Saturday, October 6, 2012

New book on customer service!

Have you ever wondered why customer service is the exception rather than the norm? Why is it that some companies like Disney, Four Seasons and Virgin get it right, when so many others fail? Well, my new book about customer service in the tourism and hospitality sector written with business and life partner, Simon answers these questions and more. 

And, of course, due to my obsession with skiing and the wintersports industry, there are plenty of ski-related case studies included in the book. Check out the Spotlight on Sandy Best, Lake Louise's visionary Marketing Manager in Chapter 6; an article about Joe Nevin's innovative and instructive Bumps for Boomers program in Aspen; interviews with ski chalet guru, Andrew Dunn from Scott Dunn Travel; and the Case Study on the grand-daddies of heli-skiing, Canadian Mountain Holidays in Chapter 2.  

Given the critical importance of customer service for the tourism and hospitality sector, it is remarkable that this is the first comprehensive text that deals with this important topic. The book will be useful for both students and industry practitioners as it explains not only the theory behind the importance of customer service but also acts as a guidebook for those wishing to put this theory into practice. In essence it is the ‘whys’ and ‘hows’ of customer service. The book is easy to read, very current, and full of references to all the latest research from both academic and practitioner literature. It's going to have its own blog, soon, so keep an eye out for more details. The book, entitled  “Customer Service for Hospitality and Tourism”, will be available to purchase from November through Goodfellow Publishers in the U.K.