Managing Service Failure

and Service
Recovery in Tourism and
Hospitality
Industry
 SERVICE FAILURE
Customer service is critical in the hospitality and tourism industry since it
is the person who is responsible for attending to the requirements and
demands of customers. To ensure that the customer's requests are addressed
in a manner that will reflect negatively or positively on the organization, they
must give prompt, attentive, and cheerful service.
 SERVICE FAILURE
• The nature of service is difficult to describe and may be extensively customized depending on
the needs and preferences of the customer. The degree to which customers are happy with the
result of the service is used to measure service quality. When consumers believe that the
service they receive falls short of their expectations, they are more likely to encounter service
failures.

• Failures can occur even in the most significant service businesses; they may be caused by the
service not being accessible when promised, it being provided late or too slowly, the conclusion
being erroneous or poorly performed, or the staff being impolite or indifferent. All of these
different forms of service failures result in bad customer experiences. If left unaddressed, they
may lead to consumers leaving, alerting others about their poor experiences, or even filing a
complaint with the consumer courts.
 CATEGORIES OF SERVICE
Customers' involvement in the production process is the main
FAILURES
distinguishing feature of the service business as compared to manufacturing.
The service-providing procedure in any hospitality business does not divide
customers. Therefore, service failures occur at numerous points throughout
the dining experience. There are two types of service failures: process
failures and outcomes failures. As a result, failures in service were
approached from these two perspectives.
 CATEGORIES OF SERVICE
FAILURES
• Failure to provide tangible products/services or essential/basic services are
examples of outcome failures (e.g., overbooking, a bug in the food, overcooked
food, or out-of-stock items). They primarily reflect observable results and pressing
needs. Out-of-stock menu item and poor food quality are also instances of
outcome failures.

• Customer service failures occur whenever clients do not get the goods or services
they paid for, regardless of whether the payment is outcome-based or based on
both. As a result, it's essential to look into which sorts of service failures hurt
consumers the most.
CAUSES OF SERVICE
01
FAILURES
Service-Product Delivery Failure

02 Meeting Explicit or Implicit Customer Request Failure

03 Failure Caused by Employee Actions and Attitudes

04 Failure Caused by Circumstances Beyond Control

01 Service-Product Delivery Failure

When a product or service does not fulfill

consumer expectations, it may lead to a product's
final failure to reach profitability since the expected
life cycle cannot be achieved as defined by the
business.
02 Meeting Explicit or Implicit Customer Request
Failure
Customers often make demands, whether
implicitly (indirectly) or explicitly (directly). If the
employee fails to respond to the customer's request,
it might lead to a service failure or a complaint from
the customer. The business will lose customers and
revenue if they understand you cannot satisfy their
needs, so they will look for an alternative business
that will satisfy their needs, wants and demands.
03 Failure Caused by Employee Actions and

When this sort Attitude

of failures occurs, the validity of the
training program will be called into doubt. If an
employee's actions or attitudes throughout their
employment result from in-service failure, it is possible
that they will not get the required training. Training is a
program that assists workers in acquiring detailed
information or abilities that will help them perform better
in their existing positions. If this occurs, the individual
will need further training.
04 Failure Caused by Circumstances Beyond
Control
Inevitably, service failure occurs, yet there are situations in which it
.

is caused by other customers, random occurrences, or conditions

beyond the organization's control. Preparation is essential to prevent
difficulties or challenges from arising. A strategy should be in place to
prevent problems or challenges from occurring. This failure might
result from an employee's actions, the scenario itself, or the
expectations of the customer of the firm, business, or restaurant.
Sometimes, a customer has such high expectations of a firm that it will
be considered a failure if the company fails to achieve those
expectations. In other cases, the company's service is not good enough
for everyone, and as a result the customers are not completely satisfied
with their experience.
CUSTOMER RESPONSE TO SERVICE
It is widely believed that no matter how hard a firm try, even the finest service
FAILURE
company will have service failures in the hospitality sector at some point or
another. The fact that service failures are unavoidable is abundantly shown.
02
Hospitality and tourism management seeks to give the highest quality goods and
services to its customers the same way as they did in the past, yet service failures
03
are regular and widespread.
Customer dissatisfaction, a loss of customer trust, bad word-of mouth (WOM)
04
behavior, customer defection, higher expenses, revenue loss, and lower staff morale
and performance are all adverse effects of service failures.
Customer's response to service failure:
01 Never to Return

02 Customer Complaints

03 Negative Word-of-Mouth

04 Third Party Action

01 Never to Return
When a business fails to meet the expectations of its
customers, some of them will not return as a result of the
disappointment they have experienced. Others will prefer
to go to the other firm that can provide them with a
satisfactory experience. If anything like this happens in
your company, it may have a significant effect since you
are not only losing a client, but you are also losing their
trust, and as a result, your firm's profit will fall.
02 Customer Complaints
A customer complaint is defined as an expression of
displeasure or dissatisfaction with any product or service that has
been acquired and experienced by the customer. In a positive
meaning, it may be regarded as a report from a customer who
provides information concerning an issue with a product or
service. Customers' complaints, according to some contemporary
business gurus, should be seen as a gift. Customer complaints are
often informal concerns sent directly to a firm or any service
provider. Most customers aim to resolve issues with goods and
services, albeit it may take some patience on their part.
03 Negative Word-of-
Mouth
The importance of word-of-mouth (WOM) has grown in importance in the
hotel and tourism industries since today's customers seek experiences shared
by others before making a purchase. As a result, customers depend on word-
of-mouth to conclude the quality of products and services. Because of the
widespread use of internet platforms by customers to discuss their
experiences, word of mouth (WOM) may travel more widely and quickly.
Due to this condition, customers who have a terrible experience are more
likely to propagate their negative experiences and engage in negative WOM
more readily and actively. This has the potential to do considerable harm to
the company's branding and reputation.
04 Third Party Action

Some customers who are dissatisfied with the service

they received file complaints with consumer
organizations, trade standards agencies of a local or
national government, licensing authorities, and
professional organizations.
PSYCHODYNAMIC OF CUSTOMERS
Customers that are difficult to deal with exist in the
hospitality and tourism industries. Instead of dealing
02
with minor issues, they overreact and create a
03
commotion. They cause you to lose your equilibrium
by exploding and blowing things apart. Those who are
04
dissatisfied with the answer they get to their problems
may turn to aggressive and threatening actions, as well
as harassment.
These customers complain because they want to be known by their fellow customers
and want to be treated differently every time they return to a business.

01 Exploder

02 Sherman Tank

03 There are also complainers

04 Balloons

05 There are also customers who are chronic complainers

 Exploder
Is someone who loses his cool, it is like a bomb goes off. Aside from
shouting and embarrassing you in public, he might also be unpredictable and
make threatening statements at certain seasons of the year. Example: "You're
a "crap"; you are deceiving; I'll file a formal complaint against you."
 Sherman Tank
Is someone who speaks and monopolizes the conversation, who interrupts
often, does not know how to listen This type of customer wants you to hear
just their side of the tale and no one else's, too. They are not interested in
hearing your side of the story, even though there is nothing wrong with your
service They want you to listen to their concerns and complaints without
being concerned about listening to your side of the story, as well.
 There are also complainers
We call the negativists and they are the sort of a fault finder, always
looking for areas to express his disagreement or disappointment. For
example, "You call this Hainanese chicken? It's not what I expected" "I don't
like your ambience, it's dull". Even though it was just a little stuff, they will
go to complain and make you feel like everything on your service is wrong.
 Balloons
Is another pessimist who presents themselves as some type of expert or
professional. They instruct you on what you should do next. Consider the
following example: "I'm a connoisseur, and I understand how to appraise
wines and spirits." And I'm here to inform you that your whiskey is a
forgery. It's made in the area, not imported. "This is one of the alcoholic
drinks that you should not be selling." They believe they are better than you
and correct you even though there is nothing wrong with your cuisine or the
service that you provide.
 There are also customers who are chronic
complainers
Who tend to incessantly whine about everything, even
the littlest matters. They want to be noticed, and they
think it's fantastic that they are.
SERVICE RECOVERY
Service recovery is the settlement of an issue from an unhappy customer by a
firm, resulting in the consumer becoming a loyal customer. It is the activity
taken by a service provider in the event of a service failure to provide the
service. Service recovery refers to the efforts taken to fix issues, change the
unfavorable attitudes of unsatisfied customers, and eventually retain these clients
after they have complained. The concept of service recovery is expanded to
include customer satisfaction as well. Service recovery is defined as the process
of restoring aggrieved or unhappy customers to a level of complete contentment
with a business or service. Because it focuses on service breakdowns and the
company's quick response, service recovery varies from other complaint
management methods.
 HOW TO HANDLE SERVICE
1. Acknowledge the Issue. The first step to solve any issue is by acknowledging
FAILURE:
that there is an issue. Belittling it, or denying it exists, is just frustrating for
people facing those issues. Not just the symptoms, but an honest and possibly
painful dig into the roots to analyze the cause and effect. Start by accepting that
belittling or ignoring the issue does not make it go away.
2. Apologize to the Customer. Whether or not the service failure was within the
organization's control, when a customer makes contact to complain, the first
thing to do is to apologize to the customer. If any organization fails to live up to
expectation and disappoints its customers, those customers deserve an apology.
By apologizing to the customer you are equally indicating that you
acknowledge the situation and their disappointment that you value their
relationship, and you're humble enough to say sorry.
 HOW TO HANDLE SERVICE
3. Resolve the Problem. This process should start even before the customers
FAILURE:
make contact. As soon as the occurrence of the service failure is noticed,
proactive steps should be taken immediately to fix or resolve it. Apologizing to
the customers should be secondary, something done to appease them and keep
the relationship together while the issue is being fixed.
4. Keep the Customer Informed. While the issue is being fixed, depending on
how long it takes to fix it, the organization should try as much as possible to
keep the customer informed on the status of resolution or how much longer it is
estimated to take. It could be via periodic updates on the company website or
social media handle.
 HOW TO HANDLE SERVICE
5. Reach out to Customers. Any hospitality and tourism business must make an
FAILURE:
extra effort to renew customer confidence and give them reasons to continue
patronage. This is done by reaching out to the customers after the issue has
been resolved. The aim of reaching out is to: a. Apologize again. b. Thank the
customers for their patience and sharing experience. c. Reassure them of
unfettered service delivery in future.
6. Analyze the Issue and Extract Learning Points. This is the final step and a
critical one at that. It's time to go back to the drawing board and ask these two
important questions: What was the cause of this service failure? What can we
to do prevent it or mitigate its occurrence?
 STRATEGIES IN SERVICE
Customer dissatisfaction is an opportunity for service recovery
RECOVERY
since it gives you the chance to say the right things at the right
moment. This may manifest as a physical or verbal altercation.
Complaints may be sent by phone, email, social media, or leaving
a review on a review website. But the point is not to be kept
hostage, and it is to offer you a second opportunity at doing it
right by knowing service recovery Above all, it is about
prioritizing your company's image and ensuring that any problems
are entirely resolved.
The following are some strategies in service recovery in service failure.
1. Plan and implement policies and processes for obtaining managing, and
reporting positive and negative customer feedback Do not forget to include
both official and informal feedback such as spoken remarks, written praises,
and complaints, as well as requests made by email, comment cards, polls,
social media, and phone calls.

2. Remember that customers have a lifelong worth and this while thinking
about the customer service journey.

3. Facilitate consumer feedback by making it as simple as possible for them

to provide it. Be creative and look for new approaches, changing them
periodically to prevent feedback fatigue. You can also promote customer and
staff feedback by offering rewards.
The following are some strategies in service recovery in service failure.

4. Keep a record of all input, including the date and time, the names of the
people involved, the steps taken to address the situation, and the remedies that
were agreed upon. Foster an open and trusting environment by encouraging
staff to disclose near misses and errors, knowing that they will be treated with
respect and utilized to inform changes

5. Analyze the input you received. Electronic tools, particularly for trend
monitoring, may make this procedure much more straightforward. Use
problem-solving methodologies, such as Ishikawa's fish bone analysis to
discover the underlying cause of any given scenario.
The following are some strategies in service recovery in service failure.

6. Measuring feedback and establishing service recovery and complement

objectives are essential steps in the process.

7. Plan how complaints will be handled. For example, a basic flowchart or

acronyms might be helpful: Believe, Listen, Apology, Sympathize and Thank
(BLAST) or LEARN (Listen, Empathize, Apologize, Resolution and Notify).

8. Make sure you have a feedback loop in place. Inform and educate
employees on rules, customer complaints, service recovery processes, and
lessons learned in an organized and systematic manner. Give staff the authority
to deal with issues on their own.
THANK YOU