Hospitality and Tourism Assessment: Hilton Hotel - Essay Example

?Research Method for Hospitality and Tourism Assessment A case study on Hilton hotel Research Proposal Tourism and hospitality are two economically important and interconnected industries that have a number of interconnected professions, such as customer service, cleaning, maintenance and cooking (Walker, 2009). Tourism is the process of a person travelling to a place that is not their usual environment and staying there for a period of more than one day, but less than a year. People travel for a range of different reasons, including business and pleasure, and because of this they have different objectives and desires (Page and Connell, 2006). Some travellers have a lot of time, and like things to be relaxed and easy-going. Others, such as businessmen, are much shorter on time, and require fast and efficient service. Many people will travel from one side of the world to another, or will travel many times within a short period of time. Tourism has been a rapidly growing industry, driven by increases in the ability to travel and the prevalence of people with disposable incomes (Smith and Eadington, 1992). The hospitality industry works to provide accommodation to both tourists and locals, and are places where are wide range of different cultures and expectations meet and interact (Bardi, 2003). Hotels often become a hub for such interactions, and both staff and managers must deal with the myriad of wants and needs that arise from these different cultures. Because of the prevalence of travelling, hotels are an important part of the hospitality industry, and they provide people with a place to stay when they are far away from home. The hotel industry is a competitive environment, and because of this, hotels must work not only to attract new customers but also to retain the ones that they do have (Dominici and Guzzo, 2010). There are many hotels for guests to choose from, and many make decisions based on past experience or recommendations from people that they trust. Customer satisfaction is an important component of this. Guests who consider that their overall experience at the hotel was a positive one are more likely to return than those who were disappointed in their stay. Consequently, customer satisfaction is an important aspect of the hotel industry, and is part of the business philosophy for most hotels (Abbasi et al., 2010). Companies that have the ability to recognize and predict what their customers will need have a competitive advantage within the market (Hayes, 2008). The interaction between staff and guests is strongly related to customer satisfaction (Gallarza and Saura, 2006). This research will focus on customer satisfaction within the hotel industry and the effects that culture and ethnic background has on how customers perceive their stay. This will be done using a case study on the Hilton hotel to examine the way in which guests from different cultural and ethnical backgrounds are treated during their stay, and to what extent their needs and expectations are met. This research and its conclusions will be directly related to the hospitality industry and the organisation which is being studied. It will help to identify areas where difference between cultures are resulting in decreases in customer service and will allow recommendations to be given as to what can be improved. This is an important area of research, especially in modern times, where the economy is struggling. Both quantitative and qualitative research methods will be used to meet the objectives of this study. In both cases, this will be primary research as this allows for accurate and time sensitive data to be collected. The quantitative method that will be used is surveys. These are beneficial as they can be distributed to a large number of people and thus can obtain a representative sample of the population (Keeter et al., 2000). Studies have shown that surveys often have a low return rate due to the respondents being short on time (Kaner et al., 1998). Consequently, a multiple-choice questionnaire will be used, and the number of questions will be no more than 15. This will ensure that respondents can answer the questionnaire quickly, while should increase the amount of responses that are received. All guests who are present in the hotel at the time of the study as well as any that check in or out will be given a copy of the questionnaire. They will be asked to fill it out and leave it in their rooms or return it to the front desk. The second research technique that will be used is a qualitative face-to-face interview, which will last at most 30 minutes per staff member. Here, approximately ten staff members will be interviewed and asked a range of questions. These will focus on the way in which the staff member responds to customers of different cultures, what problems they have experienced or observed and their personal opinions. The aims of this research are: 1. To identify the demographic distribution of guests in relation to cultural and ethnic backgrounds 2. To determine how hotel staff respond to guests of different cultures, what is easy and what difficulties they face 3. To determine drivers of customer satisfaction within the hotel, and to test whether satisfaction differed between the different groups The first and third objectives will be able to be answered using the responses from the questionnaire. Responses will be statistically analysed to determine trends and whether there is a significant effect of the demographic characteristics of the guest on their satisfaction or their experience. The qualitative interview will be used to answer the second research aim. The hotel that will be used in this study is the Hilton. Hilton is a brand that is recognised worldwide, with more than 3,750 hotels present in 85 countries (Hilton Worldwide, 2011). The name Hilton is synonymous with quality, and it is recognised as a luxury brand. Even though this is generally considered to be high performing, cultural issues are ones that all hotels should be aware of, and this study should serve to highlight these. Research Report Introduction The hospitality industry is highly competitive, and businesses must make sure that they are effective at both gaining new clientele and keeping their current ones. One significant aspect of this is to ensure that their customers are satisfied, as those who are content with the service that they had are more likely to return. Additionally, many customers come through referral, which also relies on positive opinions by customers. Customers come to hotels from all around the world, and consequently, many different cultures are present within the same environment. For staff members, this means that it is necessary to be able to accommodate a wide range of different types of people, all of which may have different desires and expectations. As the literature review above shows, there is a need for hotels to work on providing exemplary customer service and satisfaction in order to obtain and retain their customers. If they are not sensitive to the individual needs of their consumers, then they are likely to lose customers to competitors that are better equipped to manage different cultures. This study was designed to examine the influence that ethnic group and culture had on the experiences of guests at the Hilton Metropole Hotel in London. There were two components to this study. The first was to examine the viewpoints of staff members concerning ethical and cultural differences. This was done through a qualitative one-on-one interview, where staff members were asked a series of question about their perceptions and values. The second component of the study was to look at the guests themselves and their opinions of the hotel. This was done through the use of a quantitative questionnaire, distributed to guests. This research was case study at a single branch of the Hilton hotel within the United Kingdom; this was the Hilton Metropole Hotel in London. This is a large hotel, which has two restaurants, two bars, a cafe as well as a pool and sauna. This is a popular hotel, which has a reputation for quality. The aims of this research were: 1. To identify the demographic distribution of guests in relation to cultural and ethical backgrounds 2. To determine how hotel staff respond to guests of different cultures, what is easy and what difficulties they face 3. To determine drivers of customer satisfaction within the hotel, and to test whether satisfaction differed between the different groups Methods This study made use of a mixed methods approach to research, involving both a quantitative and qualitative aspects. The purpose of this was to adequately address the aims of the research study using these two methods in combination with one another. Qualitative research is a technique that is often used for small-scale studies, and is particularly relevant for case studies. While the results of qualitative research is often not able to be generalised, as subjects are not selected randomly, it is beneficial for obtaining opinions and perspectives of individuals (Trochim and Donnelly, 2007) . For this study, a one-on-one interview was considered to be an appropriate means of qualitative information about the viewpoints of staff in order to answer the second proposed aim. In this study, a qualitative face-to-face interview was given to five members of the staff at the Hilton. The individuals were chosen based on a convenience sampling method, and each was interviewed for between ten and thirty minutes. The interview was recorded, and later transcribed so the opinions of the different staff members could be compared to one another. A total of eight questions were given to each interviewee (Appendix 1), focusing on the perceptions of the staff members concerning different cultural groups. Quantitative information is important, as it can be used for establishing cause and effect, and if the sample is representative of the population, then the information gained can be generalised to a wider group. For this study, multiple-choice questionnaires were used as the tool for the information gathering. Questionnaires have been noted as a good research technique due to the standardized way in which they collect responses (Leedy and Ormrod, 2004). The use of all multiple choice questions made it easy for guests to fill out the survey quickly, making it more likely that people would participate. Additionally, the anonymity of the survey encouraged people to be honest about their responses (Gillham, 2005). All guests that checked into the hotel within the one-week period during which the study took place we given a questionnaire and asked to fill it out at some point during their stay. Guests were asked to leave the filled out questionnaire in their rooms for housekeeping to collect. The questionnaire was short in order to increase the likelihood of people responding to it, with a total of seven questions (Appendix 2). Furthermore, the questions were designed to be easy to read and understand. Prior to the study the questionnaire was tested on a pilot group of five individuals to ensure that the questions were suitable. Data analysis Information gathered from the qualitative aspect of the study was descriptive information that could not be tested statistically. However, the information was compared with the results of the quantitative study to examine similarities or differences between the view points of staff members and guests. Information gathered from the quantitative aspect of the study was compared against the different ethnic and cultural aspects. Ethical considerations No identifying information was taken of any participants in the study, and subjects were informed that all results would be used for scientific study and would not be able to be identified with them. This information was also printed on the survey form, and participation in either the survey or the interview was taken as consent. Individuals had the right to withdraw from the study at any time, however, as the surveys were not named, once they were submitted, there was no way of retrieving them. Results In total, 84 individuals responded to the questionnaire. Seven of these were excluded from analysis as five did not complete all sections, and two gave multiple answers for each of the sections. Of the guests at the hotel, Europeans were the highest represented at 44% of respondents, North America (American) was the next well-represented (27%) and then Asia (13%). The remaining regions had less than 10% representation each (Figure 1). When guests where asked what culture they identified strongest with, 21% responded Scottish, 14% British, 10% Chinese, 10% Mixed and 9% American. There were a range of other cultures identified including African, African American, Australian, Indian and Hispanic. Figure 1: Home country of survey respondents Both level of satisfaction with the hotel in general, and perception of staff helpfulness varied across respondents. A little under a quarter of respondents (23%) were extremely satisfied with the hotel, 34% were moderately satisfied and 22% were only slightly satisfied. A total of 21% of guests were either dissatisfied or neither satisfied or dissatisfied. A similar distribution was observed with the way in which guests perceived staff helpfulness. Ten percent considered the staff not to be helpful, while 18% thought that they were slightly helpful. Twelve percent of respondents thought the staff were extremely helpful, while the remaining 60% consider staff to be either very or moderately helpful. The satisfaction score varied depending on the country that the guests were from. Australian guests showed the highest average score (7, representing extreme satisfaction), while the lowest were from North America at 4.7 (Figure 2). The same trend was observed when considering cultural group instead of country. Most groups had a similar mean with the exception of Indian, Hispanic and New Zealand. The first two of these had unusually low means and the third unusually high. However, it is important to note that for these groups there was no replication, as each was represented by a single individual. For both comparisons, if the errors bars are considered, then the mean is approximately the same across the different groups. Figure 2: Average satisfaction score of visitors from different areas of the world. One indicated extremely dissatisfied, four neither satisfied nor dissatisfied and seven extremely satisfied. Error bars represent the standard error of the mean. A similar trend was observed when considering the friendliness of staff. In general, the mean did not differ much between geographical areas, with the highest average response being from Australians (4.5), and the lowest being from Asians (2.6). When considering the cultural backgrounds of the guest’s, means were similar across the groups, with many averaging between 2.5 and 3.5. The highest value was Australians (4.5) and the lowest were Indian and Hispanic, both of which scored a mean of one. Figure 3: Perception of staff friendliness across guests from different geographical regions. Scores ranged from five, were guests considered the staff to be extremely helpful, to one, where staff were considered to be not at all helpful. Error bars represent standard error of the mean. In a similar manner, the likelihood of guests revisiting the hotel did not vary substantially across home locations once errors were taken into account (Figure 4). Here, customers were asked whether they would return to the same hotel, with options ranging from yes (represented by 5), probably, I don’t know, probably not and no. This effect was the same when ethnic groups were considered (Figure not shown), although here Indian and Hispanic groups had lower than average responses. This may have been driven by the fact that these groups were each represented by only a single individual. Figure 4: Likelihood of customers returning to the hotel. Values ranged from one to five with one indicating that customers did not plan on returning to the same hotel again, three indicating that they were unsure, and one indicating that they planned on returning. Guests were asked whether they felt that they were treated differently because of their cultural background, and the results differed substantially across backgrounds. The only group for which the majority of individuals felt that they were being treated differently because of their culture was North Americans (Table 1). This agreed with the opinions stated by staff (Appendix 1), many of whom considered Americans to be difficult to deal with, pushing and demanding. The next highest value was for Australians. This group was not mentioned in the responses by staff members. However, it is important to note that there was a low sample size for Australians. Finally, 40% of Asians considered themselves to be treated differently because of their culture, although they were not mentioned directly by any staff members. Table 1: Perceptions of different groups as to whether they were treated differently because of their cultural backgrounds Yes No Number Percent Number Percent North America 12 57% 9 43% Europe 2 6% 32 94% Asia 4 40% 6 60% South America 1 17% 5 83% Africa 0 0% 4 100% Australia 1 50% 1 50% Some trends were evident from the interviews. Most interviewees agreed that there were a wide range of different cultures visit the hotel and that understanding the cultures of guests was an important part of working in the hotel. Of the five interviewees, two identified Americans as the most difficult group to manage, one considered people of different religions to be the most difficult, one business executives regardless of their cultures and the final person thought that all cultural groups were about the same. Three individuals identified white people or Europeans as the easiest group to manage, one suggested unusual groups such as New Zealanders or Australians were and the final did not have an opinion. Discussion Across all examinations of customer satisfaction, the observed levels were similar across the different cultures and ethnic groups. When the standard error is taken into account, there was little statistical difference between the different groups and views of the hotel. One difficultly with this study is the identification of cultural trends given that some cultural groups only had one or two representatives within the sample group. When considering either staff friendliness or satisfaction with the hotel, most groups had a similar mean. Australians consistently had a higher average opinion of the hotel and of staff in all examinations, however there results were only from three individuals. Two individuals identified themselves as originating from Australia, one of whom considered their culture to be Australian and the other as a New Zealander. Additionally, one individual from Europe identified their culture as Australian. Three cultural groups, New Zealand, Indian and Hispanic were each represented with only one individual, and a further three, Australian, Brazilian and Japanese had only two individuals each. Consequently, the sample size was very low for many of these groups, and it is difficult to determine whether the observed difference was a cultural difference or connected to the individuals who were present in the study. Thus, because of the low power present in this study, it has to be concluded that the different cultures and geographical homes of guests in the hotel did not have an effect on the way in which they perceived the hotel overall or the helpfulness of staff. This study should be repeated with a higher number of participants to provide a clearer indication of whether there is an effect of ethnicity or culture on experience at hotels in Europe. Staff indicated that they felt most comfortable managing guests who were similar to them, such as ones who were white or European, and had difficulty dealing with people who were dissimilar. However, several staff members reported that Americans, although white, were a difficult group to manage. This corresponds to the perceptions of North Americans, as 57% of these guests felt that they were being treated differently because of their culture. This suggests that hotels staff still have some problems working with people of different cultures and treat them differently as a result of this. The results of this study are limited in generalisability because only one hotel was considered. Therefore, it is possible that the results of this study were skewed by the demographics of the particular hotel, its staff or its guests. For example, the Hilton is often considered to be an expensive, luxury hotel, and this may result in guests having higher expectations or staff members having lower tolerance for differences in cultures. Conclusion There were three areas that this study aimed to examine and evaluate, the distribution of guests, the responses of staff and drivers of customer satisfaction, all with the focus of cultural and ethical backgrounds. In general, the cultures of the guests did not affect the satisfaction that they experienced from the hotel or their perception of staff; however, One problem with this study was that it was difficult to determine some of the cultural differences due to low representation of people from some areas of the world. This component of the study ideally needs to be repeated with a higher sample size, so it can be determined whether there are any cultural differences in the way in levels of customer satisfaction. Some cultures felt that they were being treated differently because of who they were. This was especially true of Asian and American populations. This matched viewpoints of the staff members in terms of Americans, but not Asians. It appears likely from these results that the staff members thought that Americans were difficult to take care of, and as a consequence treated them differently. This suggests that there is a need for hotels to train staff to be culturally competent and to be open to the differences between cultures and accommodate these. Recommendations As a result of this study I would recommend that hotels train their staff members to work with guests of different cultures and to train them in what different customers expect out of a hotel. For example, in this study, one staff member indicated that they had problems dealing with people of different cultures, as he did not know what the customers expected. Additionally, most of the staff members indicated that they felt more comfortable with white guests. This indicates that a strong cultural bias exists. References Abbasi, S., Wajiha, K., Madeeha, A. & Adnan, R. (2010). Determinants of Customer Satisfaction in Hotel Industry of Pakistan. European Journal of Scientific Research, 48, 97-105. Bardi, J. A. (2003). Perfomance Management. Hotel Front Office Management. New Jersey John Wikey & Sons Inc. , 280-285. Dominici, G. & Guzzo, R. (2010). Customer Satisfaction in the Hotel Industry: A Case Study from Sicily. International Journal of Marketing Studies, 2, 3-12. Gallarza, M. G. & Saura, I. G. (2006). Value Dimensions, Percieved Value, Satisfaction and Loyalty: An Investigation of University Students' Travel Behavior Tourism Management 27, 437-452. Gillham, B. (2005). Research Interviewing: A Practical Guide, London, OU Press, Hayes, B. E. (2008). Measuring Customer Satisfaction and Loyalty, Milwaukee, USA, ASQ Quality Press, Hilton Worldwide. (2011). About Hilton Worldwide [Online]. Available: http://www.hiltonworldwide.com/about/ [Accessed February 6 2012 ]. Kaner, E., Haighton, C. A. & McAvoy, B. R. (1998). 'So Much Post, So Busy with Practice--So, No Time!': A Telephone Survey of General Practitioners' Reasons for Not Participating in Postal Questionnaire Surveys. The British Journal of General Practice, 48, 1067. Keeter, S., Miller, C., Kohut, A., Groves, R. M. & Presser, S. (2000). Consequences of Reducing Nonresponse in a National Telephone Survey. Public Opinion Quarterly, 125-148. Leedy, P. D. & Ormrod, J. E. (2004). Practical Research: Planning and Design, Essex, UK, Prentice Hall, Page, S. & Connell, J. (2006). Tourism: A Modern Synthesis, Cengage Learning EMEA, 13, 25-26. Smith, V. L. & Eadington, W. R. (1992). Introduction: The Emergence of Alternative Forms of Tourism. In: Smith, V. L. & Eadington, W. R. (eds.) Tourism Alternatives: Potentials and Problems in the Development of Tourism. University of Pennsylvania Press, Trochim, W. M. K. & Donnelly, J. P. (2007). The Research Methods Knowledge Base, London, UK, Thomson Learning, 117. Walker, J. (2009). Welcome to the Hospitality Industry. Introduction to Hospitality Management. Delhi: Dorling Kindersely, 45-48. Appendix 1 – Qualitative Interviews Subject One Q1: How long have you worked at the Hilton for? Just under four years, I enjoy it here, it’s a good environment with friendly people. Q2: Do you interact with guests on a regular basis? Not directly, I clean rooms. However, you can normally tell a lot more about people from their rooms than from interacting with them directly. Q3: What ethnic group or cultural group do you find most difficult to manage? Americans, no doubt about it. They tend to have the least regard for the rooms, and make the biggest messes. Q4: What ethnic group or cultural group do you find easiest to please? Some of the more unusual groups I guess. Australians and New Zealanders come to mind, as they just seem pleased to be here, they tend to treat everyone with a lot of respect. Q5: Are some requests more common to some groups than others? I don’t interact with the guests enough to know. Q6: What cultures do you commonly get as guests in the hotel? Americans are common, so are people from this country, a lot of businessmen and women stay here. It’s a common location for conferences. Q7: Are there any cultures that you do not like dealing with? If so, why? Not really. Americans leave their rooms messy and they tend to be more demanding, but they’re not too bad. Q8: Do you think being able to work with people of different cultures is an important aspect of being a staff member at the Hilton? Yes, we have such a large number of guests, and so many different types of people. I think it’s important to understand how the needs of different people differ from one another, and to try and allow for this. Subject Two Q1: How long have you worked at the Hilton for? Three months Q2: Do you interact with guests on a regular basis? Every day and for most of the day Q3: What ethnic group or cultural group do you find most difficult to manage? Executives, particularly white executives. They tend to be very demanding, and want everything instantly and always their way. Q4: What ethnic group or cultural group do you find easiest to please? I think it’s more connected to individual people than to ethnic group. Q5: Are some requests more common to some groups than others? Americans tend to want room service more often than other groups Q6: What cultures do you commonly get as guests in the hotel? Every culture you can imagine. We get people from all around the world staying here. We’re a very central location. Close to some major transport links, and it’s a good place to stay and really experience the city. Q7: Are there any cultures that you do not like dealing with? If so, why? I try to be accommodating to all cultures, and not to let individual preferences affect the way that I work with them. Q8: Do you think being able to work with people of different cultures is an important aspect of being a staff member at the Hilton? Yes, not just here though, any hotel. We talk to people of every culture imaginable within the space of a day, it’s important to understand the way that they think and how it differs from our own. If we expect them all to be like us, then we are doing them a disservice. Subject Three Q1: How long have you worked at the Hilton for? Ten years next month Q2: Do you interact with guests on a regular basis? Fairly regularly. My job doesn’t involve customer service directly, but I still find myself interacting with guests most days. Q3: What ethnic group or cultural group do you find most difficult to manage? Americans are the most demanding I think. They have such high expectations compared to other groups. I will often be asked by an American to do something that clearly is not part of my job, and they will be very insistent. Other people just ask me to point them to the person who can help them. Q4: What ethnic group or cultural group do you find easiest to please? Europeans, as I find them the easiest to relate to and understand. Q5: Are some requests more common to some groups than others? Some groups have specific religious requests. I can’t think of an example off-hand. Oh – some are very particular on what food they can eat or how their food is cooked Q6: What cultures do you commonly get as guests in the hotel? Americans and Europeans are the most common, but there’s a wide variety. Listening to the different languages and accents is often very interesting. Q7: Are there any cultures that you do not like dealing with? If so, why? I don’t enjoy Americans, too bossy for my tastes, but I manage them as best I can Q8: Do you think being able to work with people of different cultures is an important aspect of being a staff member at the Hilton? Yes, there are so many here. Subject Four Q1: How long have you worked at the Hilton for? Two years Q2: Do you interact with guests on a regular basis? Daily Q3: What ethnic group or cultural group do you find most difficult to manage? They are all different, but I don’t think any are better or worse than any other. Q4: What ethnic group or cultural group do you find easiest to please? As I answered before. Q5: Are some requests more common to some groups than others? Not really. It all comes down to individuals, their personalities and their preferences. Q6: What cultures do you commonly get as guests in the hotel? Do you want a list? African, Asian, Middle East, American, German, British. Anything you can think of really. Q7: Are there any cultures that you do not like dealing with? If so, why? As I said before, the different cultures are different than one another, but none are harder to deal with Q8: Do you think being able to work with people of different cultures is an important aspect of being a staff member at the Hilton? I think it’s more about the people than their culture Subject Five Q1: How long have you worked at the Hilton for? Just under four years, I enjoy it here, it’s a good environment with friendly people. Q2: Do you interact with guests on a regular basis? Yes, my whole role is customer service Q3: What ethnic group or cultural group do you find most difficult to manage? Probably people of different religions, such as Muslim. They’re not difficult to deal with exactly, it’s just that I find it difficult to know exactly how to behave around them and what they are expecting. Q4: What ethnic group or cultural group do you find easiest to please? White people are the easiest I guess, I find it easier to predict what they want Q5: Are some requests more common to some groups than others? I guess so. Some cultures seem more interested in food, others in business. I can’t think of specific examples. Q6: What cultures do you commonly get as guests in the hotel? Just about any culture you can imagine. Q7: Are there any cultures that you do not like dealing with? If so, why? I find Muslims difficult to deal with, but I like the challenge Q8: Do you think being able to work with people of different cultures is an important aspect of being a staff member at the Hilton? Definitely, there are too many different types of people that visit here to not be aware of it. Appendix 2 – Quantitative Questionnaire Read More