Chapter 3: Setting the Scene for the Guest Experience
TRUE/FALSE
1. Procession is the ability of the guest to move through a narrative story and become immersed in
fantasy.
2. While the service environment is important, it cannot affect how one believes a meal tastes.
3. Hospitality settings should be designed to ensure smooth flow for only the guests.
4. Self-service technology versus a service experience accompanied by a human requires more focus on
spatial design clarity and layout.
5. The three response factors—physiological, cognitive, and emotional—lead a guest to make one of two
choices: approach or avoid.
6. Theming is a way to add variety to the service environment.
7. Theming expands the limits of what the organization can offer in terms of service, setting, and delivery
system.
8. One importance of the service environment is that it influences guest expectations even before the
service is delivered.
9. A function of the service environment is to set and maintain the mood.
10. The effect of the service environment on the hospitality employees is of small importance, because
they become so accustomed to it.
11. The service setting should be designed to assure guests that they are safe and secure within it.
12. Every guest responds differently to the servicescape.
13. The space layout of chairs and tables in a casual dining restaurant is typically quite similar to the
layout of chairs and tables in a fine dining restaurant.
14. All of these are ambient conditions in the service environment: temperature, humidity, air quality,
smells, sounds, and light.
15. Signs always convey their messages through the use of symbols.
16. The attire of the hospitality organization’s employees is part of the environment.
17. Two guests who have different cultural values and beliefs may respond differently to the same service
environment.
18. The environment can be rich with information if guests are familiar with the setting and need to make
many decisions.
19. Every aspect of the service environment should be managed; nothing should be left to chance.
20. Ambient conditions include guests in sweaty t-shirts sitting at the next table in a restaurant.
21. Hospitality settings should be designed to ensure smooth flow for guests but not for employees.
22. Functional congruence refers to how well something with a functional purpose fits into an
environment in which it serves that purpose.
23. Functional congruence refers to how well the ambiance fits into the service setting.
24. Signs are symbolic artifacts.
25. The service environment for a guest includes other guests but not employees.
MULTIPLE CHOICE
26. Theming can do all of the following EXCEPT
a.
effectively tie all of the elements of the service experience together.
b.
give the organization an opportunity to add wow to the experience by providing more than
guests expect.
c.
always make a restaurant more profitable.
d.
create a fantasy for guests.
27. The risks of theming include
a.
placing limits on what the organization can offer.
b.
providing a narrower range of menu offerings (in the case of a restaurant).
c.
the organization only seeing success if the market for the theme continues to be strong.
d.
all of the above.
28. To maintain the fantasy illusion in a themed service setting,
a.
the experience must be controlled and focused.
b.
the guests should be allowed to see whatever they want.
c.
the guest flow should not be designed.
d.
any outside environmental factors can be introduced.
29. The entertainment control system (ECS) at Disney’s the Magic Kingdom does all of the following
EXCEPT
a.
attempt to maximize each guest’s experience by managing the visual and auditory aspects
of the setting.
b.
synchronize light and sound media.
c.
read codes and send signals to floats.
d.
monitor guest reactions.
30. People associate “clean and orderly” with
a.
inexpensive and dull.
b.
safe and high in quality.
c.
exciting and thrill inducing.
d.
fun and poor in quality.
31. All of the following are environmental components that comprise the service setting EXCEPT
a.
ambient conditions.
b.
functional congruence.
c.
other people.
d.
All are components.
32. An organization that attempts to increase the revenue-producing space within which it provides guest
experiences at the expense of essential but non-revenue-producing space will most likely
a.
have a memorable service setting, but poor delivery system.
b.
have a boring service setting, but excellent delivery system
c.
serve guests excellently.
d.
be top rated in customer service.
33. Signs must be
a.
easy to read.
b.
located in obvious places.
c.
clear.
d.
all of the above.
34. The most efficient signs in tourist destinations are in
a.
English.
b.
multiple languages.
c.
symbols.
d.
the native language of the destination.
35. A guest arriving in a/an ________ mood will be most influenced by environmental cues.
a.
good
b.
bad
c.
neutral
d.
excited
36. As discussed in the textbook, a guest can respond to a service setting in all of these ways EXCEPT
a.
physiologically.
b.
cognitively.
c.
philosophically.
d.
emotionally.
37. Hospitality organizations have used the concept of theming to
a.
reduce the cost of constructing the hospitality environment.
b.
entertain the employees so that they work harder.
c.
add value to the guest experience and enhance it.
d.
implement an effective, low-cost price strategy.
38. The environment is important to the guest experience for all the following reasons EXCEPT:
a.
It influences the guest’s expectations.
b.
It sets and maintains the mood.
c.
It has a positive effect on the employees.
d.
It can distract guests from noticing less satisfactory parts of the experience.
39. Which of the following environmental features does NOT contribute to the guest’s feeling of safety?
a.
tall hedges
b.
security guards
c.
well-lit parking lots
d.
employees who make eye contact
40. Ambient conditions in the environment would include all of the following EXCEPT
a.
temperature.
b.
air quality.
c.
sound.
d.
the information system
41. Functional congruence in the environment refers to
a.
how well something with a functional purpose fits in the environment in which it serves
that purpose.
b.
ambient conditions that serve to maintain a functional environment.
c.
other people in the environment and the congruent function they perform.
d.
theming.
42. According to Carl Sewell, signs serve all the following purposes EXCEPT
a.
to name the business.
b.
to create the proper atmosphere.
c.
to give directions.
d.
to describe the product or service.
43. Which of the following factors does NOT moderate an individual response to the environment?
a.
cultural values and beliefs
b.
individual moods
c.
individual demographic characteristics and personality traits
d.
other people
44. Hospitality managers need to know about the information-processing capabilities of the brain in order
to
a.
describe the capacity of the organization to process information.
b.
determine the size of the organization’s management information systems department.
c.
avoid overtaxing the guest’s mental capacity to comprehend the environment.
d.
describe the service environment to phone callers curious about it.
45. A lean environment works best in situations when guests
a.
know just what they are supposed to do.
b.
have to make decisions with a lot of information available to them.
c.
are unfamiliar with the environment.
d.
confront particularly heavy ambient conditions.
46. According to the environmental model in the chapter, guests respond to environmental cues in one of
two ways:
a.
approach or avoid.
b.
arousal or pleasure.
c.
too cold or too noisy.
d.
rich and lean.
47. Theming the guest experience
a.
is always a good thing to do.
b.
raises guest expectations beyond what can be delivered.
c.
has risks.
d.
can be inconsistent and still be effective.
48. The service setting will impact
a.
only the guests.
b.
only employees.
c.
only the competition.
d.
none of the above.
49. Which of the following guest characteristics influences how they see the service setting?
a.
the mood they are in that day
b.
their personality
c.
their expectations
d.
all of the above
50. The reason organizations use lean versus rich environments when guests have to make decisions is that
a.
rich environments have extra information that helps make good decisions.
b.
rich environments tax the information-processing capability of guests.
c.
lean environments always have adequate information in them anyway.
d.
most organizations can’t afford the costs of rich environments.