Abstract

The thesis aim is to find out the impact of service quality on guest satisfaction. To achieve necessary results, the main objectives were to analyze service quality and Guest Satisfaction;

To examine how service quality impact Guest Loyalty; to examine the level of satisfaction of customers and strategies to ensure customer satisfaction; to look at the extent to which customer satisfaction affect profitability and whether customers are happy with the quality of service they receive at “Mountain Hotel”.

To gather important data Quantitative methods such as the use of questionnaires were done, for empirical studies related to this work, qualitative method was used to do content analysis, Questionnaires were self administered with the use of Google Form because of the Pandemic.

Research finds that there exists a relationship between quality of products and Guest satisfaction, again, majority of the respondents were in total agreement that the quality of service greatly impact Guest loyalty while ,most of the employees of Mountain hotel affirmed that good service quality increase their profitability and guest satisfaction.

We found that some respondents were not happy with the quality of service of mountain Hotel because Mountain Hotel Lacks a mobile app where Guests can book for hotel rooms before their arrivals.

In conclusion, the quality of service has a significant relationship with Guest satisfaction; Most of the respondents strongly agree that they were happy with the service delivered to them at Mountain hotel

INTRODUCTION

According to R. P. Mohanty (2012), the growth of service quality started with the increasing importance of services in developing economies after 1960; this was an expansion of the traditional definition of product quality to only include the facilities that accompanied the product.

In terms of efficiency, the 1960s and 1970s served as wake-up calls for a number of manufacturing companies. In the 1970s, there was a lot of interest in service operations, and the first two texts to concentrate on the service sector were published at that time.

Both books were titled Operations Management, “to represent the increasing focus on the scope of application of production management principles and techniques (in) non-manufacturing and service industries as well as manufacturing,” according to the authors. Mohanty, R. P. (2012)

There was a time of “high interest and enthusiasm” in services between 1980 and 1985. Between 1985 and 1995, the majority of research studies focused on the empirical testing of concepts and structures, resulting in well-supported and validated models. Teas 1993; Berkley and Gupta 1994).

This was unquestionably a watershed moment in the subject’s development because conceptual frameworks and principles started to develop and serve as the basis for new empirical work Between 1985 and 1995, Chase (1996) referred to the time as the “theory testing/empirical phase,” in which we “have been moving from constructing conceptual concepts to refining their dimensions and empirically validating them.” Mohanty, R. P. (2012)

The terms “service” and “quality” make up the term “Service Quality.” Service is described as “any activity or benefit that one entity may provide to another that is intangible and does not result in the possession of something.”

Quality has become a strategic weapon for increasing operating efficiency and improving business results. N Ramya (2019)

Service quality refers to a service provider’s ability to satisfy customers in a timely and effective manner so that he can improve business results.

In the service sector, too, “efficiency” is a critical component of business performance. That’s because it’s become clear that it has a stable relationship with sales, market share, and guest loyalty.

Several previous studies and writers have pointed out that the quality concept in the service sector differs from that in the goods sector.

Intangibility, inseparability from the supplier, heterogeneity, and other inherent characteristics of services are the reasons for this care.As a result, a distinct framework for quality explanation and evaluation has emerged. Ramya N (2019)

Service quality is an essential tool for service providers to retain their competitive edge in the marketplace. Since financial institutions, such as banks, compete in the market with differentiated goods, these services are viewed as a fundamentally competitive weapon (Logasvathi, &Haitham 2015).

The intangibility, diversity, and difficulty of separation all contribute to the difficulty of assessing service quality (Saghier, & Nathan, 2013).

Care the most important aspect of any company; without them, the organization will be worthless and without a foundation. As a result, it is critical to understand the needs and desires of customers in order to maintain the customer relationship and make everyone happy, because if customers are happy, employees will be happy.

Customers visiting any hotel, whether they find it online, learned about it from a friend, or saw it advertised on TV or online, expect whatever they see or hear to be exactly what they would get at the hotel during their stay.

Emotions like joy, desire, and happiness, in particular, can help a hotel’s attributes, according to experts (Han et al 2011).Furthermore, emotions do improve communication thereby capturing the attention of the customers by giving them a clear insight of what message you are trying to relay or pass on (Shneider and Stangl, 2012).

Well this is true because I believe emotions do bring out the best in everyone and sometimes help us to clearly open our minds to understand others better.

The hotel industry happens to be one of the most competitive industries in the 21^st century and in order for any hotel to be better than the other, they will have to increase and upgrade their strategies in order to retain their customers and in the process attract more customers.

When Guests are pleased with the quality of service they received, they are more likely to recommend the hotel to others, bringing more business to your establishment.

Research problem

High profile hotels in Cameroon face a lot of difficulty retaining their customers due to the intense level of competition in the hotel industry and a hotel like Mountain hotel(Buea) which has an average rating face so much difficulty competing with bigger hotels.

Lack of technological advancement and inadequate human resources, Mountain Hotel lack human resources because of poor financial strength, as a result of this, the quality of their service is poor.

Talking about technological advancement, majority of Hotels in Cameroon do not have websites or apps where potential Guests can contact to book for Hotel rooms or conference Hall, this is a problem that greatly affects the tourism industry as a whole in Cameroon.

Lack of cultural diversity and employees who can speak different languages is also a problem to the Hotel hotels, some Guest do not feel satisfied when the customer service cannot speak the language he/she speak

Further readings: Organizational Control and Customer Service Delivery at Mountain Hotel in Buea

The Impact Of Service Quality On Customer Satisfaction In The Banking Sector In The Buea Municipality