Chapter 4: Customer Service in Travel & Tourism PDF

UNIT 4: CUSTOMER SERVICE IN TRAVEL & TOURISM [4.1 The Importance of Customer Service] Customer service is very important to all T&T organisations and they all deliver this customer service to different customer types. Different customers have different needs and wants which the T&T organisations t...

UNIT 4: CUSTOMER SERVICE IN TRAVEL & TOURISM [4.1 The Importance of Customer Service] Customer service is very important to all T&T organisations and they all deliver this customer service to different customer types. Different customers have different needs and wants which the T&T organisations try to satisfy with good customer service. Destination Management Companies (DMC) are a type of tourism organisation. DMCs deliver customer service to customers who are inbound tourists who include all types of leisure tourists, and business (MICE) tourists. Read Case study on **page 109 to 111** [4.2 Delivery of Customer Service] Customer service involves helping customers by providing them with products and services. *Customer Care Policies* T&T organisations have customer care policies which can be defined as a plan relating to how staff should deliver customer service. T&T organisations decide on how customers should be served by the staff. The customer care policy for a T&T organisation may include: how to answer customer enquiries, how to make reservations, how to take payments, and how to handle complaints. Team work is very integral to in the delivery of good customer service in Travel & Tourism. Customer care policies enable the staff to work together as a team to serve customers, serve customers the same way, serve customers to the same standard. These policies set standards for staff e.g., politely greeting every customer. *Product Knowledge* This is the knowledge that T&T organisation staff have of the products and services provided by the organisation. Good product knowledge allows the staff to deliver good customer service through better explaining products and services to customers which makes the customers more likely to want to buy. *Delivery of Customer Service* Delivery of customer service includes handling customer enquiries, procedures for handling complaints, making reservations and taking orders, and having good product knowledge. Read Case Study on page 113 to 115 [4.3 The Provision of customer service for different types of tourists] T&T organisations provide customer service for different types of customers which include leisure tourists; business tourists, families with children; tourists of different age groups including older people; tourists with specific needs such as mobility; visual, hearing; language; and cultural needs. Read case study from page 117-119 [4.4 Skills required when working in the T&T industry] Important skills for staff in T&T include personal skills such as personal presentation and body language, communication, clear speech, numeracy, literacy, ICT, and problem solving. Interpersonal skills are important as well such as listening, patience, being welcoming, being flexible, working in a team and some ability to speak more than one language. *Personal Skills* Personal skills such as personal presentation and body language create a good first impression. Personal skills such as the ones mentioned earlier on aid the staff in delivering good customer service. An example would be how a good first impression can make customers more likely to spend more money and give positive customer feedback. *Interpersonal Skills* The already mentioned interpersonal skills are vital in T&T as they help staff in delivering good customer services. An example is having the ability to listen to customer's demands as a waiter makes them want to keep on coming for more which is good for the restaurant. *Importance of training and types of training* Skills enable staff to provide good customer service to tourists including responsible tourists. Staff learn and improve skills through practise and training. Training is essential for better customer service delivery. Some types of training including sustainable tourism practices are: on the job training (this includes work shadowing, job rotation, mentoring), and also formal learning (including classroom-based learning, online learning.) Write down the definition of key words on page 120 and read the case study from page 121 to 123.