Hospitality Industry & Customer Perceptions

This assignment delves into customer perceptions within the hospitality industry. It examines factors like cleanliness, service quality, and brand personality, analyzing their influence on customer satisfaction. The assignment emphasizes the role of word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing in shaping these perceptions. Students will research relevant literature and apply it to understand how these elements contribute to overall customer experiences in the hospitality sector.

Running head: HOSPITALITY
Hospitality
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Notes

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Executive summary
According to the data of World Travel and Tourism Council report published in 2017, hospitality
and tourism has emerged as the sole source of foreign capital earnings for developing as well as
developed countries. These factors are helpful in achieving proper GDP growth for those nations.
Australian tourism and hospitality market has also increased by 14 percent there are several
trends that are being applied by the hospitality businesses to achieve the success. This report
discus about the concept of home Concept of home is one of those concepts, which is being used
by maximum of the hotel owners for marketing purposes. This concept assures the guests of
hotels with homely environment, pure and healthy meals, comfort exactly like their home, and
can even customize their own hospitality. The hotel Spicers Vineyards Estate can also use this
concept to satisfy those customers, who are not happy with the service and traditional ambiance
of the hotel. Further, this report provides recommendations that the hotel should utilize to make
their service more comfortable and homely.

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Table of Contents
Introduction..........................................................................................................................3
Purpose of the report............................................................................................................3
Background of the hotel.......................................................................................................4
The concept of home...........................................................................................................4
How Spicers Vineyard estates can use this concept............................................................6
Recommendations................................................................................................................8
Conclusion...........................................................................................................................9
Reference...........................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
Hospitality is known as a friendly gesture that is being showered to people, who are
raveling away from their home. Hospitality sector along with the travel and tourism sector has
contributed maximum to the world economy and has created maximum amount of jobs.
According to the data of World Travel and Tourism Council (2017), these sectors have
contributed $7.6 trillion and 292 million jobs worldwide in the year 2016. This industry
contributed to worlds GDP by 10.2% and 1 in every 10th job was related to hospitality and
tourism. Australia is on rank 12 within 185 countries worldwide and the hospitality and tourism
sector has contributed with 10.9% of total contribution to the nation’s economy in the year 2016
(World Travel and Tourism council 2018). The investment in this sector was estimated to rise by
14% in the year 2017; however, the job expectancy is estimated to fall by 0.3 percent. Therefore,
it is evident hospitality has emerged as the main industry for the developing and developed
nations to generate revenues and increase their GDP growth (Australian Bureau of Statistics
2018).
Purpose of the report
While providing the quality care and accommodation, the leading hospitality businesses
are marketing themselves as home or someone who provides homely environment. This concept
is modern in the hospitality industry and one of the most trending concepts that every hospitality
business is trying to accommodate worldwide. According to the ratings of Tripadvisor,
maximum of the travelers are looking for homely ambiance and comfort in rooms nowadays and
therefore it has become the leading trend in the hospitality business of modern travel and tourism
industry. The purpose of this report is to research about the concept of home in hospitality

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industry and find out the ways using, which, it is influencing such businesses to earn revenues.
Further, as a consultant of the hotel Spicers vineyard estates, situated in New South Wales,
Australia, recommendations from the research will be provided to the hotel to adapt to this
modern trend.
Background of the hotel
The hotel Spicers vineyard estates is situated in the valley of Hunter vineyard and is
completely traditional and unique lodge. The uniqueness of this luxurious property lies within
comfortable accommodation, luxurious dine cuisine, exclusive wine experiences and delightful
sceneries (Spicers Vineyards Estate 2016). It provides the guests with the facility to enjoy horse
riding, golf, hot air ballooning and many activities that are more attractive. Other than these
facilities, the hotel provides a modern Australian cuisine restaurant to its younger generation
guests so that they did not feel left out or unattended (Spicers Vineyards Estate 2016). Despite of
these factors, there are 3 percent people, who feel that their stay in the hotel was disappointing
and 9 percent rated their stay in the hotel as average. Therefore, it is evident that there are several
factors that need to be applied within the hotel facilities so that those customers providing
negative reviews can be satisfied.
The concept of home
With the expansion of tourism industry, the hotels and resorts are getting the opportunity
to improve upon their business. Effective and high quality customer service is considered to be
the primary need of the hotels and tourism business. The concept of home has therefore been
introduced in the hotel industry in order to provide distinctive customer experience strategy

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(Andriotis and Agiomirgianakis 2014). This is believed to be one of the essential steps to
implement competitive advantage business policy for all major hotels resorts.
Kandampully et al. (2015), have mentioned in this regard that hospitality and residential
design are becoming attached with each other. This is aimed to provide better level of comfort
and coziness to the guests. It has also been seen that due to Limited economic capability most of
the tourists as referring to spend their tour time with the hotel rooms. This is mainly due to the
home like experience that has been provided by most of the hotels. The improve develop
customer service has encouraged many of the tourist to spend more time in the hotel room as a
part of their relaxation activity. There also has been changed in the pattern of recruitment and
training given to the hotel staffs. This can help them to improve upon their individual capability
of providing effective room service to the guest.
Amblee (2015), has highlighted up on the importance of safety and security, which is
needed to provide a friendly atmosphere within the hotels and resort. There also has been high
degree of diversity, which provides opportunity for the best to choose from a wide range of
rooms. There can be modular sleeping areas, which allows the guests to enjoy high level of
privacy. There is also the option for staying with huge groups and friends and families.
The main of the current hospitality industry is to provide all basic home amenities within
the hotels, which will encourage the guest to stay for longer duration. The hospitality industry is
closely related to that of the home, where the Hotel Management acts as the host to provide all
basic service amenities. People who are staying away from home, need to have higher level of
security for dealing with the basic amenities that they carry. People also need high level of
security for all business visit, along with high level of Hotel service for staying in longer
duration.

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Better level of Hotel service is also required to maintain sustainability in the business.
Hence, it can be said that the hotel and resorts, which are able to provide better home like
experience is likely to gain more competitive advantage (Nikolaidis et al. 2016). Eco friendly
procedures are also essential steps that are needed to deal with the issues related with that of
environmental degradation. The quality of the customer service is considered to be the essential
element of providing home like experience in hotel. The Hotel star services possible for
providing a clean and healthy atmosphere with every rooms.
How Spicers Vineyard estates can use this concept
In order to maintain home like experience in the hotel the Spicers Vineyards Estate, it is
essential to bring about change in the human resource management. The hotel has to recruit more
number of staffs.
 Using data to identify specific need of the customers
Collection of essential data is believed to be highly essential in the context of providing
effective customer service to the hotel industry. This can be implemented in the process of
conducting online survey from the customers. The market researchers need to set up a definite
Framework for questionnaires that will help to collect essential feedback on the customers about
their demand. It will therefore be possible for the hotel to understand the essential requirements
of the guests (Erevelles et al. 2016).
It is also essential to consider the fact that there is different type of guests, who visit the
Hotel each year. These include Tourists and business parties. It is essential to conduct separate
market online survey in order to understand the need of every group. The pricing strategy also
has to be implemented accordingly depending upon the demand level of the customers. For

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example, for business class parties, who are planning to stay for longer duration, will need to be
given packages.
 Understanding of customer journey for each type of customer segment
As different type of customer visits the hotel in the form of guest, it is essential for the hotel
management to understand the journey pattern. For example, the guests who are visiting from
nearby places, do not need extra amenities. On the other hand, the guests who are visiting from
long distance need to be given all kind of amenities that include high level of security as they
will be carrying important languages. For business class people it is also essential to provide
even higher levels of security with the help of digital locker, it will help them to secure on
essential business documents.
Once the company is able to provide all the basic amenities to the customers, they can
plan to establish long term relationship with their guests. The customer journey mapping system
is essential in the given context, which can help them to accurately measure the need of every
customer group (Bernard and Andritsos 2017).
Source: (Bernard and Andritso 2017)
Planning is also believed to be an essential part of the customer journey. This will help them
to better prepare for all future Journeys and thereby assist in the process of advance booking.

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 Prioritizing Actionable Business Opportunities to Improve the Customer
Experience
It is essential to improve the level of customer experience, which is achieved by the process
of increasing customer acquisition (Hyun and Perdue 2017). This is achieved by the process of
implementing advanced level of technological infrastructure. The customer will therefore be able
to connect to the hotel management through online booking system. Launching of mobile phone
applications will allow the customers to check the availability of room on any particular date.
There will also be added benefit that include providing loyalty benefit program, which will help
the regular visiting guests of the hotel. One of the best way of having competitive advantage in
the tourism industry of Australia is to retain the customers.
In order to provide better customer service at every stage, the hotel management need to
provide personalized care to every guest. This can be achieved by providing effective room
service quality. As the management is able to provide better understanding of the exact
requirement of guests, they are able to provide satisfactory customer service.
Recommendations
In order to provide home like experience the hotel management of Spicers Vineyards
Estate need to optimize the guest experience. In the initial step it is essential to recruit more
number of Hotel staffs. This will be highly effective in providing personal level of customer
care. During the process of recruitment, it is essential to focus upon the communication skills of
the hotel staffs (Knežević et al. 2015). As the Hotel Management is able to effectively
communicate with the customers, they are able to understand their requirement properly and
fulfill their exact need.

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The feedbacks that are provided by the customers after they visit the hotel need to be
analyzed properly with market researchers. This will help them in processing of all the raw data
that are available through the online and offline surveys. It is therefore possible to track the
performance level of the hotel staff and the quality of their behavior with the guests. Special
focus need to be given in each customer segment, which requires different level of care. This can
be understood by proper segmentation of the customer and prioritizing their needs. Advanced
levels of database can be implicated that are needed to store the data for future usages.
Conclusion
In the concluding note it can be said that, in the recent trends of tourism industry the
concept of home is becoming Highly popular in the hotels and resorts segments. This is mostly
achieved by providing effective level of customer service and ensuring personalized care to each
segment of customer. Advanced level of business communication is also required in order to
understand the requirement of each segment of guests that visit in Spicers Vineyards Estate.
Using effective technological infrastructure are also needed to conduct market research and
customer survey. This is required to collect essential information net is needed to improve the
quality of existing customer service.

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Reference
Amblee, N., 2015. The impact of cleanliness on customer perceptions of security in hostels: A
WOM-based approach. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 49, pp.37-39.
Andriotis, K. and Agiomirgianakis, G., 2014. Market escape through exchange: Home swap as a
form of non-commercial hospitality. Current Issues in Tourism, 17(7), pp.576-591.
Australian Bureau of Statistics 2018. australian GDP statistics - Google Search. [online]
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qs=chrome..69i57j0l5.10119j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8
Bernard, G. and Andritsos, P., 2017. A process mining based model for customer journey
mapping. In Proceedings of the Forum and Doctoral Consortium Papers Presented at the 29th
International Conference on Advanced Information Systems Engineering (CAiSE 2017).
Erevelles, S., Fukawa, N. and Swayne, L., 2016. Big Data consumer analytics and the
transformation of marketing. Journal of Business Research, 69(2), pp.897-904.
Hyun, S.S. and Perdue, R.R., 2017. Understanding the dimensions of customer relationships in
the hotel and restaurant industries. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 64, pp.73-
84.
Kandampully, J., Zhang, T. and Bilgihan, A., 2015. Customer loyalty: a review and future
directions with a special focus on the hospitality industry. International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality Management, 27(3), pp.379-414.

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Knežević, M., Tomka, D., Bizjak, B., Fabjan, D. and Kukulj, S., 2015. The physical appearance
of hotel guests: The impact on service providers’ communication and quality of service.
International Journal of Hospitality Management, 51, pp.8-14.
Nikolaidis, D., Chrysikou, S.C. and Alexandris, K., 2016. Testing the relationship between hotel
service quality and hotel brand personality. International Journal of Hospitality and Event
Management, 1(4), pp.355-369.
Spicers Vineyards Estate 2016. Accommodation - Spicers Vineyards Estate. [online]
Spicersretreats.com. Available at:
https://spicersretreats.com/spicers-vineyards-estate/accommodations/
World Travel and Tourism council 2017. ECONOMIC IMPACT 2017 AUSTRALIA. [online]
Wttc.org. Available at: https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/economic-impact-research/
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