Contemporary Issue in Hospitality Industry

NB: We do not resell your papers. Upon ordering, we do an original paper exclusively for you.

NB: All your data is kept safe from the public.

Introduction

The idea of experiential hospitality has proved to be quite effective as a way of positioning hotels with a notch of international marketing. Due to the massive influence that has been brought about by globalization, most corporate organizations are indeed turning into utilization of international standards in management (Thyne & Laws, 2004, p. 164).

As a result, experiential hospitality has been recently adopted and it is proving to be a potential marketing strategy that is rapidly finding its way in the hospital industry. Needless to say, every other company is continually exploring at myriad of possibilities on how to boost productivity and returns, and ideally, that is the feeling that experiential hospitality brings on board.

In any case, experiential management may be embraced by any company that wishes to experience global presence. It operates on the premise that there is some economic efficiency which is accrued when global marketing is adopted bearing in mind that there is always a global segment for a company that seeks to progress internationally (Enz, 2009, p. 403).

This paper explores the need for experiential hospitality management, its relation with emotional intelligence and practicability at workplace.

Contemporary issues in hospitality management

With the emergence of globalization concept, companies are using holistic forms of management just for the sake of breaking international boundary and trading impediments. When it comes to management of hotels and other hospitality organizations, the way customers are treated often leaves a lasting impression on whether they will remain loyal to the organization.

Hence, the latter is crucial towards management of long term consumers. Wit and Meyer (2010, p.236) posit that for any organization that seeks optimum growth of its business, there ought to be a system of integrating and exercising experiential management.

This is mostly applicable if the organization is seeking to break some external barriers and invest internationally. For instance, whenever a guest arrives in a hotel, the first impression he or she is bound to receive gives a lot of impression on the management of the hospital. Therefore, there is need to invest in experiential management.

Among others, hotels must put strong efforts in nurturing customers’ perception and experiences; invest in cultivating emotional and rational appeals of the customers, use segmentation through flexible appeals, appeal customer sensory feelings and focus on both experiential marketing and value.

Customer perception and experiences

Experience and perceptions of customers are critical in deciding whether the latter are to remain loyal to the services offered by an organization or not. Very few companies have concentrated on the experience of their customers (Fantina & Kureemun, 2011, p.16). On the same, it is critical in creating favorable perceptions of the quality of the services provided by company.

For a hospitality industry, it is important to make sure that the services right from the door steps are favorable and can cultivate a good perception of the services. A great experience and perception of quality in the customers have direct impacts in the value and brand of an organization (Fantina & Kureemun, 2011, p.16).

As such, there are various ways of creating favorable experiences and perceptions in clients. The 3ps of creating favorable customers’ perceptions are People, Process and Product (Ackerman, 2007, p.42).

A focus on capturing the minds of the customers as people, making a process that would help the customer remember any treatment the customer gets and offering services and products that would help the customer qualify the as of high quality is important in creating favorable customer perception and experience.

Emotional and rational appeal to the customers

Human beings are best managed by their emotions and rational appeal. According to Schuler (2007, p.222), management of emotion has attracted substantial amount of attention and debate especially in scenarios where customers come into contact with supervisors.

Hospitality organizations are such kind of areas where customers must be analyzed thoroughly in order to appreciate their individual preferences. In cases whereby their likes, especially their emotional standards are known, it would be possible to strategize on ways to appeal to them.

Rational appeal focuses on the general standing of the customer without altering his or her characteristics (Smith, 2004, p.140). Both emotional and rational appeals are important when it comes to personal selling in hospitality companies.

Effective personal communication connects with the customers at the visceral levels and plays a big part as emotional appeals. Therefore, for effective selling of hotels and other hospitality organizations, appeals should be based on rationalization and emotional intelligence.

Segmentation by use of flexible appeals

Customization has been rated top when it comes to managing customers and other stakeholders. Bourhis (2010, p. 23) notes that segmentation or grouping of customers into separate identities helps in identifying particular appeals for the customers. Flexible appeals in this case refer to particular tastes and distastes that come with customers.

The more the customers get a feeling that their needs are met, the more they are likely to stick with the services that are offered by the company. However, Bourhis (2010, p. 23) cautions against segmentation without putting much thought into the issue. For example, categorizing customers may mean that some customers would get favorable attributes while others would be put into some negative attributes.

It is possible to give appeals that do not interest customers by putting them into a larger group. Weinstein (1999, p. 343) adds value to segmentation and point out that there are some benefits that come with segmentation. For example, it roots out generalization when creating appeals and essentially accommodates important feelings that add value to brand marketing.

Appealing the sensory feelings

Whenever a customer approaches a company and seeks its services, there are some senses that come into the person. These sensory feelings are very important when it comes to marketing the services of the company and the brand. Sensory feelings refer to feelings that bombard a customer during the initial marketing of the company; or, the first mental impression that the customer gets of the company and its services.

The way a marketer presents himself or herself is important in building particular sensory feelings on the customer. Understanding these feelings is important to cultivating a positive attribute for the company. It is as well important to change initial impression customers get of the company and services if they are read to be negative or are likely to drive the customer away.

Therefore, it is important for managers of hotels as well as direct marketers to be alert of particular feelings that customer develop as first impression of the institutions for the purposes of molding them.

Experiential marketing

Marketing is an important concept in organizational management, and for a hospitality organization such as a hotel, experiential marketing comes in handy. Stevens and Loudon (2005, p. 55) defines experiential marketing as simultaneous marketing as well as a data collection method for the purposes of learning the dynamics of the customers.

According to Alistair (2004, p. 490), arguably, experiential marketing is one of the most contemporary orientations in selling the brand and services of a company. Even though there are many other forms that are overlooking its value, it remains key to success in retaining customers’ loyalty.

Experiential marketing becomes important because companies are shifting from traditional forms of marketing. Tourism and hospitality sectors are mostly linked with this form of marketing, and this is because these sectors are never immune from fundamental changes in marketing orientations.

Generally, it is a form of marketing that is built over time and that particularly focuses on the experiences that customers get whenever they consume products and services of a company.

Experiential Value Scale (EVS)

In an earlier discussion, experiential marketing was defined as a form of marketing that focuses on data collection for purposes of understanding dynamics of customers and simultaneous marketing. Schmitt (2003, p.19) connects experiential value with experiential marketing by noting that experiential marketing emanates as a measure of the experiential value scale (EVS).

Experiential Value Scale refers to a form of adding value to organizational services by focusing on perceptions of aesthetics, return on investment, service excellence and playfulness (Malhotra, 2001, p. 50). It is a reflection of the kind of benefits that are derived from the attributes of playfulness, concentration of aesthetics and service excellence.

It is important for hotels and other organizations in hospitality sector to focus on this experiential value for the sole purposes of adding value to what has already been created.

Experiential management and emotional intelligence

Experiential management has become an international issue, and is often compared to the positive impacts of globalization. Experiential management has become more and more concentrated on customers who are seeking to have crucial experiences from the company services.

However, it is when these are connected with a holistic kind of management or an experience that it becomes totally positive and command customer loyalty. This holistic management is an experience that touches the emotional part of the customers. Jonker (2009, p. 45) observes that emotional intelligence (EI) focuses mainly on the general mood of customers and employees in terms of interpersonal development and adaptability in various aspects.

Esposito (2010, p.33) adds on this that emotional intelligence has been suggested to contributed a lot to the creation of synergetic visions that are shared especially in a workplace. This is the reason why managers in the hospitality sectors are taking the opportunity in delivering constructive feedbacks that are aimed at developing employees at personal level, and more importantly, the value is extended to the customers.

However, a focus has also been placed on creating some emotional intelligence or value to the customers directly by educating them about all the services in the organization.

Conclusion

In summing up, it is imperative to emphasize that customer management is an important concept worth pursuing in any organization. However, the means and methods that are adopted in managing organizations and customers may bear either direct or indirect impacts as far as the outcome is concerned.

In a hospitality sector, for instance, it is crucial to focus on all aspects that are inclined towards customer management. Most importantly, it is vital to learn how customers can be well managed and thereafter retained as loyal and lifelong consumers in any particular organization.

Therefore, experiential management and hospitality are touted as critical forms of organizational management since both elements focus on what customers experience with the services offered by an organization.

In order to reap the optimum benefits, experiential management should be smoothly integrated with emotional intelligence as a way of impacting both customers organizational management in a positive way.

References

Ackerman, L.J. 2007. Blackwell’s five minute veterinary practice management consult. New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Alistair, W. 2006. Tourism and hospitality marketing: fantasy, feeling and fun. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 18 (6), 482-495.

Bourhis, A. 2010, Beyond work-family balance: Are family-friendly organizations more attractive? Journal of Industrial Relations, 65(1), 12-32.

Enz, C.A. 2009. Hospitality management: Concepts and cases, Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Esposito, M. 2010. Emotional intelligence & hospitality, Oklahoma: Tate Publishing & Enterprise, LLC.

Fantina, R., Kureemun, B. 2011. Your customers’ perception of quality: What it means to your bottom line and how to control it. New York: Taylor & Francis publishers.

Jonker, C.S. 2009.The effect of an emotional intelligence development programme on accountants. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 7(1), 34-63.

Malhotra, N. 2001. Experiential value: Conceptualization, measurement and application in the catalog and internet shopping environment. Journal of retailing, 77(1), 39-56.

Schmitt, B. 2003. Customer experience management: A revolutionary approach to connecting with your customers. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Schuler, D. 2007. Online communities and social computing: Second international conference, OCSC 2007, held as part of HCI International 2007, Beijing, China, July 22-27, 2007: Proceedings, Berlin: Springer Verlag publishers.

Smith, R.D. 2004. Strategic planning for public relations. New York: Routledge publishers.

Stevens, R.E. & Loudon, D. 2005. Marketing planning guide, New York: Routledge publishers.

Thyne, M. & Laws, E. 2004. Hospitality, tourism, and lifestyle concepts: Implications for quality management and customer satisfaction. New York: Routledge publishers.

Weinstein, A. 1999. The benefits of benefit segmentation. Journal of Segmentation in marketing, 3(1), 332-348.

Wit, B.D. & Meyer, R. 2010. Strategy: Process, content, context: An International Perspective, Hampshire: South-Western Cengage Learning.

Click Here To Order Now!