Improving Glenmore Hotel’s Services and Facilities

The report focuses on the problem areas of the hotels and tries to discover the possible reasons for customer dissatisfaction. The hotel plans to expand its business outside Scotland and hence it has to improve its customer ratings. The ratings for Glenmore have dipped for the last three years and have gone below industry standards. The report focuses on the steps that need to be taken for improving the hotel’s facilities and services to increase customer ratings.

Running head: IMPROVING GLENMORE HOTEL’S SERVICES AND FACILTIES
Improving Glenmore Hotel’s Services and Facilities
Name of the University
Name of the Student
Author Note

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IMPROVING GLENMORE HOTEL’S SERVICES AND FACILITIES
Executive Summary
The prime objective of this report is to analyze the weaknesses of Glenmore Hotels, the budget
hotels chain based in Scotland. The report focuses on the problem areas of the hotels and tries to
discover the possible reasons for customer dissatisfaction. The hotel plans to expand its business
outside Scotland and hence it has to improve its customer ratings. The ratings for Glenmore have
dipped for the last three years and have gone below industry standards. The report focuses on the
steps that need to be taken for improving the hotel’s facilities and services to increase customer
ratings. After due investigation of the complaints, it has been noticed that the hotel needs
improvement in areas of cleanliness, comfort, room services and facilities, staff behavior and
food services. The report takes a chronological approach to analyze the problems and
recommend changes or improvements. It concludes with an overall summary of the problems
analyzed and steps suggested.

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Table of Contents
Executive Summary.........................................................................................................................1
Introduction......................................................................................................................................3
Glenmore Hotels’ performance compared to other budget hotels...................................................3
Analysis Section 1...........................................................................................................................3
Analysis Section 2...........................................................................................................................4
Analysis Section 3...........................................................................................................................5
Analysis Section 4...........................................................................................................................6
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................7
Recommendation.............................................................................................................................7
References:......................................................................................................................................9
Appendix........................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Operating as a chain of budget hotels in Scotland, United Kingdom, Glenmore Hotels
plan to expand to other cities of UK. However, in the last three years, the hotels’ ratings have
dropped below industry standards owing to poor customer reviews. The chief areas of concern
are hotel cleanliness, comfort, room facilities, staff attitude and food services (Appendix A). It
has to be remembered that the hotels have great opportunity to start afresh and improve ratings
before expanding to other parts of UK.
Glenmore Hotels’ performance compared to other budget hotels
Glenmore Hotels are the three star budget hotels that have established a good reputation
within Scotland and looks to expand business across UK. In this regard, the hotel management
must consider the current positioning of all budget hotels in the UK and their own position.
According to the current positioning, Glenmore Hotels have a customer satisfaction score of
57%, which is quite below what it initially had (Appendix B). The hotel stands at the seventh
position behind other four and five starred hotels. To run a hotel or chain of hotels, customer
satisfaction has to be the top priority in the business.
Analysis Section 1
The first major concern for Glenmore is the comfort of the customers. After looking at
the fact sheet on Customer Satisfaction and Complaints, it can be seen that majority of customers
had complains regarding comfortable bed and shower in rooms. Most customers complained of
shabby rooms, dirty bath, and inadequate towels and so on. Glenmore being a budget hotel
cannot afford to install luxurious facilities but it can do better within its limit. People traveling to

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places with limited money often opt for budget hotels that provide accommodation and food at
cheaper rates than luxury hotels. However, customers do expect minimum level of comfort and
cleanliness from these hotels (Huang, Liu and Hsu 2014).
To improve on this aspect, Glenmore Hotels can look for some basic changes like changing or
replacing old bed linens with new ones and incorporating unique designs to attract customers
(Lockyer 2013). In place of patterned linens, beds could have solid-colored linens or even white
duvets as white gives a feeling of cleanliness and comfort. In case of comfortable showers, the
hotel management must make sure that they install cheap yet comfortable shower without
worrying too much about the tub. Budget hotels in recent times have pumped up their services
above average to meet growing competitive demands. This largely includes installation of power
showers and king-size comfortable beds (Theguardian.com 2017).
Installing state-of-the-art showers and king-size beds might cost heavily for the
management and they might have to overlook other aspects of customer satisfaction. However, it
is better to look after the most favored and opted facilities and services that would ensure
increased customer satisfaction (Xu and Li 2016).
Analysis Section 2
Hotel rooms are the most important part to a customer looking to have a comfortable
stay. It has been observed that customers who opt for a stay at a budget hotel expect clean rooms
even if it has limited facilities. It is thus apparent that Glenmore Hotels must pay attention to the
minutest details that ensures clean rooms. One basic thing to do is to replace the old monotonous
color of the walls with natural tones or pale pastels. In addition, the thin-papered walls must be
mended to have a strong and tight look that makes customers feel relaxed. Apart from the walls,

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the ceiling and flooring too has to be up to the mark. To achieve perfection in these areas, hotel
authorities can hold surveys from customers when they check out (Peng, Zhao and Mattila 2015).
In doing this, the hotel authorities could have authentic and credible feedbacks and suggestions
that could be utilized to better the cleanliness aspect.
When customers book a hotel and come to stay for a day or more, the first thing they do
after entering the room, is to take shower. Now, to an exhausted customer, the shower gives a
relaxing feel. Nonetheless, if the shower room has filthy curtains, worn out walls and dirty tubs
or basins, the customer’s experience might be that of opposite. In a study conducted by Li and
Law (2013), it was found that customers looking for a stay at budget hotels give top most priority
to clean bedrooms and showers. Glenmore Hotels although had a good record of cleanliness, it
has deteriorated in the last three years.
The hotel authorities have to scrutinize the possible reasons for the poor customer ratings
and take stern steps against those responsible. This might result in the surfacing of human
resource management issues, as the authorities might have to sack some employees.
Analysis Section 3
The third issue concerning customer satisfaction at Glenmore Hotels is the food services.
Although, it is given minimum importance by the customers, it does play an important role in
attracting customer satisfaction. According to the fact sheet, 28 out of 100 customers give
prominence to food and food services (Appendix A). It must be mentioned that the data given in
the fact sheet is not the official publication of Glenmore Hotels nor does it belong to other
official source. Hence, it would be wrong to presuppose the outcome of the reviews in case of
food services and over think on this issue. However, for budget hotels like Glenmore, it is

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essential to cover most areas that concern positive customer feedbacks. Moreover, since
Glenmore is planning to expand to other parts of UK, strategies must be made to cater to the
taste of all the prospective customers while offering food. In addition, the staff can also offer
complimentary breakfast or evening tea for the customers to enhance hotel performance (Liat,
Mansori and Huei 2014).
Offering quality food might put a strain the budget of the hotel and hence it has to be
planned as per the affordability of the hotels. Keeping in mind the expansion of Glenmore
Hotels, expending in food services must be done carefully to make sure that it does not consume
too much space in the budget. Khoo-Lattimore and Yunus (2016) argue that the growing race for
reaching and holding the top position and attract more customers amongst chain of economy
hotels have resulted in enhanced services and facilities.
Analysis Section 4
The fourth and most important part for Glenmore Hotels to consider is the staff attitude.
It is imperative for all types of hotels to make sure their staff shows good attitude towards the
customers (Mohsin and Lengler 2015). To budget hotels in particular, with limited budget to
spend on quality services and facilities, it is imperative to have a staff that displays quality
behavior. The staff has a key role in assuring customer loyalty and positive feedbacks and
ratings. Glenmore Hotels, in the past few years have had to face reduced ratings for staff attitude.
While looking at some of the reviews given by customers, majority of them have complaints
regarding staff behavior or absence of staff (Appendix C). It cannot be taken as a general
overview since the reviews are not verified by any credible source. However, it is Glenmore’s

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responsibility to give due emphasis to this aspect and take action against those who do not fulfill
their responsibilities properly.
In addition to taking action, the authorities have to plan a proper training for the staff to
ensure positive reviews in future. N. Torres and Kline (2013) have outlined certain points
regarding the association of customer satisfaction to staff behavior. they state that demonstrating
professional, warmth and caring attitude towards customers play significant role in acquiring
positive customer reviews. Further, they point out that the top hotel officials must provide proper
training to the staff to attract positive reviews from customers. In case of Glenmore Hotels, it
becomes even more important to focus on staff performance as they are planning to expand their
business to other UK cities.
Conclusion
It thus can be deduced from the above discussion that Glenmore Hotels have to cover
many impending tasks before they decide to move beyond Scotland. The report focuses mainly
on the four areas that need immediate attention- cleanliness, comfort, food services and staff
behavior. In order to improve on these areas, suggestions have also been outlined. Glenmore
must investigate the reasons that led to the reduced customer ratings in the last three years.
Recommendation
Some recommendations can be made to Glenmore Hotel authorities that could help in
improving their customer satisfaction scores. These may include:
 Replacing old worn out and dirty bed linens with new, fresh and unique ones

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 Hiring staff that have advanced knowledge on maintaining cleanliness on regular basis
without straining hotel expenditure
 Renovating rooms on regular basis, mending worn out thin-papered walls and replacing
old cushions
 Ensuring placement of clean curtains in shower rooms, bath tub and wash basin has to be
regularly cleaned as well
 Training hotel staff on how to improve relationship with customers through polite and
caring behavior
 Offering complimentary breakfast or evening tea to attract positive reviews

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References:
Huang, S., Liu, Z. and Hsu, C.H., 2014. Customer experiences with economy hotels in china:
evidence from mystery guests. Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 23(3), pp.266-
293.
Khoo-Lattimore, C. and Yunus, M., 2016. Can budget hotels provide quality service? An
analysis of e-complaints on low-cost accommodation in malaysia. Journal of Travel & Tourism
Research.
Li, H., Ye, Q. and Law, R., 2013. Determinants of customer satisfaction in the hotel industry: an
application of online review analysis. Asia Pacific Journal of Tourism Research, 18(7), pp.784-
802.
Liat, C.B., Mansori, S. and Huei, C.T., 2014. The associations between service quality, corporate
image, customer satisfaction, and loyalty: Evidence from the Malaysian hotel industry. Journal
of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 23(3), pp.314-326.
Lockyer, T., 2013. The international hotel industry: Sustainable management. Routledge.
Mohsin, A. and Lengler, J., 2015. Service experience through the eyes of budget hotel guests: do
factors of importance influence performance dimensions?. Journal of Hospitality and Tourism
Management, 23, pp.23-34.
N. Torres, E. and Kline, S., 2013. From customer satisfaction to customer delight: Creating a
new standard of service for the hotel industry. International Journal of Contemporary
Hospitality Management, 25(5), pp.642-659.

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Peng, J., Zhao, X. and Mattila, A.S., 2015. Improving service management in budget
hotels. International journal of hospitality management, 49, pp.139-148.
Theguardian.com (2017). Great bed and power shower: is this really a budget hotel?. [online]
the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/business/2017/may/13/budget-hotel-
chain-business-travel-premier-inn-travelodge [Accessed 3 Dec. 2017].
Xu, X. and Li, Y., 2016. The antecedents of customer satisfaction and dissatisfaction toward
various types of hotels: A text mining approach. International Journal of Hospitality
Management, 55, pp.57-69.
Appendix
A.
Facility/ Service % of
totalcomplaint
s
Customer
satisfaction rating
from checkout
survey
Level of
importance
to the customer
when booking
Cleanliness of the roomand shower
room
12% 3 out of 5 65/100
Comfortable shower and bed 18% 2 out of 5 60/100
Quietness 4% 4 out of 5 43/100
Room facilities 4% 3 out of 5 28/100
Politeness and responsiveness of staff 9% 1 out of 5 27/100
Layout of the room / interior design /
Homey environment
8% 3 out of 5 18/100

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Advice on local area (tourism, food,
traffic, navigation)
5% 1 out of 5 27/100
Enjoyment of the local region 12% 4 out of 5 58/100
Food and Food Services 15% 2 out of 5 28/100
Comfortable shower and Comfortable
shower and
Comfortable shower
and
Comfortable
shower and
Other 2% 3 out of 5 1/100
B.
The top six hotels customer satisfaction score:
Q hotels 4 star hotels 78%
Radisson Blu Edwardian 4 star hotels 77%
Premier Inn 3 star hotels 76%
Sofitel 5 Star Hotels 74%
Doubletree by Hilton 4 star hotels 71%
Park Plaza 4 and 5 star hotels 71%
The bottom six hotels customer satisfaction score:
Britannia Hotels 1 and 2 star hotels 44%
Travelodge 3 star hotels 50%
Ramada 4 star hotels 51%
PH Hotels 4 and 5 star hotels 51%
De Vere Village 3 Star hotels 51%

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Shearings Hotels 4 star hotels 52%
Glenmore 3 Star hotels 57%
C.
1 Room service at night was only a sandwich. I wanted a steak
2 The beach was too sandy
3 The bath was dirty. I had to buy my own cleaning products and clean
it before I could put my children to bed
4 The room was shabby and run down
5 Staff didn’t seem to care when I asked for help
6 There was a group of young men in the room next door. They made
too much noise all through the night.
7 There was no one at the reception desk when I arrived
8 I keep getting emails about special offers and am tired of it
9 There weren’t enough towels in the room for me and my family
10 Wi-fi wasn’t working in the room