Executive Summary
In the service sector, where the quality of service is a crucial component in the fight for competitive differentiation and retaining customers, sustaining, and giving customer happiness is quickly becoming one of the most prominent management issues of the modern day. Service quality is now widely acknowledged among all client expectations as essential to any company’s success. To increase customer happiness, this study aims to look at how service quality affects the Africana Ltd. hotel in Uganda.
When it comes to methodology, the SERVQUAL model was used to determine the strong and weak points of Africana Hotel in order to offer recommendations. One hundred thirty surveys were given to hotel customers using the establishment’s services. The drop-off and pick-up technique of a self-administered inquiry was used to gather preliminary information, as was the snowball sampling methodology. Descriptive, multiple regression, Pearson correlation, and frequency analyses were all used in the study. Out of the five SERVQUAL variables, the study’s findings showed that three of them, namely responsiveness, tangibles, and empathy, had a highly substantial influence on customer contentment at hotel Africana Ltd. Meanwhile, the weakest points, such as reliability and empathy are the main concerns that necessitate further ongoing training of the personnel.
Introduction
Background of the Study
Specifically, in the twenty-first century, the hotel sector has been one of the most competitive markets in the world. As a result, improving client loyalty is crucial to boosting industry competition and preserving business continuity. In this way, if customers are dissatisfied, they are likely to switch brands and complain about the brand to other clients’ opinions about the hotel. Customer loyalty is a reliable indicator of the caliber of the services provided to clients (Ieva, 2019). Client satisfaction often provides a roadmap on how to enhance services. It justifies the hotel organization to continue providing high-quality services and comprehending the wants of their clients.
The Content of the Report
The BMK Group’s corporate, limited-private for-profit Hotel Africana is one of the country’s first family-friendly resort hotel conglomerates and was founded in 1986. It employs approximately 350 people, including 30 management personnel, 295 technical professionals, and ten support staff, the number of whom will fluctuate based on activities at the hotel (Qasem Saeed et al., 2021). The hotel provides a variety of amenities, such as lodging, banqueting, a conference center, a gym and wellness club, eateries, and bar operations. Hotel Africana has prioritized providing good services to its clients and ensuring customer satisfaction; as a result, a customer care desk has been set up to cater to the needs and requests of its clients. Customer behaviors are considered by the hotel’s customer care policy (Yazid, 2020).
Clients have protested about expensive accommodations and unresponsive service since 2009 (Saut & Bie, 2022). Customers are no longer satisfied with this situation. Consequently, they are moving their allegiance and anticipations to other hotels offering comparable services in a way that meets their needs.
Statement of the Problem
Client satisfaction is prioritized in the hospitality sector, and establishments like Hotel Africana go above and beyond to persuade all of their guests and keep them coming back. Being in the service sector, Hotel Africana Ltd. has exerted to offer its customers excellent services, such as precise record-keeping and attentive; one-on-one service (Bilgihan et al., 2017). Despite making every attempt to please its patrons, the hotel has continued to record rising numbers of dissatisfied guests due to poor service and a lack of attention to their concerns. A hotel can boost customer satisfaction and retention by assuring client pleasure, which might increase sales and overall profitability. This background is what ultimately motivated me to start this research.
The objective of the study
There are three key goals of this study that should be covered. The first step is to define hotel Africana’s methods to increase client happiness. Finding out what influences customer happiness at Hotel Africana is the second goal. Lastly, it is to investigate Hotel Africana Ltd.’s contentment obstacles.
Assumptions and Limitation
Due to time restrictions, the study was only done on Hotel Africana, which precluded a thorough survey of a big scale. Additionally, it would have been great to compare many hotels or service industries in the research rather than just one hotel. Further, the study results could be challenging to reproduce in other locations due to the distinct cultural background of the inhabitants of the studied region. Another drawback was the inability to obtain and analyze the complete distributed questionnaire.
Literature Review
Customer Satisfaction
Customer satisfaction is critical in measuring service quality because it directly correlates with a company’s success. It may be ensured by using a high-quality item or service. Prior experiences with customers’ satisfaction or dissatisfaction are crucial since they affect how people will likely behave while making purchases in the future (Ieva, 2019). As a result, most literature in the hotel business views customer contentment as a crucial element of the industry’s value suggestion to customers. Customer satisfaction is characterized as the person’s assessment of the good or service performed compared to their anticipation (Ieva, 2019).
It is a business philosophy focused on providing value to customers, foreseeing, and monitoring their assumptions, and representative competency and specialist to meet their requirements. Consumer fulfilment is a post-use assessment of a particular item or service (Ieva, 2019). The philosophy stresses the value of adding value for customers, anticipating, and handling their prospects, and signifying the capacity and duty to satisfy their wants.
When consumers feel that their aspirations have been fulfilled, they are said to be satisfied. Consumers are content, thrilled, or unsatisfied, depending on whether their promises are fulfilled or exceeded. If their expectations are not achieved, they are displeased. When a client’s objectives are satisfied, client contentment is attained, which is significantly impacted by the worth of consumer care offered by the company. Studies imply that better service delivery leads to loyal consumers who make recurrent orders and refer additional clients to the business in the service and profit cycle.
Service Quality
Due to the tight association between service value and customer contentment, particularly in the services sector, it has been recognized as a critical feature of the achievement of firms. Being a crucial element in developing good purchasing habits, it is also seen as essential to the hotel sector’s development and success (Kumar & Gautam, 2021). Customer pleasure, repeat buying erratic behavior, and the security of a corporation’s profit over the long term have all been linked to service quality (Kumar & Gautam, 2021).
It is crucial to keep in touch with staff members and evaluate their customer service experiences to advance the eminence of one’s services. The ability of the business to meet or exceed client expectations is referred to as quality service. It is the difference between what the client expects from the service and what they receive (Kumar & Gautam, 2021). A company’s client base will grow due to providing high-quality service, increasing profitability.
The SERVQUAL Model
A powerful tool created by Parasuraman published a well-known set of five service quality dimensions (SERVQUAL). This aspect of service quality is regularly used and cited in writings on the subject (Qasem Saeed et al., 2021). These attributes—tangibility, assurance, dependability, responsiveness, and empathy have been used to gauge quality performance in various service industries. Tangibles refer to tangible qualities such as tools, machinery, and personnel conduct. This element focuses on the availability of physical facilities and the perceived caliber of the service provider’s resources, staff, resources, and equipment. The dependability, regularity, and precision with which the supplier delivers the service are considered reliable. It is about the company honoring its commitments. Meanwhile, the reliability dimension serves as an indicator of customer satisfaction as well since it allows them to feel important and their needs are prioritized.
Delivering on commitments is having the capacity to carry out the promised service with dependability and accuracy. Response time refers to the passion of the service staff to offer customers with timely, competent service and comprises qualities like collaboration, kindness, and tenderness (Qasem Saeed et al., 2021). The person as long as the service wants to be obliging and efficient. The level to which a firm’s service staff fosters trust and reliability among its customers is assurance. The service provider can inspire faith and confidence, as well as the expertise and civility of the team. The likelihood of clients returning is low if they do not enjoy working with the company’s employees and service.
Along with the near of understanding workers display in connection to customers’ requirements, empathy also has to do with the compassionate and personalized attention given to clients (Qasem Saeed et al., 2021). In fields where maintaining relationships with customers and clients is vital to survival, it has been gritty to be more desired and crucial in enhancing the value of overhaul. If a customer receives unique treatment and attention, the chance of them returning to a business is relatively high.
Methodology
The study aims to ascertain how customer satisfaction at hotel Africana Ltd in Uganda is impacted by service quality. Typically, survey questionnaires were used to collect primary data. For hotel guests to complete the surveys, 150 were delivered to various hotels. Of the 150 surveys, 130 were completed and affirmative, yielding an overall response rate of 86.87%. The chosen sample included a well-balanced representation of all relevant demographic characteristics, including gender, age, family status, nationality, education level, occupation, and reason for the visit. The self-administered questionnaire’s drop-off and pick-up technique was employed to protect the privacy of the hotel guests.
Customer happiness was the dependent variable in this research study, whereas service quality was the independent factor. The SERVQUAL Model, which combines five dimensions—tangibility, dependability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy—was used to gauge service quality. Eight items were utilized for the predictor variables, while five were employed for each explanatory variable. All the characteristics were valued on a 5-point interval Likert gauge, with 1 representing strong disagreement and five strong agreements. Using SPSS, descriptive analysis like frequency, average, and variance, as well as inferential analysis like Pearson’s regression and multiple modeling, were utilized to examine the data that had been collected.
Data Analysis and Results
Of 130 responders, 50 percent were men, and 50 percent were women. Concerning the breakdown of respondents’ ages, most participants (31.5%) fell into the 36–45 age group, trailed by 26.9% of survey participants who fail into the 26–35 age group. Regarding nationality, 49.2% of interviewees were Ugandans, while 50.8% were foreigners. Furthermore, most of those surveyed (53.8%) were wedded, while 39.2% were still single at the time of the survey (Kumar & Gautam, 2021).
Although 40.8% of responders have a bachelor’s education or above, 27.7% of interviewees have a master’s degree or higher. Because most of the participants have strong educational credentials, the most significant numbers of them (56.2%) are employed as well, and 28.5% are self-employed (Kumar & Gautam, 2021). The following survey illustrates the survey questions that were later used for the assessment.
Hotel Africana Survey
- The rooms have visually attractive designs, and the furniture looks new.
- No signs of dust or dirt were found on the surfaces of the hotel’s rooms.
- The staff members carry out their responsibilities and check on customers.
- The service employees react to the requests of the customers immediately.
- The waiting time for customer service is short.
- The staff members are always available to the customers.
- The service employees are polite and always smiling.
- The personnel offer their help to the clients.
- The employees recognize every client and know their preferences and interests.
- The employees always accustomed to the needs of the clients and are responsive at all hours.
Answer range: from 1 (Strongly Disagree) to 10 (Strongly Agree)
Table 1. Average Client Perception and Average Expectation.
While Table 1 illustrates the data for perceptions and expectations, Table 2 summarizes the average figures of the dimensions, enabling the pinpointing of weaknesses and strengths.
Table 2. The Average of Dimensions.
As can be seen from the result, the greatest mismatch in the paradigm is the one concerning empathy. The difference in this section indicates that employees lack empathy in terms of customer service. As a result, it is of vital importance to incorporate ongoing training to provide the clients with the necessary information. Another important gap to focus on is reliability, which might imply the necessity for more staff members or time management training. Meanwhile, the section with the most positive feedback is the tangible aspect, with clients being content with the environment and the quality of design and furniture, which illustrates that Hotel Africana pays much attention to comfort.
The results of Pearson’s Correlation analysis are displayed in Table 3.
The expected variances of the parameters are displayed in the model summary. According to the design summary above, R stands for numerous regression coefficients, each of which has a value of 0.914, indicating a high correlation between all the variables. However, Adjusted R Square has a score of 0.829, which accurately forecasts variables with a variation of more than 82.9%. It suggests that there is a significant interaction between the factors.
Conclusion and Recommendations
According to the study’s findings, tangibility, responsiveness, and assurance—three out of the five independent variables—have a substantial impact on the dependent variable, client satisfaction. The goal of tangibility is to establish a positive first impression in the minds and hearts of clients. Customers who have a positive first experience are more likely to desire to use the hotels’ other amenities. On the other hand, it is doubtful that customers would want to stay at the hotel to utilize the additional amenities if they are unsatisfied with what they first encounter. Therefore, tangibility is crucial to ensuring consumer satisfaction. This research demonstrates that Africana Ltd.
They all share the tangibility factor’s importance in how customers gauge their happiness. The other aspect that clients value highly is responsiveness. The study’s conclusions showed that hotel customers placed a high value on the staff’s capacity to provide rapid assistance, attend to guests’ demands, provide speedy check-in and check-out facilities, repair problems swiftly, and pay particular attention to their clients. Customers laud an easy and hassle-free stay, which suggests that personnel’s quick action and prompt reaction to any problems the customer encounters are crucial to delighting the consumer.
Customer satisfaction was determined to be most impacted by assurance. Customers of the hotel are pleased with the behavior of the staff, which inspires faith in their professionalism, expertise, and abilities. Another aspect they think is crucial is the hotel’s ability to make guests feel protected and secure. The hotel’s personnel are the subject of assurance. It is about their ability to solve problems and whether or not they can win their client’s confidence and trust. There is a good chance that customers will only conduct further business with the firm if they are happy with the personnel. When issues have simple answers, guests are delighted. Problem-solving abilities of employees lie under the reliability dimension.
Consequently, this knowledge might also explain the strong association between assurance and customer pleasure. Another criterion that customers think is essential is the education of the staff members and how well they carry out their jobs. This is related to the knowledge and abilities they possess as well as their competence in carrying out crucial job responsibilities. One of the most commonly cited aspects that consumers mention as important when evaluating their pleasure is the professionalism of the staff—the strong relationship between reliability and customer happiness results from these elements.
Any hotel’s goal is to attract customers, and client retention occurs when strong service standards are consistently provided, and this will eventually lead to a devoted customer over time. In particular, the neglecting client wants, and expectations might destroy the strength of customer loyalty and retention. Therefore, the main problem for hotel management is not simply bringing in guests but also identifying each customer’s level of happiness. Customers have different expectations, and they view the world in various ways. Each client has other wants or ways than they consider the same service.
As a result, there need to be more optimal strategies for raising service standards in the hotel sector. Everything depends on the nation in which the hotel is situated and the locals’ cultures. Since culture affects how individuals interpret things, it is advisable to research the community’s culture before starting a hotel company and provide the service exactly how they feel it is appropriate and enjoyable.
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