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