Background of the Study
Discuss about the Influence of Physical Environment on Emotions.
The hospitality industry is one the most competitive industries in the recent times. This has led to most of the hotels in increasing the level of satisfaction among the customers so that they can be competitive with rest of the hotels that are trying to establish their businesses. The level of satisfaction of the customers depends on the brands and the products that are being given to them by the hotels (Torres and Kline 2013). Providing the wrong products or the services to the customers will lead them to switch the brands, which will result in hampering the reputation of the hotel. The hotel brand plays an important part in influencing the methods of advertising to the customers by creating a better impression of the products and services that are being delivered by them (Li, Ye and Law 2013).
Loyalty of the customers can be measured with the services that are being offered to them along with the strategies that will help in improving the services within the hotels. This measurement will help in understanding the loyalty of the customers towards the particular brand of hotels. The major difficulty that is faced by the hotels is the ability in satisfying the customers and making better profits at the same time (Amin et al. 2013). Additionally, the presence of competition helps in increasing the chances of innovations so that it can help in satisfying the customers. It is of utmost importance that the hotel industries try to meet the demands of the customers in a unique manner so that it can help them in enhancing their level of profits. The responsive nature of the employees within the hotels regarding the requests made by the customers is the evaluation technique that helps in measuring the level of satisfaction among the customers (Ali and Amin 2014).
Satisfying the customers is an important element that helps the businesses to be successful with the hospitality industry. Most of the businesses need to maintain a good relationship with the customers so that it can enhance the profitability of the firm along with the loyalty among the customers. Nevertheless, most of the managers in the hotel are facing numerous problems in satisfying the customers, as their level of expectation is very high and not meeting them in a proper manner will result in dissatisfaction among the customers (Markovic and Raspor Jankovic 2013). This problem can be acknowledged by understanding the needs of the customers so that it can helps in increasing the level of satisfaction among the customers. This research process will help in identifying the practices that can be taken up by the organizations so that expectations and satisfactions of the customers can be met in a proper manner (Saleem and Raja 2014).
Rationale of the Research
The research will be based on the following aim and objectives:
- To analyze the level of customer satisfaction that will help in retaining the old and gaining new customers in the hotel industry
- To understand the Customer Relationship Management (CRM) practices that are present in the hotel industry so that it can help in increasing the satisfaction level among the customers
This research process will be based on the following questions:
- What are the ways through which customer satisfaction among the old customers can be increased and attract new customers as well?
- What are the CRM practices that will help in increasing the satisfaction level among the customers?
The research will be based on the following hypothesis:
H0– The increase in the customer satisfaction will not create an impact on the hotel industry
H1– The increase in the customer satisfaction will create an impact on the hotel industry
(Source: Created by Author)
Customer satisfaction is an important tool that helps the hotel industries to survive in the competitive world. The retention of the customers in the hotel helps the businesses to prosper, as there is huge competition in the market. The loyalty of the customers depends on the quality of services that they are getting within the hotel so that it can help in satisfying their demands within the industry. Additionally, the hospitality industry has been gaining many investors that are able to meet the demands of the customers. Therefore it is important for the hotels to satisfy the demands of the customers so that they do not shift to a better provider of services (Liat, Mansori and Huei 2014).
The hotels need to be competitive in the market so that it can help in satisfying the demands of the customers in a proper manner. The use of the advanced technologies within the hotel premises will help the management in understanding the needs and demands of the customers that they want from the hotel. The use of online surveys by the hotels will help them in gaining valuable feedbacks from the customers so that based on those informations the hotels can increase its level of satisfaction for the customers. The surveys will also help in implementing improvement within the hotels in a continuous manner regarding the goods and the services that are being offered to the customers (Rao and Sahu 2013).
The hotel industries in the recent times have been using a strategy known as benchmarking. It helps the hotels to gain knowledge from the other hotels that are present within the industry so that they can learn them and be competitive in the market as well. Past studies have revealed that the loyalty among the customers is one of the major reasons that helps some of the hotels to prosper while other companies suffers from it. The element of customer loyalty helps in showing the effectiveness of the management along with the stakeholders to the customers so that they can get attracted and come to the same hotel on a repeated manner. Retaining the customers within the organization depends on the quality of services that are being offered to them so that their demands can be met in a successful manner (Cheng 2013).
Aim and Objectives of the Research
The level of satisfaction among the customers can be increased by gaining a better knowledge regarding the expectations of the customers. The expectation of the customers regarding what kind of services they want within the hotels will help the organizations in providing those so that their demands can be fulfilled. This is an important factor, as it helps in deciding the level of satisfaction that they have acquired (Jani and Han 2014).
When the high expectations of the customers are not met in a proper manner and the reality is something less than that, it will lead to a factor of disappointment among the customers. This may result in hampering the goodwill of the organization following which the level of profit may also decrease. The expectation level among the customers helps in [providing the maximum level of satisfaction, as it helps in influencing the purchasing decisions and the increase in the loyalty of customers as well (Prud’homme and Raymond 2013).
There are many benefits that the hotel organizations may get when the expectations of the customers can be understood in a better manner. Firstly, it helps in gaining knowledge regarding the levels of service that are expected by the customers so that they can be happy and help the organization in achieving greater level of customer satisfaction. Secondly, it also results in fulfilling the expectations of the customers by creating an opportunity to increase it. Finally, the complaints that are provided by the customers can be addressed in a better manner by the organization, as the customers helps in identifying the drawbacks that are present within the organization (Shafiq et al. 2013).
The customer relationship management (CRM) is one of the strategies that help the hotel organizations in interacting with the customers in an effective manner. This process is based on the creation of a better relation through a mutual understanding between the customers and the organization that will help in increasing the level of satisfaction among them. The hotel industries take the help of intrinsic characteristics that will help in building up of proper relationships with the customers. The proper implementation of the CRM activities within the organizations will help in gaining much information from the customers so that the quality of service can be improved in a better way (Kim, Vogt and Knutson 2015). The use of Customer Relationship Management will enable the hotel organizations to be competitive in the market, as it will provide encouragement to understand the behavioral patterns of the customers based on which they will purchase the goods and services on a repeated manner. Implementing Customer Relationship Management within the organizations will help in increasing the relations between the customers and the respective hotel organizations. The increase in the cost of acquiring the customers, travelers who are sensitive towards price along with the rising expectations of the customers can be managed in a better manner with the help of this strategy (Radojevic, Stanisic and Stanic 2015).
Research Questions
The relations with the customers can be increased by the hotels by using the online social media platforms along with e-mails and telephones so that the feedbacks from them can be gathered and utilized within the business environment. The use of this strategy helps the hotel organization in effectively developing and widening the base of customers so that it can help in increasing the level of profits and manage the loyalty of the customers at the same time (Martinez and del Bosque 2013).
In the recent times, it can be seen that majority of the organizations are relying on the marketing principles that enables them in attracting new customers and retaining the older ones. The marketing mix helps the organizations in placing their brands in an effective manner so that it can help in grabbing the attention of the customers. The pricing of the services has to be set in a better manner so that it can help them in gaining more customers and increase the level of profits (Shafiq et al. 2013). The advertisement of the hotels is being done in an effective manner with the help of latest technologies so that maximum coverage can be provided in it. The innovative ways in which the advertisements are being done by the organizations are helping them in gaining customers towards them. The services that are being offered by the organizations are being mentioned to the customers on a priority basis so that it can provide proper knowledge to them. This has helped the companies in attracting the customers towards them (Poku, Zakari and Soali 2013)
The methods that are available in the process of research help in collecting the data in an authentic manner with respect to the variables that has been taken up for the research. The selection of the proper methods will help the researcher in enhancing the quality of outcome for the research. Additionally, the use of the proper methods of research will also help the research in gathering the data that are authentic and related to the topic (Mackey and Gass 2015).
It deals with the development of the information that is needed for the research to be conducted in an effective manner. It allows the researcher in gathering the information that are relevant and authentic in nature that are relevant to the topic of the research. There are mainly three types of philosophies that can be taken up by the researcher. The positivism philosophy helps in gathering the data that are based on facts and can be trusted to increase the outcome of the research in a better manner (Taylor, Bogdan and DeVault 2015). The interpretivism philosophy enables the researcher in collecting the data that are constructed in a social manner and can be associated with that of the topic of the research. The realism philosophy is the mixture of the philosophies that has been mentioned above, as the information that is collected is authentic in nature and is constructed in a social manner as well. Using this philosophy enables the researcher in collecting the data that is authentic so that the research can have a better quality of outcome (Glesne 2015). This research will be based on the positivism philosophy, as it will enable the researcher in gathering the data that are authentic in nature.
Research Hypothesis
The research approach enables the researcher in gaining proper knowledge regarding the topic that has been taken up for the research process. The approach depends mainly on the type of the topic and the variables that has been taken up for the research. The inductive and the deductive style of approach in a research process are mainly the options that are taken up by the researcher (Brinkmann 2014). The inductive approach helps the researcher in creating models and theories so that the information regarding the variables of research can be collected in a proper manner. This allows the researcher in gathering the information in a specific manner. Deductive approach on the other hand, allows the researcher in taking help of the models and theories that are already established and can help in relating it to the topic that has been taken up for the research (Flick 2015). This research will be based on the deductive approach that, as the researcher will be taking help of the models and theories that has been published earlier by different scholars.
The design of the research allows the researcher in understanding the topic so that it can help him in gaining further knowledge regarding the variables that have been taken up in the research process. There are three types of research designs namely descriptive, exploratory and explanatory. The explanatory design helps in identifying the relation between the various variables that has been taken up in the topic of the research. It also allows the researcher in making a link between the variables (Silverman 2016). The exploratory design helps in reviewing the research background. It will allow the researcher in understanding the current issues that are present in the topic of the research. The descriptive style of research design helps in the accumulation of the real purpose based on which the research is being conducted (Vaioleti 2016). This particular research has been based on the descriptive design so that the topic of the research can be understood in a better manner. It will also allow the researcher in taking up the questions and objectives of the research so that the research can be conducted in an effective manner.
The process of research that is done based on qualitative data takes in to account the data that is related to the happening and the observations along with the process of interview. The answers of the interviewers are collected in a detailed manner so that it can provide better information regarding the topic of the research. It also allows the researcher in predicting the thinking capacity of the people regarding the situation as well. The researcher is able to collect the information in an in-depth manner regarding the behavior of the people and the reason for those behaviors (Smith 2015).
Conceptual Framework
This process of research allows the researcher to gather the data that is free from any level of biasness and the level of reliability is strong as well. The information that is provided is also specific in nature. The weakness in this method is that the process is unreliable, as the process of interviews takes a longer time and sometimes the concerned people are not available as well (Glesne 2015).
The formal objectives are mostly based on the research that uses the data that is qualitative in nature. This type of data helps in calculating the events so that the statistical data can be executed in a better way for the analysis. This type of method helps in analyzing the data through charts and statistical figures so that the variables in the research process can be measured as well. This method allows the researcher in forming the hypothesis for the research so that it can be conducted and authenticated in an empirical manner (Flick 2015).
This is one of the important steps that help in collecting the data from the respondents that has been selected by the researcher. It is necessary for the researcher in gathering secondary and primary data regarding the topic taken up for the research so that it can be helpful in processing the information (Mackey and Gass 2015). Additionally, the use of the secondary data will help in structuring the information that is theoretical in nature so that the literature review can be built in a proper manner. The use of journal articles and books is necessary for the researcher, as it will enable him in using the information in a proper manner. For the quantitative analysis the researcher will be circulating survey questionnaires and the quantitative data will be collected with the help of the process of interview (Smith 2015).
It is the method through which the data that will be collected will be analyzed in a statistical manner. The general information that has been provided by the respondents will be converted to specific information by the researcher so that the outcome of the research can be presented in a better way. The researcher will take the helps of the SPSS technique so that it can enable the researcher in testing the relationship between the variables taken up in the research (Glesne 2015).
The researcher will distribute the survey questions to 100 customers who have visited the 5-star hotels twice within the same year so that their responses can be recorded. The interview will be conducted on 5 managers who are working for more than three years in the 5-star hotels of the hotel industry so that their valuable insights can be gathered regarding the process of satisfying the customers. The hotel are located within Cyprus so that the interviews can be conducted in a proper manner.
Literature Review
The researcher will abide by all the ethics so that the research can be conducted in a proper manner. The respondents will not be pressurized by the researcher regarding the responses, which may influence the outcome of the research. Moreover, the researcher will be abiding by the data protection and privacy act so that the responses are not used for commercial purposes.
The research process had to be completed within a limited time and the budget was also a factor for the researcher. The limitation in cost had prevented the researcher in gathering more number of responses and collecting the interview of the managers as well.
Reference List
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