TYPING: - kropseniorhigh.org · Web view8/31/2017 · : This was the first machine that people could use in their homes to type a document. Manual typewriters did not use electricity

AOHT Delivering Great Customer Service

Lesson 2Trends in Customer Service

Teacher Resources

Resource Description

Teacher Resource 2.1 Images: Trends Over Time

Teacher Resource 2.2 Answer Key: Trend Sorting Organizer

Teacher Resource 2.3 Presentation and Notes: Trends in Customer Service in Hospitality and Tourism since 1930 (includes separate PowerPoint file)

Teacher Resource 2.4 Assessment Criteria: Survey Analysis

Teacher Resource 2.5 Key Vocabulary: Trends in Customer Service

Teacher Resource 2.6 Bibliography: Trends in Customer Service

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AOHT Delivering Great Customer ServiceLesson 2 Trends in Customer Service

Teacher Resource 2.1

Images: Trends Over Time








Answer Key: Trend Sorting OrganizerTYPING:

Manual typewriter: This was the first machine that people could use in their homes to type a document. Manual typewriters did not use electricity. You pressed the keys and little hammer-like stamps would fly up and hit the paper with ink to make the letter appear. The ink coated a spool of ribbon that slowly rewound as you typed, and eventually needed replacing. When you got to the end of the line, you had to press a lever to make the paper move upwards. There also was no way to correct mistakes, at least not until Wite-Out was invented. A typewriter only made one copy of a document.

Electric typewriter: This was the next step in the evolution of typing machines. You didn’t have to hit the keys so hard, and there was a key to press that would shift your typing to the next line. In later models, you could hit a key to make a white letter appear over the wrong one. It was a messy way to fix mistakes, but it was better than nothing. You still made only one copy of your document.

Old desktop computer: At first, computers were a lot like typewriters but with screens. Your document showed up on the screen, not on paper, so you could print multiple copies, and it was much easier to fix mistakes but there was no World Wide Web, no Internet, no emails, no games, and no graphics. The screen was usually small and did not show a full color display. At first, desktops were big, clunky machines and laptops did not exist.

Tablet: A tablet computer is a portable computer that is usually operated by a touchscreen, meaning you can use your finger on the screen to accomplish tasks. The tablet is lightweight and easy to carry, and can handle many of the same tasks a laptop or desktop computer can do. Tablets have been in existence since the late 20th century, but didn’t really become popular until the iPad was launched in 2010. Today, almost a third of the people accessing the Internet are using a tablet.



MUSIC:Gramophone: The first record players were not electric; you wound them up like a music box and the record would play until it wound down. People used gramophones to listen to music from the 1890s until they were replaced by record players that used electricity to run. Gramophones and record players were not very portable and the electric ones needed to be plugged in.

Jukebox: A jukebox started out as an automatic record player. It held a bunch of different records. You put in a coin and picked a song and the jukebox would play it. Jukeboxes were first used in the 1930s and became really popular in the 1950s and 1960s. Jukeboxes are still found in some restaurants today, but they usually use CDs instead of records.

Boombox: Popular primarily in the 1980s and 1990s, this is a combination of a radio and CD or cassette player with two big speakers and a handle, so you can carry around your music. Boomboxes run on batteries or can be plugged in.

iPod: First introduced by Apple in 2001, an iPod is a digital music player that is very small and computer-based. It uses digital music files instead of CDs, tapes, or records. It is evolving rapidly and is the current preferred method of listening to music.



PHONE:Candlestick phone: To use this very early telephone, you picked up the hanging bell-shaped piece (on the left side of the photograph), which was your earpiece (what you listened to). You spoke into the top part of the phone. You didn’t use long phone numbers with area codes—you had to talk to an operator and the operator would connect you to the person you wanted to talk to.

Rotary phone: Over time, phones were made smaller. The earliest phones had no way to dial at all, but in the early 20th century phones started using a rotary dial. A rotary dial was a circle with a hole for each number. In order to dial a “9,” for example, you put your finger in the hole for “9” and turned the dial. The phone tracked how far you had to turn the dial and used that to figure out what numbers you were entering.

Cell phone: Mobile phones were invented in the 1970s, started to become really popular in the 1990s, and are almost universally used now. They can be used almost anywhere, instead of cordless phones which had a limited range, and are much smaller. Many phones offer additional features including Internet access, games, text messaging, and more.

Smartphone: In the late 1990s, phones got “smart.” Smartphones are cell phones that offer additional functions, including Internet browsing, email access, and even computer programs like Microsoft Word. Smartphones like the BlackBerry were originally designed for businesspeople so they could access their work information when they were out of the office. But the development of the Apple iPhone popularized smartphones for “ordinary” people, and today smartphones are the most popular trend in cell phone technology.




Presentation Notes: Trends in Customer Service in Hospitality and Tourism since 1930

Before you show this presentation, use the text accompanying each slide to develop presentation notes. Writing the notes yourself enables you to approach the subject matter in a way that is comfortable to you and engaging for your students. Make this presentation as interactive as possible by stopping frequently to ask questions and encourage class discussion.

If you think about the trend sorting activity we did, you can see how dramatically things have changed in the last 80 years. In the same way, major changes have happened in the hospitality and tourism industry. You know what customer service is like now; can you guess what it might have been like 80 years ago?

Presentation notes



Air transportation really “took off” when the US Postal Service started delivering mail to cities by plane. These airplanes started taking passengers in the late 1920s, but very few people flew then. In the 1950s, planes got bigger and more comfortable, and more people started to fly. They also started to fly across the ocean to Europe and other parts of the world.

In the 1960s there were only seven major airlines operating in the United States. Now there are over 100 different airlines, and that number doesn’t count airlines in other countries.

Presentation notes



Synchronization is when something is done at the same time or according to a standard time frame. In the early years, flight service was synchronized. Everybody showed up at a certain time to buy their ticket and board the plane. Planes often made several stops on their way to the final destination. If a plane had mechanical difficulty and couldn’t continue on its route, the flight attendant would distribute local train schedules so that the passengers could reach their final destinations.

Today, most people buy tickets from the airline’s website, from a travel site like Expedia or Travelocity, or from a travel agent. And if a plane has mechanical problems, the passengers will be transferred onto other flights, because most major destinations have several flights per day.

Photo credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Passengers boarding a Trans World Airline Constellation, 1946, LC-USZ62-97826

Presentation notes



In 1930, Steve Stimpson worked for the airline that would become United. He was on a tiny plane that held 10 passengers. It was the middle of winter and the plane was really late because it had to fly into strong winds that pushed against it. The passengers were getting nervous. Steve tried to make the passengers more comfortable by turning up the heat in the cabin. This got Steve thinking about what passengers needed on a long flight. They needed to be taken care of! He finally convinced the president of the airline, and the very first stewardesses were hired.

The job of these stewardesses was to keep passengers comfortable and the plane clean and safe. Each stewardess had just a few passengers to take care of; she was told to “keep the respectful reserve of a well-trained servant.” They passed out cigars, cigarettes, and gum. They served fancy meals on fine china with cloth napkins and silverware.

Today there is a lot less “service” in the in-flight service. Flying has become a lot more casual and commonplace. So no one expects the flight attendant to be a personal servant. Flight attendants go over the safety procedures; serve drinks and meals, if meals are offered; and distribute earphones, blankets, pillows, and so forth.

Photo Credit: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Farm Security Administration Office of War Information Black and White Negatives, “Serving dinner aboard American airliner,” John Collier, LC-USF34-081928-E

Presentation notes



The largest airplane today can carry 840 passengers, and there may be only one flight attendant to take care of 50 people!

People who work in the airline industry today have to focus on taking care of lots of people very efficiently because so many more people fly now. So flight attendants and airport staff have to manage as many people as possible while still providing good customer service. One of the ways they do that is by depending on technology.

Flight attendants have personal DVD and game systems for passengers to rent. Passengers can also watch movies. They can buy meals during the flight, but a passenger has to use a credit or debit card, not cash. Why? Because it takes less time for a flight attendant to swipe a card than to make change with cash. The focus is on serving lots of customers quickly, rather than on spending a lot of time on each individual customer.

That same pattern, or trend, can be seen in the airport before you get on the plane (or after you get off). Airport security has to keep passengers safe while still providing good customer service. Airport security has signs to help passengers understand security procedures, and they have more people working during busy hours. They are working to come up with new security screening devices to help people move through the security lines more quickly. Airports compete for customers, so they need to make sure their customer service is good!

Presentation notes



The hotel industry has changed just as much as the airline industry since 1950. In 1950, families started opening up motels along highways because more people had cars and more people were traveling, so they needed places to stay along the way. Do you remember the different classifications of properties from the Principles of Hospitality and Tourism course? What’s the difference between a motel and a hotel? What does it mean to be “independently owned”? What is a “chain”?

Motels are small and they are often one story. Travelers can usually park right across from their rooms. In the past, the person at the front desk who rented out the room was often the owner of the motel.

A chain is a large company that owns a lot of hotels and motels, not just one. Can you name some hotel or motel chains that exist today?

There were hardly any motel chains like Motel 6 back then, and even fewer big hotels.

Presentation notes



As more people began to travel, motels and hotels grew in size. More chains were established. Also, with more types of people traveling—businesspeople, families, retired people, couples—hotels and motels began to offer a wide variety of services to meet different needs. They were not standardized in terms of offerings. Instead, they were customized to meet the needs of their target market.

For example, hotels around Disneyland and Disneyworld cater to children with special meals, play areas, and cribs for babies. Hotels in Las Vegas include several restaurants, spas, swimming pools, and casinos to meet the needs of couples on vacation. Many are also family-friendly and offer special services like babysitting. Most also serve businesspeople with large meeting rooms and halls for conventions.

Presentation notes



The Internet has brought major changes. A potential guest can book reservations online—but first he or she can read reviews, guest comments, complaints, and responses. Other technologies have also changed the way hotels operate, which, in turn, has affected how hotels deliver customer service. For example, computerized guest accounting does much more than make billing efficient. It allows hotels to know more about their customers: how often they book, what days of the week they’re most likely to book, and more—all of which helps them to provide personalized customer service.

Many larger hotels use remote kiosks around the lobby for arrivals and departures as well as computerized energy management systems to control heat and air-conditioning. Automated checkout has become the norm for many hotels. It’s more efficient and it appeals to millennials, who are comfortable with doing things online and are less attached to conducting transactions in person.

Electronic key cards have replaced regular door keys in an attempt to provide better security for hotel guests and their belongings.

Presentation notes



If you wanted to eat out in the 1950s, there probably wasn’t a lot of choice. Even if you lived in a big city, there may have been a handful of places to choose from in the neighborhood.

Many restaurant employees knew their customers by name. Diners were popular, especially with young people. They were known for their fun atmosphere, complete with a jukebox for music and a menu of hamburgers, fried foods, and milk shakes.

In general, the menus of the 1950s were not nearly as varied as they are today. Ethnic foods—foods eaten by people from other countries—were not common. The ingredients were hard to get and expensive, and in many places in the United States, there wasn’t enough diversity of people to introduce these foods. Also, in many restaurants, “substitutions” were not allowed. So, if you wanted a salad instead of french fries with your meal combo, you were out of luck!

Presentation notes



Today, there is an incredible amount of choice. There are more options of places to eat and there are more options of what to eat. Gone are the days when there were only one or two restaurants in town and the customers knew their servers (unless the customer service is superb and a diner eats at a restaurant regularly).

The increase of travel and tourism directly impacts the restaurant industry. More travelers mean more restaurant customers! Eating out for someone who is not traveling is also much more common today. It’s no longer considered a special occasion for a lot of people.

Like the hotel industry, technology has affected the restaurant industry. For example, billing is all done on computer rather than a “cash register.” You can even purchase a $2 coffee with a debit or credit card. The Internet has allowed people to make reservations online and, in some cases, even order ahead online for pickup.

The Internet enables customers to check out restaurants online, read reviews, and make reservations. These days some people won’t even go to a restaurant unless it has a website.

Presentation notes



If you didn’t have the Internet, how do you think you would book a flight? An all-inclusive vacation?

Some 30–40 years ago, most people used travel agents to book travel. There were many small, family-owned travel agencies/stores where you could get help making all your travel arrangements. Some people called airlines and hotels directly for reservations, but this was not an easy task. Just finding the phone numbers that you wanted to call would take a lot of time. It would also be difficult to know your hotel options in a place you’ve never been before. Comparing prices would only add to this process!

And you had to book well in advance because you had to wait for your paper airline tickets to arrive in the mail.

Travel agents took care of every aspect of your trip, from booking to billing. Now travelers work with different companies to piece together their trip. Each one has its own customer service representatives and booking and billing procedures.

Presentation notes



Today’s travelers are much more in control of their travel arrangements. They can use the Internet to research destinations, compare prices, read reviews, and book their travel.

Even if you still use the telephone to book a flight, for example, you’ll be asked for an email address, because 98% of airline tickets today are paperless or “e-tickets.”

Presentation notes



Across all industries, technology such as the Internet has allowed customers to obtain information and conduct business without interacting with another person at all. Almost every process has been streamlined by technology: checking in, checking out, paying bills, booking reservations, finding information. Technology has also made every employee able to accomplish a great deal more every day. For example, employees can generate an e-ticket in moments; they don’t even need to speak to people who call with ordinary questions. A central phone system takes care of that (e.g., “Press 1 for reservations, press 2 for flight status…”).

But technology cannot take care of everything for a business. You still need good customer service.

Presentation notes



It seems as though the more planes, restaurants, and hotels we have, and the more technology we use to make life easier, the less face-to-face customer service we experience. But customers will always need to talk with people rather than computers or prerecorded phone messages when they have questions to ask and problems to solve. The quality and availability of customer service makes the difference between a customer choosing one company over another.

Good technology can mean great customer service. Bad technology—poorly laid out websites, apps that don’t work, email addresses that lead nowhere—can mean nothing but frustration. A customer service representative can’t resolve these problems either.

The need for good customer service may be the only thing about hospitality and tourism that will never change!

Presentation notes




Assessment Criteria: Survey AnalysisStudent Names:______________________________________________________________

Date:_______________________________________________________________________

Using the following criteria, assess whether students met each one.

Met Partially Met

Didn’t Meet

The analysis is based on a reasonable number of surveys. □ □ □The survey respondents included a variety of age ranges and genders. □ □ □The analysis identifies plausible patterns in people’s responses. □ □ □The completed assignment is neat and uses proper spelling and grammar. □ □ □

Additional Comments:

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________________




Key Vocabulary: Trends in Customer Service

Term Definition

automated checkout Using a computer to check out of a hotel instead of interacting with a hotel employee.

customer service A series of activities designed to meet or exceed a customer’s needs and expectations, ultimately resulting in positive word-of-mouth publicity and return business.

customization Designing something to meet the needs of a specific market; the opposite of standardization.

franchise A business that pays a fee and a percentage of sales to another company in order to sell its goods or to be associated with its brand and use its marketing strategies to operate. McDonald’s and Subway are examples of franchises.

standardization Conforming to a standard, rule, or principle.

stewardesses Term for the first flight attendants; they were all young women.

synchronization Done at the same time or according to a standard time frame.

trend The general direction in which something tends to move.




Bibliography: Trends in Customer ServiceThe following sources were used in the preparation of this lesson and may be useful for your reference or as classroom resources. We check and update the URLs annually to ensure that they continue to be useful.

PrintDavidoff, Donald M. Contact: Customer Service in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1994.

McLaughlin, Helen E. Footsteps in the Sky: An Informal Review of U.S. Airlines Inflight Service 1920–Present. Denver, CO: State of the Art, 1994.

Online“Airline.” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline (accessed November 17, 2014).

Bacal, Robert. “What Is the Customer Expectation Paradox?” The Customer Service Zone, http://customerservicezone.com/faq/paradox.htm (accessed November 17, 2014).

Boyd, Lydia. “Brief History of the U.S. Airline Industry.” Duke University Libraries Digital Collections, http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/adaccess/guide/transportation/airlines/ (accessed November 17, 2014).

“Hotel.” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel (accessed November 17, 2014).

Lucchesi, Paolo. “Boon or Bane, Yelp’s Impact Undeniable.” SFGate, http://www.sfgate.com/restaurants/article/Boon-or-bane-Yelp-s-impact-undeniable-5664925.php (accessed November 17, 2014).

“Tablet Computer.” Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablet_computer (accessed November 17, 2014).


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tablet_computer

http://www.sfgate.com/restaurants/article/Boon-or-bane-Yelp-s-impact-undeniable-5664925.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel

http://library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/adaccess/guide/transportation/airlines/

http://customerservicezone.com/faq/paradox.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airline

Documents

TYPING: - kropseniorhigh.org · Web view8/31/2017 · : This was the first machine that people could use in their homes to type a document. Manual typewriters did not use electricity