predominant method used to measure consumers’ perceptions of service quality. It has five generic dimensions or factors and is stated as follows (van Iwaarden et al., 2003):

(2) Reliability: – Ability to perform the promised service dependably and accurately.

(3) Responsiveness: – Willingness to help customers and provide prompt service.

(4) Assurance: – (including competence, courtesy, credibility and security). Knowledge and courtesy of employees and their ability to inspire trust and confidence.

(1) Tangibles: – Physical facilities, equipment and appearance of personnel.

(5) Empathy : – (including access, communication, understanding the customer). Caring and individualized attention that the firm provides to its customers. (Gronroos, 1982; Lewis and Booms, 1983; Parasuraman et al. 1985).

Customer Satisfaction: –

The relationship between customer satisfaction and loyalty can be divided into three categories. The first is extracted from the management of service literature. This study accommodates service and customer satisfaction as an antecedent of customer loyalty towards the company, which in turn influences the profitability, (Anderson et al, 1994). The second focuses on the individual level and contains mainly studied customer retention by customer purchase intention. This constitutes important shortcoming retention by the customer purchase intention. (Chandon et al, 2005). The third group focuses on the satisfaction loyalty link on the basis of individual level with the real purchase data. This group has tendered to reveal a weak or insignificant relationship between satisfactions and repurchase behaviours.(Bolton, 1998; Mittal and Kamakara, 2001).

Customer Perception: – One of the obvious difficulties in meeting customer’s expectations is that ‘Perception is Reality’. The way that customers perceive the staff is the only reality that matters to them. Therefore everything done for customers affects the customer’s perception of the organisation, and different customers can perceive the same service level differently. (Stuart Emmitt, 2000).

Chapter 3: – Introduction to Methodology

3.1 Introduction: –

Adissertation methodologyon the above topic on Quality customer service in Brassiere of Hilton Hotel Paddington is truly divided into two definite parts. These are the process of data gathering and then the process of data analysis on the concerned topic. Both of the parameters are important aspects in researching because these helped the researcher to gather the most in a good time. These items induced the credibility level of the results and findings.

Data gathering methods utilized according to the preference of the researcher are listed below:

3.2 Research approach: –

To accumulate the required information, two specific research approaches has been used, which are as follows,

a) Primary Research: –

This research approach involves the collection of data that does not already exist; this is done through numerous forms, including questionnaires to the manager, staffs and to the selected customers. This information has been collected from things like questionnaires, magazines and Interviews.

Interviewing: – The researcher in order to gather the data took an appointment with the manager of the Brassiere Hilton Hotel for an interview, where most of the questions were answered on the basis of the topic. The interview with the manager gave the researcher the points focused by the management of Brassiere on delivering the quality customer service and explained how they maintain their SALT score each and every day in their operation. The brand standard is followed very carefully so as to meet the guest’s expectation on their whole duration of stay. There are various service standards that are shown and taught to the staffs as they are on the operation.

Data Mining: – Data miningis the process used for extracting hidden patterns from data. Data mining became an increasingly important tool to transform the collected data into information to deeply understand and know the guest satisfaction strategy used in the Brassiere. The data mining step was a very crucial stage where the researcher faced a lot of difficulties in gathering the information. Various serious questions were delivered to the manager on how they gathered the SALT score and the comments from the guest that was posted or replied online.

Magazines: – The monthly issue of magazines that is found in the library and hotel are used to find and travel deep into the research. The magazines have some information that states the importance of good and quality customer service in the organisation.

Questionnaires: – Three questionnaires were designed in order to find the need of quality customer service in the outlet Brassiere of Hilton Hotel. The second questionnaires were delivered to the manager of the Restaurant and five staffs of the Brassiere, which has two supervisors. The third questionnaires were delivered to ten guests through the permission of the manager, as it is the non-business part of survey conducted within the Restaurant outlet of Hilton’s Brands.

b) Secondary Research: –

A) Printed Source: – Printed resources like books, magazines and some Hilton’s customer’s satisfaction comments were taken into consideration in order to accomplish this research. Various libraries were visited to get the information regarding the need of quality customer service in an organization, which were related, compared and placed in this project.

B) Online Source: – Many websites were visited in order to obtain the main factors that are needed for the organisation to maintain quality customer service at all time of their operations. The structure of a website address (URL) indicates the site’s origin and status, for example, .ac or .edu indicate an academic or educational institution, .gov a government body, .org a non-profit organisation, .co or .com a commercial organisation. The visited dates are also indicated which all are listed in the bibliography of this project.

C) Other Media: – Some of the media were also referred in order to get the complete idea and knowledge of maintaining the quality customer service and its need in Hilton’s outlet Brassiere. The medias like the video of the Hilton hotel that was provide to us in our induction day, and the videos from www.youtube.com were referred in order to accomplish the research.

Research Strategy: –

The following steps outline a simple and effective strategy for finding information for a research paper and documenting the sources found.

This research strategy on Need of Quality Customer Service in Brassiere will aim to help secure lasting improvements to the business of Brassiere in Hilton Hotel Paddington, London and improve the quality of service and cost-effectiveness customer services and customer care.

In order to achieve these ambitious aims, the Researcher will support quality research in priority areas of relevance customer service and care and;

a) Work with the staffs to identify topics which are important to the Brassiere and Service improvement, and amenable to research;

b) Revise the importance of quality customer service in the Brassiere

c) To understand the benefits of Good customer service to Brassiere.

d) To find the factors affecting Good customer service in the Restaurant,

e) To study the techniques used by Hilton employees to satisfy Guests.

The strategy used to complete this research is interview and action research strategy. Other strategies are also carried but in few aspects only. In his strategy the questionnaires will be used during the interview that is designed in an easy format to answer.

Qualitative Research: – There are a wide variety of methods that are common in qualitative measurement. In fact, the methods are largely limited by the imagination of the researcher. Here the researcher discusses a few of the more common methods of collecting data in order to whole the project.

a) Focus groups

The researcher brought together a small number of subjects to discuss the topic on Need of Quality Customer Service in the outlet of Hilton, Brassiere. The group size was kept deliberately small, so that the members do not feel intimidated but can express opinions freely. A topic guide to aid discussion was usually prepared beforehand and the researcher usually ‘chaired’ the group, to ensure that a range of aspects of the topic are explored. The discussion was written down and analysed. This focused groups provided a good amount of information and data to sum up the research.

b) Direct observation

In this type of study the researcher aimed to become immersed in or become part of the population being studied, so that the researcher can develop a detailed understanding of the values and beliefs held by members of the population.

The researcher used observations to gather evidence about how value judgements made by staff and customers can impact on decision making. In this study, the researcher participated in the operation of the Brassiere observing situations where other staffs were faced with difficult moral choices. Observations were recorded as field notes and analysed for content.

In-depth interviews

The researcher was able to obtain few detailed information for the subject. The researcher used unstructured interviewing to explore the Brassiere’s functioning and customer relationships through the perception. The reason for choosing this method is due to lack of adequate theory and definitions in the field to produce a deep knowledge and facts in quality customer service delivery.

Data Collection: –

The data collection on the desired topic is a time consuming process and also requires quite a long time. It is very complicated and enforces high pressure with work load. However in completing this research, two methods of data collection is employed, which are an interview and the questionnaires. Interview was with the manager of the Brassiere Restaurant of Hilton Hotel and the questionnaire was specifically designed to know the importance of quality customer service.

Pilot testing was supposed to be conducted in the college but it is not done due to lack of time and busy schedule of the people who were targeted to run a pilot test. The researcher could not conduct the pilot test as some information is not complete due to this conduct.

Questionnaires that were designed were given to the working staffs of Brassiere to fill in the staff questionnaire, the manager was given the questionnaire at the time of the interview and the questionnaire designed for the customers were given to 5 customers of brassiere as permission was taken before conducting this act from the manager.

Case Study: – Interview and Questionnaire

The researcher is an employee of the organization Hilton, working there for about 4 months. The researcher’s overall goal is to study and formulate the need of quality customer service in the Brassiere. The researcher mentioned numerous challenges that he faced in gathering the data from the organization, some of which needed specific, technical information to address. The reason for choosing the interview and questionnaire method of collection data from the Manager of the Restaurant (Brassiere) and from the selected customers and staffs is basically to get the actual answers and the facts that is expected. This method is very practical and correct data will be extracted.

The interview method was chosen but the manager of Brassiere postponed the date and time twice due to his busy schedule and work load within the department. The interview method is very straight forward method to gather facts and practical information that is going through in daily operation of the Brassiere.

However the questionnaire method is the best technique to gather data, because it is very specific and straight to the point. This method gathers more and deep information in simple words that can be evaluated according to the operation method.

Thus this technique extracted more and expected data based on the topic.

Sample Size: –

To produce the project, the research approach taken by researcher is primary and secondary. The sample size for this research was not complicated and tough but was time consuming. The development of the sample of the population in the carried research was well designed and not much complicated, because the researcher carried out this research in the organisation where he works and has been continuing the work since last four months. The designed sample size of this research is small and choosy as it is based only on one department of food and beverage operation in the Hotel- Brassiere Restaurant.

The sample population comprises of – The Manager of the Restaurant, Staff of the Department Brassiere, and some of the chosen guests of hotel who were sampled with the recommendation of the manager of Brassiere. The total number of people sampled comes to a total of 12 plus some of the staffs who helped as well. These populations are involved in the customer satisfaction and care line on daily basis. They all enthusiastically agreed to provide good level of information.

Totally 25 different questions were of which few were received back and the filled copies are attached. (Please find the attached sheet at the back). Thus all of the staffs and the management were very helpful in achieving this task.

Reliability and Validity: –

The research strategy carried here is significantly contributively and increased the positive response towards the research. The interview and questionnaire that was delivered was regarding the customer satisfaction and quality service in Brassiere. The questionnaires that were asked have obviously accomplished the grade of reliability and validity.

Findings and Results: –

The section of the research will produce the summation of the data accumulated with various methods and techniques. Mainly the data extracted from the questionnaire and the interview will be focused along with other results of methods. The response is well and good from the provided questionnaires and is received back completed from the population selected.

The employee’s capability of setting up problems is about developing human supply with essential skills to carry successful service in the near future.(H and Huang H.C (2008). Thus the hotel aim and major priorities in providing quality customer service is based on the responses accumulated from the interview and the questionnaire which are as follows;

1. Delivering High standard service.

2. Proper Knowledge of operation and relationship.

3. Quality customer service

4. Guest Relationship of Manager and the Supervisors

5. Customer service skills.

6. Overall performance and quality of Brassiere Team.

7. SALT Score of Brassiere.

8. Good customer service and customer care

9. Staff training for development and further knowledge.

10. Handling Complaints

11. Methods of operation

12. Summary of quality customer service in Brassiere.

Delivering High standard service: – The outlet Brassiere aims to deliver high standard service at all time of their operation and always moves forward to perform the best. The standard in this will require a management support with skilled and knowledgeable staff. The staffs of Brassiere are aspiring to achieve the quality in the product and the service by focusing on customers and the business.

Proper Knowledge of operation and relationship: – The team members of Brassiere are guided and trained in each and every step while moving forward in the operation of the outlet. They are given training on the operation system and functioning of the business in various steps with gaps. A systematic job chat is done with the staff by the supervisor and the manager to identify the problems faced by the staff and the improvement made till date. The relationship is maintained and unity in diversity is basically followed and the working environment is very flexible and professional.

Quality customer service: – Quality customer service is a complicated and a broad term to use but, major aspects of it are achieved by the team of Brassiere. The service standard if Brassiere has better quality as compared to other similar kind of outlet or business. Professionalism is maintained and carried in each and every operational process. The guest’s expectation level is always met and exceeded as per the questionnaire sums up.

Guest Relationship of Manager and the Supervisors: – The guest relationship of the manager and the supervisor of Brassiere are superb. The manager during the operation of the restaurant goes to the guests of the hotel during the dinner, breakfast and lunch to extract the value and quality they are experiencing in the outlet.

13. Customer service skills.

Chapter 5, Discussion: –

Introduction: –

Customers are the most important part of the Brassiere’s business. Quite simply, without customers there would be no business! So it is vitally important that customers are looked after well and given the highest standards of service, so that they come back again and also tell their friends about the good time they had staying and eating in Hilton Hotel London.

Need of Quality Customer Service in Brassiere: – These days customer service is not just about meeting customers needs, but it is about exceeding them. It is also important to stress giving excellent and not just good customer service. The staffs at Brassiere of Hilton Hotel Paddington are fully trained in all aspects of excellent customer service. The company’s customer service aim is ‘to give our guest a truly short break holiday and business experience which far exceeds their expectations. But, In Brassiere of Hilton Hotel customer service is much more than just being nice to the customers. It is about all staff in the Restaurant working towards a positive approach to customers which involves,

a) Identifying Customers Needs: – Knowing what the guest’s wants is fundamental to the success of Brassiere business and reputation. However knowing the guest’s need is often relatively easy, what can be more difficult is putting into practice the actions that are recommended.

b) Developing the right products and Services: – Having found out what its customers wants, Brassiere can begin to develop products and services that matches the various requirements to make sure that they are offered at the right price, in the right place and, in the case of profit.

c) Measuring Customer’s Satisfaction: – Customer service is a constant process to strive to be as successful as possible in satisfying customer needs. The product and services will need careful monitoring and adjustment to meet any changes that the customers are demanding. SALT scores (Satisfaction and Loyalty Tracking Survey) must me maintained as they use this technique to measure customers satisfaction level.

d) Developing Internal System: – Hilton Hotel need to give attention to the needs of the internal customers i,e the staffs working for the Brassiere Restaurant. Mechanism to improve internal communications, including regular meetings, social events and staff newsletters, are all part of improving the overall level of service to the customers.

e) Staff Training: – Training in excellent customer service skills is vital for all staffs in Brassiere Restaurant, not just those whose work brings them into daily contact with customers. Staffs working behind the scenes, like Back area, main kitchen, and the stewarding etc need to appreciate that they too have an important role to play in keeping the customers happy and satisfied.

Benefits of Excellent Customer Service to Hilton’s Brassiere Restaurant: –

Excellent customer service not only brings benefits to the customers, but also to the Restaurant and of course to the hotel. Staffs working in the Brassiere Restaurant will also reap rewards, recognition, with increased job satisfaction and star points ( a system of rewarding followed in Hilton when a Guest comments good about an individual). The main benefit to the Brassiere Restaurant Department on delivering quality customer service is shown in the figure below;

Reason for Poor Customer Service: –

Providing excellent and quality customer service is highly a skilled task requiring motivation, effort and commitment from the staff involved in the operation of Brassiere and support from the supervisors and the manager. However even the most experienced staff can have bad days! There are various reasons why the performance level of the staff deployed in the operation of Brassiere falls down. Four of the most common are as follows;

• Lack of commitment: –
• Insufficient Knowledge about the product and the service.
• Poor communication level.
• Lack of proper training.

What can management do to demolish these factors?

a) Discover any underlying problems that are causing the lack of commitment.

b) Arrange staff training session to help deal with the problems.

c) Provide a supportive environment in which the staff can flourish.

d) Involve all staff in customer service improvement.

Quality Customer Service: –

There have been quantum changes in the attitudes towards quality customer service in Hilton’s outlet Brassiere in the recent years. An organisation that delivers consistent good and quality service is usually seen as being Quality Company. Indeed, quality has many parallels with the customer service, a