Quality Management and Continuous Improvement at Hotel Escargo - Research Paper Example

Quality Management and Continuous Improvement Unit 2 IP Overview This research report is based upon the initial observations of Hotel Escargo. The mission statement of Hotel Escargo entails ”serve the business and pleasure traveler by making customer satisfaction priority number one through top quality service, amenities, comfortable surroundings, and friendly employees” (American InterContinental University, n.d.). The annual investigation of Hotel Escargo chain has revealed ample scope for improvement relative to check-in and check-out system followed by the Rooms Division Department. Besides, several areas were identified within the hotel chain that can be improved in order to raise quality of services and deliver highest level of customer satisfaction. It is recognised from the investigation that the current process followed by the hotel to check guest in and out has certain limitations for both including guests and the hotel. In this regard, it is determined that the hotel needs to develop a new process that would ensure convenient and efficient customer experience as well as facilitate in maximum utilisation of the hotel’s resources. Identification of Hotel Needs and Rankings in Order of their Importance The below presented table demonstrates the hotel needs and the improvement areas that have been ranked according to their importance. Rank Hotel Needs/Improvement Areas 1 Check-in 2 Check-out 3 Room Service 4 Fitness Room 5 Newspaper Delivery 6 Baggage Storage 7 Beverage Area 8 Safety Deposit Box 9 Automated Teller Machine (ATM) 10 Elevators 11 Laundry/Valet Service 12 Shoe Shine Stand 13 Cribs 14 Lounge 15 Tour Desk 16 Gift Shop 17 Complimentary Concierge Desk 18 Local Area Transportation 19 Luggage Hold 20 News Stand 21 Meeting Rooms 22 Business Center 23 Express Mail 24 Fax 25 Modem 26 Printer 27 Photo Copying Service 28 Audio/Visual Equipment Rental 29 Video Conferencing 30 Secretarial Service 31 Multi-Lingual Staff 32 Notary Public Superior quality customer service is an essential requirement for any hotel providing services to guest for ensuring long-term sustainability (Oh, 1999). Based on the above tabular presentation, it can be observed that there are various areas that need to be improved within Hotel Escargo in order to ensure better services to its customers. Corresponding to the scenario provided, Hotel Escargo can make improvements in three broad areas particularly in its check-in and check-out process as well as in-room service. The current check-in and check-out procedure followed by Hotel Escargo is illustrated below with the use of a diagram. Figure 1: Hotel Check-in Process: Current (American InterContinental University, n.d.). Figure 2: Hotel Check-out Process: Current (American InterContinental University, n.d.). It would be vital for Hotel Escargo to upgrade its check-in and check-out procedure implemented by the Rooms Division Department. The improvement in this procedure will facilitate the hotel to offer exceptional services by reducing wastage of time. Nonetheless, there are various other areas that can be improved within the next 3-6 months. Correspondingly, it would be vital for Hotel Escargo to place priority on improving check-in and check-out procedure. It would be relevant for Hotel Escargo to adopt industry standard in order to improve its efficiency of delivering services to its customers. Adhering to industry standards will also facilitate in attracting a large customer base and thereby reap the benefit of increased revenue arising from the improvement made in terms of check-in and checkout procedure. Regular training of employees would significantly assist the hotel to improve its quality of service related to room service. Moreover, improvement in room service will facilitate service delivery process to be more efficient and easy for the customers visiting the hotel (Cooney et al., 2002). Proposed Job Design and a Measurement Strategy for Ensuring Improvement Quality management in Hotel Escargo needs to be prudently executed in order to attain increased customer satisfaction. Concerning Hotel Escargo, quality management is predominately associated with room service along with the procedure of checking in and out. In order to ensure improvement in room service and checking in and out, it is proposed to Hotel Escargo to implement six steps of solving quality problems and improving the operational process (Franco et al., 1997). The six steps are represented below in a pictorial format. Figure 3: Six Steps of Solving Quality Problems and Improving Process (Adapted from: Kapiki, 2012) The primary reason behind this proposal is that quality cost measurement is firmly associated with the calculation of costs pertaining to the various processes involved in production and selling of products as well as services. Also, in order to measure the quality of products and services, it would be appropriate for Hotel Escargo to use word processing and excel tool. The first step towards improving the process and service would be to identify what to measure. Based on the review of Hotel Escargo, key issues to be measured include checking-in and out and room service. The second step will require Hotel Escargo to describe the identified issue or problem. The third step will require the hotel to determine the people who need to be involved in the improvement process. The fourth step will seek the hotel to ascertain the causes behind the issue or the problem. The fifth step will create a need for the hotel to examine the primary causes behind the identified problems and device appropriate solutions for effectively coping up with the issues recognised. The sixth and also the final step will require the hotel to implement the solutions and evaluate quality improvement initiatives. Apart from the above stated six steps, the hotel can also use benchmarking in order to ensure improvement. Notably, benchmarking is associated with comparing and measuring the practices followed by an organisation with the performance of leading organisations within the industry (Kapiki, 2012). It would also be vital for the hotel to obtain regular feedbacks from employees in order to identify the gaps prevailing within the areas identified for improvement. The design and measurement strategy of the hotel needs to be predominately directed towards the improvement of business process and services. Concerning this hotel review, it would be vital to focus upon modernising the check-in and check-out procedure. In addition, external cost measurement can be considered to be another imperative job design strategy for Hotel Escargo. Correspondingly, the other proposed job design for the hotel pertaining to quality management can be identified in terms of breaking down the quality cost. The implementation of this strategy will ensure the hotel that its resources are utilised meritoriously and efficiently (Cem Kaner, 1996). References American InterContinental University. (n.d.). Assignment asset- scenario. Retrieved from https://class.aiuniv.edu/LCMSFileShareCommon/a61/3fe/292/458/47f/2b8/117/27d/a20/bea/e6/MGT656_u1ips1.pdf Cooney, R., Terziovski, M., & Samson, D. (2002). Employee training, quality management, and the performance of Australian and New Zealand manufacturers. Monash University, 1-11. Cem Kaner, (1996). Quality cost analysis: Benefits and risks. Retrieved from http://www.kaner.com/pdfs/Quality_Cost_Analysis.pdf Franco, L. M., Newman, J., Murphy, G., & Mariani, E. (1997). Achieving quality through problem solving and process improvement. Quality Assurance Methodology Refinement Series. Kapiki, S. (2012). Quality management in tourism and hospitality: an exploratory study among tourism stakeholders. International Journal of Economic Practices and Theories, 2(2), 53-61. Oh, H. (1999). Service quality, customer satisfaction, and customer value: A holistic perspective. Hospitality Management, 18, 67-82. Read More