A CRITICAL INVESTIGATION OF SKILLS ON PRODUCT CONSISTENCY AND ITS IMPACT ON HOSPITALITY INDUSTRIES (CASE STUDY OF SELECTED HOTELS IN ASABA)

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

According to Petouhoff (2002), there is an important issue regarding how to give the production and service to the customer by high level of submit, which means that whether the products are relevant to the customers or not, or when the customer pays the amount in front of the purchase the product and service he/she fully accepts regarding this transaction happen between them, which is mostly possible with the use of skills. The expertise or talent required to complete a job or activity is referred to as skills. Job skills enable you to do a specific activity, whereas life skills assist you with day-to-day duties. There are several talents that may help you achieve in all facets of your life, whether it's school, employment, or even a sport or pastime.

Kangogo & Kagure (2013) noticed that skills are what gives confidence and independence in life, and they are necessary for success. It may take time and effort, but practically every ability can be mastered or improved. Numerous items are promoted in the hotel business to maintain consumer constancy, which may be accomplished through talents. Among the items available in the hotel business are: Customer relationship management, customer service (Peelen, 2005).

According to Hospitality Training Foundation (2000), The degree of concordance between expectations and skills is characterized as a customer's impression. When there is obvious similarity, the customer is judged pleased. Customer satisfaction is viewed as the result of a comparison process between perceived product/service performance and previously held expectations, when performance exceeds expectations, positive disconfirmation occurs, leading to satisfaction, while performance falls short of expectations, leading to negative disconfirmation and dissatisfaction. (Petouhoff, 2002) discovered that if clients were happy with the services of enterprises in the hospitality industry, they were more willing to give these companies more credit.

Customer happiness, loyalty, and corporate performance are all linked. Understanding client requirements, satisfying customer expectations, and providing customer value are all critical, and proper planning and capabilities should be in place (Bei, & Chiao, 2001). When a consumer is loyal, it is profitable and beneficial to the business and the hospitality sector. Profits will be great, and income will increase. Every successful business strives to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction by offering value-added transactions through positive customer interaction. In turn, the customer expects to feel important and helped during interactions that lead to the fulfillment of their desire and a positive outcome. Customer service representatives are frequently trained in the fundamentals of providing excellent customer service. They are taught to listen, to be patient, to be tolerant, and, most importantly, to be helpful. Organizations, particularly hotels, frequently monitor their employees to ensure that they consistently follow and apply all rules and customer service practices. Above all, the ability to meet customer expectations can make or break a business in hospitality (Bei, & Chiao, 2001). Whether it's simply serving drinks or running an entire hotel, it's the employees' responsibility to ensure that the customers have a good time and have nothing to worry about (Petouhoff, 2002).

Customer service is essentially about being both positive and proactive. Even when dealing with challenging clients, it is critical to smile, be nice, and have a professional demeanor. Alternatively, in rare circumstances, it may be about going the additional mile for a visitor or patron.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

Given the numerous benefits of working in the hospitality business, customer demands for high-quality products and services have become increasingly apparent to industry experts. In this situation, a positive connection might boost consumer commitment and return rate (Hallowell, 1996). In today's hospitality business, as well as in the marketing of tourist activities within a place, skills and service delivery are regarded vital in order to ensure client satisfaction. This is due to the fact that tourists are visitors who require hotel accommodations throughout their stay (Peelen, 2005). In other words, in order for consumers to return to a hotel, they must be happy with the service provided.

Many hotels have failed in this path, resulting in a rapid decline in business. The hotels with a solid and established track record have effectively used the ideas of workers' talents as required in the hospitality sector (Hallowell,1996). Customer service skills, cultural awareness, communication skills, multitasking skills, work ethic, language skills, professionalism, collaboration skills, problem solving skills, attention to detail, and many more are examples of these talents. It is rather concerning that no current study report has assessed the amount to which product and service consistency at various hotels has affected customer satisfaction in order to increase or maintain the pace (Petouhoff, 2002).

1.3 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The primary objective of this study is to critically investigate skills on product consistency and its impact on hospitality industries. Other aims of this study are:

i.          To investigate the impact of communication skills on hospitality industries.

ii.        To investigate the impact of customer service skills on hospitality industry

iii.      To investigate the impact of problem solving skills on hospitality industry

iv.      To  investigate the impact of language skills on hospitality industry

1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS

i.          What are the impacts of communication skills on hospitality industries?

ii.        What are the impacts of customer service skills on hospitality industry?

iii.      What are the impacts of problem solving skills on hospitality industry?

iv.      What are the impacts of language skills on hospitality industry?

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

This study will be greatly significant to the hospitality industry as the findings of this study will show the impacts of communication skills, customer service skills, problem solving skills and language skills on hospitality industry.

This study will serve as an existing material for further research and future reeferencing.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This study will focus on critically investigating skills on product consistency and its impact on hospitality industries. It will also be focused on he impacts of communication skills, customer service skills, problem solving skills and language skills on hospitality industry.

This study will be using Seth hotel and Lakewood hotel in Asaba, Delta State as enrolled participants for this study.

1.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

This study will be limited to ritically investigating skills on product consistency and its impact on hospitality industries. It will also be limited to he impacts of communication skills, customer service skills, problem solving skills and language skills on hospitality industry. It will not be focusing on the challenges nor proffer solutions. This study will be limited to Asaba, in Delta State and as such the results cannot be used in other places except further research is carried out. Financial constraints were also encountered during the course of this research.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Critical: characterised by careful analysis and judgement

Investigate: carry out a systematic or formal inquiry to discover and examine the facts of (an incident, allegation, etc.) so as to establish the truth.

Impact: marked effect or influence

Product consistency: Consistency refers to how closely related the product lines are in terms of end use, production requirements, distribution channels or any other way.

Hospitality: relating to or denoting the business of entertaining clients, conference delegates, or other official visitors

REFERENCES

Bei, L. & Chiao, Y. (2001). An integrated model for the effects of perceived product, perceived service quality, and perceived price fairness on customer satisfaction and loyalty, Journal of customer satisfaction\dissatisfaction and complaining behavior, 14, (1): 125- 139.

Dimitris, Z., Nikolaos, K. & Petros, T. (2007). A Simulation Model for Measuring Customer Satisfaction through Employee Satisfaction, AIP Conference Proceedings, 963 (2): 1086- 1089.

Duboff, R. & Heaton, C. (1999). Employee loyalty: A key link to value growth, Journal of strategy and leadership, 27(1): 8-12.

FEFC Hanna (2004). Linking employee behavior to external customer satisfaction using quality function deployment, Journal of Engineering Manufacture,218(1): 1167- 1177.

Further Education Funding Council (1998) Key Skills in Further Education. Coventry:

Hallowell, R. (1996). The relationships of customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, and profitability: An empirical study. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 7(4), 27-42

Hospitality Training Foundation (2000) Hospitality Sector Workforce Development Plan 2001. London: HtF.

Kangogo & Kagure (2013) Factors affecting electronic procurement implementation in automobile industry of Kenya. International Journal of Management Sciences, 1(6), 193-203.

Kong, M. & Jogaratnam, G. (2007). The influence of culture on perceptions of service employee behavior. Managing Service Quality, 17 (3): 275-297.

Peelen, E. (2005) Customer relationship Management. Harlow:Prentice.

Petouhoff, J.A. (2002) Customer Relationship Management 2nd edition, Pearson Education

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