Analysis of Service Encounters - Essay Example

?Service Encounter Reflective Journal Introduction The result of business activity is a product, which is either a good or a service, which is consumed by the end user of the product. Unlike goods, the product service is often difficult to perceive because of its intangibility. Nevertheless, the results of a service rendered unto a customer are real and evident because it could be felt by such customer, and it is pursuant to the resultant satisfaction or dissatisfaction which the customer feels that the service is judged. When a service is repeatedly experienced, then the quality of the experience is repeatedly assessed by the customer, with subsequent experiences either reinforcing or mitigating the earlier experiences. The term ‘service encounter’ refers to ‘the contact situation between service customer and service firm when the service is being created’ (Se? Ler, 2009, p. 4), and as such is ‘one of the most central and controversial concepts in the service marketing literature’ (Grillmair, 2008, p. 4). The service encounter is important because customer perception is created by their most vivid impression of the service that takes place during the service encounter. There are three types of service encounters: episodic, consisting of a single occurrence producing a single revenue stream for the business, and a defined service duration; extended, which consists of an episodic service encounter but allowing for multiple service types; and continuous, which consists of multiple occurrences with multiple revenue streams, with an undefined service duration, multiple episodic or extended service encounters, and a relational exchange focus (Hume & McColl-Kennedy, 1998). In this discussion, the aim is to create a diary of service encounters in the course of an extended service encounter. This is to aid in the understanding of the nature of customer expectations, why we as consumers experience satisfaction or dissatisfaction with a service, and what are those elements or attributes which are necessary to create satisfaction. The criteria used in the assessment of the service quality shall be (1) the degree to which the service need is satisfied (i.e., inasmuch as the type of service chosen shall be a people processing, high involvement product requiring intimate participation of the customer in the process); (2) the pleasantness or unpleasantness which the customer felt for the duration of the service encounter; and (3) the lasting impression derived by the customer from the encounter. While it is true that all of us react to service encounters, not all of us react in the same way because of differences in cultural backgrounds, psychological make-up, and personal circumstances that make each of us unique (Grillmair, 2008). Therefore for the purpose of this study, there will be no better subject than this writer, to describe the feelings and impressions garnered during the exercise. I shall provide a service encounter journal of an experience I myself had undertaken, describing actions, thoughts and feelings that shaped the service encounter. Thereafter, the journal entries shall be analysed on a per-event basis, to break down the service encounter experience and later integrate them into a holistic account of what it takes for a customer to be satisfied. 2. The Service Provider Days Hotel is a popular chain of hotels that has established a global presence. Noted for its ‘affordable luxury’ and ‘ambience of carefully cultured elegance,’ the hotel is pleasantly appointed, unpretentiously four-star, and makes one feel at home with a modest kind of comfort. This local subsidiary is a take-off from its parent company, Days Inn of America, but it has evolved into an establishment that embodies both the warm hospitality of the locality and the service quality for which the brand is known. The company slogan is: “We make your day.” This is apparently a witty use of the word ‘day’ which comprises the hotel’s brand, while at the same time conveying in a simple and straightforward manner that they will be providing service which is so impressive it will truly make your day unforgettable. Its vision is to offer “the most luxurious elegant rooms possible at affordable price … five-star comfort at three-star rates” (“About Us”, 2013). The hotel’s targeted customers are therefore the traveler who is on a budget but nevertheless expect to enjoy some of the amenities of better accommodations. Days Hotel offers value for money, in the form of convenient accommodations, friendly service, good food and a pleasant and restful stay. For this particular trip, the hotel also provided the venue and facilities for a three-day live-in conference organized by a professional association to which I belonged. 3. Diary of service encounters Encounter 1: The hotel servicescape Satisfaction Rating: 5 The particular hotel that is the topic of this study is nestled in the mountains of Tagaytay in the island of Luzon in the Philippines, an archipelago in the Pacific. Being in a mountain resort, the hotel guests enjoy the cool mountain climate and fresh, unpolluted air. The full view of the hotel itself cannot be seen from the highway it is adjacent to; all one sees from the frontage appears to be a single-floor affair with a nondescript exterior, except for the ‘Days’ signage of a sunrise that Days Inn has made popular. When one enters the lobby, however, one realizes that the hotel does not rise up, but hugs the mountainside and goes down five floors. Thoughtfully, the floors were labeled in alphabetic characters (Levels A to E) rather than by numbers, because it is confusing enough that one has to remember that the lobby is ‘upstairs’ and the rooms are ‘downstairs.’ The elevator has a glass exterior that allows its passengers to see a magnificent view of the Taal Volcano in the lake and the breathtaking mountains in the distance. Riding the glass lift gives one the feeling as if one were suspended in mid-air, and rising up and down gives a shifting view of the broad surroundings, the same sensation one gets in a 3-D movie when the camera pans up and down. One gets a sense of entering into the natural three-dimensional picture and being part of it. Stepping out onto the lawn one gets a view of the entirety of the hotel, which is actually much larger than the frontage suggests. The lawn leads to a two charming nipa huts that serve as sheds fronting the pool. The swimming pool is half an Olympic-sized pool, and next to it is small Jacuzzi that also serves as a swimming pool when the blowers are turned off. Off to the other side is a spa and gym where the guests go to work out and get a massage or enjoy a sauna. Beyond this, the hotel does not offer much in the way of other amenities, which is why it comes across as unpretentious and understated. That being said, the establishment is ideally located since it is close to the town center, so it provides access to a host of other establishments such as fruit stands, the local market where one can purchase the delicacies of the locality, souvenir shops and restaurants, the local hospital and emergency center. What is noticeable, however, is that there are a good number of churches and places of worship of nearly every religion. There are a large number of Roman Catholic churches, convents and retreat houses, which after all is the religion of 85 per cent of the native population. There are also temples of worship for the Adventists and other Christian denominations, Hindus, Muslims, and an obscure religion predominantly attended by Koreans. It occurred to me that the crisp mountain air and benevolent climate enables one to feel closer to God, thus the preference of many to seek God there. Encounter 2: Arrival at the conference venue Satisfaction Rating: 1at first, raised to 4 at the end The cool air of the mountain resort was a welcome respite from the heat and humidity of the city in this Pacific rim country, so there was much to be thankful for during the conference. The Days Hotel that was the site of the conference was set against the mountainside overlooking a lake at the center of which is a volcano which we were informed was an active volcano (but luckily it was in its quiet phase when we were there). Upon disembarking from the coaster that took us to our hotel, my colleagues assembled at the lobby while I, as coordinator for our group, proceeded to the front desk to claim our reservations and secure our card keys. Nobody was at the desk. I waited a bit, and had to call out, hello? Anybody here? It was a minute and a half before a young lady, obviously new at her post, emerged from the rear office with a less-than-winsome smile on her face. “Good day, sir, how may I help you?” Funny, I did not feel as if she was having a good day, less even that she was truly wishing me one. We are the party of C – and we would like to know if our rooms are ready yet. We made reservations early last week. A quick glance at the computer and she said, “Yes sir, three rooms with two double beds each. Kindly register here, sir, and we will require you to make a $150 deposit for your rooms.” Deposit? But we already made a full payment of $1,350 by Paypal last week. You sent us the official receipt by email, don’t you remember? Here is my copy, look. Why should we make a deposit? She shrugged with a couldn’t care less attitude. “That’s standard, sir. $50 per room. Don’t worry, sir, it will be refunded.” But what do you need the deposit for if we’re already fully paid? “Sir, in case you eat in the restaurant and leave without paying your bill.” I felt my ears turning red. We are fully paid for a three days’ stay and you are asking me for a deposit because I might run out on our food bill? Young lady, where is your manager? I’d like to speak to somebody more responsible, please. With a sullen expression on her face she disappeared into the back office and fifteen seconds later a slightly more senior gentleman appeared with a smile of genuine concern, eyes immediately seeking mine out, and one could tell he was more than a little flustered. “I am so sorry, sir, please forgive Nikkie, she is new and is still actually in training. Of course you don’t have to make a deposit sir, we thank you for your full payment upon booking. It is just that this is peak season and we ask customers to make a firm commitment by paying in full upon reservation, to avoid forfeiting the room. The deposit is only for those who make reservations during the lean periods. I truly am sorry sir, with your kind permission we shall send a complimentary fruit basket to each of your rooms.” Fruit basket, that’s good. I assure the gentleman that his apology is accepted, take our card keys, and proceed to our rooms. Encounter 3: First day of the conference Satisfaction Rating: 2 After the last session for the day, the itinerary said we could take a dip in the hotel pool in order to relax and unwind. Ah, the first truly leisure activity. I was beginning to feel that we came all the way to this beautiful place and not get to see anything except the four walls of that conference room. We went to our rooms and dressed down to our swim wear, and soon were enjoying the serenity of the pool – apparently, other people felt that the atmosphere was too nippy to take a dip, but being used to a cooler climate I felt that the weather was actually a bit balmy. It felt good to have the pool to ourselves, to feel the warm sun on our faces as we did long lazy laps from end to end. Not for long. After about thirty minutes of bliss, a noisy gaggle of kids descended upon the pool and began cannonballing into the water. Splash! Splash! Splash! A lot of horseplay and screeches, and before long our serene paradise was no longer. And of course where there are boisterous kids, there are mothers and aunts and nannies bustling here and there and making a general commotion. Fifteen minutes later, we decided that it was time to towel off and return to our rooms. A quick shower, and we were in the restaurant enjoying our coolers and watching a boxing match on television. Again, we had the place pretty much to ourselves except for a couple in a secluded corner who were lost deep in each other eyes, so we enjoyed the peace and quiet. That is, until a group of teenage girls, ten or twelve of them, came into the room. They must have been classmates or ‘BFFs’ or something, because the giggles and the ‘OMG!’s filled the room as well as the gossip about someone or other girl who obviously was not there, otherwise they would not be talking about her. “And you know what she said?” “And do you know what she did?” “Did you see her g---awful get-up?” Then whispers, and suddenly the shrill, piercing screams as someone says something apparently remarkable they needed to shout it out to the mountaintops. Then one of them grabs the remote control from the bar, transfers the cable channel to a show entitled ‘TMZ’ and suddenly everyone was enthralled and excited over this and that actor or actress, punctuating their viewing pleasure with screams of “Oh no, she didn’t, the b—ch!” I couldn’t take it anymore. I went to my room and tried to find the ESPN boxing match I was enjoying earlier. Sadly, the program just ended, and I did not even get to see who won. Encounter 4: Third day of the conference – Recognition night Satisfaction Rating: 5 The conference was coming to a close, and the organizers threw a recognition dinner for those who saw the session through to the end, which deserved a certificate, and those who participated exceptionally well, or at least more than the others, which earned for them a small but charming token in the form of a trophy and a nondescript gift. I was glad that the conference sessions were over, but I felt a bit put down that the visit to this place was coming to a close. The beauty of unspoiled nature in a place where it was summer all year round was a pleasant experience, despite the small irritants that one would encounter anyway in any tourist destination. Soon I will have to return to the daily grind, but for at least these few days I was rested. The dinner was a buffet, incidentally, and the food was delicately prepared by Chef Armand Jauregui, a cheerful middle-aged gent who smiled and greeted the guests as they filed through the spread. He oversaw the dishes, made sure that when one was giving out it was quickly replace by a full platter, and he good-naturedly answered questions from the guests. There were a good number of compliments, some who made carefully worded suggestions interjected with profuse praise, but the chef took it all in stride and wished them sincerely an enjoyable meal. When we sat at our places, a cheerful young waiter named King came to our table and wished us a good evening, would we like some soup delivered to our table. That was mighty fine of him, I thought, because the meal was a self-service buffet but the lines at the table were still long. Seeing our growing boredom was probably a bit too much for the young man as he decided to serve us soup and appetizers at our table anyway. I looked around and saw his good example matched by the other waiters who appeared to be taking their cue from him. Therefore, there was not one person in the room who was sitting unoccupied; they were either at the buffet line or sipping their soup and munching at their appetizers which got them into a good conversational mood. I learned subsequently that King, despite his youth, has been a waiter at the hotel for seven years, and was recently promoted to senior staff. The others were students who were interning at the hotel for their summer break, for which reason they were not receiving salaries but were being rewarded by the experience. I called the King, handed him the princely sum of $50 as a tip which I understand they shall share equally, and told him to extend my compliments to the interns (they were not allowed to receive tips by their college). Needless to say, they were very glad. Just as we were finishing our meal, the masters of ceremonies were starting to give out raffle prizes, and it was like a bolt from the blue that I heard my name being called. Really? Me? An iPad! How about that! 4. Analysis of service encounters Encounter 1: The hotel servicescape I count the physical description of the hotel and its immediate location as a service encounter episode, because it is the first “interaction” I had with the service agent (the hotel itself) and comprised the first impression I had of the days to come. The concept of a servicescape (a concatenation of the words service and landscape) was first proposed by Booms and Bitner (1981) as a designation of the physical environment wherein a service process takes place, and which contributes to the impact of the entire extended service encounter. Technically, the authors defined it as “the environment in which the service is assembled and in which the seller and customer interact, combined with tangible commodities that facilitate performance for communication of the service” (p. 36). The servicescape creates a ‘close physical proximity’ that influences the affective quality of the service experience (Price, Arnould & Tierney, 1995). In this first encounter, my impression of the hotel was that it felt at once homey – that is, relaxed and laid back, a cozy place to be in – and simultaneously grand, even magnificent. Not that the hotel itself was grand and magnificent, it was really rather simple and pleasant, but this impression was greatly influenced by the geographical setting of the place. The “smallness” of its appearance from the highway was the first impression I got as the coaster entered its modest gate and made its way through the narrow drive to the hotel entrance. Contrary to what would have been expected of a luxury hotel, the ceiling was low, the interiors comparatively sparse with a nicely finished wood paneling for the walls and white marble tiled flooring. However, once we stepped into the elevator (I first wondered, elevator? There were no floors above the one we entered), our trip downward facing the magnificent view of the lake and mountains sealed the deal for us the newcomers. What made the servicescape work in this case was the hotel’s integration with nature, and nature’s integration into the service experience. The fact that the hotel hugged the mountainside gave an impression that it was carved into it, was one with it. The hotel maximized the value of the view, because all its units opened up to terraces that faced the view, and the outdoor pool was fully exposed to it. Days Hotel made full use of this aspect is to its credit. The servicescape plays an important role in influencing customer evaluation of their service experience (Reimer & Kuehn, 2005), although there are authors who have not yet been so persuaded (Cockrill et al., 2008), citing differences in culture, customer orientation, knowledge and background, and other factors that tend to make the response to servicescape more a matter of chance. Encounter 2: Arrival at the conference venue The episode at the front desk close to the beginning of the service experience (i.e.,after the servicescape episode) is best viewed in the context of the service theatre. This phrase was coined in connection with the metaphor of service as theatre, advanced by Fisk and Grove as early as 1983. By “service theatre” is meant that services are comprised of the same components as a theatrical or stage production. It has actors, audience, setting, frontstage, backstage, and a performance (Fisk, 2013). Fisk states that consistent with the metaphor, the actors are the service personnel who collaborate to provide the service experience for the audience, who in turn are the customers for whom the service is provided. The setting is the service environment where the service is rendered. The frontstage actions correspond to that stage of the service directly involving the participation of the customers/audience, while the backstage are those activities which provide support to the frontstage actors. The backstage elements are hidden from the view of the audience (customers), but it is where the planning, preparation, and execution of the service experience occurs. Finally, the performance is ‘the dynamic result of the interaction of the actors, audience, and setting’ (Fisk, Grove & John, 2008, p. 26). Applying this metaphor to the experience at the front desk, we should recall the role played by the young lady and the manner she attended to the inquiries of an incoming customer. Clearly, she was not prepared as a frontstage actor. Her ‘service script’ was all wrong, her action and demeanor, and the attitude she displayed to the ‘audience’ was terribly ‘amateurish’ if one were to liken her to a professional actor. She was a player onstage who did not know her lines, her motivation, and the role she played in the service theatre that was the hotel. The manager who came to correct her mistakes was much like the character who improvises on his lines in the play in order to save a scene that went wrong, and get the play on track. When designing a service theatre, the cast must be well selected. The young lady, who was by the manager’s own admission still in training, must not have been allowed onstage to take on the lead role – that is, to face the customers unaided by the backstage (i.e., without proper supervision). In this the manager was remiss. If he needed to do anything backstage and sent the trainee to man the post until a customer came, he should have given strict instructions to have him summoned the moment a customer came to the front desk – not for her to maneuver the scene all by herself. As a result of the faux pas, the customer was by turn mortified, piqued, humiliated, and in the end was simply angry with the brusque and insensitive treatment he had received. In order to save the scene, however, the manager was right to make amends with the simple token of a fruit basket, one for each of the reserved rooms. It is a small token to pay to maintain good relations with customers who, after everything, decided they were willing to come back with repeat business in the future. Encounter 3: First day of the conference During the delivery of the service, the customer is ‘in the factory’ (Brocato, Voorhees, & Baker, 2012) and consequently, the presence and actions of other customers who were likewise in the factory at the time exert a profound impact on the customer experience. Studies have always stressed the need to manage the service experience, but in so far as the presence of other customers is concerned the service providers are sometimes at a loss in trying to control what could potentially be a contentious situation. They are placed in the quandary where they (the service providers) are duty-bound to try to please both customers who may, however, be at odds with each other. The manner in which other customer act and behave may, either positively or negatively, impact on the entire service experience. Sometimes, when the impact is known to be positive, the seller counts on the phenomenon of customer-to-customer interaction as a means of influencing other customers to get excited about a product and enable the purchase decision (Gruen, et al., 2007). There is a tendency for customers to attribute credence to word-of-mouth testimony by others, and so too are sometimes encouraged to ‘join the herd’ when they see other individuals being excited about something. This is all too evident during sales when customers feel they must also acquire something which other customers are eager to get. In the case of my experience, however, with the children at the pool and the teenagers who disturbed the peace and changed the television channel, this was decidedly a negative experience. Of course, I do not fault the hotel for the actuations of its guests, but emotions know no reason, and a feeling of dissatisfaction due to the behavior of other guests is as significant to me as other elements in my service experience. In this case particularly, I had only a small window of time wherein I could enjoy my ‘luxury vacation’ experience before being called back to the conference, which was essentially work. Those few moments were disrupted so rudely by other guests. Where the establishment could make amends and soothe ruffled feelings, it should do so in a manner that does not offend either party, in order to prevent the development of situations that could escalate into crisis incidents (Grove, et al., 1997). It is fortunate that in my case, my silent desistance and retreat to my room precluded the chances of any crisis incident taking place, but as a customer I felt quite shortchanged by the experience. I don’t think that the hotel personnel were even aware that a negative situation was developing, although there were staff at the poolside and at the dining area. Granted that they were probably the lower ranked personnel and may have lacked the training or finesse to handle a situation, they should have known enough to alert a senior officer who could have handled the situation tactfully. I ranked the experience a 2, however, and not a 1, because I concede that children and teenagers are always somewhat out of control, anyway. Encounter 4: Third day of the conference There is an advantage to having an extended service encounter rather than an episodic or continuous service encounter. In an extended service encounter, within the limited time it takes to complete the service, the actors-service providers have the opportunity to redeem themselves several times in the course of delivering the multiple service types required of the service execution. Therefore failures that were encountered in the earlier episodes of the service duration could be offset by the subsequent experiences, as long as the later episodes were more satisfactory and, more importantly, more impressive than the earlier, failed episodes. The differences among the episodic, extended, and continuous service encounters are shown in the following diagram. The framework was developed by Hume and McColl-Kennedy in their seminal study performed in the late nineties. The framework was quite instructive and useful in analyzing service encounters that several studies that followed built on them (Schembri, 1999; May, 2003). The progression from either episodic or extended service encounter to what would eventually be a continuous service encounter is logical, because only customers who have been satisfied during the first revenue stream (i.e., the first contracted service) would think of coming back repeatedly for future service contracts and future revenue streams. After all, service business value repeat customers because no new sales efforts are needed to capture them, only to maintain the good relations that have been established the first time. In this the customer’s first trip to a hotel, there are a number of service components and types that will be undertaken by the hotel for the customer. The servicescape, the registration at the front desk, the poolside and bar episodes, and the dinner experience are all part of the extended service encounter. While the first encounter with the servicescape went very well, the front desk service theatre blunder was at best a save, and the unfortunate poolside and bar episodes involving the behavior of other customers were dismal failures. For a change, the final episode, the dinner night, was a resounding success. One would say that part of it was the fact that the customer won an impressive raffle prize, a stroke of luck. But if other audiences can make an experience unpleasant, then other audiences (in this case the organizers, who were part audience and part actors) can do the opposite and make the experience pleasant. However, a large part of the happy final episode were due to the excellent service and attention provided by the Chef, the waiter King, and the interns. Service Encounter Framework (Hume & McColl-Kennedy, 1998, p. 5) 5. Reflection Looking back at the entire extended service encounter, three major areas of satisfaction that I had experienced were: the impressive setting (servicescape) of the hotel built into the mountainside and overlooking a magnificent view (I am certain the pleasantly cool climate, delicious cuisine, and unspoiled surroundings were the main factor, which this Days Hotel happens to exploit to its full potential); the professional and warm service provided by the seasoned staff and their well-instructed interns (including the conciliatory gesture by the front desk manager); and the happy experience influenced by the favorable actions and events with my fellow customers that had supplanted my unhappy experience with other fellow customers. There are two majore recommendations for improvement which this study leads us to make: It is absolutely important that in a business that provides service, management should remember that the service is itself the product, and this begins with the first encounter with the customer. Therefore, employees who are not prepared should not be allowed to deal with the customers. The customers are not guinea pigs on which they should practice on. Trainees should be trained, instructed, and be allowed to observe, but not to attend to the customers. Management should be aware that the employee who performs the service is the face of the company from the customers’ perspective. There are incidences beyond the control of management, such as the behavior of other customers, which tends to negatively affect the customer’s satisfaction rating; however, this should not prevent management from arriving at creative measures, such as the fruit baskets given in atonement for the front desk episode. 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