Factors that influence guest satisfaction with the hospitality establishments: evidence from hospitality industry in Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Mxunyelwa, Siyabonga , Mtshokotshe, Z
- Date: 2021-00-00
- Subjects: Hotels , Antifungal agents
- Language: English
- Type: text , article
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/11260/6758 , vital:48990 , https://www.ijicc.net/index.php/ijicc-editions/2021/226-vol-15-iss-10
- Description: The management of guests’ satisfaction is imperative for the sustainability of hospitality establishments. The guests’ satisfaction is a lifeblood of a thriving hospitality establishment such as the hotel, guest house, lodge and Bed and Breakfast to mention but a few. The purpose of this paper was to examine the influence of the five dimensional factors of service quality on guest expectations and experiences in hotels in Eastern Cape, South Africa. Furthermore, the paper sought to analyse the factors among the five dimensions that have a main role in driving overall guest expectations and experiences. A purposive sampling method was employed in the data collection process. Primary data was collected through interviews with hotel managers in the Eastern Cape, South Africa. The analysis of variance (ANOVA) among factor was undertaken in order to analyse the five factors. The findings elucidate that tangibles, responsiveness and assurance play a significant role in driving guest expectations and experiences in the South African hotel industry. The paper further underscores that reliability and empathy are an integral part in providing memorable experience for the guests in hotels. Furthermore, service quality is one of the key aspects to guest expectations and experiences. Conversely, the tangible variable is deemed to be the most important factor driving guest expectations and experiences in the context of the South African hotel industry. It is evident from the findings of the paper improve guest expectations and experiences hoteliers should emphasise the following attributes: ‘reliability’, ‘empathy’ and ‘assurance. The findings of this paper makes a meaningful contribution to a better understanding of the main factors that influence guest expectations and experiences. The results of this paper have implications from a managerial point of view in the highly competitive South African hotel industry.
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- Date Issued: 2021-00-00
Hotel rating through guest feedback
- Authors: Hensens, Wouter
- Date: 2010
- Subjects: Hospitality industry -- Customer services , Hotels , Hotels -- Evaluation
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Doctoral , DPhil
- Identifier: vital:9264 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/1631 , Hospitality industry -- Customer services , Hotels , Hotels -- Evaluation
- Description: Hotel rating refers to the process where the comfort and services of a hotel are assessed and classified, usually in five categories, using stars as symbols. Conventional hotel rating systems are generally operated by governments or independent parties. However, with the growth of social media and customer-review sites, guest review platforms became an important source of information. The main aim of this study is to establish whether guest feedback can determine hotel ratings more accurately than conventional methods and whether a social media platform such as TripAdvisor can provide the necessary data to do so. The customer-review website, TripAdvisor, has grown rapidly and made a strong impact on the tourism and hotel industry. This study identifies the nature of TripAdvisor, its reliability, how its ratings compare with conventional ratings, and what criteria are used in guest reviews on TripAdvisor when assessing the quality of a hotel. These findings were triangulated with findings from the conventional rating systems of the 11 destinations that were sampled for this study to identify the value of TripAdvisor. Two samples were taken from TripAdvisor of 110 and 33 hotels, respectively. From the latter, ten guest reviews were gathered and analysed per hotel, resulting in a total of 330 reviews that were analysed. The study’s findings indicate that TripAdvisor is the largest guest feedback platform for hotels and its data can be considered to be reliable. The TripAdvisor ratings were not connected to the conventional ratings of the sampled hotels. The criteria used in TripAdvisor reviews focused more on service delivery than on the objective tangible elements used in most hotel rating systems. The rich context found in most guest reviews makes the information presented on TripAdvisor valuable. There is no evidence that conventionalrating system controls are linked to the comments found in TripAdvisor reviews. The results facilitated the identification of the delight and frustration factors in services marketing for the hotel industry. A new theory to include guest feedback in hotel ratings is developed and proposed. The study further presents two future scenarios, the most likely one of which predicts the demise of conventional rating systems as a result of the success of guest feedback platforms such as TripAdvisor.
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- Date Issued: 2010