Background

The star hotels in India have been a curiosity and an attraction for the common people. The disposable income of the middle income group has increased over the years. They too have started visiting the star hotels and staying there for holidays. The affluent society is more fascinated towards the star hotels for their regular social functions and entertainments. The middle income group have started travelling in air frequently which resulted in the growth of the star hotels in different cities in India. The customers/guests, who stay in these star hotels regularly, though liked the infrastructure and the facilities are not thoroughly aware of the criteria/standards which are prescribed for the accreditation of such stars Hotels. It is pertinent to mention that these star hotels charge a higher price for the products and the services that they offer to the guests/Costumers in comparison to the ordinary hotels. The prices for everything in star hotels are beyond the reach of the common man in our quantity society, still the star hotels are now growing all over the country in a rapid pace. The star hotels too are doing good business.

Obtaining the star accreditation for a hotel is the process of evaluation by an authorised Committee. The committee evaluates the existing infrastructures and facilities on a given day against the guidelines and the checklists issued by the Government. The committee consists of seven members from the tourism relevant fields. Though the hotel star classification is a voluntary scheme, many hotels prefer the star Tag from the government HRACC committee as an Indicator of the classified standard in India. But it is a fact that the star tag accreditation only focuses on the infrastructures and facilities, not on the services provided in the hotels. Hence the regular hotel goers have many complaints regarding the services provided in the classified star hotels in India. It is a known and common fact that maximum complains in hotels are recorded concerning to the services. Most importantly the services are carried out by the human beings.

Understanding the evaluation of hospitality services

The Hospitality/hotel industry is perhaps the brightest example of the service industry. Food and beverage is the core of the service area in a hospitality unit and food & beverage department employs majority of the manpower in the hotel and provides the majority of the services to its customers. The manpower works 24/7 in a hotel. The service provider is expected to be in its hygienic grooming, presentable posture & smile while delivering the services which is probably a challenging act.

Several efforts have been made to evaluate the service quality in the hospitality industry. But a little has been achieved in finding a correct evaluating method of the hospitality services. One of the notable models to measure the service quality in general is servqual. This model focuses mainly on five dimensions such as Tangibility, Reliability, Responsiveness, Assurance and Empathy. Few of these factors can be applied selectively and occasionally to the hospitality services.

I feel few of the factors can be considered partially & occasionally to evaluate the quality of the Food & Beverage services and the House keeping services in the hospitality sector or the hotels specifically.

Responsiveness — Intangibility

• The common customer complaints are the lukewarm reception that they receive in the front office as they enter the hotel lobby. In some instances, the front office people do not provide adequate information regarding the rooms, other functions/meeting going in the hotel. Sometimes the receptionists respond late &do not pick up the telephones.
Evaluation of the warmth in hotel reception is very complex
Evaluation of the customer’s mind-set is very complex

• In some occasions the customers in the restaurants do not receive warm greetings by the hostess. This creates unusual impression in the guest’s mind. Attending quickly to the guests inside the restaurant by the waiters creates a positive impression on the guest’s mind. Quick and efficient food service creates a satisfying and tangible feeling within the guests. Further the timely and quick clearance of the used crockery and cutleries from the guest’s table creates appositive impression in guest’s mind. The appropriate and relevant communications with the guests during the food service creates a sense of comfort among the guests.

• Room service of food & beverage has always been in the complaint list of many hotel customers. Especially the timely service with right food temperature is the key.
Evaluation of (prompt & efficient food service) is complex
Evaluation of (quick clearance of the used crockery) is complex
Evaluation of (foodservice temperature) is complex.

• The House keeping services such as clean, hygienic and odourless linens in bedroom affects the guest’s mind for the evaluation process.

• The cleanliness and the odour in the guest’s bathroom also affects the guest’s mind for the evaluation.

Reliability – Assurance (Intangibility)

• The Reliability of the hospitality services is based on the competency and responsibility. The reliability includes factors like the timely food services and clearance of used crockery in restaurant & room standardised recipes, specified brand of crockery and cutlery, safe & hygienic food.

• The Physical safety of the guests within the premises.

It is observed further that similar cases emerge while one tries to evaluate and grade the house keeping services in a hotel. The intangible aspects of the house keeping services make it difficult& complex to grade. While we think about, grading the Hospitality services of the classified star hotels in India, I encounter few issues which need to be addressed in favour of the customers. The issues are mainly as below,

• The 5star hotels of each brand has a specified SOP in food and beverage services and in housekeeping services while the standalone 5 star hotels have their own SOP in services. The training module for the hospitality services vary from brand to brand.

• The quality of manpower in hospitality services vary from brand to brand and the services vary too in the same star category. The amount of funds invested in quality service training too makes the differences.

• Majority of the star hotels too are understaffed, which lead to dilution in quality hospitality services.

• The attrition and the untrained manpower too cause the substandard hospitality services in the star hotels.

Under such circumstances, I feel it will be a challenge in evaluating the hospitality services in the star hotels and grading them as per their allotted star category. I would However I would invite suggestions from the Hospitality service brains to work on this direction so that the confusion and complexity regarding, grading of the hospitality services in the star hotels can be sorted out.

Dr. Jagat Mangaraj

Background

Being in the position of Managing and leading a professional educational Institute, I have the opportunity of watching, meeting and interacting with the young students closely. Such students are from the age 17 years & onwards. Interaction with such students gave me the perception about their attitude, patience & the approach towards the study and life. Hence I decided to write few lines concerning the matters which I had experienced over two decades. Though I am in this profession of education/teaching for 35 years, I want to focus on the gradual change in their patience and understanding, in the day to day life.

My Period

I was born in the early sixties. My father was a Government servant and my mother is purely a dedicated home maker and a harbinger of peace always, at any time and any place. In many instances I wonder how a person (my mother) can be so cool & calm? Perhaps she had the abilities to absorb stresses and maintain her calmness and at the same time, providing stability with happiness to the family. Since then, I came across with many families and could perceive things very clearly that the time has changed and the mind-set of the new generation has changed. Here I share few instances which demonstrate the mind-set change that I experienced with many students and fewparents.

The Change

Time is probably the most powerful factor in the ever changing life style. The evolution of the unit /nuclear family has changed the life and the lifestyles of the new generation. Even the youngest member in the family feels that he is the best decision maker and wants his decision to prevail. The Initial love and affection of the parents towards the kids and subsequent spoon feeding by the parents make the kids always dependent and demanding in all the areas which we as teens never had. This mind-set of the present day teens gradually creates deficiencies in social value. (This is exclusively referred and compared with my teen age period with the present teens). Whenthe teens grow in age, the deficiencies can be observed as patience, understanding, sharing the emotions, sharing the social values and caring for others etc. These teen agers when exposed to the real world, face challenges around them and find themselves in uncomfortable situations, may be in a hostel or in a new professional institute or a college. The teen agers miss all the comforts and room services of the home, instead they meet a heterogeneous mix of friends of similar aggressive and dominating in nature. The frustration of the teens combined with the ego make themselves aggressive in behaviour. Such teens never accept defeat or loss in good spirits. In many instances, the teens along with similar natured friends make a group and want to establish their influence over others. Sometimes verbal and physical fights take place. This has been observed among some of the teen age groups in the hostels, among day scholars, also in the groups of the societies. As per my observations in the hostels, the teens assume the sense of self- independence and exhibit behaviour incoherently. Some of the teens neglect academics and place other matters ahead. The mobile phones have become an integral part of their lives. Many surveys have indicated that 30% of the teens spend average 5-hours daily with mobile phones for the purpose of entertainment & academics. The mobile phones assumed more importance during the covid-19 as the schools and colleges followed online mode of study.

The Online exams proved convenient and comfortable for many teens as the online surveillance in the exams is weak. Many teens students passed the online exams with less effort and found it easy going. Such teens struggled when the offline classes and examination started. They lost the habits of writing for 03 hours in pen and struggled. This struggle resulted frustration among the teens. The parent's advice to reduce the excess use of mobile phones often resulted in arguments between the teens and the parents. The use of mobiles for long hours at night by some teens has become the regular activities. The excessive use of mobile till late night disturbs the sleep among the teens which subsequently delays their next morning study schedule. Such developments make the teens irritating in nature.

The peer friendship among the teens and its decision prevails over parental decision. Parents of the students in many instances have met me and expressed their concern and helplessness regarding the aggressive mind-set of their sons and daughters in home. In few cases the students who stay out of the hostels, attend classes irregularly and perform poorly in their examination. Such teens in many instances never report the exams results to their parents. On enquiry, the parents get shocking information from the college. This too makes the parents very sad. In occasions, there are confrontations between the teens and their parents on academic performances. Few teen students even do not go to their hometown after semester examinations and prefer to spend time of their choice for holiday destinations. Such acts of the teens really trouble me and I could very well understand the agony of the parents. Understanding a parent’s thought is paramount. The parents in spite of being unhappy with such attitude of their sons and daughters can’t express and can’t share with others. If parents express their opinion, it creates unpleasant situation in the family. It seems that there is a constant gap emerging between the parents and their sons and daughters in the life style and the and perception of life. Perhaps every movement of the life is taking shape in the virtual mode. Teens are happy with the virtual developments. Physical hard work is a different concept for them. They want and demand everything on platter. They want everything by the click of the mousse. If the click of the mouse doesn’t get them their desired product, then frustration and blaming the systems is their response.

I being from the traditional school of thought may be sounding different and unusual to the present teens life style. Perhaps for them it’s their good way of life. It may be the future. But I have few concerns that constantly come in my thoughts, which I leave it to the readers to imagine and perceive.

I hope there is a good time coming for the society in future. I should be proved wrong by the coming generation. The world should be filled with tolerance, human values and understanding. The understanding among each other would give rise to love within the society which would be a happy place to live.

Jagatmangaraj.in