51 Factors affecting the customers’ satisfaction of the hotel service quality at Muong Thanh Hotels in Hanoi city .... 54 Respondents’ points of view on the factors affecting customers’
Introduction
Hu (2008) stated that a hotel cannot survive and grow well the world today unless it can satisfy the customers with good quality services The service quality means the service which corresponds to customers’ expectation and a hotel wins by satisfying these needs of the customers When customers are provided with new and better services, it is important to meet their expectations at various types in the competitive markets
Ross Beard (2013) found that a rise in customers’ retention by just 5 percent can lead to an increase of profits by 25 percent to 95 percent Customers’ retention plays a key role to grow a successful firm If your business is like the other businesses today, you know it’s hard! We must encounter it, no business is considered perfect, and no firm accepts to lose their customers Luckily, measuring the customer retention rates and maintaining customer retention strategies can help to retain the regular customers
Many businesses are trying to improve the quality for better competitive advantages (Hope & Wild, 1994) Service firms works to satisfy the customers’ increasing demand and try to add value and provide customers with fine services to get the competitive advantages (Edvardsson, 1997) and many firms hold service departments that collect useful information about the customers and his interactions with the products and quality (Petkova, Sander & Brombacher, 2000)
Along with the newly introduced developments, the requirements and expectations of customers are changing very fast Service quality is a broad term which is used in both customer care evaluations and in technological ones With regards to both applications, the quality of services has to be done with measuring the incidences of problems within a process that results in the creation of issues for an end customer The goal of service quality evaluation is minimizing the incidence of transmission problems and the errors rate that may happen
Muong Thanh Hotel group has built its position in the hearts and minds of guests nationwide and abroad Known as one of the biggest hotels chain in Indochina, Muong Thanh group owns some 60 hotels with the capacity of providing more than 10,000 rooms, creating job chances and working environments for about 10,000 employees This group contributes thousands of billion VND to the national budget each year
Lots of fine achievements have been gained and developed during 25 years, thanks to the great efforts and enthusiasm to continuously enhance and strengthen the business, bringing stable advantages for Vietnam and for the local people
Most of the hotels are ranked with four-star and five-star hotels Muong Thanh Group locates its hotels in cities and towns nationwide In small cities, Muong Thanh Hotels are always the best choices for customers
Muong Thanh Group owns three four-star hotels in Hanoi city They are Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi Center, Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi, and Muong Thanh Grand Xa La
These hotels are located in the downtown and busy areas in Hanoi city The three four-star hotels have provided hotel services for almost ten years Besides the basic services – room services – Muong Thanh Hotels in Hanoi city also provide other services such as weddings, conferences, parties of all types, coffee shops, travel agents, air tickets…
In the good old days, Muong Thanh Hotels in Hanoi city enjoyed good business performances Thanks to the economic growth and international cooperation, lots of international businessmen came to Hanoi city so Muong Thanh Hotels were among the most favorite choices for hotel services in the capital
However, things do not stand still for long Muong Thanh Hotels have faced difficulties in attracting customers in big cities such as Hanoi capital recently There are some problems negatively affecting the business of these hotels:
- There have been more luxury newly-built hotels in the urban and suburban areas This makes the competition more serious The existing hotels have to share the customers with the new ones which are equipped with more modern amenities
- There are more and more luxury hotels in neighboring cities, so international experts and businessmen do not need to come back to Hanoi to enjoy highly standardized hotel services There are new choices for staying at other hotels located in surrounding provinces such as Thai Nguyen, Vinh Phuc, Bac Ninh and Hai Duong
- The traffic is getting busier which makes the travels inconvenient, costly and time- consuming in Hanoi city
These above mentioned issues result in worse and worse business performances of Muong Thanh Hotels in Hanoi city The room occupancy has dropped sharply from more than 70% to below 50% During covid pandemic (2020) the room occupancy dropped around 30%
Muong Thanh Grand Xa La 54 48 34 22
The revenues from events such as conferences, weddings, meetings have also decreased considerably There have been complaints about the hotel services especially from foreign customers These customers seem to show their dissatisfaction of some of the hotel service such as the room facilities, the hotel employees, lack of modern recreation amenities, meal quality etc Some of the regular clients do not return to these hotels They may switch to other ones for better service quality
The poorer business performance of Muong Thanh Hotels can be due to the low satisfaction of the customers with the hotel service quality Therefore, in order to improve the business performance, these hotels need to improve the customers’ satisfaction of the hotel services These are the reasons why the researcher, a stockholder of Muong Thanh Group, has the desire to conduct this study entitled “ Service quality satisfaction at Muong Thanh
Review of Related Literature and Studies
In this chapter, concepts and theories that have significant impact on the study are presented Some related literatures and studies show what have been written about the subject by other authors
Basic profile of Muong Thanh Hotels in Hanoi city
In this section, a brief overview of the three hotels including Muong Thanh Hanoi Centre Hotel; Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi Hotel; and Muong Thanh Grand XALA Hotel are briefly introduced
Muong Thanh Hanoi Centre Hotel
Located on an ancient street - Tho Nhuom - the center of administration and tourism of Hanoi - the heart of the capital, Muong Thanh Hanoi Centre Hotel is a perfect place for tourists to discover the ancient beauty of this thousands-year old city From the Hotel, tourists can walk to enjoy the fresh air of Hoan Kiem Lake, peaceful Hanoi opera house and enjoy a busy life of the ancient street The central position and favorable access of Muong Thanh Hanoi Centre Hotel will surely satisfy even the most difficult tourists
Since its operation in 2015, Muong Thanh Hanoi Centre Hotel's establishment has been inspired by an ideal of Hanoi enlightened by golden sunshine in the autumn and peaceful street corners Owning boutique-style furniture, a cozy space and perfect services, Muong Thanh Hanoi Centre Hotel will become the second home of each tourist during their stay in Hanoi
The culture of Muong Thanh Hanoi Centre Hotel is a harmonic combination of the traditional Northwestern culture reflected through foods, drinks and traditional costume of Thai ethnic group worn by the staff and the graceful traditional costume of Hanoi, the “Áo Dài” This combination guarantees tourists surprising and amazing experience
Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi Hotel
Located on the southern gateway to Hanoi center, Mường Thanh Grand Hanoi Hotel with 152 four-star rooms and modern-equipped meeting rooms always brings clients a unique experience during their stay in warmth and comfort
Since the opening ceremony in 2016, Muong Thanh Grand Hanoi Hotel has offered high-standard accommodations with unsurpassed hospitality and an ideal location away from in the heart of Bac Linh Dam The hotel provides a perfect base for you to start exploring the charming city, yet with the luxury of a more peaceful setting than the ever-bustling Hanoi The highlighted attraction not to miss while you’re visiting Hanoi is the picturesque Hoan Kiem Lake, while a 10-minute trip will take you to the National Convention Center
Comfortable guestrooms and a convenient location prove to be perfect for tourists and business travelers alike at Muong Thanh Hanoi Hotel
Mường Thanh Grand Hanoi Hotel is a magnificent combination between the cultural culinary traditions of ancient villages in the mountains of Vietnam, and modern facilities to enhance customer experience
Muong Thanh Grand XALA Hotel
Conveniently located in Xa La new urban areas, Mường Thanh Grand Xa La Hotel is an ideal place to enjoy quiet and fresh air right in the heart of Ha Dong district, Hanoi Guest will feel the balance of Comfort and convenience when staying here
It takes only 40 minutes from the airport by car and about 20 minutes to reach the center of Hanoi capital No less exceptional is the hotel's easy access to the city's myriad attractions and landmarks, such as Vietnam National Convention Center, Tran Duy Hung Street The facilities and services provided by Mường Thanh Grand Xa La Hotel ensure a pleasant stay for guests The hotel offers access to a vast array of services, including 24- hour room service, Wi-Fi in public areas, car park, room service, airport transfer
Guests can choose from 149 rooms, all of which exude an atmosphere of total peace and harmony The hotel offers many unique recreational opportunities such as hot tub, fitness center, sauna, outdoor pool, massage When you are looking for comfortable and convenient accommodations in Hanoi, make Mường Thanh Grand Xa La Hotel your home away from home
Hotel service performance is positively allied with the improvement of service quality There is said to be a significant relationship existing between the improvement in service quality and the hotel performance (Narangajavana and Hu, 2008) High level development instruments are usually used to enhance the satisfaction of variety of users about service and quality (Hope & Wild, 1994) The major problem goes with hotel managers is attracting, retaining and fascinating customers (Shi & Su, 2007) It is said that customers’ revisit intentions and emotions are supported by customer satisfaction (Han, Back & Barrett, 2009) Customers’ satisfaction plays an important role of factor in the perception on the value of hotel and behavioural intention (Ryu, Han & Kim, 2008) Both of the public and private sectors revised the service quality and to complete the customers’ demand, customer- focused way was highly practiced (Pyon & Lee & Park, 2009)
According to Kazt (2007), there are three main types of level of hotel services: excellent service, acceptable service, and poor service Every service has its impact on hotel services Customer expectation means what the customers want to receive while their perception presents what they really experience during their stay at the hotels When their expectation is higher than the perception (E>P), it means customers get more than they wish and hope to get It is said to be a good service and has positive influence on hotel industry If customers are satisfied with the services, they will be delighted and be a member of re- booking client More loyalty will bring a good reputation for the hotel and retain more number of customers This will bring increasing revenues and profits and finally take more market shares This could help a hotel to build up competitive advantages over the competitors When their expectation is equal to the perception (E=P), it is known as an acceptable customer The hotel could satisfy customer and maintain its customers, revenues, profits and market shares in short term If there is not fair promotion or development, the better services the hotel's competitors provide would take more market shares in the future When their expectation is lower than perceptions (E