What challenges do service characteristics bring to hotel service management? How to overcome the problems brought by these challenges?

The characteristics of service and its management and marketing challenges;

It is generally believed that there are inherent differences between goods and services, which lead to unique management challenges for service industries and service-oriented manufacturers.

1. Invisibility of service

The most basic and frequently mentioned difference between goods and services is the intangibility of services, because services are a process consisting of a series of activities, not physical objects. In this process, we can't see, feel or touch services like tangible goods. The intangibility of service brings us marketing challenges: the service is not easy to show or communicate with customers, the quality and value information of service is difficult to convey to customers like tangible products, and the new service concept is easy to be imitated by competitors.

2. Heterogeneity

Service is a series of actions displayed by people, and the service provided by employees is usually the service in the eyes of customers. Because there are no two identical employees and no two identical customers, there are no two identical services. The heterogeneity of service is mainly caused by the interaction between employees and customers and all the changing factors accompanying this process. It also leads to many factors that service providers can't completely control, such as the ability of customers to clearly express their needs, the ability and willingness of employees to meet these needs, the arrival of other customers and the degree of customer demand for services. Because of these factors, service providers can't know exactly whether services are provided to customers as planned and advertised, and sometimes services may be provided by middlemen, which further increases the heterogeneity of services, because from the customer's point of view, the services provided by these middlemen still represent service providers.

The heterogeneity of services puts forward quality management requirements different from those of tangible products for service providers. Although the service quality standards and evaluation scales are stipulated by the company, their standards must be based on the needs and expectations of customers, not just the internal goals of the company. Customer-defined service standards can be divided into two main types, namely hard standards and soft standards. Hard standards refer to those standards that can be obtained by counting, timing or observation; Customer's soft standards refer to facts that cannot be observed based on opinions. Only by talking with customers, employees or others can accurate information be collected. Soft standards provide guidance, guidelines and feedback for employees to meet customer needs, which can be measured by evaluating customers' understanding and trust.

3. Synchronization of production and consumption

Most goods are produced first, then stored, then sold and then consumed, but most services are sold first, then produced and consumed at the same time. This usually means that the customer is on the spot when the service is produced, and will observe and even participate in the production process. Some services are consumed by many customers, that is, the same service is shared by a large number of consumers at the same time, such as a concert, which also shows that in the production process of services, customers often interact with each other, thus affecting each other's experience. The synchronization of service production and consumption makes it difficult to produce services on a large scale, and it is unlikely that services can achieve significant economies of scale through centralization. Problem customers (people who disrupt the service process) will bring trouble to themselves and others in the process of providing services, reducing their own or other customers' perceived satisfaction. In addition, the synchronization of service production and consumption requires both customers and service personnel to understand the whole service delivery process.

(1) From the perspective of service personnel, all personnel, including front-line employees and those who support them behind the scenes, are crucial to the success of any service organization, because they are organizations in the eyes of customers and they are marketers.

(2) From the customer's point of view, due to the synchronization of service production and consumption, service quality and customer satisfaction are closely related to the effect of customer participation. Therefore, service providers should strive to make customers participate in the service process effectively. To formulate the development strategy of involving relevant customers in service delivery, the organization must first decide what kind of customer participation is needed to define the customer's work. Some services only require customers to be present, some may require customers to pay attention to or reach a moderate level of participation, and some may require customers to actually produce service products (such as health training). When the customer's role is clear, the organization can effectively complete the service participation role by attracting suitable customers and conducting education and training. Because there is often interaction between customers in the process of service supply and consumption, it is necessary to subdivide customers and conduct different management and services for different subdivided groups. For example, separating smokers from non-smokers in cinemas can increase customer satisfaction.

(3) Queue management. Service managers always try to shorten the waiting queue, so as not to reduce the perceived value of customers, and leave without buying anything or swear never to come back after buying; On the other hand, customers can often save production costs while waiting. Therefore, the service manager should well weigh the cost of providing quality service and the cost of customer waiting. One way to measure it is to look at the expected total cost, that is, the service cost plus the expected waiting cost. The service cost is positively correlated with the service level, while the waiting cost is negatively correlated with the service level. Therefore, when the expected total cost is the lowest, the corresponding service level is the optimal service level, and the corresponding queuing cost is the optimal queuing cost.

4. Service demand management of perishable products (1). Service demand fluctuates, but excessive fluctuation of service demand can be avoided. The strategies for adjusting demand are as follows: First, promote off-peak demand. According to the results of demand forecast, differential pricing is implemented in low demand period to attract customers' consumption, such as reducing the price of cinema matinee; Find different sources of demand and promote the creative use of off-peak service capabilities, such as using hotels to entertain business people or as a rest place for company employees in the off-season of tourism. Second, develop supporting services. This is a natural way to expand the market. This method is particularly attractive if the demand cycle for this newly developed service is opposite to the demand for the original service, that is, when the demand for new services is high, the demand for the original service is low. For example, heating contractors also provide cold air supply services. Third, use the appointment system. Booking is equivalent to providing potential services in advance. When booking, the additional service requirements will be transferred to other suitable service hours or other service facilities of the same facility in the same organization. Service providers with reservation systems can benefit customers by reducing waiting time and ensuring that services are available at any time.

(2) Comprehensive service recovery strategy. No matter how hard you try, even the best service organization can't avoid occasional service mistakes, which may be caused by random factors such as service providers, customers and the outside world. On the surface, the cost of service recovery seems to be great, but compared with those possible negative effects, the cost of completing the recovery can be ignored. The strategies of service recovery include: collecting complaint information, encouraging and promoting customer complaints; Front-line employees should receive remedial training, care about customers' feelings, and try their best to remedy on the spot as quickly as possible; Treat customers fairly, including five steps: apology, emergency recovery, empathy, symbolic atonement and follow-up; After the service is remedied, the service provider should find the defects in the service delivery system and improve the service system and process; Finally, through interviews and other means to conduct market research, learn from the lost customers.