Discussion Question
1. Identify the symptoms of the customer service failure?
2. Based on the analysis of the symptoms, what are the root causes of the problem?
3. How would you assess the “focus” of the hotel?
4. How important is the Internet in the outcome of the case?
5. What is the best way to recover from the service failure?
6. Do you think that Steve McKenzie’s behavior is typical of disgruntled customers?
7. Do you think that similar problems occur at other hotels?
8. How satisfied are customers by service provided in the hotel industry?
1. Identify the symptoms of the customer service failure?
• Accounting mistake that went unnoticed and unreported for six months.
• Accounting department’s quick-fix attitude to problem, without consideration of
legal issues, ethics,
•and customer satisfaction.
• Lack of communication between service provider Expedia.com (Expedia) and
hotel.
• Lack of communication between management, accounting department and front
desk.
• Unqualified temporary workers not delivering quality service.
• Quality problems in overall service delivery (housekeeping, front desk,
accounting).
• Lack of management oversight.
• Lack of service delivery quality control and service failure recovery effort.
2. Based on the analysis of the symptoms, what are the root causes of the problem?
(Please see Exhibit TN-1 for notes on using root cause analysis.)
Sample line of thought:
Layer 1: Why did this customer service failure occur? Answer: Because there was an
accounting mistake.
Layer 2: Why was there an accounting mistake?
Answer: Because the accounting records were not properly kept and were not updated in a
timely fashion after the business agreement with Expedia was terminated.
Layer 3: Why were the accounting records not properly kept and not updated?
Answer: The accounting department was not properly staffed and there was no oversight.
Layer 4: Why was the accounting department not properly staffed and why was there no
oversight? Answer: Because of absentee ownership and the inadequacy of the general
manager.
Root Cause Analysis Outcome
A. What is the root cause of the problem?
Level 1: Absentee ownership of the hotel.
Level 2: As a result of absentee ownership, there is a lack of management (inadequate
management).
Level 3: As a result of inadequate management, there is an operational weakness in the
human resources
(HR) policy and day-to-day management of the hotel.
B. Solutions to the root cause of the problem:
Level 1: Hands on management by the hotel operator; frequent quality control assessment
