The American Express -Travel Related Services Indonesia is a part of the American Express Company involved in the company's traditional business of charge cards, travelers cheques and travel, and its function is to provide product or service of high quality to its card members.



This study is intended to evaluate the current performance of American Express regarding the increasing numbers of individuals requiring service at the cashier section of the TRS lobby which have resulted in long queueing lines, longer waiting times and frustration among the individuals.



The study indicated that, based on observations, TRS should maintain a minimum of 4 staffing levels until 13:00 hours, to accomodate the increasing customers arrivals. In addition, also to increase customer's "Short" and !'Moderate" perceptions on queueing length from 83% to 95% satisfaction level. In addition, the customers to messengers ratio arriving at the lobby was 2 to 1.



The simulation calculations predicted that current staffing pattern would not be able to accomodate the expected increasing customer arrivals of 25% in the future; the staffing level would have to be at a minimum of 5 to accomodate the increasing arrivals. However, Amex-TRS should determine the cost benefit ratio of adding service facility as compared to the cost of improving the quality of service.

Based on the responses of questionnaires, the customers' perceptions of "Excellent'! and "Good" regarding staff's courtesy, staff's product knowledge and lobby's atmosphere were 55%, 62% and 39%, respectively. Improvements could be obtained by reminding front line staffs of their functions, reviewing staff's product knowledge and responsiveness, and provide a larger lobby area with visible signs to show directions and the operating hours. As for the customer service section, a queueing by numbers system was suggested.



The customers product awareness on Auto pay, Express payment by box, and bank transfers were 58%, 60% and 44%, respectively. Improvements on these product awareness could be achieved by reviewing the effectiveness of the current marketing strategy by emphasizing on the reliability of the high quality of product and service, with the full support from the operation division.



Research location: PT. American Express Company

Supervisor: Siswanto Sudomo, PhD.

Accepted: December 1990.