The Hospitality Industry and the Comfort of Customers: The Case Study of Airport Inn Hotel (AIH) In Tamale (Published)
In today’s highly competitive hospitality industry, advancing service quality is significant in lifting the status of the hospitality and tourism industry. Clienteles’ satisfaction with hotel service delivery is recognized as one of the criteria used to measure the quality of hospitality services. The expression of satisfaction with hospitality service delivery results in the appreciation of the services provided. There is a large body of literature available on customer satisfaction but only a few scholarly studies are directly put on the satisfaction of the customer in relation to the tourists in Tamale Ghana. This study therefore, assesses the effect of the services rendered at the Airport Inn Hotel on tourists’ satisfaction. This survey was conducted at a 3.5 Star Airport Inn Hotel (AIH) in Tamale amongst 100 tourists who were systematically sampled within a period of two months continuously and 10 service providers. Appropriate statistical analyses such as frequencies and percentages were utilized. Results of the study revealed that a high percentage of tourists had high expectations with hotel services. Analysis of tourists’ satisfaction with the hotel services provided revealed that a significant percentage of tourists were satisfied with the services delivered. The relationship between tourists’ expectations and the various measures of service delivery (safety and security, politeness of the staff and physical facilities) were established. Service providers’ commitment and tourists’ characteristics were also found to be significantly related. Based on the results the study advocates that hospitality service providers should pay attention on customers’ personalities and expectations when it comes to enhancing their satisfaction. This study may be important to researchers in hospitality and tourism in understanding guest satisfaction and their comfort in the hotel industry especially in the research area Tamale.
Keywords: Customer Satisfaction, Hospitality, Security, comfort, relationships safety
Enhancing Business Performance through Corporate Strategy: A Post Covid-19 Hotel Operations Management Technique (Published)
As operations managers grapple with the challenges posed by the “Covid 19” pandemic on hotel business operations, the need for constant review of corporate strategy becomes imperative. This study advocated that the diversification strategy can be used by hotel management teams to improve on performance. The study which was targeted at hotels in Port Harcourt adopted a cross-sectional survey design; and used a sample of 380 respondents which included hotel operations managers as well as customers to perform the analysis. The findings of the study revealed that corporate strategy which was dimensioned by diversification strategy has a significant and positive relationship with business performance which was measured by customer loyalty and customer satisfaction. The study concluded that, a well-planned corporate strategy improves the performance of hotels in Port Harcourt and can serve as a technique for coping with the challenges posed by the “Covid 19” pandemic. The study recommended that hotel operations managers, directors and other stakeholders in the industry should continuously review their business strategy and endeavor to integrate diversification into their corporate strategy so as to enhance their performance.
Keywords: Customer Satisfaction, Customer loyalty, diversification strategy, operations challenges and operations management
Factors Affecting Customer Satisfaction in the Hospitality Industry: The Case Study of the Tamale Metropolis (Published)
The study investigated factors affecting customer satisfaction in the hospitality industry in Tamale by assessing the extent to which staff’s personal adaptation to customers’ expectation, friendliness, physical environment and employee’s emotional stability influence customer satisfaction. The study employed a cross-sectional survey and adopted a quantitative approach. A purposive sampling method was used in selecting five (5) hotels rated between 1 to 3-star in Tamale. Convenience sampling technique was used to sample 200 respondents. The results revealed adaptation to customers’ need, friendliness, the ambience of the hotels and staff’s emotional stability significant to customer satisfaction. The study found a notable correlation between customer satisfaction and the quality of service. Direct personnel services, room quality was also found as key determinates influencing customer satisfaction in the hotels than the outside environment. The research therefore, recommends hotel management to review and evaluate their customer database to include guest personality traits.
Keywords: Customer Satisfaction, Ghana, Personality, physical evidence, staff service quality
Key Success Factors of Total Quality Management (TQM) for the Hospitality Sector. A Critical Review of the Literature (Published)
The aim of this paper is to find the key practices of TQM, which are directly associated and implementable into hospitality sector by reviewing the literature of both service and manufacturing sector, and to outline key practices of TQM to develop a comprehensive and feasible quality framework for managers of SMEs to adopt the best TQM practices that enhance operational efficiency through quality improvement and to achieve optimal results, which is lacking in the literature. The researcher has applied a systematic literature review strategy to achieve the overall aim of this study. The systematic literature review has focused more on explaining the concepts comprehensively and in an organised manner. In this regard, the outline of the literature has been designed in such a manner, to go from a general perspective to a broader perspective to provide an in-depth discussion of the research topic. Data relevant to the research has been collected from scholarly articles and previous studies, to provide a clear understanding of the topic. Finally, this research makes an original contribution in the academic field as it enhances the knowledge of TQM among the managers and quality practitioners concerning key TQM practices, which are directly associated and can be implemented in the hospitality industry.
Keywords: Customer Satisfaction, Service Industry, Total Quality Management, competitors, critical success factors., manufacturing industry
Interior Design in Customer Satisfaction and Retention in the Restaurant Industry in Tamale Metropolis (Published)
In recent years, competition in the restaurant industry in the world is increasing thereby, giving customer’s variety to choose from. With this continuous growth of competition in the world including Ghana, especially in the Tamale Metropolis; exterior and interior environments of the restaurant has become a key marketing tool in the industry. The study therefore sought to find the role of interior design in customer satisfaction and retention in restaurants within the Tamale Metropolis and if it influences growth or otherwise of the restaurant business. The study used a multi-purpose sampling to sample 224 respondents from 10 restaurants across the city. Questionnaires were administered and data was analyzed using Microsoft Access Application Program interfaces by Visual Basic for Application (VBA). The results revealed that interior design has an influence on customer satisfaction. Also, most customers visit a particular restaurant based on a combination of factors as interior design, quality meal service, and quality customer service. Despite this, restaurant management in the city do not consider interior design important to customer satisfaction hence do not have policies and plans to improve on the interior design of their restaurants.
Keywords: Customer Satisfaction, Retention, interior design, restaurants