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The Practical Guide to Achieving Customer Satisfaction in Events and Hotels The Practical Guide to Achieving Customer Satisfaction in Events and Hotels is the fourth title in the Routledge Series The Practical Guide to Events and Hotel Management and presents expert-led insight of customer service best practice within events and hotels. Typical to the other titles in the series, this latest book is written in a logical format and contains practical tips drawn from real-life industry examples, case studies, industry leaders, and the authors’ extensive backgrounds working in events and hotel management. Topics include definitions of customer service, an answer to that question ‘Is the customer always right?’, how to deal with complaints, how to empower staff to recover customer service, and how to turn new customers into loyal customers. This book is ideal for students of the management of events, hotels, hospitality, or tourism, to be used as a practical resource alongside existing theoretical textbooks. It is also an essential tool for anybody working in the customer-facing industries. Philip Berners leads the BA Honours Events Management programmes at the Edge Hotel School, University of Essex, UK. Philip has organised every genre of event in the UK, Italy, Portugal, and Poland; he has been the head of events at Thorpe Park, the London Hippodrome, and Camden Palace; and he has been the inhouse event manager for corporations including the Daily Mail Group. Philip’s doctorate is in how an events industry takes shape – a study of the UK and Po- land. He is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy and a founding Trustee of the Colchester Museums Development Foundation. Adrian Martin graduated with a Degree and Masters in Hotel and Catering Man- agement from Manchester University before working for Thistle Hotels in London, Bath, Bristol, and Bedford. He has won two national teaching awards and is cur- rently Vice Principal of the Edge Hotel School at the University of Essex, which he has led to achieve 100% student satisfaction in the National Student Survey. Adrian is researching customer behaviour in restaurants for his PhD. The Practical Guide to Events and Hotel Management Series Series Editor: Philip Berners, Edge Hotel School, University of Essex, UK The Practical Guide to Organising Events Philip Berners The Practical Guide to Managing Event Venues Philip Berners The Practical Guide to Understanding and Raising Hotel Profitability Adrian Martin The Practical Guide to Achieving Customer Satisfaction in Events and Hotels Philip Berners and Adrian Martin For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/ tourism/series/PGE The Practical Guide to Achieving Customer Satisfaction in Events and Hotels Philip Berners and Adrian Martin Cover image: Valencia Conference Centre First published 2023 by Routledge 4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2023 Philip Berners and Adrian Martin The right of Philip Berners and Adrian Martin to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Berners, Philip, author. | Martin, Adrian, author. Title: The practical guide to achieving customer satisfaction in events and hotels / Philip Berners and Adrian Martin. Description: Abingdon, Oxon; New York, NY: Routledge, 2022. | Series: Practical guide events hotel management | Includes bibliographical references and index. Subjects: LCSH: Hospitality industry—Customer services. | Hotel management. | Special events—Management. Classification: LCC TX911.3.C8 B47 2022 (print) | LCC TX911.3.C8 (ebook) | DDC 647.94068—dc23/eng/20220422 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022001392 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022001393 ISBN: 978-0-367-72387-3 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-72385-9 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-15460-0 (ebk) DOI: 10.4324/9781003154600 Typeset in Iowan Old Style by codeMantra This book is dedicated to the memory of Ambassador Dr Ryszard Żółtaniecki (1951–2020), professor, sociologist, diplomat, poet, friend. Contents List of Figures x List of Tables xi Note from the Series Editor xii Acknowledgements xiv Introduction 1 1 What Is Customer Satisfaction? 3 1.0 Defining Customer Satisfaction 3 1.1 The Dangers of Overselling and Underselling 7 1.2 The Customer Journey 15 1.3 Total Quality Management 23 1.4 Service Quality Management ( SERVQUAL) 27 1.5 Customer Balanced Scorecard 28 2 Why Is Customer Satisfaction Important? 30 2.0 The Value of Reputation 43 2.1 The Cost of Not Achieving Customer Satisfaction 49 3 Knowing Your Customers 52 3.0 Knowing Your Competition 53 3.1 Knowing Your Target Market 55 3.2 Personalising Your Offer 57 3.3 Customer Relationship Management 60 viii Contents 3.4 Customer Loyalty 61 3.5 Customer Referrals 62 4 Know Your Promise to the Customer 65 4.0 Is the Customer Always Right? 66 4.1 What Can You Deliver? 68 4.2 Setting Customer Expectations 70 4.3 Customer Perception of Hotels 74 4.3.1 Hotel Brands 75 4.3.2 Hotel Marketing Consortia 77 4.3.3 Star Rating 78 4.3.4 Online Review Sites/OTAs/Online Booking Sites 78 4.3.5 Hotel Accreditation 80 4.4 Events 80 4.4.1 Setting Event Objectives 84 5 Contracts 89 5.0 Confirming the Promise with Contracts 89 6 Improving Customer Loyalty 97 6.0 Repeat Customers 98 6.1 At Leadership Level 101 6.2 At Management Level 105 6.3 At Operational Level 107 6.3.1 Underperforming Staff 109 6.4 The Communication Process 111 6.4.1 Effective Communication 113 6.4.2 Hotel Interdepartmental Communication 115 6.4.3 Hotel Interdepartmental Consistency of Performance 116 6.4.4 Event Interdepartmental Communication 118 6.4.5 Departmental Communication 122 7 Dealing with Complaints 123 7.0 Why Customers Complain 124 7.1 Legislation of Complaints 125 7.2 Types of Complainers 126 7.3 Transactional Analysis – A Psychological Technique to Deal with Difficult Customers 127 Contents ix 7.4 Handling Legitimate Complaints 129 7.5 The Eight-Step Method to Dealing with Complaints 132 7.6 Complaints at Events 137 7.7 Negotiating a Resolution 138 7.8 Possible Complaint Outcomes 140 7.9 Case Study Examples of Actual Complaints from the Event Industry 140 7.9.1 Case Study 1 – Uncooked Chicken Served at a Wedding 140 7.9.2 Case Study 2 – Steak Preferences at a Conference 144 8 Empowering Staff to Resolve Customer Service Issues 146 8.0 The Benefits 146 8.1 The Benefits for Staff 150 8.2 The Benefits for Management 150 8.3 The Benefits for Customers 151 8.4 The Benefits for the Business 153 8.5 Servant Leadership to Increase Employee and Customer Satisfaction 155 8.5.1 Servant Leadership – Employee Satisfaction 159 8.5.2 Servant Leadership – Customer Satisfaction 160 8.5.3 The Service-Profit Chain 162 9 The Importance of Reflection 165 9.0 The Benefit of Reflection 165 9.1 Reflecting in the Customer Perspective 166 9.2 Well, Would You Complain? 168 Index 175