CHAPTER 2

GUESTOLOGY
Guestology

• Dickson (2010) defined guestology as the scientific study of behaviors, needs, and
expectations of people in a service environment, and how to use that knowledge to
optimally manage a service organization.

• The concept that Bruce Laval, the father of guestology, introduced has now become a
science that deals with understanding the guest.

• Guestology entails studying the totality of the guest experience, from their expectations
down to the results and feedback.

• Klein (2014) mentioned in her study that guestology involves knowing the guests or
clients and their needs and wants, perceptions, and expectations. Her approach toward
guestology entails involving identifying the actual needs and wants, perceptions, and
expectations will seal the deal.
CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS
• For customer satisfaction and customer service to be achieved, a complete and proper
understanding of customer expectations is very important. Unless the establishment
already knows what the customers want, what they expect, and who they are, it will be
very difficult to match up to the expectations.

• Companies should make it a practice to always inquire from their customers whether they
have met their expectations and put all of this data into their internal research. We must
note of their likes, dislikes, needs, wants, and profile as these would be the baseline of our
entire operations.

• The reality right now is that customer expectations are continuously changing, and unless
companies are attuned to them, they will fall short of these expectations, leading to
customer dissatisfaction and attrition.
• Planning for customer satisfaction is really important in this case as this will be the
platform for the design of the experience. This is the role of the guestologist.

• Everything must be in place when the guest’s senses first come in contact with
anything about your establishment, so the role of the guestologist is very critical.

• Much more in the Philippine culture, where there are different sets of beliefs and ideals,
there are also different sets of expectations.

• A conference set in Hong Kong would have all its meals in cocktail style; however, if you
have Filipino guests, this cannot be acceptable because a typical acceptable meal for
them would entail a proper table setup with plush seating and ambiance. So, different
expectations would determine what kind of planning and design you would want to have
for your guests.
• Establishments geared toward the delivery of services in tourism and hospitality should
always be careful not to over-deliver the said services.

• As our guests become more exposed to what we offer, he/she become more complex and,
as such, are accustomed to relying on our decision-making skills to look at what best to
give to them.

• If a guest were to enter a fast-food restaurant with tables lined with expensive linen, he/she
would be expecting the levels of a casual or fine-dining restaurant.

• Some would say that this is delighting the guest, but it is also important to think that a
• guests may also think that this restaurant is too expensive to dine in.
• Guests would want their expectations to be met, no more, no less.

• Food attendants or waiters should literally "wait'" for their guests when dining in a
restaurant.

• Anticipating guest needs is one of the primary responsibilities of a waiter and he/she
should be good at it.

• It requires full attention so that whenever a guest needs something, he/she can
immediately handle the concern and attend to the guest's request.

• But it does not mean that the waiter should be in close vicinity of the guest so that the
guest could see and notice that the waiter is on "tiger look" at him/her.

• A guest needs ample space so that he/she can get the privacy that he/she wants.
• Depending on the service desired, most of our guests have general similarities when it
comes to their expectations.

• Their usual expectations would be that the establishment be clean and the staff be
courteous, responsive, reliable, and friendly.

• These expectations usually go up if the establishment's level of service also goes up.

• Unfortunately, not all high-end or luxury establishments have maintained this kind of
service.
• Ekiz et al. (2012) noted in their article that even in luxury hotels, there are still basic
problems that are unresolved, and with social media around, guests have easy access to
flaunt these problems which set a springboard for other problems.

• They enumerated several problems in their article which are the following:

1. Rooms with concerns extending from small-sized rooms to rooms with no modern
technology

2. A arrogant and/or clueless staff- with comments ranging from staff being rude and no
answers to questions posed.

3. Failure to respond - mainly covering staff's failure to respond to guest complaints

4. Poor delivery -covering complaints such as late service or wrong room service and
long process for check-ins/outs.

5. Cleanliness with criticisms on soiled linen, carpet stains, and hair-trapped in bathtubs

6. Amenities and utilities- with problems associated with the lack or inadequacy of
toiletries and items in the minibar.

7. Billing - with guests grumbling about having them charged extra for parking, Internet,
and gym.
• Customers, otherwise known as guests and clients, in the hospitality and tourism
business play a significant role in the operations.

• To understand their behavior and to strategize the efforts of the company, it is important
to identify and match each type of customer.

• The Corporate Finance Institute (2015) has identified basic types of customers that a
hospitality and tourism enterprise should be aware of.

• They are our loyal customers, impulse customers, discount customers, need-based
customers, and wandering customers.
• The loyal customers are the most important segment to please and should be one of the
priorities in mind of a specific company. Usually, this type of customer represents no more than
twenty percent (20%) of the customer base but drives the majority of the sales revenues.

• Because of this, it is important to note that a loyal customer values a product heavily.
Furthermore, they are more likely to be the bearers of positive word of mouth (VVOM) and likely
to recommend the company's service products.

• Therefore, during the planning phase, even in the decision-making process, these customers
must be given heavy emphasis.

• Impulse customers, meanwhile, are the best type to do suggestive selling.

• They are also second to loyal customers when it comes to attractiveness in the market.
• As the name implies, these customers do not have a shopping list in mind and do shopping
• instinctively. Moreover, this kind of customer is receptive to recommendations on
• products. Similar to loyal customers, it is also important to involve these customers
• because what they say also matters in generating more revenue.
• Another type of customer that affects a company's inventory turnover is the discount
customer. They contribute to a company's cash flow because the products which are
seldom purchased at full price are availed by these customers as best markdowns.

• The fourth type of customer is driven by a specific need. These customers are
called the need-based customers. They buy for a specific reason and occasion, and because
of this, it may be difficult to convince them to upsell. It is also important to note that these
customers are adept at avoiding any attempt to upsell and that they will immediately leave
after they are done getting what they need. These customers are also easily drawn to other
businesses, much more if the price is cheaper and the alternative product can also serve its
purpose.
• It is therefore important to carefully initiate personal interaction with this segment to
develop lasting relationships with them. It has also been observed that there is a possibility
to convert this segment to loyal customers. If a company can prove that the service that it
delivers could pose a "need" for this segment, along with proper positive personal
interactions, it is expected that this segment will be loyal in the long run.

• The last type of customer is the wandering customer. These customers have no specific
need or desire in mind but the largest amount of traffic yield the smallest percentage in
sales revenue. This type of customer enjoys social interaction while shopping.

• Thus, spending a lot of time trying to please this segment can draw away the other
segments. Although generating a small percentage to revenue, it is important to note
that this segment Still provides insightful information about the products and can
therefore contribute to the feedback mechanism of the company.
• Alongside these segments drag another type of customer that is usually forgotten or left out.
It is called the internal customers.
• As a hospitality entity, it is important to note that aside from external customers, it also
serves its internal customers (people who depend on and "serve" each other).

• As they are the ones who are doing the service process, they understand the feeling of
being served together with the toil of hard work that goes with it. Thus, the service given to
an external customer should also be the same of an internal customer.

• The expectations, which are to be satisfied, for an external customer should be the same
• with that of an internal customer.
QUALITY AND VALUE

In the previous chapter, quality was defined individually. Here, we will view quality as tied
together to the concept of value and how it affects the guest-service staff relationship. The
measure of quality for the guests is based on the difference between their expectation and
their experience (or as netizens quote it in present memes, "reality"). By reality, it means
what the guests have experienced in an actual sense. For example, if the quality that the
guest experienced matches what he/she expected, then we can say that he/she has
experienced typical quality- -positive as he/she was satisfied with the service provided. This
is experienced when a person is craving a chicken meal, for example, in a fast-food outlet,
and he/she feels that what he/she paid is fit for the service that he/she received. But if a
person is not satisfied with either the service provided or the product given, then we can say
that he/she experienced a negative quality. When evaluating quality, one needs to realize
that quality can be high or low regardless of how it costs the company.
Value about quality would entail the study of costs. To measure the value derived from a
guest experience. we need to match if the costs incurred total or equal to the quality of the
experience.

The Customer and the Definition of Value

Since the tourism and hospitality industry is guest-centered or customer-centered, ultimately,

it is the customer who defines value.