CPD Service Excellence Draft 1 - Team Athena

1.     Introduction

This report aims to explore an intrapersonal communication issue in the housekeeping department, mainly focusing on the luxury accommodation sector of the hospitality industry. The team will address the topic of how employees can ensure optimal customer satisfaction and retention through better communication of roles and methods in the department.

a)     Workplace context

The National Skill Development Corporation stated that Housekeeping was one of the largest hiring departments in the hotel industry (Singh & Ad, 2017). Due to the difficulties in finding local employees, housekeeping departments are made up of employees from diverse countries and cultural backgrounds (George & Hancer, 2008). While housekeeping staff have the primary role of cleaning and organizing accommodation units and protecting against the risk of various infections (Batinic, 2015), they are key in ensuring the sales of rooms which is the hotel’s main revenue generator (Singh & Ad, 2017). This iterates the need for proper management of personnel in the department and ensuring that their roles and responsibilities are communicated to them succinctly. In such a competitive industry with similar product offerings, guests are said to be highly sensitive about cleanliness and tardiness and in which makes the delivery of quality service is important (George & Hancer, 2008), especially with the higher prices on luxury accommodation. 

b)    Thematic focus

This paper will focus on providing housekeeping staff with tools to easily understand the standardised processes, despite their lack of language comprehension. This will enable them to learn their roles and interact with one another with proper communication training. This will bridge their language differences and its impact on performing their roles. There will be proposed learning outlines that can be implemented by the Head Housekeeper, who is identified to be responsible for conducting training (Batinic, 2015). This will give the department the ability to work together to perform their tasks exceptionally and meet guests’ expectations.

 

2.     Problem Identification

Tourists are said to appreciate hotels contributing to the most essential safety and hygiene elements of their trip.  Furthermore, their satisfaction of hotel services is highly based off clean rooms and bathrooms (Alananzeh, 2017). However, there have been hygiene lapses discovered in top luxury international brands such as Kempinski and Shangri La (Tian & Zhou, 2017). This erodes the perceived level of quality that guests expect when they choose to stay at these top-tier accommodation providers. Therefore, there is an existing gap between guests expectations for hotel room toilet cleanliness and housekeeping staff sanitary habits in luxury hotels, especially in areas of the bathroom and toilet (Lockyer, 2003).

Housekeeping duties are subjected to detailed procedures, time constraints and quality levels. They are also known to be laborious and task-oriented (George & Hancer, 2008). Bashir mentioned that these factors would bring out the increased need for formalisation in the team's job roles, which might entail rigorous training in classroom settings conducted in one language (Personal Communication, 2019). With 48 per cent of hotel properties providing training materials in only one language. there is bound to be a communication breakdown in the team as there is no universal medium for communication (George & Hancer, 2008). The lack of language comprehension and misunderstanding of training makes learning at these training sessions stagnant and unproductive.

As staff are unsure of the methods to accomplish their roles, other problems such as reduced morale and lack of motivation arise. A combination of these factors result in them underperforming on the job and thus causing guest dissatisfaction.

3.     Purpose Statement/Objective of Study

This report is written for the senior management of the housekeeping department in luxury accommodation properties. It will provide an overview of the departments learning needs and how to cater to them. This will ensure that employees are sufficiently prepared to fulfil brand promises and the property is able to work together effectively to generate owners their Return on Investment. The guidelines focus on meeting guests expectations through better team communication and learning materials.

 

4.     Implementation of Potential Solutions

The team proposes certain guidelines for the housekeeping management to provide effective training for the room attendants. Cultural icebergs that arise from the increased diversity in the workplace creates language barriers that could adversely affect the efficiency of training. Using theories from Tuckman’s Model of Team Development, there is a need to understand the stages of team formation in the housekeeping department for the team to perform effectively. The following solutions will be carried out in phases.

1. Introduction of Translator (Forming)

In the stage of Forming, a professional translator could be hired to attend the first few training classes and translate the critical basic standards that have been set in the property. This solution will ensure that the educational materials are fully understood by the employees, so they are clear of their roles and responsibilities and are able to apply what they have learnt at work.

2. Visual Aid (Forming)

In addition, to supplement the transition of the forming stage, visual aids, such as pictures and props, could be used in the training materials to foster understanding within the team and remove learning anxiety. With an alternative training aid, it will enable lesser written material is used to convey content (George & Hancer, 2008).

3. Language Classes of Main Language (Storming)

Next, they enter the storming stage where there is a need to further enhance employee’s communication. There should be continuous efforts made to bridge the team. Therefore, it is encouraged for the management to conduct language classes for the diverse team of housekeepers. This will enable the staff to encode and decode the messages clearly when communicating.

4. Encourage Cohesion (Storming and Norming)

To bring about norming and performing, there is a need to create interaction opportunities that foster relationships. This can be achieved through cohesion activities such as monthly department outings, apart from the daily morning meetings about work duties. This will help them understand each other's cultural nuances. As a result, it would delve deeper past the cultural iceberg and enable effective team communication that develops from building relationships. This will enable the team to work without friction.

5.     Benefits

a.     Importance of Training

Training is critical in the housekeeping department where there are brand standards to adhere to. The preparation and sanitation of the room play a critical role in meeting the quality of services that a guest expects.

b.     Increase in Revenue and Rewards

With the implementation of the solutions mentioned above, there will be an increase in productivity in the housekeeping department. Higher productivity will be achieved through the ability to cope with the quick turnover of rooms through better communication within the team, while ensuring all standards are met will exceed guests and management expectations. With excellent service, new and old guests will visit and return to the hotel. This will ultimately increase the hotel's revenue in this competitive environment.

c.     Brand Loyalty Growth

The last benefit would be the creation of brand loyalty. Meeting the service standards that are set in a luxury hotel will ultimately impress guests and ensure satisfaction. This will result in them returning for more stays with the hotel or hotels under that brand.

6.     Proposed Data Collection/Research Method

This study was conducted using secondary and primary research to support the team’s findings. A member in the team was a former housekeeping employee for two years. This allowed for a first-hand account of the nature of the problem. Secondary research consisting of journal articles, studies and news articles were also utilized to generate the factors to meet the objectives of this study.

7.     Conclusion

In conclusion, the solutions mentioned further reinforces the ability to close the gap between guest expectation for rooms’ cleanliness and housekeeping sanitary habits through better communication within the housekeeping team. The suggested training methods will be effective in aiding the housekeeping staff to uphold the standards of a luxury hotel and ensure service excellence.