Airbnb Case Study- Global Marketing Management- Free Sample Solution

Question: Explain what features of Airbnbs service fulfil the five dimensions of service quality. How do the features contribute to creating and maintaining long-term customer relationships? Answers: The five dimensions of service quality that ensures the creation of long term customer relations are: Tangibles: the physical surroundings and the facilities that are available along with other components like the way customers are treated and spoken to and equipments. In the case of Airbnb, the tangibles are the interface that the customers and the service providers are using. Here the tangible is user friendly and customers are provided with a seamless and fast tour of the various sections that include sections like the personal choice where travelers can connect with local hosts. The website stimulates the consumer while the customer looks at the pages and makes the customer gets a feeling being at the destination. This creates customer satisfaction and creates chances of the customer returning to the website (Zeithaml and Parasuraman, 2004). Reliability: this refers to the efficient delivering the services that a company promises to deliver. Airbnb, provides insurance for damages of upto $1 million for host listings at every booking that is made. This is applicable throughout the area where the company offers services. The company also gives a number of measures that seek to secure the protection of both the guests and the hosts and the service quality. T he company also adheres to the commitment of maintaining personal data protection of both the guests and the hosts. This creates confidence among the users of the website. Responsiveness: this refers to the way the company reacts and the attitude of the company in fulfilling the needs of the customers and providing good quality and fast goods and services. Providing this service ensures that the customer feels valued and tend to go away satisfied. In the case of Airbnb, the company has a very responsive website that is fast and hence guests can browse fast through the website (Schneider and White, 2004). The company also has a very responsive 24 hour helpline facility that caters to customer queries. This high level of quality of service creates a unique experience for the gusts and the service users. Assurance: this refers to the skill level of the employees and the degree to which they are able to cater to the needs of the customers so that a sense of trust and confidence is created in the minds of the customers (Zeithaml and Parasuraman, 2004). In the case of Airbnb, the customer service people are the major employees that interact with the customers and are very responsive to cater to satisfaction of customer needs. The IT department of the company also strives to ensure that the platform on which the company website operates is seamless, user-friendly and fast for gusts and visitors. Empathy: This refers to the way the company provides individual service to the customers by providing individual attention to the customers (Kandampully, Mok and Sparks, 2001). This role is completed by the customer service employees of the company who interact directly with the gusts. More over the website itself is designed in a way that caters ot the personal needs and preferences of customers and guests. References Kandampully, J., Mok, C. and Sparks, B. (2001). Service quality management in hospitality, tourism, and leisure. New York: Haworth Hospitality Press. Schneider, B. and White, S. (2004). Service quality. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications. Zeithaml, V. and Parasuraman, A. (2004). Service quality. Cambridge, Mass.: Marketing Science Institute.