The main interest of this work is to call attention to service professionals who have the responsibility of taking the tourism industry to higher levels, which has been facing the worst global economic crisis. Today, a slight recovery can be seen, despite having received negative impacts in terms of job cuts in the sector and income generation.
In this context, it is essential to stay up-to-date on the trends that occur in demand, consumption habits and especially in taking into account the criteria of unsatisfied customers that are a reflection of deficiencies and insufficiencies in our work as service providers.. Thus, these manifestations of disagreement may become our Achilles heel taken to social networks that are currently consulted by four out of ten people who decide to travel. Therefore, it is a call for reflection to be more and more competitive.
Abstract:
This work has as main interest to get the attention of the professionals of the service that have the responsibility of taking to superior plans to the tourist industry that is making front of the worst world economic crisis. Today it is appreciated a slight recovery, in spite of having received negative impacts as for reduction of employments in the sector and in the generation of revenues.
In this context it is indispensable to remain up-to-date on the tendencies that take place in the demand, the habits in the consumption and mainly in keeping in mind the approaches of non-satisfied clients that are a reflection of deficiencies and inadequacies in our work as lenders of services. It is like this that those dissent manifestations will be able to become our “Achilles Heel” taken to the social nets that at the present time are consulted by four of each ten people that decide to travel. Therefore, it is an invitation to the reflection to be more and more competitive.
El turismo como industria ha atravesado momentos de esplendor y de inestabilidad producto de guerras, epidemias, conflictos sociales en determinadas áreas geográficas y más recientemente la crisis económica mundial. Sin embargo, continuará creciendo, quizás no sea con la rapidez que quisiéramos, pero las personas desean continuar viajando, conociendo en constante interacción con la naturaleza, las personas, las culturas de los pueblos, su historia, su gastronomía, etc.
Today's tourist has been revolutionizing tourist demand due to the trends that have been imposed by consumers themselves from the ups and downs of the economy, so they are eager to live their own experiences and move away from the path that they have traditionally traced by the tours operators, no longer have to assume the products that the agencies propose to them because there are other alternatives to inform themselves and make decisions.
Now the tourist tends to want a more active tourism, where he is the protagonist of his trip, therefore, experiential and different on the basis of respect for the environment, that is, responsible tourism.
This new consumer of services wants these to be more and more personalized, of high quality and that there is a very good quality / price ratio and for all this he is a tireless search engine for information.
Tourism managers and workers in any instance should be aware that this is a very dynamic industry and that moving forward with the demands and even a little ahead of them so as not to be surprised, will be essential to be successful. You cannot think that tourists have to like everything we offer them because we do it with the best intentions and with the greatest love in the world, it is essential to be constantly updated on the changes that occur in preferences, tastes and in trends and be in tune with expectations. Customer dissatisfaction cannot be ignored, even if it is a minority, this in addition to showing us that there are still shortcomings, can also become a negative signal that damages the image of the company.
Let us remember that technological advances and especially the Internet are at the service of more than 1,200,000,000 people in the world and that opinions can be transmitted through social networks that will be known extremely quickly, increasing the prestige of any installation or at the same time. otherwise, sowing doubt or affecting the good image, which will undoubtedly be taken into account by potential consumers.
In a survey carried out by the Eurobarometer in February 2010 on the sources of information used by Europeans to make decisions for their holidays, the results were summarized in the following graph:
As can be seen, 29% of people take into account the recommendations of friends to make their decisions, while 24.3% of those surveyed use other channels on the internet and 18.2% rely on their own experiences.
While it is true that most customers make very positive judgments about the places they visit and especially about the services received in hotels, restaurants and others, it is also true that there are dissatisfactions that should not be ignored because they reflect a lack of control, bad work, little vision of the service providers or ignorance of what their role should be in these processes. It is important to note that these dissatisfactions are present in facilities of any category or tourist destination in both developed and developing countries.
As an example of dissatisfactions issued by customers who did not partially or fully meet their travel expectations in European and American destinations, I list below some reflected on Trip Advisor. In this relationship we omit names of destinations, facilities and clients because our interest is to make readers think, and especially those who have the responsibility that things like these do not happen.
"Don't go it's a scam"
Commented on March 14, 2011
The hotel has an impressive lobby that's it, the rooms are unmaintained, the food is horrible and the hotel service is bad. It has no internet in the rooms. The beach is nice and the pool is big. This hotel is not worth wasting your money.
"Sad and disappointing…"
Commented on March 31, 2011
The most outrageous thing that happens in this hotel is the discrimination of your own countrymen and in your own country !!! So sad!! If you are not a foreigner, forget the good service, what a shame, in a destination with so much culture and tradition.
We hired the all-inclusive service in rooms with Sea View, upon arrival we were assigned another, nothing to do with what was booked.
Try to go down to dinner early because after 9 at night the waiters take care of you reluctantly, they do not come to offer you a drink unless you call them and they take more than 20 minutes to bring you the drink when you are almost getting up…
Forget being able to distract yourself after 5 in the afternoon, because the hotel does not provide any type of entertainment, a show, nothing….
There is live music, it is very nice and very comfortable… but be careful, my dear Spanish-speaking people, they only play music in English… buuuu !! So you can imagine the environment only for foreigners.
The service in all the bars is lousy, lousy, there is a total preference for foreigners, if you order a drink it takes centuries to bring it back, they pretend they don't listen to you (of course, first there is the one that leaves a 1 dollar tip)
"With a bitter taste"
Commented on January 30, 2011
The concierge service leaves a lot to be desired in terms of the personalized attention and information they provide (I never had any idea of the hours of the activities or the services provided by the hotel).
We had a small problem with the transfer to the airport and they didn't know how to solve it… what's more, I had to take care of the calls to the travel agency, a horror for a hotel that must provide 5-star service.
As for the food, very repetitive, surely the next day you will find a meal made with the leftovers of the previous day; there is no variety.
February 2011
The hotel facilities are very neglected, the cleanliness leaves a lot to be desired.
The staff is not friendly at all, with some exceptions in the odd restaurant, in all food places you had to ask for drinks several times and in most cases we ended up getting up to look for them ourselves.
Internet service (for which they charge you $ 10 per day) works at an excruciatingly slow pace.
Several times we went to get towels and they told us they did not have them !!!
The dinners in restaurants that we supposedly had reserved, made us wait 20 minutes at the door, without the slightest consideration for children.
Breakfast, which supposedly ended at 10:30 in the morning, after 10 o'clock they no longer replaced anything, not bread, not cereals, or anything!
"Real disaster"
A hotel with half star service, it is super old and dilapidated.
Rooms with stained, cigarette-burned curtains and carpets, with windows that haven't been cleaned for years.
You can reach the ceiling of the bathroom just by raising your hand (and I'm short of stature) the bathtub is stained yellow and all stung by the years.
The dinner buffet has just 3 courses, soggy rice, chicken and burnt noodles !!!!.
"An army barracks"
We stayed for about 95 euros a night.
The accommodation is without breakfast, they give you a points card for which one of every two breakfasts is free, but it is a lie, since it costs you about 12 euros each breakfast.
They include the tip on the bill, but it does not fall within the price that they initially give you, it is 10% apart every day and this must include 26% taxes.
For a call of about 3 minutes national they charged us about 2.5 euros.
I liked it - The attention of the door concierges
I didn't like it - That the final price is far from the one you hire.
"They gave them the 5 stars!"
Comented May 9, 2011
I don't know where they got the 5 stars from, the old hotel, with very dirty areas, the service not very good, except for some employees who were very friendly, but in general you had to ask please to get something to drink !!! The gym cannot be called a gym !!, terrible !!!, it does not even have a bicycle or a mat to do sit-ups !!!, of the restaurants the only one I rescue is the buffet! the other really bad !!
"Very bad"
Comented the 27 April 2011
This hotel is listed as 5 stars, and does not even reach the top of the first. Terrible service, too old rooms, very average meals, terrible drinks. They make guests wait too many HOURS to assign rooms.
"I would not return even if they gave it to me"
Commented on April 7, 2011
The most negative thing was the ill will of the people who work there.
It is understood that one should reward people who work in a hotel with tips, but here the issue of money is too obvious.
Poorly prepared, overcooked and stale meals, not to mention the seafood and meat restaurant, if you don't go you won't miss a thing, it's terrible, the food very poorly prepared and the service is poor as in all restaurants. You could spend several minutes sitting waiting for someone to attend you, but if you gave a good tip, things changed radically.
It takes more dedication and supervision, the same employees commented that they were very tired from working and that there were too few staff to attend to such a large hotel, so they transferred their bad mood and displeasure to the customer.
"I'm not coming back"
Commented on May 30, 2011 -
The hotel itself is not bad, but it is not prepared to cater for many people, the rooms are the worst and very dirty, the food is scarce and repeated, in short I will never return, the animation is terrible.
"Misleading advertising"
Commented on February 20, 2011
We can say little positive about these apartments! After being at reception from 10 in the morning (even knowing that we could not have the room until 12) they gave it to us almost at 3 in the afternoon, while we saw how it was granted to other people; the excuse is that the one they awarded us was uncleaned. And couldn't it be another? Anyway, we didn't have a miserable channel in Spanish, we went to reception for a blanket the first night because it was frighteningly cold and they didn't have (excuse, everyone has asked for them and they don't remain) cool! to sleep in street clothes! The cleanliness left a lot to be desired…
«Beautiful Hotel but with many aspects to improve»
Commented on September 5, 2011
1. Room service is a disaster, they really limit yourself to changing your towels and scrubbing the floor, little else, they don't clean or tidy the room like they do in other hotels of this category.
2. You pay for everything and everything is very expensive; $ 20 for an umbrella on the beach (20 meters away from the shore); $ 20 a night for parking! 8 dollars for the use of a computer for 15 minutes etc….
3. Breakfast is the most lacking in the hotel; what includes you is really scarce and not very varied, on the third day you are already up to the cap of toast with butter or with the most vulgar slices of cheese.
5.-Finally, I strongly recommend that you do not even think about hiring the laundry service… I did it because it was really essential for me and besides being EXPENSIVE !!!! $ 11 for washing a shirt… they return your clothes in a deplorable state… one of my dresses appeared with various holes.
"Dream place, disastrous service"
Comented the 29 August 2011
Located on an unbeatable beach, perfect sea, white sand, radiant sun…. the Paradise. The misfortune is that those who run the hotel do not consider the guest at all…
"Never more"
Comented the 23 May 2011
“Cleaning is conspicuous by its absence on Sundays and Wednesdays they don't clean but this is not the worst, since the cockroaches camp around the apartment like Pedro at his house, they leave you a bottle of roach killer under the sink for you to take care of… The buffet food is very repetitive and not varied, the treatment with the waiters is very good, they are friendly. Ah, I forgot there is no hairdryer in the rooms you have to pay one euro a day to rent one ”…
"Hatchery"
Comented the 25 August 2010
The truth is that the cleaning is terrible, crunchy black bugs, (cockroaches), hair in the bathtub, on the floor, in short…, although to be fair the great food and the entertainment and services in general, I will not return to the same hotel or free
It is possible that the way in which some criticisms are written calls for laughter, but it really must be a great concern for those who could be reflected in them and a warning for all of us who work in tourism and who respect our profession.
If approximately four out of ten travelers use social networks looking for information and two out of ten participate by giving their opinions about their experiences, then I ask you, dear reader, to come to your own conclusions. However, I want to share some ideas:
- By providing the service, we are not doing a favor, the client chose us and we, with effort, wisdom and dedication, are in charge of helping to make their dreams come true and thus conquer their preference. This says a lot about our professionalism.
- It is a reality that today's tourists are more informed, so they are more demanding and require a more personalized service. However, you do not have to know everything, your right is to be informed with the greatest transparency, away from deception and disrespect for the intelligence of the person who requires knowledge to make the best decision; Our obligation is to fulfill this mission, otherwise we will not only affect the image of the professional, but also that of the institution we represent.
- You have the right to find a friendly, smiling face, a professional who gives you confidence who is a true counselor, ready to help you satisfy your needs, your tastes and make your expectations come true, not to waste the time that is so valuable to him, if we take into account that he accumulated it after months of intense work and that he is trying to enjoy himself in that destination, where he also decided to spend part of his savings.
- You have the right to complain, not accept what you consider to be affecting you. Our obligation is to attend to complaints, your suggestions and give a quick response without inconsistencies and justifications, give an immediate solution that if it were not totally desired, it can be appreciated that we did everything because you feel good and that you can thank it.
- It is also your right, to feel in an environment of respect, solidarity, good customs, cleanliness, order, discipline, good treatment, balanced diet, well presented, where to go to the restaurant in addition to serving to restore energy, be a moment of pleasure and Enjoy the beauty of the ducks and the expertise that characterizes each of the professionals who provide their services.
- Find workers who are true ambassadors of their culture, representatives of the idiosyncrasy of their people and that mark them positively forever and can be sure that they did not waste their time, nor their money and that they will not only return as many times as possible, but that will convince others to visit that destination
- We are at a time when competition in types of products and services, as well as in prices, makes it more necessary to waste wisdom, actions that value ours and that the quality of the men and women who have this mission exceed all the forecasts.
That this call for attention leads to reflection and creative capacity, is our main interest.
Sources consulted:
• Daniel Quiles. Social Networks: a key factor for the hotel industry.
• Eurobarometer on the attitude of Europeans towards tourism in 2010
•
• http://www.oei.es/pensariberoamerica/ric08a02.htm. Tourism and culture dialogue
• http://www.portaldeamerica.com/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=3827:la-crisis-econ%C3%B3mica-y-el-turismo&Itemid=37 The economic crisis and tourism
• Trip Advisor. Customer reviews.
