Proper Hotel Management: Advanced Employee Training to Deliver Quality Services - Research Proposal Example

Anita Kitchen Restaurant Name: Course: Instructor: Date: An executive summary Proper hotel management is an essence part of success of any hotel. According to the survey, most of the customers are satisfied with the service they are getting. Most customers have confirmed that food quality is okay, and the general services are okay but as always they are few customers who feel some improvements are of essence. The restaurant is characterized by a target of mostly individual aged between 35 and 49 years old with an average income of 20,000. With proper measures in place, customer loyalty will be improved thereby increasing the number of customers who will return to the restaurant. Overview of the study background The hotel industry in the UK is a vital contributor in terms of financial generation and employment opportunities. In the UK, there are over 10,000 hotels that contributes around £18 billion to the UK economy (OLSEN, WEST & TSE, 2014, pg9). In the global scene, the growth and expansion of the Hotel industry have been beyond expectation, generating billions for their respective countries. A good hotel industry is no doubt a reflection of a good tourism sector in an economy. Because of its importance, many counties thrive to ensure a stable and attractive hotel industry that will not only be attractive to the locals but also attract foreign visitors (OLSEN, WEST & TSE, 2014, pg16). A good hotel growth is characterized by a good business strategies and business model. Strategies that focus on the growth of sales, profit maximization, and customer satisfaction is of essence. Basically, the source of any hotel is the customers that visits the hotel (ENZ, 2010, p21). In this regard, it is without any doubt that for a hotel to fully meet its objectives then measures must be put in place to ensure customer satisfaction hence more revenues. Ranging from the type of food and other services, the hotel management should ensure that customers’ needs are matched with the expectations that characterizes an individual customer. The hotel industry in most cases is characterized by high capital costs and a high proportion of fixed costs to total costs. Therefore, differentiation becomes a very powerful tool in the hotel management (ENZ, 2010, p33). For hotels with potential growth such as Anita’s Kitchen Restaurant good business model that focuses on the customers is inevitable. Being a young business that is 10 years old, strategic planning and management is essence for Anita’s Kitchen Restaurant. The restaurant faces a stiff competition from already established hotels that are competition in the global scene. However small Anita’s Kitchen Restaurant might be, the fact that it has differentiated its products by targeting mostly young professionals, university students and families looking for an enjoyable meal at affordable prices, makes a good business strategy that will make it survive in the ever competitive UK hotel industry. The restaurant concept is based on the provision of a wide array of popular ethnic foods, cooked in an open kitchen so customers can see and smell their food as it is made. Pricing is a powerful tool in this industry hence the customers can eat as much as they like at a fixed price. It is a fact that Anita’s Kitchen Restaurant has witnessed a tremendous growth since its inception in 2005. However, the hotel industry is changing everyday with the change of the customer’s taste and preferences. In addition, the ever changing technological advances demands that businesses has to change its strategies in order to meet its objectives and customer’s satisfaction. In its quest to expand to other market, it is vital for the restaurant to undertake a strategic plan survey. In this regard, Anita’s Kitchen Restaurant has undertaken a survey to determine its weakness and where it needs to improve for better service delivery, customer satisfaction hence more profit. Research questions The survey’s main focus was to answer these specific questions: Are customers satisfied or not, and if not why not? Are there problems with the food, the atmosphere, or some other aspect of restaurant offering (e.g. employees or service?). What are the common characteristics of satisfied customers? Is the target market correctly defined or does it need to focus on a different niche? Are there sub-groups of customers that are more committed (loyal) to Anita’s Kitchen Restaurant?, and if so who are they? Research design Research design is considered as a "blueprint" for research, dealing with at least four problems: which questions to study, which data are relevant, what data to collect, and how to analyze the results. The best design depends on the research question as well as the orientation of the researcher (KOTHARI, 2005, p67). The study has adopted a descriptive research design. A descriptive study is concerned with finding out the what, where and how of a phenomenon. Descriptive studies are usually the best methods for collecting information that will demonstrate relationships and describe the world as it exists (KOTHARI, 2005, p71). That is; the main focus of this study was to collect information that will answer the following questions: Are customers satisfied or not, and if not why not? Are there problems with the food, the atmosphere, or some other aspect of restaurant offering (e.g. employees or service?). What are the common characteristics of satisfied customers? Is the target market correctly defined or does it need to focus on a different niche? Are there sub-groups of customers that are more committed (loyal) to Anita’s Kitchen Restaurant?, and if so who are they? . In addition, the survey used primary data to collect information concerning customer’s satisfaction. Questionnaires are the main source of data collection .The population of the study comprise of Anita’s Kitchen Restaurant customers who dine out in any restaurant once a week or more and who live in Birmingham. Simple random sampling constitute the sampling method. Questionnaires were given to one member of a dining party. Questionnaires were collected each day over a 14 day period. In total 427 questionnaires were completed and the data have been collected and put into an SPSS data matrix. The findings The study had a total of 252 male and 175 female comprising of 59% and 41% respectively. Most of the customers were confident about themselves and always wanted to try out new and different things. That is; among the 424 respondents, 238 of them were very much into trying out new things while only 7 were not. This represents are a potential niche market for the restaurant. Partying was not a thing for most of the respondents as only 5.9% of the respondents agreed to love partying while majority (49.6%) love parties but not to the extreme case. This was also reflected by small number of respondents (9.1%) who do not like going out socially. Most of the respondents can double as marketing agents to the restaurant. That is, they can share about the experience they attained from the restaurant. This is because, among the respondents, over 70% agreed that people go to them for advice with those who strongly agreed constituting a significant 31.4%. As much as a large number of the respondents mind what they take, fried foods still stands out to be the most preferred food for a significant number. A total of 166 respondents are strong proponents of fried food. Even though this number might be less compared to those who avoids fried foods (183), it is a significant number that cannot be ignored in strategic planning. It is worth noting that majority of the respondents valued balanced diet and nutritious meals with over 250 respondents giving a positive response of the same. This explains, why (though significant) the number of those who preferred fried foods are less than those who do not prefer fried foods. In addition, over a large number of respondents preferred fresh foods. Most of the respondents were characterized by an average income of €20,000. High income earners of over €50,000 were mostly old people of over 60 years old. However, the young with less than 35 years were not a frequent customers as opposed to those over 35 years old who constituted 81% of the respondents. This shows that the restaurant’s main customers are individual above 34 years old but less than 60 years. The income is distributed such that those between 35 and 49 have the highest income average followed by those between 50 and 59 while those below 25 years old are characterized by lower income. The fact that those most of the respondents who are customers are over 35 years old-and they also form the base for the high income earners-makes them a good target market that the restaurant should focus on while making the strategic plan for expansion. Over 280 of the respondents at least visits the restaurant once a month. This is a good customer base. However, strategies should be put in place to increase their frequency. The most important business aspect for Anita’s restaurant is customer retention. The business strategy and the services rendered should therefore ensure greater customer satisfaction which will lead customer retention hence more revenues. From this survey, most respondents aged 35-49 (217) were more likely to return as compared those over 60 years and 26-34 who stood at 18 and 39 respectively. In business, focusing on the strength is of essence hence Anita restaurant should focus its resources at retaining those who are most likely to return. The respondents with the income between 20001 and 30000 are most likely to return as opposed to those earning 50001 and above. Gender is a critical element in the survey. According to the results, more male would be likely to return as compared to female. In addition, those who are closer to the restaurant finds it convenient to visit the restaurant hence forming a base for those who are likely to return. That is; the nearer the distance the more likely an individual to return to the restaurant. Quality is everything in a restaurant. The fact that most customers of Anita restaurant are individuals with high income makes it even more vital to ensure high quality. Lower quality will definitely chase away the customers hence less revenue. Among the respondents, 229 agreed that their most important parameter is the quality of the food they attain from the restaurant. In fact only two of the respondents said that they do not consider quality of food to be important. In this regard, majority of the respondents are most likely to be influenced by quality of food before deciding to come back. Interesting, price did not play a larger role in retention of the customers or rather in making the customers to visit again as compared to quality. As much as over 230 respondents agreed that price was important in determining if they return, a significant number of 187 were of the idea that price was a secondary determinant for them to return. For these 187 customers, other factors such as quality of food, customer service, interior decoration also contributed to them returning to the restaurant. Quality is complemented with highest level of satisfaction. Higher quality will ensure high satisfaction. According to the survey, more customers were satisfied with the services though there were some who feel that there should be some improvements especially on various aspects such as employee professionalism, and type of foods. All in all, most customers (over 300) agreed that they will return to the restaurant if they feel satisfied with the services in general. Hence, the strategic plan must ensure that customers are satisfied at the highest level possible. This will ensure their return. Those who do not love to party so much are the most likely customers to return to the restaurant while attractive interior was not very significant in determining return of the respondents. In fact, advertisement played a vital role in marketing the restaurant. This is because, those who came to the restaurant as a result of the advert will most likely to return as compared to those who were referred. Conclusions In a hotel industry, quality is everything. A good hotel growth is characterized by a good business strategies and business model. Strategies that focus on the growth of sales, profit maximization, and customer satisfaction is of essence. Basically, the source of any hotel is the customers that visits the hotel. According to the survey, quality determines whether the customers visits again or not. Some customers would rather pay higher prices and get good quality services as opposed to paying lower prices to poor quality services. In the regard, the strategic plan for expansion of Anita Restaurant should focus on these key areas: I. Identifying a customer retention plan II. Improve on the quality of services III. Advanced regular employee training in order to deliver quality services to the customers IV. Focuses more on the individuals aged between 35-49 years as they form the majority of the restaurant’s customer base. V. Advertisement is key the success of the restaurant. In general, the customers are satisfied with the service they are getting though more need to be done in terms of advertisements. The food quality is okay, and the general services are okay but as always they are few customers who feel some improvements are of essence. The target market for the restaurant has been identified as mostly individual aged between 35 and 49 years old with an average income of 20,000. With proper measures in place, customer loyalty will be improved hence customer retention. Limitations and proposals for future research The study was limited by the available resources. In addition, not all the questions were responded to hence rendering some information invalid. References Bearden W.O., Netemeyer R.G. and Haws K.L. (2011) Handbook of Marketing Scales: Multi-Item Measures for Marketing and Consumer Behavior Research, 3rd Edition, Sage. ENZ, C. A. (2010). Hospitality strategic management: concepts and cases. Hoboken, N.J., John Wiley & Sons. KOTHARI, C. R. (2005). Research methodology: methods & techniques. New Delhi, New Age International (P) Ltd. Malhotra N and D F. Birks.(2007) Marketing research : an applied approach 3rd ed, Harlow : Prentice Hall/Financial Times Malhotra, N (2010) Marketing research : an applied orientation, 6th ed, Upper Saddle River, N.J. ; London : Pearson Education. (note earlier editions are also in the library) Mazzocchi M. (2008) Statistics for Marketing and Consumer Research, London:Sage. OLSEN, M. D., WEST, J. J., & TSE, E. C. Y. (2014). Strategic management in the hospitality industry. Harlow, Pearson. Read More