Reading I.

The chain of luxury hotels, Ritz-Carlton

The Ritz-Carlton, a chain of luxury hotels renowned for outstanding service, caters to the
top 5 percent of corporate and leisure travelers. The company’s Credo sets lofty customer-
service goals: ―The Ritz-Carlton Hotel is a place where the genuine care and comfort of our
guests is our highest mission. The Ritz-Carlton experience enlivens the senses, instills well-
being, and fulfills even the unexpressed wishes and needs of our guests.
As reported in the New York Times:
The hotel is elegant and beautiful, Mrs. Heffner said, ―but more important is the
beauty expressed by the staff. They can’t do enough to please you. When the
couple’s son became sick last year in Naples, the hotel staff brought him hot tea
with honey at all hours of the night, she said. When Mr. Heffner had to fly home
on business for a day and his return flight was delayed, a driver for the hotel
waited in the lobby most of the night.
Employees are taught to do everything they can never to lose a guest. ―There’s no negotiating
at The Ritz-Carlton when it comes to solving customer problems, says the quality executive.
Staff learn that anyone who receives a customer complaint owns that complaint until it’s
resolved (Ritz-Carlton Service Value number six). They are trained to drop whatever they’re
doing to help a customer—no matter what they’re doing or what their department. The Ritz-
Carlton employees are empowered to handle problems on the spot, without consulting higher-
ups. Each employee can spend up to $2,000 to redress a guest grievance. And each is allowed
to break from his or her routine for as long as needed to make a guest happy. Thus, while
competitors are still reading guest comment cards to learn about customer problems, The Ritz-
Carlton has already resolved them.
Kotle & Amstrong, 2019
Questions:
1. What are the differences between a service and a product?
2. What are the characteristics of Ritz-Carlton’s service?
3. What make the Ritz-Carlton’s service successful?
Ex 1.2. Fill in the blank with one suitable word from the box
service firms demand The perishability of services service value
rush-hour demand supply part-time employees off-season
Some doctors charge patients for missed appointments because the (1)……………. existed
only at that point and disappeared when the patient did not show up. (2) ………….. is not a
problem when demand is steady. However, when demand fluctuates, (3) ……………. often
have difficult problems. For example, because of (4)……………., public transportation
companies have to own much more equipment than they would if demand were even
throughout the day. Thus, service firms often design strategies for producing a better match
between (5)……….. and (6)………….. Hotels and resorts charge lower prices in the (7)
…………… to attract more guests. And restaurants hire (8)………………….. to serve during
peak periods.
Ex 2.1. Match the phrases below to their correct meanings.
Internal marketing the degree to which a service satisfies customers by meeting their
needs, wants, and expectations.
Service productivity Training service employees in the fine art of interacting with customers
to satisfy their needs
Service quality Services are produced and consumed at the same time and cannot be
separated from their providers.
Interactive Services cannot be seen, tasted, felt, heard, or smelled before they are
marketing bought
Service any act, performance or experience that one party can offer to another,
inseparability one that is essentially intangible and does not result in the ownership of
anything
Service intangibility how efficiently service inputs are transformed into outputs that add
value for customers
Service perishability Orienting and motivating customer contact employees and supporting
service employees to work as a team to provide customer satisfaction
Service variability Services cannot be stored for later sale or use.

Service The quality of services may vary greatly depending on who provides
them and when, where, and how they are provided
Ex 2.2. Complete each sentence with the appropriate word from the box
service quality service productivity service differentiation service firm
customer value services marketing

1. Service companies face three major marketing tasks: They want to increase their service
quality , service productivity , and ………….
2. Like product marketers, service providers need to identify what target customers expect
concerning ……….
3. With their costs rising rapidly, service firms are under great pressure to increase …….
4. In attempting to improve service productivity, companies must be mindful of how they
 create and deliver……….. In short, they should be careful not to take the “service” out of
service
5. A ………………..can differentiate itself by delivering consistently higher quality than its
competitors provide
6. Today, as competition and costs increase and as productivity and quality decrease, more
…………………. sophistication is eeded
Ex 3.1. Fill in the missing words in this description of the marketing mix
The traditional marketing mix was described in terms of four Ps:
P………….., the goods or services
P…………..., the cost of product
P……………, often called distribution
P……………, which aims to make people aware of the product. In a service, this P includes
educating ………… to involve service value cocreation
In recent years, other considerations have been added, giving a mix of normal seven Ps. The
additional three, sometimes referred to as service Ps are:
P ………………….., consist of method of operations, the interaction between everyone
involved, typically involving steps that need to occur in a defined sequence
P……… e…………., also called servicescape, anything that shows the existence of the
company, e.g. its building, vehicles, website, stationary, staff uniform, …
P……., who are ……………. in service production
Ex 3.2. Match the sentence halves
1.Service organizations range in size from a)the fact that customers usually derive value
huge international corporations like airlines, from services without obtaining permanent
banking, insurance, telecommunications, ownership of any substantial tangible elements.
hotel chains, and freight transportation
2. The service product must be b) from organizations such as airlines,
hospitals, haircutters, and restaurants.
3.Perhaps the key distinction between c) is essential for product differentiation and
goods and services lies in for building customer loyalty.
4. The difference between service d) makes it difficult to standardize and control
businesses often lies in variability in both service inputs and outputs.
5. The presence of personnel and other e) tailored to customer needs, priced
customers in the operational system realistically, distributed through convenient
channels, and actively promoted to customers.
6. Customers have to be physically present f) the quality of employees serving the
to receive service customers.
7.Service quality, as defined by customers g) to a vast array of locally owned and operated
small businesses, including restaurants,
laundries, taxis, optometrists, and numerous
business-to-business ("B2B") services.