Customer Satisfaction And Loyalty In Hospitality Industry

Overview of the Mountain Resort in Kerala

Discuss about the Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty.

In India, tourism is a rapidly growing sector that contributed almost $220 billion to the country’s GDP in 2016. Additionally, the tourism sector has developed almost 40.34 million jobs thereby, contributing 9.3% of the country’s total employment. India is the seventh largest tourism economy and is forecasted to have 6.7% growth within 2017 (Chaturvedi, 2017).

This report consists of an overview of the Mountain Resort in Kerala, India that is currently facing an overwhelming number of visitors that the organizations and the community are unable to handle. Therefore, the report highlights the impact of the current scenario and discussing the methods undertaken by the hotel for handling the current situation.

The Mountain Resort is located in Wayanad, Kerala, South India. The resort is located amidst the green trees, high mountains and away from the hustle of the city life. The resort provides an eco-friendly accommodation for the customers thereby, enabling them to experience nature directly. For example, the resort provides Bamboo Cabins as accommodation with a high standard of comfort and hygiene. The tour guides provided by the resort explains the customers the rich and natural heritage of the country by taking them to the backwaters and forests of the country. The resort prioritizes the safety of the customers thereby, making it a reliable option for the customers. Additionally, the resort offers traditional yoga and massage experience to the customers thereby, ensuring a complete health package. On the other hand, the resort enhances the experiences of the customers by cooking them authentic and native cuisines of Kerala along with giving a taste of the local culture. Keeping in mind the nature of the customer, the Mountain resort provides a variety of eco-friendly activities for the customers that include rock climbing, camping, safari, nature walks, rafting and hiking (“Green Mountain Resort”, 2017).

In terms of accommodation, the resort offers log hut, bamboo cabin and earth room built in using rough-hewn laterite stone. The log huts are built considering the preferences of the honeymoon goers and are situated in excellent isolation directly above a natural. On the other hand, the earth rooms have large windows that provide a magnificent view of the surrounding landscape. The package of the Mountain resort includes morning pick up, including lunch breakfast and lunch as meals and spa packages (“Green Mountain Resort-About Us”, 2017).

As discussed before, the range of facilities and experience provided by the resort are extremely favored by the customers. Moreover, the price range offered by the resort for the various facilities and experience are very much affordable by the customers. Additionally, the resort has been able to create a large customer base due to the safety and unique experiences provided by them compared to the other resorts in the area (Zhou et al., 2014). Because of the aforementioned factors, the resort is currently facing an overwhelming number of customers. It has been difficult for the resort and the local community to handle the influx of visitors.

Current challenges faced by the Mountain Resort

According to the given case study, the Mountain Resort is currently experiencing sudden visitor influx that they are unable to handle. As mentioned by Cheng & Rashid (2013), in the hospitality industry, the quality of service is prioritized compared to the speed of the service. As a service industry, it is significant for the Mountain Resort to handle their customers. Unable to handle the increased number of customers is resulting in the loss of business for the resort. The resort is unable to fulfill the service requirements of the customers. As a result, the resort is losing their business to the competitors in the market. According to Testa & Sipe (2012), inability to handle the rush of customers creates a negative impression in the eye of the customers. Therefore, a bad word of mouth is spread about the Mountain Resort among the target customers. As Mountain Resort is currently unable to fulfil the service requirements of the customers, a negative impression is created in terms of business expansion. As the present customers are leaving the resort unsatisfied, they are leaving with a negative impression. Therefore, neither the present customers will use the service of the Mountain Resort again nor will they suggest the resort to other customers.

Apart from the Mountain Resort, even the local community is unable to handle the influx of the visitors that are hampering the tourism of the area. As commented by Vila, Enz & Costa (2012), the visitors enjoy experiencing the localities of the place they visit. The community around the Mountain Resort is unable to handle the visitors due to which they are unable to provide the authentic and traditional experiences of the locality. As a result, the tradition of the community is not being explored and expanded in the market thereby, hampering the future business. As the community is unable to handle the influx of visitors, the community is being hampered financially. They are losing the chance of valuable income from the visitors. 

Based on the case study, it can be said that the Mountain Resort is facing challenges in managing the influx of visitors. Therefore, the Mountain Resort needs to implement methods and approaches to handling the influx of the visitors for gaining a competitive advantage and sustaining in the competitive market. As commented by Wong (2013), the employees are the backbone of the service industry. It is the employees or staffs of the service industry that determines the success of the organization. According to the given case study, the Mountain Resort needs to employ more staffs to enhance the quality of service provided by them. The number of employees will provide an opportunity for the resort to have enough attendants for each visitor. The employees’ or the staffs will be able to focus on each visitor appropriately thereby, taking care of their needs and demands. This will help in building a positive relationship with the customers (Berezina et al., 2016). For example, even if the employees of the Mountain Resort are unable to fulfill some demands of the customers, the customers will consider it without complaining. This will help in strengthening the bond between the visitors and the resort and maintain the customers for the long term. 

Impacts of the scenario

According to Wilder, Collier & Barnes (2014), listening and understanding the expectations and needs of the customers is significant for customer service. This will provide a better opportunity for the Mountain Resort to develop a better understanding of the demands and needs of the customers and work accordingly. For example, being aware of the demands of the customers will help Mountain Resort change their operations accordingly so that they are able to cope up with the increased number of customers. This will provide an opportunity for the Mountain Resort to earn maximum profit from the business. As mentioned by Stein (2017), it is important for the organizations to make the target customers feel care and warmth. This provides an opportunity for the hospitality industry to share a bond with the target customers. As currently, the Mountain Resort is unable to cope up with the increasing number of customers, they need to communicate with the customers passionately. This will allow the employees of the resort to explain their situation to the visitors compassionately and with care. Therefore, there are higher chances that the visitors will be able to understand the situation of the resort and wait until some arrangement is being made.

According to Salomonson, Aberg & Allwood (2012), the service industry is all about the ability of the organizations or individuals to come up with a solution. Therefore, if the issue of handling the visitors is pertaining for long, it negatively affects the business of the Mountain Resort. Therefore, one of the significant ways of overcoming the current situation faced by the Mountain Resort is their ability to come up with a solution at their earliest. The resort needs to ensure that they are always able to handle the visitors thereby, fulfilling their needs and demands.

Conclusion

In this report, it can be concluded that the Mountain Resort is situated amidst the natural and scenic beauty of Kerala, South India. The resort offers a wide range of attractive and affordable services for the visitors in terms of outdoor activities and accommodation. Additionally, the resort has been able to maintain the code of conduct and safety for the visitors thereby, making it favorable for among the tourists. Therefore, a huge increase in the number of visitors has been noticed that both the resort and the local community are unable to handle. It has been seen that inability to cope up with the increased customer pressure, the resort is potentially losing their business, reputation and customer base. Thus, the resort needs to implement approaches to be able to combat with the visitor influx. Approaches such as employing more staffs, communicating with the visitors compassionately, ensuring high-quality service and finding a solution at the earliest can be used for handling the situation currently encountered by the resort.

References

Berezina, K., Bilgihan, A., Cobanoglu, C., & Okumus, F. (2016). Understanding satisfied and dissatisfied hotel customers: text mining of online hotel reviews. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 25(1), 1-24.

Chaturvedi, A. (2017). India’s is the world’s 7th largest tourism economy in terms of GDP, says WTTC. The Economic Times. Retrieved 13 October 2017, from https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/services/travel/indias-is-the-worlds-7th-largest-tourism-economy-in-terms-of-gdp-says-wttc/articleshow/58011112.cms

Cheng, B. L., & Rashid, M. Z. A. (2013). Service Quality and the Mediating Effect of Corporate Image on the Relationship between Customer Satisfaction and Customer Loyalty in the Malaysian Hotel Industry. Gadjah Mada International Journal of Business, 15(2).

Green Mountain Resort. (2017). Greenmountainresorts.in. Retrieved 13 October 2017, from https://greenmountainresorts.in/

Green Mountain Resort-About Us. (2017). Greenmountainresorts.in. Retrieved 13 October 2017, from https://greenmountainresorts.in/about.php

Salomonson, N., Åberg, A., & Allwood, J. (2012). Communicative skills that support value creation: A study of B2B interactions between customers and customer service representatives. Industrial Marketing Management, 41(1), 145-155.

Stein, H. F. (2017). Listening deeply: An approach to understanding and consulting in organizational culture. University of Missouri Press.

Testa, M. R., & Sipe, L. (2012). Service-leadership competencies for hospitality and tourism management. International journal of hospitality management, 31(3), 648-658.

Vila, M., Enz, C., & Costa, G. (2012). Innovative practices in the Spanish hotel industry. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 53(1), 75-85.

Wilder, K. M., Collier, J. E., & Barnes, D. C. (2014). Tailoring to customers’ needs: Understanding how to promote an adaptive service experience with frontline employees. Journal of Service Research, 17(4), 446-459.

Wong, I. A. (2013). Exploring customer equity and the role of service experience in the casino service encounter. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 32, 91-101.

Zhou, L., Ye, S., Pearce, P. L., & Wu, M. Y. (2014). Refreshing hotel satisfaction studies by reconfiguring customer review data. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 38, 1-10.