Skills on Wheels Reflection

I chose to do the “Present Effectively” and “Converse with Confidence” modules. As I have mentioned in my self-introduction blog post, I tend to feel nervous during presentations and I feel that I need to further improve my presentation skills to communicate information and ideas to achieve intended results. In addition, I think that I am not confident enough when conversing in a social meeting and small group discussion. Being in the hospitality industry, I feel that the ability to converse confidently is very important as most parts of our job involve interacting with people. I feel that the modules’ activities were very manageable as I managed to get full marks upon first attempts for the activities of both modules.

“Present Effectively” module taught me how to improve my presentation to achieve the intended effect through crafting an audience-centric presentation and improving the delivery by profiling the audience using A.I.R. I think that profiling the audience and using words, emotional appeal and body language to better appeal to the audience. Through the “Converse with Confidence” module, I learnt how to improve manage differences in a small group discussion through using the 4Cs. It has also helped me in terms of one-on-one social meeting through the application of S.A.L.T as there is often awkward silence in this kind of setting as I tend to not know what to say.

The learning experience of Skills on Wheels was quite enjoyable as there is a use of visual aids, acronyms and interactive videos to facilitate my learning and reflection. Furthermore, the availability of the mobile application made learning more convenient, as we can choose to complete the modules on the go. I feel that what I learnt in these modules could be applied in both school and work settings.

Service Excellence Project (Draft)

1. Overview of Managing guest complaints at Front Office

This report aims to address the interpersonal communication issue faced between Front Office employees and hotel guests in the hospitality industry, which hinders service excellence. The team will focus on how the Front Office Department can better manage guest complaints with effective communication methods to ensure optimal guest satisfaction.

2. Introduction

2.1 Workplace Context

The Front Office Department is the “heart of the hotel”, as it is the department that interacts the most with guests during their arrival, departure and multiple times during the stay (Kennedy, 2018; Hognas, 2015). Additionally, they hold the power of creating a positive or negative impression of the hotel service in guests’ minds (Hognas, 2015). It was also mentioned in an article written by Hotel News Resource, hotel ratings and reviews are largely dependent on the Front Office Department (Kennedy, 2018). This infers that most guest ratings and reviews were based on the guests’ encounters with the Front Office. Since the Front Office’s roles and responsibilities mainly involve conversing with guests during check-ins, check-outs, assisting in requests and managing complaints, communication is one of the vital competencies to ensure guest satisfaction (Kangogo, Manyasi, & Musiega, 2013).

With a growing trend for guests to share their hotel experiences through the “word of click” in many online review platforms, managing guests’ complaints have evolved to be critical to Front Office (Kennedy, 2018). Research has proven that if complaints are mismanaged by the Front Office, guests satisfaction and retention will be greatly impacted (Kangogo, Manyasi, & Musiega, 2013).

2.2 Thematic focus

The project will focus on exploring interpersonal communication methods Front Office employees can adopt to better manage guests’ complaints. Based on the personal experience of a team member who worked in the Front Office, complaints are poorly handled by the employees resulting in a service delivery gap. This gap can be closed through the adoption of effective verbal and non-verbal communication (Hognas, 2015).

3. Problem identification

According to Anolik and Hawks (2005), some of the most common guest complaints in hotels include reservations not being honoured due to overbooking, extra hotel charges

and fees, unclean rooms and overlook of room requests. Due to precise demands and increasing expectations from guests, there is great potential in hotels for complaints. However, there are many cases where complaints are mishandled by the front office employees due to poor or lacking interpersonal communication between the employees and the guests (Keating, 2017).

For example, a guest complained to a front office employee as she reserved a room with two queen beds but was allocated to a room with two twin beds, which could not accommodate four children and two adults. It was handled by employees who displayed impolite body language and hostile tone, which added to her dissatisfacti//n. Using the transactional model (Appendix _), there is a gap in the channel of communication between the guest and the employee. Based on observations and the personal experience from one of the team members, it is identified that this is due to the lack of training for front office employees to handle complaints.

4. Purpose of study/Objective of study

This study aims to close the communication gap between the guest and employees in terms of handling guest complaint. The study will also propose to the senior management a training guideline and its benefits with regards to ensuring optimal customer satisfaction. It will focus on providing steps for employees to better meet guest expectations through a five-step LEARN model.

5. Implementation (acronym)

The 5-step LEARN model actualizes how service recovery is performed by an employee and it is the process of returning dissatisfied customers to a state of satisfaction with a service. The focus of the model includes identifying service failures and employees immediate reaction to it. As the Front Office Department plays a crucial role in ensuring guest satisfaction, the following 5-step LEARN model will tackle how an employee reacts to service failures through verbal and non-verbal cues such as active listening, apologising to guest and reacting appropriately to the situation.

Listening skills are vital for any interpersonal communication. Active listening often involves all senses and requires the listener to portray a desire to comprehend the situation. This can be done through mirroring the other person’s information and emotions. Leaning slightly forward and maintaining eye contact is a reflection of effective engagement and encourages the expansion of ideas while providing a thoughtful response (Cuncic, 2018). Not only does it allow the listener to gain trust of others, it also validates the speaker and improves the relationship between both parties.

Empathy is defined as the capacity to place oneself in another’s position. According to Gibb’s theory of supportive and defensive communication (Czeck & Lee, 2011), one of the underlying dimensions on interpersonal relationships include neutrality and empathy. It states that while neutrality makes a listener feel unwelcome, empathy inflicts a sense of acceptance by the speaker, which increases likelihood of engaging in prosocial behaviour.

A genuine apology is proven more effective for service recovery than compensation alone (Arizona State University, 2018). It is often the cheapest yet most effective way to turn around a bad customer experience. Knowing what to apologize for, understanding the context for the guest’s anger and easing concerns that the situation might happen again will aid in providing a more thorough and genuine apology.

Apart from understanding how actions have affected the guest, it is essential for the employee to resolve the root cause of the problem. In-line with the TKI model (Refer to Appendix _) , the employee should identify underlying concerns of guest and find a solution that involves the collaboration of both parties. For high assertiveness and cooperation to take place, the guest should be informed on the specific steps that will be taken to resolve the issue.

To ensure that the problem is being attended to, relevant personnel or key stakeholders should be alerted for service recovery to take place. Although apologies are important, repeating the phrase will come off as insincere. An effective customer service apology can only be achieved when the root cause is being attended to. Employees should take responsibility for the promises made to the customer and follow through with the steps to make things right.

6. Benefits

Firstly, the training programme introduced to the Front Office will allow them to better communicate guests’ complaints with both verbal and non-verbal communication cues. This results in positive guest encounters leading to an increase in guest satisfactions. Many researchers have proven that well-managed guests’ complaint will increase guest satisfaction, repeat guest arrivals and word of mouth which leads to overall business profitability (Sanders, 2011). Thus, by incorporating this 5-step LEARN model, the Front Office will contribute to happy guests and happy guests will benefit the overall profitability of the hotel.

Secondly, the Front Office Department will benefit positively through gaining knowledge on handling guests’ complaints more effectively. By providing with a training, employees at the Front Office will more confident in handling guests’ complaint. Thus, when learning outcome increases, employees will be more prompt and efficient with handling guests complaints and difficult guests (Sanders, 2011). Thus, when each employee knows what needs to be done, pressure is lessen creating a positive working environment. The Front Office will benefit from the positive work environment to handle complaint effectively and efficiently.

7. Data collection research

Primary and secondary data were used in the research for this case synopsis. Primary data were collected through an in-depth interview with one of the team members (Appendix _) and observations of what is currently being done in hotels. Questions regarding how complaints are handled in the front office and training programmes provided were asked during the interview. Secondary sources used in this report include journal articles, reports on hotels and hotel industries related websites.

8. Conclusion

Front Office department is a vital contact point with the guests in a hotel and the interaction between the guests and the Front Office employees could greatly affect the guest satisfaction. When there is a complaint, ineffective communication between the Front Office employees could lead to guest dissatisfaction. Through the five-step LEARN model, the employees will be able to provide service recovery and increase guest satisfaction.