The scope of the current study evaluates the challenges that Hotel Centennial is facing in Australia. With challenges faced in its restaurant, sales figures of the restaurant have drastically transformed leading to reduced market share. The current scope of literature analysis reviews the factors that might have impacted lowering sales of the reentrant and hence of the Hotel. A brief research methodology for the purpose of undertaking the study has been undertaken, which reflects the way in which the study progresses.
Literature Review
Secondary Data Search
Analysis of suitable literature is integral for understanding possible areas in which Hotel Centennial is committing errors, which in turn is affecting its sales figures. For the current study, various secondary sources such as journals, articles, and books were searched that could provide relevant factors that contribute to the hotel industry segment. The study has evaluated secondary sources mostly from Google Scholar and from online library books as well as journals. Exclusion criteria for studies include taking not more than 10-year-old literature articles. The keyword search criteria used for the study mostly included, “Impact on Customer perception for hotel brands”, “Customer Satisfaction criteria for hotel companies”, “Data analysis use in hotel companies”, and “Factors Determining Success for Hotel brands”. The results depicted over 75 articles taken together from which 12 articles and books were selected which could contribute to this study. A brief qualitative analysis of literature is undertaken below.
Centennial problems have arisen from a host of external and internal factors. With expected growth being lower the Hotel has aimed at undertaking more investments within the Hotel. The shareholders of the Hotel are also annoyed at the incapability of the Hotel to achieve desired performance levels. Moreover, the recent sentiments regarding the Hotel had not been supportive as shareholders have sold as they saw no new value generated. In order to evaluate, the current challenges a host of factors might be seen to be responsible amongst which major being customer perception, employee satisfaction, and data analysis not was being used extensively by the Hotel.
|
Travellers Analysis of Various Factors |
18-29 (250) % |
30-39 (180) % |
40-49 (280) % |
50-64 (190) % |
65+ (100) % |
|
1. Employee Behaviour |
110 |
90 |
110 |
80 |
50 |
|
2. Location of the Hotel |
90 |
50 |
90 |
70 |
30 |
|
3. choice of Food Menu |
50 |
40 |
80 |
40 |
20 |
Investigating factors affecting Customer Relationships:Kim, Kim and Kim (2009) explore the relationships between hotel brands and consumer store loyalty. It is believed that employees create a relationship on behalf of the brand and maintain it for customers. A brand undertakes a lot of activities in order to get loyal customers. Greater the brand loyalty of customers towards a specific brand, greater is the competitive advantage of the brand. More importantly, Merivale brand has expanded its business to include a vast number of hotel goods as well as other items that includes clothing. Hotel Centennial which generates most the group’s profitability has dropped significantly. Clottey, Collier, and Stodnick (2008) identified the drivers of customer loyalty in a hotel store This article highlighted the several factors which determine restaurant consumer loyalty and can be connected to employees attitudes and behaviors. Though in order to increase customer loyalty towards the brand, the Hotel has integrated various strategies such as introducing new food menus, offering special buffets on weekends and providing membership cards to customers. However, the group experienced a significant drop in consumer sentiment towards the brand leading to the brand losing out on its profitability as well as market share. The various factors that were considered for customer brand awareness as per the data collected.
|
Customer Relationship |
18-29 (200) % |
30-39 (320) % |
40-49 (280) % |
50-64 (350) % |
65+ (220) % |
|
1. Employee Behaviour |
60 |
100 |
80 |
100 |
70 |
|
2. Location of the Hotel |
50 |
120 |
120 |
150 |
100 |
|
3. choice of Food Menu |
90 |
100 |
80 |
100 |
50 |
Investigating Consumer Purchase Intention: Shah et al (2012) identified that a brand has to conduct multiple activities so as to impact consumer purchase intentions. Marketing includes creating a process which can effectively influence the customer decision-making process. It includes advertisement, brand promotion, PR, social media interactions and so on. All these factors taken together create an impact in the minds of consumers which compels him to undertake a purchase decision and go to a restaurant. In the recent period, the brand has experienced a downfall in its overall marketing activity. This significant lowering of marketing activities has deterred the brand from attracting sizable amounts of customers. Most investments of the Hotel in the recent period had been diverse in nature. There are several factors that impact customer purchase intentions relative to a particular hotel.
|
Factors affecting Customer Purchase Intention |
18-29 (300) % |
30-39 (420) % |
40-49 (480) % |
50-64 (450) % |
65+ (420) % |
|
1. Brand Recognition |
120 |
200 |
180 |
150 |
120 |
|
2. Intention to travel |
120 |
120 |
200 |
100 |
200 |
|
3. choice of Food Menu |
60 |
200 |
100 |
200 |
100 |
Investigating Consumer Value Perception:Allen, Gupta & Monnier (2008) investigated the interactive effect of cultural symbols and human values on taste evaluation. The study is crucial for the research as it identified consumer assessing taste of food or beverages by way of comparing human values, which are in turn symbolized by human value priority. The article discusses implications for marketing strategy, as it suggests that companies need to design and sell their products based on human value priorities. It can be seen from varied reports that Hotel Centennial, restaurant currently sells 25% fewer products in store than they did 10 years back. This has led to their lowering of medium-term margins from 18% to 16%. The operating profits of the brand name have significantly deteriorated in the last few years indicating a more fundamental issue existing in the Hotel. Keng and Ting (2009) analyzed the idea of using a customer experiential value perspective. Most leading hotel brands often experiment with their products to give surprises and additional benefits to its customers. Innovation is the key to success in contemporary hotel business management. Hotel failure has been greater over the past few months with some well-known brands in Australia, UK and Europe, with their various operations not being able to perform. These brands have been facing great financial difficulty with changed hands in sales. The impact of irreversible technological change with the rise of online shopping have generally led to the storm across the countries hotel segment. Measures taken by Government have also impacted sharp austerity and reduced consumer spending. While most research papers indicate a vast number of factors, there might some challenges deemed to be self-inflicted in nature. Most managers in the hotel segment believe that the need to perceive customer demands and cater to products accordingly. Failure in estimating consumer demands and choice criteria, and not having the right product to buy at the right time might affect hotel brand name. An hotelier needs his focus on costs, supply chain efficiencies, capital expenditures and online channels of sales to make sure they remain profitable.
|
Determining Service Components |
18-29 (300) % |
30-39 (220) % |
40-49 (260) % |
50-64 (310) % |
65+ (320) % |
|
1. Operations Costs |
120 |
60 |
90 |
100 |
120 |
|
2. Supply Chain Efficiencies |
100 |
100 |
70 |
110 |
100 |
|
3. Capital Expenditure |
80 |
160 |
100 |
100 |
100 |
Similar studies have been conducted in the hotel domain by Lee, S., & Heo, C. Y. (2009 who studied various hotels in the US. The article provided empirical findings of the several factors of the several hotels at US. Some brands enjoyed market leadership until AirB&B and other smaller motels overtook these Hotel and gradually led to a decrease in the market share. Analysis of factors which decreased market share of giant hotels revealed that the Hotel had too many divergent portfolios, which diverted its attention. The article provides interesting concepts when it goes on to evaluate similarities in offers that are provided by hotel giants. Due to the large market share of these companies, they often go on to ignore customer values and perceptions which categorizes the majority of their offerings. Thus, Deng Yeh and Sung (2013) examined innovations in hotel pricing and promotions, which could impact success in the hotel sector. This article provides a comprehensive understanding of the fixed model of offering given by the hotel sector in order to motivate customer purchase. While technological transformation has taken place immensely, majority hotel giants are ignorant of the other possible motivations that can attract customers. Amongst discounts, promotions, and other offers, a key to customer satisfaction remains to be a value that they perceive from a brand name or products that they offer.
|
Perception Customer Values |
18-29 (200) % |
30-39 (320) % |
40-49 (280) % |
50-64 (350) % |
65+ (220) % |
|
4. Human Values |
60 |
100 |
80 |
100 |
70 |
|
5. Technological Transformation |
50 |
120 |
120 |
150 |
100 |
|
6. Failure in synchronizing with brand |
90 |
100 |
80 |
100 |
50 |
Data Analytics: The leading factor was found to be the inability to perceive consumer value. Thus, hotel brands need to explore newer concepts and horizons for the understanding what customer really wants. This brings to the most integral concept of consumer data analysis in hoteling as highlighted by Chi and Gursoy (2009) as this article examines performance in inter-firm relationships in the hotel industry. With the advent of Information Systems and Information Technology, companies are integrating CRM (Customer Relationship Management) and Big Data framework to be able to analyze customers’ needs and demands. With such huge capabilities of IS/IT, it is currently impossible to have a reliance on marketing managers to undertake key decisions relative to products and services. IS/IT can reveal every detail regarding a Hotel’s potential areas of fall-out and other problems. Operational efficiencies in the US hotel sector, which contributes to the success of a hotel. There are ways and processes, especially technological advancements that companies can accommodate in order to overcome potential challenges in the market and establish their core competencies. Most importantly hoteliers are devising technological mobile phone apps and e-commerce websites in order to enhance customer experience. There is a changing pattern in consumer purchase behavior as most consumers now prefer shopping for their products online. The better engagement included in a specific app feature or e-commerce portal, more customers will be attracted. Such technological extension provides significant satisfaction for customers. This implies that hotel companies now have to draw major attention towards investing in technology for adopting various IS/IT processes, this would allow enhancement of their skills. This leads to the most important factor which is supply chain efficiencies. The agile supply chain has become the determining factor which drives success in hotel chains practice as well as performance. Operational efficacies are critical to the success of any hotel chain performance and practices. Analysing importance of data analytics in hotel industry.
|
Data Analytics |
18-29 (300) % |
30-39 (420) % |
40-49 (480) % |
50-64 (450) % |
65+ (420) % |
|
1. Facebook Review |
120 |
200 |
180 |
150 |
120 |
|
2. Instagram Review |
120 |
120 |
200 |
100 |
200 |
|
3. Google Review |
60 |
200 |
100 |
200 |
100 |
In order to analyze each Research Questions, the following articles have been analyzed.
The information that was collected as above from various literature articles catered to the research questions well. There were more than 5 articles which evaluated the real problems behind Hotel Centennial losing market share. Varied articles that could contribute to the study from the point of view of customer perception regarding brand and data analysis that could contribute to the success of hotel segment have been considered for the study. The studies did not contain any significant biases, as studies from an international perspective had been collected. No country based analytical study had been considered for this study as it could lead to significant cultural biases. As indicated above studies not older than 10 years had been selected and other studies from before that period had been excluded. Each of the studies was limited in scope identifying relevant areas of knowledge. As journals of customer perception dealt with customer attitudes and customer behavior. Moreover, journals of data analysis impact on the hotel segment dealt with such preview.
Deriving from the above literature, it can be ascertained that various factors affect sales in the hotel sector. While business processes are being transformed gradually there is a great reliance on technology to substitute human capabilities. Major hotel giants make use of extensive data collection and analysis for making major decisions related to their brand name. Thus, the role of this study will aim at fulfilling the gap existing in previous literature to identify the role of technology indirectly contributing to the hotel industry.
The current scope of the study will aim at filling the literature gap to identify ways in which technology could impact success in the hotel segment in Australia (Neuman, 2013). None of the literature identified above contributes directly to identify the contribution of technology in the hotel domain.
In order to conduct this study, a suitable methodology needs to be specified as a research methodology is the most essential part of any study. A research approach can be qualitative or quantitative in nature on the basis of its requirement (Lewis, 2015). The study will adopt a qualitative approach as it aims at evaluating the various factors that have led to the diminishing market share of Hotel Centennial. The study will be guided by the conceptual phenomenon of theoretical structure from ideas. The ideas such as customer perception regarding a hotel brand might affect its profitability, data analysis of customers enable to customize their offers and so on. In order to draw inferences from such general instances as identified in the study, a top-down approach will be adopted to arrive at the more specific approach from general ones. Thus, the deductive approach will be used for this study, as such approaches a researcher’s thought processes are guided. The study will undertake explorative methodology to evaluate multiple primary data collected from the hotel sector to study the problem more clearly.
As the aim of exploratory research is to study a problem more clearly and to establish priorities and then develop operational definitions. It is ideally suited for an informal qualitative approach for consumers, employee’s management and competitors. This type of approach is more suited as the aim of exploratory research does not provide usefulness for decision making; rather they provide useful insight into the given situation. Similarly,, in this case, the scholar is aiming at gaining suitable insight into the challenges that are currently being faced at the hotel.
There are varied techniques available for the purpose of data collection such as Focus Groups, Interviews, Surveys, Experiments or Observation (Gomm, 2008). In order to conduct this study survey will be used as it is the most appropriate for this study. The survey will be used for this study so that respondents can express their opinions more freely and are not bounded by fixed or specific questions. As the researcher is aiming at exploring all possible reason that could attribute to lowering of the market share of the hotel, more and versatile opinions from participants will be required for this purpose. Moreover, according to the population behavior, it can be ascertained that customers, employees or managers or competitors might not be able to provide direct answers to specific questions. As they clearly express their views and opinions, more in-depth will be the study’s findings. It might allow reflecting on a point that earlier was not considered. This method is aligned with the Research Approach of the exploratory method, as the aim of the study is not decision making rather provide insight into the situation prevailing.
The population that will be the focus of interest for this particular study will be internal and external customers of the Hotel. Internal customers would include employees, management, competitors, whereas external customers will include consumers. Primary data or first-hand data will be collected for this study. Data will be collected from all over Australia, especially from the major outlets of Hotel Centennial based in cities such as Sydney, Melbourne, and so on. The data as stated above will be collected through interviews and a population size of 200 people will be ascertained. The composition of the population will comprise of 20 senior managers from the organization, at least 20 managers from competitor organization, 60 random employees and 100 customers of hotel products. There will be exclusion criteria in the sample which will be ascertained after the data has been collected.
The data for the study will be collected form variable population size hence an appropriate Sampling Frame and Sampling Technique will need to be ascertained. The study will make use of a randomly stratified sampling technique for the populace. The Sampling frame as indicated above will comprise of as given below;
Table 1: Sample Frame
|
Sample Name |
Sample Size |
|
Hotel Manager |
20 |
|
Employees |
60 |
|
Competitors |
20 |
|
Hotel Customers |
100 |
|
Total |
200 |
The research design will be implemented according to the process as indicated in the Research Onion. As the diagram below depicts, the study’s implementation plan will progress by selecting the research philosophy and then the approach, then the method and so on. The implementation process will be initiated practically with selecting of data collection technique and data collection procedure. According to the research approach and processes determined, the research will progress on its data collection methodology and subsequently its analysis.
Table 2: Research Onion
The study will need to integrate a survey for the purpose of collecting primary data. In the survey, participants will be first provided the detailed objectives regarding the study, and then a consent form will be asked to be signed by the participants. The participants will then be provided a survey questionnaire sheet, which they will be asked to fill in. The participants will be given a certificate of participation for taking part in the research process. None of the participant’s personal details will be disclosed in the study, only their opinions and findings will be used. Some of the survey questions will be as;
A detailed questionnaire is attached below as Appendix.
Abridge Discussion Guide
The study is aimed at understanding why Hotel Centennial is no longer a leading hotelier in Australia. The study will collect views and opinions from divergent groups of people to arrive at a conclusive understanding related to the underlying phenomenon affecting the Hotel. With Hotel Centennial losing out on its market share to its competitors, it is worth understanding the benefits that competitors are offering and the Hotel is not. Kindly, jot down the major points that in your opinion are affecting the market share of the Hotel.
The entire project will be broken down into smaller topics for schedules and timelines (Noor, 2008). Each step will be aimed to be completed within a specific timeframe. The project will be expected to be comprised of the following parts and aimed to be completed within 150 days from start. The below is a Gantt chart that depicts the project flow and details of timelines.
Table 3: Project TimeLine in Gantt Chart
|
GANTT CHART |
||||||||||||
|
Research for analyzing Problems faced by Hotel Centennial |
||||||||||||
|
Topic |
Days |
|||||||||||
|
1 |
30 |
50 |
65 |
75 |
90 |
100 |
105 |
110 |
120 |
130 |
150 |
|
|
Research Proposal |
||||||||||||
|
Background |
||||||||||||
|
Problem Statement & Research Questions |
||||||||||||
|
Research Methodology |
||||||||||||
|
Project Budget & Schedule |
||||||||||||
|
Data Collection |
||||||||||||
|
Literature & Data Analysis |
||||||||||||
|
Findings and Analysis |
||||||||||||
|
Results and Discussion |
||||||||||||
|
Conclusion |
References
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Chi, C. G., & Gursoy, D. (2009). Employee satisfaction, customer satisfaction, and financial performance: An empirical examination. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 28(2), 245-253. Accessed from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278431908000790
Deng, W. J., Yeh, M. L., & Sung, M. L. (2013). A customer satisfaction index model for international tourist hotels: Integrating consumption emotions into the American Customer Satisfaction Index. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 35, 133-140. Accessed from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278431913000807
Dominici, G., & Guzzo, R. (2010). Customer satisfaction in the hotel industry: A case study from Sicily. Accessed from https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1961959
Gomm, R. (2008). Social research methodology: A critical introduction. Macmillan International Higher Education. Accessed from https://books.google.co.in/books?hl=en&lr=&id=Y54cBQAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=research+methodology&ots=8bxhAkCXaX&sig=1RY3mIh5yiLXLYIXtIWCERnv0Sc
Jafri, M. H. (2010). Organizational commitment and employee’s innovative behavior: A study in hotel sector. Journal of Management Research, 10(1), 62. Accessed from https://search.proquest.com/openview/0314d38168e5ac2486d91f352d02c78c/1?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=55395
Keng, C. J., & Ting, H. Y. (2009). The acceptance of blogs: using a customer experiential value perspective. Internet Research, 19(5), 479-495. Accessed from https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/10662240910998850
Kim, T. T., Kim, W. G., & Kim, H. B. (2009). The effects of perceived justice on recovery satisfaction, trust, word-of-mouth, and revisit intention in upscale hotels. Tourism management, 30(1), 51-62. Accessed from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0261517708000757
Lee, S., & Heo, C. Y. (2009). Corporate social responsibility and customer satisfaction among US publicly traded hotels and restaurants. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 28(4), 635-637. Accessed from https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0278431909000322
Lewis, S. (2015). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches. Health promotion practice, 16(4), 473-475. Accessed from https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1524839915580941
Neuman, W. L. (2013). Social research methods: Qualitative and quantitative approaches. Pearson education. Accessed from https://lib.hpu.edu.vn/handle/123456789/28691
Nittala, R., & Kameswari, A. V. (2009). Internal marketing for customer satisfaction in hotel sector. AIMS International Journal of Management, 3(3), 207-220. Accessed from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Nittala_Rajyalakshmi/publication/255646459_Internal_Marketing_for_Customer_Satisfaction_in_Hotel_Sector/links/54ec959f0cf27fbfd77111b6.pdf
Noor, K. B. M. (2008). Case study: A strategic research methodology. American journal of applied sciences, 5(11), 1602-1604. Accessed from https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Khairul_Baharein_Mohd_Noor/publication/26517241_Case_Study_A_Strategic_Research_Methodology/links/5462bd800cf2c0c6aec1b83e/Case-Study-A-Strategic-Research-Methodology.pdf
Shah, S. S. H., Aziz, J., Jaffari, A. R., Waris, S., Ejaz, W., Fatima, M., & Sherazi, S. K. (2012). The impact of brands on consumer purchase intentions. Asian Journal of Business Management, 4(2), 105-110. Accessed from https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/37898247/v4-105-110.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1543545341&Signature=m4EvF15AScFR9eYxfE1wUoPm7Rw%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DThe_Impact_of_Brands_on_Consumer_Purchas.pdf
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