Impact of Covid 19 on Customer Satisfaction and Retention in UK Hospitality Industry: A Study on Sheraton Hotel

This research proposal aims to identify the impact of Covid 19 on customer satisfaction and retention in UK hospitality industry, with a focus on Sheraton Hotel. The study will explore the concept of customer satisfaction and retention, the impact of Covid 19 on customer satisfaction and retention within Sheraton Hotel, and the ways and measures used by Sheraton Hotel in improving customer satisfaction and retention during Covid 19.

LT6P19GN: Research Methods and Project
ASSESSMENT COVER SHEET
PROGRAMME TITLE: BA (Hons) Hospitality Management (Top Up)
MODULE TITLE: Research Methods and Projects
MODULE CODE:
INTAKE/SEMESTER:
ASSESSMENT TITLE: Research Project Proposal
MODULE LEADER/LECTURER
STUDENT ID: (London Met)
STUDENT ID:
STUDENT NAME:
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 019
I declare that all material in this assignment is my own work except where there is clear
acknowledgement or reference to the work of others and I have complied and agreed to the
College statement on Plagiarism and Academic Integrity on the College Student Handbook
provided at Induction.
Signed: Date:
Word Count:
Assignment Submission Guidance:
Students should provide a completed assignment cover sheet with all essential details. All assignments
should be submitted in electronic format via college systems on or before the submission deadline. The
e-submission system will not allow late submissions. By submitting this assignment and cover sheet
electronically, in whatever form, you are deemed to have made the declaration set out above.
1 | P a g e 4
ResearchProposal (HM Top-Up)- Autumn2021

LT6P19GN: Research Methods and Project
Research Topic/ Research Question:
To identify the impact of Covid 19 on customer satisfaction and retention on UK hospitality industry.
1. INTRODUCTION.
Research Background:
In recent era it is very important for the company to satisfy their customer in greater manner as it helps
in increasing the customer retention rate of the organisation. Customer satisfaction can be defined as
the measurement tool which helps the organisation to identify how happy the buyer is with the product
and service avail by them. On the other hand customer retention is the company ability to turn their
buyers into repeated purchaser for the company (Mehta, Kumar and Ramkumar, 2021). During the
time of Covid 19 it becomes very difficult for the organisation to retain their buyers and satisfy them in
large manner. For identify the impact of Covid 19 on customer satisfaction and retention the chosen
organisation is Sheraton hotel. The hotel is the semi luxury hotel chain of Marriott international. It was
founded in the year 1937 and it’s headquarter is in White plains, United states.
Aims & Objectives
Aim:
To identify the impact of Covid 19 on customer satisfaction and retention in Hospitality industry: A
study on Sheraton hotel.
Objectives:
 To understand the concept of customer satisfaction and retention within hospitality industry
 To identify the impact of Covid 19 on customer satisfaction and retention within Sheraton hotel.
 To discern the ways and measure used by Sheraton hotel in improving the customer satisfaction
and retention during Covid 19.
Research Questions:
I. What is the concept of customer satisfaction and retention within hospitality industry?
II. What is the impact of Covid 19 on customer satisfaction and retention within Sheraton hotel?
III. What are the ways and measure used by Sheraton hotel in improving the customer satisfaction
and retention during Covid 19?
Research Hypotheses:
H0 (Null hypothesis): There is no impact of Covid 19 on customer retention and satisfaction within
hospitality industry.
H1 (Alternative hypothesis): There is a direct impact of Covid 19 on customer retention and satisfaction
2 | P a g e 4
ResearchProposal (HM Top-Up)- Autumn2021

LT6P19GN: Research Methods and Project
within hospitality industry.
Research Rationale:
The major purpose to conduct the present research is to identify the impact of global pandemic on
customer satisfaction and retention with hospitality industry. This resort will cover the challenges faced
by the hotel to manage their customer as well as the measures adopted to mitigate the problem faced at
the time of Covid 19. Through this research various advantages can be acquired by the researchers
which are personal and professional. In respect to the personal benefit investigator will understand the
concepts of customer satisfaction and retention and the problem faced by the hospitality industry at the
time of Covid 19 pandemic (Kostromitina and et. al, 2021). This research will also let them know about
the tool and methods that they can use to carry out investigation in systematic manner. On the other
hand, with respect to the professional objective, investigator will learn about the ways and measures
that could be adopted by them to retain their customer and increase their satisfaction level. This would
help them to build their sound professional career. Thus, the current investigation will gather in depth
information about the topic and attaining their objective in effective and efficient manner (Wang, Ma
and Yu, 2021).
Scope of Research Study:
The present study will be carried out with the accumulation of quantitative data. With the help of
numerical information researcher try to border the scope of the study by including the appropriate
number of participants to gather information (Mohammed, Mohammed and Rhima, 2021). Therefore,
the scope of the investigation is limited because it does not include the whole participants of the
selected organisation. The scope is limited due to depends upon 30 employees of Sheraton hotel,
London.
2. LITERATURE REVIEW:
Introduction
This is the most important chapter of the research which contain the previous information about the
study. This section help the investigator too answer their research question in appropriate manner so
that aim and objective can be attained accurately. The information which is obtained in this is
collected from various secondary sources such as books, journal, magazine, online site and many
more.
What is the concept of customer satisfaction and retention within hospitality industry?
As per the view of Filimonau, Derqui, and Matute (2020), customer satisfaction and retention are the
two vital aspects for the organisation in order to gain customer base. Customer satisfaction is the
3 | P a g e 4
ResearchProposal (HM Top-Up)- Autumn2021

LT6P19GN: Research Methods and Project
measurement approach used by the company to know how happy the customer is by receiving the
service provides by the hotel. On the other hand customer retention is the ability of the hotel to hold
their guest for longer time by turning them the repeated buyers of the organisation. In the hospitality
industry it is very crucial to satisfy their buyers as it helps them to increase the retention rate for their
hotel.
What is the impact of Covid 19 on customer satisfaction and retention within Sheraton hotel?
According to the view of Bonfanti, Vigolo and Yfantidou (2021), the period of Covid 19 was worst
for many hotels as the tourist are banned to travel from one place to another. There was negative
impact of Covid 19 on customer satisfaction and retention for Sheraton hotel. The negative impact
was created at hotel because customer at that time feels unsafe will going out and booking a trip. The
legal authority of the various nations has put so much restriction that it effect the customer satisfaction
level of the Sheraton.
What are the ways and measure used by Sheraton hotel in improving the customer satisfaction and
retention during Covid 19?
As per the view Pillai, and et. al (2021), it becomes very necessary for Sheraton hotel to implements
some measure in order to improve customer satisfaction level at the time of Covid 19 pandemic. The
foremost way that they used is using booking window to book and reserve the customer service
through online mode. The second strategy that they used to satisfy their customer at the time of
pandemic is using different payment mode so that minimum physical interaction can be made
between the two.
Conclusion
From the above gathered data it is being concluded that at the time of Covid 19 pandemic the
hospitality industry has being impacted in negative way. For them retaining their customer and
satisfying their needs and wants become difficult. To increase the customer satisfaction and retention
the hotel has adopted various measures.
METHODOLOGY
Use Saunders’s research onion framework to develop an effective academic research methodology
Research methodology is the section which identifies, analyse and interpret the data as per the
research topic in systematic manner. There are some stages of research methodology which is
discussed below:
Research philosophy: It is divided into two forms which are positivism and interpretivism. In the
current investigation, researcher will choose positivism philosophy as it helps in accumulating and
analysing quantitative information in generalised manner (Phakiti and et. al, 2018).
Research approach: There are two types of research approach which includes deductive and
4 | P a g e 4
ResearchProposal (HM Top-Up)- Autumn2021

LT6P19GN: Research Methods and Project
inductive approach. In present research deductive approach will be choosing as it will test existing
theories with numerical information. It will also evaluate statistical and mathematical information in
order to accept and reject the hypothesis.
Research strategy: in the current investigation to provide path to the thoughts and idea of the
researcher, survey research strategy will be used. This is because it will helps in assembling data from
the large respondent in less cost and time (Acharyya and Bhattacharya, 2019).
Research choice: Quantitative and qualitative are the two research choice. In the current research,
investigator will be choosing quantitative research methodology. The reason is it will gather and
analyse numerical information which is easier to collect and analyse.
Data collection: There are two types of data collection method which are primary and secondary data
collection method. In the current investigation both primary and secondary data will be used. Primary
data is collected using questionnaire whereas secondary data is gathered using books, journal, articles,
website and many more (Seehawer, 2018).
Sampling: It is of two kinds that are probability and non-probability sampling. Investigator will be
selecting probability sampling so that every respondent can get equal chance of being selected in the
study. The sample size selected by the researcher is 30 employees of Sheraton hotel (Staron, 2020).
CONCLUSION
From the above collected data it is being summarised that Covid 19 has negatively impacted the
customer satisfaction and retention within the hospitality industry. There are various challenges faced
by the hotel such as poor supply management, risk of being infected and many more.
WORK PLANNING
(Gantt Chart, PERT Chart). Presentation of the actual Chart
5 | P a g e 4
ResearchProposal (HM Top-Up)- Autumn2021

LT6P19GN: Research Methods and Project
REFRENCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY
Acharyya, R. and Bhattacharya, N. eds., 2019. Research methodology for social sciences. Taylor &
Francis.
Bonfanti, A., Vigolo, V. and Yfantidou, G., 2021. The impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on customer
experience design: The hotel managers’ perspective. International Journal of Hospitality
Management. 94. p.102871.
Filimonau, V., Derqui, B. and Matute, J., 2020. The COVID-19 pandemic and organisational
commitment of senior hotel managers. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 91.
p.102659.
Kostromitina, M., and et. al, 2021. “His lack of a mask ruined everything.” Restaurant customer
satisfaction during the COVID-19 outbreak: An analysis of Yelp review texts and star-
ratings. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 98. p.103048.
Mehta, M.P., Kumar, G. and Ramkumar, M., 2021. Customer expectations in the hotel industry
during the COVID-19 pandemic: a global perspective using sentiment analysis. Tourism
Recreation Research. pp.1-18.
Mohammed, H.J., Mohammed, Q.A. and Rhima, M.H., 2021. Measurement and evaluation the impact
of perceived healthcare service quality on guest loyalty during COVID-19. International
Journal of Human Rights in Healthcare.
Phakiti, A., and et. al, 2018. The Palgrave handbook of applied linguistics research methodology (pp.
423-457). London, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Pillai, S.G., and et. al, 2021. COVID-19 and hospitality 5.0: Redefining hospitality
6 | P a g e 4
ResearchProposal (HM Top-Up)- Autumn2021

LT6P19GN: Research Methods and Project
operations. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 94. p.102869.
Seehawer, M.K., 2018. Decolonising research in a Sub-Saharan African context: exploring Ubuntu as
a foundation for research methodology, ethics and agenda. International Journal of Social
Research Methodology. 21(4). pp.453-466.
Staron, M., 2020. Action Research as Research Methodology in Software Engineering. In Action
Research in Software Engineering (pp. 15-36). Springer, Cham.
Wang, K.Y., Ma, M.L. and Yu, J., 2021. Understanding the perceived satisfaction and revisiting
intentions of lodgers in a restricted service scenario: evidence from the hotel industry in
quarantine. Service Business. 15(2). pp.335-368.
7 | P a g e 4
ResearchProposal (HM Top-Up)- Autumn2021