A methodology for Innovation and Improvement of Tourism Services

nullnull24/04/2007*A methodology for Innovation and Improvement of Tourism Services Willy.Fache@ugent.be University of Ghent (Belgium)International Tourism Biennial, Canakkale, 30/04-05/05/2007null*1. Tourism services are “confidence goods” For many consumers, the annuel holiday represents a major emotional and financial investment that cannot easily be replaced if something goes wrong. It is impossible to assess a priori comprehensively a holiday service because it is intangible Tourism services are defined as “confidence goods” to capture the idea that the customer must feel confident in paying in advance for a promise null*2. Services quality can be defined as the extent of discrepancy between customers’ expectations and their perceptionsnull*3. Factors that influence customers expectations of servicenull*4. The actual service in the result of different processesnull*5. Quality is multifacetednull*6. Gaps in the service quality7. Improvement and Innovation Tools *7. Improvement and Innovation Tools 7.2. Service blueprinting A service blueprint visually displays the service by simultaneously depicting the process of service delivery, the roles of customers and employees.It breaks down a service into its logical components and depict the steps or tasks in the process, the means by which the tasks are executed, and the evidence of service as the customer experiences it. A service blueprint is used both for: 1. Developing new services 2. Improving existing services 3. Training of service providers7.1. Feedback from customers about service-expectations and -experiencesnull*The Pizza restaurant blueprint E. LAWS, Improving tourism and hospitality servicesnull*Blueprint components Customer actions and experiencesService encounters“Onstage” Contact Employee Actions“Backstage”Contact Employee ActionsLine of Visibility for customerInternal InteractionSupport ProcessesFP1Potential failure pointnull*7.3 Foolproof Service Using Poka Yoke A service that is foolproof is so well designed that it “can not go wrong” or that nothing dangerous can happen if a part of it goes wrong. A Poka-Yoke is a single, built-in step in a process that must be performed before the next stage can be performed. It is a device that signals a mistake is about to be made. null*7.4 Service recovery All service providers experience momnets of service failure at some point. Important to find out as soon as possible when a service fails to meet customers’ expectations. Facilitate customer feedback. The feedback procedure and the recovery process needs to be part of the initial service design process. 7.5 Cause-and-effect analyses are important for quality improvement and innovation.*7.5 Cause-and-effect analyses are important for quality improvement and innovation.Experietial levelPattern levelStructural levelService concept levelObjective levelRoot causes of service problemsCritical incident or complaintsHandling of problem (incident or compaint)Line of visibilityFrequency and significance of problemtypePeoplee.g. personal causese.g. not enough peopleProcedurese.g. no clear proceduresInfrastructurese.g. incorrect vision about service expectationse.g. profit is main objectiveAdapted form M. R Testa and L. Sipe (2006).null*7.6 Benchmarking and best practices Benchmarking is mostly defined as comparing oneself with the standards of the best in a particular field. Such analyses result in a picture of how a business compares with its peers and how much it deviates from the standards. Such analyses have the potential to inhibit performance improvement and innovation. An alternative approach of benchmarking compares one’s own service-process against the best that can be identified worldwide. (best practices) null*Thank you for your attention!