Customer Service Levels in the Metro-Suites Serviced Apartments
1.1 Workplace Finding Primarily, the objective of this paper is to assess the customer service level of Metro-Suites Serviced Apartments. In this report, it has been found that the company has been able to provide quality customer service with their clients. In addition, the management are able to handle different clients with different needs efficiently, based on their management and hospitality management approach. However, it is still essential to conduct this research to know the perception of the customers in their personal experience. Specifically, this paper aims to achieve the following objectives:1. Analyse the customer service level of the Metro-Suites Serviced Apartments.
2. Review relevant literatures in customer service.
3. Provide recommendation on how Metro-Suites Serviced Apartments improve their customer service.
2. Personal Observation and Personal ExperienceAlso known as the value of receiving people entirely and sincerely as well as treating them essentially hospitality has been recognized as a desirable attitude in dealing with clients and other members of the society. In most industries, particularly in tourism, hospitality management has been a valuable means of maximizing the return on investment. Such trend is perhaps attributable to the common conception that the value of attracting potential customers equal in keeping existing ones.
Hospitality industries are among the fastest growing economic sectors in the global market. In fact, the hospitality industries by itself are recognized as multi-billion dollar and still progressing industry (Flora, 1998). While this type of industry enables the provision of vast services for the customers/guests, work opportunities are also diverse. Indeed, the provisions of the industry for the customers/clients are as unlimited as its opportunities for employees. People are able to work is different areas of interest while still be in a job within the industry. At present, more employees are considering jobs in service provision than in manufacturing, indicating the continuous growth of the hospitality industry. I can say that being a newcomer in this company, I am able to see different approaches that makes the company meet and satisfy the needs of their clients. Herein, I can say that the management of Metro-Suites sees to it that they are always ready whenever the clients need them. In one instance, I have noticed that the manager always find time to see if the employees, specifically newcomer like me are doing well.
2.1 Customer Service/Personal ExperienceThe provision of efficient customer service is a multi-faceted concept as a number of facets and elements must be met by the Metro-Suites Service Apartment in order to achieve it. To be able to incorporate quality in service provision, it is significant that the organisation has the right skills, resources and values. As efficient customer service is influenced by various facets and elements, the involvement of both industry management and the employees must be present. In this paper, it has been made clear that training alone is not sufficient for efficient customer service (Duffy & Ketchand, 1998). The commitment, leadership as well as the adaptability of the management towards change is also significant for efficient customer service. The values and skills of the service providers especially employees on the other hand, must be prioritised as well. They must be given enough empowerment to be able to provide great contribution towards client’s satisfaction (Eccles & Durand, 1997).
The importance of quality in customer service has been recognised by Metro-Suites Serviced Apartment. Based on my personal experience and stay in the company I can see that the company have applied prioritised quality in efficient customer service, resulting to positive Metro-Suites Service Apartment outcome. Client’s satisfaction, loyalty, employee satisfaction and profit growth are some of the main advantages Metro-Suites Service Apartment practice. To be able to cope with the present challenges metro-Suites Service Apartments are able to implement different strategies that enhance their respective efficient customer service. Consumer studies, trainings and application of information technology are some examples of the most commonly used strategies for efficient customer service.
Accordingly, service delivery is an interactive and dynamic process that from the consumer's point of view is much more than a passive exchange of money for a particular service. Characteristics of services (e.g., intangibility, heterogeneity, simultaneity, and perishability) often require clients to be actively involved in helping to create the service value -- either by serving themselves (as in getting food in a buffet restaurant line or by pumping their own gas) or by cooperating and often working collaboratively with service personnel (as in settings such as hair salons, motels, universities, or lawyers' offices) (Gronroos, 1990). In my personal experience, I observed that although there is some customer complaints, Metro-Suites are still able to handle it very well leading to have more satisfied clients.
Summary of Personal Observation and Experience
The main aim of the industry report is to assess the customer’s service level of the Metro-Suites Serviced Apartments. Herein, the report aims on looking into the perceptions of the clients and managers towards the values of considering efficient customer service, in the hospitality industry, studies have found that providing efficient customer service largely depends on the employees, specifically those at the front-line client’s contacts (Maxwell, Watson and Quail, 2004). In addition, it has also been stated that efficient customer service is related to the behavior of employees mainly with customers/guests but also with each other to generate – directly and indirectly – the right type of organizational structure which will encourage appropriate employee/clients exchanges. Herein, this type of customers’ service means providing the clients with an exceptional product by exceptional employees in terms of service and flexibility.
Based on my personal experience in the management approach of Organization, I can say that the management as well as the employees of the Metro-Suites has been able to provide a comprehensive and understandable Customer service process so as ensure that their consumers are provided with quality and efficient customer services. As mentioned earlier there is a standard operations procedure in the customer service process in which it should be based on the needs and demands of their customers and clients. In addition, Customer service process is done in order to have an appropriate and accurate service provision for the benefit of the entire organization, .
I can say that, Metro-Suites have been able to plan and amend their customer service process and they are able to clearly state the mission and objective of the customer service process to be done. Specifically, the purpose of such approach is to offer a criterion and standard providing quality and efficient customer service.
3. Methodology
Since the final goal of the project is to improve quality customer service at Metro-Suites Serviced Apartments it is necessary to explore the existing practices. This information will equip the management of Metro-Suites Serviced Apartments with the tools necessary to initiate change and to boost customer service.
The research utilizes two types of research methodologies, i.e. qualitative and quantitative. Qualitative methodology is about the work-collected information, namely the interviews, observations, questionnaires and the work of the focus groups that help understand the current situation and to interpret it properly (West , 2005). It is necessary to understand why and how things happen and to understand the underlying motivations, drives, urges and perspectives (Elspeth, 2006). Quantitative research, focuses on exact and precise measurement represented in figures and numbers be it measurement of preferences, likes, dislikes, behaviors or attitudes. It measures “how”, “when”, and “who” questions posed by the research.
In the research, different types of information collection were used. For instance, one relied heavily on the interviews, questionnaires, and personal observations. These different methods rely on both qualitative and quantitative methodologies thus making the research both easy to understand and precise enough to make some reasonable calculations with respect to planning new initiatives.
The observation was conducted across the company in order to understand the status quo. It allowed the management of the company to understand the present to plan for the future. After the observation, one relied on the questionnaires distributed to 15 customers to assess their opinions and experiences. Finally, the location manager was interviewed in order to check if he understood the situation in an organization. The interview was unstructured and allowed the manager much flexibility in discussion and expression.
3.1 Respondents of the Study
The respondents of this report include 15 customers/guests of the apartment and one manager to be interviewed. The customers were considered to ensure that only coherent and pertinent data will be collected
3.2 Research InstrumentsFor this industry report, two research instruments were used achieve the goal of this paper. These research instruments included the survey questionnaire methods. A self-administered questionnaire has been distributed to the d to the selected customers. The questionnaire given to the respondents aimed to assess the customer service level of the apartment (See Appendix 1). In addition, this also aims to evaluate the efficiency of the organization through the perspective of the operation managers, hence interview questions were provided to the chosen manager for this research. In this report, the likert scale has been utilized to interpret items in the questionnaire. Such responses were based on the perception of the participants
The range and interpretation of the five-point scale are shown in Table 1.
Table 1: The Seven-point Likert Scale
Scale
Range
Interpretation
5
4.50-5.00
Strongly Agree/Excellent
4
3.50-4.49
Agree/Satisfactory
3
2.50-3.49
Neutral
2
1.50-2.49
Disagree/Unsatisfactory
1
0.00-1.49
Strongly Disagree/Pot
In addition, this report also considered the use of the weighted mean to measure the answers of the responders whether they agree to a given statement or not.
The formula in computing weighted mean is as follows:
Where: f – weight given to each response
x – number of responses
xt – total number of responses
The survey result was analyzed with the use of statistical approach and Microsoft Excel spreadsheets as well as the SPSS.
4.0 Discussion and Findings
This part of the ireport shall provide the discussion and findings based on the gathered information from 15 customers of Metro-Suites Service apartment. The main goal of this report is directed towards the customer service level of the apartment. Primary data came from the answers of the customers and the chosen manager. The questionnaires have been considered to collate quantitative data while the interview was used to give qualitative insights into the data gathered. This part of the report was divided into several parts. The first part shall present a general description of the respondents. Specifically, it conversed to the respondents’ age and gender. The second part provides the analysis of the perception of the respondents about the customer service level of the apartment. The third part will provide the discussion of the answers of the 2 operation managers chosen in the interview.
4.1 Demographic Profile
This part will present the demographic profile of the customers of the Apartment.
Table 2
Figure 1
Based on the table and graph above, it shows that majority of the customers of the apartment are young adults to adults. Herein, 47% of the total respondents belong to 22 years old to 35 years old while 53% composes of 35 years old to 43 years and above. Herein, it can be said that the apartments customers are mostly composes of mature individuals.
Table 3
Figure 3
The table and figure above presents the gender of the customers of the company. Herein, it shows that majority of the customers who participated are female (60% out of 15 customers). This indicates that female customers were more willing to join or participate in studies.
Figure 4
Residential Area of Respondents
To determine the appeal of the apartment among customers in different regions, the respondents were asked about their residential area. Herein, 53% out of 15 customers noted that they are from Auckland, 34% came from Wellington and 13% came from Hamilton. This indicates that even in other cities, Metro-Suites still attracts other customers.
Part 2 Perception of Respondents
This part will discuss the perception of the customers regarding the customer service level of Metro Suites Service Apartment with the use of Likert scale.
Table 4
Figure 5
The participants were asked on how they have known the apartment and here majority of the respondents (8 or 54% out of 15) have mentioned that they have known in through their friends and relatives. 26% out of 15 customers noted that they have known it through newspaper and brochures while 20% have known about the apartment through the internet. In this regard, the word of mouth is one of the reliable advertising contexts of the apartment.
Table 5
Figure 6
The table and figure shown above presents the reasons of the customers for visiting at the apartment. Herein, it shows that 40% of the customers are visiting the apartment to meet with friends. 33% visits the apartment to spend holiday while 27% are staying because of business meetings. The result just shows how functional and operational Metro-Suites and it can be used for leisure and business activities.
Table 6
Reasons for Staying at the Metro-Suites Service Apartment
Statement
Frequency
Percentage
The excellent of Accommodations
13
86.67
Promptness of service
12
80.00
The friendliness, knowledge and help of staff
15
100.00
The convenient location
12
80.00
Figure 7
Reasons for Staying at Metro-Suites
The reasons for staying at Metro-Suites were also asked among the respondents. In this regard, it shows that 86.67% out of 15 customers noted that they are staying at the apartment because of the excellent accommodations.
80% noted that they are staying because of the promptness of the service, while all the customers noted that they are staying because of the friendliness, knowledge and help of staff. On the other hand, 80% noted that they are staying because of the convenience of the location. In this regard, it can be said that the employees have an efficient customer service that makes their guest stay at their apartment.
Table 7
The customers were asked if they were able to stay in the Metro-Suites Service Apartment before. And 80% of 15 customers noted that they have stayed in the apartment before and only 3 (20%) noted that they have not yet stayed in the apartment before. In this regard, it can be said that most of the customers of the Metro-Suites Service Apartment are repeat-customers.
Those who answered yes were asked about the frequency of their stay at the apartment.
Table 8
Figure 8
The result shows that 50% out of 13 respondents who were repeat customers noted that they are staying at the apartment once a month, while 25% noted that they are staying on a weekly basis and another 25% out of 13 repeat customers noted that they are staying everyday at the Metro-Suites Service Apartment. This indicates that some customers are living in the apartment or are regular clients.
Table 9
Figure 9
In order to measure the customer service level, it is important to give emphasis satisfaction rate of the customers. The table and figure above presents the distribution of the answers of the customers. Herein, 40% out of 15 noted that the satisfaction level is very good, 27% noted that the satisfaction level is good. There are 20% of respondents who noted that the satisfaction level is fair while there are 13% who mentioned that the level is excellent. In this regard, it can be said that based on the perception of the clients, the customer service level of the Metro-Suites in terms of satisfaction is can be considered to have quality customer service.
Table 10
Level of Customer Service Satisfaction
STATEMENTS
Service
5
4
3
2
1
Weighted Mean
Interpretation
Courtesy and professionalism of office staff
0
0
0
5
10
4.67
Excellent
Knowledge and helpfulness of staff
0
0
0
2
13
4.87
Excellent
Explanation of policies, rules, regulations
0
0
0
8
7
4.47
Satisfactory
Willingness to explore options to solve problems
0
0
0
10
5
4.33
Satisfactory
Response to phone inquiry or complaint
0
0
0
7
8
4.53
Excellent
The perception of the respondents regarding the level of customer service satisfaction was also considered. In this regard, the satisfaction rate of the customers was satisfactory and excellent. According to customers the courtesy and professionalism of office staff and the knowledge and helpfulness of staff are excellent. In addition, they also considered response to phone inquiry or complaint as excellent. On the other hand, the customers found explanation of policies, rules, regulations and willingness to explore options to solve problems to be satisfactory. In this regard, the apartment through their employees is able to provide excellent and satisfactory customer service.
Table 11
STATEMENTS
Service
5
4
3
2
1
Weighted Mean
Interpretation
Overall Quality
0
0
0
5
10
4.67
Excellent
Overall Accommodation
0
0
0
7
8
4.53
Excellent
The respondents were asked to rate the overall quality of the service of the apartment and the customers noted that the overall quality of the service is excellent. On the other hand, the customers noted that the overall accommodation of the apartment is also excellent.
Table 12
STATEMENTS
Room Service
5
4
3
2
1
Weighted Mean
Interpretation
Cleanliness.
0
0
0
5
10
4.67
Excellent
Décor and Ambiance.
0
0
0
2
13
4.87
Excellent
Noise Lève
0
0
0
8
7
4.47
Satisfactory
Spacing/seating comfort.
0
0
0
10
5
4.33
Satisfactory
The customers were also asked about their views on the room service and majority of them found cleanliness, and décor and ambience to be excellent while noise level and spacing/seating comfort to be satisfactory.
Table 13
The respondents were asked if they are going to recommend the apartment and all of them noted that they will recommend the apartment. The reasons that most of them mentioned that they will recommend the apartment is because of the quality of the service and the convenience and comfort of their stay in the apartment.
The respondents’ main reason on why they are recommending the apartment is because of the quality of the service that the employees and management provided. In addition, the customers also noted that they will recommend it because of the convenience and comfort they receive and also because they want their friends and peers to experience the satisfaction that they have felt during their stay at the apartment.
All the respondents have provided positive feedback for Metro Suites. When they asked what they want the company to improve, some noted that they want the company to have discounts especially for regular customers. In addition, they also noted that they want the management to provide some freebies for the customers, especially those regular customers.
Part 3 Interview of the Operations operation managers
This part will provide the answers of the operation managers in the questions provided. In terms of core competencies, both operation managers have noted that the apartment’s core competencies includes well trained staffs and employees that have the ability to meet and satisfy the needs of their clients. In addition, the operation managers also mentioned that the apartment have the ability provide innovative services among customers. The operation managers also consider the efficiency of the facilities and equipments in the apartment to be their core competencies.
The operation managers noted that the factors that enable them to satisfy their customers include their 24/7 customer service communication lines, their commitment to customer service quality, good customer and employee relationship and the ability of the management to consider changes when they see that their current approach is not working or meeting the needs of their clients.
The operation managers were asked if they want to change on the way they provide their services to their customers and one of the operation managers noted that they don’t want to change what they are doing right now since most of the customers are satisfied in their service. On the other hand, the second manager noted that want he want to change is the marketing and promotion approach of the company. Herein, he noted that to gain more clients, they should be able to invest more on their internet marketing and promotion and also other media advertisements.
5.0 Summary and Conclusion
This report investigated the customer service level of the Metro-Suites Apartment. In this report, the respondents were composed of 15 customers and 2 operation managers who answered the survey questionnaire and interview questions respectively. Majority of the respondents were female and are young adult and adult in terms age. In this report, it has been known that the reason of the customers why they are staying in the Metro-Suites Service Apartment is because of business meetings, holiday vacation and meeting with friends. Herein, majority of customers have known the apartment through word of mouth.
In terms of the level of customer service in the apartment, majority of the customers noted that the employees and the entire apartment provide excellent services to satisfy them. Majority of the clients give excellent remarks on the quality of the service including the room service of the company. In addition, the respondents noted that cleanliness, efficiency in handling customer complaints and the overall service in the company are excellent. Most of the customers are repeat customers or regular clients which means that the apartment have been able to build good relationship to retain their customers.
In line with the operation managers, it can be noted that the management of the apartment give importance on satisfying their clients and customers. The management are also aware that in order to satisfy their clients, they must be willing to undergo changes to meet the needs of their customers.
5.2 CONCLUSIONBased on the findings of this study, this report concludes the following:
1 The customers of Metro-Suites have given an overall rating of excellent and very good to each of the criteria. Most of the customers believe that they are satisfied on their stay in the Metro-Suites Service Apartment. This shows that respondents knew the importance satisfaction to their clients to the current state of things in the apartment.
2. There are several factors affecting the progress of the apartment. there are some factors to be considered in apartment’s improvement i.e. training of the staffs and proper positioning of the apartment.
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONSBased on the foregoing summary of findings and conclusion, the researcher recommends the following:
1. Maintain open communication lines between the employees and clients/guests.
2. Review the program of the each of the Metro-Suites Service Apartment and update the content to increase the standard of the Metro-Suites Service Apartment based on the adjustments suggested by the standard of hospitality industry. Employee must also be given stricter training requirements to ensure that they understand their job well.
3. Metro-Suites Service Apartment open communication lines between clients/guests and administrators especially in disseminating information and communication. This is to ensure that the clients/guests know what the administration is up to and vice-versa.
4. Provide proper information about the job vacancies of the Metro-Suites Service Apartment and job opportunities for newly graduates of any Metro-Suites Service Apartment services related courses
Reference
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