Employee skills and service delivery in Kampala hotels

Abstract

The study sought to the level of employee’s skills and service delivery and implications for service delivery in Kampala hotels. The specific objectives of the study were: to examine the level of employee’s core skills in J frigh, SS and Sheron hotels, assess the perceptions of service delivery in Kampala hotels and assess the link between the employees’ core skills and quality of service provision in Kampala hotels. The study used quantitative data which was gathered through questionnaires. The respondents were hotel managers and departmental supervisors from J frigh, SS and Sheron hotel totaling 85 and these were selected using random and purposive sampling. Findings revealed that numerous employees worked for more than one hotel, most employees attended internal training using experts compared to any other training program, and that different employees of the hotel possessed different skills such as fleinterpersonal skills, customer handling skills, communication skills among others. About the perceptions of service delivery, findings show that showed that services offered by J fright and SS the hotels included accommodation, food and beverage, conferencing, and outside side catering. Hotel Jfrigh was found to be more appreciated than Sheron hotel in relation service provision. Results further indicated that majority of the clients appreciated the services offered by the hotels J-Frigh, SS Hotel, and Sheron Hotel. However, there were some complaints about the quality of conferencing, resort, and spa. On the relationship between employee skills and the quality of service, it was revealed that there is a strong relationship between employee skills and the quality of service as the employees who are educated and have knowledge about hospitality services will always deliver quality services to the clients in hotels. The study recommends further improvement in hotel service delivery in order to expand their market base. In addition, the human resource departments of the hotels should implement a wellstructured skills development program to help in the identification of gaps for skills and enhance employee performance and service delivery as well as continuous attention to identifying employee training needs.