Organizational Climate of Food and Beverage Employees

Abstract

Seven dimensions of organizational climate and measures of perceived customer satisfaction were gathered from food and beverage employees of 14 hotels. Regression analysis revealed organizational climate to explain 26.9% of the variance in customer satisfaction with food and beverage and only two organizational climate dimensions, professional and organizational esprit, and conflict and ambiguity, displaying a unique relationship to customer satisfaction with food and beverage. Customer satisfaction with food and beverage was found to explain 18.45% of the variation in RevPAR among the hotels. Recommendations are made as to which dimensions of organizational climate should be targeted for intervention programs attempting to increase hotel financial performance.     

Service climate and customer satisfaction in a casino hotel: An exploratory case study

Given the global escalation in gaming availability, this paper proposes a service management framework for the study of competitive advantage in casino hotels. Using data collected from 303 employees at an Australian casino hotel, an exploratory case study in service climate and customer satisfaction is presented. The findings suggest that while service climate is highly correlated with customer satisfaction, internal dynamics result in significant differences in the perceptions of casino employees versus non-casino employees, highlighting the need to tailor organisational strategies to different types of employees.     

“货币补偿”总是最优策略吗?——高星级酒店不同服务失误归因下的情境研究

酒店服务的异质性和顾客需求的多样性使得服务失误在所难免。服务补救成为酒店修复服务失误,赢得顾客口碑和再次光顾的重要举措。在酒店管理实践中,货币补偿颇受管理者青睐,通常被作为应对服务失误的首要选择。然而,货币补偿是否为服务失误发生时的最优选择?文章以高星级酒店为研究背景,对服务失误进行情境设计,检验不同失误归因下货币补偿和非货币补偿的补偿满意度差异。数据分析结果显示:酒店因素导致的服务失误情境下,相比货币补偿而言,非货币补偿具有更好的补偿效果;其他顾客因素和顾客自身因素导致的服务失误情境下,货币补偿与非货币补偿间没有显著效果差异。此外,补偿满意度对顾客信任、重购意向与口碑有显著正向影响。     

Enhancing business performance of hotels: The role of innovation and customer orientation

Innovation management and customer orientation have been widely recognized as key factors in enhancing the business performance of hotels. Our research investigates the interplay between customer orientation, innovation, and business performance in the Alpine hospitality industry. The study contributes to current innovation research by jointly investigating hotel innovativeness and innovation behavior as two distinct dimensions of the innovation concept. Analyzing data from 203 hotel managers, this study shows that the effect of hotels’ customer orientation exceeds the effects of innovativeness and innovation behavior on financial and non financial business performance. Mediation analysis shows that innovation behavior partially mediates the effect of customer orientation on business performance. The results of the study provide hotel management with relevant insights into the customer orientation innovation performance chain.     

Human resource systems as antecedents of hotel industry market orientation: An empirical study in the Canary Islands, Spain

This paper studies how the different dimensions determining the human resource management system (recruiting, training, evaluation and compensation) influence the market orientation of hotels. There is also an exploratory analysis of the differences in the human resource management systems according to the following hotel classification data: star rating, size, ownership, time-share offer, type of location, customer satisfaction and profitability.     

Understanding service attributes of robot hotels: A sentiment analysis of customer online reviews

Robots and artificial intelligence are essential to the future of the hospitality industry, and they are receiving increasing interest from hotel managers and researchers. However, the adoption of robotic services in hotel operations is a challenging task owing to the current level of technology and lack of understanding on the relationship between various aspects of robotic services and customer satisfaction. Moreover, no prior study has examined the service attributes of robots in hotels. To fill these gaps, this study analyzes customers’ sentiments on major hotels employing robotic services expressed through online reviews. A list of robot quality and operational area attributes is first constructed, through which underperforming robot service areas are identified. Sentiments on robotic services have a positive correlation with hotel service satisfaction, which plays an important role in determining the overall satisfaction of customers. The analysis and findings are valuable to researchers and managers for future research and adoption of robotic services in hotels.     

Investigating the accessibility factors affecting hotel satisfaction of people with physical disabilities

People with physical disabilities (PwPD) have various incompacities, use different assistive devices and can encounter many barriers in hotels. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of accessibility, disability types and forms of assistive devices on the hotel satisfaction of PwPD. A survey was conducted among PwPD who use mobility devices. Factor analysis revealed five accessibility dimensions: accessibility of public areas, rooms, recreation and other areas, baths in rooms, and food and beverage areas. Accessibility dimensions, disability types and forms of assistive devices had significant impact on the hotel satisfaction while accessibility of public, recreation and other areas, and baths in rooms were the strongest predictors of the satisfaction. People with acquired physical disabilities, powerchair and wheelchair users were the most disadvantaged group in hotels. Hotel satisfaction of PwPD is directly related to the accessibility of hotels. Insufficient and inaccessible areas have negative effect on this satisfaction.     

基于顾客价值的经济型酒店顾客满意度测评研究

培育和维护满意的顾客是经济型酒店获得和保持竞争优势的重要条件,而顾客对酒店产品感知利得和利失的比较对顾客满意度的形成具有重要的影响。该研究以现有的顾客满意度理论为基础,结合经济型酒店的顾客需求和产品服务特征,从顾客价值获得的角度构建经济型酒店的顾客满意度测评模型,建立了顾客满意度测评指标体系,并进行了实证分析。研究表明,经济型酒店的卫生状况、支持系统、交通便利程度以及价格等方面的顾客满意度较低。最后,根据实证分析结果提出了经济型酒店提高顾客满意度的建议和对策。     

An Integrated Approach to Service Quality in Hotels

ABSTRACT

An examination of service quality in hotels goes beyond the measurement approach by incorporating, customer satisfaction, organizational culture and climate. Customer satisfaction is examined and the use of employee perceptions of customer satisfaction is proposed as an index for customer satisfaction. Organizational climate is discussed as being a fundamental element that needs to be understood and used by managers in order to promote service quality. A conceptual model that incorporates all the elements of an expanded service quality model is presented by utilizing organizational culture and climate as its base. It is argued that hotel managers need to address all aspects of the model simultaneously instead of the single element at a time approach.     

Designing lifestyle hotels

Art creates irreplaceable added value and serves as a source for satisfying the spiritual needs of hotel customers. To provide customers with memorable services, hotels not only need to continue improving their services (exploit), but also have to design artistic new services (explore). Thus, customer willingness to return to the hotel could be increased, enhancing customer loyalty. However, few hotels simultaneously implement these two types of trade-off activities (i.e., exploitation and exploration). According to the ambidexterity perspective, this study applied a case study approach to investigate the process through which hotel operators design lifestyle hotels. Moreover, this study involved constructing an operational framework that adopted art as the basis for differentiation. The research results revealed that in introducing art concepts into a hotel service system, hotels operators must attach a high level of importance to several key activities, including hiring a full-time executive artistic manager in the top management team to engage in innovation, integrating local culture and the natural environment into the design of an artistic servicescape, catering to customers’ needs, and adopting high-performance human resource practices. These activities enable hotels to enhance their service capability in simultaneously implementing the two mutual trade-off activities, specifically designing new artistic services (explorative innovation) and continually improving their services (exploitative innovation).     

Unraveling the dynamic and contingency mechanism between service experience and customer engagement with luxury hotel brands

This study unravels the dynamic and contingency mechanism between service experience and customer engagement with luxury hotel brands by investigating a multi-step model linking these two variables, in which emotional attachment and relational quality constructs (i.e., brand satisfaction, brand trust, and brand commitment) act as a bridge, while customer involvement acts as a moderator. Based on a self-administered survey dataset of 249 international tourists who are customers of luxury hotel brands, partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) is used to test the hypotheses. The results indicate that all proposed hypotheses are supported. As such, this study discovers and clarifies the nature and dynamic mechanism underpinning the co-creation and reciprocation process of customer engagement with luxury hotels. In particular, the positive service experience is found to contribute to customer engagement via emotional attachment and relational marketing. Furthermore, the moderating role of customer involvement in the luxury hotel setting is confirmed.     

The impact of customers’ prior online experience on future hotel usage behavior

Service experience model stipulates the importance of service experience in increasing satisfaction, price acceptance, revisit intentions, etc. It has been extensively tested and validated in hotel management studies. However, the online service experience which, in these days, precedes the physical service experience has not be considered together in most hotel service experience studies. In hotel management literature, studies on online experiences are largely segregated from physical service experience model. In this study, prior online experience model is proposed which includes online experience preceding the physical service encounter, and a survey is administered. Result indicates the strong influence of online experience as a leading construct of the service experience model in hotels. Online experience strongly conditions the customers’ perception of physical service experience and, also, provides good ground for price acceptance. Interestingly, the influence of physical service experience on price acceptance seems to be rather alleviated with online experience, indicating the important role the online experience plays in managing customer perception on hotel service experience. Hotel management needs to pay close attention to their customers’ online experience beyond simple esthetics as the online experience seems to influence all the subsequent components of hotel service model.     

Multilevel Analysis of the Relationship Between Type of Travel,Online Ratings,and Management Response: Empirical Evidence from International Upscale Hotels

The diverse characteristics of customers and hotels have been identified as relevant to online customer satisfaction at the individual level. In this study, a comprehensive examination is conducted, through the use of a multilevel, nested model and secondary data set. The results show that both online review experience and management response frequencies can positively affect customer satisfaction. Additionally, hotel managers need to pay more attention to customers who have less online review experience when they carry out targeted response strategies. The findings have various implications for both academic researchers and hotel operators.     

Becoming an ambidextrous hotel: The role of customer orientation

Because competitive pressure in the hotel industry continues to increase, hotels have to develop service innovation (i.e., exploration) and service improvement (i.e., exploitation) capacities to become ambidextrous for continually creating customer value. In this study, a theory of the effect of customer orientation on service innovation and service improvement, which facilitates service quality and results in better market performance, was developed and investigated. By analyzing the data provided by senior executives and department managers from 126 hotels in Taiwan, both service innovation and service improvement were revealed to partially mediate the relationship between customer orientation and market performance. The results imply that customer orientation affects the market performance of a hotel through the development of service capabilities, and that customer orientation can transform a hotel into an ambidextrous hotel by concurrently developing service innovation and service improvement capacities.     

Multiattribute Decision Making Analysis for Customer Preference of Tourist Hotels

This study focuses on perception of hotel attributes that affect the selection of tourist hotels. These hotel service attributes are further categorized into seven hierarchies: business image, hotel location, service attitude, room service, beverage and food service, hotel facilities, and hotel environment. These hierarchies include twenty-seven evaluation items. Analytic Hierarchy Process method and multiple attribute utility function have been utilized to evaluate customer preference of hotels. Then, we conducted a thorough perception consciousness investigation of service quality to assess customer evaluation and preference of service attributes, which led to an understanding of the factors that affect hotel selection     

Monetary or nonmonetary compensation for service failure? A study of customer preferences under various loci of causality

When service failures occur, hotels adopt various strategies to compensate guests in order to maintain their satisfaction. This study examines the effectiveness of different post-failure compensation strategies in scenarios presenting various loci of causality. The results indicate that across all scenarios, strategies combining monetary and nonmonetary compensation result in higher customer satisfaction than those which offer one or the other. In addition, nonmonetary compensation results in higher satisfaction than monetary redress when the service failure has been caused by the hotel. The study also identified a partial mediation of the interaction effect of service failure causality and compensation type on customer satisfaction by three kinds of justice.     

Development and validation of a scale measuring hotel website service quality (HWebSQ)

This research aims to develop and validate a scale to measure website service quality in the hotel industry, namely HWebSQ. It also establishes the predictive power of the new scale by examining its relationship with an expected outcome, i.e. customer purchase intention. The research employs a detailed scale development process: domain specification, item generation, scale refinement, purification and validation. Data were collected from tourists who stayed at 4-to-5-star hotels in Vietnam. The findings confirm HWebSQ to be a valid and reliable measure of hotel website service quality containing 34 items with 7 dimensions. These include website functionality, website design, response time, ease of use, information quality, interactivity and security. Each of these dimensions is positively associated with customer purchase intention. The newly developed HWebSQ scale would be valuable to managers of hotels and other accommodation services who are interested in designing and managing websites aimed at attracting and retaining customers.     

A customer satisfaction index model for international tourist hotels: Integrating consumption emotions into the American Customer Satisfaction Index

This study integrates consumption emotions into the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) model to propose a hotel customer satisfaction index (H-CSI) model that can be applied to estimate customer satisfaction toward international tourist hotels. The H-CSI scale items were designed based on reference to the relevant literature and the suggestions of a focus group. Four-hundred and twelve customers of international tourist hotels were surveyed. The partial least squares method was employed to validate the measurement instruments in the H-CSI model and estimate item weights for the customer satisfaction scales. The H-CSI model is a comprehensive model for the measurement of customer satisfaction that includes most possible antecedents and outcomes. The research results show that the H-CSI model displayed strong explanatory power based on its reliability and validity. Accordingly, if hotel managers apply the H-SCI model instead of a general customer satisfaction survey, they can obtain a robust estimation of customer satisfaction, as well as extra information of post-purchase customer behavior to better manage customer satisfaction and achieve a competitive advantage.     

Business Traveler Satisfaction with Hotel Service Encounters

Abstract

This study examines customer satisfaction with a series of hotel services. Five service encounters were examined in a sample of business travelers (n = 140) who had stayed in Hong Kong hotels. Overall satisfaction and repurchase intention were differentially impacted by the various service encounters. Business center encounters had the greatest effect on business traveler satisfaction, followed by check-out and check-in encounters. Interestingly, room and restaurant encounters had the least impact on satisfaction. The delivery of good core services alone cannot guarantee customer satisfaction. Hotels must also pay attention to peripheral service delivery, because these encounters help to shape the customer's overall level of satisfaction and repurchase intention.     

Effects of psychological contract breach on attitudes and performance: The moderating role of competitive climate

The performance of hotel employees is an important driver of customer satisfaction, which in turn affects hotels’ financial outcomes. Hotel managers should encourage their staff to deliver quality service and should inspire them to perform their best. This study advances a multilevel model that draws connections among competitive climate, organizational identification (OID), job performance, affective commitment (AC), and psychological contract (PC) breach from a sample of hotel staff. The results indicate that (1) PC breach is negatively related to OID and AC, (2) OID and AC have a significant positive relationship with job performance, and (3) competitive climate at the organizational level moderates the effects of OID and AC on hotel workers’ in-role performance. These results offer valuable implications for managers to produce more efficient hotel human resource management techniques.