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ABSTRACT
Context is an important but largely ignored dimension of quality service encounters. This paper contributes to the hospitality service industries literature by examining how the front-of-house and back-of house boundary work (Nippert-Eng 1996, 2003) engaged by Room Attendants working within the hotel guest room space impact on the hospitality impression management performed. Qualitative data from fieldwork engaging with hotel employees located within the tourist resort of Queenstown New Zealand are used to explore the multiple fronts on which the front-of-house and back-of-house boundaries are simultaneously negotiated. The results suggest that Room Attendants negotiate the front-of-house and back-of-house boundary through objects - such as the guest room and articles belonging to the guest - and aspects of self - such as impression management, safety, socialising and self-responsibility for room checking. The results support the importance of considering context when seeking to understand the complexities associated with the (re)production of a reliably positive service encounter.
Keywords: hotels; service encounter; dramaturgical; front-of-house; back-of-house; boundaries
INTRODUCTION
It was the end of the day - 4:30 - she was tired. We should have been finished but we were late due to illness. She said, "Can I do your room" and the guest said, "Can you come back in half an hour?" She said, "No, we'll be gone by then because we'll have finished". And he said, "Well I was out all day and I've just got back" and she said, "That's not my problem I have to do the whole hotel." I think it was the way he picked it up but we got a letter from him to the General Manager (Housekeeping Manager Dale).
The service encounter is at the heart of the service product (Chapman & Lovell 2006). As this interaction between a hotel guest and room attendant suggests however, not all service encounters are positive and productive. A key problem for the service industries therefore, is how to ensure that the service encounter is both high quality and reliable (Nath & Raheja 2001). Quality service is conventionally defined as 'the gap between consumers' expectations about a service and their subsequent perception of service performance' (Gould-Williams 1999: 101). The SERVQUAL instrument developed by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1988, 1991) has been used extensively by researchers to...