Lesson 3: Strategies For Quality Service in Tourism and Hospitality

LESSON 3: Strategies for Quality Service in Tourism and
Hospitality
INTRODUCTION
To bridge the gap between the expectation and perceptions of a guest in a
hospitality and tourism setting, it is a must to plan his/her experience carefully. A
productive guest encounter is expected to yield optimum experience. With these,
critical planning is very much important to properly design and ensure that the best
experience is the only experience a guest will receive.
In planning the guest experience, strategies are employed to be able to deliver
processes for each issue that is needed to be resolved by the management.
Strategies are plans that are designed to achieve a specific aim of the company. It
usually involves setting goals, planning actions to achieve such goals, and
maximizing resources to achieve the goals. With strategies, resources become
optimized, productivity is maximized, and processes are simplified. Now, with guests
at the center, the experience would be better than initially planned.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:
LO:Understand the concept of strategy
LO:Realize the importance of designing the guest experience; and
LO:Identify key factors that must be examined to ensure best service.
LESSON PROPER
 Internal and External Assessments
Internal analysis is where an organization takes stock of the resources and

assets that it possess.
 These include the strength that enable an organization to function well.
Experts refer to this as the “secret sauce” of an organization. Moreover,
internal analysis also flaunts the weaknesses of an organization. These
weaknesses are identified not to dwell onto, but to be addressed and
resolved so that they do not harm an organization.
An airline company, through internal analysis, may find out that it needs to have
a stronger passenger relationship management with its clients. By delving deeper, it
found out that the problem was because it is not in the culture of the employees to
establish a relationship with their passengers. Utilizing a strategy to develop
relationship marketing in their operations, it enabled the entire company to combat
this problem and convert the weakness into a strength.
An external analysis, meanwhile, does not rely on the “secret sauce”. How a
company positions itself in the market with respect to its rivals in its particular space
is of primary concern. Attention should be focused on what a company is good at
relative to its rivals in that industry. Doing external analysis not only determines a
company’s position in the external environment, but also showcases its opportunities
and threats. Identifying a company’s opportunities and threats, through different tools
such as the Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental and Legal
(PESTEL) analysis, exhibits what it needs to be wary about which somehow are
uncontrollable to a certain level.
One best example is what happened in Boracay when it was closed for six
months because of the environmental rehabilitation projects of the Philippine
government. Many hotels and their respective employees and guests were affected
by this situation. It is said that about 400 lodgings and food services were ordered to
be closed for violating laws, three casinos were shut down, and other tourism
establishments built within the 30-meter shoreline were demolished. The government
predicted about ₱18-20 billion loss of potential gross receipts due to the six-month
closure.
 Strategizing for the Future
Ford (2011) stated that the things hospitality and tourism organizations must
plan to cope with changes in the future include:
1. demographics,
2. technology,
3. Social expectations,
4. economic changes,
5. competition in the industry,
6. stakeholders, and
7. other factors.
 Demographics
Changes in the workforce and the market of the hospitality and tourism sector
will continue to affect the operations of the industry, and this is relevant not only to
the service providers, but also to its market. Park and Yoon (2009) made an article
on the segmenting the motivation of Korean tourists. In their article, they noticed that
motivation in tourism is largely determined by a number of factors. Including
demographics. Results show that with changing demographics, themes as to their
socio-economic characteristics and behavior in tourism also changes. The findings of
the research show that most Korean tourists value family togetherness, some are
passive, and some are want-it-all tourist. In the Philippines, as reported by the
Department of Tourism in 2017, millennial proved to be the well-travelled. The 15-24
age group travelled across the country the most, followed by the 24-34 age group
and the 45-55 age group. These only show that demographics has changed already
whereby before these activities are prolific with the baby boomers but now millennial
take the scene.
 Economic and Natural Forces
Economic forces also change the nature of the industry and how it is
managed by the key stakeholders of this fast growing sector. In 2018, the Philippine
Statistics Authority reported that the Tourism Direct Gross Value Added (TDGVA) of
the Philippines jumped to a great amount of 12.7%. This translates to ₱2.2 trillion,
higher by 14.3% as compared to 2017;s record of 1.9 trillion. A lot of people are
actually benefiting from tourism, and in the Philippines, this service-oriented sector is
a source of employment and income of a lot of Filipinos.
 The Boracay tourism sector and its residents were deeply affected when it
was temporarily closed in April 2018. The six-month closure of the island was
based on the need for “rehabilitation” with the environmental problems which
were already surfacing and becoming too much for Boracay to bear.
 In January 2020, Tagaytay, one of the famous places in the Philippines, also
suffered a tourism disaster as one of its prized natural destinations, the Taal
Volcano, erupted. Tourists flock in Tagaytay because of its cool temperature
and the magnificent Taal Volcano. In just the first three-months of 2019,
Tagaytay had 6.9 million visitors-a sudden rise as there were only 7.5 million
visitors in the entire 2018. Unfortunately, as the Taal Volcano erupted, most
of the areas in Tagaytay and the nearby municipalities in Batangas were
deeply affected and had to find means on how to cope with this economic
and natural downturn.
 Competitors
Competitors also shape the tourism and hospitality industry. The presence of
this major key player brings about major changes in the industry. Moore (1996)
utilized biological analysis in explaining shifts in today’s business. He mentioned in
his article that businesses are a big part of the ecosystem and businesses need to
co-evolve in order to thrive and survive. This is because of the fact that the economy
consists of unpredictable key players which constantly shift. Thus, movements
between competitors shift from time to time and create different relationships which
also affect other relationships that will be made in the future.
This is why key layers in the industry need to have an assortment of different
relationships which depends on how they are set in the present environment.
Because of this, the content of a relationships can vary from time to time. Also,
relationships can grow stronger, eliminating weaker relationships. Usually, this has
no clear pattern or cycle and is highly dependent on the players.
 Other Stakeholders and Relevant Groups

Aside from the factors previously mentioned, several other groups also affect
how the future of the tourism and hospitality industry will be shaped.
1. Resources Suppliers
A company cannot continue its operation without raw materials,

equipment, and other supplies. This is actually not limited to the
manufacturing sector, but is also an important requirement in service
operations, as we established already the concept of service product. The
availability of the resource supplier can also affect the smooth operations of
the company.
2. Capital Suppliers
Another player that we need to consider is the suppliers of capital.

Now that the capital market is international and electronic transfers are now
available, suppliers can now move in a faster pace, which makes a company
vulnerable. A company may need to spend more time to forecast the
availability of this valued resource.
3. Labor Supply
As the pool of skilled employees is also of utmost importance, as they also

shape the market. Without a stable labor supply, the tourism and hospitality
operations will be greatly affected as they drive the operation itself. There will
be no one to man the operations and will fill the empty slots of the retired
employees.

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LESSON 3: Strategies for Quality Service in Tourism and

Internal analysis is where an organization takes stock of the resources and

 Strategizing for the Future

 Other Stakeholders and Relevant Groups

A company cannot continue its operation without raw materials,

Another player that we need to consider is the suppliers of capital.

As the pool of skilled employees is also of utmost importance, as they also

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