The Concept of Service

The Concept of Service

The growing interest in services has led to the emergence of numerous and diverse concepts that vary based on the ideas held by those involved and the fields they address. These concepts also include services that are fully or partially linked to physical goods (hotel services, tourism services), and other services that complement the marketing process, such as maintenance. There are also services such as banking services. As a result, there have been many views on the concept of service. The American Marketing Association considers it to be “activities or benefits that are offered for sale or offered in connection with a specific product” (Al-Taie and Al-Alaq 2009). It has defined service as “any action or performance provided by one party to another that is intangible and does not lead to the ownership of something” (Kotler & Keller 2009). It has also defined it as “any activity or benefit that one party can provide to another that is essentially intangible and does not lead to the consumption of something” (Mulins, Gruill & Walker 2008). The elements surrounding the core service are those elements that are either vital to the implementation of the core service or that are only available to enhance the image of the service provided (Al-Taie and Al-Alaq 2009). According to (Vavga & Lusch), service “is the appropriate logic of marketing” and therefore it is an interactive process of doing something in a valuable and more profound way (Ballantyne & Varey 2008). As for (Yong), he believes that Defining the concept of service focuses on identifying the delivery processes and the factors that facilitate them. Service is defined as the accomplishment and implementation of research through interaction between the provider and the recipient (Yong 2000).
After defining the concept of services, which reflects the evolution of this concept from one stage to the next, depending on the development of societies, we find that others do not differ much when discussing hotel services, as their concepts and definitions have varied. Hotel service is defined as “non-material activities that can be provided separately and provide satisfaction to the needs and desires of guests and are not necessarily linked to the sale of another product. When providing the service, it does not require a transfer of ownership” (Al-Rawsan 2009). Al-Badran believes that hotel service is “a group of activities that provide guests with comfort and facilities for purchasing and using hotel goods during their stay at the hotel” (Al-Badran 1996), while Al-Damour defined it as “intangible activities intended to create exchange and benefit to provide and satisfy the desire and need of the guest” (Al-Rawsan 1993). Al-Ayeb confirms that this activity is linked to the accommodation, shelter, and subsistence of guests regardless of the means of this subsistence or residence with the aim of satisfying their desires and achieving their satisfaction as this is the best way to ensure the continuity of the sector’s activities and the development of its revenues (Al-Ayeb 2007). Al-Sumaidaie and Youssef review Dee’s viewpoint on service quality as it revolves around the benefits that this service provides to the customer as a level of awareness. Customer satisfaction with the quality of the service provided (Al-Sumaidi and Youssef 2010).edited 16:01