The hospitality industry includes hotels, restaurants and other tourism-reliant businesses. These organisations rely on consistent, effective and efficient  customer service to earn industry accolades and positive media reviews, win repeat guests and increase revenue, among other things. The hospitality industry relies on customer satisfaction for success and continued revenue. Superlative customer service exceeds a guest’s expectations; however, this position also entails effective problem-solving and conflict resolution when issues arise.
Hotels and restaurants account for millions of jobs in America. Low customer satisfaction impacts on the hospitality industry negatively in the forms of loss of business, loss of jobs and even company bankruptcy.
According to the United States Bureau of Labour Statistics, customer service representatives accounted for more than two million jobs in 2008. Effective customer service representatives resolve guest issues in a positive, efficient manner, which encourages positive brand perception and preserves the reputation of a business.
The United States Bureau of Labour Statistics predicts that by 2018 the number of jobs in the customer service field will increase by approximately 18 percent. This reflects an increasing importance for quality customer service in the hospitality industry to sustain this growth.
Against this backdrop, Tourism Minister Manniram Prashad’s recent exhortation to local tourism stakeholders was spot on.
He told stakeholders in the tourism sector that they must seek to improve service levels in order to be responsive to new demographics, new needs and demands so that the country’s tourism industry will not be left behind.
The provision of excellent customer service can provide Guyana with the competitive advantage needed, in the highly service-oriented tourism industry.
In recognition of this, during Tourism Awareness Month, which is being observed during this month, the Ministry of Tourism and the Guyana Tourism Authority have been, and will continue to host a series of customer service and frontline training, as part of the month-long activities planned.
Prashad explained: “As we celebrate Tourism Awareness Month under the theme of ‘Achieving Service Excellence through Training’, let us invest in training so that we can deliver a world-class experience and exceed the expectations of our visitors…customer service is about the simple little things – a sincere smile and welcome, honesty, care, prompt, friendly, courteous and attentive service, good appearance, cleanliness, quality products, comfortable environment, apologies for delays, good communication, listening well and most of all a service philosophy which recognises the importance of customers to your business – they are the purpose of your business.”
Indeed, there is no other course for the stakeholders in the tourism sector to take, particularly in light of our increasing recognition as a tourist destination. The competitive edge in tourism lies in the quality of service and today competitiveness has reached an extremely high level and therefore we cannot become complacent.
On the contrary,we have to be constantly and persistently working towards raising the quality of service of our budding tourism sector which has enormous potential to become a major contributor to economic development. In the future it may even rival our traditional, major industries.
The international market for tourism is a huge one and getting a fair share of that market would be like a tonic for our national economy,  but that can only be achieved if Guyana is able to compete by providing a product and quality of service  that are second to none.