Introduction
Radisson Hotels are located in a number of the developed countries across the globe. In a bid to provide guest with maximum satisfaction, the hotels experience a number of challenges, with high level of competition in the hotel industry being the major concern, especially in Dubai.
This has influenced the position of Radisson Hotels in the range of the most successful hotels in the country as well as across the globe. This challenge is associated with the issues of the hotel management, as well as implementation of suitable programs that are able to facilitate customers’ support.
Thus, the major aspects of this problem necessitate a general program of improving the principles of management and service at Radisson Hotels in order to be in line with the peculiarities of the region. But how does improving the principles of management and service in Radisson Hotels relate with the local peculiarities and problems experienced in Radisson Hotels in Dubai as well as across the globe?
Literature review
In the recent past, Radisson Hotels have been making an effort of improving their services by taking into account the physical attribute of the firms and making this attribute a key selling point. This approach ensures that the hotels have high levels of sanity in the rooms, receive required amount of light within the rooms, and have an attractive design and layout characterized by high profile furnishing.
However, while all these may seem relevant in improving the services of Radisson Hotels, the notion of considering physical attractiveness as prime factor in providing guest with maximum satisfaction falls short of its expectation in as far as marketing performance is concerned, since it does not provide an avenue for measuring the firm’s competitive advantage against its competitors(Kwortnik, 2008).
Additionally, the Radisson Hotels have adopted teamwork as a strategy aimed at motivating the employees towards improving the quality of service within the hotels.
In this case, teamwork is taken into account since the Radisson Hotel in Dubai is currently experiencing customers from diverse countries across the globe, and therefore requires people with diverse knowledge of how to eradicate the challenges experienced by hospitality firms as they seek to serve customers from diverse cultural groupings (Shivers-Blackwell, 2004).
However, Soltani (2003) rebuffs the idea of teamwork, claiming that such an approach only yields to group discord because some members will always abscond from their duties.
Some studies would recommend Radisson Hotels to operate its business processes by taking into account the dynamic technological trends happening in Dubai as well as across the globe because this creates an opportunity for the customers to air their views, opinions, and comments concerning the services, and thus increase guests’ satisfaction through service efficiency (Schroll & Mild, 2011).
However, a number of theories claim that innovation within hospitality industry cannot be achieved if the firm lacks a proper implementation of Customer Relationship Management (CRM), which is normally absent in information technology due to lack of emotional and mental attachment between customers and the firm (Harrington & Ottenbacher, 2011). This, therefore, leaves a gap in the literature, which calls for more investigation.
Theoretical framework
To be able to provide a comprehensive overview on the research topic, theories and concepts related to creating a competitive advantage for the Radisson Hotels will be analyzed using academic theories/concepts, which include the following:
- The academic concept of Wang and Krakover will be used to as it tries to establish the correlation between the service processes theory and the core values of the firm.
- The academic concept of Schroll and Mild will be used as it tries to establish a balance between information technology and provision of services in the hospitality industry.
- The academic concept of Shivers-Blackwell will be used as it holds the fact that high quality services cannot be achieved without motivating employees through teamwork.
- The academic concept of O’Cass and Grace will be used as it holds that brand image plays a fundamental role than service provision because it builds a relationship between the company and a given segment of consumers.
Hypotheses development
To be able to accomplish this study, the researcher has proposed four hypotheses:
- There will be a significant relationship between branding and guest satisfaction.
- There will be a significant relationship between technological innovation and guest satisfaction.
- There will be a significant relationship between service processes theory and guest satisfaction.
- There will be a significant relationship between teamwork, as a motivator, and employees’ satisfaction.
Methodology
Using a descriptive case study, the study will acquire in-depth inquiry into a case study of the Radisson Hotels through multiple data sources in order to provide understanding of the multiple areas of the case and its complexities. Customers’ feedbacks will be used to assess guests’ satisfaction, while the employees’ data will be used to evaluate on the best ways of implementing modern strategies in the work place.
The validity and the reliability of this design will be carefully established in order to ascertain that the study holds a clear objective in either accepting or denying the hypothesis.
This cross sectional study will be conducted for a period of 6 weeks, and all answers to the survey questions and interviews will be reviewed at the end of the study. The formulation of questionnaire will be based on the qualitative studies emanating from articles that are grounded with theories of branding, innovation, service processes, as well as motivational theory.
A Likert 5-level scale will be used to assess the questionnaire, and this will measure the attitude of the participants with regard to the relationship between brand image and guest satisfaction, technology innovation and guest satisfaction, service processes and guest satisfaction, and team work and employee satisfaction.
Data analysis/ Discussion of results
The managers and economists of Radisson Hotels in Dubai have analyzed the first results of the strategy, which was used in concluding the processes of decreasing the level of guests’ satisfaction. The results are consistent with Wang and Krakover (2008) findings: that there is a positive correlation between services processes theory and guest satisfaction.
These findings are unsurprising because service processes theory does not only take into account the physical features of the hotel but also other service processes. As such, increasing the level of service for the guests in the Radisson Hotels entails employee motivation, customers’ satisfaction, and delivering the pledge.
There is a positive correlation between branding and consumer satisfaction. This stems from the fact that branding helps to differentiate one company from the rest in cases where there is stiff competition since it acquires core values that are in line with the cultural heritage of a given place (O’Cass & Grace, 2004).
More over, there is a positive correlation between technology innovation and guest satisfaction, perhaps due to the fact that enhancing customer interaction through the social media depicts that the firm is closely associated with the activities of the people and that the company does not only consider its customers as assets, but people who are attracted to innovation.
The results, however, show a negative correlation between teamwork and employees satisfaction. These findings are consistent with some empirical studies, reporting that a number of employees are not interested with relationship-oriented work because at the end of the day, performance is always evaluated at an individual level as opposed to a team level (Soltani, 2003).
Conclusion and recommendations
From the finding presented in this paper, it is clear that the Radisson Hotels can use a number of strategies to improve the level of service services and, ultimately, increase guests’ satisfaction. These include adopting the brand image theory, the service processes theory, and the innovation theory effectively.
However, despite the challenges faced with teamwork in an effort to motivate the employees towards working as a group in order to improve guests’ satisfaction, effective motivation calls for a close cooperation between the employees of the Radisson Hotels.
It is from this cooperation that the Radisson Hotels can acquire full knowledge of how to increase its competitive strength through guests’ satisfaction.
Additionally, given the high rate of competition in Dubai, the Radisson Hotels should continually adopt new traditions to ensure that the brand is always in line with the target market. This change should always be communicated to the target market in order to facilitate differentiation of the firm (O’Cass & Grace, 2004)
Limitation
Even though the study attempts to employ casual investigation of the problem using a user-friendly approach that would encourage the participants to be open to each other, the research study is still imperfect because some respondents prove to be unresponsive.
This is normally evident when it comes to discussing teamwork as a motivational theory, perhaps due to the sensitivity of this area because some responses can be termed at biased when one tries to challenge the employees who have no talents at an individual level.
List of References
Harrington, R. J., & Ottenbacher, M.C. (2011). Strategic management: An analysis of its representation and focus in recent hospitality research. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 23(4), 439 – 462.
Kwortnik, R. J (2008). Shipscape influence on the leisure cruise experience. International Journal of Culture, Tourism and Hospitality Research, 2(4), 289 – 311.
O’Cass, A., & Grace, D. (2004). Exploring consumer experiences with a service brand. Journal of Product & Brand Management, 13(4), 257 – 268.
Schroll, A., & Mild, A. (2011). Open innovation modes and the role of internal R&D: An empirical study on open innovation adoption in Europe. European Journal of Innovation Management, 14(4), 475 – 495.
Shivers-Blackwell, S.L. (2004). Reactions to outdoor teambuilding initiatives in MBA education. Journal of Management Development, 23(7), 614 – 630.
Soltani, E. (2003). Towards a TQM-driven HR performance evaluation: an empirical study. Employee Relations, 25(4), 347 – 370.
Wang, Y., & Krakover, S. (2008). Destination marketing: competition, cooperation or coopetition? International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management, 20 (2), 126 – 141.
Appendix
The interview process involved collecting data concerning the views of the participants [customers] regarding the relationship between brand theory, service process theory, and innovation theory in relationship to guest satisfaction.
More so, data concerning teamwork was collected from the employees to assess its role as a motivating factor towards improving customer services within the Radisson Hotels. This entailed answering the following questions:
- Would you book a hotel that is associated with certain image, or a hotel that has no relationship with any image?
- What image do you think you would present to the community while paying for Radisson Hotels services?
- For how long would you be patient to wait for a particular service(s), which you have demanded from the Radisson Hotels services?
- Do you agree with the allegation that innovation, or transacting through the internet, weaken guest satisfaction?
- Do you agree with the fact that virtual market serves the role of connecting the customers with the firm emotionally as well as mentally?
- Do you think making a hospitality setting attractive as possible increases the guest satisfaction?
- What challenges would you encounter while engaging with online transaction using the Radisson Hotel’s website
- Does teamwork enhance or reduces motivation within the Radisson Hotel?
- When do you think the Radisson Hotels should use teamwork as a strategy of motivating its employees?
- When do you think the Radisson Hotels should not engage in teamwork as a strategy of motivating its employees?
- Does teamwork improve the level of service at the Radisson Hotels?