Service failure and customer satisfaction in Uganda's hotel industry

Abstract

The study examined the influence of service failure in determining the level of customer satisfaction in the hotel industry in Uganda. The study used specific objectives; to determine the service failure that occurs in the hotel industry, establish the causes of the service failures in the hotel industry and establish a relationship between service failures and customer satisfaction in the hotel industry. The research design used was cross sectional. The used a population of 100 persons (employees and customers of the selected hotels) with 100 as a sample size, the research used convenient sampling technique. The study relied on both primary and secondary data but Primary data was collected using structured questionnaires. The study found out that 3- star hotels in Kampala presents high quality food to their customers in terms of taste of the food, its, warmth among others. The study further discovered that most hotel workers are irresponsible and inefficient as it is reflected with a standard deviation of 0.921.The study findings also showed an effective mutual communication between the hotel‘s staff and its customer as required. This was revealed by a mean value 3.08 and a standard deviation of 0.906 showing varied responses from the respondents interviewed. The results of the study further notify out that the products of the hotel industry are not easily accessed by their customers anywhere any time in the market as revealed by the mean value 2.06 with a standard deviation of 0.506 showing varied responses from the respondents interviewed as far hotel‘s products market is concerned. The dimensions of service failures and customer satisfaction (Extensive market research, Quality controls, Handling customer complaints and mutual communication) were linked together the details show the link as; Extensive market research had the highest relationship with the IFMIS implementation of 0.085 followed by Quality controls with a value of 0.026, then Handling customer complaint with 0.066; while mutual communication had the weakest relationship with customer satisfaction of 0.009. It was concluded that Customer satisfaction is a vital variable in relation to repeat business. And from the study results, a mean of 2.55 was realized which is below the average; this suggests that respondents don‘t believe that the Hotel workers are responsible and efficient. However, a standard deviation of 0.921 suggests varied responses as to whether the Hotel workers/ employees are responsible and efficient. The irresponsibility and inefficiency of the Hotel workers could be compensated for by an active, independent and experienced Hotel Management Committees.