Impact of Personalised Service on Guest Satisfaction in Sydney-based Hotels

This research focuses on the impact of personalised service on guest satisfaction in Sydney-based hotels. It highlights the importance of personalised service, strategies of personalised services, and the relationship between personalised service and guest satisfaction. The study aims to explain the importance of personalised service in the hospitality industry, identify the strategies of personalised services in hospitality organisations in Sydney, and establish the relationship between personalised service and guest satisfaction. The research will bring out the factors of personalisation of the guests travelling for the businesses and leisure purposes in Sydney hotels.

Running head: RESEARCH FOR BUSINESS AND TOURISM
Research for Business and Tourism
Impact of personalised service on guest satisfaction in the Sydney-based hotels
Student’s name:
Name of the university:
Author’s note:

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Table of Contents
1. Background..................................................................................................................................2
2. Significance.................................................................................................................................2
3. Scope............................................................................................................................................3
4. Problem statement and objectives...............................................................................................4
5. Literature review..........................................................................................................................5
5.1 Concept of personalised services and guest satisfaction in hospitality industry...................5
5.2 Theoretical perspectives of personalised services and guest satisfaction..............................5
5.3 Ways of providing personalised services in the hospitality industry....................................7
5.4 Factors affecting guest satisfaction in hospitality industry....................................................8
Reference List..................................................................................................................................9
Appendix........................................................................................................................................12

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1. Background
Increasing competition in the hospitality industry in Australia, personalised service is one
of the main features that can help the organisation to survive. Guest satisfaction mainly relies on
the personalised service what the hospitality organisations provide to the guests. Therefore, the
hospitality organisations are required to meet the needs and demands of the customers to succeed
and thrive in today's consumer-centric industry (McPhail et al. 2017). In Australia, the tourism
industry is famous as it has multiple destinations where people visit. The Australian hospitality
industry is known for its friendliness and uses of technologies for the personalised services to the
guests. Guest satisfaction is very important as it helps to increase revenues of the organisations
and to increase customer base. Mainly in Sydney, the hotels are using guest profile and budget;
so that the hospitality organisations must not neglect the small changes in offering the service.
Personalised services in the hospitality are using digital marketing tools like social networking
and emails to understand the needs of the customers, the organisations are using strategy to
rewards and engage the most loyal customers. As stated by Solnet et al. (2015), personalisation
in the hospitality industry is buzzword and organisations have understood why it is important
now to take personalisation service. Personalisation helps to provide valued touch and the guests
perceive that they are valued by the organisation. Personalisation concept is important for the
open communication using the data of the customers. Therefore, this study will highlight the
theoretical perspective of personalised service for the guests to develop guests’ satisfaction in
Sydney based hotels.

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2. Significance
Personalised service in the hospitality industry has been famous in recent time, therefore,
a significant amount of studies have not been done on personalised service to develop the guest
satisfaction. This research will try to feel the gap by providing ample of information regarding
the personalised service and guest satisfaction. Guest satisfaction comes from the personal touch
when the guests come to live in a hotel and it brings the feeling as though the customers are
valued. Personalisation is one of the ways to be using the invaluable information of the
customers and the management starts gather information to make the decisions based on the
collected data. The management of the hospitality sector in Sydney can open up the line of
communications with the guests to gather the knowledge about them. Therefore, the marketers
and the management of the hospitality sector will get to know about the personalised service and
it would help the organisation to get the maximum footfalls. The marketers and management can
tailor the hotel experience based on the information they gather about the customers. The
management can create a customer profile and they can provide a personalised experience
through this. Guest satisfaction is another factor where the management can allow the customers
to choose the amenities just for them. Personalised service allows the customers to choose from
the different types of tastes in breakfast or lunches depending upon the guests' dietary
requirement. Personalised services provide the provision to anticipating the needs of the guests
through Next generation Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system in which the
management can understand what the customers want from the management as services.
3. Scope
This research will bring out the factors of personalisation of the guests travelling for the
businesses and leisure purposes in Sydney hotels. The major focus will be on the management

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and marketers of Sydney hotels that provide personalised services to the customers. The guests
of the hospitality sectors can be varied from different ages. The geographical scope of the
research is to show the personalised services used by Sydney hotels in order to improve guest
satisfaction. This study will highlight impact of personalised services both international and
domestic travellers who visit in the hotels. Geographical scope surrounds only in Sydney where
the researcher will collect the information regarding the guest satisfaction from the personalised
service. This research will be conducted during the period of May to August in 2018. During this
time, maximum numbers of visitors visit in Sydney as it is conducted as peak season in the
hospitality sector.
4. Problem statement and objectives
Sydney based hospitality organisations have been facing the issues of extreme
competition. There are several four and five stars hotels; the guests select the hotels based on
their budget and services of the hotels. Personalised service is the new catch-phrase in the
hospitality industry and large multinational hospitality companies are providing the personalised
services to overshadow competitors (Brodie et al. 2017). Customer satisfaction is a significant
aspect of the successful hospitality company and maximum hotel managers have been facing the
challenge trying to satisfy the customers’ needs. The footfalls of the guests are increasing and the
managers are trying to keep up the good experience of the customers in the hotels in winter.
Customers require quality services and products and the management in the hospitality industry
is trying to sustain and provide guest satisfaction.
Objectives of the study are:
 To explain the importance of personalised service in hospitality industry

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 To identify the strategies of personalised services in hospitality organisations in Sydney
 To establish the relationship between personalised service and guest satisfaction
5. Literature review
5.1 Concept of personalised services and guest satisfaction in hospitality industry
Customer loyalty of the hospitality organisations is now based on personalised services
provided by the organisations. Frequent travellers are loyal to the organisations; business
travellers are more loyal to the brand name of the hospitality organisation (Buhalis and
Amaranggana 2015). The management and the marketers can use the customer data along with
the customers’ insights to know about the personalised experience of the guests. Personalisation
can drive the brand preferences of the guests. The process of personalisation starts from the
booking of the customers as the customers can fill in the form provided during the booking
through online. The organisations get to know about the customers’ choices through the insights
of the customers. As opined by Poinhos et al. (2017), the hotels can retool the loyalty strategy
through changing the vendor partners to create the technological solution that may allow the
organisation to collect the insight of the customers. The aim of the customer service is to surpass
the expectations of the guests (Xiang et al. 2015). The guest satisfaction can bring word-of-
mouth publicity and it helps to exceed the specified customer service of the hospitality
organisation.
5.2 Theoretical perspectives of personalised services and guest satisfaction
Customer Satisfaction Pyramid
Customer satisfaction pyramid stated by Frank Besednjak has four levels. Level one is
about ‘the basics’ and these basics are trust, value, reliability. The key elements are the lowest

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level of satisfaction as these are the minimum requirements of the business. The hospitality
organisations need to show up and do what the guests want and pay for (Zhang and Cole 2016).
Level two of this pyramid states about the courtesy counts as this level includes the
knowledgeable, timeliness and responsible. The hospitality sector can show up the promise,
returning to the phone calls and provide recommendation to the guests. The management can
provide consistency regarding the queries of the guests. In addition, third level is about emotion
of the guests where the customers expect that the staffs of the hospitality sector will show care,
help and concerned. As stated by Kim et al. (2015), the customers need to believe that the staffs
of the hotel indeed showing care for them. The top level of the pyramid is about customer for life
where the management of the hospitality sector will be fun, enjoyable and friendly in nature. The
staffs’ communication, service and interactive experience must provide help to the guests.
RATER Model
Customer service is difficult to evaluate and RATER model helps to analyse the data that
can help to produce the actionable plan for the development.
Reliability: Reliability of the hospitality industry depends on the delivery of what the
organisation promises to the guests. The hospitality organisation promises to the customers to
provide best guest satisfaction; therefore the organisations have to meet these.
Assurance:The brand value of the organisation inspires the confidence of the customers that this
organisation may meet the promises.
Tangibles: The organisation in the industry must present itself professionally so that the
customers must believe the organisation (Casabianca et al. 2017).

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Empathy: The staffs of the hospitality industry should be understanding and empowered to
resolve any kind of customers’ problems.
Responsiveness: The team members of the organisation need to address the queries in the
expected timeframe.
5.3 Ways of providing personalised services in the hospitality industry
The hospitality organisations need to know the guests before they arrive at the place.
Therefore, the process of knowing the customers can start when the guests book the hotel. The
organisation can make the customer profile based on the facilities, food and activity preferences
of the customers (Denning and Hunter 2017). The customers' details about the anniversaries and
birthdays can be maintained in the profile. Therefore, the management will have a clear idea
about the customers' preferences and it will be easier to provide personalised service to the
customers. In addition, the hospitality organisation can welcome regulars in a special way as the
management has an idea about the regular customers through CRM about what the customers
likes or dislikes. The facilities like welcome drink, special rooms, special menu and other special
services can be provided to the guests. Moreover, according to Cook (2017), giving personalised
services to the regular guests is another way of guest satisfaction as the guests can have free Wi-
Fi facility in the room and business meeting at the room. These types of services are personal in
nature and the staffs need to check all the facilities in the serious and assistive way. In addition,
as opined by Lu and Kandampully (2016), managers of the hospitality sectors are the face to
whom the customers can have the faith regarding the service. The managers should listen to the
customers' queries and in case of the second visits; the management must ensure the same
requirements. Lastly, a fond farewell and warm invitation will provide happiness to the guests
and it will provide satisfaction to the guests (Radojevic et al. 2017).

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5.4 Factors affecting guest satisfaction in hospitality industry
The service sector is depended on the customers and hospitality industry in Australia is
getting the competitive due to the growth of destinations. Due to the competition, the
organisations are taking the effective measure of personalised service (Kandapully et al. 2015).
The guest satisfaction is important for the organisation as it can create awareness among the
customers. Happy customers will return to the organisation. The factors of the customer
satisfaction are the staffs’ behaviour, quality of the services, value for money services and room
qualities of the hotel (Han and Huyn 2015). Customer satisfaction happens when the established
organisation fulfils the needs and desires of the guests. The face value is another factor as service
or products can cost more if the values become acceptable for the customers.

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Appendix
Personalised service in Sydney based hotels
Hotels address the guests by name in communication 52%
Hotels only send the guests offers and service 49%
Companies know the guests past history with them and
reflect this in their correspondence
42%
Hotels only send the guests offers and services that are
relevant to the guests’ location
27%
Guests think it is important to receive travel option catered
to the personal history
69%
(Source: Destinationnsw.com.au 2018)