Customer Satisfaction Importance In The Hotel Industry: A Case Study Of Marriott International Essay.

Describe the Customer satisfaction.

Customer satisfaction is defined as the most important tool for ensuring the growth of the organization, and it ensures the survival of the organization for long run. It must be noted that, if there is any place where customers mainly pay attention to the type of service they get is the hospitality industry. Each and every sector of this industry such as from the restaurants to the hotel needs to focus on the customer satisfaction. This assignment mainly discusses the customer satisfaction importance in the hotel industry for the purpose of ensuring the long term survival and profitability of the organization (Belcher, 2018).

Structure of this assignment includes number of things such as methodology in context of the customer satisfaction, brief discussion related to the current customers of the chosen hotel, potential customers of the chosen hotel. After that brief discussion is stated in terms of the competitors, SWOT analysis, and competitive advantage, product positioning, and marketing mix. At the end brief conclusion is defined. It must be noted that, for completing this assignment, author chooses the Marriott International hotel group.

For being successful in the market, attracting new customers is not the sufficient approach for ensuring the growth of the business, but it is also necessary maintain the existing customers by implementing the right policies related to the customer satisfaction & loyalty. In the industry of hotels customer satisfaction mainly deals with the quality of service provided by hotels. Focus of the management on the customer satisfaction can directly improve the loyalty of the customers, and this ensures the positive image of the hotel (Dominici & Rosa, 2010).  

This loyalty of customer can be get by focusing on needs and customers of the needs and requirements of the customers (Mubiri, 2016). As stated by the Luo and Homburg (2007), customer satisfaction is the approach which affects the business in profitable manner. There are number of studies which conduct investigation in context of the customer behaviour patterns.

In Singapore, almost 79% of the hotel customers give more preferences to the satisfaction of the customers, and data collected in this context reflects that almost 60% customers does not repeat the hotel because of their general dissatisfaction related to the cleanliness, ricing, billing, etc (Hargreaves, 2015).

Marriott is the hospitality brand which not only focuses on the best services to the customers, but also makes additional efforts to ensure the customer satisfaction. In Singapore, this hotel is established at the South Beach, and conduct following actions for the purpose of ensuring the customer satisfaction (MTI, 2017).

• JW Marriott focuses on differentiating itself from the other hotels in the form of iconic lifestyle destination. This hotel offers wide range of cultural and culinary offering to its guests.
• JW Marriott also focuses on implementing the new and digital technologies, and also the different processes for improving the efficiency of the operations and also for improving the experiences of their guests.
• Hotel also introduces number of innovative programssuch as Future Earn & Learn Programme which provide number of benefits to its customers. 

Current and Potential Customers

Presently, customers are more concern about the quality of the services they received and also the treatment they receive in the hotels (Bhavani, 2013). It is necessary for each and every business to keep its customers happy, but in case of hospitality industry it is the most important component. Following are some of the basic needs of the customers on which Marriott needs to be focused-

• Generally, customers mainly focus on the quality of the rooms in which they stay such as cleanliness of the rooms, room service, amenities, complimentary products, etc.
• Another thing which is required by the customers is the behaviour of the staff members, which means whether staff member’s behaviour is friendly and caring.
• Food and Beverages are also on the priority list of the customers, and this includes variety, taste, and service style (Dominici & Rosa, 2010).

Before, hospitality industry only focus on the high income groups and their customer base is limit to that only, but now situations had been changed, as now organizations are also focus on the middle-income groups. (Wiriyakitjar & Wonglorsaichon, 2013). Following are the market areas on which Marriott group of hotel can target, and some of these areas are stated below-

• Hotel can target the newly married couples who choose Singapore, as their honeymoon destination. As there are number of couples which prefer to visit the Singapore, as Marriott group can target them.
• There are number of corporates on which Marriott can focus, as organizations arrange holidays for their employees.
• Marriott can also target the families by providing them packages which are budget friendly for their customers (MBAskool, n.d. ).

There is high competition in the hospitality industry, as large number of organizations operates in this industry (Tsai, Song & Wong, 2009). The biggest competitor of the Marriott in the Singapore is the Hilton Hotels and Resorts, as both the hotels provide similar type of services to their clients.

Both the hotels conduct their services in the similar industry and also provide similar type of services to their clients. As this hotel target the similar market areas as targeted by the Marriott hotel, and strengths of this competitor on which Marriott needs to consider is stated below-

• Hilton holds good market reputation.
• This hotel holds large experience in this industry.
• Employee retention of the hotel is good.

Following are few weakness of the Hilton-

• Market shares of the hotel are limited.
• Operations are affected because of the government policies (MBAskool, n.d.).

This report uses the tool of SWOT analysis for the purpose of understanding the threats of the high competition in Singapore faced by the Marriott international, and also for understanding the weakness of the organization in better manner.

SWOT identifies the strengths of the organization which organization can use against their Hilton. This section compares the two organizations Marriott and Hilton in terms of SWOT-

Strength: Marriott strictly adhered to its operational norms and it also own strong base of customers. Both the strengths of Marriott provide growth and profitability to the organization. On the other hand, Hilton hotel possess good reputation in the market and they also ensure technical innovations for improving customer experience. However, strengths of both the organizations are different but Marriott needs to understand the strengths of Hilton and make strategies accordingly (MBAskool, n.d. ).

Weakness: In case of Marriott, Marriott target he customers in very small range, and this is not the case with Hilton as they target large range of customers. However, in case of Hilton the weakness is limited share of market. This weakness of Hilton can be considered as the opportunity for Marriott.

Competitors

Opportunity:  The biggest opportunity for Marriott is the shift in behaviour of the consumers, as consumer’s required new and innovative experiences and this can be provided by the Marriott by making changes in their strategies. Similar opportunity is available to the Hilton hotel, and because of this Marriott needs to be more proactive.

Threat: there are number of layers of the hotel industry of Singapore, and because of this Marriott face the threat of high competition on continuous basis. As biggest competitor of Marriott is the Hilton hotel and similar thing is applied in case of Hilton hotel.

Product positioning is the marketing technique which is used to present the products in the best possible manner, and this technique is also used in hospitality industry. In context of product positioning of Marriott hotel, hotel chose the prime location for establishing their hotel as this location is nearby number of tourist’s laces. This hotel also provides luxury living to their customers by dividing their hotels and amenities in categories. Hotel also provides some other luxury facilities in their hotels such as swimming pool, club, and different restaurants areas with different types of cuisines, lay area for kids, Gym sections, etc (Marriott, 2018].  

Strong customer base is considered as the competitive advantage for the organization, and this advantage help the organization in capturing the large share of the market. This can only be possible by providing quality services to the customers. The most important feature which provides this strong customer base to the hotel is the service provided by them to their customers. As this hotel make all efforts to provide unique and best travelling experience to their customers. Other important features are friendly nature of their staff members, interior of hotel, and rices offered by hotel.  

Following are 4Ps of marketing which can be used by the Marriott international plc:

Product: these hotel provide 643 rooms with a mazing interior and number of amenities.

Place: This hotel is established is at prime location; as this hotel is near to all the tourist places.

Promotion: This hotel completely focuses on the digital promotion.

Price: Price of the hotels is mainly based on the higher incomes of their customers.  

Conclusion:

It is clear that for attracting and retaining the customers in the hospitality industry, the most important area on which management needs to focus is satisfying the needs and wants of the customers. As customer satisfaction is the most important area which required the attention of the management.

References:

Belcher, (2018). Customer Satisfaction in the Hospitality Industry. Retrieved from: https://smallbusiness.chron.com/customer-satisfaction-hospitality-industry-15722.html.

Bhavani, G. (2013). Customer expectations of hospitality services: A study on five star hotels in Hyderabad City. International Journal of Management Research and Review, Volume 3(11).

Dominici, G. & Rosa, G. (2010). Customer Satisfaction in the Hotel Industry: A Case Study from Sicily. International Journal of Marketing Studies, Volume2(2).

Hargreaves, C. (2015). Analysis of Hotel Guest Satisfaction Ratings and Reviews: An Application in Singapore, American Journal of marketing Research, Volume 1(4).

Luo, X. & Homburg, C. (2007). Neglected Outcomes of Customer Satisfaction. Journal of Marketing, 71(2): 133-149.

Marriott, (2018]. Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza Hotel. Retrieved from: https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/sindt-singapore-marriott-tang-plaza-hotel/.

MBA. Marriott Marketing Mix. Retrieved from: https://www.mbaskool.com/marketing-mix/services/17317-marriott.html.

MBAskool. Hilton Hotels and Resorts SWOT Analysis, USP & Competitors. Retrieved from: https://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/tourism-and-hospitality/4284-hilton-hotels-and-resorts.html.

MBAskool. Marriott International SWOT Analysis, USP & Competitors. Retrieved from: https://www.mbaskool.com/brandguide/tourism-and-hospitality/2370-marriott-international.html.

MTI, (2017). Speech by MOS Koh at the Official Opening of the JW Marriott Hotel Singapore South Beach. Retrieved from: https://www.mti.gov.sg/NewsRoom/Pages/-SPEECH-BY-MOS-KOH-AT-THE-OFFICIAL-OPENING-OF-THE-JW-MARRIOTT-HOTEL-SINGAPORE-SOUTH-BEACH.aspx.

Mubiri, J. (2016). Customer Satisfaction in Hotel Services. Retrieved from: https://www.theseus.fi/bitstream/handle/10024/114578/Mubiri%20Joleen%20thesis.pdf?sequence=1.

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Tsai, H. Song, H. & Wong, K. (2009). Tourism and hotel competitiveness research, Journal of Travel and tourism Marketing, volume26(5).

Wiriyakitjar, R. & Wonglorsaichon, P. (2013). Hotel Customer Expectations of Service: A Provincial Analysis of Family Business in Chiangmai, Thailand, Journal of Tourism Research & Hospitality, Volume2(3).