‘How May I Help You?’: A Case Study of Spoken Service Language in an Australian Five-Star Hotel

The tourism and hospitality industry relies heavily on frontline service employees’ ability to facilitate customer interpersonal relations. Among the essential soft skills, effective spoken communication stands out as an important determinant for the success of service interactions, especially in high-contact service settings. In particular, employees’ adeptness in communicating verbally using spoken ‘service language’ significantly influences organizational performance and shapes service experiences throughout the guest journey. However, despite the best efforts of many hospitality education institutions in developing communication skills, it is often assumed that students have acquired a vast array of communication skills throughout a course when they have not been explicitly taught. This fictional case and accompanying notes concentrate on service employees’ spoken communication skills, and specifically their spoken service language, because these are recognised as important factors shaping service encounters. This case study illuminates the complexity and importance of spoken communication in tourism and hospitality service delivery, known as spoken ‘service language’ (Scerri, 2015; Scerri et al. in J Hospit Tour Manag 33:82–92, 2017). Set in Sydney, Australia, the fictitious case describes the interaction between hotel guests Jon and Ray and the staff during their stay in a five-star hotel. A detailed storytelling narrative allows students to reflect on spoken communication during the guest journey. The narrative is structured around an overnight hotel stay, dividing the guest journey into service touchpoints.