Tourists were less satisfied with service standards in Singapore this year than in previous years, driven by what they felt was unsatisfactory service at hotels. This was according to the latest customer satisfaction index conducted by the Institute of Service Excellence @ SMU (ISES). SMU Assistant Professor of Marketing (Practice) and ISES Academic Director said that tourists' idea of what is considered "high quality service" may have changed. The key for businesses was not to over-deliver on service - a conventional strategy which companies tend to adopt - or try to lower expectations, but to simply understand customers' needs and wants. Meanwhile, the F&B sector saw a slight overall increase in customer satisfaction levels, a change that ISES said was not "statistically significant". ISES Director Caroline Lim suggested that improving these services to increase satisfaction can be an alternative for increasing productivity rather than re-training workers or investing in machinery.