Customer Loyalty at a Catered House in London - Essay Example

Download file to see previous pages The findings suggest that price may be the most important determinant of customer loyalty, followed by location. Standard of service and brand name were not found to be as important in contributing to customer loyalty.

CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background:
Hotels are an important part of the tourism industry and with the trend of globalization, there have been an increasing number of hotels cropping up, offering a wide range of facilities to customers. Catered houses are emerging as a cost-effective alternative to expensive hotels, especially since they may in some instances provide good levels of service as well, which are comparable to service levels at two or three-star hotels. Within the UK, the hospitality industry is highly competitive and service levels are a vital factor in ensuring customer satisfaction with the hospitality services they receive. But customer satisfaction alone may not be adequate; rather it is customer loyalty that can prove to be cost-effective and enable an organization to gain a competitive advantage in the current global marketplace.

The objective of this study:
Travel and tourism are booming today and several studies have already been carried out on the levels of passenger and hotel resident satisfaction across the globe. The impact of services and facilities available at hotels and their impact on tourist satisfaction has also been assessed in other studies; however, the number of studies that have examined the impact of these services in terms of customer loyalty is fewer. In particular, studies on customer loyalty in the context of catered houses are even fewer; hence this study aims to examine what are the factors likely to promote customer loyalty at a catered house and promote their repeated utilization of the services of the catered house and thereby demonstrate loyalty. This study thus aims to assess customer perception of service one catered hostel in London based upon a survey and thereby determine how likely it is that these customers could prove to be loyal, thereby enhancing the economic viability and profitability of this hostel. ...Download file to see next pages Read More