Hospitality Reception Work - Math Problem Example

1. Reason’s for the need to include a multidisciplinary social science driven curriculum which balances the vocational and action orientation with that of liberal and reflective orientation 1. Students of hospitality will learn much from an increased exposure to many disciplines and also get the opportunity to reflect on connections between their life experiences and varied theoretical ways of understanding and knowing what constitutes the hospitality concept as broadly conceived. As such, the students will be better placed to respond to psychological and social needs of customers. 2. Inclusion of a multidisciplinary social science driven curriculum which balances the vocational and action orientation with that of liberal and reflective orientation will enable the students to better respond to the dynamics of the international hospitality industry and business environment and hence become better hospitality managers as they will be able to think broadly (Baker and Huyton,2000). Furthermore, hospitality industry is a cross culture industry and hence the need to understand the differing cultures. 2. Both the word guest and stranger were used interchangeably to imply someone with whom one has reciprocal duty of hospitality. The word stranger was used because the hosts did not have any knowledge about the guest. Since the hosts did not know what the motive (intentions) of the stranger was, he was seen as an enemy because of the potential threat he posed to the community. The reasons why strangers were treated with suspicion include; a) The potentially harmful magico-religious powers ascribed to them as strangers were thought to be sacred endowed with magico religious powers and hence suspicion because of their potential to cast magical powers, curses, spells and the evil eye or because they could be supernatural beings in disguise. b) Strangers were treated with suspicion as their intentions and identities are unknown and hence the host community felt insecure and disoriented and there was anxiety about the stranger’s arrival (Beatty, 1996). 3. Women hosts in ancient societies were honor-bound to please their guests through the provision of sexual relations. Thus, hospitality and sex were intricately linked just as food; shelter and security were intricately linked with hospitality. However, I believe that hospitality and sex are not linked in any way in contemporary commercial hospitality provision as the nature of hospitality and the role of women in hospitality provision has greatly changed. In ancient times, hospitality was not commercialized and the society viewed women as objects of sexual gratification and hence the reason why they were compelled to provide sexualized hospitality. With commercialization of hospitality, many women have been employed in the industry due to the perception that this is a traditional role for women. They are expected to groom properly, talk nicely, be friendly and do anything possible to please the guests to ensure repeat purchase. However, the role to provide sexualized hospitality is no longer part of modern hospitality and is not part of their job description (Gilbert and Guerrier). Was this to be part of their role, then hospitality would be purely a woman’s job and it would be part of their job description to provide sexualized hospitality unlike the present scenario where even men work in the industry. Furthermore, with the recognition of women’s rights sex and hospitality can not be linked. If any woman provides sexualized hospitality to a guest, then she does it voluntarily and may be for a pay unlike in the past when they were duty bound to do it. The sexual role played by women in hospitality in ancient times has also led to a misconception that women working as receptionists in the hotel industry also do continue with the role of providing sexualized hospitality. As a result, some men misunderstand the kindness and friendliness portrayed by women in the industry and still expects them to provide sexualized hospitality and threaten to put their jobs at risk if their demands are not met. Consequently, the women are forced to give in. However, it should be understood that the friendly and kind behavior portrayed by female receptionists is part of their work in making the guests comfortable. 4. Arguments for the statement -Guests who pay for services may want to obtain the maximum benefit for their money and hence the host should be generous to them when providing the services as they have already paid for them. - Treating the guest in the manner described above will lead to good experiences by the guests and hence ensure repeat purchase. As such, hospitality should be host driven by ensuring that deliberate effort is made to make the experience as good as possible. - As the guest is paying for the services, he/she has the right to have a good time and hence he/she should not be constrained in his/her behavior as long as he does not harm others (Josef, 2001). - As the guest has paid for the services, his/her security should be given priority as opposed to prioritizing the security of their own property. Argument against -The hospitality industry will usually want to employ measures of economic rationalization with an aim to maximize profits and hence have to apply regulatory procedures and limit consumption. -In a commoditized environment, acting with generosity will imply additional costs to the host implying increased cost to the guest. -It is not possible for guests to be allowed to behave as they wish since these will infringe other guests’ peace and freedom. Furthermore, although guest security is important, security of host’s property as well as financial security is equally important. 5. Different debates about the impact of globalization on patterns of food consumption - Globalization is leading to differentiation of food consumption patterns. People travel with an aim to experience change from what they do at home including what they consume. As they travel, they come across different consumption habits which they import to their home countries. For example, some western eating habits have been adopted in other areas of the world which they learn during travel. -differentiation in food consumption patterns spring from the travelers need to have their dreams made real. As they travel, guests already have certain expectations regarding the kind of food to consume (Andrews, 2000). Owing to globalization, the media greatly influences the expectations of travelers through advertisements. As a result, the industry has to strive to meet these expectations. -differentiation also results from the need for consumers to feel a sense of connection with other patrons and servers in service encounters. They need to feel at home and as a result leading to differentiated food consumption patterns. 6. The advert is about a hotel manager in extended stay hotel in Hampton which is a medium sized hotel. From the advert, the following attributes are necessary for a hotel manager; -ability to organize multiple projects, manage and prioritize multiple tasks within deadlines -possession of good communication skills in order to effectively communicate professionally with guests as well as staff for optimum operation of the hotel (excellent communication and influencing skills) -experience of staff recruitment and selection along with training and development (Simply hired.com 2010) 7. Service encounter is described as performance due to the fact that employees are expected to project a certain image and display particular kinds of feelings so as to please customers which are likened to performance in a theatre aimed at pleasing the audience. Employees therefore become ‘certain things’ and feel ‘certain emotions’ which they may not necessarily be or feel in order to meet the customers’ expectations. For example, receptionists dress and groom to create a certain image, talk nicely and become friendly to guests not because they want but because its part of their work and is aimed at making the guest feel as comfortable as possible. Receptionists always try to behave and think in a way deemed appropriate by the organization. As such they are careful not to reveal chaos in the back house as it will not be conducive to the magical atmosphere they try to create for guests (Wood, R 1990). On the other hand, guests are expected to behave in a certain manner not because they want but because they have paid for the services. They are expected to delve straight into business with wasting time on unnecessary chatter as one might do when requesting favor from someone. I.e., they are not expected to engage in any polite talk. In other word, service encounter creates a personage that’s not one’s true self that instigate a sense of acting. An example of performative labor is provision of customization and care to personalize the guest’s experience of the hotel. 8. Guests and customers from different cultures would often bring with them different expectations and ideals of what constitutes good customer service (Adib, and Guerrier 2003). Travelers from different cultures have differing preferences and expectations which hospitality workers ought to understand and satisfy. For example, guests coming from a power distance society expect the server to communicate respect and take a subordinate role. A guest’s culture also determines the extent of greetings. For example Japanese expect a service provider to take time to greet them properly when they enter the hotel and to thank them and bid them farewell as they depart. Role expectations and the extent to which friendliness may be expressed also vary greatly across cultures. For example, while some cultures interpret friendly act as an act of welcome, others may interpret it as a sign of naivety or even promiscuity. A guest’s culture also determines how a server (host) is to welcome him or her. For example, different cultures have different interpretation for smiles despite smiling being universal. For example, while smiling may be interpreted as a welcoming act in the western world, it may mean sexual interest in a Muslim world and hence a receptionist would avoid smiling at a Muslim guest. 9. Hospitality reception work is conceptualized as a feminized practice as it involves displaying female qualities and performing activities that women generally undertake. I highly agree with this statement. This is because receptionists are expected to display feminine attributes such as politeness, empathy, caring and warmth regardless of whether they are male or female. This is in contrast with masculinity which is associated with toughness, gruffness and pride. As a result, most of receptionists are female as being nice is paramount in the profession. The term reception itself has a feminine connotation making it signify female as being the ideal gender to perform this work due to the resemblance of hospitality and domestic work. In other words, it is seen as commoditized domestic female labor (Adkins, 1995). This is because hospitality is perceived as having the functionality of providing a home away from home. Further more, being a receptionist requires displaying of female qualities and taking on of female roles as well as looking typically feminine in a bid to attract male guests. The industry has also created gender divisions by hiring certain gender for particular occupations. For example, women are generally employed as receptionists while women are employed as receptionists. However, it should be noted that despite the stereotype that reception work is a feminine job, anyone can do it as some men also work as receptionists. 10. What I think will be the innovations that offer greater customer satisfaction in the year 2020 in accommodation With increasing globalization and advances in technology, it is expected that competition in the hospitality industry will be very high and hence the need to differentiate all services including accommodation. Innovations regarding accommodation should include; -rooms appointments including linen, décor and art to be tailored to fit individual guest’s needs -provision of readily customizable space to suit a guest’s varying needs during the stay -Enhanced security in the rooms to ensure the guest is safe and secure at all times including a tracking system that should report on the security of the guest in the room when in danger -HVAC controls and lighting levels will be set to suit individual guest’s needs. -Provision of customized art on walls as well as controlled room temperatures. References: Adib, A and, Guerrier, Y 2003, the interlocking of gender with nationality, race, ethnicity and class: the narratives of women in hotel work, Gender, work and organization, vol.10, no. 4, pp413-432. Adkins, L 1995, Gendered work: sexuality, family and the labour market, Open University press, Buckingham. Andrew, H 2000, Consuming hospitality on holiday. In search of hospitality: theoretical perspectives and debates, Butterworth Heinemann, Melbourne. Baker, S and, Huyton, J 2000, Principles of hotel front office operations, Continuum, London Beatty, D 1996, Awake in a strange landscape. Mad River, university of Pittsburgh press, Pittsburgh Gilbert, D and, Guerrier, Y (1998), Sexual harassment issues in the hospitality industry. International journal of contemporary hospitality management, Vol. 10, no. 2, pp. 48-53. Josef, R 2001, The international hospitality business: management and operations, oxford university press, oxford. Simply hired.com 2010 Hotel Manager job at Extended Stay Hotels in Hampton, VA retrieved on 25th October 2010 http://www.simplyhired.com/job-id/3msnuopw4t/hotel-manager-jobs/ Wood, R 1990, ‘Sociology, Gender, Food Consumption and the Hospitality Industry’, British Food Journal, vol. 92, no. 6, pp. 3-5. Andrews, N 2009, Introduction to tourism and hospitality industry, Oxford University press, oxford. Read More