Rahab M. MugambiLenah B. KebasoMchigani, Elwin2022-06-162022-06-162019http://ir-library.ku.ac.ke/handle/123456789/23826A Research Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Award of the Degree of Master of Science in Hospitality Management in the School of Hospitality Tourism and Leisure Studies, Kenyatta University,2019The major contributors to guest patronage in a hospitality organization are the standards of cleanliness and quality of services offered. In Kenya, despite the knowledge, set rules and guidelines of housekeeping practice, hotels have been faced with complaints from guests ranging from room cleanliness and maintenance to the quality of services offered. The purpose of the study was to examine housekeeping service quality and guest satisfaction in selected star-rated hotels in Nairobi City County, Kenya. The study was guided by four objectives namely; to examine housekeeping services, determine housekeeping service qualities, establish guestroom physical amenities and examine challenges encountered by housekeeping personnel in achieving guest satisfaction. A cross sectional survey design was adopted in achieving the research objectives, with both qualitative and quantitative approaches being used for data collection. Nairobi City County offered a cosmopolitan base for the study as it hosts most of the star rated hotels therefore, providing a good source of respondents for the study. The population for this study comprised of 244 guestroom attendants, 21 executive housekeepers and 1033 hotel guests from star-rated hotels in Nairobi City County. Purposive sampling and stratified random sampling were used to select 21executive housekeepers, 149 guestroom attendants and 280 hotel guests. The study used questionnaires, personal interviews and observations to collect data. Data collected were analyzed using both descripti ve and inferential statistics. Factor analysis was used to identify housekeeping services most' preferred by guests and guestroom attendants. It was found out that physical status of facilities in the guestrooms is well maintained and the housekeeping staff seems to be friendly and courteous. Regression analysis was used to measure the relationship between housekeeping service quality and guest satisfaction and the findings showed R=0.323 which indicated there existed a weak but positive relationship of housekeeping services and guest satisfaction. Additionally, physical facilities in the guestroom which included aspects such as the different room categories, keycard door 'SQ'stem, room doorbell, quality of the bed and mattress, the room and bathroom linen, furniture and fixtures, mini bar, air conditioning unit and guest amenities affected guest satisfaction. There existed a negative relationship between physical facilities found in the guest rooms and guest satisfaction with a coefficient of (-0.123) tested at 0.05 significant level. On challenges encountered by housekeeping personnel in achieving guest satisfaction, lack of enough housekeeping cleaning equipment, insufficient room linen, lack of enough staff and poor support from management highly contributed to poor service delivery. Based on these findings, the study concluded that star-rated hotels lack the technical know-how of identifyfng guests' needs. Housekeeping quality services in selected star-rated hotels has a direct relationship with management decision making in that a unit change in decision making process directly influences the quality of service delivery. There is need for housekeeping service providers in the industry to be encouraged to formulate guidelines that will encompass all housekeeping practitioners to act as an internal regulatory body to ensure the industry offers quality services to its guests. [t is recommended that further' research be conducted on the new trends in hotel housekeeping practice, and challenges experienced by the department in implementation of the same.enHousekeeping ServiceQualityGuest SatisfactionStar Rated HotelsNairobi City CountyKenyaThesis