Designing Service Environments

Abstract

Operations management involves utilizing given resources as efficiently as possible to deliver services to customers and meet business goals. Developing efficient business operations requires a hospitality organization to design efficient service environments, as part of its mission. This chapter articulates the key design and planning strategies for the development of a successful hospitality organization. The first section covers the process of location selection, as the most important factor leading to the success of a hospitality organization. The second section discusses strategies for estimating the number of users (service employees and customers) during peak and idle times to justify a costly financial investment. The third section concerns the readers with the topic of layout planning, with the goal of service optimization for a targeted number of customers. The fourth section deliberates workflow conditions, and finally, the last section addresses the ambience and design of the physical hospitality environment, which is crucial for customer evaluation of a hospitality organization as it creates a first impression.

Citation

Bogicevic, V. and Choi, H. (2021), "Designing Service Environments", Szende, P., Dalton, A.N. and Yoo, M.(M). (Ed.) Operations Management in the Hospitality Industry, Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 45-70. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83867-541-720211003