Little Things Can Make a Difference: An Incident Impacting Guest Service at the Woodland Park Inn

Introduction

Guest service is seen as a central focus of the hospitality and tourism industry. For service businesses, including those involved in the hospitality and tourism industry, the nature of the product is different from manufactured products, such that the customer or guest is very involved in the production of the product, that of the guest experience. The guest experience has been defined as the overall impression and satisfaction that a guest receives, and the experience may seriously impact whether the guest decides to return and/or become a regular customer, or chooses to go somewhere else, and potentially leaves a bad review on a public platform (Glion Institute of Higher Education, n.d.). Furthermore, factors that form the nature of the product for service businesses include, but are not limited to, the following: the huge role the customer/guest plays in the creation of the product through his/her/their interactions with the product to create the customer experience; the fact that services cannot be inventoried; maintaining service quality standards can be difficult; timing in connection with service is very important; and the distribution channels are different from those of non-service products (Angelo & Vladimir, 2017; Deale & Hovda, 2006; Field et al., 2021).

Keys to delivering excellent service have encompassed many attributes, such as the following: remembering who the company/guest service professionals are; encouraging every employee to act like a manager; handling moments of truth correctly; hiring good people and keeping them happy; and responding promptly (e.g., Angelo & Vladimir, 2017; Deale & Hovda, 2006; Field et al., 2021). Overall, outstanding customer or guest service can build and/or save a brand while poor service can sink a brand (Podolsky, 2024). These factors impact service quality in many businesses, including lodging operations in hospitality and tourism, such as hotels and resorts.

This case study focuses on service quality and describes a service-related incident at a popular hotel. The case study is based on an incident that the author and family members, friends, and acquaintances experienced at a hotel in North Carolina, and it provides the reader with an interesting situation related to service issues and management in the hospitality and tourism industry. Through the presentation of the concepts and practices involved in guest service, and the discussion and analysis of the service issue, students have an opportunity to comprehend and analyze the components of excellent guest service, including co-creation and service recovery.

Background

This case study focuses on topics and issues related to guest/customer service. Therefore, to provide the context for the case study, brief background information is presented about the following components connected to guest service: definitions, models, and examples of guest service; co-creation; the guest experience; a service blueprint; and service recovery.

The Dilemma

The dilemma described in this case study occurred at the Woodland Park Inn and Golf Club, which is a resort that includes a premier hotel and golf course near a well-respected, private university and hospital in the southern United States, in the metropolitan area known as the Research Triangle that includes Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, North Carolina. The 40-year-old property contains over 300 acres, including a golf course and a pretty, forested landscape, and its 300 guest rooms have lovely views of either the golf course or the forest. The hotel rooms typically sell for several hundred dollars a night, with $270 to $300 considered a great deal for a room rate at the property, and the golf course is highly rated, as are its restaurants, which include a family-oriented café, a pub-style bistro, and a fine dining restaurant. Plus, the hotel hosts many weddings, family reunions, and parties; plus, conferences, meetings, and events connected to the highly esteemed university nearby. Conferences and weddings are particularly popular events, and the hotel features an event space that can host 600 attendees. The property has a very good overall occupancy rate of approximately 80% when events are not scheduled, but during wedding season, its occupancy level rises to well above 90%, and its rooms are frequently sold out when an event or events take place on the property. In addition, family members of patients at the hospital nearby are frequently guests of the hotel. The hotel is promoted as being reminiscent of an English country inn and specifically notes on its website that, in addition to high-speed internet access and its exceptional amenities, guests can request a nightly turndown service that comes with gourmet chocolates.

On a recent summer afternoon, the hotel was sold out, and a large wedding reception was being held in the event space, which included a live band that was to play late into the night at the reception, and a note about issues with the television and internet was provided to all of the hotel’s guests in their rooms after they checked into the hotel (see Figure 1). The note indicated that the hotel had no internet or television services for guests, as the hotel leadership team had just learned that afternoon that both their internet and cable connections for guests were not viable options anymore, and changes were needed to offer those amenities to guests. The internet and/or cable television providers provided no explanations or plausible solutions, and the note was simply typed, printed out, and placed in front of the television in each guest room by the room attendants working their shifts at the time the internet and cable services were halted. Yet, while the issue was described in the note, it was not mentioned on the hotel’s website, by any staff members, or included in any written materials at the front desk. As noted, it was simply provided via the written note that was left in front of the television in each guest room. The decision to place a note by the television in each room was made by the director of operations in agreement with the general manager and was not discussed with any other management team members or other employees.

OPEN IN VIEWER

Figure 1.

The note to the guests of the Woodland Inn.

Due to this incident, the front desk staff members were flooded with phone calls and inundated with guests who were making face-to-face complaints regarding the issue. While many guests were peaceful and cordial, others were quite angry. For example, some of the guests who were cordial over the phone and/or in-person had not even seen the note, and therefore, they were unaware of the situation and were simply wondering why they could not get on the internet or watch any television shows. However, several guests who had read the note were making irate phone calls and/or yelling in person at the front desk employees that they deserved a free room, and noted that they would never stay at the hotel again, and they would never recommend it to their friends, family members, and/or colleagues. Plus, other upset, angry guests were confronting employees who were working in the resort’s housekeeping, landscaping, golf course, and food service operations, about the issue when they saw them in the property’s hallways, lobby, gardens, dining establishments, and/or on the golf course. Furthermore, as the housekeeping, front desk, and dining staff members changed from the afternoon to the evening shift of employees, the newly arrived staff members had no idea what the guests were upset about at the typically calm, peaceful, upscale property. Additionally, when some employees became aware of the incident, they became quite upset, too. Overall, the atmosphere at the front desk area and lobby was very hectic, and the entire resort was in chaos.

To more fully understand the implications of this management decision that involved simply placing a note about the lack of internet connections and television shows in the guests’ rooms, the scenarios below demonstrate how this action specifically impacted some guests. Please see the following:

Thus, the simple decision to use a note, placed by the television in each guest room to address the issue at the resort, turned into a very challenging situation. Poor communication was a factor in this incident as both staff members and guests were confused, upset, angry, and unsatisfied with the decision made to just leave a note by the television. It did not appear that the decision was made based on aspects of excellent guest service, such as those included in the SERVQUAL model, and/or on co-creation, in that staff members and guests were not consulted at all about the decision to leave the note. In fact, most staff members were unaware of the issue and did not know that the note had been placed in every guest room. Plus, due to emergency operations in place, the front desk staff members were able to check guests in and, therefore, did not even see evidence of the issue that guests were experiencing.

In addition, no service plan, such as a service blueprint, was available, and service recovery strategies were not considered at all. Staff members were caught by surprise and were not typically even offering an apology to their guests, as they did not even understand that the issue was taking place. Unfortunately, the director of operations and the general manager appeared to have naively thought that leaving the note was all the communication and/or service that was needed in connection with the incident. However, this simple incident turned a beautiful property into total disarray, and the employees, in every sector of the operation and at all levels, were challenged by what to do to alleviate the current chaotic situation at the property and how to prevent similar situations from occurring in the future.

Analysis

To analyze this case study, you are to put yourself in the role of a manager at the property and decide the actions you would take to mitigate the current situation and the measures you would take to prevent similar situations in the future. The focus of this case study involved what seemed like a little thing, as in a simple incident, which included a straightforward service-related action on the part of some of the hotel’s management team. However, the ramifications of that decision were not so simple and therefore, need some careful consideration to help those involved in this incident and others involved in guest service to avoid similar situations in the future.

In your examination of possible solutions, think through how to apply excellent guest service practices that include communication strategies and problem-solving techniques (e.g., Wu & Ko, 2013) and guest service models such as SERVQUAL (e.g., Parasuraman et al., 1988). In addition, consider the co-creation of service (e.g., Sharma & Bhat, 2020), the guest experience (e.g., Sofi et al., 2024), service blueprints (e.g., Pandey & Kulshrestha, 2021), and service recovery efforts (e.g., Vázquez-Casielles et al., 2010). These important aspects of guest service need to be considered to address the current situation and make improvements and plans to avoid and mitigate any difficult service-related issues in the future.

Conclusion

Overall, short-term decisions are necessary to alleviate the immediate situation occurring at the property, and improvements are needed and can be made in connection with planning and conducting excellent guest service practices to prevent service disasters such as this one in the future, and to create successful service experiences and a positive service culture. Hospitality operations need to have service policies and procedures in place that are known, understood, and practiced by all employees and shared with guests. Furthermore, while service issues can occur even with careful planning, effective service recovery procedures can truly help hospitality professionals to provide excellent guest/customer service.

Discussion Questions

After reading the case study, including the note provided in Figure 1, answer the following questions: