sip

1 | Sri Sri University. MBA-PGGMS002

1.1 Introduction to Organization:

Tourism or travel agencies place itself as being highly intangible on the service – tangibility

graph. Among the five characteristics of Reliability, Responsiveness, Tangibility, Empathy and

assurance this industry majorly relies on reliability and responsiveness. “X PV. ltd “being one

of the big players in this industry is spread branched to almost all major states of the country

and also penetrated the tier two and tier three cities with its franchisee network. It has a presence

in 23 countries across 4 continents. Outside India it works with a network of subsidiaries and

with branch offices in some major places. In India, “X” has presence in 149 cities. It is one of

the largest out bound DMC’s in Indian out bound market.

Their vision is “to be the most preferred brand in outsourcing services with a diplomatic

mission”. They provide a versatile range of services which is listed as follows

1. Packaged holidays

2. Flexible leisure travel

3. Corporate Travel

4. Education & Activity Travel

5. Business Travel

6. MICE (Meetings, incentives, conferencing, exhibitions)

7. Trade Fairs

8. Visa Processing

9. Marhaba (Arab), Norway Visa facilitation services

10. Foreign exchange etc.

With this business mix the organization is competing with a motto of providing a memorable

tour positioning themselves as “Making tours memorable”. The company is separate verticals

for domestic and international tours named as “B” and “D” connecting to core feeling of

sightseeing of the country men. They have a versatile range of group tours to Far East and

European countries in the competitive market. They have a group tour especially for

Vegetarians (Jains) named “G” (the tour for privileged vegetarians) which adds and advantage

of niche market to them. Also like few other top organizations they also make themselves

available in niche segment of language special group tours (Marathi and Guajarati). They make

an added advantage to the organizations bringing in lingual sentimental groups.

1.2 Literature Review:

With reference to Phillip Kotler, Kevin Lane Keller Marketing Management, any services

carries 4 characteristics namely Intangibility, Inseparability, Perishability & Variability.

Tourism can be positioned as highly intangible and variable service with high human

interaction and labor intensive service. The literature also provided information about a service

pyramid (fig 1.2.1) and various marketing intersections in it. The concept of interactive

marketing is the focus of the study.


FIG: 1.2.1

With reference to ITIL book for service operations the service of tourism industry can be

classified on the basis as follows

1. Nature of service vs nature of receiver - which it scales it as an intangible service for

the person.

2. Involvement of client vs Customization – which scales it as an high customization and

high involvement for FIT (list of tables) and high involvement and low customization

for group tours.

3. Relation with customer vs nature of service - which scales it as a tour to distinct

individuals and discrete tours.

4. Supply vs Demand fluctuation – which scales it as high supply and seasonal demand

service.

5. Interaction site vs interaction- scaling the service as interaction, service provision and

transaction at single site. (“One Shop Purchase”).

From International Journal of Service Industry Management an article named “Customer

orientation of service employees: Its impact on customer satisfaction, commitment, and

retention" authored by “Thorsten Hennig‐Thurau” purposed the performance of service

personnel often constituting a major element of customer orientation. Service personnel is often

regarded as a main determinant of service firm’s success.

The Journal of Travel Research in an article named “Factors Affecting Customer Evaluation

of Service Quality in Travel Agencies: An Investigation of Customer Perceptions” has


presented and exploratory research on service quality giving the following factors as the criteria

of evaluation. They are

1. Corporate image

2. Competitiveness, courtesy

3. Responsiveness

4. Accessibility

5. Competence.

According to Journal of Travel Research – “Service Quality and Tourism” by Marcjanna

Augustyn and Samuel K. Ho used the Serqual model with 5 five parameters Tangibility,

Reliability, Responsiveness, Empathy and Assurance for evaluating the service blue print of

travel agencies. It suggested improvements as per these parameters.

With reference to Rajendra V. Nargundkar’s book of marketing research and Malhotra’s book

for Marketing Research stated that exploratory research is the initial research to find out what

exactly is the problem. It is a qualitative research. Technique adopted for the research is

explained in fig 1.2.2.

FIG:1.2.2

To find out why is a laps occurs or to find the root cause of customer failure in a service industry

the predominant depiction used is the fish bone diagram. From the article “Categories of

Legitimate Reservation Focuses Fishbone” by “Chew Jian Chieh” describes the construction

of fish bone diagram and its application in Six Sigma methodology of quality control (fig:1.2.3)


FIG: 1.2.3

Also an article “measuring tourist satisfaction by attribute and motivation” by “Meng, Fang;

Tepanon, Yodmanee; Uysal, Muzaffer” describes overall satisfaction as a function of

destination attribute importance, performance and tourist motivation. The major question

raised in this research is that to what extent the visitors' evaluation on destination attributes (the

importance and performance factors) and tourist motivation relate to their overall satisfaction.

The hypothesis considered factors like

1. SAT -Tourist overall satisfaction of the destination

2. IMP - Destination attribute importance factors

3. PERF - Destination attribute performance factors

4. MOT - Tourist motivation factors.

This research was also a similar study as on motel and resort industry.

The article “Sample size and subject to item ratio in principal components analysis.” Discusses

the number of data points (subjects) required for evaluating the given number of variables. In

this study, the authors used Monte Carlo methods to examine the effects of number

of components (3, 6, 9, 18), the number of variables (36, 72, 108, and 144), average

item-component correlation (.40, .60, or .80), and number of subjects (Ns of 50, 100,

150, 200, 300, 500, and 1000) on the stability of component patterns in principal

components analysis. In these analyses each item loaded on only one component, all

items loaded equally on every component, and each component contained an equal

number of variables. This number is considered in our study for collecting data.

1.3 Theory:

Indian is one of the highly contributing market for out bound tourism. It is growing at a rate of

one and a half time to inbound tourism. There is various classifications of tourism like leisure


tour, Business travelling, adventure tour, culture tour, nature and health tourism and some niche

segments like agri-tourism prevails in this sector. The service provide by any party in this sector

of out bound tourism can be classified as pre tour services and on tour services. The pre tour

services encompasses all the activities from providing a destination consultation to making a

VISA which includes ticketing, tourist insurance, Visa consultation etc. The travel agents

provide a one shop purchase of all these services. They also provide an opportunity to

encourage economy class tourist to travel distances by providing cost effective group tour

packages. In this market there also exist agencies which only work on bookings to the

customers. They approach the brands for group tours.

The process flow of pre tour services for both out bound is as follows.

sales of group tour (or) flexible requirments

initial booking

file handed over to liseon for ticketing and visa.

visa documents collected from client.

internal documents like tickets, hotels (confirmed for FIT & tentative for Group tours), insurance is collected from Liseon.

visa is processed.(through vfs / directly to consulate)

after visa is provided the tour confirmations like (tickets, hotel , tour details) are provided with a hand baggage goodie - Hanndover


The domestic wing also follows the same procedure eliminating the visa procedures.

Both pre and on tour services are highly credence based. So, Credibility is the key for any

organization in this industry. It has been observed that online service providers have concurred

the market share of the travel agents. Though there exists online portals for the existing giants in

this market people try to prefer the store. Also with availability of ample of resources online,

people make prefer to travel by their own than for flexibility. So, it can be said that the majority

of the clients opting travel agencies (either online / store) for a leisure trip opt for group tours

other than few exceptions.

The study is an exploratory research pan industry to understand the lapses and bottle necks that

can cause dissatisfaction to customer prior to the tour which leads to loss in credibility.

1.4 Research:

During a conversation with one of the senior managers over an article about the industry he

stated “loss of credibility at one store is loss of credibility of the organization as a whole”.

Tough the process is well set and the guidelines are laid the organizations are losing credibility

decreasing the probability of repeat purchases. As sales team represents the organization and

are responsible for the booking, they face the aggression/ complaints for any lapses or bottle

necks that occur during the process. This creates a Lose- lose situation for both clients and

sales executives.

The criteria for research is to find out “why the leading organizations in the industry are losing

credibility” and “what feasible corrective actions can be taken to improve the situation”.

To describe the above managerial problem the objectives to be considered are

What are the factors that affect credibility of the service?

What is the contribution of each factor?

To fulfill the objectives of research the questions that are to be answered are

What are the various factors that affect credibility?.

What are the various interactions (both with client and internal) in pre tour

services.

What are the critical interactions in the process?

What are the bottle necks and lapses that may occur in the process?

What is the root cause of the lapse?

What is the frequency of the lapse in that organization?

Store performance and the pattern in which these lapses occur.


2.1 Research Design:

With reference to the objectives and research questions discussed in previous chapter, the

research methodology is understood to be an exploratory. The data collected about the

interactions and lapses is qualitative. The literatures have provided us with a clear classification

of an exploratory research and various methods used to collect the qualitative data. Initially to

explain various interactions the model of service blue print is considered. To fit into the model

the data is taken by observation and study of organization’s terms and conditions given in the

booking form. It describes the scheduled timeline and set processes. The customer blue print

is described in the following study describes all the possible internal and client interactions. It

also highlights the crucial interactions where any one error can cause a chain reaction and end

up with customer dissatisfaction. A consequent observation of various issues and crisis

situations handled in the department were considered to extract the lapse/ lapses. A case study

method was adopted to collect information from issues that occurred during the previous

season. Also a depth interview of the officers who interacted with clients, and managers who

managed the crisis situations was taken to compare and evaluate the information taken by

observations. Some additions and deductions were done accordingly. To find the root cause of

customer failure, the lapses are to be classified on the basis of degree of dissatisfaction it may

cause to the clients.

2.2 Sampling:

Literatures have provided insight on the sample size and variable to subject ratio which was

approximately, 1:3.i.e. for variables of 60-72 with a correlation of 0.6 (approximately). The

number of subjects required for the research is 150-180. Though the research was supposed to

be conducted with direct clients, due to restrictions and rules of the organization data was

collected from experienced scale -2 officers, managers and senior managers in almost all top

players of that market. The sampling technique then used was “Convenient Stratified

Sampling”. The stratification is done on the basis of following.

1. Department (Sales, VISA, Operations, others)

2. Designation (officers, team, lead, managers and sr. managers).

The sample structure can be described from the following Pie diagrams (Fig 2.2.1)

From a total subjects of 200, 25% that is 50-subjects were from sales department, 60% that is

120 subjects from operations and Visa department (.i.e.35% - 70 subjects of Operations and

25% -50 from VISA department.) while the rest 15% that is 30-subjects from others. This is

first phase of stratification. In the second phase of stratification, each strata is further divided

on the basis of employee designation. It is given as follows

1. In the first strata- sales 6% that is 3 were senior managers, 40% that is 20 managers and

54% that is 27-subjects were officers.

2. The second strata is Operations which has 70 subjects amongst which 10% that is 7

were sr. mangers. 50% that is 35 subjects were managers and assistant managers. 40%

that is 28 subjects were officers.

3. The VISA’s share of 25% .i.e. 50 subjects is divided as 20% that is 10 managers, 40%

that is 20 subjects were team leads and assistant managers and 40% that is 20 were

officers.


4. From others the major stratification is from senior managers and managers as 40% and

60%, .i.e. 12 subjects and 18 respectively.

In each strata the data was collected within the available limit assuming that the sample at

Hyderabad would reflect the population. Therefore the sampling method can be described as

“convenient stratified Sampling”.

FIG:2.2.1.

2.3 Data Collection:

The observation, Case study, and depth interview procedures were adopted for understanding

the lapses existing in the industry. Though observation and depth interview was conducted in

the organization specified. The case study and data collection was done pan industry. It was

assumed that the list of lapses would lead to 40 in all departments.

The exploratory research that resulted in obtaining the list of lapses is loaded on a five point

Likert scale to measure the level of dissatisfaction. The literatures have informed about various

scales and data types for measurement. It is inferred from literature that the most optimum

levels in Likert scale is “5-7”. From the literature we assumed that the data points of 200

subjects are would be sufficient to validate on the questioner (Appendix-1). The results of

factor analysis were expected to compress the variables to 4 factors. The data type for data

collection is ordinal/ non nominal data. The software used for analysis is SPSS. It was assumed

that this analysis would run on various rotations and the result with highest KMO would be

selected.


3.1 Observations- Service blue print:

In a service like travel agency where there is high credence factor involved in deciding

satisfaction human interaction plays a major role. The service is hence explained by the series

of interactions in service blue print. The service blue print of any store for almost all well-

established organization in this industry is given in fig3.1.1.

FIG: 3.1.1- Service Blue Print of Any Travel Agency


From the above diagram the major interactions (highlighted in red) are in the preview of our

study (since they are under the authority of state level management). This complicated

interactions can be simplified in to 4 critical interactions depicted in figure 3.1.2.

FIG: 3.1.2-Critical Interactions.

In the present study we presume that loss of credibility is a reflection of failure in one or more

of these interaction. To understand the prominent cause for failure in human interaction an

exploratory research was carried to collect a qualitative data (list of lapses). All the lapses that

may occur in the process, at every stage of interaction, which may lead to customer

dissatisfaction, is been Listed. Each of them is scaled to measure the level of dissatisfaction it

causes (quantifying it) by loading it in a questioner to collect data at pan industry level from

managers and officers of reputed and leading organizations in this industry.

The lapses were taken directly from clients, through observation of day to day (current) issues

in the organization, unstructured depth interviews with the clients and head of sales and

operations departments (who form the issue handling body at the state level), case study of the

past issues occurred and its implications.


3.2 Results of Exploratory Research:

Lapses in Various Section That “Can/ May” Cause Dissatisfaction to Customers

There are various inter and intra departmental interactions that lead to customers satisfaction/

dissatisfaction. The various lapses that occur during these interactions are listed below.

CUSTOMER SALES

Customer End:

Customers persuade to schedule /try to schedule early trip though the

minimum time for visa is specified. This creates an issue if the consulate

old the visa.

Customer do not consider/ overlook the terms and conditions during

booking (they just go by sales person’s words).

Customer enters with no specifics about planning.

Or

Without some options for their destinations, dates, duration. So that anything

can be planned.

Wage planning of customer.(short span for visa processing)

Customer has no idea about travel.

Expectations are very high for group tours. Not understanding the

phenomenon of group operation.

Customers have knowledge about the destination date and try to make flip

the wheel with sales people.

Sales End:

Take risk bookings.

Handling professional’s sales people tend to overlook the minutes which

cause trouble at the end.

The bookings with low document strength.

Bookings of short visa processing span.

Sales people are unable to understand customer requirements/

expectations (hidden needs) properly.

Provide wrong itinerary information, such as hotels, flights

Provide wrong costing / wrong billing.

Customer’s complaints are unanswered / customer’s calls are unanswered

for not facing the errors.

Customer feels he has to follow-up from his end.

(Or)

Sales people do not follow up the consumer and update them with their booing status unless

asked.

Status of rectification of wrong billing is un informed.

Sales do not keep track of operation of tour throughout the process( for

interim changes)


Sales person shadow the terms and condition and just superficially brief

the consumers about them.

(Or)

Sales people to obtain sales do not give a clear picture of terms and conditions during booking.

Sales people do not describe the strictness in payment & document

submission timeline.

In order to reach the targets set they tend to shadow the price description

in dollars. Which might vary and increase total cost by the time of actual

payment.

Sales do not know the time required for processing the particular visa.

a. They give a random time limit basing to their knowledge

without consulting with VO (which often tend to fail),

making customers feel delay in delivery.

b. They tend to provide the seasonal time of processing

rather than the actual.

Sales do not know the documents required for processing the visa and end

up obtaining partial documents (most of the times).

Sales people do not intimate the background changes that are being made

for visa.

Sales people tend to assure the tentative flight and hotel details given to

be confirmed. But any deviation in them is not re checked with customer’s

interest to travel accordingly.

(Or)

Do not re confirm /update about the changes made in the flights or hotel with interest of

customers.

Sales people shadow the implications of Visa and its strictness.

(Or)

.i.e. they say getting visa is not a big issue.

Sales people lie to customers about submission being made without

confirming the reality.

Sales Visa Clients

a) Sales Visa

Sales people take a booking within a short span for processing.

Sales people provide partial documentation &request to start the process

while the others will be provided.

(Or)

Take cases with week documentation and persuade VO’s for visa processing.

Visa

Clients


Sales do not clearly inform the booking tour details to VO in the file.

(Or)

They do not provide all the countries for which visa is to be applied at once.

Sales persuade VO’s to process visa to support their wrong information

to customers about processing status.

VO’s do not proactively keep the SO’s updated about the processing

duration, documentation requirements.

b) Visa Clients

VO’s are nonresponsive to the client’s queries.

(Or)

They tend to neglect calls

Visa status is not updated to customers after the time line of submission.

Clients also take seasonal time as base of processing rather than the given

minimum time line.

Well-travelled clients question the documents requested by VO’S.

Thou booking is made early the documentation is only done after a certain

priority line is reached.

Consequences of stuck visa is hidden from customers. (Though it is

brought out safely).

VO’s speak roughly or straight forwardly to customers which might annoy

them / make them feel rude.

Redundant passport copies are filed which delays if needed for reference.

Visa on arrival details is not specified to customers.

Sales Lesion client

a) Sales Lesion

Sales people do not clearly describe the customer profile requirements with

the file.

Delay of lesion to create indent.

One vertical ops do not care about the documents of the other.

Operation of tour is not communicated about any changes immediately to

SO

b) Lesion Clients

Lesion processes the file before the payment is received.

Customers are provided with flight details and hotel booking at the last

moment.

Hotel details not delivered till the last day.

Visa

Clients

Visa

Clients

Visa

Clients Visa

Clients

Visa

Clients


Client’s handover (tour manager details) not delivered till last day.

All handover is not assembled beforehand if clients are called to receive

them at office.

LO being busy- Clients are made to wait for long to answer queries.

Documentation reminder is not given with payment reminder.

LO’s do not intimate the change that are made in the tentative and original

list to customers.

(Or)

(Customers feel uninvolved and uninformed)

Lesion Visa

Lesion delays in issuing indent.

Lesion delays in providing the internal documents required.

HLO

Lesion Visa

HO fail to respond quickly to the escalated issues unless followed up personally.

HO doesn’t provide the hotel confirmation and tickets quickly for visa

processing.

Costing is not quickly sent to SO’s.

HO provides an air ticket which is far deviating from tentative list creating a

disturbance in smooth going customer’s plan.

The list so obtained from the first phase of exploratory research is a compilation of lapses from

every end. These result y lead to next phase, “factorization”. To find the root cause of customer

failure these lapses are loaded to form a questioner of 61 variables which will be rated on a five

point balanced Likert scale for collecting data on level of dissatisfaction the respective lapses

might cause(appendix-1). From the literature studied on the subject to parameter ratios, it was

inferred that for 60-70 parameters to be crunched to 6 components requires a minimum of 100

to 150 subject data points. The research considered 200 data points for analysis. Due to

organizational limitations the study could not be carried out with many customers/clients,

though there is a small part of the data from them. The majority of the data is the opinion of

officers and managers, whose experience explains high correlation with the customer’s

perspective and expectations.

Visa

Clients


3.3 Result of Statistical Analysis/ Factor Analysis:

The data collected on 61 variables was imported to SPSS with “Data type-scale” for all the

variables (.i.e. it is a non-nominal data and all arithmetic operations can be carried out with it)

as depicted in fig3.3.

FIG: 3.3

To pen down the root cause of customer failure factor analysis with Principle component

separation method (PCA) (Appendix-2a) was run on the 200 data points with various rotations

individually. The Bartlett’s test showed approximately “13000” (.i.e. greater than 0.5) and

KMO was greater than “0.6” thus can be inferred that the data is highly co related and adequate

provided with a significance level of “95%” (Table: 3.3.1(a)). The multiple rotations

considered for maximum explanation of variance showed the same result in all cases. In all

cases there existed 8 factors explaining 63% of the variance (Depicted in Table 3.3.1(b)). It is

observed that the variance explained 7 factors is very close to factor 8 was very less. (From

Table: 3.3.1(b))

Table-3.3.1 (a)

KMO and Bartlett's Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .607

Bartlett's Test of Sphericity

Approx. Chi-Square 13058.287

Df 1830

Sig. .000


Table: 3.3.1(b)

Therefore using a fixed number of factors “7”, factor analysis with principle component

analysis and varimax rotation (the most ideal case possible) was run(Appendix-2 b) which

resulted with a KMO of “0.617” and Bartlett’s value of approximately “13000”

(Table:3.3.2(a)), explaining 60% of total variance explained(depicted in Table: 3.3.2(b)).

Table 3.3.2(a)

KMO and Bartlett's Test

Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Sampling Adequacy. .617

Bartlett's Test of Sphericity

Approx. Chi-Square 12725.598

Df 1830

Sig. .000


Table 3.3.2(b)

Now to condense the 61 variables to 7 core factors that can explain the root cause of customer

dissatisfaction, the rotated component matrix is observed and variable correlation with factor

greater than “0.5” are accumulated together to describe the character of that factor.(appendix-

3). This correlation bench mark was set low to take more number of variables into account.

The limitation of the discrepancy is discussed below.

3.4 Implications:

The variables that are highly correlated with each factors are listed below and each factor is

assigned with a characteristic word that explains all the variables correlated to it. This is made

to bottom down to “root causes for customer dissatisfaction”.

Factor-1: Providing Wrong Information - Attitude of “I Know Every Thing” or

“Ignorance”.

Correlated variables:

SO’s provide wrong costing.

SO’s shadow the dollar rate pricing.

SO’s provide wrong details about visa Documentation, visa duration and

submission

Attitude and do not consult VO’s properly

Ignorance

LO’s Do not intimate about the extra charges for luggage for domestic

flights.

Tour operation status is not checked and intimated before booking.

SO’s / LO’s provide with wrong hotel confirmations.

Customer doesn’t provide proper dates and duration.


Factor-2: Lack of Proper Follow-Up- “Attitude That It Can Be Managed”.

Correlated Variables:

SO’s do not reconfirm with client’s interest about the changes made in

tentative of itinerary.

SO’s Hide payment timeline.

LO’s delay in following up the payments.

Probability of Tour Operation is uninformed by SO’s/LO’s.

SO’s lie to customers about submission status.

SO’s do not stringently work on documents and let customers know about

implications.

Factor-3: Non responsiveness of Staff/ Non supportive Clients


SO’s do not answer/ respond to enquiry calls of clients after booking

confirmation.

LO’s Do not follow-up for payments with time line.

VO’s are lenient in submission duration when there is quick response from

consulate during season.

VO’s do not answer calls of client queries timely.

Client feels they are well informed/ updated about the status by online

service providers.

LO’s keep client waiting for hand over in the store without arranging it

before hand when clients are called to collect it from store.

Hand over goodies not provided on time/before tour.

Hand overs are given at last moment at airport/ at last day of departure.

LO’s delay in updating clients with confirmations.

Clients do not provide proper documents and persuades/ argues with VO.

Factor-4: Trying To Manipulate/ Adjusting It without Doing It Perfectly.


Customer’s try to take advantage of SO’s ignorance (If clients are well

informed than SO’s).

LO’s provide far different flights than assigned in tentative and disturb

entire plan of Client

VO’s/Consulate ask foe excess documents which were not specified to

clients/SO’s before.

Clients are kept in dark about stuck VISA without giving him a chance to

make an alternative plan.

Changes in VISA’s country for time constraint is not clearly explained to

clients. (Keeping him in ignorance).


Factor-5: Hiding Things from Client and Trying To Manage.


Trying to fit or manage to another tour without prior information about

probability of operation of tour.

Clients feel that they have to call from there side to keep update.

SO’s shadow terms and conditions.

SO’s tend to assure tentative details provided for group tours.

Note: The above two factors 4 & 5 are closely related. Due to taking the correlative data

the discrepancy in percentage explained occurred splitting them in to two. Therefore they

can be put under one head of “No Transparency”.

Factor-6: No Activeness.


VO’s do not proactively update about documents required and duration for

processing to SO’s.

VO’s not properly planned.

Visa status not updated proactively with the time line.

LO’s do not keep clients intimated about tour changes and its possibilities

proactively.

Factor-7: Carelessness of staff / client


VO’s/ SO’s misplaced documents and ask for new one from clients.

Customers persuade for early tour without caring the VO’s /So’s constraints

and VISA implications.

SO’s do not specify all the details required to communicate in the file

handed over to LO’s.

SO’s say “VISA is not a problem it is easy”. For making the booking later

they suffer for weak documentation.

SO’s do not inform about the rectification of the bills / invoices (though he

was doing it).

SO’s persuade VO’s to keep working on partial documents without

providing the documentation as a whole.

Travelled client questions VO’s documentation basing on his little

experience.


3.5 Store Performance analysis:

The exploratory research that was conducted to understand the core issues in the pre tour

services of the travel industry is now applied to support an organization “x” in one of their

vertical. Each cause was coded with serial numbers and the descriptive analysis was run to find

the reason for most frequently occurred issues taken in the remarks of excel sheet. The results

of descriptive analysis is given in Table: 3.5.1. The number of issued cases among the total

number of 162 cases were 25 that is close to 20% which for an industry based on credibility is

very high. The mean is “2.48” which describes that issues are mostly due to the first two factors

(.i.e. wrong information and lack of proper follow up.) and the mode is “1” describe that among

those two the most issues occur due to wrong information.

Table: 3.5.1

Mean 2.48

Mode 1

Count 25

Table: 3.5.2

The details of number of bookings to number of issues with respect to each store is obtained

using functions in a excel sheet (Table: 3.5.2). Also the information of bookings country vise

is given from which it can be inferred that the highest number of bookings was for “Schengen

countries and Far East countries” (Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand). The “total number of

passengers” to “number of passengers effected by issues” is given which is close to 30%.

STORE

NAME

NUMBER

OF CASES TOTAL PAX STANDALONE

SCHENGEN

ALONE

SCHENGEN

+UK

SINGAPORE

ALONE

MALASIY

A ALONE

THAILAN

D ALONE

SINGAPORE

& MALASIYA

SINGAPORE,

MALASIYA &

THAILAND

AMERICA

ALONE

AMERICA

+

CANADA OTHERS

NUMBER

OF CASES

WITH

ISSUES

NO OF

ISSUED

CASES

M 12 27 0 2 7 3 0 0 2 0 7 2 0 2 2

Vz 23 57 1 2 15 6 0 0 11 2 0 0 0 9 2

Vj 10 18 2 0 4 3 2 0 1 2 0 0 0 2 1

KK 14 40 9 2 8 2 4 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

R 24 97 5 2 10 10 0 0 15 0 0 0 4 16 4

T 15 78 0 0 19 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 0 4 2

N 17 74 6 2 0 3 4 8 4 0 1 0 0 32 4

G 12 40 2 4 0 20 2 0 6 0 0 2 2 0 0

W 14 60 0 4 21 0 0 3 2 4 0 0 0 9 3

SC 2 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 0 0

HT 16 108 1 9 5 13 2 0 0 0 0 8 0 80 6

AM 2 8 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 8 2

OB 1 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

TOTAL 162 613 162 26


The graph (Fig: 3.5) compares the number of cases with number of issues occurred with respect

to every store.

FIG: 3.5 STORE WISE CLASSIFICATION OF NUMBER OF CASES AND ISSUES

3.6 Limitations:

The factor analysis could only explain 60% of variance may be due to following reasons.

a) The proportion of opinion of direct consumers is very less in

proportion which is due to restriction laid by organization’s

policies.

b) The data considered from officers and mangers is assumed to be

highly co related with the client’s opinions which in few cases

might not be the real scenario. But where as in prominent cases

it was observed to be highly correlating.

3.7 Scope:

It is known to all managers that an exploratory research is followed by a descriptive or causal

research or both. This research can also be followed by the descriptive or causal once the data

from consumers is taken and a much clear picture of factors is available. Also this pan industry

analysis can be utilized to study the contribution of these lapses in various other organization

as used by “X” and also into various verticals. The solutions provided for these root causes can

also be run for causal research to understand various implications for various business models

in the industry.


4.1Conclusions:-

Root Cause of Customer Failure

The exploratory research for finding the root cause of customer failure in pre-tour services

offered in the industry concluded with 6 root causes. To explain the root cause of customer

failure the factors are fit into a fish bone diagram. Among all human interactions in pre tour

services the major causes are depicted as follows (fig 4.1).

FIG: 4.1 Root Cause of Customer Failure.

The list of the root causes and their contribution in explaining the failure is listed in the table

below (Table3.4). It is evident from the table that the predominant cause of failure in human

interaction is due to the miscommunication may be due to faulty attitude, over burdened by

unitary process flow or non-responsiveness.


Table 4.1

Root cause Most Probable Reason Behind the

Cause % contribution

Providing wrong information

Itinerary-destination

information

Costing & dollar rate

Documents required

submission and visa

duration

payment time line

It has been observed that the hidden

reason for such errors is the “Attitude

of I know it all”

“ I need not consult anyone”

14%

Lack of proper follow up

not reconfirming the

changes made in the

flights / hotel

no follow-up for

payment

Taking booking with in

less visa time.

Not updating visa status

according to timeline.

Etc...

This sort of errors happen mainly due

to the “attitude of I can be manage”

9%

Non responsive staff/ Non

supportive clients.

Can extend from any reason

From being busy to carelessness

9%

No Transparency

Flights far away from

tentative.

Clients try to

manipulate.

Visa delays (trying to

get passports by

managing till day of

departure)

Hiding or shadowing the

terms and conditions

Shadowing the

rectifications in bill and

trying to adjust in

another.

Shadowing timeline for

document collection,

payments etc.

Trying to hide

Trying to manage without pre

information.

8%

7%


No Proactive action by staff No proper planning 7%

Carelessness - 7%

The results of descriptive analysis for understanding the performance status of the stores is run

on the data in excel sheet. It clearly shows the most issues occur due to wrong information

(itinerary, visa documentation, duration of visa, payment time line, submission status of visa).

Also the mean being 2.5 clearly proves that major cause of any issue is miscommunication

(wrong information, no follow-up).

The graph portrayed that the number of cases in HT is highest and it is probable that no of

issues are also higher, but the proportion of failures in “N&W” is much higher than all others

followed by store “M”. Also the issue of N&W is predominantly by wrong information. Also

it is inferred that the best performance is delivered by Vj and Vz as it has been observed that

the store managers are being very specific and clear in VISA documentation and information

about duration of visa approval.

4.2 Recommendations:

It has been observed that out of 6 core reasons for customer failure, most prominent is the

problem of attitude of the organizational representatives. Such attitude generally occurs with

lack in brand citizenship. Sales is the face of an organization. Any error/ miscommunication at

that interaction can flaw the entire process. So the first check point to make a smooth process

is Sales and the client. The statistics also show that non responsiveness is also a prominent

reason for customer failure. It can be anything from attending a query to readily providing the

handover without making clients wait in the office. Careless attitude is very rare/ not probably

seen, the cases in this are just assumed to explain how much harm it can cause if such lapses

exist.

It has been observed that the lapses of shadowing the dollar rate, documentation and payment

time line and documentation for visa & number of days for visa are most frequent. In the

organization. So a process is tabulated stage wise with check points at each stage with the

department or person responsible (Table 4.2).

In addition to that a proactive measure by VO’s to inform the sales officers about the

documentation requirements (Covering letter, financial documents, legal- financial proof, and

other proofs) on the following criteria is to be taken at beginning of every season.

Country to travel

For Married couple/ individual(If married- Newly married with marriage

certificate, newly married without marriage certificate, other couples or family,

senior citizens)


(Individuals- married, unmarried)

Occupation holding/ held.

Other financial documents that may require.(for any special case of sponsorship)

Also at a managerial level an analysis can be run on recurring issues about the time line and to

support each other an apparent schedule with adequate buffers but keeping in view the sales

phenomenon is to be provided to help both end (SO’s & LO’s) in internal interactions. This

schedule is just a timeline with a range of days at every stage and a generic model to fit dates

into. Brief stage wise check list for smooth flow of process is as follows.

Table 4.2

Stages in the Process Check Points Responsibility of

Planning

Understanding the customer

requirements properly and

suggesting a right alternative of

group tour or FIT. To fix clients

expectations.

SO’s

Booking

Clear dollar rate and its

changes.

Visa and document

requirements submission

duration (including Buffer

time).

Payment time line made

according to booking date

informed to LO and client.

Also Probability of tour

operation is to be touched

up on to help clients make

any changes.

The file to be handed over

to LO’s is to be clearly

specified about the

processing to be carried

forward mentioning all

details of countries of

travel, booing form signed,

any specifics if any.

SO’s


Payment and Document

collection

Timeline specified by

SO’s to be confirmed/

intimated to clients by LO.

Though collection of

payment is altered,

document collection is to

be done priority.

LO

Follow- up

Customers are to be kept

informed about any

changes made from

tentative and taken

confirmation.

Visa Submission,

Processing timeline is to

be intimated to clients.

Any delay’s or

implications are clearly

informed and alternative

suggestions are to be

discussed as a stand by

plan.

LO’s, VO’s

Partly SO’s

(since SO’s are

to be involved

in the entire

process)

Hand over

Ensure customer is

proactively informed from

organizational end about

the hand over and is

delivered at door step. ( if

promised so)

If they are called to the

store the hand over is to be

kept readily packed

without making them wait

in the store for any

confirmations.

LO’s & SO’s

The checklist can help to keep a sound process and ensure to eliminate most of the errors the

generally occurs as discussed. The smooth going of process can ensure high credibility and

improves customer loyalty making a chain reaction which can bring in more sales and a steady

market share with high repeat purchase.

The proactive measures are very much required for the Stores N&W and a clear check of time

line. Also educating these stores on brand citizenship is very important.

Frequent visits to stores and timeline check by senior managers for important bookings

improves the quality of service. It is always better to keep client intimated about group tour

phenomenon and probability tour operation by SO’s or LO’s important.


REFERENCES

1) Vol: 25, issue:2 - Tourism Marketing.

“Development of a multiple-item scale for measuring customer satisfaction

in travel agencies services” – Ángel Millána, Águeda Estebanb.

2) VOL:27 ,issue:2 Tourism Marketing.

“The role of expectations in the consumer satisfaction formation process:

Empirical evidence in the travel agency sector” - Ignacio A. Rodríguez del

Bosque, Héctor San Martín, Jesús Collado

3) International Journal of Service Industry Management.

“Customer orientation of service employees: Its impact on customer

satisfaction, commitment, and retention”. - Thorsten Hennig (Department of

Media, Bauhaus‐University of Weimar, Weimar, Germany)

4) Journal of Service Management.

5) http://online.sagepub.com/

“Factors Affecting Customer Evaluation of Service Quality in Travel

Agencies: An Investigation of Customer Perceptions”- Gaston Leblanc.

6) Journal Of Travel Research.

“Service Quality and Tourism” - Marcjanna Augustyn, Samuel K. Ho.

7) Categories Of Legitimate Revision – Fishbone Diagram: “Chew Jian

Chieh”.

8) “TOURISM INDUSTRY OPERATIONS” - Advance Tourism Mt

Waverley Victoria

9) Factor procedure produces "This matrix is not positive definite"

message - IBM WEB Page.

10) “Sample size and subject to item ratio in principal components

analysis”- Jason W. Osborne and Anna B. Costello, North Carolina State

University.

11) “Five Mistakes That Damage Your Credibility” - Manager’s

link.

12) “Measuring tourist satisfaction by attribute and motivation:

The case of a nature- based resort”

http://online.sagepub.com/


APPENDIX

Appendix-1: Questioner

Disclaimer: This is to state that the following questioner is not pertained to any one company. It is general

observation as a consumer and by references to understand the major problem in the industry. The opinions

given will be kept confidential.

Please give your opinion which of the following can contribute to situations at some point of time where

customers can be dissatisfied.

Slno Statements Strongly

Agree Agree Neutral Disagree

Strongly

Disagree

1

Customers persuade to schedule

/try to schedule early trip though

the minimum time for visa is

specified.

2 Customer doesn’t look at terms and

conditions

3 Customer doesn’t provide proper

dates


destinations he want to visit


duration of stay

6 Customer comes with no

knowledge about tours.

7 He try's to take commitments from

SO'S and try to flip the game.

8

With out knowing group tour

phenomenon customers make very

high expectations of the services.

9

SO'S tend to shadow the dollar rate

pricing of the trip. Which can vary

every day and increase by the day

of full payment

10

SO'S shadow terms and conditions

during booking. (keeping in view

his targets)

11

SO'S take booking with out

knowing the operation / running

status of tour

12 SO'S provide wrong hotel/

flight/destination information


13 SO'S provide wrong costing( either

tentative / final)

14 SO'S take bookings with less time

for visa processing

15 SO'S tend to assure the tentative

flights and hotels as fixed.

16

SO'S some time hide the visa

implications and give wrong

assuredness.(they say its easy)

17

SO'S do not consult VO before

booking about the possibility for

visa

18 SO'S not consulting about the

documents required before booking

19

SO'S provide a random duration for

visa processing according to their

knowledge in season. With out

consulting VO

20

SO'S do not know documents

required for visa and end up with

collecting partial documents.

21

SO'S do not study the customers

requirements properly.( their

hidden expectations)

22 SO'S do not inform the customer

about the rectification in bills.

23

Clients feel that they have to call

from their end to know their

booking status

24

SO'S do not inform the probability

and conditions of operation of tour

to clients in fear of loosing booking

25 SO'S do not pick call of customer

quires

26

SO'S do not re confirm with

customer's interest about any

changes that were made for the

group in attentive flights and hotels.

27 SO'S shadow the document

submission duration

28 SO'S lie to consumers about their

document submission status.

29

SO'S do not specify all the details

in the file before handing over it to

LO


30

SO'S people persuade the visa

officer to submit weak

documentation cases.

31

SO'S request processing of visa

with out giving proper booking

details

32

SO'S persuade VO"S to priorities

their visa's as they have lied to

clients

33 VO'S do not update the Visa status

timely

34

VO'S do not proactively keep the

SO'S informed about documents

and specifics.

35

VO'S tend to be liniment in the

duration of visa (going by seasonal

duration not by specified)

36 VO’s are nonresponsive/available

to the client’s queries

37 VO'S ask documents which were

not specified initially.

38

Visa status is Non updated to

customers after the time line of

submission.

39

Well travelled clients question the

documents requested by VO’S-

basing on his past experience only.

40

Consumers are kept in dark about

the stuck visa and its consequences

thinking it can be managed

internally.

41

Though booking is made early the

visas document preparation are not

collected immediately and

processed (for Long time to

operate)

42 VO'S do incomplete documentation

before sending to consulate

43 LO's delay in rising indent

44 LO'S delay in providing

conformations to SO'S

45 LO'S provide last moment hotel

details

46 LO'S do not follow up with the

payments other than on mail

47

LO'S provide flights that are fare

different from tentative that

disturbs the clients plan


48 Hand overs are not provided till

date of departure.

49 Hand bags and other goodies are

not given before departure.

50 LO'S keep clients waiting when

called to collect handovers

51

LO'S do not intimate about the

luggage check-in charges for

national transfer for break journey.

52

Clients feel the online service

providers are more responsive in

intimating about changes/ status in

every stage.

53 The call off tour is un informed to

SO'S by lesion.

54 The tour is called off just few days

before tour.

55 VO'S misplace the documents and

ask for new

56

LO's do not follow up with Clints

and keep them intimated about the

tour

57

LO of one vertical do not help or

take responsibility of other in one's

absence

58 VO's are un properly planned and

pressurize on Office staff to do

their work on priority than others.

59

Clients are un informed by VO'S

about the changes the made in

country of visa application as for

getting visa in Schengen areas.

Which can cause problem in

immigration.

60 Hiding of the payment time line by

SO'S

61 Clients are non supportive in

suppling documents.

Others Please Specify:


Appendix 2:- Steps In Factor Analysis

Step-1

Step-2


Step-3

Step-4


Step-5(a)

Step-5(b)


Step-6

Step-7


Step-8


Appendix 3:- Component Matrix


Component

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

SO'S provide wrong

costing( either tentative /

final)

.760

SO'S do not know

documents required for

visa and end up with

collecting partial

documents.

.749

SO'S take booking with

out knowing the operation

/ running status of tour

.733

SO'S do not consult VO

before booking about the

possibility for visa

.717 .329

LO'S do not intimate about

the luggage check-in

charges for national

transfer for break journey.

.663

The call off tour is un

informed to SO'S by

lesion.

.644 .343

LO'S delay in providing

conformations to SO'S .643 .372 -.324

LO of one vertical do not

help or take responsibility

of other in one's absence

.629

LO'S provide last moment

hotel details .607

Clients feel the online

service providers are more

responsive in intimating

about changes/ status in

every stage.

.599 .319 .387

VO’s are

nonresponsive/available to

the client’s queries

.569

SO'S provide wrong hotel/

flight/destination

information

.566 .380

Customer doesn’t provide

proper duration of stay .519 .409

SO'S not consulting about

the documents required

before booking

.488 .462


Clients are un informed by

VO'S about the changes

the made in country of

visa application as for

getting visa in Schengen

areas. Which can cause

problem in immigration.

.470 -.311 .429 .350

SO'S people persuade

the visa officer to submit

weak documentation

cases.

.802

SO'S do not inform the

probability and conditions

of operation of tour to

clients in fear of loosing

booking

.737 .303

SO'S request processing

of visa with out giving

proper booking details

.650 -.461

SO'S take bookings with

less time for visa

processing

.648 .311

SO'S persuade VO"S to

priorities their visa's as

they have lied to clients

.643 .448

With out knowing group

tour phenomenon

customers make very high

expectations of the

services.

.629

SO'S do not study the

customers requirements

properly.( their hidden

expectations)

.584

SO'S do not re confirm

with customer's interest

about any changes that

were made for the group

in attentive flights and

hotels.

.363 .521

Though booking is made

early the visas document

preparation are not

.488 .379


collected immediately and

processed (for Long time

to operate)

LO's delay in rising indent .308 .444

Hiding of the payment time

line by SO'S .390 .335 -.338

Hand bags and other

goodies are not given

before departure.

.745


proper destinations he

want to visit

.716

SO'S do not pick call of

customer quires .372 .384 .635

SO'S shadow the

document submission

duration

.354 .625

Clients are non supportive

in suppling documents. .387 .602

LO'S keep clients waiting

when called to collect

handovers

.542 .304 .326 -.436

SO'S lie to consumers

about their document

submission status.

.535 .470 .382

Customers persuade to

schedule /try to schedule

early trip though the

minimum time for visa is

specified.

-.476 .351 .350

LO's do not follow up with

Clints and keep them

intimated about the tour

.454 .466 .385

LO'S do not follow up with

the payments other than

on mail

.412 .307 -.370

He try's to take

commitments from SO'S

and try to flip the game.

.806

LO'S provide flights that

are fare different from

tentative that disturbs the

clients plan

.771


VO'S ask documents

which were not specified

initially.

.688

Consumers are kept in

dark about the stuck visa

and its consequences

thinking it can be

managed internally.

.655 .307

Hand overs are not

provided till date of

departure.

.365 .600

VO'S tend to be liniment in

the duration of visa (going

by seasonal duration not

by specified)

.403 .308 .433 .409

Customer comes with no

knowledge about tours. .669

Customer doesn’t look at

terms and conditions .665

SO'S tend to assure the

tentative flights and hotels

as fixed.

.572

The tour is called off just

few days before tour. .345 .572

SO'S shadow terms and

conditions during booking.

(keeping in view his

targets)

.546


proper dates .348 .490

VO'S mis place the

documents and ask for

new

.392 .457 .345

SO'S provide a random

duration for visa

processing according to

their knowledge in season.

With out consulting VO

.347 -.347

VO'S do not proactively

keep the SO'S informed

about documents and

specifics.

.407 .641


VO'S do not update the

Visa status timely .379 .625

Visa status is Non updated

to customers after the time

line of submission.

.379 .524

SO'S tend to shadow the

dollar rate pricing of the

trip. Which can vary every

day and increase by the

day of full payment

-.488

VO's are un properly

planned and pressurize on

Office staff to do their work

on priority than others.

.385 -.371 .480

Well travelled clients

question the documents

requested by VO’S-

basing on his past

experience only.

-.345 .451

SO'S do not inform the

customer about the

rectification in bills.

.767

VO'S do incomplete

documentation before

sending to consulate

.329 .303 -.614

Clients feel that they have

to call from their end to

know their booking status

.352 .606

SO'S do not specify all the

details in the file before

handing over it to LO

.393 .376 .583

SO'S some time hide the

visa implications and give

wrong assuredness.(they

say its easy)

.428 .480

Extraction Method: Principal Component Analysis;

Rotation Method: Varimax with Kaiser Normalization;

Rotation converged in 17 iterations.