A Study of Guest Satisfaction Towards Hotel Industry of Punjab

Abstract

Guest satisfaction is the key driver for any organization to sustain in current competitive era. Service providers need to understand their Guests and design their services in such a way that maximum possible satisfaction is attained by the Guest. The purpose of the present study is to measure Guest satisfaction in the hotels of the Punjab. The study will also provide various suggestions to the Guests so as to make their services more efficient and effective. For conducting the survey a well structured Questionnaire is used to collect primary data from the respondents.

The sample size for the study is 130 Sample variance and confidence methods are used for Determining sample size. Simple random sampling technique has been adopted by the researcher to collect the data. On the basis of results 40 % of the respondents are highly satisfied with safety and security of the hotel while 20 % are highly dissatisfied with the location of the hotel. With the every attribute the level of satisfaction changes, thus making it clear that Guests rate their satisfaction differently with every single attribute .finally it has been proved that the Guest satisfaction in the hotels are high. Keywords: Guest satisfaction, hotel industry, services

Introduction

Guest satisfaction is an increasing concern within the hotel industry and a number of studies have been carried out in this area by different researchers. Guest satisfaction has become significant performance indicator for the hospitality industry, as it indicates the strength of relationship between the Guest and the service provider. With the change in the lifestyles of the Guests, a significant shift has been observed in the demands and expectations of the Guests. From a number of years the hospitality industry has shown a significant growth in its growth and diversification. As hospitality industry is a service industry a direct interaction between the Guest and service provider is very prominent.

The rationale of marketing is to know and understand the Guest so well that the product or service fits him and sells itself. For successful operation of the firm a Guest takes the centre stage in the management policy. It is on this background that the effective approach to Guest retention is to ensure high level of Guest satisfaction which is expected to yield Guest loyalty (Kotler and Armstrong, 2009).

In hotel industry the personalized services for the Guests focus on At least three key elements: increased personalization, further applications of technology and increased awareness of changing demographics. Guests in the hospitality industry will no longer stand for being treated as one demographic category and they will not tolerate a ‘one-size-fits all’ mentality. Thus the service organizations need to customize their services as per the needs and requirement of the Guests in order to have a competitive advantage in the market.

The Guests being aware of the market trends will look for individually designed products, services and communication and only successful hotels will manage to communicate with each Guest as an individual with special needs and expectations. Hospitality industry consists of all those business operators that provide for their Guests any combination of the three (3) core services of food, drink and accommodation,

Foskett and Cesserani (2007). As many modern economies are dominated by services, building and maintaining close relationships with Guests can evolve into rich and fulfilling partnerships. Guest satisfaction revolves around giving the Guests what they expect, it is essentially about exceeding the Guests’ expectations so that they become and remain loyal towards the company brand. Business Essay (2013) defines Guest satisfaction as a term used in measuring how products and services supplied by a company meet or surpass Guest’s expectations. Guest satisfaction is seen as a key differentiator and increasingly has become a key element of business strategy.

As per the previous studies it is put forth that Guests in hotels will utilize and assess service encounters in different departments, including reception, food and beverage and housekeeping, as the basis of evaluating the service and the results of those evaluations will have a major impact on the overall satisfaction with the hotel experience. In a competitive environment as the hospitality industry, where the quality of service is vital and with the increased access to information technology, Guests have become more discerning and knowledgeable; the demand for Guest satisfaction measurement and its influence on loyalty and retention is obvious.

The difference between Guest satisfaction and the attitude construct is that while guests hold preconception attitudes or expectations, consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction occurs only after the product/service has been consumed. The guests that completed the questionnaires were present at that moment in the hotel or visited the hotel at least once over the past three months. The present study is aimed at studying Guest satisfaction with respect to Hotels in Punjab. The study has also tried to come up with various suggestions for the service providers / managers in order to enhance their products and services.

Reveiw of Literature

Guest Satisfaction Guest satisfaction may be defined the extent to which a firm fulfils a Guest’s needs and desires in relation to his expectations, prior to receiving the products or service (McCarthy and Perrault,2002). Thus Guest expectation is the difference between the expectations of the Guests before receiving the services and perceptions of the Guests after receiving the services. Guest satisfaction mainly depends on the build-up of the perceived value to which the Guests have concerning a product or service (Kotler and Armstrong, 2004; 2009). So Guests’ satisfaction can reflect a person’s feeling of pleasure or disappointment resulting from comparing a product’s perceived performance or outcome in relation to the expectations. As per Liu and Yen (2010) Guest satisfaction is regarded as Guests can get more benefits than their cost.

Guest satisfaction is attaining the maximum out of the value invested for a product or a service. Fourner and Glenmick (1991) concluded that the concept of satisfaction holds well only when the expectation is positive. Expectations from the Guest’s point of view are the reference points on which a Guest forms a judgement about a service or a product. Guest satisfaction starts with the first contact an organization has with a Guest and continues throughout the entire lifetime of the relationship i.e. the guest cycle(Reicheld, 1996). Guest satisfaction plays the most important role in total quality management. In comparison with other traditional performance measures, Guest satisfaction is probably less sensitive to seasonal fluctuations, changes in costs, or changes in accounting practices (Kotler, 2006).

So, for a hotel to carry on in business, it must ensure the satisfaction of needs and wants of the Guests continuously, which will eventually lead to a strong Guest base. The hotel industry is a Guest bound service and for hotel industries to market themselves as brands it is very important to be Guest centric and make sure that their Guests get the best of the values. The hospitality manager to ensure that their Guests remain continuously satisfied, they must ensure that Guests feel welcomed, courteously and efficiently served in a clean, safe and secured environment with the best quality of products sold at a reasonable price(Jones and Newton, 1997).

Guest satisfaction is a business philosophy which tends to the creation of value for Guests, anticipating and managing their expectations, and demonstrating ability and responsibility to satisfy their needs. Qualities of service and Guest satisfaction are critical factors for success of any business (Gronoos, 1990; Parasuraman etal., 1988).

Chamayne (2013) enumerated the strategies that can be used to improve Guest satisfaction as listening ears, (i.e. proper Guest compliant handling procedure or technique) pricing (adequate and reasonable pricing policy), provision of adequate security and proper satisfaction management, quality service delivery, prompt service delivery courteous staff, employee training and retraining, etc.Hotels are increasing their investments to improve service quality and the perceived value for guests so as to achieve better Guest satisfaction and loyalty, thus resulting in better relationships with each Guest (Jones et al., 2007).

As Valdani (2009) points out an enterprisesubsist only because they have Guests to serve, thus making it clear that an organisation exists only because of its Guests. The key to attain sustainable benefit lies in delivering high quality service that eventually leads to satisfied Guests (Shemwellet al, 1998). As per the various carried out the major determinants of Guest satisfaction vary from one individual to another. But many individuals/Guests have been discovered to prefer nearly the same thing. Among the top three (3) determinants of Guests satisfactions are: cleanliness, appearance and price.

Knutson (1988) publicized that room cleanliness and comfort, prompt service, friendliness of employee’s convenience of location, safety and security, and are important. Choi and Chu (2001) concluded that staff quality, room qualities and value are the top three factorsfree breakfast, airport shuttle, car hire service, atmosphere, security and friendly staff. Atkinson (1988) found out that cleanliness, security, value for money and courtesy of staff.

Research Methodology

For the conducting the study primary data was collected through an administered questionnaire to collect the responses of the Guests on the basis of various service attributes provided to them. The study uses simple random technique for the survey. For the study 200 questionnaires were distributed among the Guests availing the hotel services and 150 responses were found useable for the study.

As per the results available in first segment 46% of the Guests are satisfied with the cleanliness and comfort provided by the hotel. 20 % of the respondents are satisfied with the safety and security level provided by the hotels. 49% of the Guests are satisfied with the staff performance of the hotels. 30% of the total Guests are satisfied with the prompt services that are provided by the hotels. 41 % of the Guests are satisfied with the staff knowledge of the hotel .46 % of the Guests are satisfied with the price charged by the hotels. 54% of the hotels are satisfied with the ambience and interior decoration of the hotels. 50% of the Guests are satisfied with the parking facility provided by the hotel. 34% of the Guests are satisfied with the products and services provided with the hotel and 25 % of the Guests are satisfied with the location of the hotel.

Conclusion and Suggestion

The result through the analysis showed that the Guests are very much sensitive towards the various service segments and thus it is very much needed from the service provider’s end that they should draft and present and their services in such a manner that maximum Guest satisfaction is attainted and a strong Guest base is attained. The service providers thus need to augment their services in such a way that they meet the expectations of the Guests at desired levels. The service providers need to enhance their services from time to time to meet the changing global scenario.

The mangers should make a provision for customized services which should be Guest centric and should focus on complaint handling and addressing grievances of the Guests. The accommodation service providers must not forget this fact and must provide the services when asked for, so as to increase the image in the eyes of Guests and gain loyalty. Hospitality industry must pay attention to potential failure points and service recovery procedures which become integral to employees training.

In other words, it amounts to empowering employees to exercise responsibility, judgment and creativity in responding to guests‟ problems. Thus the service providers should make business more Guest centric so as to maximum Guest satisfaction is attained eventually. The present study was taken so as to measure Guest satisfaction in the hotels of the Punjab and the study has been clearly analyzed with appropriate methodology based on the objectives.

The study is an attempt to make the hotel industry more perfection towards the Guest satisfaction much more effective way. On the basis of data analysis it is proved that the satisfaction level of the Guests towards the hotel industry is good but certain attempts should be made by the managers to make the services more efficient and sustainable in the longer run.