Excerpts

This is the third iteration of what was previously entitled Quality Service, The Restaurant Managers' Bible. When the book first came out in 1986, a surprising thing happened. Most of the feedback and calls I received expressing interest in the book did not come from the restaurant sector. They came from hotel and travel companies. Even then, it was evident to readers that what I had to say about quality service and how to manage it was applicable to a wide audience in the hospitality industry. Well, finally in this new millennium, I have written a more comprehensive and broader application to managing quality customer service. This is a different book from earlier editions. It is not only bigger and better, but it also applies to the entire spectrum of hospitality, including, but certainly not limited to, restaurants, hotels, clubs, theme parks, and the entire travel and tourism industry. I have attempted to include as many examples from the various sectors of the industry as possible. Delivery of quality customer service remains as important to the success of the hospitality industry as ever. However, that doesn't mean we have been doing a very good job at it. Over the last fifteen years, I have seen some customer service progress in our industry, but it has been slow in coming and spotty in impact. Unfortunately, the fact remains, as an industry, we are doing a very good job delivering a very mediocre customer service product. When it comes to customer service, mediocrity does indeed abound. Of course, there are horror stories that come to light from time to time, and sometimes, albeit far too rarely, hospitality. customers receive a level of service that they can actually rave about. But overall, much customer service progress needs to occur before we can claim, as an industry, that we do in fact deliver a quality customer service product. Clearly, more people need to read and implement the contents of this book. Improvement in the day-to-day delivery of hospitality customer service will not come without first committing to the concepts presented in this book and then putting them to actual use. With this in mind, I have constructed a complete set of application interaction exercises that accompany each chapter. The thirty-two exercises are designed to facilitate not only a more thorough knowledge and understanding of the concepts presented irk the chapters, but they also serve as a guide for direct hands-on application in any hospitality setting. The lasting legacy of customer service in our industry lies in the hands of current and future leaders. For this reason, I have written this book with two audiences in mind: present industry leaders and prospective ones. That is why the book is adaptable for industry use and implementation, as well as for a college-level course in service management. The first three chapters review the fifteen components of customer expectations for hospitality quality service. The framework of these components provides a useful tool for observing, analyzing, and critiquing actual customer service encounters in an ongoing hospitality organization. Chapters 4 through 8 provide a framework by which the management of an entire hospitality organization or a targeted service unit can also be studied and analyzed. Thus, the entire book has been designed to facilitate a comprehensive customer service review of any hospitality operation from a workplace point of view or an academic perspective. William B. Martin Pomona, California March 2001 Excerpted from Quality Service: What Every Hospitality Manager Needs to Know by William B. Martin All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.