AD ALTA
JOURNAL OF INTERDISCIPLINARY RESEARCH
Managing guest-server interactions is one of the most
challenging but crucial tasks for tourism managers (Baum,
1197; in Jones & Haven-Tang, 2005). Employers must define
service quality goals and achieve employee commitment to
them, as well as ensuring employees have the appropriate skills,
knowledge, attitude, authority and access to information
necessary for providing high-quality guest service (Hoque,
1999; Evans et al., 2003; in Jones & Haven-Tang, 2005). Keith
& Simmers (2013) state that many hotel and F&B managers
choose comment cards as a method to measure guest
satisfaction. However, the question remains as to whether
comment cards are an effective evaluation tool and whether the
appropriate service quality dimensions are being assessed.
Service quality is the key to competitive advantage. Long-term
effects of service quality are more important than short-term
ones (Jones & Haven-Tang, 2005). Kapiki (2012) states that
quality assurance is a long-term commitment which represents
a cost, but a welcomed and a lower one than that of non-quality.
The managers should identify, record and weigh up the impacts
of quality cost-profit and be in a position to prioritize towards
quality improvement processes. The cost-benefit ratio of quality
could be achieved through an equation of non-quality costs and
quality assurance towards the benefits of operational cost
savings, as well as guest return rate and word of mouth
recommendation.
In many ways, defining and controlling the service quality is
more complicated than the quality assurance of products.
Unlike manufacturing, service industries share unique
characteristics that make the process of quality control less
manageable but not less important. Moreover, the level of
quality expected is less predictable. Service company
operations are affected by several characteristics, including the
intangible nature of the output and the inability to store the
output. Other distinguishing features include: (1) behavior of
the delivery person, (2) image of the organization, (3) the guest
present during the production process and performing the final
inspection, (4) the measure of output is difficult to define, (5)
variance and acceptance ranges may not apply, (6) adjusting the
control system if the guest is present (Ross, 1999).
However, the most significant problem with the delivery of
services is that it is typically measured at the guest interface –
the one-on-one, face-to-face interaction between supplier and
guest (Ross, 1999).
3 Materials and Methods
The paper aimed to evaluate the quality of hospitality services
in Portugal during the low season. The research was realized
during October 4-26, 2019. The area of study was Central
Portugal and Lisbon District. Those regions are interesting for
tourists during the low season considering good possibilities for
golf tourism, surfing and cultural heritage. We used mystery
shopping as a method to evaluate the quality of services in
selected restaurants, bars, and coffee houses.
Mystery shopping (also called mystery guest research) is a
research method that is based on the principle of the so-called
secret shopping. Secret shopping is used to find out the level of
sale and the readiness of individual shops or their staff
members to cope with the arrival of the potential guest. During
the research process, there is observed the seller's behavior.
Also, the time spent waiting, form and the realization of the
offer, interior, atmosphere, visage and the neatness of seller and
other features which can influence the success of the selling
process. The process of mystery shopping (figure 2) consists of
three phases. The first phase is project preparation. The second
phase represents the process of mystery shopping itself, and in
the last phase
, the evaluation process is finished (Staňková &
Vaculíková, 2007).
Figure 2: Process of realized mystery shopping in Portugal
A. Preparation of the research
B. Process of mystery shopping
C. The evaluation
Source: Own elaboration, 2020.
The primary document for mystery shopping provider is the
checklist. Through it, we can check in detail the sale process
that is focused on the given topic and particular services. The
checklist is a supplementary instrument of evaluation of the
mystery shopping which evaluates especially following
parameters, e.g.:
the first impression, interior,
behavior of staff workers, their neatness and appearance,
the first contact, addressing, beginning of the
communication,
extent to what guest's needs were found out,
communicative skills of the seller,
scope of supply, advantages and discounts provided,
realization of the selling itself, supplementary sale,
providing information about after-sales service,
sand-off and acknowledgements.
The checklist contains a list of criteria (table 1). Our research
evaluation categories were (1) place and important visible
information, (2) atmosphere and cleanliness, (3) menu, (4)
order process, (5) payment process, (6) staff – delivery person.
Restaurants could receive a maximum of 39 points from all
categories. Every category has some evaluating criteria which
were surveyed.
Table 1: Control criteria
Category
Criteria
Points
Total
Place &
important
visible
information
•
name of the restaurant
•
opening hours
•
payment possibilities
•
other details (e.g. accessible for kids,
disabled person)
•
parking possibilities
2
2
2
2
3
11
Atmosphere
&
cleanliness
•
atmosphere
•
table
•
cleanliness of the restaurant
•
accessibility of condiments
•
cleanliness of the toilet/restroom
1
2
2
2
2
9
Menu
•
visual effect, information about dishes
•
special offer (e.g. autumn offers, happy
hours, etc.)
1
1
2
Guest arrival
•
greeting till 30 seconds
•
welcoming
1
1
2
Order
process
•
salutation waiting time
•
order waiting time
•
waiting time for beverages
•
waiting time for dishes
•
service of dishes and beverages
2
2
2
2
1
9
Payment
process
•
waiting time for the bill,
•
correctness of
bill
2
send-off with guest
2
4
Staff –
delivery
person
•
visage
•
behavior
•
•
professionalism
2
direct marketing
1
1
1
5
Total points
39
Source: Own elaboration, 2020.
Checklist evaluation, information analysis
Report preparation
Visiting selected restaurants, bars, coffee houses
Filling in the checklist from by the mystery shopper
Purpose determination
Developing a scenario, graphic plan, cost estimate
Preparation of a checklist
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