Influence of Service Convenience on Guest Loyalty among Hotels in Murang’a County, Kenya
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Date
2023
Authors
Ngatia, Jennifer Muringo
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
Establishments providing services to clients operate in a business atmosphere
characterized by rivalry for the existing and potential market share. To survive and
grow in such an environment, service organizations must provide products and
services that meet current market demands and favourites, ensuring guest satisfaction
and creating long-lasting relationships. However, service organizations such as hotels
find keeping guests as their customers challenging. Guests are prone to switch from
one hotel to another which is costly. As a result, this research aimed to investigate
how service convenience influences guest loyalty focusing on hotels in Murang’a
County. In addition, this study sought to establish whether guest satisfaction has a
mediation effect on the association between service convenience and guest loyalty for
hotels in Murang’a County. The study targeted hotels in Murang’a County. Using a
descriptive cross-sectional survey design, data were collected from guests dining in
the hotels through self-reported questionnaires. In contrast, interview schedules were
utilized to gather data from service workers. Moreover, 384 respondents were
conveniently selected. Interview participants were purposefully selected. This study
used adapted scales to measure the variables. Pre-testing of the questionnaires was
performed in hotels in Murang’a County that were excluded from the actual data
collection exercise. Content validity and internal consistency procedures were used to
determine the questionnaires’ reliability and validity. This study conducted
quantitative and qualitative data analysis per the study objectives. The results of this
study revealed that the influence of decision convenience (β = 0.136, t = 2.84, p =
.005), access convenience (β = 0.302, t = 5.49, p = .000), benefit convenience (β =
0.403, t = 7.70, p = .000), and post-benefit convenience (β = 0.321, t = 8.41, p = .000)
on guest loyalty were statistically significant (p < .05). Also, the results of this study
found a significant mediation effect on guest satisfaction. The service convenience
effect on guest loyalty (0.1917) decreased to 0.0777 but was still significant. As a
result, guest satisfaction serves as a partial mediator between service convenience and
guest loyalty. Based on the findings of this study, there is a need to ensure that
information regarding the hotel is accessible via different platforms to ease guests’
decision-making. This can be done by investing in available social media platforms
and hiring sales representatives to keep the platforms active and up to date. Secondly,
managers of hotels in Murang’a County must ensure that it is easy to locate and
access the hotels. To this end, there is a need to use crystal clear signboards and lobby
Murang’a County to ensure that access roads are updated to tarmac standards and
maintained.
Description
A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of a Master of Science Degree in Hospitality and Tourism Management in the School of Business, Economics, and Tourism of Kenyatta University, April 2023.
Keywords
Service Convenience, Guest Loyalty, Hotels, Murang’a County, Kenya