Chapter 3 Understanding the Consumer
DOI: 10.23912/9781915097132-5071 | ISBN: 9781915097132 |
Published: March 2022 | Component type: chapter |
Published in: Customer Service for Hospitality and Tourism 3rd edn | Parent DOI: 10.23912/9781915097132-5067 |
Abstract
In a highly competitive environment, customers increasingly expect service providers to anticipate their needs and deliver on them. It is therefore important that customer expectations are understood by those delivering customer service, and the opening spotlight provided an excellent example of a destination – the Maldives - totally in tune with customer expectations. Customers evaluate service quality by comparing what they expected with what they perceive they received from a particular service provider. If their expectations are met or exceeded, then customers will usually believe that they have received high quality service and they are more likely to remain loyal to that supplier. Customer expectations are likely to vary, even within the same sector. Travelers may expect a low level of service on an EasyJet short-haul flight across Europe, whereas they would expect much higher levels of service on a Singapore Airlines long-haul flight from Europe to the Far East. Expectations will also change over time; airline passengers have much lower expectations in terms of customer service than they did twenty years ago as flying has moved from being a luxury experience to more of a commodity. In general though, as suggested in Chapter 1, customers have higher demands than ever before (HubSpot, 2020; KPMG, 2016), and expectations seem to have been heightened by the COVID-19 pandemic (Stella Connect, 2021).
Contributors
- Dr. Simon Hudson, University of South Carolina (Author)
- Louise Hudson, Freelance Journalist (Author)
For the source title:
- Dr. Simon Hudson, University of South Carolina (Author)
- Louise Hudson, Freelance Journalist (Author)
Cite as
Hudson & Hudson, 2022
Hudson, D.S. & Hudson, L. (2022) "Chapter 3 Understanding the Consumer" In: Hudson, D.S. & Hudson, L. (ed) . Oxford: Goodfellow Publishers http://dx.doi.org/10.23912/9781915097132-5071
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