Analyses the perception of Asian customers in selecting Hilton London Metronome Hotel Aims Hotel, and the attributes which attracts Asian customers to the hotel with the perception and expectations of customers and staff. Objectives To analyses the attributes which attract Asian customers to Hilton Hotel. To evaluate the perception of Asian customers towards the attributes of Hilton Hotel. To analyses the expectations of Asian customers from the staff at Hilton Hotel.
Rationale s determinant indicators which can arouse customers’ towards the intention of purchase and from differentiating against the offerings of the competitors. The facilities and services offered by hotel attributes are the features which lead consumers for choosing one service over the other. West et al. (1996) defined the perception of hotel attributes as the degree to which travelers seek various facilities and services which are important for the satisfaction of the customers.
Atkinson (1988) noticed that cleanliness of the hotel later followed by security and safety, value f money for accommodation, helpfulness and courtesy of staff were seen to be the top attributes for customers while selecting the hotel. Wiliness and Beetle (1988) stated that the physical attractiveness, personal services, opportunity for relaxation, service standards, appealing prestige and the value for money were evaluated by travelers in a significant manner. The surveys conducted by Nathan et al. 1992) where 510 travelers were asked to rate important attributes of Ethel for their choice of decisions. The results have showed, maximum rating was offered to the attributes which were price and quality mongo all categories which was followed by the attributes in relation to convenience of location and security. Chug and Choc (2000) collected opinion from 343 tourists regarding important attributes in a hotel. It was eventually found that business facilities, rooms, front desk, value, security,service quality and recreation are the major factors considered by the guests while selecting the hotel.
Culture has an influence on how people think and perceive an event. Earlier researches have shown various cognations and perceptions between people from Asian culture and people from western culture (Anisette et al. 001). It has also been seen that people from East Asia have independent notion towards their self which has lead to a strong sense of interconnectedness with others. This has led to stress on fulfilling their obligations towards others and to maintain a group harmony. On the other hands people from west have independent norms with exceptions for other people.
In hotel industry, as service encountered is the first and foremost social encounter, so as compared to western people, people from East Asia are more concerned about relations with hotels and are further motivated towards maintenance of harmonious interactions with the hotels they visit. Whish et al. (2008) stated that “immediate problem solving ability of the service personal”, “sanitary hot-spring environment”, “convenience of traffic routes”, “special promotions”, “food and beverage service” and “convenience in reservation procedure” are important factors in selecting a hotel with Taiwan hot-spring tourism industry.
Multiple studies have shown that the extent to which the attitude of hotel employees has an impact on customer satisfaction can be hardly overstated. Studies have also soused on the development of framework for the measurement and improvement of management in the hotel industry (Tart et al. 2010). The comfort factors in the hotel and sub factors are generally taken place in travelers minds and the other major factors have direct relation to certain selection factors which would be the first completely satisfied Just by staying in the hotel which offers comfort to the travelers along with demanding a high price.
Other important factors which have a high value, it was seen that the condition of the network service and availability of high initiated (Scarabs et al. 2011). Richened (1990) measured the economic impact of loss of profit due to defecting customers and noticed that the hotels have increased the profit by about 100% by retaining Just 5% additional customers. Not Just losing customers represented loss in value of long term sales potential of that customer but it represented for the additional cost to replace the customer. Hospitality is among the oldest profession in the world and has continuously been shaped by its history.
The changes have been quiet significant as a response for changing demands and nonusers expectations. With operations in hospitality, like other organizations, the perceptions and expectations of customers are highlighted as the customers are also involved in service performance. As per Letting (1991) the emphasis of peoples’ role in this process leads to De-standardization of products in hospitality, where various expectations are emerged on the basis of individuality of employees and customers along with the relationships and interactions where they are engaged.
Doodling and Otter (2003) reviewed 21 studies from 1984 to 2000 to look at he factors which influenced the occupancy. From these studies 173 attributes were extracted and involved factors like service, price, value, hotel, food and beverages, room, security and others. Apart from this research has also been conducted on the impact of different segments of the market like American Business Travelers, Leisure Business Meetings Conventions and Business Guests (locker, 02). Locker (2002) highlighted the importance of cleanliness.
The studies also showed that the room rate was not highlighted by most guests as the factor for selecting accommodation. Gaps were also shown between accommodation manager believe is important and what is said by guests is also important for selection of accommodation. Its importance has also become evident while discussing the findings from the findings from the perspective of guests. The research also indicated that cleanliness and related items are rated as most important by guests.
Whereas industry has indicated that maintenance of uniformity of price has major influence on guests when the select accommodation. The difference among what was perceived was cleanliness and what industry perceived important was price. Identification of this mismatch raised other question of whether other researches on the factors which affect occupancy were appropriate. All these researches developed a list of attributes by using a wide variety of methods and the guests were asked to rank the attributes which were identified.
The approach raised numerous problems which were identified by Calla (1996) where cleanliness was seen as the most important attribute. Potential customers who participated in the research had very little idea before they stay in certain hotel for the level of cleanliness maintained. The amount of cleanliness has an impact on the repeated business. The researcher will collect the data from the customers at Hilton London Metronome Hotel. As the researcher was an employee with Hilton, he will take approval from the managers to speak to customers about surveys.
The sample size would be about 120 customers. The questionnaires would be filled by the customers at the hotel lobby in the duration of 1 days between 2:pm to 5:pm. Structured questionnaire would be used for the surveys. Malory (1996) defined structured questionnaires as questions which pre-specify the set of response alternatives and the response format”. Structured questionnaires may have different choices, dichotomous or a scale. Unstructured questionnaires are time consuming and expensive.
With structured questionnaire time can be saved, the can be easily managed and the responses can be tabulated easily. The research would use structured questionnaire as the response from about 120 respondents can be easily tabulated to be analyses using quantitative research method. Research Method According to Saunders et al. , (2007), the term methodology refers to the process or kill used in a research work to an effective newly formatted outcome. Methodology regulates a certain discipline through a set of concepts, methods and procedures.
Saunders et al. , (2007), also defined research methods as a set of strategies to gather evidence in developing and testing different theories. Quantitative With quantitative research certain phenomena’s can be explained by collecting numeric data which would be analyses by using mathematical and statistical method. Initial step with quantitative method involves explanation of phenomena. Later the preciseness of the research can be explained. It is very important for the data to be mathematical or numeric for using statistical method.
Qualitative With qualitative research various issues are explored, questions are answered and different phenomena’s are understood. Qualitative research is conducted in many work places to learn the work environment on every day basis. The research takes a look into why instead of how in a given topic by conducting analysis on the information which may be unstructured and the analysis is conducted on open ended responses collected through surveys, feedback take from videos, emails, and strictures.
Qualitative research offers insights on attitudes, value systems, motivators, behaviors, aspirations, culture or lifestyle about people. This research on Hilton will involve more of quantitative analysis than qualitative analysis and the data will be collected regarding the perception and choices of customers in terms of choosing a hotel and different attitude towards Hilton Hotel. The data collected will be analyses with mathematical ad statistical method for understanding the research objectives. The researcher would come across various limitations.
