Qatar Airways Essay

Qatar Airways

Qatar Airways Company is one of the world’s highly rated airlines, as it offers its services globally with links in over one 140 destinations.

Qatar Airways has its base at Hamad International Airport in Qatar. The airline’s ownership was transferred to the Qatar government as of July 2013 from a foreign minister and a group of other shareholders following their buyout of a 50% stake. The Qatar Airways Company was established in 1993, but became fully operational on the 20th January 1994 with Sheikh Hamad Bin Ali Bin Jabor Al Thani as the CEO. The airline has become a major source of employment to people globally since its establishment, as it employs more than 31000 individuals, including cabin crew, hotel managers and staff, rental car drivers, and other relevant staff in the different fields. Qatar Airways offer different services to their customers with flight travels as the main priority. It offers flight travels internationally to over 125 countries globally across Africa, Europe, Central and South Asia, far East, Middle East, North and South America. The personnel employed includes people of different races and nationalities. This approach provides good customer services, as one can be served by a cabin crewmember, who understands the customer’s national language, which reduces the communication barriers. Online flight booking also makes it convenient for customers by providing booking of one-way tickets or return tickets along with choices of economy, business or first class air travel. The airline also offers fair baggage allowance deals to its customers. Qatar Airways also offer hotel services, which have been made more easily accessible by the airline’s official website. The hotels offer accommodation at fair prices with special offers for the travelers. The hotels are based in different cities worldwide ranging from three star hotels to five stars hotels offering the customers a wide range of choices at affordable prices. The Qatar Airways Company also offers car rental services to its customers, which makes it convenient for them to transport luggage to their desired destinations (Holloway, 2008).

Methodology

The Internet has become a major source of information for the people of different lifestyle and backgrounds. Businesses nowadays has moved marketing of the products and customer services to a higher level by introducing online marketing, which is a platform of the advertising of products and services that allows to reach a wider range of clients. Travel agencies, just like other businesses, have managed to maintain their contact with their customers by creating or launching websites that have relevant information for serving the customers. In travel agencies, customers are able to access travel tickets, either one-way or return, and flight information directly from their mobile phones or laptops by accessing the agency’s official website. Qatar Airline has an official website that makes it possible and convenient for its customers, since it makes it easy for them to access its services anywhere, anytime. Through the website, the company is able to get feedback from its customers concerning the services it offers. The same technique of using customers’ feedback is employed in data collection for this particular report. Blog spots serve as a as a major source of information about the customers’ feedback. On the blog spot pages, people always base their opinions on their true feelings on what they think about certain issues or topics. Different blog spots on the Qatar Airline’s services give a very detailed feedback from the customers on the quality of services the airline provides. Both negative and positive feedback is essential to the airlines, as it helps improve the areas that may be failing. Therefore, online reviews are an integral part of any business’s success. It is a direct link to its customers. The company gets feedback and through embracing positive criticism, it is able to improve the services it offers to its clientele. Another method applied in this report is the use of interviews of the airline’s customers. An interview with random travelers using the airline’s service has also greatly contributed to the findings of this report. Interviews and questionnaires applied are geared towards assessing the level of customer satisfaction in terms of the services offered by the Qatar Airlines (Kothari, 2011).

Customer Satisfaction

The airline handles people from all walks of life travelling to different destinations and values its customers. As the policy goes, the customer is always right. Therefore, it is very essential to come up with ways to maintain them. In this case, there are various ways to do so. they involve various flight and hotel deals. Here, the clients are offered top services. There are airhostesses, who are highly trained on how to treat the clients in order to satisfy them. The company has set high standards for its employees in terms of customer satisfaction. Generally, it has built a reputation and a brand on this basis. For instance, the air hostesses are always advised to be smiling in order to please the client anytime they are at work. Moreover, the kind of food and drinks offered are diverse and deservedly prepared in variety. Car hire is the kind of serving attendance that is offered to the flight shoppers in case they travel with bulk goods and are not very familiar with the place of their location. This approach makes it easier for them. Moreover, customers may prefer the same means for return, which makes it work both ways. It also enhances bonding with the clients, as company has a chance to listen to their views and, of course, adhere to what they require.

In bonding with the clients, the employees and the company get feedback about their services. Customers are in a position to make suggestions that, if implemented, will lead to better customer satisfaction.

Travelling floods during holiday seasons. This is everyone wants to get to a destination of his or her preferred choice for the certain duration of time. The airline offers special deals to the customers, which involve privileges like reduced booking prices for accommodation. Such deals help ease the pressure of securing travel during the crowded holiday seasons. These deals come as a relief for most customers and they make Qatar Airways their preferred choice when it comes to holiday travel.

Multi stop flights are offered to the convenience of the customers on board considering that people come from different lifestyles and choosing a stopover for them could not enhance reliability, since the motive of flying maybe diverse. Top-flight offers are allowed for the last-minute booking of the online flight. It becomes more convenient, as it is faster and easier than the manual queuing, whereby one may even queue and end up missing the flight due to elapse of the time frame. Moreover, the flights are relatively cheaper in comparison to other airlines.

Measures to Retain Customers

The airline embarks on several ways to maintain customer gratification. Customer gratification is one of the crucial parts of any successful business or company. This part could be quite sensitive and it should not be looked down on. The practice of customer service culture is the way to go. In instilling proper customer service culture, Qatar Airways build a company brand under the banner of excellent customer service.
Besides concentrating on the positive side, it is always considered wise to work on the setbacks and use them as a stepping-stone so as to make them the strong holds. It could easily be achieved by approaching customers directly face=to-face so as to get to know clearly the complaints from the clients and easily note them down in order to work on the weaknesses. Therefore, handling customer complaints forms an integral part of every business. At times the customer might not be satisfied with the level of service offered. Consequently, issues raised by the customers need to be addressed in order to ensure quality customer service as well as customer retention.

Customer retention is whereby you grasp the customers, and this could only be achieved by ensuring that they are treated nicely in order to lure them back. Customer retention means offering an ideal experience to your customers, hence ensuring their return. Customer retention is important for any business that is looking to expand its customer base. In the case where one is not very familiar with the surroundings, and has travelled with bulk goods, such a person really requires close attention in terms of customer service. Lately there has been offered care hire, where one is taken safely to where they are destined to with the luggage they have and the whole service catered for making the workload much easier and more convenient. Customer service ensures that the customers are given proper attention and assistance when the need arises.

Lastly, security builds confidence for those who are travelling, since they are certain that nothing unsound could happen to them. T-Mobile customer service is very essential to retaining customer contacts in order to maintain communication to draw them back next time. In such a way, the company gets to communicate via phone and get to know the opinions of the clients.

Empowerment of the Employees

Empowering means making someone stronger and more confident, especially in such a way that involves claiming of their justice or control of their lives. The company in question has various ways to emancipate them, which is very essential, since the results of the workers mostly depend on how they are treated. One of the empowerment options by the airlines includes fostering open communication. It makes the staff feel free in their place of work and able to share their challenges at the customer service desk. In most cases there is usually a book at the customer service desk mainly for them to write comments in a case those are not free to share face-to-face. Moreover, besides the challenges, it is always important to keep the bonding free so as to break the tension and set them free.

The company also rewards self-improvement. The airline assesses staff regarding their different levels of line of duties. In every section, for instance, the laborers, airhostesses, normally have a person in charge to supervise their work and oversee them. Therefore, the supervisors conduct tests, and, after a certain duration of time, can easily evaluate the performance of the staff. Due to the changing trends, it can easily be seen in the form of graphs, as records are conducted and stored in the computer systems. Those who have toiled and improved are recognized and rewarded in order to motivate them and challenge the rest who may be lagging behind.

Next, allocation of duties is very crucial, since each and every person should understand their obligation in order to act adequately. It enables one to concentrate and improve performance. Never mind how minor the efforts may be, it is always significant to acknowledge the strain that has been involved in the worker’s routine, since it motivates the workers to even work harder next time.

Personnel should always target sovereignty. They should not always relax and wait to be supervised on their work, but should be in a position to know what to do and when. The firm also encourages self-failure. It is always important to handle things positively, and workers should learn from their failures. Supervisors, depending on the line of duty, should encourage self-failure from personnel, as this is as a result of trying out something, which eventually does not bear any fruits. In other words, they could be encouraging innovation.

Challenging Customers

Dealing with people of all races from different lifestyles may sometimes be cumbersome. It has been a major challenge, as some of the customers may be in an unpleasant mood, while others may even be angry. This situations call for patience and ways to handle the issue very carefully so as to retain such clients. If such an incidence occurs, the company has some ways of handling the ordeal.

Remaining calm is the first one. The employee at the customer service desk should be all ears and allow the vexed customer to pour their heart out without arguing with them. It allows them to define clearly what is troubling them cool down. It is the way to avoid the possible conflict. The workers are encouraged use their best listening skills. One is supposed to listen keenly to the complaints before coming to any conclusion so as to know the root of the problem precisely without making any guesses. Active sympathizing is also encouraged. One should express the grief in order to show the client great concern and understanding. Apologizing gracefully is another approach. It will let the customer gain confidence with the airline and feel more relieved and willing to book a flight again next time. As the policy goes, the customer is always right. Finding a solution is possible in some cases. After the client has already calmed down, it is recommended that the employee would handle the whole issue and come up with the way forward before the customer leaves (House of Common Transport Committee, 2007). It enhances customer retention possibilities. The job may be stressful, which calls for some lone time irrespective of whether the issue was a petty or a major problem, since there are more clients to serve. Being alone will allow the worker to calm down and get ready to face any other situation.

Modern Communication Technologies in Marketing

When modern communication technologies meet the age-old marketing, the result obtained is known as e-marketing. This form of marketing products is done on a higher level. Companies put to practice e-marketing techniques due to the many advantages as outlined further. Qatar Airways employs this technique of marketing its services with the use of the Internet and other modern communication technologies such as emails, social media and mobile phones. The Internet serves as platform upon which companies directly communicate with their customers about product details and advertise their services. It engages potential customers as it employs the use of videos, photos and product reviews. Blog spots are a very important source of information for the customers, since they aid with directing the customers to the company’s official website. This is a helpful of marketing for the airline. With the help of the company’s official website, Qatar Airways have made it possible for customers to directly purchase the tickets online without having to visit the airports. This option has cut down the cost of transport for the customers and has made purchasing process more convenient.

E-mail marketing puts in practice the use of newsletters and announcements to market the company’s products. Announcements on new offerings and discounts for the particular flights to various destinations easily reach the customers through their email addresses. Mobile phones are also used to easily reach the company’s customers. Taking the customers’ contacts is helpful, as it is an important tool for communication. Text messaging and applications are also used to send details or announcements to people on a particular marketing list.

When delaying of flights occurs, the airline can use mobile phone contacts of their travelers to inform them and offer apologies for the inconvenience.

Digital signage is also a very important tool in communicating with the customers, especially when they are at the airports. The digital signage is used to keep the travelers updated on the new offers and discounts that the airline might be offering (Fojt, 2006). Modern communication technologies are advantageous for the companies in that they significantly cut down the costs of advertising and marketing.

The customers are also able to access the companies’ information without much of a hustle, as it only requires them to log in to the companies’ website using their gadgets. Through the modern communication technologies, product details and information reaches a large group of target audience in a very short period.

Financial barriers to social media marketing are also quiet low. However, the employees running the company’s website and social media links may face health hazards, as being on the Internet for long hours causes health risks, such as back pains and eyestrain. This is a disadvantage to both the airline and to the employees. The use of the airline’s computers for personal use by the employees is also disadvantageous to the company, as it decreases productivity.

Summary

All in all, Qatar Airways is a good example of an organization practicing in the EAU that has a customer service department that carries out its service effectively. In this paper, the airline’s history and current operations have been examined. Qatar Airways is an international airline that links 140 countries. This, it is a major source of employment to different groups of people globally. This is the company’s advantage that enables sufficient communication between its customers and the airline’s employees. The customers’ opinions about the services offered include a lot of positive feedback, which demonstrates the customers satisfaction. This paper highlights the different networks that the airline uses to communicate to its customers and market their services. It also explains the measures that the airline uses for satisfying its customers and maintaining them, the advantages and disadvantages of the techniques the airline employs in advertising its services online.