marketing resort hotel in mauritius

8/7/2019 Marketing Resort Hotel In Mauritius

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Market Research on Customer Satisfaction Gold Beach Resort

Chapter 1

INTRODUCTION

The main aim in marketing and as marketers is definitely to build relatively strong

relationships with customers based on the fact that we should provide quality to our

customers and thus satisfying them. The final aim is a satisfied customer and the route

towards this is to provide quality either in service or product. To achieve this, it is

essential for marketers to know their main tool. Quality basically begins from the

customer needs and wants concluding on satisfaction.

For example when a customer is choosing a hotel to spend his vacation or holidays, s/he

looks for one which affordable according to his means and also that the chosen hotel can

offer quality, which will determine the level of satisfaction of guests. The notion of

quality is different from one and other and this aspect furthermore complicates the work

of marketers. Other factors like past experience of a customer will perceive quality.

1.1 The Problem Statement

Though Gold Beach is a small resort, it is always filled up with customers coming from

different countries such as France, Reunion, Germany and South Africa and also

including a large number of Mauritian people. The hotel is mainly appreciated by

tourists because of the very good facilities and services it provides. So this gives rise to

repeat visits.

The sole problem is that the hotel is a small one. There are too many customers whomake reservation at Gold Beach and in addition there are lots of walk-ins. Most of the

time, those who walk in are the loyal customers who have been staying in the hotel

before and it comprise mostly of the Mauritian. This problem mainly crops up because

after their first visit at Gold Beach, many guests want to choose the same hotel for their

accommodation.

Bsc(Hons) Tourism and Hospitality Management 1




Very often the management of the hotel has to face difficult situation with these people

who cannot be accommodated in the hotel. Thus, customers who like to repeat visits at

Gold Beach Resort get frustrated and even angry in such situations. As a result, to deal

with the problem, the management makes arrangements to shift them to other 3 star

hotels found in the surrounding until there are check outs from Gold Beach. The hotels

are Pearl Beach Hotel, Manisa Hotel and Klondyke Hotel. The fact that both Gold Crest

Hotel and Gold Nest hotel belong to the Bhunjun Group, the guests are also given the

choice to shift to those hotels upon their level of acceptance.

It is the process of being shifted that makes customers frustrated. Most of them do not

derive the satisfaction which they acquire from the Gold Beach hotel.

1.2 Objectives of Study

To determine whether customers are satisfied when they are shifted to other hotels

because of limited rooms

To examine if customers have encountered any particular problem to the hotel

they were shifted.

To know about the hotels which guests did not appreciate and therefore stop

sending guests to that hotel

To anticipate whether customers shall consider Gold Beach Resort for their next

booking after been shifted to other hotels.

To know the perception of customers regarding the expansion of the hotel.





1.3 The Organisation’s Profile - The Gold Beach Resort

The Gold Beach Resort is one among the hotels which started to operate some three years

ago. This hotel is classified as a three star one since it is quite a small one. Though it is

classified as such, the resort accommodates enough amount of customers and it is known

to be always full. The hotel is situated on the western coastal village of Flic-en-Flac,

Wolmar. It is well located as it overlooks a beautiful white sandy beach and a wonderful

blue lagoon. The hotel consists of 31 rooms, including 15 double room cottages, 5 family

cottages and 11 standard rooms. These rooms are categorized according to the different

rooms they face. Some rooms face the amazing blue lagoon while others are situated inthe flourished garden. However, the rates of rooms differ according to its position.

Moreover, the rooms are equipped with facilities like television, air conditioning,

individual safe, telephone, toilet, bathroom along with its shower, hair dryer and other

amenities like shampoo, soap and so on. In addition, the hotel puts tea and coffee

facilities at customers’ disposition in their rooms. As the Gold Beach Hotel is small, it

has only one restaurant compared to other hotels. The restaurant has a seating capacity of

100 people. Food is served to customers on a half board basis, i.e. breakfast and dinner.

Breakfast time starts as from 06.00 to 10.00 and dinner starts as from 19.00 to 22.30. The

chef proposes a wide choice of cuisines such as European, Italian, Indian, Creole and

Chinese to satisfy the tastes of all customers.

Furthermore, the hotel provides various interesting services and facilities to maximise

customer satisfaction. Some services are payable, while other are free. When we talk of

chargeable services, these include excursion in cruises, deep sea fishing, diving in blue

safari scooter and a trip in the blue safari submarine. On the other hand the free facilities

involve glass bottom trips, which is done twice a week. A fitness centre is also available

for customers. A 24-hour laundry service, indoor games and night entertainment also

form part of the hotel activities.





1.4 Outline of Study

Chapter 1 is about the introduction, profile of organization, problem statementand objective of the study.

Chapter 2 discusses the literature review based on customer satisfaction,

marketing mix, marketing strategy, marketing tool and promotional strategy.

Chapter 3 deals with the methodology part

Chapter 4 is the analysis of our research work

Chapter 5 concludes the whole work and discusses the recommendations that

could be put forward based on the analysis made.





Chapter 2

LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Customer Satisfaction

Customer satisfaction can be defined as “the extent to which a product’s perceived

performances match a buyer’s expectation”. Satisfaction can be defined as an attitude like

judgment following a purchase act or series of consumer product interaction. Customer

satisfaction depends on a product’s perceived performance in delivering value relative to

a buyer’s expectation. Normally, when a buyer purchases a product and later finds that

what he expected from it is not the same, this leads to the dissatisfaction of the customer.

If ever the performance exceeds what was expected, hen there is customer satisfaction.

However, satisfied customers are those who repeat purchase and who even make other

people aware about the goods. If experiences are good, people will be interested to buy

goods in that particular firm.

Customer satisfaction became very popular in marketing and strategic thinking through

the whole world. The main objective of marketing has been to secure customer satisfaction and this is a factor that plays a great role not only in the tourism and

hospitality management, but also in any type of companies. However, the management

of any company tends to do the maximum to satisfy its customers. Researchers have

found that normally, satisfied customers are loyal and the loyal customers are profitable.

However, in order to ensure that there is customer satisfaction, the organization has to lay

emphasis on the development of service quality and ensure that customers are really

happy with the services received after the purchase of the product. There are various

places where customer satisfaction plays a great role and these deals with banks, the

tourism and hospitality industry; that is the travel agencies, hotels, restaurants and so on.

Normally, it is the hospitality industry, which attracts the largest number of customers

and also the repeated guests, thus providing them with the best personal treatments.





However, what customers want in a hotel is one that provides excellent services and

products as far as nice food, good rooms at reasonable prices are concerned. Above all

these, what customers expect are a good attitude on behalf of the employees of the hotel.

Customer expectation involves a warm welcome from service providers, helpful and

sensitive employees who are bound to be respectful and not being treated abruptly, rudely

and indifferently. As for people who walk in, they are the ones who want to be well

treated as very often, they are not accepted in hotels due to the fact that there are no

vacant rooms. This creates frustration among the customers. Thus the management of

the hotel must deal with these customers in a very positive manner and try to solve their

problems by finding solutions for not making them get frustrated. Hence the appropriate

verbal skills are very important to be adopted by the service providers. The other skills

involve body language, good communication skills, facial expressions, proper grooming,

friendly approach and tone of voice. All these factors form part of customer expectation

along with the service provided to them. It a hospitality industry can provide all these to

its customers, it is obvious that there will be customer satisfaction and these will give rise

to a great amount of loyal customers to the hotel. On the other hand, the hotel will gain a

good reputation through guests who will talk to other people about the services and

products being provided by the hospitality operation. Hence, the number of customers

will increase and this will be very profitable to hotels.

Hence, highly satisfied customers make repeat purchasers and are fewer prices sensitive.

Customer satisfaction lies in the foundation of true loyalty. Having the right portfolio of

customer segments, attracting the right customers, tiring the service and delivering high

levels of satisfaction are a solid foundation of customer loyalty. The main job is to listen

to customer’s needs and issues and tries to address them with the key focus of retaining

the customers.

2.2 Managing Service Quality

One way for firms to differentiate itself to its competitors is through the service that it

provides to its customers. Many companies have found it necessary and advantageous to





provide and deliver outstanding service quality because it increase sales and maximize

profits as well.

Every customer before going to any company, firm or associations, do have some

expectations. People now believe that we should get value for money. Value for money

does not only mean a good product but a good service also. For a company to make good

sales, it should exceed the customers, service quality expectations. When we get a good

service, whether it is in terms of good service delivery, good welcome or even effective

communication with the service provider, the customer will tend to become a loyal

customer that is they will not hesitate to come back again.

“Service quality is harder to define and judge than product quality”.

Firms use two basic strategies to compete. One is to be a low cost provider of a particular

service and to focus on price competition while the other strategy is to focus on quality

and try to differentiate your service from those offered by your competitors. Firms that

are able to obtain high –quality images are able to charge higher prices.

Service quality is a perception resulting from attitude formed by customers’ long-term,

overall evaluations of performance. Maintaining high-quality service in the hospitality

and travel industry is difficult because of the variability in service delivery.

If one employee provides service that is below standard or fails to satisfy the customer, a

negative experience could result. Therefore it is important to understand the entire

process of service delivery that leads to consumer





2.3 Benefits of Service Quality

Customer retention

High quality will build loyal customer and create positive word of mouth. It is important

factor as far as purchase decision is concerned. It determines customer satisfaction which

affects repeat business and word of mouth. It has been shown that it costs four to six

times as much to create a customer as it does to maintain an existing one. It is more easier

and profitable to deal with existing customers because they already know what the hotel

is providing, they have faith in the hotel, they feel confident that they will get exactly

what to expect and may also feel reassured that the hotel is reliable.

Satisfied customers will spread recommendation by word of mouth. On average a

satisfied client will tell five others while an unsatisfied customer will tell ten or more

people. It is just to balance positive word of mouth with negative word of mouth; two or

more customers must leave feeling good about the service for every person who feels the

quality of service is poor.

Avoidance of price competition

In order to avoid price competition and help to maximize potential revenue high quality

service is important. A travel agent with a good quality service will be in a much

stronger competitive position than one with a reputation of poor quality. The travel agent

with a good image can count on positive word of mouth and repeat customer to bring in

new business. The customer with a poor reputation will get a fair share of repeat

customer and will receive more negative word of mouth. Therefore travel agent in that

situation will offer price discounting and other means.

However hospitality companies fail to concentrate on what the customer really want so

by differentiating products in this industry is sometimes as easy as simply asking guests

what they really want.





Retention of good employees

People like to work in businesses that produces quality products and they do not like to

receive customers complains. Absenteeism, turnover, and loss of employee morale are

listed as costs of poor quality. If there is good quality service then this will retain good

employees, recruitments become easy and training cost is reduced.

Reduction in costs

Costs associated with quality include internal and external costs and quality systems

costs. Internal costs are those associated with correcting problems discovering by the

firms before the product reach the customer whereas external cost are associated with

errors that customers experiences. They can be expensive when the customer decides not

to return because of service problem. A high quality service system does not come with

costs. These costs can be viewed as investments in the future of the company and help to

ensure that customer returns. Internal costs neither add nor detract from customer

satisfaction. They are simply money down drain. External costs associated with errors

are often high. A firm can go to any extent to maintain the goodwill of a customer who

received poor quality product.

2.4 Marketing mix

The marketing mix approach to marketing is a model of implementing marketing

strategies. It stresses the blending of various factors in such a way that both

organizational and consumer objectives are attained

When blending the mix elements, it is important for marketers to consider their target

market. They must understand the wants and needs of the market customer and then use

these mix elements in constructing and formulating an appropriate marketing strategies

and plans that will satisfy these wants. The mix must also meet or exceed the objectives

of the organization. When building a marketing program to fit the needs of his firm, the

marketing manager has to weigh the behavioral forces and then juggle marketing


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elements in his mix with a keen eye on the resources with which he has to work.(Borden,

Normally a separate marketing mix is usually crafted for each product offering or for

each market segment, depending on the organizational structure of the firm. To develop a

marketing mix we need two sets of information; a list of important elements that go intothe mix, and a list of forces that influence these decision variables.

The most common variables used in constructing a marketing mix are price, promotion,

product and distribution. They are sometimes referred to as the four P's. Marketers have

essentially these four variables to use when crafting a marketing strategy and writing a

marketing plan. In the long term, all four of the mix variables can be changed, but in the

short term it is difficult to modify the product or the distribution channel. Therefore in the

short term, marketers are limited to working with only half their tool kit. This limitation

underscores the importance of long term strategic planning.

The four P's which looks at marketing from the perspective of the marketer describes

what variables marketers have to work with, and hence is sometimes referred to as a

marketing management perspective. Each of these variables should also be seen from a

consumer's perspective. This transformation is accomplished by converting Product into

"customer solution", Price into "cost to the customer", Place into "convenience", and

Promotion into "communication". Hence the four P’s can also be called the four C's.

Shortly the four P's were developed another model with twelve decision variables was

defined. They were product planning, pricing, branding, channels of distribution,

personal selling, advertising, promotions, packaging, display, servicing, physical

handling, and fact finding.

More recently, Bernard Booms and Mary Bitner built a model consisting of seven P's. In

addition to product, price, promotion, and place, they included people, physical evidence,

and process. "People" was added, to recognize the importance of the human element in

all aspects of marketing. They added "process" to reflect the fact that services, unlike

physical products, are experienced as a process at the time that they are purchased.

"Physical evidence" or "peripheral clues" reflects the physical surroundings associated

with a service encounter or retail location. Other marketing theorists include "partners" as

a mix variable because of the growing importance of collaborative channel relationships.

The marketing mix model is often expanded to include sub-mixes. For example, the


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promotion variable can be further decomposed into a promotional mix consisting of

advertising, sales promotion, personal selling, publicity, direct marketing, undercover

marketing, viral marketing, and e-marketing. Within the promotional mix, advertising can

be further broken down into an "advertising media mix" that specifies how much

emphasis is placed on television ads, radio ads, newspaper ads, internet ads, magazine

ads, etc.

Mix dynamics refers to how the mix must be adapted to a changing business environment,

to changes in the organization's resources, and to changes in the product life cycle.

In the hotel industry many professional marketers are confused or frustrated because they

are not getting the results they desire. Often, it's due to an inappropriate marketing mix.

Therefore it's essential to do research which must begin with the customers, both

prospective and existing. This customer research should be the first element of any

marketing mix and cannot be ignored.

2.5 Marketing strategy

A marketing strategy serves as the foundation of a marketing plan especially in the hotel

industry. A marketing plan contains a list of specific actions required to successfully

implement a specific marketing strategy. An example of marketing strategy is that a hotel

may use promotional rates to attract consumers. Once the organization, via the low cost

product, has established a relationship with consumers, it will sell additional, higher-

margin products and services that enhance the consumer's interaction with the low-cost

product or service.

A strategy is different than a tactic. While it is possible to write a tactical marketing plan

without a sound, well-considered strategy, it is not recommended. Without a sound

marketing strategy, a marketing plan has no foundation. Marketing strategies serve as the

fundamental underpinning of marketing plans designed to reach marketing objectives. It

is important that these objectives have measurable results.

A good marketing strategy must integrate an organization's marketing goals, policies, and

tactics. The objective of a marketing strategy is to provide a foundation from which a


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tactical plan is developed. This allows the organization to carry out its mission effectively

and efficiently.

There are different types of marketing strategies. Every marketing strategy is unique, but

if we abstract from the individualizing details, each can be reduced into a genericmarketing strategy. There are a number of ways of categorizing these generic strategies.

A brief description of the most common categorizing schemes is market dominance,

Innovation strategies, Growth strategies, aggressiveness strategies and warfare based

strategies.

2.6 Promotional Strategy

Promotion can be defined as the process of informing existing customers about a firm’s

product. It is often defined as marketing communication and the promotional activities

can be divided into four broad categories, namely advertising, direct marketing, personal

selling and public relation.

However, in almost all companies, once all the objectives have been defined, it is very

important to devise the strategies in order to achieve them. There are two types of promotional strategies and these are the push strategy and the pull strategy. There is a

difference between these two strategies. Firstly, when we talk of the push strategy, it

deals with “pushing” the product by distributing them through different channels to the

customers. Distribution is done through personal selling, which takes place through

personal communication in an exchange situation between the sellers and the potential

buyers. Personal selling is effective when buyers’ interests are aroused and are interested

to spare time to listen and respond.

Secondly, the pull strategy deals with “pulling” the customers towards the products.

However this is done through advertising in order to inform and convince customers as

well as the large public about the product and their benefits. Thus, if this strategy is

effective, that is if the ad really attracts customers, the latter will themselves feel

interested to purchase the product.


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Chapter 3

METHODOLOGY

This part of the project consists of how we have collected data, mainly from primary

sources. From the existing research methods we have decided to use the Survey Research

method and we will use the Questionnaire as our main instrument to gather our primary

data. We are going to administer the questionnaires personally to most of the respondents

as this contact method is known to be the best one in terms of time and cost. However

some customers will be contacted through telephone. Moreover, compared to telephone

and mail, personal administration of the questionnaire is better when we consider

interviewer’s bias, opinion probing, response rate, identification of the respondent or the

element of trust between the interviewer and the respondent. The questionnaires will be

given to the respondents by us and given a delay of about one hour to answer the

questions. They may write the maximum answers for the open ended questions.

Afterwards we shall analyse the open ended answers and assemble wordings which are

similar. For those who will be interviewed by telephone, we will make all our possible to

receive proper answers and we will use telephone skills taught in our Business

Communication Module in the first semester of our course. We have chosen to administer forty questionnaires, forty being the sample designed.

3.1 Sampling Frame

The sample, being a segment of the population selected for the research to represent the

population as a whole, is 35 respondents where 20 questionnaires will be allocated to

tourists and the remaining 15 to the Mauritians. As the hotel has 31 rooms (5 Family, 11

standard and 15 double rooms), we assume that it can accommodate around 70 customers

at one time. Since its three years of operation, the hotel has accommodated numerous

customers of different nationalities, namely Mauritian, South Africans, Germans and

customers from Reunion Island. So our target population is those customers who have





been shifted during their stay during these two years. Actually, it is very difficult for us to

interview those foreign customers who have already consumed the services of the hotel

and left, so our sample will consist of mainly the customers who are actually at the hotel

and who have experienced shifting from Gold Beach to some other hotel and of those

Mauritians who have been the customers of the hotel previously; we will contact them

through telephone.

3.2 The Sampling Plan

While designing our sample, we have taken into consideration the decisions required to

design the sample, namely who is to be surveyed (what sampling unit), how many people

are to be surveyed (what sample size) and how should the people in the sample be chosen

(what sampling procedure). Moreover, the type of sampling that will be implemented is

the Convenience Sampling which is a Non-Probability sampling method. A convenience

sample is one where the researcher selects the easiest population members from which to

obtain information. To relate this definition to our research, I would say that we have

chosen the easy route to interview our sample that is the people who are at the hotel for

the moment and Mauritians who had ever spent their vacations at the hotel. It will bemost convenient to us to interview these people.

3.3 The Research Instrument

In collecting data, marketing researchers have a choice of two main research instruments

– the questionnaire and mechanical devices. We have chosen the questionnaire because it

is the most common and the most reliable for our survey. Moreover, it is very flexible

that is many types of questions can be asked. The questionnaire that will be used for this

survey has been designed with lots of research and after doing a pre-test to check the

clarity and structure of the questions.





3.4 Questionnaire Design

The questionnaire is based on a 16 model questions, where questions are asked to obtain

the desired information. During the preparation of this questionnaire, considerable

amount of time was spent upon deciding what questions to ask, the form of questions,

wording and also ordering of questions. For this survey, much emphasis has been laid

upon simplicity and straight forwardness questions so that it is easily understood by

respondents. Moreover the questionnaire consists of only 16 precise questions so that

respondents do not feel bored to death while filling the questionnaire.

A checklist of relevant questions was prepared and each question was checked

scrupulously to see that it contributes to the research objectives.

It is important to ask the right questions to get the information that will benefit the

research. So each question needs to be worthwhile. Several rules had to be followed when

designing our questionnaire to suit our needs. They are:

• We always kept our survey concise and understandable.

We had to be certain to make the questions comprehensible to various types of

tourists. Long, drawn-out questions lead only to confusion. Confusing questions

breed confusing answers.

• We were direct when asking questions about our subject.

All the questions were easy to understand and direct.

• We made sure that our questions could be answered easily.

We don't want to stump the respondents and get an "I don't know" answer. We

tried to follow up YES and NO answers with a WHY?





• We avoided offending anyone.

People become sensitive when asked questions about income, age, occupation,race and sex. We think we should only include these questions if they are

absolutely relevant.

• We did not lie about the intention of the questionnaire.

We told them it's a survey about customer satisfaction. Otherwise, we won't get

the customers real opinions.

• We did not answer the questions for them.

Prompting people for answers will only provide us with our own answers.

• We provided enough time for the respondents to give us an answer, and let them

finish what they are saying.

• We read back to them what they answered to be sure of accuracy. It is

important to understand everything they said.

• We did not react negatively to any answers.

If we were upset by the answers, we did not show it.

• We never forget to be courteous.

We always remembered that they are doing us a favour by filling the

questionnaire

The questionnaire consists of both closed-ended and open-ended questions. Closed-

ended questions would include all the possible answers and the respondents would be

required to make a choice among them. Closed-ended questions exist in a variety of





format, from which a few shall be used for the purpose of our survey. We shall therefore

make use of Dichotomous which offers only 2 answer choice, multiple choice questions

offering three or more choice and likert scale where there is a scale which rates some

attributes from ‘poor’ to ‘excellent’.

On the other hand, open-ended questions allow respondents to answer in their own words

and this type of questions is more helpful and favorable at times and also that respondents

are not limited in their answers.

3.5 Covering Letter

The term covering letter is the British term for what is known as "cover letters" stateside.

A cover letter will accompany our survey questionnaire on the top of the first page. The

well written covering letter will highlight selective aspects of our background which best

suits the respondents and moreover it will command the reader's attention. It stimulates

interest in the respondent as well as reflects and purpose of the study.

Content of the covering letter

Our covering letter will include only one paragraph because we do not want to bore the

guests with much reading. The paragraph states the purpose of the survey and

explains with whom we are conducting it. It was also stated on the covering letter

that they may rest assured that all the information collected would be used in strict

confidentiality and only for the purpose of the study. On our part we will tell the

customers the objectives why we are doing this job and we can also explain how

we intend to help them and contribute to the organization.

3.6 Explanation of each question

When preparing the questionnaire great care was taken in the wording of questions as

they should be simple, direct and unbiased wording. We tried to avoid difficult and much





personal questions the so the customers of Gold Beach Resort do not feel offensive. The

most important part is that it is essential to have a constant flow of the questions.

The 1st question is a multiple choice one, offering a wide number of choices. It looks at

the perspectives of the customer about their decision making process of choosing Gold

Beach Resort as destination. A variety of choice is provided in a grid and the respondent

has to tick the corresponding one. It also provides an approach where to target its

customers in the future and whether the hotel has to re consider its marketing campaign,

whether to increase it or keep it on the same trend.

Question 2 states the number of times that guests have ever been to Gold Beach Resort.

This questionnaire shall not be applicable to first time guests at the hotel. It considers

customers who have been at Gold Beach at least once in the past and they must have

experienced some shift to other hotels due to lack of room upon their next visit. This

question will also analyse the fact about the customers which Gold Beach can retain.

Question 3 is a multiple choice one where the respondents will need to tick the hotel/s

which they were shifted in the past. This part of the questionnaire will help to keep a

record about the various hotels where things may not seem to work well for the

customers of Gold Beach.

Question 4 is based on a likert rating scale question where the respondent has to encircle

their degree of acceptance measured by a four point scale from poor service to excellent

service that they view at the hotel they were shifted. This will enable the management to

know the level of satisfaction that the guests experienced by consumer the variety of

services. If the questionnaire sum up with poor service, Gold Beach need no longer shift

its customers to those particular hotels which were poorly rated.

Question 5 is a dichotomous question which indicates whether the shifting to the other

hotel has disrupted their holidays. So the respondents need to tick in the Yes or No box.





Question 6 & 7 is the continuity of question 5, where the respondent has to justify his/her

reason concerning the disruption. If the shift has disturbed his/her holiday, s/he shall give

the reason behind which affected him/her the most and therefore skip question 6.

If the answer is No, question 7 must be skipped and the respondent shall justify what

made his/her stay enjoyable to the hotel s/he was shifted.

From question 8, we will get to know what the customer prefers the most at Gold Beach

Resort when compared to the hotel, s/he was shifted. In other words, the management

will be able to acknowledge the positive aspects of his establishment and will therefore

know if there will continue to have customer retention.

Question 9 measures the reaction of customers of Gold Beach Resort when they call the

hotel for a reservation and they are told that it is house-full for that particular period.

Since reaction will vary from people to people, it will be measured on a liker scale where

some may be comprehensible, comprehensible and frustrated and frustrated . So from

this question we will get the degree of frustrated guests when they get to know that they

cannot be accommodated because of full capacity.

Question 10 examines whether there will be customer retention where they may both

postpone their booking and come to Gold Beach at a time when they can be

accommodated or whether they will look for another hotel. If more and more of its

customers seek to choose other hotels, the management and shareholders of Gold Beach

have to immediately look into the matter, look a remedy and sort out the problem as fast

as possible.

Question 11 studies the perception of guests concerning the expansion of the hotel and

whether it will lead to customer satisfaction.

Question 12 addresses the issue if whether the customers would continue to come to Gold

Beach Resort if it were to expand to another location. By answering by either Yes or No,

they must further support their answer in question number 13. In other words, they will





have to state why they will or will not come to Gold Beach Resort if it moves to another

location. Based on this answer the management can hence decide the next action.

The last three questions are based on whether there is mouth to mouth communication to

encourage or discourage other friends and relatives to stay at Gold Beach. If the guests

are likely to encourage more and more people to come, they have to state why and skip

question number 16. On the other hand if they want to discourage people from coming,

they are even asked to state the motive behind and skip question number 15.

Quantitative and Qualitative Data

We also designed the questionnaire so as to gather both quantitative and qualitative data.

The quantitative data will be tabulated, presented by pie charts or bar charts and further

analysed in the analysis and diccussion chapter. As for the qualitative data, there will be

obtained grom the open ended questions and they will be analysed in the analysis and

discussion chapter.

A copy of the questionnaire is found in the Appendix.

3.7 Pre testing

Before the questionnaires were made available to respondents, a pilot test was done

within a restricted sample of friends and after that we were informed about a few

corrections. As a result certain phrases were re formulated and amendments were also

made with the ordering of the questions.

Some modifications were as follows:

Question 1 In the previous questionnaire, there was only a multiple choice of only 5

answers where advertising was not explicit. So afterwards it was further elaborated and

consisted of internet advertisement, mass media and brochures in order to obtain precise

information





Previously the questionnaire consisted of more than 16 questions and it took our friends

more time to fill the questionnaire. So some of the questions were reformulated and

shortened. For example previously these two questions were present in the questionnaire.

2. Have you ever been to Gold Beach Resort previously?

Yes No

3. If yes, how many times?

In the new questionnaire both questions have been merged and Question 2 is as follows:

How many times have you ever been to Gold Beach?

Previously question 12 was too lengthy and also ambiguous.

It was set as:

Do you think that if Gold Beach Resort moves to another location, you would continue to

consider the same hotel for your stay?

Later it was reformulated as:

Would you come to Gold Beach Resort if it were to expand to another location?

3.8 Data Collection

We had to go to Gold Beach Resort in the evening so as we could meet everyone guests

to distribute our questionnaires. Of course we required the help of the Night Manager

because it was easy for him to identify the guests who ever had some shifts to other

hotels and also to correspond to our study. We gave them a delay of about one hour to





fill the questionnaires so that we don’t disrupt them. They could fill it during their free

time or when they were sitting at tables for their dinner.

On the other hand, the survey which was done by telephone to the local people took us a

few days to reach every one. We made use of secondary data to get the phones numbers

and shared it among our team.

3.9 Data Analysis

The data collected during the survey will be analysed in respect to the level of customer

satisfaction. All data have been computed in percentage and mean. Afterwards they

were represented by pie charts and bar charts. This was computed in the Excel

Spreadsheet. Questions that consist of pie charts and bar charts have been split into three

parts like the tourists’ point of view, Mauritian point of view and on overall. Some parts

of the questions were analysed thoroughly from these views mentioned while other were

based on the overall concept only.

3.10 Interview with Management

First of all, we had an indirect contact with the management of the hotel. One of our team

member’s relative is acquainted to an employee, the store manager precisely, and thus we

could establish a contact with the management. Then we took appointment with the

marketing manager of the hotel, with whom we had the interview. The face to face

interview was a successful one in the sense that we could get all the answers we were

looking for and we could then identify our objectives. The management proposed a

solution that they are working on, and this point will be further discussed in this report.The interview will be illustrated below by a set of questions and answers that were

discussed. However, the wordings are not identical, but the main idea behind the

discussion is maintained.





3.11 Limitations of Study and Problems Encountered

When performing the survey, we have encountered some problems with the respondents.

The customers were not readily available during the day to meet them all because most of

them went for sight seeing and shopping. So we had to go to the hotel again in the

evening so that we could come into contact with everyone. A few customers were not

willing to participate. They refused to fill it and said that they did not have time to spend

on such a survey because they believed that it was time consuming.

Some people failed to understand the questions since they were in English. This became

a problem as there were potential respondents but they could not fill the surveys as they

did not understand English. Though the questions are quite straight forward enough for

anyone to fill but yet we encountered the language problem. It was not possible for us to

translate each question for the respondents because customers did not have enough time

to spare for us. It was more important for them to enjoy the atmosphere at the hotel.

Some questionnaires were left unfilled after it was distributed to tourists. Although they

accepted to fill the questionnaires, they did not respond to all the questions and also

comprised of two answers, where only one was required. Questionnaires which

comprised of two answers and those which were not filled completely were not taken into

consideration. The questions were left mainly because the respondents didn’t understand

the questions as they were in a hurry.

We had to make use of telephone as a means of communication tool to conduct our

survey in order to conduct the Mauritian people who had resided at Gold Beach.

Although they were chosen at random, it was quite difficult to get into contact with them

because in most of the week days we were in the university premises, hence unable to

phone them. Even when we called them from home, we got some after several attempts

because they were not readily available during the time we called them. So after major

difficulties we were able to conduct our survey with the fifteen Mauritian people.





Chapter 4

ANALYSIS & DISCUSSIONS

4.1 Analysis of Management Interview

The management interview was done in order to identify any problem at the Gold Beach

Hotel. Actually we formulated our question so that the respondent would not feel

awkward or resented to answer our questions. The first two questions dealt with an

overview about the hotel and the results have been used to construct the chapter on

company profile. The third question dealt with whether there was an increase in number

of customers and the response shows that the number of customers has indeed increased

but there are fluctuations at some times. It was then asked whether the hotel is facing any

problems while catering for its customers. The answer was negative. As we saw that the

hotel was a quite a small one, we asked whether the hotel is planning for expansion. Here

the manager revealed that the hotel is under expansion plan as there is lack of rooms and

customers are shifted to other hotels during high demands. Then we treated this as a

problem and even if the manager tried to hide facts, we could get the information we

required. The manager said that no survey has been done till now to know about the

seriousness of the problem. So we proposed to carry out a survey where we will

formulate objectives and questions so that we can get the answers we were requiring. We

were then allowed to carry out the survey, given that the information should remain

confidential.





4.2 Analysis & Discussion from Charts

1. Why did you choose Gold Beach Resort for your destination?

Fig 1.1 Tourists

Fig 1.2 Mauritian

Question 1- Tourist point of view

Fig 1.3 Overall


34%

33%

21%

9%

0%

0%

3%

Location

Price

Friends & Relatives

Travel Agents

Mass Media

Brochures

Internet

44.40%

11.10%

22.20%

16.70%

5.60%

0%

0% Location

Price

Friends/Relatives

Travel Agents

Brochures

Internet

Mass Media

60%20%

20%

0%

0%

0%

0% Price

Location

Friends & Relatives

Travel Agent

Internet

Mass Media

Brochures




About 44.4% of tourists have mostly chosen Gold Beach Resort once again or more than

twice because of its location as it overlooks a beautiful white sandy beach and a most

amazing blue lagoon. So location forms part among the main factors which tourists

consider before booking a hotel.

Very few tourists have based themselves on pricing strategy for choosing Gold Beach.

Since they are coming to enjoy their holidays, they also bring foreign currency along with

them. So hotel rates and price do not seem to affect the arrival of tourists to the hotel.

Only 11.1% of tourists have chosen the hotel due to its price. It may be that those tourists

come from countries where cost of living is high. So they choose 3 star hotels where

price is relatively lower than 4 and 5 star hotels.

22.2% of the customers have been to Gold Beach due to recommendation from friends

and relatives. The services at the hotels must have surely met their expectations and in

turn they recommended their close friends and relatives to that hotel to enjoy customer

satisfaction.

Recommendation from travel agents has been relatively low with only 16.7%. It may be

that travel agents have not promoted the hotel well enough in foreign countries or that

tourists may have not been interested to contact travel agents prior to their visits.

Only 5.6% of tourists have chosen brochures as a tool to go to Gold Beach. It indicates

very poor results and it may be because brochures are not in the proper hands of tourism

promotion authorities.

Internet and mass media has not influenced anyone to choose the hotel. This is because

the hotel may not have done any advertisement through mass media. As a result it cannot

expect tourists to come through mass media advertisement. On the other hand, tourists in

other countries may not have gone through the net to get an idea about the advertisement

of the hotel.





Mauritian

60% of Mauritian people have chosen the hotel because of its price factor. The hotel has

a special rate for Mauritian. Thus most of them have gone there because of the cheaper

price that Gold Beach offers. There is also a promotional basis where retained customers

get discount on their future visits especially the off peak season.

For Mauritian, location is not a major issue because they do not tend to go to hotels to

enjoy the sea and sun since many of them can have access to different public beaches. So

they choose hotels only as a means for relaxation. Only 20% have gone there because of

its location. Perhaps they these people have found the hotel situated in an extremely ideal

place.

Good mouth of mouth communication from local people indicates about 20%. In other

words it is a good indication because there is increase in the number of local people and

during the off peak period, the hotel will be at full capacity.

In Mauritius, Travel agents, internet, brochure and mass media has not seemed to

influence local people to visit hotels at all.

Overall

On overall location and price have been the major factors which have mostly influenced

customers to continuously visit Gold Beach Resort. They consist of 33.3% each.

Recommendation from friends and relatives follows with 21.2% which indicates quite a

good sign about customer satisfaction from the hotel. Arrival of tourists due to travel

agents and brochures has been relatively poor with 9.1% and 3.1% consequently. So

location and its price have been a determining factor to motivate customers to come to

Gold Beach Resort.





2. How many times have you ever been to Gold Beach?

Fig 2.1 Tourists

Fig 2.2 Mauritian

Fig 2.3 Overall


61%

28%

11%

Once

2 - 3 times

> 3 times

33.30%40.00%

26.70%

Once

2-3 times

More than 3

49%

33%

18%

Once

2 to 3

> 3




Question 2- Overall

In general taking foreign and local into consideration, most of the customers of Gold

Beach have ever been to the hotel once and it is represented by 49%. It shows that the

hotel has been able to retain most of its customers. There exists a small gap between

customers who have already been to the hotel once and between those who have been

there two to three times. It is shown by 33%. It is even amazing to find that there is

18% of customers who have been there more than three times in the short span of time

the hotel has been in operation. So it is encouraging for the management since there has

been many repeat visits.





3. Which hotel were you shifted to during your current or previous visit due to lack

of room?

Fig 3.1 Tourists

Fig 3.2 Mauritian

Fig 3.3 Overall


22.20%

38.90%

27.80%

0%

11.10%

Pearl Beach

Klondyke

Manisa

Gold Crest

Gold Nest

6.70%

20%

40.00%

33%

0%

Gold Nest Hotel

Klondyke Hotel

Manisa Hotel

Pearl Beach Hotel

Gold Crest Hotel

27.40%

30.30%

3.00%

6.00%

33.30%

Pearl Beach

Klondyke

Manisa

Gold Crest

Gold Nest




Question 3

Overall

At times of house full both local and foreign customers were shifted to other hotels.

From our chosen sample of 33 people, most of them comprising of 33.3% were shifted to

Manisa Hotel. Some 30.3% were shifted to Klondyke Hotel and 27.4%were shifted to

the next door one, namely Pearl Beach Hotel. These were classified according to hotels

more or less similar to Gold Beach Resort. However, a few were sent to Gold Crest

Hotel and Gold Nest Hotel all depending upon their choice and it was consecutively as

3% and 6%. In other words these two hotels were not required by customers since they

are more business and city hotels.





4. How did you perceive the services offered in other hotels?

Fig 4.1

Fig 4.2

Fig 4.3


Question 4

1.83 1.78

2.17

1.11

2.38

0

2

1.5

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

R e s t a

u r a n t

B a r

R o o m

s e r v i c e

L a u n

d r y

F r o n t O

f f i c e

S p a

L e i s u

r e

O t h

e r s

Services

M e a n R a t i n

g o n

l i k e r t s c a l e

Question 4

1.91.73 1.73

2.3 2.26

0

2.53

1.66

00.5

1

1.52

2.53

R e s t a

u r a n t

B a r

R o o m

s e r v i c e

L a u n

d r y

F

r o n t

O f f i

c e S p

a

L e i s u

r e

O t h

e r s

Services

M e a n R a t i n g o n


1.891.75

1.97

1.67

2.33

0

2.24

1.56

0

0.5

1

1.5

2

2.5

R e s t a

u r a n t

B a r

R o o m

s e r v i c e

L a u n

d r y

F r o n t O

f f i c e

S p a

L e i s u

r e

O t h

e r s

Services

M e a n R a t i n g o n





Question 4

Tourists, Mauritian and Overall

This question shall analyse the perceptions of the services offered in the other hotels

viewed by the local and tourists. While calculating the mean score for the thirty three

questionnaires we have found that the result is more or less around 2. In other words

level of customer satisfaction in other hotels experienced by tourists has been only up to

2.38 which is quite near to average service. They have also experienced very poor

service from the laundry which provides a mean of 1.11%. The rest including bar,

restaurant, room service, leisure and others tend to vary between a mean of 1.5 to 2.17

which again gives a view that no service was been good or excellent.

On the other tendency has been a bit different with the Mauritian stay in the other hotels.

Their liking to Leisure has been approximate to good with a mean of 2.5. Rest

everything was rated as average service.

In overall maximum satisfaction of customers has been in the front office department of

the various hotels with a mean of 2.33. This is so because all hotels must have a very

good front office since it is the very first contact with customers. So most of them have

liked the behaviour provided the receptionists. There has been no great change among

the other services offered by other hotels. Most are them are based on a general analysis

of poor to average.





5. Did the shifting to the other hotel disrupt your holiday?

Fig 5.1 Tourists

Fig 5.2 Mauritian

Fig 5.3 Overall


77.80%

22.80%

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

Yes No

Yes

No

66.70%

33.30%

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

Yes No

Yes

No

72.70%

27.30%

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

1

Options

% R

e s p o n s e

Yes

No




Question 5 – 7


Both tourists and local people have found that the shifting to other hotels have disrupted

their holidays while a few seemed to have enjoyed their holidays when they were shifted.

This is shown by a general view at the chart where 72.7% of respondents have stated that

their holiday has been disrupted. Several reasons were stated in the questionnaires and

they are as follows in the hotels where the customers spent a day or a few days prior to

their stay at Gold Beach.

For instance, the customers of Gold Beach were disrupted at Manisa hotel because there

was no sea view from the hotel. The beach was quite far and they had to pass through the

public beach to go for sun bathing. Some were not at ease on the beach because they

were surrounded by many other people. They did not have the same privacy which was

available at Gold Beach. Manisa hotel was also located on the main road. This upset

certain customers due to noise pollution from cars and a nearby pub. The change of

atmosphere seemed to be quite uncomfortable to them.

At Klondyke hotel, the customers were quite uncomfortable because the sea facing the

hotel is not suitable for swimming due to no coral beach. In other words there is no

lagoon there. They also made complaint that the price charged by that hotel was

relatively higher to a great extent compared to Gold Beach. It was also noted that the

service was different.

Although Pearl Beach hotel is located beside Gold Beach Resort, customers were not

completely satisfied with its service. Most of the respondents who were shifted to Pearl

Beach stated that the rooms of that hotel were not well maintained and it was limited in

terms of space. The rooms were not well designed and this was the main negative aspect

for the next door hotel. The services offered were also found to be slightly different.

Very few customers were shifted to Gold Crest and Gold Nest hotel because they are

business hotels and do not meet the requirements of these types of tourists. However





those who were shifted there were offered very cheap rate until they were again sent to

Gold Beach resort. They found it boring since there was lack of entertainment in those

hotels and also there limited choice of cuisines.

On the other hand, 27.3% of respondents revealed that their stay was enjoyable to the

other hotels they were shifted. This is so because those who were at Pearl Beach almost

enjoyed the same sea and beach. Some others have enjoyed the change of atmosphere

because they consumed new services. However this data represents a low proportion of

tourists since the majority of them have been disrupted. The main problem deals mainly

with the customers whose holidays have been disrupted.

Question 8

Overall

In this question, respondents were asked about the things that they mostly preferred at

Gold Beach compared to the hotels they were shifted. Many of them have qualified that

the present location of Gold Beach Resort is the most ideal place because the atmosphere

is very good and also peaceful. Professional staffs form part of the team of the hotel and

that the staffs are very friendly.

Furthermore, the rooms face the stunning west coast beach and are also nestled among

flourished gardens. The restaurant serves meal in a cozy atmosphere facing the beach

where the chef proposes European, Italian, Indian, Local and Chinese cuisine to satisfy

all tastes. They also view the price charged as excellent.

The customers have wholly appreciated the calm lagoon facing the beach





9. What would be your reaction if you are calling at Gold Beach Resort for a

reservation and you are told that it is house-full for that particular period?

6.1 Tourists

6.2 Mauritian

6.3 Overall


6%

66%

28%Comprehensible

Comprehensible &

Frustrated

Frustrated

33.30%

46.70%

20%

Comprehensible

Comprehensible &

Frustrated

Frustrated

18%

58%

24% Comprehensible

Comprehensible

& Frustrated

Frustrated




Question 9

Tourists

Further to the analysis of the results obtained from the questionnaires, we can see that a

large percentage (66%) of the tourists were both comprehensible and frustrated. This

means that these tourists can understand that the hotel is small and this type of problem

can happen. Nevertheless, they are frustrated in the sense that they had to pack their

luggage and move to some other hotel where perhaps they were not very satisfied about

the services offered, the location that the hotel is situated or perhaps the treatment of the

staff. Some 28% were completely frustrated and this may be perhaps because of the

location of the secondary hotel, the staff or the services offered and it is quite obvious

perhaps because every time they come to the hotel they had been shifted, and this is

really frustrating to pack again and move to a new atmosphere. Only 6% were completely

comprehensible and perhaps they fully understand the problem at the hotel and perhaps

because of the good service provided to them, the location of the hotel or the treatment of

the staff, they were quite satisfied and understood that they were being given an

opportunity to visit a new atmosphere.

Mauritian

Again for the Mauritian group also, we got a high percentage (46.7%) of respondents

who opted for “Comprehensible & Frustrated” option, as perhaps they were frustrated

because they had chosen a specific location for the facilities available such as near beach

or other services unique at Gold Beach Resort and they were comprehensible in the sense

that they could understand the problem and also got the opportunity to savour the delights

of some other hotel which perhaps they would never visit by themselves.33% of the

Mauritian sample opted for “Comprehensible” as perhaps they are a loyal client to the

hotel and also they got the opportunity to visit new atmospheres with different services

which made them to live a new experience. 20% of the sample were fully frustrated

perhaps because they wanted to spend all their time in the surroundings of Gold Beach or

they didn’t like the other hotel at all and their holiday was spoilt.





Overall

The overall 33 questionnaires revealed 58% of the sample who opted for

“Comprehensible & Frustrated” and this means that they were quite satisfied by the hotel

and they could understand that it was a limitation for the hotel to provide accommodation

for their complete stay. However, we have 24% who opted for complete frustration and

this means that many do not agree with the fact that they are shifted to another hotel

when they booked at Gold Beach. Finally 18% of the overall sample agreed to be

comprehensible, so we see that most of them are frustrated because of the shifting and

this might act negatively on the hotel in the near future if nothing is being done.





10. Would you either postpone your booking to Gold Beach or prefer to look for

another hotel?

Fig 7.1 Tourists

Fig 7.2 Mauritian

Fig 7.3 Overall


55.60%

44.40%

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

Postpone booking Look for another

hotel

Postpone booking

Look for another hotel

40%

60%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Postpone Booking Look for another hotel

Postpone Booking

Look for another hotel

51.50%

48.50%

47.00%47.50%48.00%48.50%49.00%49.50%50.00%

50.50%51.00%51.50%52.00%

Postpone Look for

another hotel

% R

e s p o n

s e

Postpone

Look for another

hotel




Question 10

Tourists

The results from this question show clearly that a large percentage of tourists (56.60%),

more than half of the sample opted to postpone their booking at Gold Beach. This means

that the tourists like the hotel and they are ready to come at a later time. On the other

hand, 44.4% opted to choose another hotel for their accommodation. This can be because

of various reasons. Perhaps the tourists have their holidays on fixed date and they cannot

postpone their stay or they want to experience another hotel or even that they want to

change location and go to the other parts of the island, perhaps in the east, north or even

south.

Mauritian

Most of the Mauritian sample opted to look for another hotel (60%) as perhaps they are in

their motherland and have the choice from many places. Moreover, most Mauritians

cannot postpone their stay as their holidays are normally not long so they have to look for

another hotel. but it there was not the problem of the lack of rooms, most Mauritian s

would have chosen this hotel because of its calm location and for its price. 40% of the

sample opted to postpone their stay, because perhaps these are retired, housewives or

people who own their own business and are their own bosses. Perhaps they are very

acquainted to the hotel, that’s why they are ready to postpone their booking.

Overall

The overall result shows a very negative result for the hotel. More than half of the overall

sample (51.5%) opted to look for another hotel, thus if rooms are not available at Gold

Beach, gradually the hotel will perform its own de-marketing and thus lose most of its

loyal customers. The problem should be acted upon quickly else the hotel will face huge

losses in the near future. Only 48.5% of the sample opted to postpone their booking to

Gold Beach. If we compare the two results, we can see that there is not much difference





between the figures. So we can see that the rate opting to postpone their booking is not

too low, thus if management acts upon the problem of rooms quickly, the hotel will not

have such problem and its loyal customers may remain loyal.





11. Do you think that expansion of Gold Beach Resort will be a solution leading

to customer satisfaction?

Fig 8.1 Tourists

Fig 8.2 Mauritian

Fig 8.3 Overall

Question 11


100%

0%0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Yes No

Yes

No

86.70%

13.30%

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

100.00%

Yes No

Yes

No

94%

6%

0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Options

% R

e s p o n s e

YesNo




Question 11


The tourist sample opted to expand the hotel (100%) thus enabling more people to be

accommodated and no shifting of customers in the future. This means that they want to

be at Gold Beach again and without being disturbed in their stay. Thus, expanding the

hotel will certainly bring about more satisfaction to them. On the other hand, the

Mauritian sample also opted for expansion of Gold Beach (86.7%), so that perhaps they

can stay at the hotel in larger numbers or for more days without being disturbed or shifted

to some other hotel. On the whole, 94% opted to expand the hotel and the 6% were

against, perhaps because they were quite satisfied by the actual service and also that they

got the opportunity to explore another atmosphere





12. Would you come to Gold beach if it were to expand to another location?

Fig 9.1 Tourists

Fig 9.2 Mauritian


5.60%

94.40%

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

100.00%

Yes No

Yes

No

66.70%

33.30%

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

Yes No

Yes

No

81.80%

18.20%

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

1

Options

% R

e s p o n s e

Yes

No




Fig 9.3 Overall

Question 12

Tourists

The tourist sample opted to still come at Gold Beach if it were to expand at some other

location (94.4%), perhaps because many of them did not choose the hotel for its location,

but rather for its service, price or other characteristics. They still want to come at the

hotel to savour the same services and almost the same atmosphere. So, if tourists are so

reluctant to come back at Gold Beach, management should think about it.

Mauritian

Here again, we see a high percentage of the sample who opted to still come on expansion

at another location (66.7%), which means that the locals also, similar to tourists, want to

savour the services of Gold Beach, even if it were to expand at some other location.

Again, with such high percentage of the sample willing for expansion, the hotel should

cater for it if wants to survive among fierce competition today.

Overall

An overall percentage of 81.8% of the sample opted to still come on expansion of the

hotel at some other location and 18.2% opted not to come perhaps because they like the

location of the hotel and they fear that the new location will not create the atmosphere

present now, also perhaps if it is not in Flic en Flac, they will not find themselves at ease,

for example if it is posted in the east where there is a lack of infrastructure and also no

night life outside the hotel.





Question 13

Analysis for Tourists, Mauritians and overall

The question 13 was a bit tricky in the sense that whatever is being answered in the

previous question, a justification must be given. So even if they answered “Yes” or “No”,

they had to answer this one. Many among both the tourists and locals answered that they

would return to Gold Beach even it were to expand at another location and they praised

the level of service, the friendly staff, they also said that the price was affordable, there

will be more rooms and there will be no shifting from one hotel to another, it will be a

new feeling, as a whole they said that they agree to expand the hotel at some other location, given that the current standards of the hotel remains the same or upgraded if

possible. For those who answered negatively, they said that they think that there is a

problem at the management level that is why there has been shifting and perhaps other

types of problem will crop up at the other location, others said that they chose Gold

Beach for its location, so if the location is changed, they will no longer remain repeat

patrons. So we see that even if the hotel is being expanded at another location, there will

still be a considerable amount of repeat visits even there, given that the standards of the

hotel are kept constant or upgraded.





14. Would you recommend Gold Beach Resort to your friends/relatives?

Fig 10.1 Tourists

Fig 10.2 Mauritian

Fig 10.3 Overall


88.90%

11.10%

0.00%

10.00%

20.00%

30.00%

40.00%

50.00%

60.00%

70.00%

80.00%

90.00%

100.00%

Yes No

Yes

No

100%

0%0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

Yes No

Yes

No

6%

94%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

1

% R

e s p o n

s e

Yes

No




Question 14

Tourists, Mauritian and overall

Positive response for this question by the tourists gave a percentage of 88.9% and a

negative response of 11.1%. This means that the tourists like Gold Beach that is why they

will recommend it to their friends and relatives. The 11.1% negative response shows that

some tourists did not like the shifting from Gold Beach to another hotel, thus they are not

going to recommend the hotel to their friends and relatives. As for Mauritians, there was

a 100% positive response, and we believe that it is due to the competitive price the hotel

offers, the friendliness of the staff, and the good level of service. So the Mauritian marketis a promising one for the hotel. On the overall, we see a positive response of 94%, which

means that Gold Beach is really appreciated by its customers and many would

recommend the hotel to their close ones. Thus it will be a reduced cost for the marketing

department. As for the 6% negative response, it is without doubt that it is because of the

shifting from the hotel to other hotels, the customers are a bit disappointed and thus there

will be no recommendation from their part. But they can prove to be a de-marketing

agent and be harmful to the image of the hotel, so we believe that management should

take immediate action about the shifting problem.

Question 15 & 16

Tourists, Mauritian and overall

Again this is a tricky question where respondents had to justify their answer. Those who

answered positively for the previous question gave answers like that they like the hotel,

they enjoyed their stay, the price is affordable, it was a good experience, the level of

service is good, they had a nice time and they felt quite relaxed. For those who answered

negatively they gave these types of answers why they would discourage their friends and

relatives to come to Gold Beach; they said that the limited rooms is the largest problem,





they did not like their stay as they were disturbed, they had to pack their luggage again

and some said that the hotel should change location. So we see that the largest problem is

the shifting from Gold Beach to another hotel. Thus management should look into this

matter immediately.





Chapter 5

Conclusion & Recommendations

Further to the analyses of the data in the last chapter, we have been able to come to

certain conclusions. We have analysed each and every question so that we can make

recommendations to management to alleviate the problem of lack of rooms and shifting

of customers to other hotels. Referring to our objectives of the study, we have designed a

questionnaire such that all the questions relate to the objectives, and we have been

successful to gather information about how to overcome the present problem at Gold

Beach.

Moreover, in respect to the responses we received from the survey, we could conclude

that the Gold Beach Hotel is indeed suffering from the problem of lack of rooms and the

level of satisfaction is decreasing as long as the customers are being shifted. There are

many reasons because they are frustrated, for example some dislike the fact that they

have to pack their luggage once again to move to the new hotel, some were resentful

about the new location or the atmosphere of the new hotel. Some didn’t find the staff asfriendly as the staff at Gold Beach. Many complained because they were shifted to a city

hotel when they booked in a resort. We also assessed whether the customers, being repeat

visitors, will look for another hotel or will decide to postpone their booking so that they

come to Gold Beach itself. Many answered that they would look for another hotel, but a

larger percentage opted to postpone their booking to the hotel itself. This means that

these customers are quite satisfied with the hotel, only that the shifting from Gold Beach

to some other hotel disrupts them. Finally, the questions in the end of the questionnaire

dealt with whether the customers will return to Gold Beach if it were to expand at some

other location and whether it would lead to customer satisfaction. A large percentage of

the respondents said that they will return to Gold Beach even if it were to be expanded to

some other location and this would indeed lead to their satisfaction.





Furthermore, many agreed that they would recommend the hotel to their friends and

relatives and this shows that there is a considerable amount of customer satisfaction, even

if the hotel shifts its customers. However, there are some respondents who frankly

disclosed that they are not going to come back to Gold Beach hotel. In addition to this,

they also said that they are going to discourage their friends and relatives to come to the

hotel. This means that this will play against the hotel and further potential customers of

the hotel will be lost, which in turn means a loss of revenue in the future.

Further to the overall results and the discussions, there are some recommendations we

can make to the hotel. First of all, the hotel’s main problem can be tackled by expanding

the number of rooms. But, as a matter of fact, the area where the hotel is situated is very

compact. So, the hotel cannot be expanded on the land where the actual hotel premises

are found. So we can either expand at some other location and we noticed that many

respondents agree that this step is taken. However, we researched around the location and

we found that there was a plot of land just beside the hotel. It is a residential plot of land

where there is an old owner (90 years old) and she is the sole owner of that land. We

recommend that the hotel can make arrangements with the owner of that land and the

new premises can be bought to expand the hotel. Thus the new premises will be just

beside and there will be no change of location, thus the customers will be better satisfied.

Moreover, if the land owner agrees to sell the land to the hotel owner, and the hotel

decides to expand just besides, the marketing of the new premises should be started right

away as the shifting caused quite de-marketing of the hotel. Thus, an early marketing

through travel agents, brochures, internet, and mass media is recommended.

Finally, the hotel can thus target new markets like the European or Asian market as it can

accommodate more customers and it must be able to control the number of bookings so

that there will be no more shifting to other hotels, and most important to keep the

standard or even to rise the level of service at the hotel.





Reference:

• Hayes. J, Dredge F. (1998) Managing customer service, ISBN 056608005 2

• Kotler P, Bowen. J, and Makens. J (2003) Marketing for Hospitality and

Tourism, 3rd edition, Prentice Hall: New Jersey

• Kotler. P, Armstrong G. (1996) Principles of Marketing, 7 th edition. Prentice Hall

of India. Private Ltd

Internet websites:

• http://en.wikipedia.org

• http://marketingteacher.com


http://en.wikipedia.org/

http://marketingteacher.com/

http://en.wikipedia.org/

http://marketingteacher.com/

marketing resort hotel in mauritius

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