Improving Travel Service of Smileviet Company

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION & TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITEÙ LIBRE DE BRUXELLES SOLVAY BUSINESS SCHOOL MBMM PROGRAM LUU MOC KHE Improving Travel Service of Smileviet Company FINAL PROJECT MASTER IN BUSINESS & MARKETING MANAGEMENT Ho Chi Minh City (2007) MINISTRY OF EDUCATION & TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY UNIVERSITEÙ LIBRE DE BRUXELLES SOLVAY BUSINESS SCHOOL MBMM PROGRAM LUU MOC KHE Improving Travel Service of Smileviet Company FINAL PROJECT MASTER IN BUSINESS & MARKETING MANAGEMENT Instructor: Nguyen Thi Mai Trang Ho Chi Minh City (2007) DECLARATION I declare that the project entitled “Improving Travel Service of Smileviet Company” is my own work The information and data of the project are based on reliable sources I hope that my project will be evaluated seriously and approved for applying at Smileviet Travel Company ACKNOWLEDGEMENT I would like to express my most gratefulness to my tutor Mrs Nguyen Thi Mai Trang, who has given me great support and continuous encouragement I would also like to express my sincerest thanks to all Professors in Ho Chi Minh City Open University and the Solvay Business School, ULB, the MBMM program coordinators for the knowledge, support and advice during the MBMM program Additionally, I would like to appreciate all of the MBMM members; it is my great pleasure and honor to be with you guys in this MBMM program Finally, my thanks are extended to Mr Luu Moc Thuy, Director and founder of Smileviet Travel Company for his assistance in supplying related and valuable information to help me complete this study May, 2007 Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam Luu Moc Khe Tutor comments: Mr LUU MOC KHE has proven his capability and willingness to complete the final project Mark: 33/40 This project is qualified to be presented 26 May 2007 Tutor signed Nguyen Thi Mai Trang Table of content DECLARATION ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Tutor comments: Table of content Tables EXUCUTIVE SUMMARY INTRODUCTION Chapter 1: Tourism Situational Analysis 11 Scope and limitation 1.1 The demand trends 1.2 Tourism Favorable regulations 1.3 The economic and business conditions 1.4 Tourism difficulties 1.5 Competitor analysis 1.5.1 Saigontourist Travel Service Company 1.6 Company analysis 1.6.1 Company profile 1.6.2 The operation process 1.6.3 Smileviet customers 1.6.3.1 Smileviet Company target market 1.6.4 Company Product 1.7 Smileviet Company SWOT Strengths Weaknesses Opportunities Threats Chapter 2: Improving travel service of Smileviet Company 2.1 Strengthen the professional of current Tour guide 2.1.1 Fortify the tour guide knowledge ground 2.1.2 Narrowing the service quality gaps between expectations and perceptions of tourists 2.2 Tour guide recruitment plan 2.3 Create company website and deliver the final offer 2.3.1 The E-album of the trip 10 11 12 13 13 15 15 17 17 18 19 21 22 23 23 23 24 24 25 25 25 26 28 29 29 2.3.2 The company website Conclusion Reference Appendix Appendix 30 31 32 33 41 Tables Table1: The arrival figures of tourist from 2001 – 1st quarter of 2007 Table 2: Company tourist information of 2006 Table 3: Company tourist information of 1st quarter 2007 Table 4: Estimate cost of implementing website and E-album EXUCUTIVE SUMMARY Smileviet Company is a travel company targeting in bound tourists The booming of Vietnam tourism marketing has created many favorable conditions for the flourish of Smileviet Company but also attracted a lot of players join in and to share the market Gradually, the competitive situation has become stiffer Consequently, Smileviet Company has to assess and analyze the current scenario and accordingly it must alter the traditional way of doing business or will be crossed out from the market The Company realizes that tourists have so many choices and that Smileviet Company has no chance to reach the tourist unless it positions in the mind of the tourists and differentiates itself from the competitors A customer or a tourist select a product or service usually based on the price or the quality and the benefit brings to the customer or tourist Hence it presents two ways for positioning either in price or quality Positioning by pricing is only practicable to strong financial players or finally leading to bankruptcy The proper way of positioning is that Smileviet Company can pursue is positioning itself as a high quality travel company What Smileviet Company offer is a travel service, an experience and a process Tourist can neither touch, nor feel nor try in advance Besides, travel service also requires many other supporting elements like: hotel, restaurant, transportations, sightseeing places and so on The competitors also exploit those same elements while providing the service The difference between Smileviet Company and the rest is the tour guide and the service professional While buying a tour, tourist does not own anything after the payment; he or she only becomes eligible to take part in the process of the trip in a certain amount of time When the trip is over, the tourist only has experience, memory, knowledge and or feelings Making the tourist actually satisfied wholeheartedly processes a physical item after accomplishing the trip is another differentiating strategy that Smileviet Company can apply To offer high quality service, Smileviet Company starts from the core of service which is the role of the tour guide Duty of the guide is to communicate, to introduce, and to convey local information and special facts to tourist Aiming to that point, Smileviet Company educates its guides team by the latest and most updated information so that while on duty, the guides can convey to enrich the tour, tourist joining the tour with a certain level of expectation, but sometimes it happens that the perception of the tourist is different from his or her initial expectation result in the evaluation of poor quality from tourist The guide of Smileviet Company is trained to manage this gap Offering high quality services is also having same meaning of having sufficient man power to satisfy the increasing demand of market The back up tour guide work force also helps company to make a tool that help tourist storing his or her happy moment during the trip but also an effective advertising tool for company Currently company does not have a web site for tourist to search for it information, credibility A high quality service providing company not only has a website but the website existence is to serve its customer 28 employees of the hotels, restaurants, transportation… to provide the service according to specification The employees performance must vary, we cannot expect every employee their jobs consistency overtime Internally we can provide training, motivation and reduce the variable discrepancy Externally, the tour guide must monitor the performance of the supporting companies’ employees, make reminder if the level of service is below expectation and finally report to company to avoid using the supporting partners that unwilling to corporate and improve Finally the communication gap, it is the break of the promises of the company toward the tourists This situation is likely to occur when the communication flow of the company is incompetent, the advertising or sale promotions over promise the services that the servicing staff unable to perform and this defects are not properly reported to headquarter who plan the promises with the time allowance between tour guide and tourists, he can notice and report the behavior, culture or any national differences of the tourists that allow our company to deeper understand the visitors and provide better services 2.2 Tour guide recruitment plan For recruiting new tour guides, company can start recruitment advertising from the local tourism schools or institutions, even students major in a foreign language but want to become a tour guide It also can look for last year students of tourism schools and offer them employment under the position of tour guide assistants Upon accepted, those students will be sent to join the actual tours and assist the main guides Besides experiencing the tour, the assistants will carry a camera to photograph for all the travelers and record some special potion picture during the trip purposely This pictures and short movies will be used to attract tourists visiting company website and improve the company’s brand awareness This 29 assistance is also joining a training course to update the latest information of the country, people, and culture… After a few months, the assistance will become a guide By this way, Smileviet Company can develop and self-train a guide team that customized to our company expects level of profession With strong human resource, especially process company customized training and professional tour guide team is a firm’s competitive advantage and be really to serve more and more in coming tourists accompanying the grow of Vietnam tourism market 2.3 Create company website and deliver the final offer 2.3.1 The E-album of the trip From the pictures and short movies recorded by the tour assistants, at the end of each trip, those data will be sent to an Information Technology Company This company will edit the pictures and movies and arrange them according to time, location, and the persons and finally turn these data into one movie file that projects the whole trip with the participant of all the trip members This company also designs the layouts, inserts Vietnamese typical music, and adds in company information and other art related elements that make this file multifunctional To the tourists, when they back to their home, they can download the file from company website and burn to a CD/DVD to keep as collection, experience or memory of the trip, and they also can email or invite their relatives, friends to visit company web and view the files, share the fun with them To Smileviet Company, the movie file is the core value of the web as it creates and improves the awareness The more people download the movie, the more people know Smileviet Company When completing processing the file, it will be posted on company website and the tourists access to the download page by log in their names and first date of the trip 30 2.3.2 The company website Almost every travel companies in Vietnam have one or more than one website to represent themselves and allow potential tourists to communicate with the companies However lots of websites are made just for introducing their companies or organizations, their products, with little other services and one last page for web browser to email the web host companies Only two well known exceptions are Saigontourist Travel Company who provides web blog for its domestic customers to share their experiences and the other one is Vietravel Company that creates www.travel.com.vn to provide tour directly booking service with details of price, seats availability left, and flight information… etc Website of Smileviet Company could be a “me too” player at the moment, but it will create a differentiation that the website is a communication tool specialize in travel and tourism that allows sharing between tourists, between tourists and their families, and friends At the beginning phase, the main function of the website is to serve the tourists Its first page is reserved for tourist utilization: down loading, inviting their friends to view the videos of their trip The second or third layers of the website are the place for introducing company, Vietnam, tour programs… After the website has achieved target hits of one million or two, then Smileviet Company will initiate second phase of development: the E-commerce The web will then switch its function toward on more commercialization, allows tourist to make direct trip bookings, online payment, customize their trip and destinations… Table 4: Estimate cost of implementing website and E-album Project Items Price (VND) Website Production cost 5.000.000 Monthly administration (500.000 x 12) 6.000.000 31 E-album Digital camera 10.000.000 Hardware 20.000.000 Film edit service (1.000.000 x 12) 12.000.000 Total (yearly) 53.000.000 (Based on the quotation of Son Tra IT Service Company) Conclusion Improving the quality of the current tour guides, recruiting new tour guide, creating company own website, and delivering the meaningful final gift to tourist are some ways of positioning but it can never be the last one Furthermore, to cope with today unimaginable fast changing world, the positioning strategies valid for today may no longer applicable on tomorrow Tourism service is intangible and that leads to no patent right so Smileviet Company service differentiation can last for a very short period only Service can be copied however the people who are able to effectively and efficiently provide the service are not Building up this advantage needs a lot of time, money and effort investment This creates company strength but also presents a threat It requires Smileviet Company skillfully applying the human resources policies appropriately that able to keep those professionals not flowing to the competitors 32 Reference Vietnamese Thu Hà (2005), “Nhân lực du lịch yếu chuyên môn, ngoại ngữ”, Tuổi trẻ online, Tp Hồ Chí Minh Tổng Cục Du Lịch (2006), “Du lịch Việt Nam trước thềm WTO”, Hà Nội Tuổi trẻ online (2007), “5 lý du khách quốc tế chọn VN”, Báo tuổi trẻ, Tp Hồ Chí Minh Thủ tướng Chính phủ (2006), Quyết Định việc phê duyệt Chương trình hành động quốc gia du lịch giai đoạn 2006 – 2010, Trang tin điện tử Chính Phủ Nước Cộng Hịa Xã Hội Chủ Nghĩa Việt Nam, Hà Nội English A Parasuraman, Valarie A Zeithaml, and Leonard L Berry, (1985) “A conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications of Future Research”, Journal of Marketing, 49, pp.42 Dr Vu Tuan Canh (2000), “Vietnam Tourism Master Plan with environment and resource management strategy”, Hanoi, p.1 K Douglas Hoffman and John E.G Bateson (2006), Services Marketing: Concepts, Strategies, and Cases, 3rd ed, Thomson South-Western, p336 HOANG TUAN ANH (2007), “WTO’s access - Pros and cons of Vietnam tourism”, Viet Nam National Tourism Administration, Hanoi Viet Nam National of Tourism Administration (2007), “RoK's group to build high-grade hotel in Ha Noi”, Hanoi 10 Visit Britain (2007) “Norway 2007”, UK Industry, London 11 World Travel & Tourism Council (2006), Progress and Priorities 2006/07, London, p.9 33 Appendix A sample tour product of Smileviet Company and Saigontourist Travel Company 34 HANOI – HALONG – HUE – DANANG – HOIAN – SAIGON (14 days – 13 nights) Tour leader: Sabra Group 30pax Beijing/Vietnam, 18 days Day (5 June 2006): PEK/ HANOI (D) Flight VN901~15:45/18:30 - Upon your arrival in Hanoi, Smileviet’s tour guide welcomes you at the airport then transfers you to the city centre - Dinner and Overnight in Hanoi Hotel: Sofitel Plaza, Hanoi Day 2(6 June 2006) HANOI - City Tour (B/ L/ D) - Breakfast at hotel - Take the city tour around Hanoi - Vietnam’s present day capital and one of Asia’s most attractive and interesting cities The tour starts with a visit to former president Hochiminh’s historical complex including his mausoleum, museum and the near-by One Pillar Pagoda and lunch - Drive to visit Temple of Literature - the first national university in Vietnam history - Take a break with the French cafe - Continue with a rickshaw tour to explore 36 crowded streets of Hanoi Old Quarter with all its lively pictures of the locals’ daily life routine - The day ends up with a water puppet show - Vietnam’s famous traditional art performance - Dinner and overnight in Hanoi Hotel: Sofitel Plaza, Hanoi Day 3(7 June 2006) HANOI - HALONG (B/ D) - After breakfast at your hotel, free time for your own city discovery - Free lunch at your choice will be the best way to taste the truly Vietnamese cuisine treasure - Transfer to Halong bay - the most see-worthy tourist attraction in the North On the way, enjoy the scenery of tranquil villages and rice farm in the rural Vietnam - Dinner and overnight in Halong Hotel: Halong Plaza, Halong 35 Day (8 June 2006): HALONG (B/ L/ D) - Breakfast at hotel - Take the cruise through numerous islets and islands Thousands of boats, big and small, fishing boats, house boats scatter the water combined with fresh water and limestone islets appear throughout your cruise adds the magic trip much more fascinating While cruising on the bay, visitors also have chance to see the daily activities of the local floating villages Boat drops at some places for visiting islands and caves or swimming in the middle of the bay (in the summer time) - Lunch on board in the middle of breath-taking landscape gives you unforgettable impression - Boat back to the harbour - Visit Hon Gai to see the local market to learn more about the daily life in coastal region - Dinner and overnight in Halong Hotel: Halong Plaza, Halong Day (9 June 2006) HALONG – HANOI Θ HUE (B/ L/ D) Flight VN245~ 12:40/13:50 - After breakfast, transfer back to Hanoi - Brief relax on the way at the Humanitarian Centre where you can find meaningful souvenirs made by skilful hands of the disables - Transfer direct to the airport for domestic flight to Hue - Light lunch with special Vietnamese noodle “Pho” in Hue city - Check in hotel and brief relax in the hotel - Dinner and overnight in Hue Hotel: La Residence, Hue Day (10 June 2006) HUE (B/ L/ D) - After breakfast, start the boat trip on the romantically named Perfume River to visit Hue’s best-known religious site - Thien Mu pagoda - Bus to visit tomb of Khai Dinh emperor, a perfect combination of Eastern and Western architecture - Lunch in a local restaurant - This afternoon is for visiting Hue ancient citadel with the most valuable vestiges of Vietnam’s last feudal dynasties 36 Stop at Dong Ba market known as the commercial center of Hue brings in the visitors interesting experience in the local cuisine art as well as its unique culture - Dinner to enjoy royal specialties with traditional music performance - Overnight at hotel, Hue city Hotel: La Residence, Hue - - - - Day (11 June 2006) HUE - DANANG - HOIAN (B/ L/ D) After breakfast at the hotel, bus transfer to leave Hue for another Cultural World Heritage site - Hoi An ancient town On the way, drive through numerous beautiful landscapes such as Hai Van pass, Lang Co beach… Lunch upon arrival in Hoi An ancient town Half day tour around Hoi An town to explore its treasury with lots of ancient houses, the famous Japanese Covered Bridges, the Pottery Museum and many other temples and pagodas of Chinese and Japanese characters The tour ends up with a memorable cruise on Thu Bon river to enjoy sunset admit peaceful landscape of Hoian- the hundreds year-old ancient port Dinner and overnight in Hoian Hotel: Palm Garden, Hoi An Day (12 June 2006) HOI AN – MYSON (B/ L) - Breakfast at hotel - Take a half day excursion to the Ruins of My Son - Cham Pa Kingdom's Holly Land Located 50 km out of Hoi An, My Son used to be the most important Cham intellectual & religious center between the 4th and 3rd centuries - Come back for lunch - Free at leisure for rest of the day in Hoian ancient town- a well- deserved shopping paradise in Asia with silk and tailor made - Overnight in Hoian town Hotel: Palm Garden, Hoi An Day (13 June 2006) HOI AN free day (B) - Free all day for finding out the hidden charm of the ancient town or your own relaxing time at the hotel with swimming or sunbath by the sea Hotel: Palm Garden, Hoi An Day 10 (14 June 2006) HOI AN - DA NANG Θ HOCHIMINH city (B/ L/ D) Flight VN321~ 08:00/ 09:10 37 Take your breakfast box and bus transfer for your flight to HoChiMinh city The city tour starts with a visit of Reunification Palace (also called Thong Nhat Conference Hall) which witnessed and influenced by a lot of important historical events before 1975 - Continue to see the city’s Post office and Notre Dame Cathedral, two of the most typical French style architecture of Saigon under the domination of French Colonists in last centuries - Photo outside the city hall and lunch - Stop at Ben Thanh market to learn more about the local activities and shop around the city’s biggest trading center - Dinner and overnight in Ho Chi Minh City Hotel: Softie Plaza Saigon - Day 11 (15 June 2006) HCMC - CU CHI (B/ L) - Enjoy your breakfast at hotel - Depart for an excursion to Cu Chi tunnels, only 30 to 40 km from Saigon, famous for its network of underground tunnels: 200km long 12m deep created by the Viet Cong during war against the American - Transfer back to Hochiminh city for your lunch - Free time for your own city discovery - Overnight at hotel, Hochiminh city Hotel: Sofitel Plaza Saigon Day 12 (16 April 2006) HOCHIMINH city tour (B/ L/ D) - Breakfast at the hotel - A visit at the War Remnants Museum - Free shopping at leisure in Dong Khoi Street - one of the most crowded streets in the city and lunch - Also great chance to visit a lacquer ware factory where the skillful artisans will explain and show you the whole interesting and complicated process to produce a beautiful lacquer ware from wood eggs shell oyster shell lacquer … You will see the working on the products and the collections of excellent lacquer ware at this factory - Special dinner on a floating restaurant Cruising along Saigon River, while enjoying food and the attractive melody of live music show - Overnight at hotel, Hochiminh city Hotel: Sofitel Plaza Saigon Day 13 (17 April 2006) HCMC Θ BANGKOK (B/ D) 38 Flight LH773~ 21:10/ 05:55 - Breakfast at the hotel - Whole day free for your leisure or doing some shopping until farewell dinner - Late check out and transfer to Tan Son Nhat airport for the departure flight Farewell Day 14 (18 April 2006) BANGKOK Θ OSLO 39 Saigontourist tour program A Touch of Vietnam Tour code: IB03-CT01- Classic Tours Description: days from Ho Chi Minh City to Hanoi: Ho Chi Minh City, Hue, Danang, Hoi An, Halong and Hanoi “A touch of Vietnam” is designed for holiday makers who have only a short vacation and business travelers who wish to some brief sightseeing This is too quick a journey to fully discover the whole country, but the lively image of Vietnam, with an intriguing history, friendly people and an endeavor to move forward to a better future will remain in their memory The journey will take them to major cities in Vietnam: dynamic Ho Chi Minh City, poetic Hue, bustling Danang, ancient Hoi An, picturesque Halong and peaceful Hanoi where they will find different ways of life and different customs and practices DAY 1: Arrival in Ho Chi Minh City Arrive at Tan Son Nhat Airport Pick up and transfer to a hotel An afternoon tour round Ho Chi Minh City, formerly called Saigon, features the History Museum, the Binh Tay Market in Chinatown, Thien Hau Temple and a lacquer workshop O/N in Ho Chi Minh City DAY 2: Excursion to Cu Chi (B, D) In the morning, have an excursion to Cu Chi, 70km north of Saigon, famed for its 200-kilometre-long tunnels In the afternoon, at leisure or shopping in downtown Saigon (embroideries, lacquerware, wood-carvings,) Enjoy a folk show and dinner O/N in Ho Chi Minh City DAY 3: Ho Chi Minh City – Hue (B) Early in the morning, transfer to Tan Son Nhat Airport for a short flight to Hue, widely known for its magnificent monuments built under the Nguyen Dynasty (1802 – 1945) After arrival, visit the Imperial Citadel, built in 1804 on a site chosen in accordance with the principles of geomancy In the afternoon, visit the tombs of King Tu Duc (ruled 1848 – 1883) and King Khai Dinh (ruled 1916 – 1925) The monuments, designed by the kings themselves, were also used as holiday retreats during their lifetime In the evening, enjoy a Hue folk show on a barge on the Perfume River O/N in Hue 40 DAY 4: Hue - Hoi An (B) Take a boat ride on the Perfume River to Thien Mu Pagoda with a 21-metre-high octagonal tower regarded as the symbol of Hue Then overland to the Dong Ba Market, famous for its best conical hats in Vietnam In the afternoon, transfer to Hoi An (140km) with a stop-over on the Hai Van Pass overlooking the scenic Lang Co lagoon In the evening, enjoy a folk show in an ancient house O/N in Hoi An DAY 5: Hoi An - Danang – Hanoi (B) Enjoy a morning tour of Hoi An, a trading post of seafaring Chinese, Japanese and Portuguese merchants several centuries ago In the afternoon, before leaving Danang, visit the stone-carving village of Non Nuoc and the Cham Sculpture Museum Take a short flight to Hanoi, Vietnam’s capital city of tree-lined streets and centuries-old temples Pick up and transfer to a hotel O/N in Hanoi DAY 6: Hanoi - Halong Bay (B) A city tour features both cultural and historical highlights, comprising the Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum, One-Pillared Pagoda, the Ethnology Museum and the Temple of Literature Transfer to Halong Bay O/N in Halong DAY 7: Halong Bay - Hanoi (B, L) Board a private boat for a cruise in Halong Bay (4 hours), a World Heritage site recognized by UNESCO in 1994 Visit some magical grottoes and relax in the best scenic beauty of Vietnam Lunch of fresh seafood is served on board Return to Hanoi with stop-over at ceramic and hand embroidery workshops en route O/N in Hanoi DAY 8: Departure from Hanoi (B) Spend last minutes for downtown shopping (ceramics, silver-carvings, silk,) or at leisure before check-out Transfer to the airport for departure Source: http://english.saigontourist.net/tour_details.php?id=53 41 Appendix Sample questionnaire for studying tourists Tour code: Tour members: Tour guide: Date: Length of trip: Attention to Guide: The purpose of this questionnaire is for company better understand the tourists as well as for improving the services Please answer it carefully, honestly, and thoroughly It has two parts: part is a daily description of the trip and part Summarization of the whole trip Part1: Daily description What tourist comments on today activities of? Sites: Restaurant: Food: Hotel: Shop: Others: What items tourist pay most attention on? Sites: Restaurant: Food: Hotel: Shop: Others: What fields of Vietnam that tourist has made questions to enquiry more detail from you? Please provide as specific as possible? (History, Economy, Culture and subculture, Political, Environment, live style, local living condition, education, employment, population…) What is the strongest experience you hold for today tour? Part 2: Summarization of the whole trip What is their most interested in activity of the trip? What are the reasons of that? 42 What are they shopping behavior? The benefit of they seek from the products they buy? What information you found from tourist today that company needs to know to be better understanding the needs of tourist? What questions did tourist ask that you feel difficult to answer? And what questions you have not heard any tourist ask before? http://www.vub.ac.be/MEKO/Vietnam/EU/EIAws1_5.html http://www.wttc.travel/bin/pdf/temp/progresspriorities06-07.html http://www.tuoitre.com.vn/Tianyon/Index.aspx?ArticleID=199913&ChannelID=100 http://www.vietnam.gov.vn/portal/page?_pageid=33,638900&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL&docid=15265 http://www.vietnamtourism.gov.vn/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=713&Itemid=0 http://www.vietnamtourism.gov.vn/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=858&Itemid=46 http://www.tuoitre.com.vn/Tianyon/Index.aspx?ArticleID=112308&ChannelID=100 http://www.vietnamtourism.gov.vn/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1784&Itemid=147 http://www.tourismtrade.org.uk/MarketIntelligenceResearch/InternationalVisitorStatistics/MP2007/Norway.asp 10 A Parasuraman, Valarie A Zeithaml, and Leonard L Berry, (1985) “A conceptual Model of Service Quality and Its Implications of Future Research”, Journal of Marketing,49, pp.42 11 K Douglas Hoffman and John E.G Bateson (2006), Services Marketing: Concepts, Strategies, and Cases, 3rd ed, Thomson South-Western, p 336