AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE HARACTERISTIC OF VISITORS AND SOME SOLUTIONS TO ATTRACTING PROSPECTIVE VISITORS AT ANH NGUYET HOTEL

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING FACULTY OF ENGLISH DUY TAN UNIVERSITY GRADUATION THESIS DO THI KIM PHUONG AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE HARACTERISTIC OF VISITORS AND SOME SOLUTIONS TO ATTRACTING PROSPECTIVE VISITORS AT ANH NGUYET HOTEL GRADUATION THESIS IN SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES DA NANG – MAY 2021 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING DUY TAN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH GRADUATION THESIS DO THI KIM PHUONG AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CHARACTERISTIC OF VISITORS AND SOME SUGGESTIONS TO ATTRACTING PROSPECTIVE VISITORS AT ANH NGUYET HOTEL Major : ENGLISH FOR TOURISM Code : 702 SUPERVISOR: NGUYEN THI BAO YEN, M.A DA NANG – MAY 2021 DA i ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to express my gratitude to all those who help and give me ideals to make this graduation paper Firstly, to complete this graduation, I would like to express my deep gratitude to Mrs Nguyen Thi Bao Yen who has given dedicated guidance, useful knowledge and experiences during the process of writing this graduation paper It’s lucky when having a conscientious supervisor who shared and encouraged me so much to finish this report Secondly, I would like to thank all of the teachers at Duy Tan University, especially those of Foreign Languages Department for teaching me during years All experience and English skills I acquired from my teacher of Foreign Languages Department at Duy Tan University helped me so much in finishing my graduation, so I would like to express deepest gratitude to them The knowledge acquired in the learning process is not only for the foundation for the graduation research process but also the precious baggage for me to come into the life Thirdly, I would like to thank Anh Nguyet Hotel for creating favorable conditions for me to practice in the company I would like to thank Ms Mai Thi Khanh Ly, General manager, who has help me in the data collection process Finally, thank for my family and friends because of their encouragement Those helped me to overcome obstacles and difficulties They not only supply me with their advice to make me a sustained effort but also give useful ideas to me ii STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP Except where reference is made in the text of the thesis, this thesis contains no material published elsewhere or extracted in the whole or in part from a thesis by which have qualified for or been awarded another degree or diploma No other person’s work has been used without due acknowledgement in the thesis This thesis has not been submitted for award of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution Danang, May 5th, 2021 Do Thi Kim Phuong iii ABSTRACT In hotel business, tracking and analyzing guest characteristics are really important It helps the hotel come up with the right strategy to attract prospective guests in the future From there, improving the number of customers and increasing revenue of the hotel Once this research is done, the hotel will have a clearly look at the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in business They will better understand the characteristics of the potential customer group through comparing and analyzing the characteristics of domestic and international guests Since then, giving out sales strategies and promotions suitable to attract customers both during the low season and the high season With the aim investigation into the characteristic of guest to attracting prospect customers at Anh Nguyet Hotel This case study is carried out basing on theoretical background and the practical data which concentrate on the analysis the characteristic and behavior of customer in lodging industry Then, basing on data analysis create right strategy to attracting customers From this, I hope the hotel will increase the number of guest in the future iv LIST OF TABLE ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS i STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP ii ABSTRACT iii LIST OF FIGURES .vi LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS .vii TABLE OF CONTENTS viii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1.Rationale .1 Aims and Objectives 2.1 Aims 2.2 Objectives Scope of the Study .2 Method of The Study Organization of The Study CHAPTER 2: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 2.1 Hotel Industry 2.1.1 Concepts of Hotel & Hotel Business .4 2.1.2 Characteristics of Services .5 2.2 Customers Behaviors in Hospitality Industry 2.2.1 Concepts of Customers Behavior 2.2.2 Understanding Customers Behavior 2.3 Marketing in Hotel Business .6 2.3.1 Concepts of Marketing .6 2.3.2 The Strategy of Marketing in Hotel Business .7 2.3.3 The goal of Marketing in Hotel Business CHAPTER CASE DESCRIPTON 3.1 An Overview of Anh Nguyet Hotel 10 3.2 An Introduction to Anh Nguyet Hotel .10 3.2.1 Human Resource and Organization 11 3.2.2 The Service of Anh Nguyet Hotel 12 Table 3.1 Rooms classification table 13 3.3 The Number of Guests at Anh Nguyet Hotel 17 3.3.1 The Number of Guests in 2019 .18 Table 3.2 Table of domestic visitors (from January,2019 to December,2019) 18 Table 3.3 Table of international visitors ( from January,2019 to v December,2019) 18 Table 3.4 Table of domestic visitors (from January,2020 to December,2020) 19 Table 3.5 Table of international visitors (from January,2020 to December,2020) 20 CHAPTER .22 ANALYSIS AND EVALUATION 22 4.1 Analysis of Customers Behavior .22 4.1.1 Comparation and Analysis the Characteristics of Domestic Guests at Anh Nguyet Hotel in 2019 - 2020 22 4.1.2 Comparation and Analysis the Characteristics of International Guests at Anh Nguyet Hotel in 2019 - 2020 26 4.1.3 Finding Prospect Customers of Anh Nguyet Hotel 30 4.2 Evaluation The Quality of Anh Nguyet Hotel 31 4.2.1 Strengths 31 4.2.2 Weaknesses 32 4.2.3 Opportunities 32 4.2.4 Threats 33 4.3 The Strategy of Marketing at Anh Nguyet Hotel 33 4.3.1 OTA 33 4.3.2 TA 35 4.3.3 Promotions 35 CHAPTER 5: SOLUTIONS 38 5.1 Some Solutions for Anh Nguyet Hotel 38 Some Solutions for Staff at Anh Nguyet Hotel 39 CHAPTER .40 CONCLUSION & SUGGESTION 40 6.1 Conclusion .41 Suggestion .43 REFERENCES 44 SUPERVISOR’S COMPLEMENTS 45 vi LIST OF FIGURES Figures 4.1 The chart given illustrate the time of booking of Error: Reference source not found domestic visitors Error: Reference source not found Figures 4.2 The chart given illustrate the length of stays of Error: Reference source not found domestic visitors Error: Reference source not found Figures 4.3 The chart given illustrate the time of bookings of Error: Reference source not found international visitors Error: Reference source not found Figures 4.4 The chart given illustrate the length of stay of Error: Reference source not found international visitors Error: Reference source not found vii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS DTU: Duy Tan University FLD: Foreign Language Department OTA: Online Travel Agent TA: Travel Agent 32 in professional knowledge Especially, with a staff that is always friendly, ready to support and serve guests Having specialized skills and knowledge to handle unexpected situations • Prices With mid-range prices in accordance with the budget of business travelers and tourists Prices are flexible from time to time, with promotions depending on the time of year to help customers always receive the best deals 4.2.2 Weaknesses • Languages The hotel staff is also limited in terms of language Most of the staff can only communicate in Vietnamese and English They only communicate with foreigners in English and not speak other languages • Experiences Because the hotel is in the early stages of operation, there is not much experience in making advertising programs and promotions to attract tourists • Target guests Restrictions on target guests, the hotel has not really attracted the number of visitors aged between 18 and 25 There is not variety space for taking photography or entertainment 4.2.3 Opportunities Da Nang is well-known as a central tourism city Because it have many attacted destination,sight seeing about historical and cultural such as Ba Na hills, Museum of Sa Huynh & Champa Culture, Son Tra Peninsula, Marble Mountain, My Khe marvelous beach Da Nang was voted as a city worth living, promising to be an attractive tourist destination attracting a large number of tourists around the world 33 Danang is not only favored by the beauty of nature, but it is also considered a bridge to three world cultural heritages: the Complex of Hue Monuments, Hoi An Ancient Town and My Son Sanctuary These points attracted a large number of tourists to Danang The development of tourism has created conditions for the hospitality industry to develop This will create advantages for the hotel to easily find potential guests in the future 4.2.4 Threats The hotel has just come into operation, so the hotel have not number loyal guests Beside that, Anh Nguyet hotel have not created a unique point to impress visitors In addition, the hotel was in operation at the time of Covid-19, creating a huge challenge for a new business In particular, the tourism segment is the one most affected by Covid-19 4.3 The Strategy of Marketing at Anh Nguyet Hotel In this section, marketing and promotion strategies are given based on analyzed data of guest characteristics and information of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats at Anh Nguyet Hotel 4.3.1 OTA “A growing number of potential guests now turn to OTAs to search for their hotels, because they function as a kind of ‘one stop shop’, allowing them to easily search for hotels, read reviews, and compare prices  Communicating widely on a global scale With the boom of the internet today, e-commerce has become a top priority development direction for many individuals and businesses, all transactions and searches are through the Internet.Therefore, when cooperating with the OTA model, when domestic customers as well as 34 foreign tourists, they can completely book rooms on OTA channels directly without having to go to the hotel After OTAs sell rooms to hotels, OTAs will earn commissions  Increasing and stabilizing profits by selling rooms on many different OTA OTA will help the hotel to have a stable number of booking customers, although the commission will be lost, but the OTAs will help the hotel ensure an equal amount of revenue and monthly customers  Increase the amount of traffic for the hotel If small hotels can not afford to invest in advertising, long-term Web SEO is expensive, linking and placing website on the OTA system helps increase traffic for visitors Hotel bringing more brand identity and more recognition by tourists.”[7]  OTA Strategy • Offer promotions for customers who order early days in advance to increase the number of early booking, ensuring hotel operation capacity • On low occupancy days, offer additional promotions for last minute bookings, same day bookings and to days in advance • Run promotions for service guests (booking accounts with completed reservations from times or more in year) Participate in promotions offered by OTA sites to improve marketing efficiency • In addition, you can increase the commission% for OTA sites to promote marketing on OTA sites • Offering many early booking promotions for guests from countries such as Korea, USA, Japan, Thailand 35 4.3.2 TA TA is a bridge between customers and travel service providers, such as airlines and food companies TA provides a large number of business travelers It plays the role of consulting and advertising business services to customers  TA Strategy • Proactively seek and cooperate with travel companies to create a source of group guests for the hotel • Offer preferential rates for companies that regularly book for business guests 4.3.3 Promotions According to the webdite BCCampus, “Promotional goals include creating awareness, getting people to try products, providing information, retaining loyal customers Any promotional campaign may seek to achieve one or more of these goals: • Creating awareness Promotion through ads on social media platforms and local radio or television, coupons in local papers, flyers, and so forth can create awareness of a new business or product • Getting consumers to try products Promotion is almost always used to get people to try a new product or to get nonusers to try an existing product • Providing information Informative promotion inform the customer of a new low price, or explain where the item may be purchased 36 • Keeping loyal customers Promotion is also used to keep people from switching brands Firms can also help keep customers loyal by telling them when a product or service is improved Each firm creates a unique promotional mix for each product But the goal is always to deliver the firm’s message efficiently and effectively to the target audience.”[6]  Promotion Strategies To achieve the stated promotion goal, these are effective promotion strategies for Anh Nguyet hotel Promotion strategies are implemented based on the four promotional objectives given above • Creating awareness The hotel is in the time just started operation, it is necessary to regularly update the latest information on room rates, preferential programs for guests, events held at the hotel on website, facebook, and online travel agent for the purpose of attracting attention of visitors • Getting consumers to try products To attact guests to try new services or products, need to discounts or give bundles new services or products when guests stay at the hotel, such as discounts or free decored concept honeymoon for bookings of couples, It will attract guests to experience new services at the hotel Besides, can asking guests's experience when they using the new services to improve the quality of new services or product In addition, the feedback images from guests can be used to further promote this new service or product • Providing information Based on the customer characteristics analysis data in the previous section to give preferential packages to guests, especially potential 37 customers Offer more discounted rate packages when guests book nights or more Introducing preferential combo services or product when the guests staying at the hotel Besides posting information about the hotel, it is possible to post travel-related articles on an internet to attract interaction with many different groups of guests • Keeping loyal customers Besides finding new sources of guests, retaining loyal guests is also very important Encourage guests to return next time by offering discount vouchers when using services or products in next time There are always preferential price packages for loyal guests Besides, creating a special impression for guests when staying at the hotel also helps guests choose a hotel on their next trip Impressions can be made with small things like taking care of a guest's birthday when guests fill out information at the front desk to check-in Sending sincere wishes and a small gift will help make a good impression 38 CHAPTER 5: SOLUTIONS The ultimate goal of this thesis is to help hotels increase room occupancy and revenue in the future Based on the above analyzed data, the target guests groups are classified into two types as domestic tourists and international tourists, the characteristics of these two groups have been described and analyzed in Chapter In this chapter, solutions are given to develop strengths, overcome weaknesses, and rely on new opportunities to overcome the threasts that the hotel is facing Offering these solutions helps hotels to attract, reach and acquire potential guests in the years to come 5.1 Some Solutions for Anh Nguyet Hotel The location near the city center is the advantage of the hotel, with a well-location, Anh Nguyet hotel easily attracts business travelers According to the analysis of customer characteristics to find out prospect guests, business travelers domestic and international are both potential guests At the current time, the tourism industry is heavily affected by the covid-19, so Anh Nguyet Hotel should focus on domestic guests, especially business travelers This group of visitors does not depend on low season or high season Attracting this group of guests will help the hotel maintain a stable room capacity and achieve the goal revenue As the marketing strategies show in chapter 4, in order to attract this group of customers, it is necessary to promote OTA strategies and direct promotions to guests • Offering preferential rates for Genious guest on OTA channels • Offering discount vouchers using hotel services for guests staying days or more • Sending gratitude gifts on specialy holidays to companies that regularly book rooms for their employees to stay at the hotel 39 As analysis and evaluation in chapter 4, Anh Nguyet Hotel has not really attracted a young tourists, due to not variety space to check-in photo and entertainments However, thanks to demand-stimulus activities of Da Nang city, the tourism demand of domestic tourists increases during the peak season The promotional strategies introduced in chapter are seen as the solution for this problem Anh Nguyet Hotel can attract this group of guests by • Offering travel combos that include room rates and tickets or tours to popular tourist attractions • Giving complimentary gift or discount new services when staying at the hotel such as honeymoon room decoration for couples • Decorating according content depend on special holidays such as Tet holiday, Christmas, Mid-Autumn Festiva, etc • Increasing the posting of information about events at the hotel or travelrelated articles to attract the attention of this group of guests on social networking sites Some Solutions for Staff at Anh Nguyet Hotel During the internship at the hotel, in my observation, the staff is the soul of the hotel In order for the hotel to operate well and maintain the set occupancy, staff plays a very important role Employees are the first factor to impress customers and retain loyal customers According to the analysis and evaluation in chapter 4, section 4.2 evaluates the quality at Anh Nguyet hotel Staff is considered as one of the strong points of the hotel With a dynamic and friendly staff will make a good impression on customers Attention from small things will make an impression in the eyes of customers However, the young staff without much professional experience is also a weakness for the hotel So the following solutions are to improve and help 40 employees • Listening to guests feedback to improve service • Improving language skills, besides communicating in English, employees can practice other foreign languages such as Korean, Japanese, etc Communicating with foreign guests in their own language will crated for guests a good impression of the hotel • Improving professional knowledge to solve unexpected problems • Taking care and support guests during their stay enthusiastically and sincerely • Training and give information about the hotel before entering the official job for new employees • Creating a friendly relationship between departments • Doing surveys to better understand customers regularly The above solutions are given based on the analysis and evaluation of the hotel situation in chapter These solutions aim to promote the strengths and improve the weaknesses of the hotel Most of the analysis and evaluation to help the hotel come up with appropriate strategies, improve service quality and provide solutions to overcome the shortcomings There from, helping the hotel attract prospect guests and increase target revenue in the coming years CHAPTER CONCLUSION & SUGGESTION 41 This is the last part of the study In this chapter, the contents of the study will be summarized in a short and easy to understand way to end the research In addition, based on a personal point of view, provide a solution to help the hotel develop in the future 6.1 Conclusion Tourism is a general economic sector with an interdisciplinary and interregional nature Vietnam is considered a key economic sector because it thinks that our country has diversified and rich tourism potentials Tourism development is the driving force that motivates and leads to the development of many different aspects such as investment, job creation, law, That is why this industry is increasingly playing an important role for economic, political and social development In recent years, Da Nang has been a bright spot for Vietnamese tourism, so the demand for food, accommodation and travel has increased The development of tourism not only helps the country's economy go up but also serves as a bridge between Vietnam and other countries in the world As a result, a lot of hotels have been established around the city center and along the beach, so the competition in the market has increased dramatically In order for the tourism industry to develop and grow more and more on the global tourism market, each tourism product has to be more refined and complete To make tourism products accessible to tourism, businesses must advertise their products to tourists Each product will be suitable for different audiences Therefore, finding out the target audience for the business is extremely important So with the knowledge and practical experience in the process of studying and practicing at the hotel, I have completed my case study: " An Investigation into the Characteristic of Guests and some 42 Solutions to Attracting Prospective Guests at Anh Nguyet Hotel" In the first chapter, the rationale is given to explain why this topic was choosed to my the study In addition, the airms, research methods and scope of the study are also clarified in chapter In chapter 2, the theoretical part about definitions and concepts of the hotel business, the concept of customer behavior, marketing strategies and marketing purposes is given to further support the analysis and evaluation Next, in chapter 3, information and data are described to better understand the current situation of the hotel, as well as provide actual data for analysis and evaluation in chapter In Chapter 4, the data described in Chapter are analysis and explained in more detail Besides, based on knowledge and practical experience to evaluate the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of the hotel to come up with effective marketing strategies to attract the prospect guests In chapter 5, based on the data analyzed and evaluated in the previous sections to provide direct solutions to solve the problems in chapter 4, to achieve the ultimate goal of helping the hotel stabilize its business occupancy and achieve target revenue In the final chapter, the information in each chapter will be summarized in a concise and easy to understand way to conclude this research paper Besides, based on the opinions of individuals to offer some solutions to help the hotel develop in the future Based on the knowledge and practical experience during the internship at the hotel, from the bottom of my heart, I hope this topic will help the hotel However, due to data constraints and limited knowledge, the analysis did not go too deep I hope to receive commments and contributions from teachers to improve on this topic Thank you sincerely 43 Suggestion With my knowledge and practical experience, based on my personal opinion, I would like to give some suggestions to help the hotel improve in the future  Seting revenue and occupancy targets depending on peak and off-peak purchases Based on the analysis and evaluation in the study to come up with reasonable marketing strategies to achieve the target revenue • The goals are set as follows: • Revenue from 2025 to increase 20% to 25% • Room occupancy achieved 65% in low season and 79% in higing season  Creating a unique service style compared to competitors in the region Using the evaluations and solutions in the study to improve service quality and strengthen the hotel's brand • Listening to customer feedback to improve service bettern always • Serving guests with enthusiasm, sincerity, helping guests feel comfortable and friendly when staying at the hotel For the guests to see the hotel as their own home, so that when coming to Da Nang, guests always want to come back home Finally, I hope the hotel will grow more and more Sincere thanks to Anh Nguyet Hotel for being a part of helping me complete this research Thank you sincerely ASSESSMENT OF SERVICES AT ANH NGUYET HOTEL (x) 44 Evaluation question 1.Were you satisfied with the attitude of the reception Yes No Great staffs? 2.Did the hotel room meet your expectations? 3.How did the cuisine taste? 4.Did the receptionist meet any of your expectations? 5.Did our offerings meet your expectations? 6.Did the waiting area make you comfortable? 7.Were you satisfied with the time for check-in? 8.Did you feel comfortable while staying at the whole hotel space? 9.Were you inspired by the outside’s sea view? 10.Were you satisfied with the baggage staff's for luggage storage? 11.Were you satisfied with other necessary information about the routes and destinations provided by the reception? 12.Were you satisfied with the furniture in the room? 13.Were you satisfied with the way of cleaning of the room staffs? 14.Were you satisfied with your clothes from the laundry service? 15 Were you satisfied with the quality of security at the hotel? REFERENCES ENGLISH BOOKS Barraws,C., Powers,T., & Reynolds,D.,(2006) Introduction to 45 Management in the Hospitality Industry (Tenth edition) Robert D Reid and David C Bojanic, (2001) Hospitality Marketing Management (Third editions) Chon,K., & Maier,T Welcome to Hospitality an Introduction ( Third editions) VIETNAMESE BOOKS TS Nguyễn Văn Mạnh & Th.S Hồng Thị Lan Hương Giáo Trình Quản Trị Kinh Doanh Khách Sạn Bùi Xuân Phong Quản Trị Khách Sạn WEBSITES https://opentextbc.ca/businessopenstax/chapter/promotion-strategy https://www.revfine.com/online-travel-agents https://text.123doc.net/document/3464578-thuc-trang-du-lich-da-nang-vagiai-phap-nang-cao-chat-luong-doi-ngu-huong-dan-vien-du-lich.htm SUPERVISOR’S COMPLEMENTS ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… 46 ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………………………………………………………… ………… ...MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING DUY TAN UNIVERSITY FACULTY OF ENGLISH GRADUATION THESIS DO THI KIM PHUONG AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE CHARACTERISTIC OF VISITORS AND SOME SUGGESTIONS TO ATTRACTING PROSPECTIVE. .. I want to support the hotel to define potential guest to boost the number of guest next year I decided to choose the topic: ? ?An Investigation into the Characteristic of Visitors and some Solutions. .. statistics and descriptions of domestic and international tourists in 2019 and 2020 at Anh Nguyet hotel The above data is collected from Sales & Marketing Department at Anh Nguyet Hotel The data