Introduction
First, the report provides the objectives of studying customer satisfaction and decision-making in Hilton Hotels through the application of gap analysis. The report then provides information required for the study objectives. Finally, the report provides key considerations for the data collection stages in the research process. The study will be examining the customer satisfaction of guests staying at Hilton Hotels through the application of gap analysis approach.
The aim of the study is to find out the gap between expectations and perceptions through the viewpoint of the Hilton Hotels clients, which in effect is the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the services provided. Examining the customer satisfaction and decision-making will help managers of Hilton hotels to acknowledge the expectations and perceptions of their guests towards various hospitality aspects and make the required improvements to enclose the existing gaps. The information will help managers to make critical decisions given the scarce resources.
Objectives of the study
The hospitality industry is currently faced with various challenges ranging from increased customer demand for quality to the need to provide full services. Understanding the customer satisfaction is the surest way of overcoming these challenges. Besides, the clients’ satisfaction is the main decisive factor of measuring the quality of services being provided in the hotel industry. The objectives of this study is to analyse the expectations and perceptions of the Hilton Hotel’s clients on the services being provided as well as the role of variability in evaluating the services quality through the application of the gap analysis. The guest’s satisfaction on the services qualities will be measured in five dimensions including tangibility, consistency, receptiveness, reassurance and compassion. In addition, the gap analysis will be used in determining the descrepancies that exists in the customers’ satisfaction. Specifically, the objectives of this study include
- To analyse the degree of satisfaction towards the services quality measured in five dimensions including tangibility, consistency, receptiveness, reassurance and compassion.
- To examine the existing discrepancies or gaps between the expected satisfaction and the quality of services provided by the Hilton Hotels
- To identify the kind of service perfections that will help the managers to increase the intensity of the client’s satisfaction at Hilton Hotels
Information required for the research objectives
The most important consideration is the way customers judge services being provided by the hotels. Such kind of judgments determines whether the clients are satisfied or dissatisfied with the services being provided. The level of customer satisfaction is measured by the way the services meet the expectations of the guests (Holmes, Ovenden & Wilson, 2008, p. 49). Therefore, the data that will be collected will focus on the qualities that tend to meet the clients satisfaction within the Hilton Hotels.
According to Cedric and Liang 2009, the quality of the services, the atmosphere and efficiency greatly influence the level of customer satisfaction. Generally, the satisfaction of the clients on the services quality is a function of the expectations and perceptions of the guests (Su, 2004, p. 22). The expectations are the performance gaps in any of the hospitality services design and delivery. The data collection procedures will mainly focus on how to identify these gaps which in turn will help in determining the level of customer’s satisfaction of the services being provided.
The data will mainly be collected through a survey process by administrating the questionnaires to the participants. The questionnaire contains questions that range from the possible gaps that might be noticed on the quality of services to the perception of their experiences. Such questions are critical in obtaining data that will finally answer the study questions and meet the objective of determining the level of customer satisfaction (Fogli, 2006, p. 213).
As indicated, the information collected should be based on the diverse discrepancies observed in the services quality process. The discrepancies are identified on the closed ended questions on a five point scale ranging from excellent to poor. However, before the actual data collection, a pilot study should be conducted in order to identify any potential short falls, omissions and errors (Cedric & Liang, 2009, p. 57). The process enables the accurate data collection.
In order to measure the level of customer satisfaction and identify the gaps that exist, the data collected focused on the personal data of the respondents, suggestions concerning the service quality and the five dimensions on the customer satisfaction. A bout 60 guests should be surveyed. The personal data should be categorised in form of gender, age, occupation and the reasons for the trip. Personal data remains critical determinant of the various groups of clients visiting the hotels.
Personal data is also important in determining the perception of the diverse groups of guests (Cedric & Liang, 2009, p. 57). For instance, it is expected that the majority of guests visiting the Hilton Hotels are men aged above 49 years from the Europe and mainly business associates. However, the results of the survey might be different. Understanding such demographic data is important in acknowledging their perceptions and expectations, which in turn will enable the management to adjust effectively (Cedric & Liang, 2009, p. 57).
The data related on the five dimensions, which help in identifying the gaps in the services delivery, will be collected, recorded and analysed through the application of various software such as the SPSS. The data on each of the five dimensions will be analysed through the same procedure. The mean scores of all the dimensions will then be presented as an overall mean score of the customer satisfaction towards the services quality. An example is provided in the table below
Each of the individual data is derived from the analysed data of the five dimensions. For instance, the results of the assurance expectations were high at 4.05. Similarly, the responsiveness was high at 4.02 while responsiveness was high at 3.98.the overall level of customer satisfaction based on the five dimensions can now easily be determined by just stating the mean of the five dimensions. As indicated in the table, the overall satisfaction of the clients on the services provided is about 4.35. According to the dimension rankings, tangibility was perceived as the most important and as such, the most important factor to consider. Essentially, the decisions are made based on the results of the data as indicated in the table.
The gaps existing are identified by calculating the differences between the mean scores. The positive gaps indicate that the guests are satisfied with the services. Using the table, tangibility came out to be the most critical dimension with over 0.52 positive gaps. As such management should utilise such information in their management decisions. Besides, managers should find reasons why clients place the importance on the tangibility dimension (Cedric & Liang, 2009, p. 57).
Consideration in the research process
The process of studying customer satisfaction has various limitations in almost every stage and process. However, the design of the study will limit these limitations. The research study will be primarily quantitative conducted to establish the customer satisfaction and decision-making process in Hilton Hotels using the gap analysis. The data will mainly be empirical and collected within the Hilton Hotels.
The process of data collection might be difficult given the vast number of clients of Hilton Hotels. However, targeting clients for a specific Hilton Hotel may partially provide the solution to the issue. In addition, the duration of data collection will be limited and a survey in which personal interviews will be one of the options of administering the questionnaire (Mill, 2001). In addition, the number of participants will be limited to 60 respondents and are chosen through simple random sampling procedures.
The study design
In order to examine the customer satisfaction and decision-making in Hilton Hotels, this particular research study will utterly be empirical. The obligatory explorative data will be gathered across the study population selected through randomly selective procedures. A survey research technique will be drawn on while the integrated statistical analysis tools will be applied to help analyse the obtained data.
By employing the survey research methods, any ensuing unanticipated research proposition will be suggested as well as formulated (Gronroos, 2007). While the research method is considered to be amongst the best given that it rarely stands a chance of disqualifying any notable alternative explanations because it surmise to the event causations, it is costly. Therefore, the managers should be worry of the expenses involved in this study. Moreover, the study is exposed to all the limitations of the survey method of data collection.
Sample and sampling procedure
Getting the right sample that will represent the whole the guests is the main challenge in the research process. In this particular study, all the guests of Hilton Hotels are deemed viable. However, only a small number of participants including 60 guests will be selected depending on the frequency with which they have been visiting the hotels as well as other personal attributes including gender, age, experience and occupation.
The 60 guests will be selected via a technique dubbed as convenience simple random sampling strategy and the research questionnaire will be administered to help in addressing the formulated research questions. Determining the sample that is representative in terms of gender, occupation, geography, age and sex might take long duration, which in effect might hinder the process of the study in terms of increased costs. In other words, the problem with sampling is that the guests chosen might not represent the phase of customers of the Hotels. As such, managers should be worry of the participants chosen during the sampling procedure.
Instrumentation
Questionnaire is the main data collection instrument. However, data perceived to be containing the relevant research information for this study will be acquired from the primary as well as the secondary sources. In fact, as a survey that involves self-administration and personal interviews of research questionnaires, the pertinent primary data that include the perceived quality information will be gathered. In essence, a comprehensive exploration instrument will be developed besides being satisfactorily tested prior to embarking on the actual research study.
The soundly designed research questionnaire will be used in the data collection process. Despite the fact that the precautions will be taken into consideration, the closed ended questions on a five point scale may hinder the credibility of the data collection instrument. As such the managers should closely monitor and review the questionnaire in order to reduce such limitations.
Data collection
As one of the most important studies in the customer’s satisfaction, the information will be collected through administering properly designed research questionnaires through conducting well-structured in-depth interviews to the unbiased selected participants. The soundly designed research questionnaire will be administered to 60 participants (Gustafsson & Johnson, 2000, p. 47). Each part of the questionnaire will constitute key items that suitably attend to the research questions. For instance, part one will constitute the level of customer satisfaction while part two will elicit the dimensions used to measure the gaps existing in the customer satisfaction. However, the part that elicit the dimensions are closed ended questions on a five point scale which might limit the extent to which the clients feel about the dimensions
Conversely, secondary research data will be acquired from the relevant organisation records and other documents. For this particular case, the study intends to examine the customer satisfaction and decision-making process in Hilton Hotels through the application of gap analysis. Therefore the primary databases that will be used have to be relevant to this study.
Data analysis techniques
In order to accurately measure the customer’s satisfaction, the study quantitative data analysis will be carried out by utilizing the integrated Statistical Analysis Tools (SATs) such as the SPSS. In fact in this study data will be analysed through the application of the SPSS to determine the means of each of the dimensions before the gap analysis. Further quantitative data analysis techniques including spearman’s correlation, percentages, frequency distribution and deviations will be used to determine the research respondents’ proportions that chose various responses (Gabboth, Kasper & van Helsdingen, 2006, p. 34).
The method will be applied for each group of items available in the questionnaire that ideally corresponds to the formulated research question and objectives. Line graphs, tables as well as statistical bar charts will be used to make sure that quantitative data analysis is simply comprehensible. The problem with such data analysis and representation is that decisions are based on the mean variables, which might not be the representative of the actual phenomena being measured.
Other important considerations
Like any research study, ethical issues are likely to emerge. Thus, ethical consideration is critical. The ethical issues that are likely to arise include the informed consent of the participants, the power differences between the researcher and the participants, the confidentiality of the information as well as the consent of the authorities (Buswell & Williams, 2003, p. 231). Looking into ways through which these ethical issues can be dealt with is critical for the success of the study.
In addition, all the participants should be provided with information concerning their freedom of participation using the stated standards. A letter of introduction specifying and explaining the aims of the study and the standard methods should also be provided (Brotherton, 2008, p. 56). The letter should also provide an assurance of the confidentiality of their information. Moreover, information sheet guiding and describing the study should also be provided. The participants should also be made aware that they can remove their participation without any consequence. Lastly, the participants should be provided with letter of consent (Gabboth, Kasper & van Helsdingen, 2006, p. 34).
In fact, both physical and emotional harm that may accrue should be given due consideration in this section by stating the basic ethical approach along with the power differentials between the researcher and the respondents as well as how the participants should be protected from any eminent abuses. Finally, the information acquired from the study participants should be securely stored and protected whereas study-finding reports should not divulge the participants’ identification.
Conclusion
The report provides the objectives of studying customer satisfaction and decision-making process in Hilton Hotels through the application of gap analysis. The report also provides information required for the study goals and objectives. The report then discussed key considerations for the data collection stages in the research process. In fact, the study will be examining the customer satisfaction of the guests on the services provided by Hilton Hotels through the application of gap analysis approach. The aim of the study is to find out the gap between expectations and perceptions through the viewpoint of the Hilton Hotels clients. The satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the clients on services provided is measured by the expectations and perceptions of the clients. Examining the customer satisfaction will help managers of Hilton Hotels to acknowledge the expectations and perceptions of their guests towards various hospitality aspects and make the required improvements to enclose the existing gaps.
References
Brotherton, B 2008, Researching hospitality and tourism – a student guide, SAGE, London.
Buswell, J & Williams, C 2003, Service quality in leisure and tourism, CABI publishing, UK.
Cedric, H & Liang, RD 2009, “Effects of experiential value on customer satisfaction with service encounters in luxury – hotel restaurants,” International Journal of Hospitality Management, vol. 28 no. 3, pp. 55-68.
Fogli, L 2006, Customer service delivery – research and best practices: the professional practice series, Jossey – Bass, San Francisco, C.A.
Gabboth, M, Kasper, H & van Helsdingen, P 2006, Services marketing management – a strategic perspective, John Wiley & Sons Limited, London, UK.
Gronroos, C 2007, In search of a new logic for marketing: foundations for contemporary theory, John Wiley & Co Ltd, London, UK.
Gustafsson, A & Johnson, MD 2000, Improving customer satisfaction, loyalty and profit, Jossey – Bass, San Francisco, C.A.
Holmes, S, Ovenden, F & Wilson, P, 2008, Hospitality, Heinemann, UK.
Mill, RC, 2001, Restaurant management: customers, operations and employees, Prentice Hall, NJ.
Su, AYL 2004, “Customer satisfaction measurement practice in hotels,” International Journal of Hospitality Management, vol. 23 no. 1, pp, 1-57.
Appendix
Reflections on the group task
Generally, the task was well-managed among the group members. Each member of the team contributed positively towards the development of the final document. As was agreed upon before the start, each member has to research on the assigned part of the task and make a report. A general meeting in which discussions on each members presentation and the production of the final document was to be conducted. The result of the discussion and understanding of the final report was positive and achieved.
However, at the beginning, there were some disagreements among the group members, which is a normal occurence. Some members of the group disagreed on the manner in which the parts were divided. Some hold the opposing view that the whole report should be researched and reported as a group rather than dividing the parts and holding a group discussion later. After looking at the pros and con of each view, it was finally agreed that each member of the team would contribute by researching a particular assigned area and a final representation where all members of group are available would be conducted. The agreement worked well and each member of the team was satisfied with the final document.