Impacts of Complimentary Services to Enhance Services and Competitiveness in Hospitality Sector (Research Paper Sample)

Additional Services In Hospitality To Improve Services
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Abstract
The hospitality sector has dynamically evolved with advancement in technology and market expectations. This paper illustrates the impact of complementary services on the effectiveness of hospitality services. It also discusses the influence of additional services on the competitiveness and customer choice of a hotel. This work utilizes a critical analysis of the existing literature to expound on client preferences and needs. The study shows that service innovation plays a crucial role in the effectiveness of usual hospitality services. Besides, the use of additional services to create a competitive edge has been linked to fostering hotel profitability, growth, and client base in the hospitality industry. As a result, it is recommended that managers align additional services with existing business strategies to realize better customer experience.
Keywords: abstract, introduction, summary, conclusion
Additional Services in Hospitality to Increase the Effect of Hospitality Services
Introduction
The hospitality industry is broadly concerned with the provision of leisure services to diverse clients. The industry ascribes restaurants, accommodation services, hotels, casinos, amusement parks, entertainment, and cruises in addition to a myriad of tourism-related services. The industry impacts businesses, economies, customers, and employees, thus making it a crucial development facet. Ionel (2016) notes that hospitality customers seek the homiest and most convenient arrangements possible. Consequently, firms in the hospitality industry are committed to helping clients attain satisfaction and meet their desires as travellers or guests in recreation facilities. More specifically, the hotel industry, a section of the hospitality industry, is more concerned with accommodation and lodging services. In this regard, the industry is largely associated with the travel and tourism departments.
The hospitality industry has evolved over time and is currently providing person-oriented and customized services. According to Gilmore (2017), consumers are no longer enthused by basic customer services such as a well-established reception, first services, and accommodation. Instead, client’s desire quality customer-based services intertwined with other hospitality services. This is more evident with baby boomers generations especially across Europe. Known as the most travelled generation of the decade, the desire to travel and entertainment has largely busied the hospitality sector. While technology is being used to attract millennia’s, baby boomers are more concerned with customization of services, especially customer support services (Ionel, 2016). With dynamic technological advancements, the integration of information technology to ensure excellent services is becoming a necessity. The changing trends demand anticipatory customer services that complement the usual hospitality services. Therefore, offering services such as transport, well-versed customer care, entertainment options, childcare support, and corporate social responsibility are likely to improve the effect of hospitality services.
Millennial travellers are likely to make the largest group of travellers and consequently the biggest share of the hospitality sector. The emergence of foodie culture is evident across multiple hospitality sectors. Hotels are currently obliged to upsurge services on food and dining-an aspect that was rarely considered previously. Being among the largest group of travellers, the increased focus on foods has changed the way hotels and even local attractions approach the food and beverages they offer their guests. It is no longer business as usual.
Complimentary Services
Based on the nature of the hospitality industry, the free market economy expects only quality, consistent, and practical services. As noted by Choo, Ling, and Fernando (2018), competition in the hospitality industry is increasingly becoming steeper as firms get more aggressive. Additionally, hotel start-ups have shown an upward trajectory since 2010, raising the question of sustainability on the growth of the hotel industry. The International Hotel and Restaurant Association (n.d.) has expressed its concerns by establishing conferences across the globe aimed at discussing hospitality management. Gilmore (2017) notes that hotels have lost their ability to differentiate from each other, which is a more definite reason for identifying strategies that could potentially improve current services. What is more, the baby boomers and their children echo boomers are largely impacting the hospitality sector. They have necessitated the need to revolutionize several aspects of the hospitality sector to suite their travelling and hospitality needs. It has been suggested that Baby Boomers might be the “greatest economic force in the global history” (Ionel, 2016). Similarly, the millennia’s are targeted to be the largest buyers in the hospitality sector. Therefore, since quality, effectiveness, and reliability of services are a necessity, the ability to offer complementary services could give hotels a competitive advantage in a complex industry.
Modernized Transport Systems
The importance of the transport industry to hotels and hospitality at large cannot be side-lined. The development of transportation, infrastructure, and continued use of technology in transport accelerates the expansion of tourism. According to Ionel (2016), fast, reliable, convenient, and cheap means of transport enables tourists to move across destinations. In this light, the relationship between transport systems and the accommodation or lodging services offered in hotels is crucial in increasing the effect of hospitality services. Lee and King (2019) argue that comfortable and effective transport eases the movement of people, goods, and services, and in the process, the demand for hospitality increases. In many parts of the world, the popularity of hotels has, in the past five years, declined by 40% while that of natural heritages has doubled (Lee & King, 2019). One of the most notable causes of this decline is poor transport systems. Boomers enjoy travelling with their families as compared to earlier generations. Conversely, boomers see themselves as young and will not think otherwise until they are seventies. Thus, a transport system that accommodates family travel and vibrancy of young generation is becoming a norm if not mandatory. As much as the development of the transport sector is under state or federal government, the private sector has a role to play. For instance, hotels may arrange for tourist pickups and drop-offs to supplement the existing infrastructure.
Improved Guest Experience
Customer experience begins long before clients arrive at the hotel's front desk. Therefore, the hotels that opt to provide transport services for its guests are more preferred. Ionel (2016) argues that over 55% of hotels have a direct telephone line with airports and other transport service providers to ensure their customers enjoy comfy services. Chen (2017) echoes this statement by pointing out that a myriad of hotels provides courtesy coaches, limousine services, and travel tips to clients. Also, various players in the hospitality industry have invested in sustainable development by providing green transport services. Millennia’s and Boomers are form segment of learned customers. They are more interested in business that exhibit and uphold corporate social responsibility in addition to sustainability. Chen argues that sustainability can be achieved through greener transport approaches. Thousands of hotels use branded electric cars to transport clients from one location to another (2017). The coaches are designated for each tourism destination; hence, they operate in a cyclical drive pattern. Hotels often display couch schedules on their websites for clients to familiarise themselves with prior to the trip. Additionally, limousines services are offered to VIPs with confirmed reservations. Therefore, since most hotels may offer these services, the comfort of clients, driver's etiquette, and on-transport entertainment services give a competitive advantage.
Employee Training and Development
Frequent training and development of employees are essential to guarantee quality. With current dynamic trends in the hospitality industry, employees need a consistent and effective reskilling plan. However, this approach may seem impossible in an organization where most personnel work above and beyond average working hours (Chen, 2017). Employee's participation is observed in-classroom training seminars, completing lengthy e-learning models or in some scenarios, sending them to train sessions. Despite the importance of reskilling, such an approach may prove expensive in the long run. However, new technologies have come to the rescue by offering high-quality training that does not require a lengthy time commitment. The new Property Management Systems (PMS) use visual recognition technology to monitor employees’ activities and offer real-time guidance. The system can be programmed to give feedback to the management, specific employee, or provide users with tips to use while handling clients. Such a system may also offer alerts for critical fields or wrongly entered data. The concept can, therefore, be integrated into traditional employee development strategies to foster employee