SDM404 ASSESSMENT 1 CASE STUDY: ‘BANKS BOUTIQUE HOTEL’ Term 2, 2017 1. Version 1 Unit No.: SDM404 Unit Title: Service Design and Management Student Assessment Assessment Type When Assessed Weighting Learning Outcomes Individual Report (critically reflecting on service management strategies) Week 5 40% a, b, c The Case Following a multi-million-dollar refurbishment, the Banks Boutique Hotel (BBH) opened in January 2015 showcasing a stunning transformation of what was previously a fourstar independent property. With an unparalleled location in Sydney’s Central Business District, overlooking Darling Harbour, the hotel provides the perfect setting for business and leisure guests, and is the flagship property of the Banks brand. Competing on the basis of intimate and unique guest engagement, the Banks brand offers an upscale, cosmopolitan experience created for millennial-minded travellers. As President of The Banks Hotel Group executive board, Mr. Josh Walls, said ‘Guests can enjoy the hotel’s sophisticated facilities, including an intimate cocktail lounge with a beautiful display of contemporary artwork, and full-access in-room entertainment content streaming via Netflix, all of which will provide the ultimate dwelling for both business and leisure travellers to relax and unwind’. The full-service, five-star hotel has 200 rooms and 15 suites, features an all-day dining restaurant, all-day in-room dining and an open-air bar offering superior harbour views. Although BBH has recorded moderate to high levels of perceived service quality and customer satisfaction since opening, the executive board has requested that a comprehensive customer service analysis be undertaken. In particular, Mr. Walls insists that service quality at BBH must be monitored and enhanced as a means of strengthening the brand’s position in the Australian hotel market. Previously a Guest Service Agent at BBH, you have been appointed into the newly created role of Guest Experience Manager. A core responsibility of this role is to prepare a ‘Service Quality Analysis and Improvement’ report for the board. You have a number of resources to use in preparing this report: detailed forms of guest feedback, and observations about service management strategies at BBH (see attachments). The Task (2,000-word business report) Assuming the role of Guest Experience Manager, prepare the ‘Service Quality Analysis and Improvement Strategies’ report requested by the executive board. In your report, (1) evaluate key hotel service quality dimensions demonstrated at BBH, (2) analyse existing service management strategies, and (3) recommend modified or new service management strategies to improve the customer experience. Ensure each task component is well linked to the case study. Ensure you refer to the assessment brief for full details of assessment requirements. SDM404 ASSESSMENT 1 CASE STUDY: ‘BANKS BOUTIQUE HOTEL’ Term 2, 2017 2. Version 1 Attachments Attachment 1: Perceived Service Quality – Examples of guest feedback Guest Experience 1 (email feedback): “On arrival we were met by Sarah, possibly the nicest reception person we've ever dealt with. Sarah was so polite and courteous, and made us feel like VIP's, even though we'd booked a special room deal via booking.com. This experience with Sarah set the tone for a great stay. When we mentioned to Sarah we were going out for dinner for our anniversary, she smiled and excused herself for a few minutes. When she returned, she came with her supervisor who offered us complimentary breakfast! We were surprised Nancy wasn’t able to offer this herself, as she seemed like a very experienced receptionist, but we were thankful for how she picked up on our excitement and tried to enhance our experience. The lobby and lounge were amazing..the room itself was small, but big enough for what you need in a hotel. We enjoyed a glass of wine sitting by the window overlooking the harbour. Bathroom was big and very nicely appointed. The room was a little bit old looking, which I was surprised about given the lobby and bar area. On check-out we experienced exceptional customer care again. We had a late flight, so stored our bags with the concierge Andrew. Andrew was such a ray of sunshine. We had a lovely quick chat with him, and off we went for a few hours to stroll into city based on this recommendations. He knew so much about the city and his advice was perfect for what we had in mind! We felt we could really trust his advice. When we returned to collect our luggage, Andrew greeted us with a warm smile, by our names, and got his colleague to get our bags before we had even said a word. Exceptional service, and once again made us feel like we were the most special guests there. Apologies for the long email, but the thing we rate highest of all is great customer care. It's something that is so easy, yet sadly so rare. Sarah and Andrew provided exceptional service and I hope Management give them a well-deserved pat on the back and pass on our thanks for making our experience wonderful” Guest Experience 2 (eWOM feedback): I really wanted to love it here, but I left feeling underwhelmed and disappointed. For the amount I paid ($290 / night) I expected more. PROS: + Great location right at Darling Harbour + Recently renovated and you can tell a lot of money went into the design of the lobby and lounge + Good for business travel and room includes ironing board, kettle etc. + I asked for a recommendation for dinner and this was provided immediately and confidently by Concierge after they asked me a few questions about what I was looking for. It was a great dinner so being able to trust their advice was a big plus for me. SDM404 ASSESSMENT 1 CASE STUDY: ‘BANKS BOUTIQUE HOTEL’ Term 2, 2017 3. Version 1 CONS: - Firstly, check in was atrocious, we were passed through multiple check-in staff – most of which didn't know what they were doing. The staff at the front desk were pleasant, but they were also inept. Check in took a good 20 minutes and involved three trips up and down in the elevators because the staff sent and resent us to the wrong room. -- Room was tired, rusty drain, 2 beds zipped together and an ancient alarm clock with an iPhone 3 charging dock. The carpet was fresh and the bathroom updated but everything else was pretty old looking. I’m not sure why the rooms weren’t included in the refurbishment. - When I walked around the public areas, staff looked mostly bored and not happy to be there. I wasn’t greeted by my name in any face-to-face conversation, only over the phone. - No attention to detail or individualized attention was provided. I added note in reservation to request a soft pillow and this wasn't done. - I called Front Desk to request toothpaste. They said they would bring it up to me straight away. Half an hour later it still hadn’t arrived, and I had to leave for my dinner reservation. When I came back, it still had not arrived as promised so I had to call for it again. - Internet didn't work for most of the stay; although it was free, I would expect that a promised service works reliably. Guest Experience 3 (guest comment card): We arrived early morning at the hotel to one of the warmest welcomes we have ever experienced. Staying in an executive suite, we had the most wonderful view of Darling Harbour. I would single out for particular praise the concierge and the staff of the executive lounge, although all the staff greeted us with a smile and a "how may I assist you?" or "is there anything I can do to make your stay more enjoyable and comfortable?" They could not have done more to help us! And the same applied to the staff in the executive lounge. No matter what we requested, nothing was too much! My wife complained that her white hot chocolate was not hot enough - they apologised, explained that it was because of the machine not heating the water up properly, and that they would send for a fresh, hot one from the kitchen. Less than three minutes later my wife had a piping hot, hot chocolate drink! They even gave us two mini scones as a treat. This was a wonderful experience and many in the service industry could learn much from the staff in this hotel. However, the next morning, there were different staff on - when enquiring about a free drink during happy hour times (as communicated by front office when we arrived), I was unceremoniously told I'd have to pay $6 per drink. As this was such a small thing I let it go, but it’s unusual that staff in the same outlet are so different. Guest Experience 4 (eWOM) All in all, we regretted choosing this hotel for our first couple of days in Sydney. We booked this hotel because of its central location and as a haven for us to recover from the long flight out to Australia. The location is brilliant, right by Darling Harbour,however we did not find it to be particularly restful. The first night we were woken by the sound of building works going on several floors above us, and no one had warned us that these works were going on. We SDM404 ASSESSMENT 1 CASE STUDY: ‘BANKS BOUTIQUE HOTEL’ Term 2, 2017 4. Version 1 complained, with poor response initially as no one answered the phone, but once we spoke to the Duty Manager we were upgraded. However, in our new suite, the room smelt like cigarette smoke when I had booked a nonsmoking room. I called Front Office quite a few times to enquire about a solution: the phone call first went unanswered, and then when I called back later the employee said they would have to look into it (as apparently it was actually a non-smoking suite) and then never got back to me. I must admit, though, that when I checked out the receptionist (Sarah) was very sympathetic about my tiredness (I couldn’t sleep because the cigarette smell made my asthma flare up) and ran to the bar to get us a complimentary take-away coffee! Guest Experience 5 (guest comment card) The service is something I’ll be raving about - easy check-in and check-out (although there was one small mistake with being charged twice on my credit card), super helpful, genuinely interested in me having a good stay. My family were travelling and staying in two joined rooms.The final touch was when I was leaving and standing outside waiting for a taxi. The porter noticed we'd been there a few minutes and it was hot, and so he just went and got us all a cold water, and a little bottle of ornage juice for the children. When we got home, we realized we had left our youngest girl’s soft toy (Mimi) in the bed! If you have young children with a favourite cuddly toy, you know this means a lot of sleepless nights until the toy is safely back at home! I called the hotel straight away, and was initially talking to a gentleman called Mike. Mike was really confused with what I was asking, and didn’t seem to care about the situation at all. I was a bit frustrated by this stage, so I asked to be transferred to a manager. A manager was not available, but I did get to speak to another receptionist – Sarah. Sarah was so kind on the phone and I felt like she really understood the drama of a lost toy! 15-minutes later, she rang me back to say that she found Mimi in the lost and found box in the Housekeeping office. I was so relieved, and thankful that Kelly would personally go looking for Mimi. Sarah arranged for Mimi to be couriered back to us, at no additional expense. It's the little things like that that make the difference between good and amazing. SDM404 ASSESSMENT 1 CASE STUDY: ‘BANKS BOUTIQUE HOTEL’ Term 2, 2017 5. Version 1 Attachment 2: Service Management Strategies You have also recorded the following interviews with employees about how service providers (‘employees’) and service encounters are managed at BBH. You are familiar with many of these factors from your time as a Guest Service Agent: Feedback from Sarah, Guest Service Agent: “We are taught to build engaging and unique relationships with guests as part of our orientation to BBH. This is their service concept. I agree with this wholeheartedly and I try to live by this concept in every interaction I have at work. However, I do feel like our supervisor and duty manager have too many rules for how we can talk to guests and what we can and cannot do in service encounters e.g. strict time frames are allocated for transactions including check-in and check-out. The roles and responsibilities I have to do in my job are also not clear, and I get into trouble for things that have not been part of my role in the past. Overall, these challenges make it really hard for me to build engaging and unique relationships with guests, like we are expected to do. Overall the management in this hotel is really different to my previous hotel which is a bit disappointing to me. I get motivation from making my own decisions and problem solving, but we aren’t even able to respond to guest complaints and make their negative experience better. The strict time frames also reduce my ability to be able to chat with guests and try and engage with them. Sometimes I try to do small things for guests like give them water or coffee when they are tired or thirsty, and I know my colleagues do the same as we like to talk about what we do to improve our guests stay when we are having our staff lunch or dinner, or when it is quiet during our shift.” Feedback from Mike, Guest Service Agent: “I have been working at BBH for around 6 months and I feel like what the managers expect of us, and what we can actually deliver given the training and resources given to us, are very different. One of the biggest problems are the people in our guest service team. Apart from a few, many of my colleagues do not gave experience in customer service. They are friendly and enthusiastic but not efficient. Although I was told that the hiring process is very selective, now that I have been here for a little while, I wonder how some of the staff actually got in. They know how to say the things they are told to, but really this is not enough. As soon as they get asked something different, it’s like they panic. They also are terrible at small talk and just chatting with the guests. I find myself getting frustrated with my colleagues and also guests now, which I know is not a good thing. To be honest with you, I’m starting to look for a new job. Feedback from Andrew, Concierge: “I love being a concierge because we are able to provide advice and recommendations that really benefit guests during their stay in Sydney. The challenge with being a concierge at this hotel are the service scripts. The managers standardise what we say, which works OK for greetings and processes like check-in, but doesn’t work so well with some of the more complex interactions – like finding out what kind of dinner experience guests want. In these encounters, I adapt the scripts to accommodate guest needs and experiences – it’s almost like an improvisation in the theatre! SDM404 ASSESSMENT 1 CASE STUDY: ‘BANKS BOUTIQUE HOTEL’ Term 2, 2017 6. Version 1 I worry about it sometimes. I wonder if Jerry or the supervisors will penalise me for not speaking the way they want in complex situations, but the scripts are just not enough. The managers don’t consult with us when they are designing or improving service processes, which I don’t understand as we are the ones who do the work! We have daily briefings to communicate key information about guest arrivals and guest departures, plus other key information as required. This works well to transfer information from managers to us as frontline employees, but it would be great if we could be more involved in the process.” Feedback from Jerry, Front Office Duty Manager “We tell the employees how to speak and what to do. We also handle all of the guest complaints ourselves. Mostly to make sure the guest experience is positive, but also because we want to make sure we know what is going wrong and who is responsible. Any breach of behaviour, including speaking differently to the script, can result in employee penalties during the formal performance appraisal process. Joe and Annie, who are the team supervisors, agree that we are the ones who have the most experience, and therefore we should be the ones who design and regulate the service to be used. I know the team don’t like it but we get good guest feedback anyway so it must be working. It’s true that there is an ‘Employee Discretion’ policy at BBH but we don’t really agree with it so we don’t put it in place…Oh, is that on record?” Feedback from Ellen, LHS General Manager “When welcoming new employees to LHS, we communicate a ‘We Trust You’ policy to all service providers. This policy formally provides employees with discretion related to what to do and how to do it. I’m very proud of this policy as it is important for building engaging relationships with guests, and this is our strategic advantage. I also try to motivate and encourage the managers to inspire their employees, and encourage innovation at all levels. I don’t believe that mistakes are a negative reflection of performance. Mistakes are necessary for innovation. Sometimes an employee might try to make a great guest experience but something goes wrong. As long as they learn from that situation, and the team learns from that situation, then I’m happy. Unfortunately, I don’t have much time to talk with the employees much, but Jerry, the Front Office Duty Manager, tells me that the policy works really well.” 7. Version 1 MARKING RUBRIC Criteria: The outcome shows Fail = Unsatisfactory Pass = Just Satisfactory Credit= Good quality Distinction= Superior High Distinction= performance- performance showing more than quality demonstrating Outstanding quality satisfactory independent thinking showing creativity and performance originality Research and use of Either no evidence of Literature is presented Clear evidence and Able to critically appraise Has developed and justified literature/evidence of literature being uncritically, in a purely application of readings the literature and theory using own ideas based on a reading consulted or irrelevant to the assignment set. descriptive way and relevant to the subject; gained from a variety of wide range of sources which 20% indicates limitations of uses indicative texts sources, developing own have been thoroughly understanding. identified. ideas in the process. analysed, applied and discussed. Knowledge of theory Inaccurate or Selection of theory is Most key theories are Insightful and appropriate Assignment demonstrates 20% inappropriate choice of appropriate but some included in the work in an selection of theory in key integration and innovation in theory. aspects have been appropriate areas. the selection and handling of missed or misconstrued. straightforward manner. theory. Analysis and critical interpretation 20% Fails to analyse case information. Attempts to analyse case information using given theoretical classification / principles. Can satisfactorily analyse case study using a range of theoretical classification / principles. Can effectively analyse case information; can apply major theories and compare alternative methods/techniques for analysis. Can critically analyse novel and/or abstract data and case situations using a wide range of techniques appropriate to the topic and theoretical principles. Conclusions and recommendations 20% Unsubstantiated/invalid conclusions and recommendations based on anecdote and generalisation only, or no conclusions at all. Limited evidence of conclusions and recommendations supported by theory/literature. Evidence of conclusions and recommendations grounded in theory/literature. Good development of conclusion and recommendations shown in summary of arguments based in theory/literature. Analytical and clear conclusions and recommendations well-grounded in theory and literature showing development of new concepts. Presentation and Referencing, incl. Academic Reference Material 20% Poor report formatting and presentation quality. Incorrect citing. No and/or very poor reference list in report and/or academic reference material. Report formatting and presentation quality to a minimal level. Incorrect citing. Poor reference list in report and/or academic reference material. Report formatting and presentation quality to a competent level. Appropriate citing Adequately formatted reference list in report and/or academic reference material. Very effective report formatting and presentation quality. Good citing in-text Minimal mistakes for reference list formatting in report and/or academic reference material. Extremely well formatted report with high presentation quality Excellent citing in-text Excellent formatting of reference list in report and/or academic reference material. Mark range out of 100 0- 49.5 50 - 64 65 -74 75-84 85+